Alpha Tauri has been one of the stand out performers this season, but team principal Franz Tost says they only deserve a five out of ten despite there strong position in the midfield why is he calling for the team to “get it together”?
Tost gives Alpha Tauri a five out ten for the season so far
Alpha Tauri team principal Franz Tost has given his team a five out of ten for the first half of the season, warning that the team will “have to get it together” to fight for fifth in the constructor’s championship.
Red Bull’s sister team has impressed this season in the midfield with one of the fastest cars which has allowed Pierre Gasly to qualify on the front three rows eight times in the first eleven races, as well as a podium in Baku. While teammate Yuki Tsunoda also showed flashes of promise but has generally struggled to match his more experienced teammate and made his fair share of rookie error
However, Esteban Ocon’s victory in Budapest saw Alpine move ahead in the battle for fifth and Aston Martin looked competitive, with Sebastian Vettel finishing on the podium before being disqualified for a technical infringement. Going into the final race before the summer break, Tost praised his team for its “very competitive” start but was left slightly dissatisfied as it couldn’t always convert the car’s potential into points.
When asked by Motorsport.com, to give his team a score out of ten for the first part of 2021, Tost said: “It’s in the middle. I would say a five. A five means, out of ten, there is still another 50% to improve. We had some really good races, some highlights. When I look generally to the start of the season, we were very competitive, like we are now as well.”
“The last three races [before Budapest] I’m not so satisfied, because we scored only four points. And this of course was not enough. It’s a hard fight. We have very strong teams near to us, with Aston Martin and Alpine, and we have to get it together to finish in fifth position.”
Alpha Tauri has been mainly carried by Gasly this year, the Frenchman scoring fifty of the teams sixty-eight points. Tost praised his performance level but continued his message to give Tsunoda more time to become a more consistent performer. He also said he didn’t care which driver was delivering
Saying, “Pierre is doing a fantastic job. He is driving really on a very, very high level, and he shows the potential of the car. I must say that the potential is there to finish fifth in the constructors’ championship. But of course, we have to get it together.
“Yuki is a rookie and Formula 1 nowadays is really very, very professional. It’s on a very, very high level, also on the technical side.”
Tost says he thinks from the outside the team are underestimated with the team needing to give its young drivers time, pointing out you cannot come from other categories thinking you can have immediate success.
AS LGBT laws are set to be introduced in Hungary ahead of last weekends race in Budapest both Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel spoke out. Vettel also refused to follow the protocol over t-shirts ahead of the race, with his Mercedes counterpart prasing his actions.
Hamilton “proud” Vettel standing up for LGBTQ+ rights
Sir Lewis Hamilton felt “proud” of Sebastian Vettel for standing up for LGBTQ+ rights in Hungary last weekend after the Aston Martin driver was reprimanded for breaking FIA protocol.
Both Hamilton and Vettel have spoken out against the governments nti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the build-up to the race weekend at the Hungaroring, with Vettel wearing a pair of rainbow trainers in the paddock on Thursday.
On the grid ahead of the race, Vettel put on a rainbow-coloured t-shirt with the words “Same Love” written on the front, which he wore on the grid during the pre-race ceremonies. That resulted in Vettel being reprimanded for failure to follow the race director’s instructions, with Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll also receiving a reprimand after they kept on their We Race As One t-shirts.
Prior to the FIA’s ruling, Vettel said he would be “happy if they disqualify me” over wearing the t-shirt, adding: “They can do whatever they want to me, I don’t care. I would do it again.”
Asked by Motorsport.com, about Vettel’s t-shirt, Hamilton praised the four-time F1 world champion for speaking up and helping the push for greater inclusivity within the sport.
Hamilton said, “I think it’s wonderful that Seb has taken a stance this weekend, really to speak out for those in the LGBTQ+ community here. I spoke about it the beginning of the weekend. I think it was important for him to do so. He probably won’t be in too much trouble.”
“But we have to make a stand. We’re pushing for diversity and inclusivity, and that community, 100%, is included in that. I’m proud of him for it.” As well as his t-shirt Vettel’s race helmet for the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend featured a prominent pride flag as part of the design.
Hungary implemented the law last month, similar to Section 28 in the UK between preventing the depiction and teaching of homosexuality or transgender issues to under 18s, sparking widespread condemnation across Europe.
One of the biggest talking points since Silverstone has been the collision between Sir Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. But is the media playing a role in making Verstappen look like the ‘bad guy’? Fernando Alonso believes so
British bias portrayed Verstappen as ‘bad guy’ – Alonso
Fernando Alonso believes that the British centric view of Formula One is the cause of drivers like him and Max Verstappen being portrayed as the sport’s ‘bad guys’. The incredible tight batter between Verstappen and Sir Lewis Hamilton boiled over following their collision at Silverstone.
In Hungary, the tension between Mercedes and Red Bull were still running high admit a protest from Red Bull who believed that Hamilton had not been given a harsh enough penalty after going on to win the race. As the questions continued, Verstappen eventually lost his temper in the post-qualifying press conference when he objected to ‘ridiculous’ questions about the chances of another clash.
Alonso then prompted some intrigue when he was asked if he had any sympathy over Verstappen’s outburst for being on the receiving end of repeated probing. He told Motorsport.com, “I didn’t see the press conference. But I feel probably what they are experiencing now. Especially Max, because he’s the younger guy fighting with a legend, with a champion. He’s not British, so it will be always more difficult for him.”
