Tag Archives: formula-1

November 4, 2024 · 11:01 am

Ocon: Leading Interlagos F1 race was “a special moment”

A remarkable day for Ocon and his Alpine team in Interlagos

Alpine Formula 1 driver Esteban Ocon says that leading the Sao Paulo GP was “a special moment” and admits that ultimately losing the lead to Max Verstappen was “a reality check”.

The Frenchman was fast from the start of Sunday’s delayed wet qualifying session at Interlagos, and he took P4 on the final grid.

He was running fourth on the wet track when a VSC prompted the three drivers ahead of him to pit for fresh intermediates, promoting him to the lead – before a red flag soon afterwards froze the positions and gave him a free tyre change.

After the race was resumed he continued to lead until Verstappen passed him following a safety car period.

He remained in second place to the flag, crossing the line ahead of Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly. The surprise result moved Alpine from ninth to sixth in the constructors’ championship.

“I’m not sure that is a reality or still a dream,” said Ocon. “But I smell champagne, so I think it is reality. But yeah, it’s been an incredible day. Who would have thought, first of all, that we were going to qualify fourth, where we qualified?

“We were very, very quick as soon as these conditions pulled out today. It really levels out the field here.

“And it feels great to be just able to fight with other cars, to fight with the guys that are at the front as well. And it shows that we’ve still got it. And when there’s an opportunity, we are always there to be able to take it.

“We were leading the race at some point. That was a special moment. I was pulling away from Max in that first restart. It was going super well. Unfortunately, at the end, a reality check came back, and Max was still better than us.

“But it feels extremely great, and even greater now because we’ve had a difficult couple of races lately where things don’t really work the way we want for us. But it clearly shows that we’ve still got it when it’s not all about the car and it’s also about driving.

 Regarding his pace in the wet he said: “I think we are normally better on the rain. It’s difficult to be worse at times than where we are on the dry, especially lately!

“But it’s definitely great to be able to execute such a race. The team have been spot-on on strategy calls, tyres. And when everyone is on a level playing field, we can play and here we are.”

“Max clearly was quicker on that second stint, so there was no way for me to be fighting. He pulled away very quickly, as I thought he would have done.

“I told him after the race, I was very impressed on how late he could brake to the inside without locking up the front. That’s what has happened to a lot of drivers.

“Probably in qualifying on 90% of my laps I had the front locking into Turn 1. But he made it stick, and it was a nice move.”

Ocon will move to Haas in 2024, ending his partnership with both the Enstone team and his longtime friend and rival Pierre Gasly.

“Well, it’s not signed off yet,” he said. “There are more races to go, three more. But if that’s the reward, then I’m very happy to call it that this is the reward. It’s been five years of good moments, more difficult moments, of course. But, yeah, extremely happy and proud, you know, of me and Pierre, to be honest.

“We’ve had our stories at times, but it’s been incredible to do that last formation lap. A lot of flashbacks came back to my memories, when we were racing on the wet in go-karts, when we were young, even in the snow with the slick tyres, we were both racing together and waiting for the podium or the win to come.

“And today, it tastes a bit like that. So a beautiful story from where we come from. One will for sure forever stay engraved.”

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November 4, 2024 · 10:55 am

How Verstappen’s emotions went from “almost destroying the garage to winning”

A rollercoaster of emotions for Verstappen in Brazil…

Max Verstappen says that on Sunday at Interlagos his emotions went from “almost trying to destroy the garage to winning the race” after he recovered from a major setback in the early morning qualifying session.

The win was his first since in a full length race since Barcelona in June, and enabled him to build a cushion on Lando Norris, who started from pole but finished only sixth.

Verstappen qualified 12th after getting caught by a red flag in Q2, after which he made his frustration clear. He then dropped to 17th on the grid due to a five-place PU change penalty.

He was up to 11th by the end of lap 1 and had risen to fifth when a VSC emerged on lap 27.

While many drivers took the opportunity to pit for fresh inters Esteban Ocon and Verstappen opted not to and moved into first and second immediately before a red flag gave them a free tyre change.

