Former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has been arrested in Sao Paulo for illegally carrying a gun while boarding a private plane to Switzerland. In a statement on Thursday, local police said they found an undocumented LW Seecamp .32 gun in the 91-year-old’s luggage during an X-ray screening.<\/p>\n
A police statement said, an undocumented LW Seecamp .32 gun in Ecclestone’s luggage during an X-ray screening, police said in a statement, adding that he was then arrested and taken to a facility at Viracopos airport in Campinas.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone acknowledged owning the gun, but said he was unaware it was in his luggage at the time, police said. The 91-year-old paid bail and was freed to travel to Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone has appeared at several motor racing events in Brazil this month with his wife Fabiana, who is an FIA vice president and a member of the World Motor Sport Council. After attending the Truck Cup and TCR South America events at Interlagos, he visited the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series round at Velo Citta.<\/p>\n
Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff believes the team made a big step forward in Barcelona, but expectations are low for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, saying that the principality is not the team’s \u201chappy place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The German manufacturer had their most promising weekend of the season in Barcelona, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton’s third and fifth prompting Wolff to declare the world champions are back in the title race. However, Wolff continued to stress there was still a gap to Red Bull and Ferrari.<\/p>\n
He told Sky Sports, \u201cWe’ve seen another big step, probably we’ve halved the advantage to the front-runners,” Wolff said. “But still there’s lots of way to go in order to be in the fight.”<\/p>\n
Mercedes appeared to solve their porpoising issues in Barcelona and Monaco’s lack of straights would ordinarily mean they are more confident in their chances. But Monte Carlo was not a particularly strong race for Mercedes even in their dominant years, with Red Bull often shining – and so Wolff is more cautious than ever for F1’s most famous weekend.<\/p>\n
Despite the dominance of the sport in the last seven years, Mercedes have only won one of the last four races in Monaco, Wolff added, \u201cMonaco in the past wasn’t our most happy place. Maybe because the car was the size of an elephant!\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he is curious to see where they were, but his expectations were lower than any other circuit.<\/p>\n
Ferrari, is also playing down the Mercedes revival as they are insisting they still have ground to make up if they are to take the fight to Red Bull. Team principal Mattia Binotto saying, \u201cCongrats to them, they recovered and they improved the speed of their car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Saturday [in Spain] they were six, seven-tenths on a quali lap which is still a short circuit. On Sunday they finished 30 seconds to a Red Bull, and it would have been maybe forty seconds to Charles [Leclerc, who retired].\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s recovery over the last eighteen months following their worst season in four decades looks as if they are in the championship fight, having got the regulation changes right.<\/p>\n
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Charles Leclerc says Ferrari needs to brace themselves for some \u201csurprises\u201d at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, as it looks to end Red Bull’s streak of victories. The Monacan looked on course for a dominant win in Barcelona on Sunday after building up a sixteen-second lead before retiring with both a turbo and MGU-H failure.<\/p>\n
That retirement saw Leclerc lose the lead of the championship for the first time this season, as title rival Max Verstappen scored his third successive win, putting him six points clear at the top of the standings.<\/p>\n
But Ferrari has been tipped to go well around the streets of Monaco this weekend thanks to the strong low-speed performance of the F1-75 car so far this season. Red Bull has tended to excel more with its straight-line speed, something that is less important in Monaco.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media today, Leclerc said Ferrari had “a strong package everywhere” with its car, but was uncertain if the team was the favourite to win in Monaco, believing there could be some surprise swings in the formbook.<\/p>\n
Leclerc said, \u201cWhether we are favourites here, I don’t know. But I think that there will be surprises for this race, because as we’ve seen last year, our car was not that competitive over the course of the season. But we arrived in Monaco, and we had one of the strongest packages for this track.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere might be some teams that we didn’t think of that might be very competitive here, and that will surprise us. But I’m pretty sure that we’ll be in the fight to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
2021 saw no change in his relationship with his home race, despite taking pole he crashed right at the end of qualifying last season with the damage causing him not to start the race. Leclerc has never finished a race going back to the F2 race in 2017 when he retired with a lose tyre.<\/p>\n
2017 before a crash with Brendon Hartley brought his maiden F1 outing in the principality one year later to an early end when he was racing for Alfa Romeo. Damage sustained after hitting the wall while trying to fight back through the field in 2019 also resulted in a DNF for Leclerc, who then failed to make the start of last year’s race due to the damage sustained in qualifying.<\/p>\n
His only race finish was a podium finish in the 2020 virtual Grand Prix, to date his best race in Monaco.<\/p>\n
A fortnight ago, Leclerc once again crashed on a demonstration run driving \u00a0Niki Lauda’s classic Ferrari 312B3 when a brake disc failure caused him to go off at La Rascasse.<\/p>\n
Asked by Motorsport.com if his Monaco record weighed on his mind at all coming into this weekend, Leclerc replied: “No, it doesn’t, I don’t think about it. It’s not been the luckiest track for me overall, but it’s life. It happens. It’s part of motorsports, and sometimes things just don’t go your way, and hopefully this year will.<\/p>\n
