October 20, 2024 · 2:39 pm

Gasly: P7 with upgraded Alpine “a fantastic surprise”

Gasly even surprised himself by earning P7 in Austin

Alpine Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly admits that his charge to seventh on the grid for the US GP was “a fantastic surprise.”

He will actually start from P6 after George Russell was obliged to start from the pitlane.

Gasly has a package of updates on his A524 this weekend, while Esteban Ocon still has the earlier version.

He was fifth in Q1 and eighth in Q2 before securing seventh in the final session, which was curtailed by a yellow flag for George Russell’s crash.

Alpine has failed to score a point in the past four races.

“It’s a fantastic surprise,” he said when asked about the session by this writer. “I’m very happy because we made quite a lot of changes after the sprint, and on a sprint weekend, it’s not easy, because you don’t have much time to actually figure it out, especially when you’ve got a new package and new parts on the car.

“You don’t have much time to understand or try things, and we made quite a few changes setup wise, and the car was just in a much better place. So a lot more potential, more drivable, more controllable.

“It was reacting well to my driving, and I was just very pleased. A lot more enjoyable, and I managed to put some very strong laps, Q1, Q2, Q3, so very happy for the guys to see the parts have some good potential.”

Gasly stressed that his consistent pace through qualifying was encouraging.

“Clearly, today we were in the mix, and every single lap I was putting out there put us in a decent position,” he said. “So it wasn’t only one lap. That’s what I’m most pleased about. I think now we still need to figure out.

“We obviously have some ideas. I know what we’ve changed on the car, and the effect was, let’s say, quite important for what we did. And I’m sure it will help the guys to to unlock even more potential.”

He added: “To be fair, everything we are doing, the most important thing for me is really to figure out and understand as much as possible from this package for next year, from this season.

“We’ve done so much races, we’re not really fighting for any important position in the driver on the team championship. So for me, it’s anything we can take that allow us to be fighting for points consistently next year is definitely positive. And that’s what the guys gave me today.

“So also very pleased to see the correlation. Whatever they’re seeing, they’re coming with a new package, so not always guaranteed that it delivers. And there is definitely some, some good potential.”

Gasly concedes that in the Austin race his fight will be with the cars behind him on the grid.

“I think at the moment, looking at the last few races, we were fighting to get out of Q1,” he said. “Now we made it to Q3, I think that’s my best qualifying of the year. So I think before looking at the top four, we’ll look at our battle.

“I think Alonso, we’ll be able to fight him. The Haas look very strong all weekend. So I think they’ll be the ones which are going to be slightly more tricky to keep behind. But yeah, I’m sure we’ll be.”

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October 20, 2024 · 2:04 pm

Russell “paid the price” for lack of performance with Austin qualifying crash

Russell was frustrated by a performance drop-off in qualifying

George Russell said he paid the price for a lack of performance from his Mercedes W15 by pushing too hard and crashing in qualifying in Austin – an incident that has obliged him to start from the pitlane.

Russell went off in Q3, ending the second runs of the rest of the field and leaving himself in sixth place on the grid.

The crash damaged the upgraded floor and other parts on his W15. Mercedes only has two sets in Austin.

Lewis Hamilton offered to donate the new parts from his car but Russell is reverting to an older spec, which will involve a significant rebuilding job by the crew.

On sprint weekends drivers can go back to an earlier declared spec while under parc ferme rules, but because of the work required the team had to drop out of parc ferme. That triggered a pitlane start.

“All season when the car is in the sweet spot we’re fighting for poles and wins,” he said when asked by this writer about his session.

“Yesterday we were both fighting for pole, and today we were both almost out in Q1. I really pushed it on that last lap, and ultimately trying to find performance that wasn’t there, and paid the price.

“And I’m really just disappointed with myself, because everyone’s worked so hard to bring the upgrades – now that’s in the bin.”

Russell couldn’t explain why the W15 was not as competitive as on Friday, when he qualified second for the sprint.

“We don’t have the answers,” he said. “Because we keep finding ourselves in this position. It’s how the cars interacting with the tyres, the temperature, small changes, the wind, small changes.