Soon after the resumption Verstappen moved past Ocon into the lead and he set a series of fastest laps as he pulled away to a comfortable win, giving his title campaign a massive boost.

“I don’t even know where to start, because my emotions today have been from almost trying to destroy the garage to winning the race,” said Verstappen.

“I mean, starting P17… I knew that we could have a good race, but in qualifying, I think it was quite clear that there was only one line that you could take. So I knew that overtaking was going to be quite tough.

“But yeah, in the race, we had a good start. That helped already. We had a good first lap. From there, we just picked off a few drivers here and there. Then I got a little bit stuck behind the train of Yuki, I think. Then we just stayed calm. It was still a very long race, naturally.”

Verstappen stressed that the team got his strategy just right: “We made the right calls. When some pitted, the rain was coming, we stayed out. Which was very sketchy.

“And then I saw Esteban in front of me flying, like four seconds a lap faster and I was like, ‘I’m just happy to keep the car on the track.’

“At one point it was just red, like we needed a red flag. It was just undriveable, even on extreme tyres, it would have not been possible because of the banking of the track here, it’s filling up very quickly and it almost felt like I was driving a boat.”

Verstappen admitted he had no specific expectations heading into the race.

“I was just very motivated to get a good race and just let the race pan out and see what happens,” he said. “Because in a wet race, always some crazy things can happen.

“But soon I was passing a few cars, and I had always one lap or two laps of free air. I was always the fastest on the track.

“So, I knew that, ‘OK, we are quick.’ I just need to try and pass the guys to try and have a run to the front. I felt comfortable in the car. I feel comfortable in the wet anyway, but then when the car is also performing, it just doubles up and you can really pick up the pace.”

Verstappen insisted that he only realised that he could win the race when he passed Ocon.

“When I got past Esteban in Turn 1. I mean, before that, the pace was there, I was just trying to build it up slowly. Because after the red flag, the restart was very fast. And then just when the safety car actually came out, I was starting to catch him a bit. But then the tyres were, again, very cold. And then in the restart, I got by.

“And from there onwards, I just tried to look after the tyres, because you never know what was going to happen to the end.

“The wear is always very high around here. But yeah, I felt good. The car was having a nice balance. I just had to be concentrated to not make any mistakes, because the surface was still slippery.”

Regarding the championship fight he said: “Of course looking at it it was incredibly important because in a way I was expecting to lose points today.

“So from now, I just want clean races to the end. I’m not thinking about clinching the championship in Vegas or whatever. I just want clean races.”

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November 2, 2024 · 2:48 pm

Thirty years on – a crazy life on the F1 road…

This weekend’s Sao Paulo GP is a personal milestone as I reach 30 years of attending every single Formula 1 race without missing one.

My run started at Suzuka on November 4-6 1994, and I referenced that anniversary on Twitter when we went to Japan back in April.

However on a strict timeline Interlagos on November 1-3 2024 is the closest I’m going to get to the actual date, so no apologies for having a second bite of the cherry. And this is a personal blog after all!

I believe that it’s also 559 GPs in a row, or a total of 574 including odd races I did earlier while my focus was on other championships (and not counting the 12 GPs I went to as a paying spectator).

Having started as journalist in 1985 while still a student I covered a variety of series in my early years, from British FF1600 in the days of Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and Eddie Irvine, to WEC with Silk Cut Jaguar, Rothmans Porsche and Sauber Mercedes.

I spent 1992 and 1993 in Japan with pals like Irvine and Roland Ratzenberger, and I then followed most of the 1994 Indy Car series, with Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti in what was then a stellar field. That was a good experience, and I spent the full month of May at Indianapolis. However it hard to find much work Stateside.

I’d been to odd F1 races with a media pass since 1985, but covering it fulltime always seemed like a distant dream in those pre-internet days. There was a limited amount of space in print magazines, and a group of established journalists – guys who had been my heroes as I was growing up – had all the work locked up.

