July 5, 2024 · 8:37 am

Alonso: Cowell arriving at “crucial time” for Aston Martin F1 team

Alonso believes that Cowell will be a valuable addition to the Aston team

Fernando Alonso has welcomed the impeding arrival of former Mercedes HPP boss in the role of CEO at what he calls a “crucial time” for the Aston Martin F1 team.

Cowell will join in October and replace Martin Whitmarsh, the man who originally hired him for Mercedes in 2004. Cowell remained with Mercedes until his departure in early 2022, winning seven championships with the factory team.

Alonso used Mercedes engines overseen by Cowell at McLaren for a single season in 2007, when he came close to winning the World Championship.

“Very happy,” said the Spaniard when asked about the news. “I don’t know him personally, and I only respect him as an opponent in the past.

“I’m looking forward to meeting Andy and to chat about his view on the team. Obviously, Lawrence [Stroll] has a lot of trust on him, also Martin.

“By the way, I want to say thanks for a great contribution to Aston Martin. When Martin arrived in the team, it was just the transition from its previous name to Aston Martin, and he did a lot for the team and for the organisation. So hopefully before Martin leaves we can deliver something on track to make him happy.”

Alonso acknowledged that given his powertrain background Cowell could play a role in helping to integrate Aston Martin with Honda and fuel supplier Aramco in the build-up to 2026.

“With his background and experience, it’s a crucial time for the team, being with Honda, and having our own gearbox, our own fuel with Aramco, that we are not sharing with other team or any other Honda-powered teams,” said Alonso.

“Definitely, there are a couple of big challenges ahead for our team and this kind of people and great you know, engineers and designers will help us for sure.”

Alonso says that Aston Martin still has appeal to potential recruits despite the difficult 2024 season with the AMR24.

“Aston Martin is very exciting project,” he said. “We are aware of our results on the weekends that are not good enough. We need to get better. We need to get to a position first, to be in the top 10 every race and be in the points, and then fighting for podiums and for victories, as we did last year.

“We are not in that position yet. So everything is a little bit more difficult to express how motivated and how excited everyone is in the team.

“We are still very appealing for talent. And as we see with Andy and some of the big names that are linked to the team, new facilities, every time that I come here for the simulator, it’s getting bigger and bigger, building two and three, are nearly finished wind tunnel at the end of the year coming.

“So this is for sure, very attractive for many people in the paddock and for many great engineers. Hopefully the team is in good shape. We just need to deliver on track on Sunday, which is the most difficult thing.

Alonso’s team mate Lance Stroll agreed that Cowell will have a big impact.

“It’s very exciting,” said the Canadian. “And I think it’s uplifting for the whole team, the while factory to see Andy, come on board and be a part of the project – a legend of the sport, and so much success over the years on the power unit side in Mercedes. Nothing but exciting and positive news.

“He’s going to be I think involved in every department, and overlook and oversee and support everyone’s needs in the entire factory. He’s got a huge ambition to win. And I think he’s very motivated to come back into F1 and has all the same ambitions that we as a team all have. So it’s very exciting.”

Stroll also paid tribute to the departing Whitmarsh: “I think Martin’s been an extremely important part of this team over the last few years, he came in and constructed this incredible factory.

“We saw our performance last year, the uplift, we were the sixth or seventh team in 2022 and then we hit the track the beginning of last year with the second quickest car. And a huge part of that was a big push from Martin.

“And some of the goals that we set as a team were really, really high. And I think a lot of that was Martin.”

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July 2, 2024 · 3:46 pm

Horner: Verstappen/Norris contact in Austrian GP was “inevitable”

Verstappen managed to salvage fifth after his clash with Norris

Red Bull Racing Formula 1 boss Christian Horner believes that it was inevitable that Max Verstappen and Lando Norris would end up in an incident after battling for the lead at several recent races.

The pair made contact in the late stages of the Austrian GP after Verstappen thwarted several earlier attempts to get past, leaving Norris complaining that the Dutchman was moving in the braking area.

The touch left both men with rear punctures and put Norris out of the race, while Verstappen managed to salvage fifth after stopping for a new tyre, despite picking up a 10-second penalty that in the end made no difference to his result.

