This Week – 27/11/2022
Hello again, this week the sport has started to both look back at last season and as ever ahead. The reflections on the 2022 season will be the theme for the next month, as the sports figures out what it means going forwards, constructors championship position result in more money for the smaller teams. But the futures of some hang in the balance, no more so than at Ferrari, there is no smoke without fire…
General News
BBC News says it has learned that the Chinese Grand Prix will be cancelled because of the country’s Covid policy. F1 has not raced in Shanghai since 2019 and the race was due to return for the fourth race in 2023 on 14 – 16 April.
China has one of the world’s strictest covid policy, despite most of the world opening up with no travel restrictions, the latest rules say that anyone found with Covid-19 must spend five days at an isolation centre plus three days isolation at home.
F1 chairman and chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali has not yet officially called off the race, but the decision is considered an inevitability.
The sport is not expected to seek to replace China with another race, so the calendar will be cut to 23 races – still, an record but one event fewer than F1 had originally planned. It will not be replaced by another race but talks are on going to move back a week Baku, but is meeting resistance.
The FIA has spilt with its interim secretary general Shaila-Ann Rao less than six months after appointing her. Rao, who joined the FIA from Mercedes in June, was at the centre of the controversy over Red Bull breaching F1’s budget cap regulations in 2021.
An FIA statement said Rao had joined to assist new president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in his “transition period”. It said she was leaving because “this period is now coming to an end”. However, BBC News says it understands that she resigned because the job was not what she expected.
Sulayem, who took over as FIA president in December last year, said: “Shaila-Ann has provided me with great support in respect to Formula 1, always acting with professionalism and integrity.”
I think there is nothing really big here as this was hinted at during the Abu Dhabi weekend, we also know they have recently pointed a new CEO who has taken on much of their role. Also her links to Mercedes caused concern at both Ferrari and Red Bull. In particular, at the height of the cost-cap row, Red Bull raised questions about Rao and whether they had been targeted.
Mercedes
George Russell says Abu Dhabi served as a reality check for Mercedes after the excitement of the previous week’s one-two in Brazil. Lewis Hamilton was fifth and Russell sixth in qualifying, with Russell finishing fifth and Hamilton retiring. Russell had lost out with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release at his second stop, he then set a series of fastest laps.
Russell described the race as a “reality check,” if they want to fight Red Bull next season. Adding “we have a car with a huge amount of potential, but unfortunately that performance window is far too narrow. And those performance swings we’ve seen from the highs of Budapest, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore compared to the likes of here, Monza, Spa are just far too vast.”
Last weekend the team suffered more with porpoising than it had for a while, which made life tougher for the drivers. I think that Abu Dhabi because of its nature was always going to be a more difficult race for Mercedes, but I believe it wasn’t as tough as it would have been at the start of the season.
CEO and team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed that they have an interest in signing Mick Schumacher as their reserve because the “just fits” with the team. Schumacher has lost his seat with Haas and was let go from Ferrari’s driver academy this year, we know that Mercedes have lost their reserve driver Nyck de Vires who has joined Alpha Tauri.
Daniel Ricciardo was previously linked but has joined Red Bull and Schumacher, whose seven-time title-winning father Michael drove for Mercedes from 2010 to 2012, is now expected to land the role.
Wolff said, “Mick is someone that has always been close to our heart because of Michael or the whole Schumacher family. He (Mick) is an intelligent, well-mannered young man. He’s been very successful in junior formulas.”
Schumacher joining Mercedes make sense and its up to him and the family’s manager Sabine Kehm to take up the deal. I think joining the team will allow him to rebuild his career and potentially open doors with other teams to get him back on the grid, I think its more likely Schumacher rather than Ricciardo will make a comeback.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said in Abu Dhabi that while the team retain a high opinion of Schumacher, the young driver must do whatever is in his own best interests.
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo will return to Red Bull as third driver in 2023, the team announced on Wednesday. The Australian won seven of eight wins and finished third twice for the team between 2014 and 2018. After his exit from McLaren was confirmed back in August, he was left without a full-time seat on the grid for 2023.