However at the end of 1994 I returned to Japan to cover the GP, a very memorable race that saw Hill beat Michael Schumacher in the rain. Among the bits and pieces I did that weekend was the above story, which I like to think was an early example of a type of strategy analysis that was unusual for race reports of the time, but would later became more common.

I then went on to Adelaide and the controversial finale that saw Schumacher and Hill clash, and Mansell win the race. I knew Michael well from his Mercedes WEC days, so seeing him win his first title up close – and partying with him late into Sunday night – was a memorable experience.

Heading into 1995 I was at something of a crossroads. I didn’t have enough work to justify returning to the USA, so I took a gamble. With no real plan and no guaranteed work – other than the chance to write press releases for the new Forti Corse team – I bought a plane ticket to the opening race in Brazil, and then flew on to Argentina. After that I went to Imola, and to Barcelona… And I simply never stopped.

So three decades later I’m still here. And I’m still waiting to be paid by Forti Corse! Although my involvement with the Italian team did lead to the memorable experience of sharing a hotel room in Montreal with former Ferrari star Rene Arnoux, then the driving coach to Pedro Diniz…

As far as I know the only people in the paddock with a longer ongoing streak of consecutive races are my old pal Joe Saward, who admits that he is as crazy as I am and had a head start of a few years while I was covering other series, and Sauber sporting director Beat Zehnder, who has been at all of the Swiss team’s races since 1993.

Of course there are plenty of others who started way earlier than I did, but they’ve not done every race. Tech wizard Giorgio Piola recently celebrated 900 GPs, while RBR’s Jonathan Wheatley logged 600 in Singapore, and Aston’s Andy Stevenson will hit 600 in Vegas. However like other paddock veterans they’ve missed races here and there or spent time on test teams, and so on.

It’s not been easy doing it as a freelance, organising and paying for all my flights and accommodation for the whole 30 years, and travelling solo, with no support network should something go wrong. The F1 world has also changed dramatically from 16-17 GPs per year, with perhaps five outside Europe, to 24 races and 15 flyaways. Travel costs have gone up exponentially.

Getting safely to and from all the races in the COVID era was probably the biggest challenge, and also incredibly frustrating, as print journalists were barred from the paddock. I don’t miss the Russian roulette of endless COVID tests and the chance of getting stuck overseas somewhere…

Meanwhile in the digital era the media world has changed dramatically from the days when Bernie Ecclestone banned us from working for the fledgling internet, because he viewed it as a form of “broadcasting”. It’s become ever harder to make a living, and this year has been particularly painful for many reasons.

There have also been personal sacrifices along the way, not least on the part of my family, and I thank them for their patience!

Of course this remains my dream job, and I know I am very privileged to be here and to still be involved in the sport that I have loved since I was a kid, when I was a fan of James Hunt. And while not everything has changed for the better, F1 is as enjoyable and unpredictable and as endlessly fascinating as it has ever been. There’s still nothing more satisfying than getting a decent scoop.

Finally, time for a bit of self-promotion – I’m a free agent and I’m available for work over the last three races of the season, and heading into 2025.

So for any editors reading this who need a news service, features or analysis for either print or online from someone who’s actually at the circuits and embedded in the paddock, do get in touch! You can message me on here, or via LinkedIn.

Here’s to the next 30 years!

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November 1, 2024 · 8:29 pm

Domenicali in talks over proposed F1 return to Argentina

Could Franco Colapinto one day race in his home country?

A delegation from Argentina met with Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali at Interlagos on Friday with a view to the country hosting a race in the future.

Domenicali spoke to Daniel Scioli, the country’s secretary of tourism, environment and sports and a former vice-president, and Cesar Carman, the president of the Automovil Club Argentino.

Friday’s discussion was an exploratory chat, and at the moment it looks unlikely a slot will be available on the calendar in the near future, especially with a queue of prospective venues wanting to host races.

However the idea has some momentum as Franco Colapinto’s arrival at Williams has supercharged interest in the sport in his home country, with thousands of fans travelling to the Austin, Mexico City and Sao Paolo events.