“I think it’s inevitable given how close they’ve been racing the last few weeks,” said Horner of the contact. “It’s a shame. Lando was already on four [track limits] strikes. He was probably going to get a five-second penalty anyway. And it was a racing incident.

“I thought it was a bit harsh that Max got a 10-second penalty. His race had already been damaged by the puncture that he picked up.”

Horner believes that Norris’s attacking mood was in part a reaction to the previous day’s sprint, when he passed Verstappen at Turn 3 only to lose out not only to the Dutchman but also his McLaren own team mate Oscar Piastri at the following corner.

“I think Max is a hard racer,” he said. “And they know that. I think Lando was trying to make up for yesterday, and it was inevitable, you could see this building perhaps for a couple of races, that at some point there was going to be something close between the two of them.

“He was getting his elbows out. Probably a bit of a hangover from yesterday. Max passed him without DRS down into Turn 4, and then he got mugged by his teammate.

“So there’s probably a little bit of a hangover of that. But it was a shame, because we had everything under control today. And I think the final pit stop put Lando back into contention, and then with the advantage on tyre that he had, that was enough to get him into the DRS.” 

Horner was adamant that Norris wouldn’t have caught Verstappen in the final stint without the pit stop delay, despite having a new tyre advantage.

“The first part of the race was going very well,” said Horner. “We pulled out a six-second gap I think in the first stint on the medium tyre, everything was under control. On the hard tyre, the temperatures with the cloud cover a bit lower, we still got up to an eight-second lead at one point. By the time they’d gone through the traffic, it was about six-and-a-half.

“We then pitted on the same lap as McLaren, and there was a sticking left rear nut, and the gun man just had to go on it twice. I think it was six-second stop, we lost four seconds, and that then put Lando on a fresh set of mediums versus a scrubbed set for Max, he got that new tyre advantage.

“Had they gone out six seconds apart, he’d have probably closed the gap, but I think we’d have had enough to manage it in those final laps.”

Looking at the positives Horner added: “The pace of the car has been very strong, we’ve had two poles, he’s led all but nine laps of the race, the sprint race yesterday. He’s extended his lead in the championship. We’ve extended our lead, I think, in the constructors’ championship. So despite not getting the win, it’s not been totally disastrous.”

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July 2, 2024 · 3:20 pm

Wolff: Hamilton has “reason to be angry” after floor damage spoils race

Hamilton had a difficult race in Austria but still salvaged fourth place

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton has “all reason to be angry” after a frustrating weekend in Austria.

Hamilton suffered a damaged floor early in the race and could not match the pace of team mate George Russell.

Having passed Carlos Sainz on the first lap Hamilton was obliged to give the position back for going off-track in order to avoid a penalty.

He ran fifth for much of the race but the floor damage on the right-hand side – which the team believes was due to striking the kerbs at Turn 8 – compromised his pace, and left him complaining about understeer.

He also picked up a five-second penalty for missing the pit entry white line when he had a snap of oversteer and lost a place to Oscar Piastri.

The collision at the front of the field between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris that handed the win to George Russell also promoted him to fourth.

After the race Hamilton congratulated the team but downplayed the improvement in the form of the W15.

“I mean, from my side, it’s not feeling massively different,” he said. “But George, you can see he’s doing really well, he’s won a Grand Prix already. So that’s huge for everyone in the team, and a huge boost for everyone.”

Regarding the damage he said.: “I’m not really quite sure. I think Turn 1 a bit of damage, and then the floor was just falling apart. I don’t know when I got the damage,”

Wolff admitted that it had been a difficult race for Hamilton.

“It was one of these bad days, I think,” said the Austrian when I asked about Hamilton’s afternoon.

“A pretty decent start, and then Turn 1, lap one, giving the position back was a harsh thing, but it was pretty clear that we will be getting a 10-second penalty for not doing it.

“And it started a spiral. He pushed it very hard on the entry, you can see how much he pushed and lost the rear end, and obviously the next penalty came about.