Having being asked to clarify what he meant by the ‘British’ remark, he explained that he felt the UK domination of the sport, with seven of the teams being British-based, had left the sport biased towards home nation drivers.
Saying, “I have the impression always that when things become a little bit spicy or tense in the title fight… this sport is a British environment. All the teams, they are British. Most of you guys, journalists or the media attention, and TV crews, everyone comes from the UK.”
Alonso said it was understandable there was bit of preference towards British drivers, saying that Hamilton can be competitive and keeps winning. Saying when he was racing against Hamilton in 2007 he felt like the bad guy.
That season fighting for the championship at McLaren was set against the Spygate scandal.
In an era where a cost cap is now a part of the sport, one of the issues which is still to be resolved is damage repairs. Ferrari says a rethink is needed as it has aleady spent around £2m of its total £125m budget on repairs.
Ferrari damage bill highlights issues with budget cap
Ferrari says the €2.5 million damage bill so far this season shows why a potential rethink about cost cap limits. The bigger teams have faced a challenge to cut back their spending to £125m, as set out by the cost cap introduced forcing the bigger teams to cut back on spending.
Both Mercedes and Red Bull talked about the pain they had to go through over the winter to lay off staff that they could no longer afford to keep. But as the season has worn on, there has been further concern about the complications that outfits are facing when it comes to paying out for unexpected damage.
Following Valtteri Bottas’s collision at Imola with George Russell, Mercedes feared that they would have to cut back on development upgrades, while Red Bull was unhappy about a $1.8 million repair bill it faced from Max Verstappen’s accident at the British Grand Prix.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto suggested that rivals whose drivers are guilty of causing crash should pay for any damage caused. However not all the teams are in agreement that this is realistic, Binotto says there are justifiable grounds for at least teams and F1’s chiefs to get together and talk about it.
He says that an inspection of bills from the first half of 2021 shows Ferrari has faced paying out €2.5m for damage, which shows the kind of leeway that has to be built into budgets nowadays for unexpected events.
Binotto told Motorsport.com, “These are overall damages, and sometimes we can damage ourselves, so these are not [just] other teams that damage ourselves. Now, there’s been a lot of discussions that if there is a crash and there is a guilty driver, and you’re not faulty, and if you have been damaged, then should that be exempt from the budget cap?”
“I think it’s certainly an important point because the reason why I mentioned 2.5m euros is to show that overall the damage can be significant. So should we consider a different type of regulation in those cases? I think certainly there is merit for it.”
Binotto accepted there are no easy solutions to this and that the sport needed to discuss this in the coming weeks. Another area of debate in the wider picture is whether teams should face exemptions from things like gearbox and engine penalties if there a result of another drivers actions.
Leclerc lost his second power unit of the year after he was swiped by the out-of-control Stroll at the first corner of the Hungarian Grand Prix. This means he will at some point this year need to introduce a fourth and fifth unit into the pool, thus gaining penalties.
Binotto thinks there are grounds to discuss a potential change here too, even though it would be very complicated to sort out. Adding, “There is no obvious solution,” he said. “If we damage an engine, as in our case like in Hungary, it was an engine that still had its intended usage but was not new.
“By replacing it, you fit something new so you don’t do it with something of equal mileage and the same lifespan. So it’s complicated.”
He also said there are talks about further reductions in 2025, going down to two, which makes the issue more important. But again stressed he thinks there is no easy solution.
Daniel Ricciardo has driven alongside Max Verstappen giving him a rare insight into one of the challengers for this year’s world championship, he also says that his new teammate Lando Norris has similar traits
Norris shows similar traits and speed as Verstappen – Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo says that his McLaren teammate Lando Norris shows similar traits of natural raw speed to Max Verstappen, even though he thinks it is too early to make direct comparisons.
The Australian has been teammates with both Verstappen and Norris, having raced alongside the Dutchman at Red Bull between May 2016 until he joined Renault, now Alpine, at the end of 2018. although he thinks it is too early in Norris’ career to judge how he stacks up against Verstappen, Ricciardo says that on track at least there are some obvious similarities.
Speaking to the Italian version of Motorsport.com, Ricciardo said, “Yeah, I think very different personality. But, let’s say, the skill on track, you could see just the raw speed is there. I see it with Lando this year. It’s maybe a little bit early to compare him and Max. But, for sure, he’s very good. Very, very good.”
One of the surprises of this season has been Norris managing to raise his game and regularly beat Ricciardo, who has at times struggled to get to grip with the McLaren. Ricciardo says that beating Verstappen to pole in Mexico in 2018 has assured him that he does have what it takes to fight against and beat the best.
He says the moment was sweet because he knew that Red Bull was slightly annoyed at him denying Verstappen a historic feat. Adding, “I was aware of some of the things, but I tried not to pay too much attention, Because I think as well, I’ve never been the person to have like the negative mindset.”
“For me I just had to focus on driving, and that was it. But for sure, I knew if Max got pole that weekend, he was the youngest ever polesitter, you know, so there was a record for him, a record for Red Bull.” Ricciardo says that the reason he didn’t get mad was that it would have been bad for the business.
