Speculation over Binotto’s future “not great” – Leclerc
Charles Leclerc has admitted speculation over Mattia Binotto’s future with Ferrari is “not great” for the team but insists “stability is paying off” for the Italian manufacturer. on Tuesday the team released a statement, dismissing reports that Binotto could be sacked and replaced with Alfa Romeo counterpart Frederic Vasseur as “totally without foundation”.
Binotto’s position has come under scrutiny following Ferrari’s disappointing second half of the 2022 season, which has seen the team and Leclerc fall out of title contention, and even left them at risk of losing second in the constructors’ championship to Mercedes.
Asked about those reports in the press conference ahead of the final race in Abu Dhabi, Leclerc said, “it’s a big statement that was made by the media, but again they remain rumours.”
“But also for the team in itself, it’s not great to read these things. So I think it’s good that the team has cleared the air, and hopefully we can focus 100 per cent on this last weekend.”
Binotto was promoted to team principal in 2019, after the worst season in four decades in 2020 where they finished sixth in the constructors’ championship, sealing their lowest finish since 1980, the focus turned to developing a car that would be able to return to title contention under 2022’s radical new design rules
The team appeared to achieve that with Leclerc winning two of the first three races, but then have only added two more wins, with a season littered by a mixture of poor reliability, bad strategy decisions and the occasional driver error all factors.
Leclerc added: “I think stability is paying off. We’ve been showing in the last few years that we are improving. There’s another step that we need to do, but we are working on that and I’m sure we’ll achieve that.”
He point out their was always rumours about Ferrari, but the team needs to focus on our job on track, and try to extract all of the things that are happening around the team. Leclerc says “Apart from that there’s nothing more to say, I don’t think we should give too much attention to the rumours”
Leclerc goes into this final race tied for second in the drivers championship with Sergio Perez, he is hopeful his Ferrari will have enough pace to enable him to compete for the top positions.
Verstappen refused to fully explain Sao Paulo refusal of team orders
Max Verstappen hit out at the media in a heated press conference for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the double world champion defended, but still refused to fully explain, his snub of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez team orders in Sao Paulo.
During last weekend’s race, Verstappen refused to give up a position to Perez, who is chasing second place in a drivers’ championship the Dutchman has dominated, despite Red Bull’s instructions, later citing an incident between the pair earlier in the season as his reason for doing so.
While Verstappen still wouldn’t say what the incident was, it is believed that its to do with Perez’s crash in Q3 in Monaco which prevented the Dutchman from improving. on Thursday ahead of the final race of the 2022 season, he said the row was a result of a miscommunication and hit out at criticism of him.
Verstappen called the media’s portrayal “disgusting” and claimed his family had also been “attacked” with “unacceptable” comments. Those comments followed a statement by Red Bull that admitted their mistakes and also condemned abuse, saying of the incident: “I already explained [my feelings] in Mexico and the team understood and agreed.
“We went to Brazil and I just thought we were going to race, try to get the best possible result. We had a bit of a miscommunication on Saturday and Sunday, nothing had been said to me about a potential swap.”
“It was only coming into that last lap that it was said on the radio, and they should have known my response already from what I said the week before. After that race we had some good discussion, we put everything on the table and everything has been solved. In hindsight, we should have had that conversation earlier because I have never been a bad team-mate to anyone.”
Verstappen says he has always been ‘very helpful’ which the team knows, as well as being upfront because of its team effort. The lesson the team has learned is that they need to be more open with each other.
After the race, the Dutchman also condemned the media for making him look bad when they didn’t have the full facts and said “to immediately put me down that is pretty ridiculous to be honest. Because they don’t know how I work within the team and what the team appreciates about me, so all the things I have read are pretty disgusting.”
He says the attacks are going too far with them also happening to his family calling for them to stop.
Adding, “Honestly, I have a great relationship with Checo. But I just don’t understand when people don’t have the full picture, to immediately start attacking me like that.”
Hamilton “not wanting” help to keep win record – Wolff
Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff says that the team doesn’t plan to prioritise Lewis Hamilton at this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, so he can maintain his record of winning one race in each season saying he believes it’s “not what he ever would want.”
Hamilton heads into this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with one final chance to maintain his record of winning a race in every season he has competed, stretching back to 2007. If the seven-time champion wins Sunday’s season finale he will set a new record of sixteen consecutive seasons with a win.
In Sao Paulo, last weekend Mercedes took their first one-two of the season with Hamilton finishing behind teammate George Russell. But, Wolff said there was no plan to prioritise Hamilton going into the final race just to keep his win record alive, noting the seven-time world champion had previously dismissed its importance.
Wolff said, “I think Lewis doesn’t need any prioritisation, and it’s not what he ever would want. I think that he mentioned before that this record of winning a race in every single season, that is less of a priority for him.”