“On top of that, we had floor damage because of the kerb ride, which I guess most people had, but his was extensive. It was two and a half tenths in parts that broke off on the on the car. So all reason to be angry about it, or upset about it.”

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July 2, 2024 · 10:45 am

Cowell gives Aston Martin F1 team boost ahead of Honda era

After two years away Cowell returns to F1 with Aston Martin

Former Mercedes AMG HPP managing director Andy Cowell is to join the Aston Martin F1 team as Group CEO.

Cowell will take over from incumbent Martin Whitmarsh, who is transitioning out of the role, in October.

It was Whitmarsh who in his McLaren days headhunted Cowell, then at BMW, to join HPP. The pair had worked together when Cowell was at Cosworth and Ford supplied its HB V8 to McLaren in 1993.

Over nearly two decades at HPP Cowell played a significant role, with Mercedes winning the World Championship with Lewis Hamilton and McLaren in 2008 and then Jenson Button and Brawn in 2009 before Hamilton began a run of success with the works team and the hybrid V6 in 2014.

Cowell left the Brixworth organisation in 2022. While he will have a range of responsibilities it’s clear that he will play a key part in integrating Honda and Aston as the 2026 power unit project is developed.

“I would like to thank Martin who has been instrumental in our growth phase as a business,” said owner Lawrence Stroll.

“In the last three years, he has developed the team and has helped us achieve some significant milestones, including fostering our relationship with Honda, and delivering our state-of-the-art AMR Technology Campus at Silverstone.

 “I am delighted to welcome Andy to our team at a crucial time. Together with our works partnership with Honda, the commitment from our title partner Aramco and Andy’s leadership we are on track to become a world championship winning team. Andy has my full backing and will have every resource available to win.”

Whitmarsh said of Cowell: “He will be an incredible asset to Aston Martin Aramco and will make a significant contribution to the execution of our strategy going forward. Andy’s arrival in October and the completion of the AMR Technology Campus will allow me to step away and focus on other projects in my life, knowing that the foundations have been established with an impressive team, inspiring vision and advanced facilities to achieve success in F1.”

“I am thrilled to join Lawrence’s exciting project and look forward to working with the talented group of people that has been assembled,” said Cowell. “F1 has always been my competitive passion, and I am joining Aston Martin Aramco at an exciting time with the imminent completion of the AMR Technology Campus and our transition in 2026 to a full works team with our strategic partners Honda and Aramco.”

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July 1, 2024 · 11:15 am

Verstappen: “We did everything wrong that we could have done wrong…”

Verstappen wasn’t happy with the way his race unfolded in Austria

Max Verstappen rarely criticises his Red Bull Racing team, which is hardly surprising given the success that they have enjoyed together.

However after his torrid race in Austria, which culminated in a fifth place after his clash with Lando Norris, the World Champion was not shy about referencing mistakes.

His point was that slow pit stops and what he perceived as strategy errors left him more vulnerable to attack from Lando Norris than would otherwise have been the case.

That their battle resulted on contact for which Verstappen was not the fault of the team, but he was adamant that it resulted from the circumstances.

To be fair he used the word “we” in reference to things being done wrong. Nevertheless it was a sign perhaps not just of the increased pressure being applied by Norris and McLaren but also the ongoing tensions in the RBR camp, amid Christian Horner’s feud with Jos Verstappen and the question marks over Max’s long-term commitment to the team.

“I think the first stint was quite good,” said Verstappen when I asked him about his race. “Then, of course, at the end of that first stint, I caught quite a bit of traffic. We should have just boxed, for me personally, because I just gave up free lap time. So we basically did a lot of things wrong today.

“I think for me personally, it started with the strategy. Then the pit stops were a disaster. The first one was already bad, the second one was even more of a disaster. And then, of course, you give free lap time. It’s seconds that you give away, six seconds over those two pit stops. And then, of course, it’s a race again.

“And that’s why, I think also, we put ourselves in a position for unfortunately an accident to happen between us, which you never want to happen. But yeah, we did everything wrong that we could have done wrong today.”

