Piastri was unsure Ricciardo wanted to hear from him
Oscar Piastri admits he was not sure if Daniel Ricciardo wanted to hear from him, before his fellow Australian phoning him to speak about their situation. McLaren’s decision to swoop for Piastri earlier this summer helped trigger the exit of Ricciardo from the Woking-based squad, with his F1 future now uncertain.
The whole row between Alpine and McLaren about his future dominated headlines for weeks and while that could have led to awkwardness between not only them but fellow Australian Mark Webber, who manages Piastri alongside his broadcasting for Channel 4. in a bid to ensure that there was no chance of tensions emerging, Ricciardo revealed that he spoke to Piastri and Webber after the summer break to clear things up.
Piastri has revealed that the call from Ricciardo was very much welcomed, as he had been a bit nervous beforehand about whether or not there would be problems between them.
Speaking to the In the Fast Lane podcast, he opened up on the importance of Ricciardo being the first to make the move. Piastri said. “I was planning on getting in touch myself, but with the timing of things, he was obviously at races, quite frankly I didn’t know if he wanted to hear from me.”
“I was trying to think of what to say, but he beat me to it. That was a true professional, my respect for him was already extremely high and it’s only got higher in the way he’s responded. Him getting in touch like that, that was great for me personally, knowing that there were no hard feelings. That really helps me quite a lot, and it was good to get in touch.”
While his future is now resolved, he still doesn’t know when he will get his first drive for McLaren. He still remains under contract at Alpine, even though he has been stood down from official duties with the team at Grands Prix.
Discussions are ongoing about Piastri potentially being released early from the contract, which could allow him an early chance to drive for McLaren in an FP1 session. However, nothing has been settled on this front which leaves him uncertain of when his first McLaren outing will be.
Piastri also announce he had chosen eighty-one as his driver number, explaining it was down to him having very limited options when he started karting. Saying, “when I did my first race, I had to pick a number for my first race and the kart shop I went to only had number ones in stock. It had to be a one or two-digit number and I obviously couldn’t be number one for obvious reasons. So I was actually number 11, for my first couple of races.
“Then we entered, I think it was the Victorian state titles, and somebody had already entered as number 11. So I don’t know what inspired me to pick 81. But I changed the first one for a number eight, and it’s stuck ever since.”
F1 needs to look at narrow pit lanes
Carlos Sainz says that the sport needs to look at potential safety issues in narrow pitlanes following some close calls at the recent Dutch Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver was one of several drivers to be involved in unsafe release incidents at Zandvoort when he drove into the path of Fernando Alonso.
At an earlier Sainz pitstop, Sergio Perez ran over a Ferrari wheel gun as he left the Red Bull pit. Sainz received a five-second penalty for the unsafe release, but the Spaniard is more concerned about the potential risks to crew members in the tighter pitlanes on the calendar.
The upcoming race in Singapore also features one of the tighter pitlanes of the season. He told Motorsport.com “Absolutely, I think it’s something that is not talked about enough, that we go to pit lanes during the year that are definitely too tight.”
“We need to improve safety for the mechanics because we forget that those people wearing suits and helmets during the pitstops are in the middle of cars going at 80kph, and they are centimetres apart from incidents and from very dangerous situations. I feel Zandvoort’s a great track, I want to go back there every year.”
Sainz says they need to think about the mechanics because it is too tight in the pit lane and it can be particularly dangerous when multiple cars stop during safety car situations, and teams attempt to stack their cars. He pointed out that pit lane safety isn’t talked about as much as track safety.
GPDA director George Russell agreed that pitlanes should be looked at by the FIA. the Mercedes driver said, “Certainly in Zandvoort, it was too tight, and something needs to be done about it. There’s no doubt about it. It must be pretty daunting for the guys doing the pit stop.”
“When you’ve got a car coming in at 60 or 80km/h, and you’re coming out, the tyres are cold, the car is kicking out. So in a circuit like that I’m not too sure what the solution is. But we need to find a better compromise, for sure.”
Zhou confirmed by Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo has confirmed that Guanyu Zhou will remain with the team for 2023. The Chinese driver was expected to stay with the team with it understood the team took up their option on the driver at the end of August, with the announcement timed to coincide with the sport’s return to Asia this weekend.
Zhou finished tenth in Bahrain and Monza, with his best result so far being eighth in Montreal, which has put him seventeenth in the driver’s championship. His rookie season has seen him make few mistakes, and he escaped uninjured from a huge crash at the first corner at Silverstone.
The team says it has been “impressed with his commitment and attitude,” and notes that Zhou “has contributed to advancing the simulator programme and has left no stone unturned to extract the maximum potential from the team’s C42.
“We knew he was quick, but the way he adapted to F1 in such a short time has been one of the best surprises of our season. He is a very nice guy, everyone in the team likes both his personality and attitude.” Vasseur praised Zhou for asking questions and learning, saying he applies the information to improve race by race.
He is also confident that he will draw on experience for next season, and he will make another step forwards next year as they continue to grow as a team.
Zhou added, “Making it to F1 was a dream come true and the feeling of competing for the first time in a race will live with me forever. The team has been incredibly supportive, welcoming me from day one and helping me adapt to the most complex series in motorsport.”
