In the round-up: Felipe Massa explains why he is going to court over the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
In brief
Massa “will fight until the end”
Massa’s legal team confirmed yesterday it is bringing proceedings against the FIA, FOM and Bernie Ecclestone over the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. The former Ferrari driver is seeking to prove the results of the race should have been cancelled in their entirety, which would have made him that year’s world champion.
“I always said I would fight until the end,” he told Globo. “As the FIA and FOM have decided to do nothing, we will seek the correction of this historic injustice in the courts.
“The matter is now with the lawyers and they are fully authorised to do whatever is necessary so that justice in the sport is done.”
Ecclestone endorses Massa’s legal move
Ecclestone, whose comments on the race last year inspired Massa’s efforts to seek the title through the courts, said he supported Massa’s decision.
“If he had asked me, I would have said it was the complete right thing to do, to sue, and to let an English judge decide what is right and wrong,” he told the Press Association.
St Petersburg race too short – Power
Will Power believes IndyCar’s St Petersburg round has become less exciting since the race distance was shortened to 100 laps in 2020.
“A lot of fuel-save there at the beginning and the yellow fell at an unfortunate time which made it a bit more of a follow-the-leader sort of race,” said Power, who finished fourth on Sunday. “If it was extended by 10 laps like it used to be, then you would have a very big fuel window for the race.”
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Antonelli sees “big step” in second F2 weekend
Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli feels he made a significant step forward in his second weekend in Formula 2 after scoring points in both races.
“The start of the feature race was much better,” he said, “then I was struggling with the pace throughout the whole race as I had some understeer. That cost us quite some lap time, but we were also quite unlucky because some drivers pitted with the Safety Car and moved in front of us gaining a lot of places.
“Of course, not the results we wanted, but it was a big step compared to Bahrain. We’ll see how it goes in Melbourne.”
Doohan to demonstrate F1 car with father
Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan will perform a demonstration run at the Australian Grand Prix with his father Mick. The team’s reserve driver will be in a 2000 Benetton B200, his father on a Moto GP Honda RCV213.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
F1’s new Red Bull problem (Financial Times)
‘Under US ownership, F1 has sought to present itself as forward-looking and inclusive, in a shift away from its long-ingrained macho-petrolhead culture. Now there is concern that the growing focus on off-track events — which helped build the new fan base in the first place — risks setting back a sport that has done much to widen its appeal, especially with women and girls.’
Tsolov’s Sakhir weekend in his words (Formula 3)
‘Going into the sprint race, we decided to use a brand-new set of tyres for the race when most of the people around us were going to use them on Sunday. The idea was we would try and win a sprint race because winning the sprint gives out the same number of points as finishing (fifth) in the feature. But our chances of winning the sprint was much higher than starting in 11th and finishing fifth in the feature, so we use the new tyres.’
Toyota could consider third full-season entry for 2025 (Sportscar 365)
Team director Rob Leupen: ‘We have to keep our eyes open. I don’t think you should deny (the possibility). It’s something we review and discuss every season.’
Josef Newgarden: ‘It looked really good to me. I’ve seen a ton of negative noise, and I get it. Everyone wants to jump on anything, but everything I experienced this weekend was pretty incredible.’
Jos Verstappen reigns supreme at Hannuit Rally: ‘Went really well’ (Verstappen)
‘On Saturday 16 March, Jos will contest the second round of the Belgian Rally Championship: Rally des Ardennes.’
Here is what happened to the BTCC Game (Race Department)
‘It didn’t get it right. Ignition was a mess, and even if you leave a confused launch and bugs out of the equation, it just didn’t drive that well.’
Race highlights: Grand Prix of St Petersburg (Indy Nxt via YouTube)
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