He added: “Today’s has just been off. Everything has been wrong. I mean, I’m complaining about the tyres. We didn’t pit, I was stuck in traffic. Bad execution with a pit stop. So everything just went wrong,”

Verstappen, which switched from intended new hards to a used set of mediums for his finals stint in an effort to find performance, even suspected that there was something wrong with the car.

“I honestly have no explanation why suddenly the car just transformed from an okay balance in the first stint into just undriveable behaviour afterwards, which normally indicates that something was also wrong,” he said.

“But even with that, we should have won today, if you didn’t make so many errors as well, with the pit stops.”

Regarding the medium/hard tyre choice he said: “They both felt bad. So I don’t even think that we did the wrong thing with the tyres.

“My balance in the first stint wasn’t even that bad. But then I don’t know why, but the car just started to become worse and worse throughout the race. So that is also something that we have to look into, maybe that something broke on the car.”

“Today’s has just been off. Everything has been wrong. I mean, I’m complaining about the tyres. We didn’t pit, I was stuck in traffic. Bad execution with a pit stop. So everything just went wrong.”

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June 30, 2024 · 7:37 am

How Aston Martin won the race to test Pirelli’s 2026 F1 tyres

Aston, Alpine and McLaren will be the first to try the 2026 F1 tyres

Aston Martin will kick off the test programme for Pirelli’s 2026 Formula 1 tyres after coming out on top in a draw for teams who wanted to become involved from the start.

The Silverstone team is to run an AMR22 modified to replicate 2026 downforce levels at Barcelona on September 17-18.

Reserve Felipe Drugovich set to drive as the date falls between the Azerbaijan and Singapore GPs, and race drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be travelling.

Thus far Pirelli has only been testing the narrower 2026 tyres virtually, with the first physical prototypes due to be manufactured in August.

All teams are expected to participate in the full test programme with mule cars over the course of 2025.

However there were only three spots for the initial running in the latter half of this season, and all the teams with the resources to take part – such as ongoing TPC 2022 car test programmes – wanted to be involved.

To cut the list down to three a draw was made at the last F1 Commission meeting, with Aston, Alpine and McLaren all earning the right to join the early testing within this season.

“We will be the first team to test these ‘26 tyres,” said Aston team principal Mike Krack when asked by this writer about the testing. “There was a selection process or a lottery process because there were a number of teams who wanted to be part of this test programme.

“We were drawn first, so we are the first to do this, between Baku and Singapore, I think. So we’re exchanging with Pirelli obviously what the programme will be and we’re trying to replicate the car that has been defined from the FIA according to a technical directive. I think it’s 54 something like that.

“So we try to replicate as close as possible the figures that are requested and required, and work then with Pirelli on how we go about it.”

After this year’s initial testing Pirelli will have a full programme of 2026 running next year shared between the 10 teams, and culminating in the post-season Abu Dhabi test.

The idea of having a dedicated car provided by one team for the early running was abandoned some time ago.

“That was a proposal that was rejected by the teams,” Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola told this writer. “So we will have mule cars provided by the teams. They have the freedom to decide which car they want to adapt, from ’21 onwards – they can also decide to use an old 13-inches car.

“The first idea for 2026 was to have the 16-inch tyre with much smaller diameter, and the much smaller diameter was more in line with the old 13-inch tyre. So they said, okay, let’s keep open the opportunity to use also the last car with a 13-inch for that. But now that it was decided to stay on 18-inch no one is going to use this.

“They can use ’22, ’23, ’24, and ’25 cars. The idea is that if we test after a race, like we usually do when it’s possible on a Tuesday and Wednesday, they can modify a current car and race car to simulate as much as they can.

“They save money because they don’t have to fly an additional car for testing. For a standalone test it’s different, because in any case, you have to send the car. But for post-race tests it makes sense to use a race car modified for 2026.”

Pirelli has yet to finalise next year’s 2026 testing programme, which as usual is made more complicated by having to work around the busy race schedule.

“We are defining a plan for next year,” said Isola. “But luckily, we have already the calendar for next year, so it’s a bit easier, because we can make some assumptions on post-race tests and so on.