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Carlos Sainz says his struggles to fully get on top of Ferrari\u2019s 2022 car involve private matters and technical secrets. The Spaniard has struggled to extract as much as teammate Charles Leclerc from the ground effect cars and had a frustrating home race in Barcelona last weekend, week when he dropped down the order with a spin.<\/p>\n
Having had a run of incidents in Australia, Imola, and Miami, Sainz is aware that the situation needs to turn around soon so he can deliver better results for his team. But key to doing that is getting a better handle on how Ferrari\u2019s current car behaves, with him admitting that he is not fully comfortable with how sharp the front end turns in.<\/p>\n
Asked by Motorsport.com about what specific characteristics of the car he was struggling with, Sainz said the situation was very complicated and could not be fully answered. he said, \u201cIt’s very specific.It’s a lot of detail. It is probably just too much to put into an interview, or to put into words, because I think it also deserves some privacy and some team confidential things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you can see from the cameras and from everywhere that I’m not there yet with the car compared to last year, and I’m not bragging naturally that the car is a bit too pointy for my liking. But that’s the way it goes: you can either adapt yourself, or you can bring your car a bit more to your liking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sainz says there were two parts to this, knowledge and experience, as well as trial and error, which he was in the process of doing now. Sainz said his performances were also being put in a bad light because of the way that his teammate Leclerc was so on top of the car and regularly challenging for wins.<\/p>\n
He says that his teammate was driving at a very high level, putting together super impressive lap times with his aggressive driving style, which he could only admire. As well as trying to copy as well as trying to get the car more to his liking, you sometimes need to go through a process like this and challenge yourself.<\/p>\n
Although accepting things were not ideal at the moment, Sainz said he had faith that matters would improve. He said, \u201cI keep the positivity and the motivation to turn things around as soon as possible. It’s not been easy. You can probably see from the onboards and from the mistakes, that I’m struggling quite a bit to drive this car and to understand how to extract the maximum out of it.<\/p>\n
Sainz says its given him a whole new challenge in his career because he is needing to drive out of the box. While putting his head down trying to turn the corner as soon as possible, because of the combination of misfortune and mistakes from my side.<\/p>\n
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F1 teams have backed the plan to regionalise next years calendar in an attempt to reduce freight movement and travel. On Saturday in a regular meeting of team principals F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali confirmed the plan.<\/p>\n
While improving the championship\u2019s sustainability credentials is ostensibly the driving force behind the move. This year\u2019s calendar includes several anomalies, such as the trip to Miami earlier this month as a standalone flyaway, and the upcoming double-header involving Azerbaijan and Canada, which are far apart geographically.<\/p>\n
Streamlining the schedule will also reduce costs for the F1 organisation itself and the ten teams at a time when inflation is hitting hard, caused by the recovery from the pandemic and Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. It could also mean that races, even Monaco, could be forced to move from their traditional dates.<\/p>\n
Asked by Motorsport.com, about the plan, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said \u201cI think if you look at the calendar, it makes sense to group some of the races together. Whether it’s some of the American races, some of the Asian races, Europe, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the calendar this year when you look at the geographics of it, Azerbaijan to Montreal, going to Australia for a weekend, it’s about as expensive as you could make it. So I think Stefano is sympathetic to that, but of course, he’s got many challenges with the different promoters to get a calendar that you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
His Haas counterpart Gunther Steiner agreed with Horner, adding \u201cBut in the end I think for sustainability it’s a fantastic thing. And then if we achieve that, a lot of things go with it, positive ones. There are no negatives to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just a difficult thing to achieve. You have how much time you’ve got that you’re not in the heat, and things like this to think about. Canada you have to worry about the cold, so you cannot take it too early.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said his only concern was that geographically close races could lose spectators to each other.<\/p>\n
he said, \u201cIt’s a good move as long as if we regionalise you don’t cannibalise one fan from the other. Having to say Miami and Montreal a week or two apart, they’re far enough apart [geographically], they are different countries as well, that it can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
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McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about the team’s prospects for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, but warned the team’s improved low-speed performance is no guarantee it will be competitive.<\/p>\n
Last weekend in Barcelona, the British team brought a raft of upgrades which allowed Lando Norris to score points in eighth after an inconsistent start to 2022 by the Woking-based team. It looked as if the team has now got a more balanced all-around package, with low-speed corners not being a weakness they once were.<\/p>\n
Seidl said he doesn’t believe that Barcelona’s twisty last sector is necessarily a good indicator for performance in Monaco, given how much of an outlier the street circuit is. Despite that weakness at last years race, Norris still qualified fifth in the principality and grabbed a podium in the race with third place.<\/p>\n
