Gasly tests positive for Coronavirus
Pierre Gasly has become the latest driver to test positive for Coronavirus, becoming the sixth driver to test positive. The Alpha Tauri driver recently posted pictures on Instagram of training in Dubai, announced on Twitter.
he said on Twitter, “I wanted to let you know that I tested positive for COVID-19. I have told everyone I’ve been in contact with during these last days.”
“I’m currently self-isolating and following the protocol set by the local health authorities. I’m feeling OK, and will continue to follow my training plan from home while I remain in isolation.”
Norris and Leclerc tested positive after also spending time in Dubai post-season. Currently, the UK has banned travel to other countries for all but essential travel.
Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc have all tested positive since the start of the pandemic.
Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff, Williams principal Simon Roberts and Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll as well as Pirelli tyre boss Mario Isola have also had the virus.
F1 announces 2021 start times
Formula One has announced that the start of races will revert back to the top of the hour and Friday practice track time has been cut by an hour. Grands Prix had started ten minutes past the hour since 2018 but that change has now been reversed for the new season.
Meanwhile, both of Friday’s practice session has been reduced to an hour starting half an hour later for FP1 at most races. Races in Europe will start at 14:00 local time, reverting back to the traditional start time.
There have been consistent calls in recent years to reduce running time ahead of qualifying, to both ensure busier sessions when cars are on track and increase chances of unpredictability later in the weekend.
The only expectations are the night races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia which will start at 18:00 and 20:00 respectively both 16:00 UK time. Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, will start at the same time as they have always started 13:00 and 17:00.
The race which was due to be the Vietnamese Grand Prix remains TBC, while the Chinese Grand Prix is indefinitely postponed and has been replaced by the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The TBC race is still expected to be Portimao.
Bahrain opens the season on 28th March, with their event to run in the evening under floodlights as usual. The season-opener will start at 4pm UK time when the clock goes forward an hour on race day.
Joining the Mercedes doesn’t add pressure – Vesti
Mercedes junior driver Frederic Vesti says joining the programme doesn’t add extra pressure. The Danish driver was announced as a young driver for the German manufacturer last year, hoping to follow Esteban Ocon and George Russell.
Vesti joining the program comes after winning the 2019 Formula Regional European title, and fourth overall in his maiden FIA F3 Championship campaign last year. He is expected to be at Mercedes factory between Grands Prix to work on the team’s simulator.
While admitting selection to Mercedes’ prestigious junior programme is a “valuable opportunity”, it doesn’t come with any extra pressure. Vesti is expected to visit the team’s Brackley base in between his FIA F3 commitments to enjoy some seat time in the simulator.
Vesti told Motorsport.com, “Pressure is always there, ever since you start racing karts, but for me, the choice of Mercedes does not mean pressure, rather having a great opportunity to work with a group of extremely competitive and prepared people.”
“Joining the Mercedes junior programme is a valuable opportunity for my career. A deal like this takes time. The team needs to see my growth as a driver, while I need to understand if the team is able to give me all the tools to grow.”
He says before signing the contract he needed to impress. The 19-year-old has switched from last year’s championship winning squad Prema Racing, where he scored three race wins, to join ART Grand Prix. After finishing fourth last year, the aim is to take out the title this season.
Fittipaldi wins Austrian Virtual GP
Enzo Fittipaldi won Sunday’s Austrian Virtual Grand Prix of the year for Haas on Sunday after a scrap with Arthur Leclerc.
Leclerc’s teammate, Brendon Leigh made his debut for Ferrari following his switch from Mercedes, finishing third meaning the Monacan would start on pole. He remained in control until being passed by Fittipaldi on lap twenty-eight before a three-second penalty.
Real Madrid and Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, representing Alfa Romeo, set the fastest lap of the race. The virtual Grand Prix series consists of three races on successive weekends, with the other two on virtual Silverstone and Interlagos circuits.
Unofficial 2020 world champion George Russell had to withdraw because of technical difficulties. Teammate Nicholas Latifi took part. Former F1 drivers competing were Vandoorne, Anthony Davidson, Alexander Albon, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Fittipaldi’s older brother Pietro.
This year’s races have a charity prize fund with teams’ winnings going to the causes of their choice. Round two takes place this weekend, the British Grand Prix.
F1 needs ‘active role’ promoting social issues – Domenicali
Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali says that the sport needs to continue to play an “active role” in highlighting social issues through the We Race As One campaign, with the drivers serving as ambassadors.
The campaign was launched in June last year in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the fallout following the death of George Floyd in May, sparking a global push for diversity, condemning racial injustice. Time was also allocated before each race for drivers to take part in an anti-racism message, with the majority of the grid opting to take a knee.
Motorsport.com understands that F1 is set to explore plans for 2021 with drivers and teams in coming weeks, before deciding how the time before races will be used to highlight social issues.
In an interview with Sky Sports last year that the sport needed to remain conscious of social issues around the world that it would highlight through the pre-race slot.