“We will send a draft to the FIA to understand who is available and where. I believe that everyone is going to test, because with this option to use also the current car, the race car is clearly an advantage for small teams. Maybe big teams want to use an old car, because they can work around the car to modify it more. But is their decision.”

The challenge Pirelli faces is to sign off on a tyre that will work for the whole 2026 season as downforce levels increase.

“We based our assumption on simulations we received from the FIA,” said Isola. “So it’s the latest available information, obviously with a bit of margin, because we know how fast the development is, especially during the first year.

“And when you freeze the tyre, you cannot change it for one year. So we need to be aware that our design is for the estimation at the end of 2026.”

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June 29, 2024 · 6:48 am

How the “huge potential” at Alpine convinced Gasly to stay on

Gasly had a look at other options before deciding to stay put at Alpine

Pierre Gasly says that the “huge potential” he sees at the Alpine Formula 1 team convinced him to remain in the Enstone camp after he’d had a look at other options.

On Thursday the team announced that the Frenchman has signed a multi-year deal that takes him into the period of the new regulations that come into force in 2026.

Gasly had been linked with a Sauber/Audi seat should Carlos Sainz turn it down, and he admits that he had looked around before committing to staying with Alpine.

“Contractually, you always need to have a look quite a long time in advance,” he said when asked by this writer about his other options.

“And obviously, when Lewis [Hamilton] announced at the start of the year, it sort of started and triggered the whole market a lot earlier than what we would have anticipated.

“Since the Lewis news there was a lot of talks here and there, obviously always having in mind that I’ve signed with Alpine to be at the top with Alpine, and it definitely hasn’t been the result so far that I’ve dreamt of with the team.

“But I definitely believe there is huge potential. I repeat it, I’ve seen a lot of positive signs happening inside the team, not only at the track, but also back at the factory.

“I followed closely also the development for 2026 which to me, was the most important thing for my next contract, because we start into a new regulation.

“And then it was a constant conversation, very open. And the team obviously showed from day one a lot of interest and the desire to work with me, which is something very important to me – to work with people that are definitely pushing hard to get you, and want to get you on the project.”

The news of Gasly’s contract came shortly after Flavio Briatore was announced as an advisor to Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo, with drivers as part of his job description.

However Gasly says that the Italian wasn’t key to the timing of the deal.

“Flavio didn’t really influence, it was already long conversation over the last couple of months, and it was about time to commit for my future,” he said.

“And I’m very, very happy and very excited to commit to the team, because it’s good to have some stability.

“I think in my career I went through Toro Rosso to Red Bull back to Alpine, but not always with a strong dynamic, and from what I’m seeing from the team, and my relationship with the team, with Luca de Meo, with Bruno, is going extremely well, and we’ve got clear ambitions.

“I really like Luca’s vision and where he wants to bring the team over the next few years. And I trust as well in his management, and I’m just very excited to be part of the project.”

Regarding Briatore’s suggestion that it will take two years to turn the team around Gasly said: “I’m an optimistic person and a positive person. And I definitely welcome anyone who’s coming to contribute positively to the team.

“So he’s got very clear ideas and clear ambitions. He’s been there as well. He’s been working with the team, and he seems very excited to bring all these ingredients to Enstone. And if we can make it in two years, I’ll be more than happy.”

He added: “I don’t think there is a secret person or tool that can really trigger a big change. Obviously, we talk a lot about the main figures of a race team.

“But when you see the amount of people working back at the factory and who are actually providing the performance, finding the gains in the wind tunnel, in the CFD, mechanically, I’ve been going quite deep in the team with all the different departments and giving my inputs and working quite closely with them, trying to lead them to where I want.

“And there is a very good communication, very transparent. Obviously, it will take some time before we were able to correct the slow start of the year we have.”

Gasly says that his faith in the technical structure was the key to his decision.

“I think personally I’ve seen enough in F1 to know that you can’t really rely on a single car concept,” he noted.

“McLaren has proved it in the last two years. Mercedes also has shown that sometimes you get it right, and sometimes you can get it wrong. And it takes some time to get back to the top.

“But it’s mainly in the structure, the facilities and the technical track you are bringing which was the most important to me.

