September 21, 2024 · 4:02 pm

Leclerc: Ferrari “threw everything in the bin” with tyre temperature mistake

Charles Leclerc says his Ferrari team “threw everything in the bin” after his front tyres were too cold when he left the pits to start his crucial final lap in Q3 in Singapore.

The Ferrari driver locked up in Turn 1 and ran wide, and having done a time that was initially good enough for fourth lost it to a track limits deletion.

He will thus start Sunday evening’s race from ninth, a place ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz, who crashed at the start of Q3.

On his in-lap he made it clear on team radio that tyre temperature was the issue.

“Q1 and Q2 was going well,” he said when asked about the session by this writer. “I was kind of hopeful again after FP3 that went wrong.

“But then I got out of the box in Q3, and the front tyres were way cooler. So I don’t know. We do so much preparation all the weekend to get to this one lap in quali, where we know it’s as important as Monaco, and we get out of the box and we are way too cold on the front tyres, and that puts all of our weekend into a very bad place. So not much to say.”

Along with Lando Norris Leclerc was the pacesetter on Friday, but he struggled in FP3 ahead of qualifying.

“In FP3, I was not happy with the car,” he admitted. “But also it’s very warm weather here, so I was expecting it to be not exactly where we want it to be.

“But we were expecting to have a strong quali, which in Q1 and Q2 we did confirm that we were in the pace to do a good thing.

“And then we throw everything in the bin with the Q3 tyre temperature issues. So we’ve got to investigate that.

“I have asked to the team in the in-lap. I think the investigations are still ongoing, and we don’t know the exact issue yet, but fact is, we started the lap with two cold front tyres locked up into Turn 1, and that was it. I never really had the front grip I wanted.”

Regarding the scale of the temperature deficit he said: “I’m not going to go into the detail of the numbers. Obviously we are speaking about one degree, maximum two degree to get it right or completely wrong. So it was more than that, and there was nothing to do.”

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September 21, 2024 · 3:39 pm

Sainz admits “strange accident” in Q3 was down to cold tyres

Sainz had a heavy impact with the barrier at the end of Q3

Ferrari start Carlos Sainz admits that his “strange accident” in Q3 at the Singapore GP was caused by his tyres being colder than anticipated.

The Spaniard spun off after as he started his first lap, stranding himself in 10th on the grid after failing to log a time.

He’d had to move over on his out lap to let others past – notably Oscar Piastri, just seconds before the crash – and that contributed to his tyres being too cool.

However after the restart and later in the session Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc ran wide at Turn 2 after also finding his tyres colder than anticipated. He lost his fourth place time to track limits, and will start ninth.

“A bit of a strange accident there,” said Sainz. “Had to let a lot of cars through there, opening my lap, and my tyres were just a lot colder than I thought they would be. I misjudged the grip going on the bump on Turn 17, and it completely snapped on me.

“Driver mistake. I underestimated the grip I would get. Launching the lap, I was already under pressure with another car coming.

“And I knew that launching the lap, I was already going to be slower because of them approaching the last corner so slow, so it meant that I tried to do something that was not enough grip to do.”

Sainz admitted that it’s been difficult to fully understand the tyres in Singapore.

“It’s been a big struggle for me this weekend,” he said. “Very strange how it can change from one year to another, but like we’ve seen many times this year, to get the tyres in the right window, over one lap with our car, it’s quite tricky.

“I had a couple of decent laps over the weekend, but in general, very inconsistent. I had issues with the brakes yesterday, which didn’t help my build-up to the weekend.

“Here it’s all about gaining confidence, executing from FP1 to Q3 perfect laps, and I didn’t have that this weekend. I was just struggling.

“Yesterday, I didn’t get into a rhythm, and today, to get the tyres and the brakes into a window was just a very tricky thing to do.”

Sainz remains hopeful that he can have a strong race from 10th on Sunday, assuming that he doesn’t have any further setbacks such as  a gearbox penalty.

“The car looks quite damaged, and I don’t know what we will do,” he said. “I just hope that I can have a normal race tomorrow, get into a rhythm like I got in the rhythm in Baku, and then we can show good pace.

“And I think this year, once I get into a rhythm in the race, we should be okay. It’s just over one lap with the black magic of the tyres to get everything working – I mean, you saw the mistake I did is not common, and not typical.

