Melbourne set to be postponed
Autosport and Sky Sport say they have learned that the opening race of the 2021 season the Australian Grand Prix is set to be postponed. Following the disruption caused by the pandemic Formula One had hoped to a more regular season in 2021 by announcing a twenty-three race calendar in November.
Last year’s race was cancelled just hours before practice after members of McLaren tested positive for the virus. The country has placed strict travel restrictions since last March, and there are also concerns about the new variant of the virus detected in the UK.
Autosport understands that the Australian Grand Prix now looks set to be postponed until later in the year, forcing a possible re-shuffle of the calendar.
It means that the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled for 28 March now looks poised to become the 2021 season-opener. The first time the gulf kingdom has held the opening race since 2010.
Asked for comment by the magazine, an F1 spokesman said, F1 had “proved that we could return to racing safely and delivered what many thoughts was impossible in March. We have set out our 2021 calendar and look forward to the return of F1 in March this year.”
A decision will need to be made in the next few weeks with the construction of the circuit taking around nine weeks. Tickets are also yet to go on sale for the race.
Australia has taken a strict approach towards limiting the spread of COVID-19 since the outbreak, closing its borders to non-residents shortly after the F1 race was cancelled in March.
Strict quarantine rules have been in place since March, forcing all arrivals in Australia and those moving between states to spend two weeks in designated quarantine hotels.
There are currently has estimated 279 active cases in Australia, while there have been 909 total deaths.
Catalonian government gives go-ahead for Barcelona
The regional government in Catalonia has given the go-ahead for Spanish Grand Prix organisers to agree to a contract extension with Formula One for 2021. This year’s race was marked as provisional depending on the contract being signed.
Last week, the regional government said in a statement it had authorised Circuits de Catalunya SL to sign the renewal. It said, “The signature guarantees the celebration of the 31st consecutive edition of this event at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“The F1 Grand Prix is an asset that contributes to Catalonia’s position in the world in the fields of tourism and automotive.” Last years race was postponed and held behind closed doors due to the pandemic after it agreed a one year deal in 2019.
Much of this year’s calendar remains provisional due to the pandemic, although Liberty Media remains confident of a ‘full calendar’ this year. The 2021 season is due to start in Australia in March, although how that unfolds will depend on the state of the pandemic.
Hamilton knighted in New Year’s Honours
Sir Lewis Hamilton was knighted in the New Year’s Honours las week. The Englishman last year became the most successful F1 driver of all time after equalling Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s record seven titles and beating his ninety-one race wins.
Hamilton who grew up in social housing as the grandson of immigrants from the Caribbean, Hamilton has also used his profile to campaign for diversity and speak out against racial injustice. This year’s honours list was mainly dominated by service to public health in the coronavirus pandemic.
When the knighthood was announced, it referred to both his record in F1 and his “charitable and philanthropic contributions in the UK and overseas”.
Hamilton’s supporters have long felt his achievements have not been sufficiently recognised at home and they expressed delight at the Mercedes driver joining a select group of sporting sirs.
The Englishman is the only driver to be knighted while still driving, as well as being only the fifth sportsman to be knighted while active, and the fourth driver in F1’s history to be knighted. A knighthood is one of UK’s and commonwealth highest civilian honours.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who took up the post on Friday, said, “Lewis is a true giant of our sport and his influence is huge both in and out of a car. What he has achieved is phenomenal with still more to come.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff hailed Hamilton, who won his first title with McLaren in 2008, as the most successful British sportsperson of his era.
The knighthood, he added, showed that Hamilton was “now receiving the recognition he has earned during a career of unparalleled success in motorsport”.
Clear given expanded role at Ferrari
Ferrari looks set to expand Jock Clear’s job as driver coach to oversee all of its junior drivers. The engineer is best known for helping Jacques Villeneuve securing his 1997 title win and joined from Mercedes in 2015 as senior trackside engineering role.
Clear worked closely with Charles Leclerc during his first season with the team, acting as a useful interface between the Alfa Romeo graduate and the Maranello team’s engineers as they adapted to working with each other.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has revealed that Clear’s role could widen to involve helping Ferrari’s other junior drivers, including Mick Schumacher, F2 race winner Robert Shwartzman and test driver Callum Ilott.
Binotto told Autosport, “Jock Clear is a great person and great professional, and has been in Ferrari many years. We had some chats with Jock in the past weeks and we would like to develop him even more as a driver coach.”
“Not only for Charles but looking ahead at the future to our own young driver line-up we have got at the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA).” This year Schumacher will make his F1 debut with Haas, Ferrari also has Robert Shwartzman in F2 while Schumacher’s teammate last year Callum Ilott is Ferrari’s simulator driver.
Binotto said that the driver coach role was an important one in terms of helping evaluate on-track performances and find areas where improvements can be made.
Binotto explained, “He supports the drivers in order to perform and drive to their best. He looks at their lines, looks at the way they are braking through the corner, accelerating, and managing tyres.”
Russell never on Red Bull’s radar
Red Bull says that George Russell’s ties to Mercedes meant he was never considered as a potential replacement for Alex Albon. The team decided to look outside its current driver pool, eventually deciding to replace Albon with Sergio Perez.
Russell would have been an obvious candidate given his performance at the Sakhir Grand Prix that he had the pace to win when he stood in for Lewis Hamilton. Reflecting on the options Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko explained to Motorsport.com, that Russell was never even considered.
Marko said, Russell “Has a ten-year contract with Toto Wolff. He is a Mercedes junior. We were looking for an interim solution for one year. Perez is the much better option there.”
However, admits there was no doubt that Russell is a good driver, but Marko believes that the hype around his performance in Sakhir was overstated because Valtteri Bottas under-delivered.