“So that’s why I tried to pay attention over the last couple of months, and trying to see the dynamic going on at the factory, and how, regardless of the performance on track, which is obviously miles away from where we want to be, but trying to see what sort of solutions we’re trying to bring on board.

“Obviously Luca and Bruno [Famin] played a big part, because everyone’s trying to defend what they have, and 2026 is also going to be a big change of regulations. That’s why I took a bit of time before making my own decision.”

Suggestions that the team may use a customer Mercedes or Honda PU in 2026 and abandon the Viry project have added an intriguing twist to the situation at Alpine. However, Gasly sees plenty of commitment from Renault.

“I have constant conversations with Luca, pretty much almost weekly,” he said. “And it’s been very clear, and I think it’s been very clear in the media, that his goal in F1 is to bring the team, and he’s committed 100% with Alpine.

“So it’s never really been a question mark on my side. And I know how committed they are as a brand they are with Renault, with Alpine. no and I know also how much belief they’ve got in the team, and how much belief I have in the guys that that we have in Enstone and in Viry.”

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June 29, 2024 · 6:44 am

Why improved simulator correlation is key to better Mercedes W15 form

Mercedes has had a faster and more consistent car of late

Mercedes Formula 1 trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says that improved correlation between the Brackley simulator and the track is one of the keys to the W15’s recent form.

In Montreal George Russell took pole position and earned third place, and then in Barcelona Lewis Hamilton secured his first podium of 2024 with another third. Russell continued the trend by qualifying fourth for the Austrian sprint race on Friday, albeit almost 0.4s shy of pole on the short track.

A new front wing made a big difference, and crucially the car has been doing what the simulator predicted it would do at each venue.

“I think we’ve got good correlation on the simulator now,” said Shovlin. “So you treat each circuit separately in that regard.

“We’ve been bringing developments to the car, some of them are mechanical, so we don’t need to declare those [to the FIA].

“But bringing a string of developments to the car, it’s a different thing every track we go to. That’s been the case for five or six races now. And you’re having to sort of tune it to get it all to work together.”

The team quickly found a good set-up in Barcelona, which was key to a successful weekend there.

“You get more confident the more tracks where you manage that,” he said when asked by this writer about the importance of hitting the sweet spot early in the weekend.

“But we had a car previously that if you got it in the window, it only took a change of wind direction or track temp, and suddenly the thing didn’t balance, and that was why we would look good maybe on a Friday, and then suddenly we’re struggling on Saturday.

“With the changes that we’ve made the car inherently behaves a bit more normally. The drivers aren’t complaining about oversteer in one area, understeer in another.

“If it’s a general issue with a car, it’s easy to chase, if it’s understeering everywhere, we can fix that. So it’s definitely easier to work with.

“But the key thing is the correlation on the simulator has improved, and we didn’t stand a chance before, because if five degrees of track temp, or a 30-degree rotation in the wind put you out of balance. It’s no surprise that the simulator was struggling to capture all of those effects.”

Shovlin says that improving correlation has been an ongoing target for the team.

“You’re constantly working on the correlation in the simulator,” he said. “To the extent where the drivers will finish a race weekend, they’ll come to us on Monday, Tuesday, jump in and they will help us work on getting the correlation to match the car that they just had at the weekend. Then move on to Silverstone, and start looking at that.

“It’s definitely a big factor, because that is where you develop cars these days, by and large. It’s a lot easier when you’re racing all the time and you’ve got data coming in to confirm that the things you’re doing are actually making the car go quicker.

“We can look at where we’re finishing, gap to pole, and that’s matching what we’re finding on the sim, which was we’re genuinely adding performance.

“It’s difficult over a winter when you haven’t got that check of how do you stack up against the competition?

“But as I said, that was an area that was difficult early in the year, it does seem to be in the right direction now.”

Regarding improving correlation he said: “A large part of it is getting an accurate representation of the tyre, an accurate representation of the car itself. There’s a huge amount of detail in the tyres that you’ve got to get right if you want the models to feel similar.