“And it shows that there must be something, honestly, a very, very fine line between getting them to grip and not to grip. And this weekend has been that way. So tomorrow, as soon as I get into a rhythm, we will be there.”

He added: “Let’s get into the rhythm first, and then see how’s the pace, see what the strategy allows us to do, and hopefully we can move forward. Extra DRS, I’m still optimistic.

“But I need a good night’s sleep to feel optimistic also, because today was a big blow for me, and I didn’t enjoy it at all.”

Sainz admitted he was surprised by a “weird” transition for McLaren from Friday to Saturday.

“I don’t like considering Friday too much, because you don’t know what the others are doing, and I never tried to take too many conclusions from that,” he said.

“You can already see in FP3, Lando went a second quicker than FP2, that shows that there was something that they were sandbagging with. And even in Q3 they did only went one-tenth quicker than FP3, which is quite weird.

“So there’s something strange going on, probably with the tyre preparation and how much you can extract this weekend with the tyres, because it’s not normal that is only one-tenth between FP3 fastest lap and Q3 lap.”

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September 21, 2024 · 9:18 am

Vasseur: Ferrari’s focus on races not the World Championship

Ferrari is still the constructors’ title hunt

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur insists that his team is not focussed on the Formula 1 constructors’ World Championship, while conceding that the fight remains wide open.

The Italian outfit currently lies third on 425 points, behind leaders McLaren on 476 and Red Bull on 456.

Ferrari has scored strongly in the races since the summer break, with Charles Leclerc winning at Monza and taking pole and finishing a close second in Baku.

However Vasseur insists that the team is not yet looking at the bigger picture, and is concentrating on each race as it comes.

“From the beginning, we are not focused on the championship,” said the Frenchman. “We are taking it race after race, and I think it’s the right approach.

“The championship is really difficult to read, because it doesn’t matter if it’s the first group or the second one, it’s so tight that you can move from a good weekend, you are doing a 1-2 and the weekend after you are 7-8.

“Have a look on Mercedes what they did before the break and after the break. And I think this is true for everybody. And I think it makes no sense to imagine how could be the picture in two or three months.

“We have still something like 400 points on the table, I think, for the teams’ championship. And it’s a lot. It means, let’s be focused on Baku, on Singapore, and then on the next one, and try to do a good job. And we’ll see at the end.”


Vasseur did acknowledge that the team is a good run, with Leclerc logging four podium finishes in a row.

“Yeah, we are in a good sequence,” he said. “But again, it was like this for everybody from the beginning of the season. If you remember the first four races that Red Bull was flying, then we had a good sequence. Then it was Mercedes, then McLaren.

“We are really in a pack, and I don’t remember when it was so tight in F1, with four teams able to win, eight drivers able to win. And you really never know when you are going somewhere if you will fight for P1, P2 or P7, P8.

“It means that for sure we are in a good momentum. We did the pole position last week. Charles scored a lot of points the last four weekends or five weekends, Carlos is performing, and he will perform this weekend again.

“But we never know. That it means that we have just to stay focused on the next session to try to get the best from the car that we have and to do a weekend without mistakes, because this is costing a lot.”

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September 21, 2024 · 8:42 am

Vowles has “no concerns” as Williams stops FW46 upgrade programme

Albon ran the new front suspension and brake duct package on Friday

The Williams Formula 1 team has brought its last major upgrade of the season for the FW46 to the Singapore GP, and will thus rely on the current package for the final six races of the season.

Most teams are expected to bring major updates to Austin after the three-week gap in the schedule, potentially leaving the Grove outfit exposed to losing competitiveness over the final part of the season.

Williams is currently eighth in the World Championship, only three points ahead of Alpine.

However team principal James Vowles insists that the aero package introduced at Zandvoort represented a big enough step to carry the team to the end of the year.

“The main thing is I have no concerns about the programme that we have in place at the moment,” Vowles said when asked by this writer about the lack of future upgrades.

“There’s a really good step in performance on the car this weekend, and we haven’t fully optimised the aero package that we put on previously.

“Everything that we’re trying to do, all teams are trying to do, is get the performance of the car as quickly as possible.

“So the way I more see it is that we’ve stepped up in advance, and we have a few more races to use it than others when they turn up.

“The second bit is all you can focus on is yourself. You’ve seen enough times this year that teams have tried to add performance, and it hasn’t translated.