“But it has been the story of the season. Old upgrades, new upgrades, either we’re there, or we’re half a second, six-tenths off.”

Regarding the damage he said: “Right now the concern is about the bits. We will have to revert on the upgrades Lewis has kindly offered his ones, but we’re not going to swap. So I don’t know what, what’s going to be happening now, but that’s the biggest concern.”

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October 20, 2024 · 1:49 pm

Hamilton left stranded in 19th after “pretty terrible” day

Hamilton had a disastrous Q1 session in Austin

Lewis Hamilton will start the US GP from 19th on the grid after a disastrous Q1 session saw him fail to progress and beat only Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu.

Hamilton’s day was compromised by a broken front suspension element that hampered him in the sprint and left him with severe oversteer.

The team discovered the problem before qualifying and also made set-up changes in an effort to improve the car, but Hamilton struggled with the car and also had traffic issues.

“It’s been pretty terrible,” he said when asked by this writer about his day. “The car felt great yesterday, so obviously came really optimistic for today. And something failed in the front suspension, literally, as we pulled away from the line for the formation lap.

“And I had that through the race. So they figured that out. They changed the corner, and It just felt like a mess. This shouldn’t happen, and it’s obviously not planned.

“When the suspension is failing and breaking and things aren’t coming together… I mean today, honestly I can’t explain. You have to ask the team what happened with the suspension. But I know the guys are working as hard as they can. They did the change.”

Hamilton is downbeat about his prospects for the race, although he hopes he can make progress from 19th.

“There’s not going to be a lot going on. But I mean, I started in karts with a pretty bad go-kart, and I used to come through the field, so see if I can do that tomorrow.”

Regarding the update package he said: “Any performance we bring is positive. And as I said yesterday all of a sudden we were looking really quick. I don’t know where that went. But we’ll keep pushing.”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin confirmed that the suspension issue had been costly.

“We found a broken part on Lewis’ front suspension post sprint, and that definitely impacted the overall balance,” he said.
 

“In an effort to get the car back to the sweet spot we had on Friday, we made some set-up adjustments ahead of qualifying. Sadly these didn’t have the desired effect.

“A consistent balance continued to elude Lewis, although he was unfortunate to be knocked out in Q1 having been impacted by traffic in sector one.”

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October 19, 2024 · 7:49 pm

Norris: No regrets on McLaren bringing updates to sprint weekend

Norris says he would have been worse off without the latest updates

Lando Norris has no regrets about his McLaren Formula 1 team bringing an update package to a sprint weekend despite struggling to optimise the MCL38 with only one practice session.

Norris insisted that he would be worse off without the new package, which is highlighted by a new front wing, despite admitting that the car was far from optimised for the track.

Norris started the Austin sprint in fourth and ran second for most of the event after making a good start, although Carlos Sainz demoted him to third on the last lap. He thus lost two points to winner Max Verstappen.

Asked by this writer if he would be better off had he had a stable car with no new parts – as is the case with Ferrari this weekend – Norris made his views clear.

“No, I’m very happy we brought updates here, otherwise I’d be even further down the grid,” he said. “The team have done a good job to get the bits here. We’ve had some great races lately, like Singapore and other places, but everyone thought we were easily and way far ahead of everyone.

“And clearly we’re not. Even if you go back to Baku, both Red Bull and Ferrari were quicker than us. I think we’re close. But even when I look at the data comparing to yesterday, we’re a long way off of what Ferrari could achieve, what Mercedes could achieve.

“So, yeah, I think it’s going to be tough. It’s an opportunity for us to improve into qualifying, but these upgrades have made us go quicker, so we’ve been even further down without them.”

Norris said he was happy with the sprint outcome, despite being pipped by Sainz at the end.

“It was as a good start, a good Turn 1, which was nice to have, and immediately behind Max. It was pretty straightforward from that point onwards, George [Russell] was pushing a lot in the beginning of the race, clearly a bit too much, and he paid the price. I didn’t think I would ever be able to get Max.

“We’ve been struggling a bit all weekend, so my chance of getting Max was tough, but I did the best I could to manage my tyres and things like that. But at the end of the race, the Ferraris were at another level comparing to us.

