Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin says the collision on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix between title rivals Sir Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was \u201cinevitable\u201d.<\/p>\n
The collision on the opening lap of Sunday\u2019s race at Silverstone will be seen as a key moment in this year’s championship, prompting debate over who was to blame and following Hamilton\u2019s penalty whether it was enough. The stewards did decide that Hamilton was predominantly to blame for causing the collision at Copse, which resulted in a 51G crash for Verstappen.<\/p>\n
This season both drivers have enjoyed several close wheel-to-wheel battles already this year, but Silverstone marked the first time they have made significant contact.<\/p>\n
Following the race, Shovlin said that the aggression shown by Verstappen had previously forced Hamilton to back out of battles, meaning an incident such as this was inevitable.<\/p>\n
He told Motorsport.com, \u201cIf you look at the sprint race, [and] if you look at the opening lap of the main race, Lewis was constantly having to back out of it to avoid a collision. He was able to put his car into a position where he could stand his ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMax drives aggressively and it’s inevitable that one day, we’re going to get an accident. But we were pleased with the job Lewis did, and slightly disappointed to get the penalty but just relieved we could still win the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Red Bull team principal Christian Horner fumed over the penalty handed out by the stewards, calling it \u201cmenial\u201d after Hamilton was able to recover and win the race to cut Verstappen\u2019s championship lead.<\/p>\n
The accident has drawn comparisons to previous crashes between title rivals, most famously involving Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at Suzuka in 1989 and 1990.<\/p>\n
Asked if he thought that a crash between Hamilton and Verstappen was inevitable, Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff said it was \u201ca situation you have all seen in the past when great drivers race each other\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner thinks it is \u201cunacceptable\u201d that stewards can be lobbied by competitors while they are making decisions.<\/p>\n
Horner was angry with the way his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff was able to speak to the stewards during their deliberations over the crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in last weekend\u2019s British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
After Wolff was advised over team radio by F1 race director Michael Masi to go and speak to the stewards, Horner marched down there himself to make sure that his team\u2019s views were not ignored.<\/p>\n
But he thinks that teams having direct access to stewards amid such debates should not be allowed. In recent years we have heard through F1TV a lot more of these communications between teams and Masi, this could be seen as the teams trying to influence the decisions to their advantage.<\/p>\n
Explaining why he went to the stewards, Horner told Motorsport.com, \u201cI saw Toto, who was lobbying the stewards, and I heard he was going there to do it, so I went to make sure that our view was represented.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think it’s right that a team principal should be able to go and lobby the stewards. They should be locked away so that they’re not influenced. It was unacceptable that he had gone up there to lobby the stewards.\u201d I wanted to make sure that there was a balanced opinion given, rather than trying to influence pressure on the stewards to make a menial sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horner believes that it is in F1\u2019s interests for the stewards to do their deliberation in complete isolation, rather than be potentially influenced by outside parties. He says that he only went to the stewards after being told that Wolff was presenting the Mercedes case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso has clarified his comments about racing on \u201cthe dark side\u201d in Formula One after his aggressive start to Saturday\u2019s sprint race at Silverstone. The Alpine driver made the best start in the session making up six places on the opening lap of the race to fifth.<\/p>\n
While Alonso would ultimately slip back two places before the end of the sprint race, the improved grid position set him up well to finish seventh in Sunday\u2019s Grand Prix. During the sprint race, Alonso was warned about moving under braking, but said he would not change his approach and that it would \u201cbe the same for the remainder of the year,\u201d adding: \u201cI will be in the dark side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alonso explained after Sunday\u2019s race that he did not mean he would be more aggressive, but that he would look to push the limits of the rules more after being frustrated by the stewards\u2019 lack of action over the first-lap incident in Austria<\/p>\n
He told Motorsport.com, \u201cI’ve been always clean driver, and I will remain a clean driver for all my career. I think I’m [one of the] few ones that I don’t have any points on the license.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what I referred to yesterday is that I felt a little bit like an idiot in Austria by respecting the rules. And we try to speak with the race director, and we try always to say or blame all the things that the people were doing with not many answers. That was strange.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-time champion says the strategy in the sprint race didn\u2019t bring Alpine any solutions.<\/p>\n
The incident in Austria saw Daniel Ricciardo run wide at Turn 1 on the opening lap, allowing him to stay ahead of Alonso, leaving the Alpine driver calling for him to give up several positions. Alonso said in Austria that he \u201cfelt stupid\u201d as he was \u201cthe only one making the corner\u201d, with no action being taken against Ricciardo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The FIA’s clampdown on “automatic” F1 pitstops has been postponed from the Hungarian Grand Prix until the Belgian Grand Prix, the first race after the summer shutdown. The FIA issued a new technical directive overruling the previous one last week, this also allows the teams to make the changes needed.<\/p>\n
The new vision takes away some of the minimum time requirements specified for different aspects of the stop sequence in the original TD, and which were based on human reaction times. However, the aim of the governing body remains the same, preventing the teams from using automatic signalling to speed up their stops.<\/p>\n
Teams have to demonstrate that the mechanic on each wheel gun manually presses a button that signals that the wheel is safely on, and also that the button cannot be held down. The change comes as some teams, like Red Bull, are being able to put in consistently fast stops.<\/p>\n