“In our case we look positive in that regard, and what I can focus on is delivering the most that we can out of the car and the drivers for all remaining events.”

The Singapore package is focussed on the front suspension and brake ducts, with the new parts used by Alex Albon to earn ninth place in FP2 on Friday.

“It’s all about the trying to find that right balance, the through corner balance,” said Williams chief technical officer Pat Fry. “And also playing the high speed to low speed trades. That’s what we’re all trying to do at the moment.

“One little detail here leads into the others. Suspension elements, brake ducts, everything’s different.

“Aero is a sensible step, we managed to get a little bit of weight out. But there’s no golden bullets out there. It’s just the detail on everything, really. You have to do things as a package these days.”

Fry confirmed that there is nothing major left in the pipeline.

“There are a few little details to tidy up and sort out,” he said. “But that’s mainly it, what we’ve got now. Obviously we’re already working flat out on next year’s car as well.

“You’ve got to balance resource between this car programme, next year’s car programme, and obviously we’re also working on ’26 at the moment. So there’s only so much you can fit in your resource and cram in a cost cap.”

Fry admitted that the large number of accidents that the team endured in 2024 has impacted the development programme.

“We obviously had a hard winter, and we’ve had a lot of crashes,” he said. “So in reality, we spent a lot of time making bits that we didn’t really need to make. So all these things, once you’re on the back foot a little bit, it does take a while.

“Certainly the upgrade at Zandvoort seemed to be working well at all the tracks we’ve taken it to so far, which shows that correlation is working.”

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September 21, 2024 · 7:46 am

How new Ferrari SF-24 front wing helps balance at high downforce tracks

The front flap revisions will help to balance the SF-24

A front wing upgrade introduced on the Ferrari SF-24 at the Singapore GP will help to find a balance at higher downforce levels.

The third and fourth wing elements have been modified, with the Italian team’s official FIA presentation submission saying that the update was not specific to the Singapore circuit and “offers performance and downstream flow features improvements over a wider polar range.”

Ferrari’s Jock Clear says that the change will enable the team to add front downforce when needed at a track where the rear wing runs to the maximum, effectively providing a wider range of options.

“Obviously is Singapore not the obvious circuit where you would bring an aero upgrade,” he said.

“It’s a sort of very draggy, high downforce circuit. Basically it’s just moving the energy a little bit inboard. So if you look at it closely, you’ll see that the inboard is a bit more aggressive, and the outboard is a bit less aggressive.

“So you’ve moved that dynamic a bit. It allows us to actually crank on a bit more, which here, you’re probably going to want, because you’ve got maximum rear downforce, and you’re going to want to get a balance.

“And balance is everything around here. And we’ve been a little bit backed into a corner at some of the high downforce circuits before, because we’re running out of front power, basically.

“So it’s just a little bit more powerful at the top end, slightly more efficient, marginally. But it’s the fact that it’s a little bit more powerful at the top end that gives us a bit more scope.”

Ferrari has shown good form in recent races following a blip when a new floor introduced in Spain didn’t work as planned.

Asked if the team is now confident that it is back on track Clear said: “You’re never fully confident. I think it’s a good picture on how the ebb and flow of everybody’s development goes.

“Because actually you were probably asking the same questions to McLaren a year ago, or to Mercedes four months ago, or to Red Bull now. Have you lost your way? And certainly, after, after Spain, we didn’t feel we’d lost our way, but there was some anomaly between what was happening in the tunnel, and what we were seeing on track.

“And we had to get on top of that. But that’s just the process. And I think if you looked at it the time, you might say it looks like your process isn’t working. That is the process, is that when you see an anomaly, you have to get on top of it, try and understand it, and then get back on track.

“And I think what you’ve seen since is that we’ve understood it, we got back on track. We just have to be eyes wide open for what the next anomaly will be, because there will be another one, because that is the process at the moment.”

Clear stressed that it’s not easy to get it right.

 “It’s not that sometimes these developments work, sometimes these developments don’t work. The development process is exactly that. You are testing something new every week.

“And tunnels at the moment, with the technology we have, they don’t have the ability to model everything perfectly, and maybe 20-30 years in future, will be much better equipped.

“But at the moment, there are differences between what you see in the tunnel and what you see on track, and that therein lies the quality of the driver.

That’s where the drivers that are really good make a difference. Because when you see a development path in a team that’s actually making good progress, and when they slip back a bit, they get on top of it, and they make progress, that’s what the drivers bring to the party.”

