F1 Today – Dutch Prixview – 01/09/2022
Ferrari gets more criticism – Sainz
Carlos Sainz reckons Ferrari is dealt more criticism than everybody else for its strategy and that “no one” has congratulated the team when it has made correct calls. The Italian manufacturer has been under heavy fire during the 2022 season as questionable tyre switches and ill-timed stops have further hurt a title challenge undermined by a patchy reliability record plus crashes.
Sunday’s race at Spa was another example of that, Charles Leclerc was debating strategy mid-race over team radio before a penultimate lap stop as part of a late bid to nick the fastest lap point away from leader Max Verstappen. The Monegasque was then released behind Fernando Alonso in the battle for fifth and had to mount a last-lap pass before dropping to sixth owing to a five second penalty for pitlane speeding.
Following the race, Mattia Binotto said on the Sunday night there was a difference between the perception of Ferrari’s strategy from those outside the team and the “reality” of the situation.
The team principal said, “If I look back at the season, I think there are a lot of perceptions from outside compared to what are the true and the reality. I think sometimes we are not doing mistakes when it may have been perceived as a mistake.”
He has been notably defensive about the calls and procedures when under scrutiny this term. Sainz backed that, saying that it was very easy to generalise and say the team should have been more brave or more cautious adding “You would need to pick one by one and analyse them independently.”
“I’m pretty sure one by one, every result or every conclusion will be different. Maybe we could have been a bit more gutsy here, we could have played a bit more safe here. For me, it’s all about continuous improvement and continuous[ly] finding ways to make the right calls at the right time.”
He also says that no one had come forward to congratulate Ferrari when it had nailed its strategy. Sainz says he has noticed that compared to when he or his previous teams saying “when there was a big mistake, no one would come and point it out and criticise you and put you down as much as they do in Ferrari.”
Ferrari surprised if Red Bull brings lightweight chassis
Ferrari says it would be “very surprised” if Red Bull introduced a lightweight Formula One chassis this season given the budget cap constraints, but notes the financial rules remain “very green”.
The talk at Spa last weekend suggested that Red Bull is looking to introduce an update soon aimed at tackling the weight issue the team has had all season. Team principal Christian Horner said following the race that “these chassis will run for the next few races” and confirmed the chassis that raced at Spa were identical to those used in Hungary while staying coy on any possible move to introduce a lighter chassis before the end of the season.
During that discussion, his Ferrari counterpart Mattia Binotto admitted it would be a surprise to see Red Bull do so given the constraints of the budget cap, the enforcement of which he said was “always a concern”.
He told Motorsport.com, “We’ve now got the technical, sporting and as well the financial regulations, which can make a difference between teams in the way they are interpreting and executing it. We know that we need to have a very strong FIA to have it properly focusing, otherwise the regulations themselves will not be fair and equitable.”
“Now I cannot judge on the Red Bull for the lightweight [chassis], because as you said, maybe not. As Ferrari, we will never be capable of introducing a lightweight chassis or a different strategy through a season, simply for budget cap. I will be very surprised if other teams would be capable of doing it.”
Binotto has previously raised concerns about the FIA’s abilities to police the cap, believing F1’s governing body will need to expand its team that is dedicated to their enforcement. Adding after the race at Spa that there was “a big question mark” about the financial regulations because they are “very green at the moment.”
Binotto said, “The number of people monitoring it in the FIA is very little, so it has to improve for the future because it will be really bad if a championship somehow is dictated by a financial regulations and not technical and sporting.”
Alonso apologises for calling Hamilton an “idiot”
Fernando Alonso has apologised for calling his former teammate and seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton an “idiot,” following their first-lap collision in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix and insisted that the Mercedes driver is a “legend”.
After Hamilton turned in on Alonso at the start of Sunday’s race and launched into the air, Alonso called his former team-mate an “idiot” on team radio and said he “only knows how to drive and start in first”.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the Spaniard said he regretted the outburst and offered an apology to Hamilton, who he called a “champion” and a “legend of our time”.
Adding “When you say something – and I’m sorry to repeat this – against a British driver, there is a huge media involvement after that. If you say something to a Latin driver, everything’s a little bit more fun. But when you say something to others, it’s a little bit more serious.”
The two multiple world champions were battling for third and fourth at Les Combes before the collision, which Hamilton was forced to retire while Alonso eventually finished fifth in the Alpine.
He said he doesn’t think there was much to blame having watched the accident back because it was a first lap accident with them all close to each other. Adding he was in the heat of the moment with adrenaline and shouldn’t have made those comments.
