In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton’s long-time race engineer was stunned by the news of his decision to leave Mercedes.
In brief
Mercedes to discuss Bonnington’s future
Bonnington has been the voice in Hamilton’s ear throughout his tenure at Mercedes, during which time he has won six world championships. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described his surprised reaction to the driver’s decision to leave for Ferrari at the end of the year.
“As much as I have spoken with Bono already, when I told him, he said, ‘is it April the 1st?’” said Wolff.
Asked whether Bonnington might accompany Hamilton to Mercedes he said: “This is a discussion which everyone needs to have in the months to come.”
Barnard and Bohra win in FRMEC
Taylor Barnard and Nikhil Bohra won the first two of three races in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship third round in Dubai yesterday.
Barnard won from pole position in race one, holding off Tuukka Taponen throughout the race to win by half a second, with Rafaek Camara third.
In race two, Bohra took the lead at the start and led home Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to take his second race win at Formula Regional level. Brando Badoer finished third.
Rafael Camara will start from pole position for today’s third and final race of the weekend.
Bilinski extends FROC lead with comeback win
Roman Bilinski took his fifth win from the opening seven races in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship at New Zealand’s Hampton Downs circuit on Saturday.
The M2 driver had to work hard for his latest win, however, storming from 14th on the grid to finish just ahead of Liam Sceats in a wet-to-dry race.
Bilinski now holds a lead of 35 points over Sceats with two more races today.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Piece by piece: This is what AMR24 is made of (Aston Martin)
‘ As the launch of our new car, the AMR24, draws ever nearer, we’re lifting the lid and shedding some light on the parts and tools involved in this painstaking process. Each piece has a role to play. We’re zeroing in on some of the master crafting that goes into getting our F1 car on track, as well as some of the tools that aided production.’
The wisdom of the award-winning Ross Brawn (Motorsport UK)
”I was always fascinated, challenged and enthused by engineering so, when I left school, I started an apprenticeship and, at the end of that, I took a chance by answering an advert to work at Williams Grand Prix. And the first person to interview me was Patrick Head. It was about six weeks until Patrick offered me a job. He later told me that I’d been his second choice and the first choice had already come and left! Regardless, that interview was a pretty important point in my career as I don’t know what might have happened otherwise.”
”In terms of what I’ll be driving and when I’ll be driving, that’s still to be set out. I’d love to be behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car and we’re all working towards trying to make that happen – whether it’s testing or racing – but right now nothing is confirmed.”
Haas F1 boss Ayao Komatsu explains Coventry City love affair (Coventry Telegraph)
”I used to play rugby in Japan and I came to the UK in 1994 when I was 18. After I finished high school I wanted to do Formula 1. I was in a language school but I just had international friends rather than local friends. Fine, and then I did a foundation course before going to University, at Warwick University. The course was actually at Cov Tech and so I lived in Coventry, at Cannon Park, just at the back of the big Tesco.”
The future of open-wheel racing in the U.S. (The Daily Evergreen)
‘By heeding inspiration from its international cousin, IndyCar must utilize similar marketing tactics if the series is to achieve stardom on its home soil. The component of competitive racing could draw in larger audiences who love the speed of F1 but crave the thrill of rivalry it currently lacks. Further development of brand identity and social media marketing efforts could be the sport’s saving grace. This is not only needed from the corporate offices, but from the drivers, too.’
Doonan: Having IMSA in Pitt F1 movie ”can only be good” (Sportscar365)
IMSA president John Doonan: ”It’s testament to the folks that are making the film. They wanted 100 percent authentic, where you see Pat Long, who has been coaching and teaching and making sure the racing scenes are authentic, whether it’s a pit stop or on track activity. The branding… it’s all authentic. I think that’s really great. But to have the first segment of the movie here, at Daytona, in Volusia County and around the area, it can only be good.”
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Mantas Degutis!