Week two of the summer break felt more like a break, while the drama of last week and Oscar Piastri is set to continue in the weeks ahead maybe this brief pause will path the way forwards. At the midway point in the season and with two and a half months to go perhaps it’s a moment to recharge and get ready to go in what could be either pain sailing for Max Verstappen or a resurgent Ferrari…
General News
A leaked document obtained by Sport Business Journal says F1 and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority agreed in March to hold the Las Vegas Grand Prix on 16-18 November 2023, and to continue to hold the race on the weekend before Thanksgiving in following years.
The FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem has announced that the updated 2023 Technical Regulations will be submitted to the World Motor Sport Council this week to address the porpoising issue in F1. You need to believe this has been the direction the governing body has been going in all season and this debate is also about safety v performance.
Which Mercedes CEO and team principal admitted that all teams were either trying to keep a competitive advantage or gain it.
Mercedes
George Russell believes that his pole position and Mercedes double podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix justifies its decision to stick with its current concept. The Englishman took his maiden pole in Budapest following a month where Mercedes largely showed progress.
Asked by Motorsport.com if the recent improvement in form was enough to justify sticking with the existing car concept for the rest of the year, Russell said he doubted a change would have a huge impact. Adding “don’t think changing car concept is going to make us go any faster, maybe the contrary to be honest. Sometimes you’ve just got to stick to the process and keep on pushing.”
The design concept ‘zero sidepods’ has been unique to Mercedes but they are committed to what’s been described as the zero or no sidepod concept which turned heads in testing. Although it says it is looking at “combinations of different concepts” for next year.
trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admits that the W13 has an “annoying” characteristic of showing glimpses of real potential. He added that the team didn’t know if Russell’s Budapest pole reflected a genuine upturn in form, or was more related to Ferrari and Red Bull not performing at their best. However, there was one clear improvement for Mercedes. That gave the drivers confidence which they were previously lacking.
Lewis Hamilton says he intends to remain in Formula One while he still has “fuel in the tank” but says he won’t push until he is “completely burnt out” before retiring. The seven-time world champion is the sport’s second oldest driver after Fernando Alonso, how long he intends to continue has been questioned further since Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement.
Explaining what he meant by ‘fuel in the tank,’ Hamilton said he was still fighting for things wider than F1. However, says he will not keep going until he was completely burned out. I have had this feeling since the global events, Covid and the Black Lives Matter movement he is driving for more than just himself, that may be why he didn’t walk away after Abu Dhabi last year.
Red Bull
Sergio Perez still believes “everything is open” in the championship battles after the summer break despite some retirements “killing” his season so far. His last victory in Monaco in May saw him move to within fifteen points of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, however, since then their seasons have taken different directions.
The Dutchman has won four of the six races since Monaco, Perez has just two runner-up finishes to show for in the same period, as well as retirements in Canada and Austria. The gap at the halfway point in the season between the two teammates is eighty-five points, with nine races to go.
Perez told Motorsport.com, It still is a very long season. What has been really killing my first half of the season has been the DNFs, to be honest. Without those DNFs, my championship would look a lot different to what it is now. So yeah. But overall, I think there are a lot of positives to take from this half season.”
My assessment is that Red Bull has been using team orders more than Ferrari, and that could stem from his retirements which have dropped him seventy-seven points behind Verstappen.
Red Bull are clearly what the team has called a “statement of intent” to be an engine manufacturer. earlier this year they signed several staff from Mercedes, all this is likely to do is fuel the likely hood of the team developing their own power unit for 2026 when the arrangement with Honda is likely to end or a deal with Porsche
The latest signing was Phil Prew, Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer for his first world title at McLaren in 2008. More recently Prew has been chief engineer at Mercedes power unit division. As team principal Christian Horner said himself it is a clear statement by Red Bull of their intent to either tie up with Porsche or build their own power units.
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc has revealed the emotional stress that being an F1 driver can have on his family. In a rare insight into the Monacan’s personal life, he revealed that his mother finds its tough as she knows while the sport is getting safer, it will never be safe, and “She knows I’m the happiest once I’m in that car.”
Robert Shwartzman says he is “a bit excited” for his F1 race weekend debut with Ferrari later this season when he takes part in two practice sessions. This follows his switch to represent Israel following the ban on Russian drivers following the country’s invasion of Ukraine is set to fulfil Ferrari’s young driver requirement for two practice sessions in 2022.
For any driver as we know Ferrari is a team they would all like to drive for, but it could be more special to make at least a practice debut for Ferrari. We know there are some really good young talent coming through, but he accepts that it’s “a bit early” for Ferrari to make a decision about 2023.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, he said, “I’m a bit excited about the idea. I still don’t know exactly at which events I will be on track, but it will undoubtedly be a good moment. I am proud to be able to drive a Ferrari on a race weekend, and also very interested in verifying the correlation work done with the engineers in the simulator”
McLaren
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has explained that being able to mask the car’s lack of downforce in qualifying is behind the large discrepancy between qualifying and race pace. The British team has appeared to have taken a step back this season, after fighting for third in 2021, it has found itself behind Alpine fighting for fourth in the constructors.
Asked by Motorsport.com why McLaren manages to perform strongly in qualifying only to fall back during the race, Seidl explained qualifying can mask some of the car’s deficits as it manages to extract the most from the Pirelli tyres over one lap. You have to think they may be in the same situation as Mercedes, where they are stronger in races and have a very narrow window where the car works.
Alpine
Alpine has said they would have no issue in bringing Daniel Ricciardo back to the team if they cannot resolve the Oscar Piastri contract saga. The French manufacturer has been at the centre of the driver market, after Fernando Alonso shocked the team by signing for Aston Martin.
Meanwhile, Alpine are adamant, even in light of Piastri’s claims, that their current reserve driver must drive for them next season but if that does not happen, the French outfit are not ruling out Ricciardo. But I think there is a long way to go in this saga, there will eventually be a solution found,
Otmar Szafnauer believes that Esteban Ocon has what it takes to lead the team following Fernando Alonso’s departure at the end of this season. He told Motorsport.com, “Esteban is a super talent. I worked with him at Force India and those were the days of Sergio Perez as his teammate. And he was as quick as Sergio and raced Sergio hard, and if you remember those days, they were always together on the grid”
Alpha Tauri
Pierre Gasly believes that Alpha Tauri has the “right tools” to solve their recent issues. After two strong seasons, the Italian teams form in 2022 has been erratic this season causing it to drop to the bottom of the midfield pack. The team has been one which has potentially been caught out by the regulation changes.
But Gasly believes that is why the team needs to take a step back to look at the bigger picture and whether they have taken the right direction. He also revealed that the team knew early on they would be on a knife edge to stick to the budget cap, but they were continuing to push.
Alfa Romeo
Valtteri Bottas believes 2022 is “probably the most enjoyable” season he has experienced to date thanks to stability over his future with Alfa Romeo. The Finn joined Alfa Romeo at the start of the season following a five-year stint at Mercedes, he took wins and finished runner-up in the championship twice behind teammate Lewis Hamilton.
While the Finn has taken a step back from the regular front-running form he enjoyed at Mercedes, he has spearheaded Alfa Romeo’s efforts in the midfield this season, scoring forty-one of the team’s forty-six points so far. The team has been one of the surprises this season, and we knew already he has been surprised by the team’s consistency and regularly being in the points.
Speaking about the environment at Alfa Romeo he said it felt “quite young” and “like a new race team”, as well as being “a bit more relaxed” than Mercedes which was regularly fighting for wins and championships.