“There is more that I want to achieve in this sport and with the team, and the hard work we have put together since the start of the year is just the first step towards where we want to be next season.”
WMSC approves six sprints for 2023
The World Motorsport Council has approved the plan for six sprint weekends in 2023 after months of debate. F1 teams and the sport’s owners Liberty Media had unanimously backed plans back in April to expand the sprint race roster next season following the success of recent trials.
However the FIA first blocked the plans with president Mohammed Ben Sulayem wanted to check on the financial impact of the changes – and establish whether or not there should be extra payment made to the governing body. His stance prompted anger at the time, with one senior source suggesting that ‘greed’ was behind the FIA’s decision to block the move.
The matter had appeared to be stalled, but a special vote of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council has now approved the plans. The races have not been announced, but the six originally proposed this year was Bahrain, Imola, Canada, Austria, the Netherlands and Brazil.
The reason the talks had appeared to stall was over the Concorde Agreement terms but the statement from the governing body made it clear that the approval of the sprint races had not resulted in a change of financial terms between it and F1’s commercial rights holders. It said: “There have been no changes to the commercial agreements between the FIA and FOM in relation to Sprint sessions.”
It is widely agreed that the sprints are better held at venues where overtaking is possible.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali welcomed the move, with the sport having originally hoped to hold six sprints this year before the plans fell through because agreement could not be reached on a financial package with the teams.
Speaking about the FIA’s approval of the plan, Domenicali said: “I am pleased that we can confirm six sprints will be part of the Championship from 2023 onwards, building on the success of the new format introduced in 2021.
“The Sprint provides action across three days with the drivers all fighting for something right from the start on Friday through to the main event on Sunday – adding more drama and excitement to the weekend. The feedback from the fans, teams, promoters, and partners has been very positive and the format is adding a new dimension to Formula 1, and we all want to ensure its success in the future.”
FIA president Sulayem added that the governing body had adjusted its working practices to ensure that it could cope with the extra workload.
he said “Thanks to close collaboration with Stefano Domenicali and our colleagues at FOM, we concluded a thorough analysis on the impact of additional Sprint sessions and have adjusted relevant parameters of our work to ensure that they continue to be regulated at the very highest level,”
Chadwick targets F1 within five years
Jamie Chadwick is targeting a third W Series title at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, and has set her sights on making the step up to F1 “within five years”. The Englishman has had remarkable success in the all-female series winning the championship both seasons it has been run.
So far and all but one race this year, but has so far been unable to advance through other feeder series. She has been touted to be the first woman to race in F1 since Lella Lombardi in 1976, although F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali recently said that he doesn’t “realistically” see a female on the grid in the next five years.
Chadwick rebuffed those comments, telling Sky Sports, “From my side, if I am in F1 I want to be within the next five years, so it does go against what he says. I don’t want it to feel like we are still on the outside looking in.”
“It now needs to become very much a sport where everyone is able to compete on a level playing field. If it’s not me, I am confident another young girl has the opportunity to. You want them to start and be inspired and know that they have the opportunity.”
She added “try and go through the correct feeder series and have success to be in F1 within five years”
Chadwick isn’t expected to remain in W Series next year, she recently tested in IndyLights – the feeder series to IndyCar in the United States. She didn’t join other W Series women in a Formula 3 test.
she added “I want the best opportunity to develop as much as possible. I want good seat time, a chance to get in the car and have as much experience as possible. As great as the W Series has been, the one thing that has been lacking is the seat time and development required.”
Chadwick says there is a perception that she should go straight into F2, but she believes she is quite far away from that, but winning this championship could help. Despite her success, she has yet to step up to F3 or F2, with a lack of funding and a more physical car the major hurdles.
She said that female drivers haven’t followed the same pathway as men and while the W Series has given her a leg up, her progress compared to others in her age group, including George Russell, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, is “very different”.
McLaren shows off livery tweaks
McLaren is to run with a tweaked ‘Future Mode’ livery for the Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix, as part of a tie-up with team sponsor OKX. Both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo’s cars will feature neon pink elements and cyberpunk-inspired engine illustrations alongside their traditional orange papaya colours.
The livery forms part of a joint campaign between McLaren and crypto exchange OKX labelled ‘Future Mode’, with both drivers’ race suits also being enhanced for the Singapore and Suzuka weekends.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said that F1 being able to race once again in the important Asian market for the first time since the pandemic hit marked something worth making an extra effort for. He told Motorsport.com, “We’re excited to celebrate our partnership with OKX through this bold and vibrant livery for the upcoming races in Asia.”
“McLaren and OKX are united in driving ahead and constantly striving to break boundaries, and the Future Mode campaign is an opportunity to champion these values together on our global stage. It’s fantastic to be returning to race in Singapore and Japan, and these incredible circuits provide a fitting backdrop for us to celebrate our partnership vision together.”
Haider Rafique, Chief Marketing Officer of OKX, added: “It was incredibly fun for us and McLaren to co-design the livery for Asia. This new livery signals the arrival of bold new technology, and that is what OKX is all about.”
“The cyberpunk design we created celebrates the influence of Web3 on popular culture and brings this exciting partnership to life on the racetrack. Making its debut at the night race in Singapore, this future-facing design mirrors the 24/7 nature of OKX and the cryptocurrency markets that never sleep.”