Adding, “Russell is an intelligent and fast young man,” added Marko. “His Mercedes effort was great. But at the same time, it was marked by such uncertainty from Bottas that it wasn’t really a valid comparison. Bottas put together such crap from the first lap on Friday, that he was way below his normal level.”
Marko also decided to promote Yuki Tsunoda from F2 into Alpha Tauri. Marko is full of praise for what the Japanese did in his rookie F2 campaign and says good things are expected of him in F1 next year.
He said “Tsunoda was the only Formula 2 driver who continuously finished in the top five in every race. It was only because of technical defects and a few crashes that he failed to win the championship. And that in his rookie year.”
Marko says that Tsunoda has an incredible basic speed and is very good at grasping the car.
Marketing guru Hogan dies from Coronavirus
John Hogan the pioneer in the Formula One sponsorship and marketing world, has died of a Coronavirus related illness at the age of seventy-six.
Hogan was best known for his work with Philip Morris creating deals with both McLaren and Ferrari, leading to championships for Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Hogan started his career when F1 sponsorship and exploitation was in its infancy. He also helped Bernie Ecclestone Australian by birth, Hogan once recalled that his interest in racing was first sparked by seeing a Clark Gable Indy 500 movie, To Please a Lady.
Later he moved to England for his education, meeting future film star Malcolm McDowell at school. McDowell’s father ran a pub near the Aintree circuit, and Hogan attended his first race at the became hooked on motorsport.
He studied at Cambridge University where he joined a small group of motoring enthusiasts, including Piers Courage, who spent all their free time fettling cars. Hogan then entered the advertising business, and n association with Coca Cola led to an early involvement with racing through modest backing for F3 drivers James Hunt and Gerry Birrell.
He subsequently found support for the Rondel F2 team run by Ron Dennis and Neil Trundle.
In 1973 he joined Philip Morris, playing a role in Marlboro switching to McLaren and then James Hunt moving to McLaren, and the Englishman’s 1976 title win.
He then brokered the deal between McLaren and Project Four, which saw the two merge into McLaren. Hogan would oversee Marlboro’s dealings with McLaren through the Alain Prost/Ayrton Senna Honda era, while also building up a parallel relationship with Ferrari.
Philip Morris would part with McLaren in 1996, before a period of unprecedented success in the early 2000s with Ferrari. Marlboro’s racing involvement trickled down to the feeder categories, and much like Red Bull today over the decades the company gave many young drivers a helping hand.
In 2002, he left Philip Morris joining Jaguar as sporting director and was the sponsor representative on the F1 Commission gave him insight that was useful to any team, but the Milton Keynes outfit was in disarray, and he soon left.
Aston Martin launching in February
Aston Martin is to launch their livery and car at an event in February ahead of its works return to the grid in 2021. The Racing Point team has been rebranded as the British manufacture after Lawrence Stroll made an investment in the car company.
Although since 2015 Aston Martin has been a sponsor of Red Bull, this season marks it return as a constructor for the first time since 1960. They will also see the arrival of Sebastian Vettel to partner Stroll’s son Lance from this season.
On new years day, the team did an initial rebrand of its social media and website offer offering teasers of the British racing green colours the team is set to adopt, along with the hashtag ‘#IAMF1’.
The team has confirmed that it will officially unveil its new car and livery for 2021 next month but is yet to announce an exact date for the launch. The RP20B will be renamed ahead of Barcelona testing.
Team principal Otmar Szafnauer, told Motorsport.com, “We’ve had almost a year of preparation to reach this point and we’re really looking forward to seeing the reaction when we finally unveil our new identity as the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team.”
“Representing such an iconic brand is a huge privilege for every member of the team. We’ve earned a well-deserved reputation for punching above our weight, so we’re confident we can do the Aston Martin name proud right from the get-go.”
Szafnauer said it was the start of a new journey and he could sense the extra energy in the team and a push performance further than ever before. This follows an impressive 2020, where they secured a pole position for Stroll in Istanbul and Sergio Perez score a shock victory in the Sakhir Grand Prix.
It is unclear if the team will enter the new season with a fresh title sponsor, having dropped BWT from its name on the latest FIA entry list issued last month.
Chairman and owner Lawrence Stroll added, “Formula 1 is a hugely powerful platform that will play a key part in the overall Aston Martin strategy as we seek to take the company forward.”
“It is a truly global sport with a huge audience that we believe can help reignite the brand and further increase its desirability all over the world.”
McLaren proud Norris’s work on mental health
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown feels “very proud” of Lando Norris’s work to open up about mental health in Formula One, praising his authentic and honest approach.
The Englishman built on a solid debut season in 2019 by nearly doubling the number of points he scored last year and took a maiden podium in Austria. During the first UK lockdown, he also helped raise money for Mind a UK mental health charity and spoke in the summer how he was “struggling a lot” mentally through his first year in F1.
Asked by Motorsport.com about Norris’s work to help break down the stigma surrounding mental health in motorsport, Brown praised the 21-year-old’s authenticity.
Brown said, “I think it’s great. What you see is what you get with both of our drivers. I think that’s one of the reasons why they have been so popular and why Lando is so popular.
“Everything that you see him do, that’s him. He takes that upon himself, it’s genuine, it’s authentic. It’s great to have someone who spotlights issues and agendas and it’s done in a very authentic way. I think it’s very important.”
Brown says that Norris is a breath of fresh air and enjoyable to watch, but he is actually a fairly shy person which doesn’t come across on his social media. He described Norris as “just very authentic” believing “he’s very comfortable in that environment.”
The Englishman played an important role in clinching McLaren’s third place in the constructors’ championship, following his fifth place at the final race in Abu Dhabi.