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl told Motorsport.com, \u201cOn the TD there was an update. Based on feedback that the FIA collected after they sent it out initially to the teams which makes sense from our point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main objective from this TD was to make sure pitstops are done in a safe way and anticipate to stop bad things to happen. The second thing is also to ensure that we are also on a level playing field in terms of the application of the regulations, so we are happy with that.\u201d Seidl says there were also opportunities for further changes.<\/p>\n
Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggested that stops were being over-regulated, saying, \u201cYou have to remember the responsibility is with a competitor that they have to have all four wheels security fastened, and the penalty for not is to stop the car and have to retire the car immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kimi Raikkonen has called on his Alfa Romeo team to \u201cwake up\u201d and find more performance from the car. The Finn made this comment during Sunday\u2019s British Grand Prix on team radio, before eventually finishing the race in fifteenth.<\/p>\n
Raikkonen had gained places at the start in both the Saturday sprint and in the Grand Prix itself. However spent much of the race battling with the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, with contact leading to a spin cost Perez points allowing Raikkonen to score points for the first time this season.<\/p>\n
The Hinwil team stopped the development of its 2021 car several weeks ago, apart from the work required to meet the stricter rear wing deflection tests.<\/p>\n
After the flag at Silverstone Raikkonen\u2019s engineer suggested that he could have been finished tenth without the contact with Perez. He said, \u201cMaybe, or maybe we need to make the car fast, it\u2019s simple. It\u2019s impossible to fight against them. Same this, same that, and try to fight with the other cars. Come on, we\u2019ve got to wake up and do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later Raikkonen admitted that it had been a tough afternoon that saw him defending rather than attacking. The Finn says they were expecting the race not to be easy for the team, saying the further they went into the race they started going backwards into the pack.<\/p>\n
Regarding the incident with Perez, he said: \u201cI think over the race we had some battles, and obviously they were a lot faster. But I managed to keep him behind quite a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, we were a couple of corners next to each other and then I was outside the previous corner, inside the next, and I don\u2019t know, maybe he didn\u2019t see me, but I ended up spinning and that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mick Schumacher has driven the car that his father Michael, made his Formula One debut in thirty years ago. The seven-time world champion made his debut at Spa in 1991 with Jordan, now Aston Martin, setting up for a record-breaking career which has only been equalled or surpassed by Sir Lewis Hamilton in the last year.<\/p>\n
Schumacher made his debut this year with the Haas F1 team and as part of a feature interview with Sky Sports, drove his father’s Jordan at Silverstone on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Jordan 191, which Michael Schumacher used to qualify in seventh place at Spa Francorchamps before a clutch failure forced him to retire from the race, is one of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time.<\/p>\n
The day at Silverstone also was used by Pirelli to carry out development of the 2022 tyres with Aston Martin, Red Bull and Haas all completed track running on the new low-profile tyres.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mugello, Barcelona and Paul Ricard have come out on top in a unique report looking at the sustainability performance of race circuits around the world. The Sustainable Circuits Index white paper, which has been produced by Enovation Consulting and Right Hub, looks at 2 different industry specific and United Nations criteria to judge the environmentally-friendly ranking of tracks around the world.<\/p>\n
The circuit used as a one-off venue last year because of the pandemic uses a hundred per cent renewable energy, twenty-five per cent of its energy demands site using solar panels. It also has a rainwater recovery system for use in toilets and irrigation purposes.<\/p>\n
There are also a large number of water fountains available for fans and team personnel to minimise the need for plastic bottles. Mugello scored forty-eight out of a hundred, ahead of Barcelona and Paul Ricard all gaining a three star out of four rating.<\/p>\n
Silverstone, Budapest, Austin, Monza were the only other venues to get a rating, but only a one star.<\/p>\n
Dr Cristiana Pace, who is a member of the FIA Environmental and Sustainability Commission and founder and managing director of sustainability consultants Enovation, believed the report would open the door for change to help drive circuit improvements.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cToo often motorsport has been accused of greenwashing, where stakeholders have used nice words and loose promises. The Sustainable Circuits Index proposes a robust assessment of racing tracks\u2019 sustainability performances based on disclosed data and a well-developed framework, aiming to enable motorsport venues to benchmark each other and, ultimately, accelerate actions and changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grand Prix Drivers\u2019 Association chairman Alex Wurz was one who welcomed the report. Adding \u201cI have been involved with the safety and sustainability of racing tracks for many years now, as a driver, GPDA chairman and a circuit designer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd while I would argue that big improvements have been made in terms of safety, I also know that there is a long way to go in terms of fully embracing sustainability for racing tracks around the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The latest news and analysis behind the headlines from across Formula One, exploring the day’s events from a global perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,108,115,116,125,144,153,217,264,265,319,320,412,417,422,566,664,675,707,712,715,754,846,853,929,930,1283,1287,1289,1330,1556,1637,1638,1642,1843,1882,1984,2075,2080],"class_list":["post-9346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-47","tag-alex-wurz","tag-alfa-romeo","tag-alfa-romeo-ferrari","tag-alpine","tag-andreas-seidl","tag-andrew-shovlin","tag-autodromo-internazionale-del-mugello","tag-belgian-gp","tag-belgian-grand-prix","tag-british-gp","tag-british-grand-prix","tag-christian-horner","tag-circuit-de-barcelona-catalunya","tag-circuit-paul-ricard","tag-dr-cristiana-pace","tag-f1","tag-f1-today","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-fia","tag-fia-environmental-and-sustainability-commission","tag-formula-one","tag-gpda","tag-grand-prix-drivers-association","tag-hungarian-gp","tag-hungarian-grand-prix","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-honda","tag-mick-schumacher","tag-pit-stops","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-honda","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-sprint-qualifying","tag-the-sustainable-circuits-index","tag-un","tag-united-nations"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9346","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=9346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}