Mercedes still believes Red Bull can be beaten
Mercedes still believes Red Bull can be beaten on pure pace in this year, which is why it does not want to switch full focus to its 2024 car just yet. Although it described last weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring as ‘bruising”.
This weekend for the teams de facto home Grand Prix they are bringing a raft of upgrades, which is understood to include an updated front wing that is aiming at helping improve aero balance – especially in low-speed corners.
But while Max Verstappen appears to be in a class of his own in F1 this season as he marches towards what looks like a third world title, Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff does not think he is invincible.
Asked by Motorsport.com, if he still believed that Mercedes can beat Red Bull on pure pace terms at some point this year, Wolff said: “I maintain the belief because, if I were to say I don’t maintain the belief, then we may as well turn it off and put everything into next year’s car, and be happy to finish in the top ten.”
“But you can’t. You just have to continue working. We need to take these bad days as good as possible, and try to rebound and come closer. We’ve seen races where we were decent, and I think the gap to Verstappen was ten seconds in Montreal, which looks much more encouraging that it was [in Austria].”
While Red Bull continues to be the team to beat this season, the battle for second down to seventh fluctuates quite a lot depending on track characteristics and upgrade cycles, Wolff sees no alarm about Mercedes having slipped back in Austria as he thinks it is just a temporary blip.
He said, “I think what we’re seeing is that the constant is Max in front and then it is between his team-mate, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lando [Norris] with the upgrade and us. It seems to be changing from race to race, and there’s not quite a pattern that we can discover so far.”
Hamilton confirms key terms of Mercedes contract
Lewis Hamilton says he has agreed the financial terms and length of a contract extension with Mercedes and remains adamant the deal will be confirmed long before the end of the season.
The seven-time champion has been negotiating all year on a new deal with Mercedes when his contract expires at the end of the year. CEO and team principal Toto Wolff has repeatedly expressed confidence that a new deal will be claiming at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix that money and length were not factors in delaying a final agreement.
Asked ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix whether he could confirm Wolff’s comments, Hamilton said: “That’s correct.”
Wolff said last month that an announcement over Hamilton’s new contract was just “days” away, but the silence that has followed led to renewed speculation over the Brit’s future.
Asked by Sky Sports F1 whether the team’s inconsistent recent form had led him to reconsider signing the new deal, Hamilton replied: “That’s not what I’m thinking. Before the end of the season, we’ll be already well into the contract. I still have 100 per cent faith in this team.”
British drivers call for safe protests
Lewis Hamilton says he welcomes protesters but does not want to see people on an F1 track, after last year’s British Grand Prix was targeted. During the red flag period following Guanyu Zhou’s first lap crash, several protesters from the group Just Stop Oil got onto the circuit.
This year the group have made protests at high-profile sporting events including the second men’s Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Premiership rugby final and the World Snooker Championship.
The seven-time champion told Sky Sports “I welcome protesters or activists. I think always they are pushing for positive change. We never want to see people standing on the track and putting themselves in harm’s way. But that sparks conversation, that sparks dialogue and it often helps, sometimes, done the right way – it sparks change. And we need more change.
“We need to become more sustainable. We need to be more inclusive. There’s all these things that we need to do more of. It’s moving at such a fast pace, the industry, that sometimes some of those things fall off and they need to be sparked up again by conversation. So I hope we don’t have the same scenario that we had last [year]. But as I said, I’m always supportive of peaceful protesters.”
Hamilton’s message was supported by both George Russell and Lando Norris.
Managing director Stuart Pringle says that Silverstone has worked alongside Northamptonshire Police to increase security ahead of this weekend’s race with a record 480,000 people expected to attend.
He added, “The fundamental difference here is that you are not putting your life in danger when you run on the pitch at Lord’s. You are not putting your life in danger when you sit on a snooker table or protest at a flower show.”
“My strong, strong message is: ‘Do not put your life in danger. This is not the place to go and sit on a floor’”
2024 calendar sees greater push for sustainability
China is set to return to the calendar for the first time since the pandemic in a major revision of the schedule for 2024. In the biggest shake-up of the calendar in decades and a quest for greater sustainability, the Japanese race moves to 05 –07 April from its usual autumn date.
Azerbaijan will be twinned with Singapore in September. The calendar features the same number of races as this year twenty-four before the cancellation of Shanghai and Imola.
Earlier this year, Australian Grand Prix organisers announced that Saudi Arabia would hold the opening race of the 2024 season. This follows the sport shifting Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (29 February – 02 March, 07 – 09 March) back by a day to Saturday races as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on 10 March.
China was due to return this year but had to be cancelled because of the uncertainty over the Covid situation in the country at the start of the year, when there were riots as a result of continued social restrictions. These have now been lifted.