Domenicali said in an interview with Sky Sports, “I think that is a point on which last year was very focused on, on the racism point. But diversity and We Race As One, I think that will give us the opportunity to highlight the time before the start of the race, to use these minutes to highlight the values related to this programme and this specific subject.
“What we have in mind is to use this time to share with the drivers and the teams how we can use the attention the F1 world will have to have, not only to the end of the season but to the diversity and We Race As One programme.”
He said it was important that this message didn’t only exist in the F1 bubble, but the sport wanted to have “an active role in enhancing these values.”
Domenicali says an “absolute” high priority was the maintaining F1’s diversity and anti-racism message, with him pleased to see drivers engaging with social issues and using their platforms to advocate change.
He says the drivers need to realise they are ambassadors for the sport in a way they can send the right message. But he says that the sport needed to avoid becoming political.
We Race As One has been F1’s primary platform for its corporate social responsibility, which also extends to its commitment to improve sustainability and have a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030.
Correa to return to F3 this season
Juan Manwell Correa who was seriously injured in the crash which killed Anthoine Hubert at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix is to make his return to racing in Formula Three this year.
The Ecuadorian American suffered a broken leg and lived with a brace on his leg for more than a year as part of a lengthy rehabilitation process after the accident.
Correa told F1.com, “First of all, I’m extremely happy to be back after what I’ve been through. I am super thankful to ART Grand Prix; it means a lot to me that they’re believing in me and my comeback. F3 is a transition year, my dream is still to reach F1 and this is the first step in my comeback.”
“My targets are a bit ahead of myself, because I still have to do a lot, I have not driven a car for a year and a half and there is a big learning curve ahead. I’m entering this season with an open mind, I won’t put pressure on myself, I will do my best, I will do what I love and that’s already a victory.”
Before his accident, Correa was a double podium finisher in Baku and Le Castellet, finishing runner up to Hubert.
F1 has a problem if Mercedes go unchallenged – Jordan
Channel 4’s Eddie Jordan says that Formula One has “a problem” with Mercedes’ dominance likely to go unchallenged this year.
Mercedes aims to improve on a record seven consecutive constructors’ titles, but are still negotiating Sir Lewis Hamilton’s new contract, but Jordan believes both parties will “come to a good solution”.
Jordan told BBC News Scotland, “The sport is in a difficult situation because no-one can put their finger on Mercedes. They do it better than anybody else.”
“Racing Point won a race last year, that was amazing from Sergio Perez, and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the last race but that shouldn’t confuse people into thinking it will be much more open. Mercedes have the best people and the best engine, so how can they not win the championship? That’s a problem for me.”
The former team owner says it is going to be difficult for the sport to find the right sponsorship. Mercedes won thirteen of the seventeen races last year, Hamilton winning eleven races of his sixteen starts. The Englishman has yet to agree a contract with Mercedes for the coming season but Jordan reckons it is only a matter of time.
Talking to the This Sporting Life podcast, the Irishman said: “Lewis Hamilton is the jewel in the crown. He’s the one every TV station wants to interview. Mercedes are probably saying a lot of this is to do with the car and we’ve given him an outstanding chance to be world champion because he has the best car.”
He says if F1 and Mercedes think they are ‘deluded’, but believes Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff is a very smart guy, and wouldn’t be easily deluded.
Rossi considered once for F1 seat
Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has revealed the Scuderia once considered the idea of MotoGP seven times champion Valentino Rossi making his full-time Formula One debut with Sauber, now Alfa Romeo.
The seven-times champion flirted with switching to F1 in the mid-2000s, and made his F1 test debut in Valencia in 2006 in an F2004 having already completed some private running previously. The Italian had discussions seriously considered a switch to F1 in 2006 and had discussions with Ferrari, though ultimately opted against it when its initial offer wasn’t to join the main race team straight away.
Yamaha feared that Rossi, who’d won two MotoGP titles for it at the time having joined from Honda in 2004, would quit to race in F1 that prompted it to sign Jorge Lorenzo for 2008 before he’d even won his first of two 250cc crowns.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, about that idea, “Everyone knows that it was not a publicity operation, Ferrari did not need it. At the beginning, it was almost a courtesy to the desire of a great champion.”
“I saw that he was going strong, especially he lacked continuity, but he had a lot of potential and desire. At one point we thought he would do a year at Sauber, but he was smart and preferred to remain number one in motorcycles than fourth or fifth in cars.”
Rossi remained at Yamaha until 2010 before spending two ill-failed season’s with Ducati. He also made an outing in the 2008 Ferrari the same year.
The Italian was linked to Felipe Massa’s seat after the Brazilian crashed and suffered serious head injuries in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. That never came to pass in the end, with Ferrari sticking Giancarlo Fisichella in the car having taken him out of his Force India contract.
Current Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola, who was sporting director at Ferrari during this period – told Autosport in 2019 he thought the suggestions of Rossi making his F1 debut at Monza in 2009 was more for publicity than a serious option.