“And they are not just about, can you match the speed trace by messing around with the grip level so it lands in the right place? It’s about making sure you’ve got a physical representation of the car and the tyre, and that that is behaving broadly the same as it does on track.”

Shovlin also confirmed that the drivers have more confidence in the W15 than previously.

“I think that’s definitely a big element of it, because what the drivers used to talk about was a lack of stability, no confidence in the car.

“Now they’re actually going out on new tyres and often saying they didn’t hit the corners hard enough, and there’s more grip than they thought. So they’re definitely more confident in it.”

He added: “We’ve definitely found development directions that have made us quicker, as does every team. The question is, are you developing as quick as the others? When we had a car that that inherently didn’t really want to balance, you couldn’t get it working well around all the corners on a circuit, then it is just a difficult thing to deal with.

“So far beyond the correlation, we now have a car that that works sensibly in low-speed and high speed and mid-speed and braking is okay.

“There’s always areas to improve, and you’ll always be chasing someone, or you certainly are most of the time. But it, but it does seem to be that the improvements to the car are the thing that also helped in that correlation exercise.”

Meanwhile the only new aero part declared by the team for Austria is a revised beam wing, designed for lower drag.

“It’s not really circuit specific in that there’ll be other places that we run it,” said Shovlin. “But it just allows us to achieve a lower drag level with the same upper wing.

“So it’s just to sort of tune it. But you come here and you’d run less drag normally than Barcelona. It’s just to suit the track.”

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June 28, 2024 · 6:39 am

Ricciardo believes he will keep VCARB seat if he can “kick ass”

Ricciardo seems pretty chilled about his future prospects

Daniel Ricciardo says he “change the narrative” on his future at the VCARB Formula 1 team if he can “kick ass” in the coming races.

Ricciardo has had a difficult season thus far with the Faenza team, and with reserve driver Liam Lawson waiting in the wings and widely-tipped to take his seat he is under pressure to raise his game.

Indeed Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has made it clear that there’s a good chance that Lawson will replace Ricciardo as VCARB returns to being a team focussed on young drivers.

However Ricciardo says he’s paid little attention to Marko’s comments.

“I’ve become really good at not reading things,” he said. “So actually I didn’t know about it until I was told when I got here! I don’t feel one way or another about it.

“I still know that the overriding thing in this sport is performance, like that’s it, and that’s what will give me my best chance of staying here. I know that it’s not going to be my smile, or anything else. It’s the on-track stuff.

“So I’ve obviously got a good opportunity, I’d say, until the summer break. I don’t think that’s a deadline, but obviously that’s what you look at for the first half the season. So yeah, try to do what I can, and obviously help my cause.”

Last year a test at Silverstone in July gave Red Bull the opportunity assess Ricciardo, and he was soon drafted into AlphaTauri as replacement for Nyck de Vries.

Lawson has a test in a 2022 car at Imola at Imola in July, but Ricciardo isn’t too worried about history repeating itself.

“I believe it’s been planned for a while,” he said when asked about the Lawson test by this writer. “But in any case, it’s one of those ones where, I think also the older you get, you understand that you can control the controllables.

“If Liam goes and has an amazing test, 100% good for Liam. I’ve got no control over that. Or do I wish him poorly? Not at all. Obviously, currently, I’m in the race seat, so I’ve got to do everything I can to control the things I can.

“And if I kick ass here, if I kick ass in Silverstone, then I think the narrative can change. I think that’s where I obviously have to own that, and be on top of what I can do. I’m sure qualifying fifth in Montreal made Helmut smile.

“If I can do that a few more times, I’m sure I’ll make it small. It’s still so heavily on performance, just keep focused on that.”

Ricciardo says he’s been happy with his recent form: “I look back at Barcelona, and it’s hard to get excited about the 15th, but I actually was really happy with my race, so I would say it’s at least now two better weekends in a row.

“I think that’s what I’ve certainly had trouble doing this year, is having a kind of string of good results. Two is still not enough, of course, at least for where I want to be. But now we have two more ahead.

“I definitely have a chance to get into the summer break with some momentum, and on the Helmut stuff honestly, it’s fine, it doesn’t change let’s say what I’m going to do.”

