Hamilton sets out plans for future
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.
Hamilton, whose current Mercedes F1 contract expires at the end of 2023, has repeatedly stated he has no intention to retire at the end of next season, as the 37-year-old feels he still has more to achieve both on and off track.
While Hamilton is focused on fighting for world titles with Mercedes, he also remains committed to leading F1’s diversity and inclusion push through his charitable foundation Mission 44, so feels no need to consider retirement with multiple motivations to continue.
Speaking in Budapest, he said, “I think it’s a reminder that I’m in that part of my career where people that I came up with and raced with for so long will start to stop. Before you know it, Fernando will not be here. And then, who was there after that? I’ll be the oldest I guess! But, no, it’s not made me think about that [retirement].”
“I’m thinking about how I can improve this car. I’m thinking about what the steps I need to take to get this team winning again, what is the road map to winning another world championship?”
“What are the steps we need to do to have everyone aligned in this sport to do more to start truly reflecting the work that we’re trying to do in terms of diversity? I’m thinking about all those things.”
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.
Hamilton also credited Vettel for his activism work in highlighting environmental issues and humanitarian efforts while in F1 and hopes the series can continue what the German driver has pushed for.
Hamilton said, “The work that I’ve tried to do, what Seb’s been trying to do here – really igniting the fire of sparking conversations, to leave the place a better sport than it was when we found it,”
Horner understands fans “aggrieved” by Abu Dhabi
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has admitted that he can understand why Lewis Hamilton fans would feel “aggrieved” about last year’s Abu Dhabi title decider but believes Max Verstappen ultimately deserved the championship.
In a wide-ranging interview which aired in full yesterday with Sky Sports recorded before Budapest, Horner discussed a range of topics, from his management style and his journey to the rivalry with Mercedes and 2021’s intense finale.
Verstappen and Hamilton went into the last race level on points after a spectacular campaign, although Abu Dhabi was shrouded in controversy after the Dutchman overtook the seven-time champion, who had dominated the race, on the very last lap. The inquiry concluded that then race director Michael Masi incorrectly applied the Safety Car rules, while it was determined that “human error” was a factor. Masi has now left the FIA, F1’s governing body.
Horner says while he understands why Hamilton fans would feel hard done by, but prefers to look at the season as a whole and believes Verstappen deserved his first crown. Pointing to their first lap collision at Silverstone where the two crashed into each other, before Hamilton despite been given a penalty still went on to take victory
He said, “I always tend to look forwards so Abu Dhabi already seems a long time ago. The page always turns. I can understand that if you were a Lewis fan or a Mercedes fan, that you’ll feel pretty aggrieved by the events of Abu Dhabi. If you’re a Max fan, you’ll feel it was redemption for earlier in the year.”
“That’s where sport is always going to be polarising. Last year wasn’t just about Abu Dhabi, last year was about 22 races. Do I think Max deserved that championship? Absolutely. I’m not ever going to get too hung up on it.”
At the halfway point in the season, Verstappen leads his championship rival Charles Leclerc by eighty points, while Hamilton, whose Mercedes car has been much slower than predicted, is only sixth in the standings.
Horner insists that the way last year’s championship battle over spilt with his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff wasn’t personal. But its his belief that he “got” to the Mercedes boss, who was in his first true title battle after years of F1 domination.
Saying “Toto is Toto. He’s done a phenomenal job with Mercedes. He’s obviously come into the sport from a very different background to me, he’s very much from a financial background.”
“It’s very easy to pull his chain, and you can see it. Sometimes it affects him. So of course when you’re competing, and last year was so intense and of course, it was the first time he’d ever been in that situation, it’s always interesting to see how people react.”
He wouldn’t say whether he was a better team principal, saying his focus was on what I’m doing and he’s focused on what he’s doing
Leclerc speaks about family stress
Charles Leclerc has revealed the emotional stress that being an F1 driver can have on his family. The Ferrari driver trails title rival Max Verstappen in the championship by eighty points, after his season started unravelling in the final races before the summer break because of a mixture of mistakes and reliability.
The Monegasque driver has now offered a rare insight into how he, and his family, deals with the inherent dangers of F1. Leclerc said to GQ Magazine “So it’s tough on my mother, and I don’t know what to tell her. Other than: I love what I do. There’s nothing in particular I can say to make her feel better.”
“I’m not going to say I’ll be careful. That wouldn’t be true. I’m going to give it my best, whatever. She knows: It’s a dangerous sport. It got massively safer through the years. But it will remain forever a dangerous sport. She knows I’m the happiest once I’m in that car.”
Reminders how dangerous this can sport can be were present at Silverstone for the F1 British Grand Prix when Guanyu Zhou suffered a terrible crash. He admitted afterwards that he was saved by the Halo, the once-controversial device which Lewis Hamilton also credited with being a lifesaver.