He will assist Red Bull with testing and simulator work, as well as commercial activity. This move was expected and the more likely of the two options he reported had, Red Bull and Mercedes. Its well documented that he hasn’t performed as he did since he left Red Bull in 2018.
Ricciardo said: “The smile says it all, I’m truly excited to be coming back home to Oracle Red Bull Racing as their Third Driver in 2023. I already have so many fond memories of my time here, but the welcome from Christian, Dr Marko and the entire team is something I’m sincerely app.”
He again was clear he wanted to return and that taking a year out not racing would also allow him to better understand if he had the motivation to want to return in 2024.
Team principal Christian Horner said: “It is great to bring Daniel back into the Red Bull family. He has enormous talent and such a brilliant character; I know the whole factory is excited to be welcoming him home. In his role as test and third driver, Daniel will give us the chance to diversify, assisting in the development of the car, aiding the Team with his experience and knowledge of what it takes to succeed in F1.”
On Friday, Horner said he believes that the team’s success this season “hurts our opponents” but also warned against complacency in the fight against Mercedes and Ferrari. In Abu Dhabi, the team took their seventeenth win of the year after sealing both the drivers and constructors.
In Melbourne, Verstappen remarked, “We’re already miles behind, so I don’t even want to think about the championship fight at the moment. Today was in generally just a bad day and not really having the pace. But we didn’t even finish the race, which is pretty frustrating and unacceptable.”
after finding its feet and going head-to-head with Ferrari through the first half of the year, the RB18 took a step forward to become the most dominant car on the grid, winning 11 of the final 12 races of the season. Horner says that ‘hurts’ their rivals and that they “will be even more motivated to become a challenger next year.”
I think, while of course Red Bull are likely to be the favourite next year, Mercedes closing races showed now they have a good foundation for building off. But the word for next year is evolution and it will be harder as champions Red Bull have a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time plus the extra 5% for exceeding last years cap, all designed to level up the field.
Asked what lessons Red Bull could take from this year and the controversies it has faced, Horner said: “You’re always learning, and somebody else will have an issue at some point. The higher you rise, the sharper the knives. We’ve experienced a bit of that this year. And the quickest way to become unpopular in this paddock is to win and win consistently.
Ferrari
Speculation about Mattio Binotto’s future ramped up on Friday when the Italian media reported that his departure could be imminent. Binotto had found himself at the centre of F1’s rumour mill on the eve of the season finale in Abu Dhabi when stories emerged that Ferrari was lining up Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur to replace him.
Although Ferrari deny this and last weekend in Abu Dhabi tried to downplay the report, it hasn’t gone away. The newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday suggested that Binotto was on the verge of announcing his resignation.
This is what they said just under a fortnight ago, “In relation to speculation in certain media regarding Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto’s position, Ferrari states that these rumours are totally without foundation.”
The stories suggested that negotiations were underway between Binotto and Ferrari’s senior management to agree on the terms of his exit. It was suggested that a formal announcement from the team could be made as early as Friday. Ferrari said on Friday that there was nothing “official” to say on the matter.
The newspaper claimed that Binotto had concluded that he should not continue at Ferrari because he did not feel he had the full trust of president John Elkann.
At Monza, Elkann said “We have great faith in Mattia Binotto and appreciate everything he and all our engineers have done, but there is no doubt that the work in Maranello, in the garage, on the pit wall and at the wheel needs to improve. We must continue to make progress and that goes for the mechanics, the engineers, the drivers and obviously, the entire management team, including the Team Principal.”
Since then, Ferrari as Elkann admitted himself “there are still too many mistakes when it comes to reliability, driving and strategy,” have lost the championships partly due to their mistakes. But Ferrari unlike in the past have stuck with Binotto longer than they might have done in the past.
McLaren
McLaren’s partnership with the iconic Gulf Oil brand is to end this year, with their sponsorship contract not being extended into 2023. The team and Gulf caused a stir in the middle of 2020 when it emerged that it was renewing an historic partnership with Gulf, which had originally been a team partner as long ago as 1968.