when asked by Motorsport.com if the team’s improved slow-speed performance made him optimistic for the upcoming weekend. Seidl said, \u201cMonaco is such a special track that it’s always difficult to predict how you do there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven last year, for example, where we had a car which struggled quite a lot with low speed compared to our competition, we could actually fight for I think top four in qualifying and we even scored the podium in the race. It’s such a specific track that together with having these completely new cars it’s probably even more difficult to predict what it’s going to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Monaco being Norris and Daniel Ricciardo\u2019s second home race and a true drivers circuit, where they have both had decent results in the past, there may be hopes of similar performances.<\/p>\n
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The Monaco Grand Prix is always one of the biggest challenges for both drivers and teams and getting through the weekend damage. The regulation changes as well this season will add pressure on teams and the drivers.<\/p>\n
Asked about the challenges, Pierre Gasly said, \u201cI think it’s going to be interesting to see how it is. Because even on smooth tracks and normal tracks, in terms of ride compared to last year, it is definitely worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s the first time we come on a proper street track since the start of the year, so it could become quite sketchy. But it’s going to be same track for everyone, and it will be up to us drivers and the team to find the best compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2022 regulation changes have made the cars bigger, heavier and cumbersome, described by Martin Brundle on Sky Sports as like pendulum when drivers lose the rear end. They now run on less forgiving low-profile tyres, with much stiffer suspensions. That in turn relates to ride height, a parameter that they are incredibly sensitive to.<\/p>\n
Drivers will have to be more cautious than usual on some of Monaco’s kerbs, especially those at the chicane beyond the Swimming Pool that have so often pitched cars straight into the barrier. Then there will be the question of porpoising which could prove an issue on the main straight and the runs between Sainte Devote, up the hill to Casino Square, or through the tunnel and down to the Chicane. Even a modest amount of bouncing will capture their attention.<\/p>\n
Teams will try and counter that out to find a balance in practice, but Monte Carlo is a circuit which needs downforce to unlock lap time, which cost downforce, impacting performance, and potentially making the cars difficult to drive. The other problem drivers face is he visibility issue that drivers highlighted at the start of the season, due to the higher front tyres and the aero devices that sit on top of them.<\/p>\n
It hasn’t been mentioned much of late, but it could become an issue this weekend. In Jeddah and Miami there was the odd apex on a concrete wall that might have been a bit tricky, but there are many more close brushes with barriers at Monaco, and the precision required is intense.<\/p>\n
in most cases they are doing it with aero packages that were new for the last race in Spain, and about which they are still learning. As a sidebar to that most teams have a limited supply of those new bits \u2013 a couple of practice crashes across their two drivers and they could be scrabbling.<\/p>\n
They also the face the novelty of the new weekend schedule. In the past teams and drivers had Friday off to catch their collective breath. There was plenty of time to rebuild crashed cars, ship in spare parts, and dig deep into the data, both at the track and back at the factory. Sim drivers could run all day if necessary, trying different set-ups. All of that has gone now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This weekend is the most unique races of the season while Monaco is a street circuit it is the oldest street circuit making it narrow, bumpy and twisty. The weekend closes up the field as its about getting good downforce and grip, with drivers needing to build themselves into the weekend while being aware that one mistake can dent confidence and wreck the weekend.<\/p>\n
The two early championship rivals have had at times a difficult relationship with there home race, more the Monacan Charles Leclerc who has never scored points. While Max Verstappen crashed several times in his early career in Monaco, this is often a race about strategy because of limited overtaking.<\/p>\n
Mercedes on paper could have a chance based on performance this season, but as always this race is a curveball as there is not a circuit we can compare it too. Pit stops can be part of the strategy on paper its not a tyre or fuel limited race, but they can be used as part of strategy.<\/p>\n
The field is also a lot closer and there can be massive track evolution being a street circuit, we know that means being on track at the right time is very important and that\u2019s also because of the chance in qualifying and the race of yellow flags, safety cars etc. we have seen races won and lost by the timing of these.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Ecclestone arrested for carrying a gun Former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has been arrested in Sao Paulo for illegally carrying a gun while boarding a private plane to Switzerland. In a statement on Thursday, local police said they found an undocumented LW Seecamp .32 gun in the 91-year-old’s luggage during an X-ray screening. A police<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[51,144,277,304,351,369,390,409,493,664,675,709,754,814,877,882,885,1131,1153,1154,1287,1290,1298,1362,1363,1364,1637,1642,1733,1766,1843,1897,1987,2031],"class_list":["post-10630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-51","tag-andreas-seidl","tag-bernie-ecclestone","tag-brazil","tag-calendar","tag-carlos-sainz-jr","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-christan-horner","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1","tag-f1-today","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-one","tag-george-russell","tag-gunther-steiner","tag-haas","tag-haas-ferrari","tag-lando-norris","tag-liberty","tag-liberty-media","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-mercedes","tag-mercedes","tag-monaco","tag-monaco-gp","tag-monaco-grand-prix","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-russian-invasion-of-ukraine","tag-sao-paulo","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-stefano-domenicali","tag-the-weekend-ahead","tag-toto-wolff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}