In the round-up: Nico Hulkenberg doubts the FIA’s decision to restrict drivers’ political gestures will have a significant effect on him.
In brief
FIA politics clampdown “a difficult subject” – Hulkenberg
Hulkenberg, who will drive for Haas in the 2023 F1 season, told RTL the FIA’s recent ruling was “a delicate, difficult subject” but that he was “never one to use this platform for political news.”
He said the new restrictions laid down in the FIA’s International Sporting Code “will not affect or impair that much” for him, but may do for others. “I think that’s a personal story,” he added. “Everyone has a personal attitude towards it.”
“Labrador” Leclerc is overrated compared to Sainz – Coronel
Touring car driver Tom Coronel believes Carlos Sainz Jnr is underrated compared to his team mate Charles Leclerc, who finished runner-up in the world championship.
“Leclerc disappointed me because he went very well at the beginning of the year, when everyone shouted ‘he is a champion candidate’,” Coronel told Formule 1 magazine. “But personally I have always been more of a fan of his teammate Carlos Sainz, who had a lot of bad luck.
“People pretend that Sainz is second pilot at Ferrari, but look at the scoring: Sainz was in front in 2021. Leclerc gets too much credit for me compared to Sainz.”
Coronel believes Leclerc was too reluctant to demand better from the Ferrari team when they let him down during the season: “He is an ideal son-in-law, a labrador.”
Andretti expands into top-level sportscars
While they continue to work on entering F1, Andretti Autosport have now found a way into another top-level racing series by taking an ownership stake in sport car team Wayne Taylor Racing.
WTR are one of the top prototype teams in IMSA, America’s answer to the World Endurance Championship, and is a series that Andretti already compete in down in the tertiary level LMP3 class. They will continue to race in LMP3 as well as the top GTP class.
Andretti also has squads competing – often in alliance with other teams – in Extreme E, Formula E, IndyCar and Australian Supercars (top-level series for off-road racing, single-seaters and stock cars respectively).
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