From the 2020 British GP, McLaren’s cars carried the famous blue and orange colours of Gulf as part of a deal that included its supercar brand. The partnership proved a success and, most famously at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, Gulf and McLaren pulled off a bespoke livery for the car that earned huge praise from fans.
However they have decided not to extend the deal McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “Our long-standing relationship with Gulf has featured throughout the history of McLaren Racing. We have recorded so many iconic moments together, including our celebrated Monaco livery in 2021. Although this feels like a natural end point to the partnership, there is always room to welcome back old friends as we have done previously.”
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso says he is “ready to deliver something special” when he joins Aston Martin next season. The Spaniard says he hopes his status as F1’s most experienced driver ever can guide his new team to good results.
Alonso said: “I believe when I can make differences when it comes to crucial moments of the races or experiences. We all have high talent driving cars fast; it is more about the head and how you control a few things.” His third stint at the Enstone based team saw him retire from Sunday’s race before joining Aston Martin.
Looking back on 2022, he said, “ was not 100% confident with the car or my comeback. It was OK, the season, but this year I am much more up to speed and much more proud of how it has been.”
Ending his Alpine career with a retirement in Abu Dhabi was a somewhat appropriate conclusion to a season dogged by poor reliability, denying him the chance of finishing the championship as the leading driver outside the top three teams. But he believes he can still challenge for championships. Also he expected to continue in F1 for at least “two to three years”.
But he said he had had to adapt his preparation for F1 as he has got older. I think the feeling is from everyone that this is a hobby almost for him, he said earlier this year he feels as good as he was in his twenties
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur says that the prize money earned for sixth place in the constructors’ championship will make a “big difference” to the Hinwil outfit. The team were able to finish ahead of Aston Martin on countback of their results securing the best result since 2012 and followed two eighth places and a ninth in the three years under the Alfa Romeo name.
With each position representing an estimated $10-12m of extra F1 prize income, the result will allow the team to push up to the cost cap limit in 2023, which wasn’t the case this year. It will be interesting to see over the next few years with all the reductions in the cap bring the field closer together.
Vassuer said, “It’s the best way for us to have a good winter, because everybody will be on a positive mood, and this is very important. On top of this it’s always crucial I think to have this kind of fight for us with Aston Martin – in terms of target it’s a good one. And for sure it will be also very helpful on the financial side.
“As we are below the cost cap, every single push will be a big difference. We will see next year, but for sure it will help. I know that some teams said that with $2m you can do nothing, but with $10m we will be able to do a lot!”
We know that the smaller teams need the cash and while it maybe called Alfa Romeo, for now at least, the team aren’t a works team it’s a sponsorship deal and they are effectively a privateer team run by Sauber.
Haas
Nico Hulkenberg has joked that he felt some “human degradation” towards the end of his comeback test with Haas in Abu Dhabi as he stepped up preparations for 2023. Last Thursday the team announced they had signed the ‘super sub’ for a full season and he took part in Tuesday’s test.
Hulkenberg completed 110 laps as he got a chance to learn the team’s systems and get used to the physical demands of an F1 car again, his most recent test coming with Aston Martin in August.
Hulkenberg said, “It was hard, it was tough. I was feeling some human degradation towards the end of the day too, but that was to be expected. Actually, I coped better than I expected to be honest. So that’s good, but still obviously three months of hardcore preparation now.”
But Hulkenberg has had experience of this year’s car in Bahrain and two tyre test with Aston Martin. Haas finished the season eighth in the constructors’ championship as it bounced back from a point-less year in 2021, albeit struggling to sustain its early-season form
Haas have in someways chopped and changed, I heard one person say, between experienced and inexperienced drivers which isn’t good to develop the team and I hope for their sake they stop this chopping and changing drivers isn’t helping. Mick Schumacher has been an expense driver for Haas, but I believe in the final races he has driven as if he wants to come back it could improve him as a driver.