In an attempt to reach net zero, China will be paired with Japan which moves to April. However, Montreal has refused to move to May, forcing teams to fly across the Atlantic twice in just over a month.
F1 chairman Stefano Domenicali said: “Our journey to a more sustainable calendar will continue in the coming years as we further streamline operations as part of our Net Zero 2030 commitment.”
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem added: “We want to make the global spectacle of Formula 1 more efficient in terms of environmental sustainability and more manageable for the travelling staff who dedicate so much of their time to our sport.”
Pre-season testing is due to be held in Bahrain on 21-23 February, but those dates are still subject to approval from the FIA world motorsport council.
F1 needs to avoid the farce of Austria
Carlos Sainz says that following the nearly farcical situation at last weekends Austrian Grand Prix, immediate action must be taken to find a solution that avoids future track limits chaos.
The results of last weekend’s race weren’t known for four hours as the stewards struggled with 1,200 track limit offences during the Grand Prix alone, were alleged to have taken place. Delays in going through them eventually meant the final result was not sorted until many hours after the race.
As part of that late investigation, several drivers, including Sainz himself and Lewis Hamilton, got penalties that shuffled them down the order. Sainz found out that he had dropped from fourth to sixth just as he took off from Austria to head home and was far from happy about things.
But he says of crucial importance now is F1 and the FIA stepping up to the plate and taking firm action that can prevent repeat trouble in the future. Already it is suggested that the Red Bull Ring will build some new gravel traps to improve matters at its venues, but more action is needed according to Sainz.
asked by Motorsport.com about what the solution was to the track limits problem, he said, There has been offered so many solutions and, for some reason, we keep postponing. It’s like an alarm: postpone, postpone, instead of acting on finding solutions for these kinds of circuits.”
“For me, it is a time to act whatever they want to do. I would be even happy if you leave the rule the same and you put a [detection] loop, because at least the loop is telling me immediately if I’ve done a track limit and I know I can correct it.”
There are two almost conflicting issues you want the rules around the white lines to be clear and enforced consistently, but Austria got a bit out of control and was such a mess.
“We need to, because I think this sport cannot allow itself another weekend like that, because it really doesn’t look good, and it is not good as a driver and not good as a team.”
Sainz believes that Austria got out of control so much because of the lag in drivers running wide and then it being deemed a track limits breach. He said this had consequences for the entire weekend.
Adding “The problem is I did Q2 in Austria, finished my lap, and then [you worry] it might be track limits, which means you might go or might not go to Q3. So, should we run another set of tyres in case my lap gets cancelled or not? Okay, let’s run. We run. And then your lap was okay, so it just made me waste a set of tyres and my weekend is compromised.”
Red Bull’s dominance must not be punished
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem says Red Bull will not be punished for their current dominance. Ahead of this weekend’s race at Silverstone, the team has won all nine races with Max Verstappen eight-one points clear of his teammate Sergio Perez.
The Dutchman has won the last five events and victory for Red Bull at Silverstone will see them equal the record of eleven for the most consecutive wins by a team, which was set by McLaren in 1988.
Asked if the FIA needed o address Red Bull’s dominance, Ben Sulayem said: “If we go about what’s good and bad we’ll open the door. I mean, was it good for Mercedes? Fair enough?
“It is (Verstappen’s) time, it’s Red Bull’s time. What do we do … punish the good kid? No, let’s go and make the other teams good. Nobody’s stopping the other teams from being better. We cannot punish people for being better, for trying harder. That is unfair.”
I think this suggests while the whole big theme of the current regulations is about ‘levelling up,’ they don’t want to do that by artificial means.
News in Brief
Channel 4 extends TV Rights
Channel 4 and Sky Sports have announced a two-year contract extension to allow Channel 4 to broadcast free-to-air highlights of every race and live coverage of the British Grand Prix in the UK and Ireland.
Sky and Channel 4 have developed a strong partnership since 2016 which has benefitted UK sports fans, enabling them to enjoy free to air coverage as a result of the two broadcasters working closely together. BBC has exclusive radio rights until 2024
Channel 4’s Chief Executive Alex Mahon said: “We’re thrilled to have struck another Formula 1 deal with Sky and are delighted to once again bring UK audiences Formula 1 for free.”
Austria extends its contract to 2030.
Austria has extended its contract to continue hosting races at the Red Bull Ring until 2030. Confirmation of the extension, which came ahead of last Sunday’s race at the Spielberg circuit, adds three years to a previous contract agreed in March this year.
