In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says he is committed to ensuring his forthcoming Formula 1 satisfies both new and old fans alike.
In brief
Hamilton prepared to “call BS” on film
Hamilton, who is a co-producer on the forthcoming film set in the Formula 1 world starting Brad Pitt, said he is prepared to ‘call bullshit’ if it does not look authentic.
“My point was: ‘Guys, this movie needs to be so authentic’,” he told GQ. “There’s two different fan groups that we have. The old originals, who from the day they’re born hearing the ‘Grand Prix’ music every weekend and watching with their families, to the new generation that just learned about it today through Netflix.”
“I felt my job really has been to try to call BS,” he added. “‘This would never happen’, ‘This is how it would be’, ‘This is how it could happen.’ Just giving them advice about what racing is really about and what, as a racing fan, would appeal and what would not.”
Haas fear fast corners at Suzuka
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu admitted they are concerned about the performance of the VF-24 chassis through Suzuka’s many fast corners as they head to the circuit after scoring points in the last two rounds.
“”When we saw those high-speed corners in Bahrain, at Jeddah in sector one and in Melbourne, we saw our car is not quite there in the high-speed areas,” said Komatsu. “So sector one in Suzuka is going to be a huge challenge for us.
“How we’re going to manage that lack of high speed, grip and balance needed to perform in qualifying in Suzuka will be important, as it’s not an easy circuit to overtake. That’s going to be a challenge for us, but we’ve got a couple of ideas, so we’ll be looking to do a few experiments on Friday to improve that side.”
However he is increasingly confident in the team’s solutions to its poor performance over a race distance last year. “Regarding race pace, like in Melbourne, I think it will be stronger than our qualifying pace, so thinking about our race strategy we’ll need to look at how we can capitalise on that, having a better race strategy in Suzuka.”
Sauber flat-out on solution to pit stop problems
Sauber team principal Alessandro Alunni Bravi says “work has been going on day and night back at base in Hinwil to resolve our pit stop issues,” which compromised their first three races of the year.
However he has been encouraged by the C44’s potential over a grand prix distance. “We had the performance to be ahead of our direct competitors in Melbourne, as we did in previous races, and that’s what we’ll be building on this week,” he said.
“On top of that, we’re also bringing some updates, the fruit of the hard work of our team back home, which will hopefully allow us to make another step forward and claim our first points of the season.”
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Two teams to test at Suzuka
Sauber and RB will test development tyre compounds and constructions for Pirelli at Suzuka on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
Ferrari sponsor criticised over lawsuit
Over 100,000 people have signed an open letter to Shell CEO Wael Sawan urging him to abandon the company’s lawsuit against Greenpeace activists who protested over an oil drilling platform last year.
“Despite abundant advertising proclaiming Shell’s alleged green credentials, since beginning your tenure as chief executive you have slashed investment and jobs from your renewables division, abandoned plans to cut production and pledged to continue exploring for new oil and gas – while climate chaos rages around the world,” stated the letter.
Shell’s advertising includes the sponsorship of Ferrari’s F1 team. It has also sponsored F1 races and was targeted by a Greenpeace protest during the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix.
Badoer to FREC
Brando Badoer, the son of former F1 racer Luca Badoer who is being evaluated by McLaren’s young driver programme this year, will race for Van Amersfoort in the Formula Regional European Championship.