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September 20, 2024 · 1:18 pm

McLaren agrees “minor adjustments” to wing and tells FIA to look at rivals

McLaren’s low drag wing was seen to move on the straights in Baku

McLaren has agreed with the FIA to change the controversial flexing rear wing of the MCL38 – and has urged the governing body to talk to other teams about what they are doing.

McLaren has been talking to the FIA about the wing for a while, but those conversations ramped off after videos from Baku showing the movement of the wing appeared on social media.

The wing concerned is the low drag version used at Spa, Monza and Baku, and does not affect this weekend’s Singapore GP. It won’t be used again until Las Vegas.

In response to the changes McLaren said: “Whilst our Baku rear wing complies with the regulations and passes all FIA deflection tests, McLaren have proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing following our conversations with the FIA.

“We would also expect the FIA to have similar conversations with other teams in relation to the compliance of their rear wings.”

Speaking earlier and before the need for a change became public McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall insisted that there was no issue with the wing.

“It’s very flattering,” he said of complaints from rival teams. “Obviously, the nearer the front you are, the more scrutiny you come under. But I mean, all teams scrutinise their own cars as well as other people’s.

“We scrutinise our car. We work with the FIA to understand the grey areas of whatever element of the car it is, and move forward accordingly really.

“I guess they’ve all got their opinions. We work with FIA to establish the legality of our cars. As long as the FIA happy, that’s the only opinion we need to worry about.

Asked if McLaren had simply exploited the rules better than others he said: “”I wouldn’t say they’re exploiting it less than McLaren. I wouldn’t say McLaren is exploiting it.

“I would say that everyone’s approaching their wing design the way they think. Obviously, everyone for whatever reason is talking about ours at the moment. But everyone can see everyone else’s, and I don’t think we’re the only people under scrutiny.”

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the McLaren wing.

“I think there is a kind of confusion between what’s happened with the front wing and the rear wing,” he said. “The front wing, we all agree that it could be a grey area because in the TD the first paragraph of the TD is saying that you can’t design part of the car with the intention of deformation. Intention is difficult to manage.

“The rear wing story, it’s completely different, because in the article, you have also a maximum deflection. And this is black or white. It’s not no grey, no dark grey, no light grey. It’s black and black. But for me, it’s clear.”

Vasseur admitted that Ferrari has been looking at video evidence.

“So far, we had a look on the previous events, and it was only on the lowdown force tracks,” he said. “I’m not sure that they could, or they want to use the same trick in Singapore, or in Zandvoort, for example.

“But again, we have to give the responsibility to the scrutineering, to the FIA, it’s not my job to do it. I’m not complaining about this. I think it’s more than borderline.

“We all saw the video and the picture of this, and it’s a bit frustrating when, if you remember perfectly the situation in Monza, we had five cars in two-hundredths of a second, and you move from P1/P2 to P5/P6 for two-hundredths of a second in Baku, and we arrived 10 laps in a row, side-by-side in Turn 1. You can imagine that we have a bit of frustration.”

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September 20, 2024 · 9:51 am

Alonso: Points for Aston in Singapore will “be a miracle”

Alonso is hoping for a miracle in Singapore…

Fernando Alonso says that scoring points in the Singapore GP “will be a miracle” for his Aston Martin Formula 1 team.

Alonso still believes that the Silverstone outfit has only the seventh fastest car at the moment, with Haas and Williams having joined the top four in front.

Despite that he managed to finish sixth in Baku last weekend, having been running in eighth until the late Sainz/Perez crash.

Alonso says that the Azerbaijan result gave the team some motivation after a difficult season.

“I hope so, why not?,” he said when asked by this writer if Baku was a guide to this weekend’s form.

“I think the tracks are very different, but in a way both street circuits, no room to make a mistake, again the walls will be the limitation here.

“It’s probably the most demanding race physically of the championship. So to keep the level of focus very high throughout the race, and to start the weekend on the right foot, is quite important to start on Friday with a car that gives you the confidence to attack, and you can accumulate laps.

“It will just be beneficial for Saturday and Sunday. I’m quite optimistic after Baku. I think it was a boost of motivation for everyone. So I’m looking forward to jump in the car.”

However he cautioned that it won’t be easy to make Q3 or finish in the points.