Inevitably that has revived the idea of bringing back the Argentine GP after earlier attempts – which didn’t benefit from the presence of a local star on the grid – failed to materialise.

The plan is to return to the Autodromo de Buenos Aires, which was last used for F1 in 1995-’98. However the intention is to utilise a rebuilt version of the original and longer track that was used sporadically between 1953 and 1981, rather than the shorter nineties layout.

Despite the presence of a minister at Interlagos the event would be backed by the private sector, rather than by the central or local government.

“Stefano is a great man, and really we appreciate a lot this conversation,” former powerboat racer Scioli told me.

“It was very positive. What Franco is doing, not only in the circuit but outside, is great. We will study this very carefully. We will have private investment.”

Carman conceded that a lot of work would be required to bring the former GP venue up to modern standards.

“Stefano was very nice with us,” said the ACA boss. “He says that he would really like to have another Grand Prix, but it’s going to take a lot of work from us, and we need to start to start working. And we have to do a lot of things.

“We have to improve the racetrack. We have to take it to Grade I. As I said we have to do a lot of things, but we are very optimistic. I don’t want to give dates, because I don’t know, but I think 2027-‘28 is more realistic.”

Regarding the finances he said: “Daniel has already told me that he has the finance from the private sector.

“The current government says that the government doesn’t need to do what the private sector can do better!”

Carman confirmed that Colapinto has had a major impact in the short time that he has been on the F1 grid.

“I think that a lot of things are happening because of Franco,” he said. “Franco has a disruptive effect on us, on Argentina, and the Argentine fans are very enthusiastic about having Franco racing in Argentina. So everything is joined. Things are aligning. It’s like a dream.”

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November 1, 2024 · 12:04 pm

Perez on his Red Bull F1 future: “We all want to do better…”

Perez says his focus is on helping the team to improve

Sergio Perez remains coy on talk about his future at Red Bull Racing after his difficult recent run, putting the focus on the Milton Keynes Formula 1 team and saying “we all want to do better.”

Perez has been in the spotlight following a frustrating home race in Mexico City, after which team boss Christian Horner stressed that he has to get results and that “there comes a time when difficult decisions have to be made.”

Perez is contracted to the team for 2025-’26, and he has always insisted that there are no doubts about his future.

Asked by this writer about Horner’s comments Perez simply said that the team as a whole needs to improve.

“It’s all linked and all related to us being strong,” he said. “We want to get back together as a team. I think that’s the main priority, for the team, and it’s where the main focus is.

“We are not happy where the pace is at the moment. And we all want to do better. Simple as that.”

Asked if he’d been set any targets over the last four races he said: “Well, basically, I just want to maximise the potential. Last weekend we lost some good points, and here I really hope that we have a shot to the podium.

“Simple as that. I am just trying to work together with the team to improve the car, and just be more competitive.”

He added: “I think we are working flat out. We have engineers going back to Milton Keynes in between races.

“Everyone is pushing flat out to understand where the pace has gone. I think the pace obviously in Mexico was disappointing, and I think we understand a lot of the reasons. So I really hope that here we can put it together as a team and be in the mix.”

Perez is still waiting for the floor upgrade that Max Verstappen received in Austin.

“No, we don’t have it at the moment,” he said. “And yeah, hopefully for Vegas now that there will be a little bit more time I will have it.

“There’s something in it. Also a bit of weight. We’re cutting a little bit of weight and so on. It’s not ideal, but obviously the team is doing the best they can. We’ve been affected also with so many incidents for now. So yeah, the team is pushing flat out.”

Perez also downplayed the critical comments he made about Liam Lawson following their costly collision in the Mexican race.

“For me, this is obviously in the heat of the moment,” he said. “Now, there’s been a little bit of time to digest.

And yeah, I think you know, all I can say that the race was looking great for both of us at the time, being on the alternative strategy, it was the start of the race, there was a big opportunity, and I think there was no need to come together.”

Perez said that the Red Bull management backed his view that Lawson was at fault.