Asked if he believed Hamilton could not drive anywhere other than first, as he suggested last weekend, he added: “No, no, no, I don’t believe [that]. It’s not even that I believe or don’t believe, there are facts that it is not that way. I have huge respect.”
Alonso said he hoped to apologise to Hamilton in person later on Thursday.
Hamilton hopeful Spa power unit can be saved
Lewis Hamilton is confident Mercedes will be able to repair and reuse the engine damaged in his crash with Fernando Alonso at the Belgian Grand Prix. Following the crash, at Les Combe the Englishman was sent into the air with a 45G impact, which resulted in his engine spraying coolant into the path of the following cars including Alonso.
Mercedes soon ordered Hamilton to stop and retire before returning to the Spa pits as it was concerned about the engine being damaged amid quickly rising temperatures. It subsequently began an investigation into examining if the power unit could be repaired or if the Briton would have to take add another engine to his parts pool to complete the 2022 season.
The power unit was brand new and his last penalty-free unit of the season, it means that if Hamilton needs fresh components it will result in grid penalties. While the seven-time champion remains hopeful the engine can be saved, the investigation into whether it can be reused is on going.
He said, “They’ve gone through the whole car and they’re doing work on the engine to make sure that we can use it. I think we’ll be able to use it [again]. We won’t be using it this weekend because they’re still repairing pieces from the car. So, we’ll find out soon.”
When asked if he was physically fine following the high-load crash, which triggered the in-car sensor activation that requires drivers to visit a circuit medical centre, Hamilton replied: “I feel fine. I’ve been doing physio and just stretching, and, fortunately, I’m good.”
News in Brief
Weren’t joking about contract
Pierre Gasly was “laughing” about a video clip that emerged of him mentioning “final details of a contract” amid links to Alpine, saying it was “nothing related to Formula One.” Following last weekend’s race at Spa, a clip of him and George Russell emerged where he could be heard saying: “I’m still working on the final details of the contract.”
No repeat of Austria at Zandvoort
Dutch Grand Prix organisers are confident that there will be no repeat of the “embarrassing” behaviour of some ‘Orange Army’ fans that marred this year’s race in Austria. Dutch fans were linked to sexual harassment, homophobia and racism.
sporting director Jan Lammers says he has absolutely no concerns about the situation and thinks the small minority who ruined things for many in Austria will probably be too “embarrassed” to return to an F1 event.
Vettel still thinking about 2023 car
Aston Martin boss Mike Krack says that Sebastian Vettel is still thinking about improvements for next year’s car, despite his impending retirement. Asked after the Belgian GP if Vettel was still thinking about future improvements, Krack said: “Yes, yes.
“And that is there where you see also how professional he is and how committed he still is. Actually, in the debrief he said something today, ‘For next year’s car, please, think about that.’ So he’s fully on it.”
Verstappen joins Order of Orange-Nassau
Max Verstappen has been awarded the Dutch equivalent of an MBE after being appointed as an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, after last year becoming the first Dutchman to win the world champion.
The Dutch sports minster Conny Helder says becoming a world champion is much more complex than having talent. The minister referred to Verstappen’s intransigence and his achievement in becoming the first Dutchman ever to win a Formula One world title. Verstappen is therefore very happy with the award.
In a tweet, Verstappen said, “Being appointed an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau is an incredibly proud moment for me and came very unexpected for me so early in my career. I want to thank my family and loved ones, but also Red Bull who have been like a second family to me. We achieved this together.”
Mercedes doesn’t understand big swings
George Russell says that Mercedes doesn’t “fully understand” why they have “big swings” between qualifying and its stronger race pace. The Englishman took his maiden pole in Budapest and finished on the podium, that was only after the team turned the car “upside down” after practice.
Despite having the summer break to analyse the data on the W13, that inconsistency carried over to last weekend at Spa, when Russell was only eighth fastest in qualifying. That was one spot behind Hamilton, who was eliminated in a first-lap crash with Fernando Alonso before Russell was helped by grid penalties on the way to an eventual fourth.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s race, Russell said, “It’s definitely been a bit of a theme for us this season. We’re still yet to fully understand why we have such a big swing, to be honest. The swing is probably less compared to Red Bull, but when you look at it compared to the midfield.”
“We are often being outqualified by an Alpine or a McLaren. I mean, even Alex [Albon, Williams] was very close to outqualifying us last week. But in the race, we showed some really strong pace.”
Russell rued a lost podium at Spa behind Carlos Sainz, and with the benefit of hindsight would have done things “slightly differently”. He says the team needs to overcome their single lap struggles.
Asked where the major deficit was coming from, Russell lamented a lack of overall downforce.