“Well, as I said, we are seventh team, so our natural position is 13th, 14th, 15th,” he said. “If we were eighth in Baku, it was a miracle, if we were 10th in Monza, it was a miracle. If we are here in the points, it will be a miracle.

“I don’t think that the car at the moment is at the place where we want to have it. That’s why we keep working on the setup on Fridays, even though it’s not a setup issue, and we are waiting for new parts when they come.

“So we are not giving up. We are doing our best on the weekends. But every weekend, we cannot be with unrealistic hope, just because of the circuit, just because it may rain, just because… We need to be realistic and accept our position.”

Aston experimented with floor options in practice in Baku, before settling on an older version.

Asked if he wanted to carry on with what worked last weekend Alonso said the team would continue to try different things.

“Yes and no,” he said. £I think at the same time, you still want to experiment a little bit in FP1 in terms of setups, even if we were happier with the car in Baku than the last few events, we still want more. And Baku was not enough.

“The result was good, but we are still with our calculations the seventh team in terms of performance. And we are not happy there. So we still need to find more pace. And I know the team has more ideas for Friday FP1, and yeah, I’m willing to test those.”

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September 20, 2024 · 7:12 am

Hamilton expecting to “roll the dice” in Singapore GP

Hamilton is cautious about his prospects in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton says he will have to “roll the dice” at the Formula 1 Singapore GP this weekend as he has doubts about the competitiveness of his Mercedes W15.

Hamilton believes that the car is not well suited to street tracks, and that Ferrari will be on strong form after showing so well in Baku.

The former World Champion has had three difficult weekends since winning at Spa prior to the summer break.

The team has been swapping back and forth between its old and new floor specs, with the older version again in use this weekend.

The four-time Singapore GP winner is cautious about his prospects for this weekend.

“Similar to the past races probably,” he said when asked about his chance. “It’s not been great for some time. I don’t know. I’m just going to roll the dice and see how it goes.

“I wouldn’t say this has ever been a really great track for me, it’s been a bit of a bogey track, I would say for us in general.

“I think just the way we design cars, or we have designed cars, if you look at a lot of street circuits we’ve never been particularly strong at, whereas the more open circuits we would be better at.

“So look at us compared to Ferrari, for example. They were mega at Monaco, mega in the last race, they’ll be strong this weekend, just a certain design that they have that seems to bode well for those circuits.

“And then when we get to somewhere like Silverstone, we’re very, very strong. So I think there’s lots of good lessons to take from those, but ultimately, when it comes to track like this, it’s a struggle.”

Asked what had changed in the car since his Spa in Hamilton suggested that it was more a case of rivals improving.

“I don’t think it has changed. I think the others have gained,” he said. “We haven’t brought enough. We’ve brought an upgrade to Spa, but then we didn’t end up using it. And then I think the others from Zandvoort to Monza have brought upgrades, particularly Ferrari. And I think McLaren have as well.

“So we’re waiting for ours in a couple of races. McLaren seemed to be the ones that are evolving and advancing the fastest, if you look at their impressive wing. We just have to kind of wait and see, and do the best with what we have.”

Hamilton made some interesting observations about how hard it is to drive the W15 on the limit.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and honestly I don’t think it’s necessarily that I’m not being able to access it,” he said. “It’s just the envelope that we have is much more on a knife-edge.

“You’ll be in the braking zone, and the rear is out of the window, and then all of a sudden mid-corner, or before the apex, it’s in the window, and then it’s out of the window again.

“And I think it’s the aero characteristics are shifting every week. So from having a bigger wing to smaller beam wing to having the bigger beam wing to having the front wings that are flexing, rear wings that are flexing – it’s such a competitive and really challenging time I think for the aerodynamicists and for simulations, to have them make sure they correlate each weekend.

“I think it’s been probably one of the most challenging times at least for I know for my engineers. It’s been a very, very challenging time to try and get this car in the perfect window.

“When we were in Spa, we had no understanding, but all of a sudden we were quickest. We’re hoping that that comes back to ourselves on stage.”

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September 19, 2024 · 2:08 pm

Sauber: Fight to get out of P10 is getting “semi-critical”

Sauber has failed to score a point thus far in 2024

Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi admits that the Swiss outfit will struggle to dig itself out of P10 in the World Championship and that the situation is now “semi-critical.”

The future Audi team heads into the Singapore GP yet to score a point this season, while the entrant immediately ahead – Alpine – has 13.