“I did my best to try and hold on but there was that was pretty much zero chance I would ever hold on to second place today. From fourth, happy we moved up, we put up a good fight, but we just didn’t have the pace this weekend.”

Asked what he’d learned from the sprint he said: “Once the front tyres are gone, we’re quite slow! We didn’t get a lot of practice, we didn’t get a lot of running in FP1.

“And it’s hard to judge everything all in one go. And with tarmac being different, and bumps being different is hard to optimise the setup. So we’ll review everything and see what improvements we can make.”

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October 19, 2024 · 7:23 pm

Verstappen: Remaining calm key to Red Bull finding winning form

Verstappen finally has that winning feeling again

Max Verstappen says that remaining calm through a difficult spell with the RB20 was the key to the Red Bull Formula 1 team finding its winning form again in Austin.

The Milton Keynes team came to COTA with an update package that helped Verstappen to secure pole for the sprint and then win it with ease.

It was his first victory since the Spanish GP in June, and came after a run of eight race weekends with a victory.

“I think what has been very important for us in the last few races is to remain calm and just work on the problems,” he said. 

“And that’s what we have done as a team. Just focus on ourselves. That’s the only thing that you can influence and control.”

Verstappen made it clear what it mean to return to the front of the field.

“I’m happy,” he said. “It’s been of course quite a few races where it was more like just looking behind, never really being able to attack, and now find the car had definitely had just more performance. I could push a bit harder.

“So very, very happy with today. I mean, looking at the whole race, I think Ferrari was also very quick. But for us, this was already much, much better.

“Of course, always a very hectic weekend like this, to get the car in the right window. But luckily, the last few times that we had a sprint, I think the car was in a good window. So, yeah, there’s a bit more pressure on delivering, but luckily, it’s working out for us.”

Asked if the RB20 was now back where it was earlier in the year he said: “Back where it was at the beginning of the season is difficult to say, because everyone is improving as well. It just feels a bit more together.

“And I think that is what we have been lacking. I mean, over one lap you can mask a lot of issues, but in of course, in the race, you need a balanced car, which was a bit of a struggle for us last year races. And now today, it was definitely a lot better.”

Regarding the rest of the weekend he added: I think over the whole race distance today, I think Ferrari was, was very fast. We’ll look into things to improve going into qualifying. But it’s a bit difficult to tell at the moment how we would be on full fuel.”

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October 19, 2024 · 2:40 pm

Final W15 update gives Mercedes a boost in Austin

The final W15 update package appeared to work well in Austin on Friday

The final update package for the Mercedes W15 appeared to give the Brackley F1 team a boost in Austin when George Russell qualified second for the sprint, despite setting his time early and leaving himself vulnerable to being beaten.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton was caught out by a yellow flag and slipped down to P7, having been second and third in the earlier sessions.

The Austin updates are focussed on the floor, which has been a major talking point for Mercedes after the last version as introduced at Spa was dropped and then swapped on and off the car in subsequent races.

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said that the latest iteration was developed from the Spa floor.

“It’s not a sort of fundamentally different concept,” he said. “It’s an evolution of that floor from Spa. It’s not the only change on the car. Hopefully, it’ll be a big enough step that the performance will be obvious.

“We’ve done all the work that we can to be confident that this will be a step forward. Running it and seeing that you get the results you expect in terms of the pressures and the loads, seeing that you make a step forward on the timesheets.

“That’s all part of the box ticking exercise. But to get us to this point, we’ve done as much work as we possibly can to confirm that it should, it should be okay. And yeah, we’ll learn this weekend, and we’ll continue to learn into Mexico.”

Asked by this writer if there is anything else to come he said: “We’ve brought pretty much everything we’re going to bring to the end of the year now.

“That’s not to say that in and amongst the learning that you get across the races, we won’t be making further changes, but there’s no major updates planned for us from here on in.”

Shovlin admitted that the Spa floor hadn’t brought much performance, and the timing of introduction was influenced by the fact that the team needed to replace the previous examples, which had done a lot of miles. So a switch was made to a new spec despite it not brining a significant advantage.