Leclerc credited the Halo for protecting him from serious injury at Spa in 2018, when Nico Hülkenberg misjudged his braking before ramming into the back of Alonso, before flying over Leclerc’s car.
At the time, he said, “I have never been a fan of the Halo but I have to say that I was very happy to have it over my head today. I felt the impact and looking at the image of my car it is quite spectacular.
Vettel chosen right time to retire – Horner
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner believes that his former driver Sebastian Vettel has chosen the right time to retire from Formula One. The German spent six seasons with the team between 2009-14, where he won all four of his titles between 2010-13.
After struggling in the first season of the hybrid era, Vettel decided to join Ferrari. However, despite leaving the team, Vettel maintained a good relationship with Horner and the rest of the Red Bull camp after his departure. Horner said, “He was a pleasure for us to have in our team.”
“We achieved some great things together. I think having just watched him grow from a boy into a young man, he’s a very principled guy. He has very strong beliefs. We’ve seen that in the latter stages of his career, as he’s very much standing up for things that he feels passionate about, and rightly so.”
Horner says while Vettel’s F1 career is coming to an end, he echoed Lewis Hamilton by saying he was sure the four-time champion would go on and do some great things. It’ll be sad not to see him around. But I think the timing is right for him.
Speaking about the four-time champions time with Red Bull, he said his work ethic was totally Germanic, as well as being a very focused young man. Saying he embraced the British culture immediate with his hard work and working late.
Horner added, “He endeared himself across all areas of the business, whether he was turning up with chocolates for secretaries or learning the lingo in the garage, his command of cockney slang became legendary. He was formidable in the cars that we produced in that period of time.”
Speaking about when he was winning his four titles, Horner said Vettel’s focus wasn’t on just achieving success, but on achieving and going for records. Adding, “They meant a lot to him.”
Horner said over the five year period Vettel got better and better, building on each season, before reaching the pinnacle of four titles in a dominant 2013 season. Adding “He brought everything together and was just truly outstanding that year.”
Alpha Tauri has the “right tools” to solve issues
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.
However, Gasly is reluctant to blame a lack of resources relative to its immediate rivals, and insists that the team has a strong core of people who can address the current issues.
He told Motorsport.com, “Compared to big teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, we know what they built over the last ten years, facilities, people, resources, they are more efficient. But at the same time I do think we have very, very good people and also the right tools to be competitive.”
“So to be honest with you, I don’t fully have the answer why we seem to struggle more than other teams in the midfield, because I don’t think we are missing something in the core of the team.”
Gasly believes that 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.
Adding “I think we started the year closer to the top of the midfield, even though we were not right there, but with better sense of performance. And others just seem to have created a bigger gap, and we haven’t been able to kind of follow that.”
He says the summer break was the first time to switch off, as well as using the opportunity to try to understand everything that is happening on our package.
Adding “we knew at the start of the season that this year is a race of development, new regulations, new cars, people are just going to develop their car throughout the year. It doesn’t really matter how you start, what’s important is just to have like an upward curve through the year.”
He says the team has been slowed down by a bit with all the issues we had with porpoising, etcetera.
Zhou focused on future, but told not to worry
Guanyu Zhou says his focus remains on keeping his seat with Alfa Romeo, ahead of discussions following the summer break about his future with the team. The Chinese driver stepped up to F1 forming a new line-up for the Swiss-based team alongside Valtteri Bottas.
Zhou holds one of the few remaining free seats on next year’s grid, but he said in Hungary that he was not giving thought to any drives elsewhere. Prior to Fernando Alonso’s switch to Aston Martin being confirmed and McLaren’s plan to part company with Daniel Ricciardo emerging, Zhou said, “I haven’t talked to any teams yet,”
He told Autosport, “I’m quite happy and settled down in Alfa Romeo. At the minute, at the beginning of the season, maybe I was worried about my future, but right now, I’m not too worried about the future.”
“I feel that I’ve been through the point to prove myself and to be up to speed, and now it’s about to keep it there with better consistency, and then yeah, trying to improve a little bit step by step even more towards the end of the year. So far, I’m quite happy working together with this team.”
In his first half season in the sport Zhou has impressed, scoring a point on his debut in Bahrain, with his best finish of eighth at the Canadian Grand Prix in June.
Those results have earned him praise from technical director Jan Monchaux said last month that Zhou had been the “surprise of the season” in F1, indicating how pleased the team was with his level of performance so far, while team principal Frederic Vasseur hailed him for doing a “perfect job”.
Zhou said he was yet to sit down and talk with Alfa Romeo about his future, but that it would be a better time to do so after the summer break in Belgium. Saying “Right now, I don’t feel I need to worry about next year, even though I think around summer time, Spa, is the time to talk about the future. It’s been quite well settled down, and I feel in general I’m not too worried about [what] is going to be next year”
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