The first week of the summer break was not quiet, the fallout from Sebastian Vettel’s retirement was always going to start the dominos falling. However, it sparked contract rows, three teams competing for one driver who dismissed signing deals then one old mess. Holidays are for relaxing but who ends up with which driver could be long and complicated.
General News
F1 continued to display a dramatic improvement in its financial performance with a 49% increase in revenues in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year. Both seasons saw seven Grands Prix held during the April-June period, allowing for a useful comparison as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic fell away.
But this year all the races have been at full capacity and the Paddock Club has been operating at normal resulting in revenues jumping by $243m, from $501m to $744m in the three months to July. That has been driven by primary revenue from race promotion, broadcasting and sponsorship which was up 35% and other revenues up 214%.
Between them the ten teams shared payments of $368m, up from $308m in Q2 of 2021. I think the sport given the incredible on-track action over the last season and a half was always going to be good for business and Liberty said, “Race promotion revenue increased due to higher fees generated from the different mix of events held and contractual increases in fees.”
However, the numbers were skewed slightly by the late cancellation of the 2021 Japanese GP: “There is a slightly higher proportionate recognition of season-based media rights and sponsorship income recognised during the quarter as 7/22 of revenue was recognised in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 7/23 of revenue recognised in the second quarter of 2021 before the reduction of the 2021 race calendar to 22 races was confirmed.”
Contract confusion
This week one story has dominated the future of Fernando Alonso who signed a contract with Aston Martin, or not. on Monday when the British team announced on social media that the two-time champion would join the team after his third stint at the Enstone-based Alpine team. That caught Alpine by surprise, who then announced on Tuesday afternoon that Oscar.
By Tuesday evening, Piastri says he will not replace Alonso at Alpine next season after the team said he would. The French manufacturer was adamant that its contract with Oscar Piastri for 2023 is legally watertight, despite the Australian insisting he will drive for the Enstone team.
The fallout from this was at times confusing and contradictory. On Wednesday Szafnauer told reporters he was unable to confirm Piastri would race, despite having “contractual obligations”. But then Alpine put out a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying Piastri would race after all. Also on Wednesday on Twitter #Piastrigate started popping up.
On Friday, Motorsport.com said it had learned McLaren had told Ricciardo that it intends to replace him with Oscar Piastri next year. If this is correct McLaren would need to pay a settlement involving a substantial pay-off in order for him to walk away at the end of this season.
He is understood to have no interest in moving sideways into the team’s Formula E programme, and is determined to find another seat in F1. The other factor is Piastri’s ability to walk away from Alpine is based on a claim that his 2023 deal with the team was never properly signed. The 31st July is widely believed to be related to an option the team had on him – is understood to have no special relevance.
The dispute looks set to go to the Contract Recognition Board, although there is also some question of whether or Alpine actually lodged a contract with the CRB that covered 2023.It has emerged that McLaren began to explore the possibility of hiring Piastri several weeks ago as it looked for possible replacements for Ricciardo.
In my head, there has never been a more confusing situation but it underlines that contract negotiations are compilated and can get messy. The wording of contracts is going to be key in this in, the dispute looks set to go to the Contract Recognition Board, although there is also some question of whether or Alpine actually lodged a contract with the CRB that covered 2023.
It has emerged that McLaren began to explore the possibility of hiring Piastri several weeks ago as it looked for possible replacements for Ricciardo.
(Correct as of Friday Evening European time)
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton says beating both Ferrari cars was a “huge” result for Mercedes in Hungary given its struggles to compete so far this year. Despite struggling in practice Mercedes showed signs of progress in qualifying when George Russell took a maiden pole, but Hamilton feels his DRS issue prevented him challenging for pole.
The team had once again turned things round after appearing to be off the pace in practice, and also took advantage of the Ferrari’s mistake to score a double podium. The result in Budapest allowed Mercedes to close the gap to Ferrari to thirty points in the constructors, and two podiums behind Ferrari. They will be hoping that this puts them on course for challenging for titles again in 2023.
However CEO and team principal Toto Wolff thinks his team needs to stay cautious about its pace deficit to Ferrari and Red Bull after believing it may have “landed in the perfect window” in Hungary. Wolff warned on Sunday night that the team’s breakthrough performance could have been the result of a perfect storm.
He appears to be unsure if Mercedes will be able to replicate its Hungarian GP performance over the second half of the season. Wolff cautioned, “I think we need to be careful that it’s not specific to Budapest that we just landed in the perfect window. The other teams, Ferrari especially yesterday, complained about the tyre not being where it should have been. So, in my personal opinion, we’re still lacking to the front runners.
He praised both Hamilton and Russell, saying Hamilton’s strategy made up for his DRS failure in qualifying and Russell for his maiden pole and attempt to try and win the race.
Red Bull
Red Bull and Honda have announced a two-year extension to there partnership until the end of the current engine formula in 2025. Despite the Japanese manufacturer withdrew from the sport last year, but has continued to supply Red Bull with its power units this season via a subsidiary company called Honda Racing Corporation.