“Before the break, we had a really good momentum, and we’d hope to carry that into the second part of the year,” he said. “Other teams were bringing updates this side of the break, and I think that inevitably had a bit of an effect on us slipping back.

“We’ve done a lot of work looking at that Spa package now, and it wasn’t a big step. Part of the reason we did that was because the floors that we’d introduced in Miami, by that time, were getting very tired. We wanted to make new floors.

“We didn’t have a lot of performance, so we actually went ahead and produced them for what was a relatively small gain.

“The downside of that is it’s hard to know whether you’re making progress. And for one reason or another, we didn’t have great performance in Zandvoort, in Monza, and that was what triggered the decision to roll back. But if we look at it, I think a large bit was our competitors moving ahead of us again.

“When we were quick before the break, we won some races, but we were winning them by the narrowest of margins. We wouldn’t have even said we were the fastest car in Spa. And hopefully this, this will move us back in the right direction. But you’ll see McLaren have got an update here again, so I think they’re the ones that everyone is chasing at the moment.”

Shovlin acknowledged that slow corner performance has been a handicap recently.

“We’re struggling to turn the car in some of those corners, and then that results in the drivers having to sort of finish turning it with the throttle,” he said. “That puts up tyre temperatures.

“So we’re working on those aspects for next year. But this is just more downforce and more downforce tends to make your problems go away, but, you know, there’ll still be things we need to fix.”

Regarding the latest updates he said: “It should help a bit. But that’s the thing that we’re really looking at in the development of the next year’s car is, how can we improve the balance.

“Throughout the life of this car, we found that when it’s in it, in its well-balanced window, it’s a pretty effective racing car, and when you slip out of it, we lose a fair bit of performance.

“And if you look at the McLaren, it seems, wherever they go, whatever the session, they nearly always have it working well. And that’s what you’ve got to aim for.”

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October 19, 2024 · 2:30 pm

McLaren: More MCL38 updates to come in “next events”

Norris could manage only fourth in sprint qualifying

McLaren’s Austin update package unveiled at the Formula 1 US GP is not the last of the season with more updates expected to come over the “next events.”

The package declared for the Austin weekend includes a new front wing and associated front suspension changes, revised front and rear brake ducts, and a new single element beam wing.

However there are no changes to the floor, which has remained largely unchanged since Miami in May.

Lando Norris was fourth in sprint qualifying on Friday, acknowledging that there had been some balance issues as the team adjusted to the new package.

McLaren technical director of engineering Neil Houldley confirmed that more updates that were not signed off for use in time for Austin will be seen at upcoming races. Although he gave no details logic suggests that the floor will be one area that will change.

“We brought a lot of upgrades, or a lot of small upgrades for this event, said Houldley of the Austin package. “I don’t really want to go into too many details about what will appear at the next events, but there’ll be more coming, for sure.

“I think what we’ve been doing is just continue our development progress throughout the year. And at the moment, it turns out, really, that what we want to do is bring something that we know works. So we’re not trying to deliver something early.

“We’re in a good position in the championship. But what we don’t want to do is, is bring any confusion into the team about the results of the components we’re bringing. So we’re waiting, and bringing them when they’re ready.

“Aerodynamically, we already know the upgrades that we’re going to be bringing to the next couple of events. So they’re ready in that sense, but they’re very much in manufacture, back at the factory.”

Houldley said the fact that Austin is a sprint weekend with limited practice did not influence the decision: “Not at all. We’re just ensuring that when we bring the parts, they’re the right ones, and they’re going to bring performance to the track.

“Actually the regulations that make it a little bit easier sometimes for a sprint event, when you’ve only got one component. For us we just bring it to the event that we can get it to in the fastest possible way. So whether it’s a sprint or a standard event doesn’t make a difference to us.”

The team only has one example of the new wing, which will be used by Lando Norris.

Asked by this writer if the cars were in the same spec Houldley sad. “Everything, apart from the front wing, we’ve got quantities of that both drivers can use.

“The front wing we’ve only got one of at this event, so we’re going to run that with both drivers in the practice session, and then it’s going to be given to Lando for the rest of the weekend.