“It’s more that we’re getting the car back to where it can be, and we’re racing for more race victories next year, and hopefully a championship.” This was clear when both Hamilton and Russell were fighting for victory last weekend, when the ‘no team order’ order was given to both drivers.
Hamilton said in September, that maintaining the record had “zero importance” to him, with the bigger focus instead being on making the Mercedes car competitive and learning lessons for 2023.
he said in September, “I’m not focused on the record but of course, I’m trying to get that win this year. But the record is not important to me, just because I don’t really care about records in general.”
Hamilton said following Russell’s win in Interlagos that it was a “great, great sign” for Mercedes heading into next year that it had won a race, having worked so hard to resolve the core issue with the W13 car.
Hamilton said, “It was difficult, because we kept trying and trying and trying, and every time something new came, we still had the problems we had. So this is really, really huge. We know where our North Star is, we know where we need to put all our efforts in to this winter.”
News in Brief
Norris questions FIA call on Leclerc clash penalty
Lando Norris has questioned the penalty he received for his clash with Charles Leclerc following the first safety car restart in Sao Paulo. Norris tipped Leclerc into a spin at Turn 6 when the Ferrari driver tried to go around the outside of him.
Leclerc hit the barrier with the nose of his car, but was able to get back the pits and resume the race after fitting a replacement. He eventually recovered to fourth place. Asked if stewards are perhaps too keen to apportion blame these days he said: “Sometimes. I think it’s so difficult for them to put themselves in my shoes, say in this instance. We were in the quickest corner on the track, so he was the one in the risky position, not me.
FTX’s fall left Mercedes in ‘utter disbelief’
The bankruptcy of Mercedes sponsors the cryto exchange FTX has left the manufacture ‘utter disbelief’ and the sector needs regulation, says CEO and team principal Toto Wolff. The Austrian said he remained convinced of crypto’s relevance and believed in blockchain.
He said, “I believe it needs to find its way into regulations because there’s so many customers, investors and partners like us that have been left in utter disbelief at what has happened.”
Formula One has attracted growing interest from crypto firms as the sport’s popularity booms, particularly with younger audiences and in the United States.
Schumacher set to be replaced by Hulkenberg at Haas
Mick Schumacher looks set to be left without a race seat next season after Haas signed veteran Nico Hulkenberg to replace him. Schumacher has not done enough in his two seasons with the US-based team to convince them to retain him for 2023.
Hulkenberg will return as a full-time drive since 2019, but has made several appearances for Racing Point/Aston Martin when their drivers had coronavirus. The only chance of Schumacher remaining on the grid is if Logan Sargeant fails to secure sufficient points in this weekend’s Formula 2 finale in Abu Dhabi to secure a drive at Williams.
Williams have said Sargeant, their reserve driver this year, will get the seat as long as he qualifies. He needs to finish eighth in the championship and is currently lying third.
Schumacher has scored twelve points this season compared to his teammate Kevin Magnussen’s twenty-five, with the Danish driver also out qualifying him fourteen times where a fair comparison can be made.
A series of heavy crashes have also dented Schumacher’s hopes. The twenty-three-year-said on social media, “I don’t want to hide the fact that I am very disappointed about the decision not to renew our contract. It was at times bumpy but I steadily improved, learned a lot and now know for sure I deserve a place in Formula 1.”
“The subject is anything but closed for me. Setbacks only make you stronger. My fire burns for Formula One and I will fight to return to the starting grid.” Schumacher could follow in his father’s footsteps in joining Mercedes as reserve driver.
Its CEO and team principal Toto Wolff said on Sunday that he “would consider taking up this option if he does not get a race seat”. Wolff added that Mercedes and the Schumacher family “belonged together”.
Michael drove for Mercedes in endurance racing before graduating to F1, and his first F1 drive at Jordan in 1991 was paid for by the German company.
Hulkenberg is regarded as a highly-talented driver for whom strong results have never quite materialised, quite often because of his own errors – he crashed out of the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix when disputing the lead with Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, and potential podiums for Renault escaped him after mistakes in Azerbaijan in 2017 and Germany in 2019.
Hulkenberg said, “I’m very happy to move into a full-time race seat with Haas F1 team in 2023 – I feel like I never really left Formula One. I’m excited to have the opportunity to do what I love the most again and want to thank Gene Haas and Gunther Steiner for their trust.”
Schumacher wants to “prove everyone wrong” after losing seat
Mick Schumacher says he intends to “prove everyone wrong” who doesn’t believe in him after losing his Haas seat for 2023. Although he has shown promise following his rookie season last year, a series of accidents has left him without a season with the team deciding to replace Schumacher with Nico Hulkenberg.
Steiner explained he wanted to ‘fix certain things in the team’ which would be easier to do with a more experienced driver like Hulkenberg, who has driven for several teams throughout his first, decade-long stint in the series.
A disappointed Schumacher first reacted to the news on social media, closing his statement with the initials PTW, which stands for Prove Them Wrong. In the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix press conference Schumacher explained that he wants to prove everyone wrong – and not just Haas – who has been doubting his capabilities over the past two years.