“We viewed it the same way,” he said. “I think there was no need to have the contact, whatsoever. I think the race for both cars was looking great. And yeah, simply was there was no need to come together.

“Like I say, I think we were all aligned on it. We all felt similar. We lost a lot of points for us, because I think at the time, where you look where you see where the Piastri finished, and he was much further away, we were on the alternative strategy.

“We were making progress. We looked pretty quick at the time, we definitely lost important points, and at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.”

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November 1, 2024 · 11:56 am

Leclerc on his F1 title chances: “I can only control my own destiny…”

Like a hole-in-one, Leclerc’s title chances are a “long shot…”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc admits that the chance of him winning the 2024 Formula 1 drivers’ World Championship is “a long shot” – and that he can only control his own destiny and not rely on Max Verstappen having problems.

With four Grands Prix and two sprint events left Leclerc has 291 points to the 362 score of leader Verstappen and the 315 of Lando Norris.

Leclerc says that Ferrari can win the constructors’ championship – in which the gap to McLaren is now just 29 points – but he has accepted that the drivers’ version will have to wait for another season.

“The drivers’ championship, I think is a long shot,” he said. “I think the constructors’ championship only relies on us doing well. I think the drivers’ championship, doesn’t rely only on me doing well, but it also relies on Max doing badly.

“And what happens to Max, I cannot control. I can only control my own destiny. And so I’ll try and do the best possible job, and then we’ll see at the end of the year. But realistically speaking, it looks very unlikely that we will get the drivers’ championship this year.”

Leclerc said that a constructors’ title would be very significant for Ferrari, the team having last won it in 2008.

However he stressed that internally the focus is still on taking this season it a race a time.

“It will be very, very important, especially after so many years of Ferrari being out of chances of winning that world title,” he said.

“However, it’s not something we focus on. It’s not something that we speak of, to be honest, inside the team. We are just focusing step-by-step.

“We really believe that this is the way forward, and in order to give ourselves the best chance, in order to win the championship, we’ve got to not think about it too much.

“So we are just focusing on this weekend, starting with this weekend, hopefully maximising the result, just like we’ve done in the last two races.

“We have a good momentum, the motivation is super high in the team, and we need to use that in order to do a very good short-term, and then we’ll see at the end of the season how it goes.”

Carlos Sainz noted recently that he believes the Qatar GP is the only race in the last four where Ferrari might not be in a position to win, and Leclerc agrees.

“I think Qatar on the paper is probably the most difficult weekend for us in the remaining ones,” he said. “I think here [Brazil] maybe it’s the second one where we don’t expect to be particularly stellar. Las Vegas should be a really good one for us, and Abu Dhabi, neutral.

“So all-in-all, again, I come back to the point of before, that we really have to focus step-by-step. It’s very fine details, and sometimes this can make a big difference.

“And especially on sprint weekends like this, it’s not because on paper, you are not the favourite that it cannot be the case tomorrow.

“We only have one free practice session, if we manage to do a really good job during this free practice session, everything is possible, and the margins are not big enough for it to be a clear P3.

“So it’s all about the job we’ll do this weekend, and if we do a really good job, then we will have chances of winning this race, even though, on paper, I don’t think we are favourites, and probably McLaren will be the team to beat.”

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October 31, 2024 · 9:03 pm

Ocon and Hulkenberg confirmed for new team debuts at Abu Dhabi tyre test

Ocon will have his Haas debut in the Abu Dhabi test

Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg have both been confirmed as being released to drive for their future employers in the post-season Abu Dhabi Pirelli test in December.

Haas boss Ayao Komatsu has said that the Frenchman will have his first taste of the Haas VF-24.

His 2025 team mate Ollie Bearman will drive the rookie car on the same day as he is still qualified to do, having started only two F1 races.

Meanwhile departing Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg will make his first appearance for Sauber, as officially confirmed to this writer on Thursday by team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi.

Sauber has yet to make a call on a rookie driver for Abu Dhabi as it has yet to decide who will drive the second car in 2025, and it could yet sign a newcomer such as Gabriel Bortoleto.