I think this move makes sense given we know a new engine formula is due to be introduced in 2026 which now allows Red Bull to either focus on developing their own PU or the rumoured tie-up with Porsche. It’s expected and talks are already underway with Porsche about a joint venture with it to buy fifty percent of the F1 team and contribute to engine development at Red Bull’s new powertrains department in Milton Keynes.
Max Verstappen has condemned the “disgusting” burning of Mercedes merchandise by fans in Hungary amid the ongoing clampdown against abusive behaviour. Over the last six weeks the bitterness of how last year’s championship has led to fans breaking out in almost like football battles in the 1980s from what I’ve read and seen on social media its been growing probably since Silverstone last year.
It came just weeks after a similar incident was filmed in a fan area at the Austrian Grand Prix, where abusive fan behaviour led to F1 taking action by increasing security and launching a new campaign called “Drive It Out.”
Verstappen was asked on Sunday following his Hungarian Grand Prix victory about the video of fans burning Lewis Hamilton merchandise, which he said was “of course not acceptable.”
Verstappen said, “No, I definitely don’t agree with that, because that’s just disgusting. Overall, I think the majority of the fans which also were cheering a lot, I think throughout the race and also on the podium for every driver. I think that’s how it should be.
Ferrari
Ferrari says even without the slip-up on strategy which cost Charles Leclerc victory in Budapest, they doubt they would have been able to win the race. Leclerc’s chances of victory in Budapest faded after a switch to the hard tyre saw his pace drop off dramatically.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz could only manage fourth after also falling out of contention for victory as Ferrari struggled in the cooler than expected conditions throughout the race. Although Binotto conceded Ferrari did not get Leclerc’s strategy right and should not have used the hards, he doubted Ferrari could have beaten Max Verstappen and Red Bull to victory.
Binotto believes there is “nothing to change” at the team over the summer break despite its recent struggles and slip-ups against Red Bull. He said, “It’s not a matter of bad luck, and there is nothing to change as well. It’s always a matter of continuous learning and building, building experience, building skills.”
They will be hoping the August break is a reset and that they can do almost a Mercedes and start beating Red Bull regularly. Binotto was confident that Leclerc would be able to “rest and relax to come back even more hungry” after the summer break, helping push Ferrari forward and recover from its recent run of form.
McLaren
Daniel Riccardo says he will use the summer break to build up “hunger” in readiness for a “positive bang” when he starts the second half of the season. The Australian has faced a difficult few months in the shadow of Lando Norris and has scored only nineteen points to the seventy-six of his McLaren teammate.
Pressure continues to grow on Ricciardo with Zak Brown saying ‘he has failed to meet expectations’, meanwhile the Piastri confusion also leaves Ricciardo’s future hanging in the balance. He said, “To be honest, switching off normally gives me like a natural reset. To a point where I imagine in say ten days, two weeks into the break, I would have kind of got the holiday out of my system, and then I’ll build that hunger back again.
“A bit like last year, [I want to] kind of start that second half of this season with a positive bang and just to get the ball rolling. The triple-header, it’s intense. So I think come out and set some strong intentions. That’s the plan. Obviously, it’s easier said than done. But that’s certainly the plan.”
Ricciardo admitted that the MCL36 is one of the more difficult F1 cars that he’s driven thus far. There have been times when seeing him drive I’ve had the feeling he is unable to get the most out of the car and he says it not simple.
Williams
Williams made a more straight forwards announcement about Alex Albon signing a multi-year deal with the team. Although it seemed a formality After Red Bull signed Sergio Perez on a two year deal in June the deal seemed a formality as the Austrian team extended the Mexican’s contract.
Although Red Bull is known to have ‘future options’ over Albon’s services for the future, but Sergio Perez has now been locked in alongside Max Verstappen until the end of 2024. I think it’s a win win situation for both driver and team, Albon when he joined Red Bull, I don’t think was ready and this allows him to continue to rebuild a reputation.
Jokingly he put this tweet out “I understand that, with my agreement, Williams Racing have put out a press release this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is right and I have signed a contract with Williams for 2023. I will be driving for Williams next year.”
The Week Ahead
Next week is the second week of the summer break, often the news can be slow but in recent years I have come to expect the unexpected. Whatever is going on with Alpine/McLaren and Piastri I think is likely to rumble on, but we often see in F1 a solution will be found in time. I think we will need to see what happens across the triple header.
The main thing that Liberty will be working on over the break is the 2023 calendar, the interesting thing I know as part of the 2030 carbon neutral plan they want greater regionalisation of the calendar. I think are races like Melbourne and Abu Dhabi prepared to move around, and be grouped into regions?
The upgrade battle when we return to Spa is going to be all the team bringing upgrades given we have had this debate about the budget cap, and we all know what generally has been described as a cost of living crisis coupled with the budget cap is affecting the teams as well.
We are now into Q2 results reporting the numbers from F1 today look encouraging, and we need to see how the teams are doing. Under the new Concorde Agreement that should see it distributed more evenly and in the longer term, as we have been saying everything in the current agreement is about levelling up the field to create better racing.