When asked by Motorsport.com to explain his message, he replied, “TW, it’s what I’ve been saying most part of this year. I just felt like saying that because I think I want to prove everybody wrong who doesn’t believe in me, because I know what I can do. I’ve proven that in the junior categories, and I don’t see a reason why I can’t do that.”
Schumacher accepts that his ups and downs haven’t helped but he believes the upwards trend in the second half of the season, made it disappointing because he feels he has been doing a “good job up to this point.”
Amid suggestions that Schumacher could take up a reserve role elsewhere, the 23-year-old said he would take the time to consider his options, given that the Haas seat was the last spot on the 2023 F1 grid that was still up for grabs.
he added, “I just want to put myself into a position where I know it’s going to be right for me. Whether that’s as a reserve, if that’s driving, that’s to be discussed and to be analysed. I have the people that I trust around me who I will be consulting with and then I’ll come out with some news, hopefully soon.”
Talking points Abu Dhabi
Just over eleven months on from a controversial title decider between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton history is again at stake for both drivers in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, the fight for second sees Verstappen’s championship for most of the year Charles Leclerc tied on points with his teammate Sergio Perez for second.
Having dominantly retained his world championship, Verstappen returns to the Yas Marina Circuit in search of a record-extending fifteenth-race win of the season. In Mexico, Red Bull surpassed the joint thirteen wins in a season which was held jointly by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
Meanwhile Hamilton following a difficult season goes into the final race with his final opportunity to pass another of Schumacher’s record. Winning Sunday’s race would mark fifteen consecutive seasons, his entire career, where he has struggled with the Mercedes being off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.
Despite having insisted throughout the campaign that this specific record is not important to him, the fact that Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell claimed Mercedes’ first victory of the season last time out in Brazil will have only further motivated the thirty-seven-year-old to secure a win of his own.
Following George Russell’s dominant win in Sao Paulo, Mercedes said they did not expect their car to be hugely suited to the Yas Marina Circuit, but the team’s dominant display at Interlagos will boost hopes they can compete for victory once more in Abu Dhabi.
The battle second, sees Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc tied on points an almost a repeat of last years title decider, Leclerc currently has second having three wins compared to Perez. Both left Interlagos frustrated at not receiving more help from their teams, and more specifically their teammates.
The less controversial of those situations was for Leclerc, who trailed team-mate, Carlos Sainz, in the closing stages and was rejected when he asked over radio if there was any possibility of a swap for the third place the Spaniard ultimately kept hold of.
Mercedes were the biggest benefactors from the teammate dramas at Red Bull and Ferrari, they go into this race just nineteen points behind Ferrari in the constructors. While the one-two in Sao Paulo helps its largely due to Ferrari’s mixture of poor reliability, strategic errors and occasional driver mistakes.
Further down the constructors’ championship standings, there is also unfinished business in the battles for fourth, sixth and eighth.
Alpine have all but sealed fourth after a strong showing in Brazil, with McLaren needing to overturn a 19-point deficit in Abu Dhabi. However, the contests lower down are closer, with sixth-placed Alfa Romeo just five points clear of Aston Martin, and Haas in eighth only two points ahead of AlphaTauri.
Team game paid off despite “silliness” in Sao Paulo – Alpine
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer says that good teamwork between Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso contributed to the strong score for the Enstone outfit in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The French manufacturer had a disastrous sprint in Interlagos with its drivers colliding twice on the opening lap ruining both their races.
From their lowly grid positions for the Grand Prix itself, Alonso charged through the field to secure fifth place, while Ocon finished three places behind in eighth. The double score extended the team’s advantage over McLaren in the battle for fourth in the constructors’ championship to nineteen points with just the Abu Dhabi finale to come.
One of the keys to the performance was Ocon agreeing to let Alonso past after soon the late safety car restart, allowing the Spaniard to take advantage of his fresher tyres. When asked by Autosport about the change in fortunes from Saturday to Sunday said Szafnauer, “It just shows, I guess, the unpredictability of F1”
“But I think what it shows most importantly is that when you play the team game, everybody wins. The drivers, when they score points, they get their points bonus, and the team wins. So it is a team game, ultimately, and we have to maximise the team points. And the drivers can do that by playing a team game, which is exactly what they did.”
Szafnauer made it clear that both drivers had been ‘lectured’ on their collisions making it clear that it was unacceptable because there are a 1,000 people working to ensure the team finish fourth in the constructors championship. Adding “To have that silliness on track where you just run into each other, push your teammate wide, not let them by, especially when it’s so close in the championship – I think the message got through, and we did a good job today.”
In the main race t.battling for sixth.
This is the final race for Sebastian Vettel, and maybe Mick Schumacher, both friends they will want to go out on a high and I think Schumacher can save his career even if he needs a year out if he has a good weekend.