Meanwhile a senior Williams source confirmed that the Grove team is still in negotiation with Ferrari over a release for Carlos Sainz.

Usually such tests involved special arrangements such as drivers using unbranded overalls and helmets and running without logos on their cars due to them still being contracted to their previous teams for marketing purposes.

A release deal from Ferrari will probably more complicated to arrange for Sainz than for drivers from some other teams, given the commercial implications.

One driver who definitely won’t be sampling his new team in Abu Dhabi is Lewis Hamilton.

The seven-times World Champion won’t be sble to drive the Ferrari SF-24, and is instead committed to a major event in Malaysia on that day, and which is in effect his farewell to longtime Mercedes partner Petronas.

Meanwhile Komatsu says that Ocon’s early debut will be very valuable to Haas.

“That will be the first time for Esteban to drive our car,” he said Komatsu. “Which is important, because obviously regulations are stable. So next year’s car is an evolution of this car.

“So at least it’s good that he tastes this car before January or as soon as possible, to see what our car is like, strength and weakness. And then if he has input, we can still work on it, during the development.

“And also, obviously Ollie has been driving this car, limited to FP1 and one race, so Ollie is going to be driving as well. So again, just to have the opportunity to work with the team, experience the VF-24.

“Everything helps, right? We’ve got one driver doing the rookie test, and then one driver doing the tyre test.”

Future race drivers Kimi Antonelli and Jack Doohan will handle rookie test duties in Abu Dhabi with Alpine and Mercedes respectively.

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October 31, 2024 · 8:15 pm

Norris: Verstappen “knows what he did wrong” in Mexico

Norris hasn’t spoken to Verstappen since the last race

Lando Norris says that he hasn’t spoken to Max Verstappen since their most recent on-track clash in the Mexico City GP – and he insists that the Dutchman “knows what he did wrong.”

Verstappen received two 10-second penalties for his moves on Norris when the McLaren driver tried to find a way past early in the race.

After taking the hit at his pit stop Verstappen finished sixth, while Norris earned second place and improved his position in the World Championship.

The pair frequently travel to races together, and talked after their collision in Austria earlier in the season. However Norris made it clear that this time, they have had no contact.

“No, we’ve not spoken,” he said. “I don’t think we need to. I’ve got nothing to say. I still have a lot of respect for Max and everything he does.

“Not respect for what he did last weekend, but respect for him as a person, and also what he’s achieved.

“But it’s not for me to speak to him. I’m not his teacher, I’m not his mentor or anything like that. Max knows what he has to do. He knows that he did wrong. Deep down he does, and it’s for him to change, not for me.”

Asked if their relationship had changed recently he said: “Not that I know of. I’ve not spoken to Max. It’s not something I need to speak to Max about.

“Max is probably one of the most capable drivers on the grid, if not the most, and he knows what he can and can’t do, and where the limits. He knows the changes he has to make.”

Meanwhile having had four days to process the events of Mexico Norris said he was happy with the way the FIA stewards dealt with the Verstappen incidents, which came after a weekend when driving guidelines were the main topic of conversation.

“I think the stewards did a good job,” he said when asked by this writer for his thoughts heading into the Interlagos weekend.

“I think they have a very difficult job, but they’ve done a good job. I think 99% of people who watch F1 and know F1 agree with that. So I think we’re happy from our side. I stayed out of trouble and did my job also, which is that.

“But every weekend is a new weekend, right? So I don’t know what to expect this weekend, obviously I hope for, or I expect, a cleaner battle than what we had.

“But it’s not up to me. I don’t make the rules. I don’t decide the penalties, I just drive. And the stewards did the race, and they did a good job.”

Norris says he won’t be changing his own approach to racing Verstappen.

“I think something I’ve done well my whole career is always normally stay out of trouble and keep the car in one piece,” he said. “All those little things add up over a championship, and over a season, especially in a cost cap season as well.

“But I think I’ve always had the mentality to want to race fair and clean, and sometimes I’ve been, I think I probably said it last weekend on the too-kind side, whether I was attacking or defending and things like that.