Talking Points Silverstone
This weekend marks the highlight of the British sporting summer the British Grand Prix, Wimbledon and the Ashes, the busiest sporting weekend in the UK. While the 2023 season is being dominated by Max Verstappen, Channel 4’s promotion for this race is “the British Grand Prix only comes in box office.”
2022 was a fine example, when Max Verstappen was expected to cruise to victory but a piece of debris damaged his floor and threw the battle for victory wide open. Carlos Sainz stepped in to claim his maiden F1 win after going wheel to wheel with team-mate Charles Leclerc on a late safety car.
2021 and both 2020 races also had their dramas, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crashing on the opening lap in 2021 and Hamilton finishing the race on three wheels in 2020 following a last-lap tyre failure.
Silverstone an old-school grassy circuit which punishes big mistakes and where the unpredictable weather can play a huge role. The width means the drivers can take different racing lines and this increases the chances of more overtaking, particularly at this part of the track, which was introduced in 2010.
Its also one off the most popular races of the season, nearly all 400,000 tickets for the three day event sold out within hours with 140,000 attending on Sunday.
Max Verstappen dominated again in Austria last weekend, with the reigning champion taking his second season clean-sweep of pole, win and fastest lap, this time with a sprint race victory added into the bargain.
Ferrari had looked lost recently but upgrades put them back in the mix at the Red Bull Ring. It was a similar story for Mercedes, too, as the early season challenge from Aston Martin seemed to fade.
Special liveries for Brits
Aston Martin will use a special one-off livery to celebrate their partnership with lubricants company Valvoline. The deal is a “long-term technical and brand” partnership.
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack, “From this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Valvoline Global will provide race-proven lubricants for our AMR23 to help drive performance.”
McLaren are also using a chrome livery as part of its sixtieth anniversary celebration. The design used between 2006 and 2014 was voted by fans and run by Lewis Hamilton in 2008 when he clinched his maiden world title. The livery has been created in conjunction with McLaren partner Google, which launched its Chrome web browser in the same year as Hamilton’s early success.
Lando Norris said “every year I’ve been pestering [Zak] a little bit to want to go back a little bit in that direction. I know it’s only for one race but it’s kind of cool to relive a little bit of what got me into Formula 1 in some ways and also knowing that it’s a very historic part of McLaren. They were very successful then, it’s when Lewis won his first World Championship and things like that. So, it’s very special.”
Williams has a special livery marking their eight-hundredth race, in Budapest. This weekend was due to be the eight hundredth race before the last-minute cancellation in May of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Instead, Williams decided to keep the livery on the car for both race weekends so it could still celebrate its anniversary in front of its British fans in Silverstone. In its accompanying explanation, Williams said the livery “pays homage to the team’s British heritage and to its beloved founder, the late Sir Frank Williams.”
Fictional eleventh team
The fictional eleventh team that will form the centrepiece of the new Brad Pitt F1 movie has appeared for the first time at the British Grand Prix. As preparations get under way at Silverstone for this weekend’s round of the F1 world championship, a full garage and pit wall set up devoted to the APXGP squad that Pitt drives for has been constructed.
This weekend’s race will mark the first time that filming for the as-yet-unnamed Apple movie will take place at an F1 event. The machine is a modified F2 chassis that, with the help of Mercedes, has been converted to look like a contemporary F1 challenger. It has an extended wheelbase and has been fitted with numerous camera batteries and mounts.
Director Joe Kosinski is clear that he wants to create the most authentic motor racing film ever – and one that can repeat the magic of both Le Mans and Grand Prix where real cars in real races were brought to the big screen.
The Weekend Ahead
The big question this weekend as it has been all season has been can Red Bull be beaten. I think that looks unlikely given Silverstone is a circuit similar in nature to Austria’s high speed and downforce and Max Verstappen looks so dominant. Mercedes have a big upgrade package for this weekend can they show the evidence that they can beat Red Bull?
Silverstone is always an important marker normally and if we had the original calendar it would have been the halfway point, it’s a good place to understand the mid-season form. I think the gap to Red Bull is closing and Mercedes are looking to be going in the right direction, they have an upgrade but can they leapfrog Aston Martin?
For the top three this is their home race being based In the UK is one of their most important races. Mercedes having two Englishmen will want to win should anything happen to Red Bull. If Lewis Hamilton does win on Sunday he would be the first driver to win a Grand Prix nine times.
Ferrari in my view looks to be slipping back in the top four fight they haven’t won a race since this race last year, they just don’t look to be getting out of this cycle. But it’s going to be interesting to see the impact of Fred Vassuer, he is only in his first year as Ferrari’s boss
We had the earliest calendar for a while and as we expected a greater focus on regionalisation so expect reaction to that. A good step in my view though there is still work to do.