He explained: “Global performance is one thing. Once we get to Sunday, and things are a bit more even, we see that we’re still on average three or four-tenths behind Red Bull and we need to find some more global downforce and maybe make our car a bit more efficient so we’re not losing so much time on the straights.
McLaren running out of time to beat Alpine
Lando Norris says time is running out in McLaren’s efforts to try to beat main rival Alpine in the constructors’ championship this year. The two teams have been locked in a battle for fourth with the French manufacturer to finish best of the rest.
However, Alpine has been one of the most aggressive teams this season, allowing them to have more pace on track, and pull twenty points ahead. Despite it appearing to have the faster car and momentum shifting towards their rival, Norris still senses that McLaren has an opportunity to recover, but says it cannot wait long if it wants to realistically close in on it.
In particular, he feels that the high downforce nature of Zandvoort should better suit the MCL36 than Spa did. he said during a preview event with Dutch GP title sponsor Heineken. Saying, “Hopefully we can claw back some points, especially because here it’s just put as much downforce on the car as possible. In Spa, it was a lot about efficiency.”
“Who can be quick on the straights but also have a car which produces a lot of downforce without a big wing: like Red Bull. That’s when you see they are miles quicker than everyone: especially Max [Verstappen]. But yeah, here is a bit more like Budapest and Monaco, where you just put everything on the cars.”
Norris is hoping they can make another step forward and be more competitive while accepting there is a long way to go while accepting they are running out of time to stay ahead of Alpine.
Team principal Andreas Seidl is refusing to accept that the fight with Alpine is over. Saying in Spa, Alpine simply did a better job and that with eight races to there is still a lot of points to fight for. Saying “We were the fourth strongest team. So we will regroup, see what we can learn from [Spa] and then go again in Zandvoort with a clear objective to strike back.”
McLaren’s MCL36 is not the most aerodynamically efficient car in a straight line, and that characteristic proved to be a particular handicap in Belgium last weekend. However, Seidl shares Norris’ optimism about the high downforce requirements of Zandvoort suiting it more.
Seidl added: “Definitely we should be in a better position and be more competitive.”
Practices extended for tyre resting
Formula One second practice at the Japanese and United States Grands Prix is to be extended for extra tyre testing. Pirelli is working on a tweak to the tyres for 2023, focusing on a much stronger front to help dial out the understeer characteristics of the current design.
While the tyre manufacturer has worked with all the teams testing and has one more scheduled with Red Bull following the Italian Grand Prix, it also wants to trial prototype versions of the 2023 design at an event.
Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of car racing and F1, has revealed that it has agreed for second free practice at Suzuka and Austin to run for an extra 30 minutes to give teams time to trial the new rubber. If either of those sessions is impacted by rain then FP2 in Mexico will be used as a fallback option.
Speaking about the idea, Isola hoped the plan for extended running would work in ensuring teams could focus on tyre testing without sacrificing their race preparations. Explaining “FP2 will be ninety minutes, not sixty minutes, so we have a bit more flexibility. In terms of running, it will be very similar to a normal FP2 for them.”
“I believe that with the current plan, we have a good solution for the moment. Obviously it is the first time so we need to check if it works or not.”
But the idea is for the future to keep all these kinds of testing available. So when we have the European season after some races, Tuesday, Wednesday, we can use some available teams for proper tyre testing. This plan doesn’t come with complications for engine mileage.
However, there are some advantages like teams needing to move or stay longer at circuits. Isola added “Every time that we have an idea you have to discuss it for weeks to find a final solution that is working.”
The weekend ahead
This weekend is about Max Verstappen, his home Grand Prix at Zandvoort he will be looking to repeat what he did last year win the race. In this race you need to believe that Red Bull are the team to beat at the moment, but we know that after Ferrari’s strategy mistakes at Spa there will be questions still. But we know the drivers have said they feel Ferrari is over-criticised when it makes mistakes.
Ferrari will be wanting to prove they can deliver decent strategy, the feeling I think now unless something dramatic unfolds this is Verstappen’s race and championship to lose. Charles Leclerc needs not just one good but serval good weekends, and for that to happen the team need to deliver.
Zandvoort is a tight and tricky circuit almost similar to Budapest you need a balance between the straight line speed and grip in the corners. This is about being a good all-rounder and building the weekend to be flexible and react to events. We saw last weekend at older circuits the cost of mistakes are a lot higher leading to the higher chance of mistakes.
It will be interesting to see if teams can build on last weekend as we are in a triple header, Mercedes looked to struggle on Friday in Spa but George Russell showed once again they have a decent race car. Their battle is with Alpine, last weeks crash between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, the dust I feel might be setting.