“I think I’ve always made good decisions from that side, and sometimes I’ve paid the price for not being aggressive enough. But the rest of it is not up to me, but I know how to keep the car in one piece.

“That’s something I’ve done for a while. Even when you don’t realise it, there are times when I had to avoid a potential crash, and maybe you don’t see it behind the TV and things like that. But inside the car, it’s ‘I’m only here because I avoided this,’ or avoided this person or that person.

“So there are more times than people realise that you go through those certain scenarios, and I think those are some of the challenges we have every now and then.

“But I’ll come into this weekend with a new expectation of hopefully we have clean, fair racing, and I think that’s what we should expect.”

McLaren boss Andrea Stella noted in Mexico that Norris had been told not to take justice into his hands on track, and leave it instead to the stewards.

However he downplayed the suggestion that he thinks about such things when driving.

“I’m very chilled, I’m very relaxed when I’m on track,” he said. “For me, that’s how I need to perform, is by being relaxed and not thinking about these things.

“Yeah, there’s two different sides, when you’re just driving, and driving quickly is one job, but staying out of trouble, not making contact, all of those things, is another task on top of it, I guess.

“I think I’ve always done a good job of staying out of trouble, whether it’s lap ones, turn, ones, any of these things, but also racing against your main competitors and rivals, it’s a big challenge, and I always expect it to be tough.

“I don’t want it to be easy. I never expect it to be easy. But my job is to make sure I see the finish line every time, and that’s what I got to do.”

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October 31, 2024 · 7:51 pm

Lawson won’t change approach to racing despite Perez clash

Lawson says he won’t change his approach…

Liam Lawson admits that he made a mistake when he had contact with Sergio Perez in the Mexico City GP – but the New Zealander insists that he won’t change his approach to racing.

Lawson also had a clash with Franco Colapinto later in the race, and eventually finished 16th. Perez, who suffered bodywork damage in the incident, was classified 17th.

The costly contact between the RB and RBR cars did not go down well with the Red Bull management.

“It was a tough race for us,” said Lawson. “And obviously there’s many things you reflect on the race, and you look over things that could have been better. And we take those into this weekend.

“But obviously, fortunately, with the time frame of the triple-header, we don’t have many days to do that. And it’s focusing on Brazil this weekend.”

After the race Lawson had a talking to from Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, who clearly were not happy that Perez’s race was compromised.

“I don’t think they want me to race differently,” he said. “But obviously the target is not to make contact with another Red Bull Car.

“And as I said at the time, it wasn’t my intention in the moment, and looking back, maybe I could avoid it. And clearly that’s that would have been the right thing to do at the time.

“It’s clear, the target is not to obviously crash into any car, but is especially a Red Bull car. And it wasn’t, obviously my target in the incident, either. I was trying to avoid that.

“So obviously, looking back, maybe there’s things I could have done differently, I could have cut the chicane and avoided it completely.

“But in the moment, I’m racing as well. And you have a split second to make these decisions. So it’s something I’ve spoken to the team about afterwards, and I’ve reflected on, and I’ll learn from going into this weekend.”

He added: “That attitude towards racing, and how I approach races and F1 won’t change. That’s how I’ll always be. But at the same time, there’s things in there, if I make mistakes, I’ll always learn from them, and clearly in Mexico I made a mistake.”

It could be argued that Lawson’s aggressive style had indicated to the Red Bull management that he’s just the kind of character who could deal with being a team mate to Max Verstappen at RBR.

However he downplayed that suggesting when made by this writer.

“I don’t know how to answer that question, because I’m not the person deciding that stuff,” he said. “As I said, I race the way I race, and that’s how I’ve always been. And as I said, I’ll learn from maybe mistakes that I made.

“But at the same time, I’ll take advice, obviously, from everybody I can. My target is not to drive and make enemies of anybody. That’s not the goal, obviously. But at the same time, I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win.”

He added: “That attitude towards racing, and how I approach races and F1 won’t change. That’s how I’ll always be. But at the same time, there’s things in there, if I make mistakes, I’ll always learn from them, and clearly in Mexico I made a mistake.”