The C45 has regularly been the slowest car on the grid in recent races, and the most recent upgrade package hasn’t made much difference relative to the opposition.

“We are targeting to introduce some developments in the next part of the season, and we will try to anticipate as much as possible,” Alunni Bravi told me.

“We know that for these two races, we can just optimise the package. But of course we need to bring upgrades if we want to do a step.

“The situation in the constructors’ championship for us now is becoming semi-critical, and the possibilities to not finish the championship in P10 are very limited. And of course, if we want to score points, we need to do a big step now.”

Asked if he was concerned about the team not scoring points at all this season Alunni Bravi stressed that the focus was more on the performance of the car.

“I’m not concerned about not scoring points,” he said. “We are concerned to not be able to develop the car and to see a progression this season. Because we know that to have a strong package also next year, we need to improve our performance this year.

“Of course, we have seen developments this year that are a positive, but then our competitors, for the moment, did a better job, and they were able to find more pace also during the season.

“So it’s not a matter of points. The matter is that if we want to become more competitive next year. We need to see progression also this year.

“So the developments that we will bring in the end of the season will be an important sign of the trend that we will have.”

Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas finished 14th and 16th in Baku, and Alunni Bravi was at least able to draw some positives from the Chinese driver’s performance.

“It’s clear that we struggle to have overall pace a car in qualifying and the race,” he said. “With Valtteri unfortunately we struggled with medium tyres from the very beginning. It was a combination of high fuel and the green track. And were following Tsunoda, and we were unable to overtake him.

“And all these factors, of course, are against our car. It doesn’t suit this kind of conditions. So the pace was not good with Valtteri. The balance of the car was much better on hard than on medium. But we were not in the position to fight for positions close to the points.

“On the positive side, Zhou made a step compared to the previous races, also compared to Friday and Saturday. He was managing the tyres really well at the beginning.

“He was very good, consistent, and he was fighting during all the race, defending, attacking. I’ve seen the Zhou that we want to see, but we know we have a lack of pace.

“This is our main limitation, because in terms of execution, pit stops, I think we were good. But this is now the picture.”

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September 19, 2024 · 1:59 pm

Stella: McLaren will continue to review team orders “principles”

Stella suggests that nothing is set in stone on team orders…

McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella says that the team will continue to review what he calls the “principles” of how team orders might be deployed,

Ahead of the Azerbaijan GP Stella confirmed that priority would be given to Lando Norris in the World Championship battle, and that Oscar Piastri would help if asked.

However a poor qualifying position for Norris left Piastri to win in Baku, and in an unusual twist Norris played his part by holding up Sergio Perez after the Mexican pitted, thus ensuring that his team mate stayed ahead of the Red Bull driver.

“I said already that we have two number one drivers effectively, and having two number one drivers means that we approach things first of all in the interest of the team,” said Stella after the Baku race.

“The interest of the team is to win the constructors’ championship, and yes, is to win also the drivers’ championship.

“Lando was in the most favourable position before this race. I think he still is in the most favourable position. So more naturally, we would have supported Lando.

“But I think we have evidence today that actually, interestingly, it was Lando supporting Oscar and enabling Oscar’s victory, thanks to driving for the team, and driving to support his teammate.

“So I think that remains our approach. We always intended to review after every event, with each driver, with the drivers together, what was going to be the best approach for the next races. We will do it, and set the plan for Singapore.”

Stella indicated that the team has to remain flexible and deal with each race situation as it arises.

“I think we lead this by principles, which is slightly different than rules,” he said. “I think with the principles, you leave yourself a space to assess every situation. But you have your guiding beacons as to what you judge is right.

“When you define rules, they become quite defining. And then you have to go through a thousand cases and see, like, what is the rule here?

“I think what’s important for me is that we did have a good conversation after Monza, because the three of us, Lando, myself and Oscar, we all agreed that entering a chicane in P1, P2 and exiting P1, P3 is just not acceptable, because it is infringing our first principle, which is the team’s interest comes first, if that makes sense.

“So we definitely tightened up in our conversations in relation to these kinds of situations. We knew that if any of the two drivers needed assistance, we would give it.

“And like I said before, it’s interesting that now it was the time for Lando to help Oscar. We will now review this race, and we will talk to the drivers, and we will define and tune the plan as we go onto the next races.”

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