Ricciardo is not worried about losing out as other seats start to fill up before the summer break: “I don’t want to be casual about it, because obviously I care a lot, but I don’t know, maybe I’m at a point where it’s just like, what will be, and I’m just going to put everything I can on the table, from effort and performance, and if that is good enough to secure me a seat, great.

“If not, then, okay, I did everything I could. But I think in terms of the musical chairs stuff, I think if I get focused on that… I need to put all my attention here, simple as that.”

Ricciardo admitted that he doesn’t have any alternative options to VCARB.

“I would say no,” he said. “Not to be stubborn or arrogant about it, but I’m not looking anywhere else.

“I really do enjoy being back in the family. I weirdly do enjoy sometimes a little bit of pokes from Helmut, because I think it’s also, can also be a way to get me a little bit fired up, and try to get the best out of me.”

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June 27, 2024 · 7:08 am

Albon: Williams FW46 still struggling with wind sensitivity

Williams endured a frustrating weekend in Barcelona

Alex Albon was left frustrated after a suspected gust of wind sent him off the road in the closing stages of the Spanish GP, exposing the sensitivity problem that has been a topic at Williams in recent years.

Having started from the pitlane Albon was running 18th and chasing Kevin Magnussen when on lap 59 a sudden snap of oversteer sent him through a gravel trap.

The off cost him around nine seconds and any chance of catching the Haas driver ahead, but he managed to resume in front of the chasing Yuki Tsunoda.

He immediately asked his team, “What the hell was that?”, to be told “It’s all OK from our side.”

Not happy with the prompt reply he said, “No it’s not OK, don’t just say that in five seconds.”

Further discussion ensued, and after the flag Albon was told that there was a 17kph gust at the point where he went off.

“The wind’s been up and down all race,” he said when asked by this writer about the incident. “I don’t know how it was for everyone else, but for a car that’s sensitive in the wind, it was not enjoyable.

“Doing our race, I felt like we were on plan to get the Alfa [Valtteri Bottas] and the Haas in front of us. We had a good tyre strategy, I think we were doing the right choices. The main issue was really that off.

“But I know what the limit is on my car, and that wasn’t the limit. And I had a huge off. So I got told there was nothing wrong immediately afterwards, I was there is something wrong, In the end, I think we had a big gust just when I hit the brakes. We don’t like gusts, and it just caught me out. One of those things.”

Albon and Williams knew that Barcelona would be a tough weekend, but nevertheless he was not satisfied with the outcome as the team fell behind rivals.

“I wanted more,” he said. “I look at it two ways. I look at it, compared to last year, the car’s made a huge step forward. So in that sense, I’m happy. At the same time that whole midfield is so much stronger now that that’s not enough.

“And second to that is just when the midfield is getting so tight, and when we are in some ways, catching and we’re getting closer to the to the top, to the leaders, being a bit overweight, lacking a little bit of loads, it adds up, basically.

“And I’m not saying that this weekend exposed us, but I think it just highlights for us a little bit. It was a windy track, a hot track, on a very well-known track for everyone else. To me, just highlights the load, and that’s what’s not quite there. 

“Yet, we’re good on tracks which are a little bit more unique and unconventional, but we come to a track everyone’s been to, drivers have done a million laps, everyone’s confident around the circuit, you can’t really make that difference.”

Albon remains hopeful that the next two races will be better for the FW46.

“Look at Monaco, look at Canada,” he said. “Good pace in the car, real pace as well, nothing odd about it, no weird weather or anything like that. Austria and Silverstone, let’s see.

“I think what was clear about Monaco and Canada, tyres were quite easy, as in they were both kind on the tyres. There was no wind, because they are street tracks. So it kind of played to our advantage a bit more. So I hope for a non-windy Silverstone!”

One positive note was that Williams gave up Albon’s lowly 19th grid position for a pitlane start in order to give him a new energy store and control electronics, thus reducing the chances of a penalty later in the year. 

“It was a race we could in some ways use to sacrifice a little bit, get some components in the pool, and just basically prepare a bit more for Austria and Silverstone, tracks that should suit us much more.”

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