“It just takes a while to develop and manufacture the parts, but they’ll all be available for Oscar in the next event.”

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October 19, 2024 · 2:02 pm

Mekies: Keeping Ricciardo’s final weekend secret was “frustrating”

Ricciardo was denied a proper send-off in Singapore

RB boss Laurent Mekies admits that Red Bull and the Italian team could have tackled Daniel Ricciardo’s last race weekend in Singapore in a different way and says the way it unfolded that it was “frustrating”.

All parties insisted during the weekend that no decision had been made on the Australian’s future, while it was clear to observers that Liam Lawson was being lined up to drive from Austin onwards. The official announcement was made the following week.

Ricciardo was thus denied the traditional farewell granted to retiring or departing drivers, something that did not gone unnoticed by close friend Max Verstappen.

“I think it was quite clear for me, and for Daniel, that that was the last race,” said the World Champion when asked by this writer for his thoughts on the subject.

“And yeah, for my side, I think it could have been handled a bit differently, also for him, because he knew it. But if you can’t say it exactly, it’s a bit of a shame.

“He’s done a lot for F1, he’s won races. He has had incredible races. And yeah, I think he deserved a nicer, let’s say, exit.”

Asked by this writer if it was frustrating to have to conduct the weekend in such a manner Mekies agreed that there was an option to tackle it in a different way.

“I think the answer is yes, it was frustrating,” said the Frenchman. “And yes, you’re right, it was not ideal to go through the weekend in that way, first of all for him, on a professional and on a personal matter, and for the whole team around him.

“Yes, Daniel was aware. We did have discussions before the weekend. For many different reasons, we chose together to go into that weekend without announcing. And from that point onwards, we had to deal with it.

“It’s a decision that, in hindsight, we may or may not do differently. But it’s something that we were, both the team and the drivers, were on board to go through that.

“I think in one way or another, we all found a way to express how much love there is from the sport to Daniel, from the fans to Daniel.

“So I don’t know if it would have been better or worse, certainly different, more traditional, but I can hopefully say that the amount of love and empathy we felt through that weekend was something outstanding and something that shows that he’s bigger than an F1 driver, he’s bigger than F1.”

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October 18, 2024 · 8:33 pm

Brown: Red Bull could be guilty of “massive breach” with ride height device

RBR says it hasn’t changed ride heights under parc ferme

McLaren boss Zak Brown has suggested that Red Bull Racing could be guilty of a “massive breach” of the FIA regulations if it is found to have changed the ride height of its cars under parc ferme conditions.

The Milton Keynes team had admitted that it has a device in the cockpit that can be used by mechanics to adjust ride height, but the team insists that it hasn’t been used and wouldn’t work when the car is fully built.

The FIA intends to put a seal on it as a short term measure, while the team has agreed to modify the car. However McLaren and other teams still have questions.

“Typically, being able to run a car lower is a competitive advantage that makes the car quicker most of the time,” said Brown. “The FIA I think have done a very good job of identifying an element on a single race team.

“From what we can see from having looked at all the open source components, it’s the only team that has the ability to adjust the ride height from inside the cockpit.

“Whether they have or haven’t, I have no idea, but having the ability to do it raises questions. It’s very clear in the regulations, and it’s a material breach, that if you modify your race car, anything that you didn’t get permission on or driver comfort goes very much against regulations.

“So they’ve decided, from what I’ve read, to put a seal on it. And at the same time, we’ve heard from the team that you can’t adjust it when the car is fully race prepped. The car’s not always fully race prepped, in parc ferme on Sunday morning.

“So I think that needs to be unpicked. Why do you need to put a seal on something that you can’t get to in parc ferme or post part ferme a conditions. I still have questions that I need to better understand.”

He added: “If, and I say if, because I don’t know, it’s used in an inappropriate manner, then it is definitely a performance advantage.

“If it’s not, then there’s no performance advantage whatsoever. And I think that’s what we just want to better understand.”

Asked how serious the issue could be if the device was used under parc ferme conditions he said: “I think if you breach the parc ferme rules, that’s a massive breach. And so there should be consequences if that has happened, and that would be ultimately up to the FIA. We’ve seen it in sport before. We’ve seen in our sport, we’ve seen in baseball, we’ve seen in football.

