In the round-up: Fernando Alonso questioned why brake marker boards were not replaced in time for the start of Formula 1 qualifying after a crash at the start of the Formula 2 race.
In brief
Alonso puzzled by missing brake markers
After Alonso was eliminated from Q1 in yesterday’s qualifying session, the Aston Martin driver questioned why brake marker boards on the approach to Tamburello were not replaced after they were damaged in the crash at the start of the F2 sprint race.
“I think in qualifying, after the F2 incident, there are no boards of braking for turn one on the outside, which is a little bit strange why we are allowed to do qualifying with a different track at the moment than the free practice,” Alonso said. “But [it was] the same for everybody.
“Obviously I was lacking laps today. We put the fuel in the car for qualifying and just to be able to do some pit stops. Eventually I did my best lap on the very first lap with a lot of fuel in the car. So I think there is more pace. But one of those days.”
Verstappen ‘gave fan the finger’
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix pole winner Max Verstappen described how he made a rude gesture to a fan after the end of qualifying.
“A lot of people were clapping, then one guy, he was doing some different things to me,” Verstappen explained. “So I gave him the finger.
“Then the next time I came around, he was clapping. So, they learn. It’s easy to be not nice to drivers, but I can also be not nice to you, you know! After that, I guess he appreciated it. But the fans in general here are very passionate. They love motorsport. Of course, naturally, there’s more support for Ferrari here, but that’s absolutely fine.”
Antonelli escapes Safety Car penalty
Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli avoided a penalty in the F2 sprint race for driving too fast under Safety Car after the stewards determined he had maintained safe driving throughout.
The Prema driver was summoned to the stewards after yesterday’s race after he was shown to have been under the minimum delta time for 25 consecutive sectors under the long Safety Car period. However, F2’s technical delegate confirmed that sensors on Antonelli’s car had failed, leaving the driver with a faulty and unreliable delta which left him unable to accurately gauge his speed relative to the delta. The stewards decided that given then, he had fulfilled he requirement of driving safely and reasonably at all times and took no further action.
Antonelli will start today’s feature race from fourth position, behind pole winner Gabriel Bortoleto, Prema team mate Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar in third.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Max Verstappen snaps at critics after signing up for second race on Imola F1 weekend (Mirror)
”I expect four of us to ‘sit’ on the car. Probably I’ll do two stints between two and four hours. No, not at night, of course. I do have to go to bed on time and catch my hours to start Sunday well rested. Whether I had to ask permission? No, in the end I decide what I do. Nor can I decide for other people what they do on a Saturday night. People can go somewhere to eat or drink and go crazy. It’s my free time. I am professional enough to see for myself what can and cannot be done.”
Barnard disqualified from Imola Sprint Race (F2)
‘Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 sprint race at Imola, Taylor Barnard has been disqualified due to a technical infringement. According to the technical delegate’s report, car 25 did not engage the start set-up procedure as required. After the driver and team representative appeared before the stewards, it was ruled that car number 25 was in breach of the rule. Barnard is subsequently removed from the race results. Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini is promoted up to eighth position and earns the final point in the Sprint Race.’
Minì: ‘Consistency paying off’ with move into joint-Ccampionship lead (F3)
”This year is another way of doing things, I’m trying to be careful but still be aggressive. In the overtakes, last year I would have sent it a bit too hard, or I would’ve made a big mistake on a qualifying lap trying to do 110% all the time. This year I’m trying to show that for the moment, gaining points all the time will work. It has worked so far, but we know that some DNFs are completely out of a drivers’ hands. We just have to keep working on being quick.”
The Yorkshire farmer who treats his cows like Formula 1 cars (Yorkshire Post)
”They’re like Formula 1 cars. You get out of them what you put into them. We want the best traits. Good feet, good udders, capacity to eat, we use genomics to look at all of that and we create our own custom index. We then look at the appropriate bulls that are available through AI to breed with those cows. It’s about production for me. It gives me a kick to see a really good cow giving a lot of milk.”
The iRacing 24 Hours Nuerburgring (iRacing via YouTube)
Live coverage of the iRacing Nurburgring 24 Hours, where Max Verstappen is competing for the number 20 Team Redline BMW.
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
These aged well 😂 Fun while it lasted pic.twitter.com/zvKOCcyAJ8
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) May 18, 2024
|@PierreGASLY was furious at the end of final practice and accused @AlpineF1Team of favouring his team mate @OconEsteban with their running order after the late restart.#F1 #EmiliaRomagnaGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/MTzUdXannX
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) May 18, 2024
Look who’s leading the iRacing 24h Nürburgring… BMW M Team Redline and Max Verstappen! #iRacing pic.twitter.com/Wg2NHJMI7y
— BMW M Motorsport (@BMWMotorsport) May 18, 2024
Lots of talk on social media re: food prices at the Miami GP.
Here is a list of prices within the park at Imola. pic.twitter.com/mNeq4ZIGLh— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) May 18, 2024
Really enjoyed the safety car Grand Prix 👍🏼 #ART #F3 #safetycar
— Christian Mansell (@CMansell_Racing) May 18, 2024
“I can’t believe it, I can’t BELIEVE it!”
Heartbreak for @AgustinCanapino, who was trending in the top 5 before slowing dramatically.
📺: #Indy500 qualifying on Peacock pic.twitter.com/EfFSYiTRKN
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 18, 2024
From Honda: “Honda has no control which team/driver gets a specific engine. Every engine produced by both manufacturers is assigned a serial number, and IndyCar tells us which engine # to give to each, so that no manufacturer can play “favorites.”’
— Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer) May 18, 2024
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to David Craft and Laurie Gregg!
On this day in motorsport
- 40 years ago today Mike Thackwell triumphed in the fifth round of the Formula 2 season at Mugello