Asked about his post-race conversation with Perez he said: “Yeah, briefly we spoke after the race, but at the same time, we left the track very early, immediately afterwards, anyway. It was an on-track fight, and I apologise, obviously, for what I did after the incident.

“But in terms of the fight we had on track, it was I guess, deemed as a racing incident, and something that was in the moment’s battle.”

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October 31, 2024 · 11:53 am

Vasseur on Ferrari’s winning form: “We did a very strong job this week…”

Ferrari scored two GP wins – and 96 points – across two weekends

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says that the team “did a very strong job” to win two Formula 1 races in eight days in Austin and Mexico City.

Vasseur says that the SF-24 showed good pace in the previous races in Baku and Singapore, but the team did execute as well as it could have done.

In contrast in the last two races everything has gone to plan, with Ferrari logging four podiums and scoring 96 points across the two weekends – enough to move the team ahead of Red Bull into second place in the World Championship.

“We had a good weekend,” said Vasseur when asked by this writer if he was proud of the team after the Mexican race.

“And I was a bit frustrated after Baku/Singapore, because I had the feeling that the pace was there, that the performance, we were able to fight for pole position and even more. And we didn’t execute the weekend pretty well.

“And if you want to perform first, you need to have a good car, but then you need to do a good job. And we struggled a little bit.

“We struggled a little bit also in the journey of the season, after Canada, or after Monaco. And when you have a look on the championship, you say, okay like this, we have to do a better job.

“In the last two or three weekends I have the feeling that it’s much more under control from the start, the pit stop, the strategy.

“For sure when the pace is there, it’s everything is much easier. The strategy it’s much easier when you are a bit faster than a bit slower. But overall, I think we did a very strong job this week.”

In recent races the team has focussed on honing the package that it introduced at the Italian GP.

“The fight is very, very tight,” he said. “It means that we are all a bit on the edge for one or two tenths, you can move from a very good weekend to a poor one, because the race, when you are not in clean air, it’s a completely different story.

“And sometimes when you bring something you need one or two weekends to be used to set up the car, and it’s probably what’s happened with us.

“The last time that we brought something, I think was Monza, the big one. But we were not sure, perhaps at the beginning we are thinking that perhaps it’s track related.

“And then we have two street circuits in a row with Baku and. Singapore, and it’s only in Austin that we came back to a more conventional circuit to draw conclusions. But it’s true that from Monza, we are in a much better place.”

Vasseur says it was key that the team took a step back on spec earlier in the season after updates didn’t bring the expected gains.

“It’s true that the reaction of the team was a very good one,” he said. “I don’t remember the sequence, but probably UK or Spain, when we struggled a little bit to be able to accept that we have to do a step back, and honestly we lost probably one or two weekends in terms of pure pace.

“But it was a good move and a good call, and then we were back into a decent pace at the end of July, in Spa or Budapest we were back, and it was a very good call from the team.”

In recent races the team has focussed on honing the package that it introduced at the Italian GP.

“The fight is very, very tight,” he said. “It means that we are all a bit on the edge for one or two tenths, you can move from a very good weekend to a poor one, because the race, when you are not in clean air, it’s a completely different story.

“And sometimes when you bring something you need one or two weekends to be used to set up the car, and it’s probably what’s happened with us.

“The last time that we brought something, I think was Monza, the big one. But we were not sure, perhaps at the beginning we are thinking that perhaps it’s track related.

“And then we have two street circuits in a row with Baku and. Singapore, and it’s only in Austin that we came back to a more conventional circuit to draw conclusions. But it’s true that from Monza, we are in a much better place.”

Vasseur insists that Ferrari has benefited from not thinking too much about the big picture of the constructors’ World Champion ship.”

“I think it’s important for us to have no distraction,” he said. “But we are clear for months now on this, to be focused on what we are doing, on the car, on the management of the team, to take the race, race after race, and not to think about the global picture. And I think it’s paying off today.”

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