“These things do happen, so we just put our trust in the FIA to address the issue. Moving forward, we’re just asking questions, but it’s up to the FIA, as our regulator, they do a great job to get on top of it and come up with a solution that is transparent and it’s satisfactory to all the teams. I think I’m not alone in our concerns for what we’re have seen and heard.”

Brown stressed that his main concern was how long RBR has had the device on its cars, thus potentially the ability to use it.

“I’ve got confidence that the FIA will resolve the issue,” he said. “I understand they’re having to modify and change their racing car for upcoming races.

“I’m not exactly sure when, so I’m confident in the FIA’s ability to address it moving forward, and our questions are a bit more around what has, maybe historically happened and understanding if it’s been used in an inappropriate manner.”

He added: “As long as the device has had the ability to be adjusted from inside the cockpit, I think is probably what needs to be reviewed.”

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October 18, 2024 · 6:52 pm

Correlation the key for Alpine as only Gasly gets new package

Only Gasly has the new A524 package in Austin

Pierre Gasly says that a successful correlation with simulations will be a more important outcome from the Alpine Formula 1 team’s A524 Austin update package than any specific gain in performance.

The Enstone team has brought a significant batch of updates to COTA including a revised floor, engine cover and rear wing, but only for Gasly’s car initially, leaving Ocon with the older spec.

Gasly says that it’s important for the team to prove to itself that it can translate what the wind tunnel and CFD say to the track as it pushes ahead with a development programme for the 2025 car.

Alpine has already committed to making major changes for next season when most teams are likely to carry over much of their current package.

“It’s a few new bits and pieces, new parts on the car, which have been worked on for over the past few weeks and months,” said Gasly when asked by the writer about the updates.

“We’re quite confident it’s going to bring the performance we expect. And we’ve had to wait for these parts. Hopefully, it can put us in a better position, because obviously the last few races have been pretty tough on our side.”

Gasly agreed that preparing for 2025 is the main focus rather than short-term gains.

“That’s the main target I see personally,” he said. “It’s more about the progress and development we’re going to see over the last six races. I’m not going to say I want us in Abu Dhabi to be fighting for 10th, ninth or 12th, it’s kind of irrelevant.

“But really [we want] to see the correlation between our tools and the stuff we’re working on delivering at the track, which will give us the confidence on next year’s package and the future. So that’s the main, I would say, objective until the end of the year.”

Expanding on the theme he said: “I think it’s still important this weekend to just see us moving forward in terms of performance, in terms of overall potential on the car. I think we are all aware of the situation.

“We all agreed as a team that whether we finish eighth in the championship or ninth in the championship, it’s not going to change anything.

“But the key thing here is the understanding and the belief that we can have in all the processes we’ve put in place over the last few months, and the work we’ve been doing into developing and finding performance on that package.

“Next year’s car is going to be very different, but we’re still learning, and everything we’re learning today will be useful for next year, and that’s why regardless of where we’re going to finish, it’s important that we do make these steps forward which and find that correlation.”

Gasly was given the updates this weekend as there are only two sets, leaving him with spares should they be needed.

“It was decided same as China earlier this year when we brought new parts, and Esteban had the new package and kept the spare parts for his car,” said Gasly. “And it’s the same this weekend, but the other way around.

“So it’s followed what we said back then, Esteban Ocon will get the first package, I’ll get the other one when it comes. So I’ll be the only one running it.

“So it’s my package and a spare, because obviously if you go into the weekend and lose any parts, then you’ll have to revert.”

Ocon meanwhile expects to have the new parts in Mexico next weekend.

“It’s been obviously a difficult run of races with the performance of the car,” he said. “That is very clear. Unfortunately, we maximised the potential in Singapore, but that wasn’t enough for us to be points scorers.

“Pierre will have upgrades. I will run the old car this weekend, and we should hopefully have the upgrades for the next races onwards.

“So we’re excited to see what that’s going to bring to the performance of the team, and hopefully it will be a better position for us to end this season.”

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