In the round-up: The CEO of Moto GP’s owner Dorna says the series has had talks with Formula 1 about sharing a race weekend.
In brief
Moto GP ‘could share weekend with F1’
Dorna CEO Carmen Ezpeleta says he discussed the possibility of a joint race weekend with F1 when its CEO Stefano Domenicali visited the season-opening round at Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal last month.
“It’s something that Stefano and I crossed our minds, although at the moment it cannot be done,” he told Soy Motor. “But we are studying the possibility.”
Moto GP’s existing circuit contracts would rule out a joint race weekend happening before 2027, Ezpeleta added. “We are going to study it, because it is not something simple,” he said. “There are security problems, because our measures in some cases do not coincide with theirs. There are also sponsor problems.”
Red Bull unlikely to face competition from rivals – Massa
Red Bull are at least half a second ahead on pace and are unlikely to be challenged by their rivals this year, says Felipe Massa.
“The only hope, for the show, is that they have some technical failure or that there is a battle between their team mates,” Massa told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I have the impression that Sergio Perez can hit some win and have a good championship, but Verstappen’s level is impressive.”
He believes Verstappen could beat the championship and race win tallies of Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. “He’s very young, he’s on his way to winning his third world title and with Red Bull he can win almost all the races on the calendar, which are many,” said Massa. “It will only depend on his desire to race for many more years. But he has every chance of overcoming the Lewis and Michael records.”
Ferrari needs “dream team” – Montezemolo
Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says the team needs to recreate a ‘dream team’ line-up of the kind it had in the early noughties to get back to championship-winning ways.
“I’m sorry to see Ferrari like this and I don’t think that it is a short-term crisis because it is a matter of rebuilding,” he said in an appearance on Italian television channel La7. “It’s also about finding the best technicians on the market, see when I put together the team that today is called the dream team.”
Despite Ferrari’s failure to win a race in the second half of last season, Montezemolo thought they would begin the new championship more strongly. “I would have expected a more competitive car, an evolution of last year’s one which was very good especially in the first part of the season,” he said.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Hadjar’s Melbourne weekend in his words (F2)
‘It was a really frustrating Sunday. I was on for an easy podium after all the pit stops, even after the contact with Ollie (Bearman). I was in the pack basically until the incident with Nissany, so it’s really frustrating.’
Fresh faces set for Formula E’s Berlin rookie test (Formula E)
‘IMSA and DTM driver Jack Aitken will step into Envision Racing’s green and blue for his first laps in the ‘Gen3′.’
Q&A with Katherine Legge on the preparation to compete in the 107th running of the Indy 500 (RLL)
‘I had to learn about this car because it is totally different to the car that I last drove. All the buttons are totally different and obviously technology has come on so far that they had to bring me up to speed on those. We also had a day in the sim which was great. It was a half day at Texas and half day at Indy which was great to prepare me but also to do some testing so it’s been a really professional preparation period from every standpoint from the team, bringing me up to speed progressively but also swiftly.’
Buemi expects Hypercar rivals to ‘get stronger’ over season (Sportscar 365)
‘I would expect people like Peugeot and Ferrari to potentially be stronger. Just because they’ve been testing at Portimao quite a lot. It’s also true that Ferrari tested at Sebring. It’s a very smooth track, so somehow I expect (Peugeot) to be, in comparison, much better because they suffered over the bumps (at Sebring).’
Da Costa on home race: ‘Portimao… it’s going to be really special’ (WEC)
‘I knew the Hypercar class was coming obviously, so it made sense to be there, and I always wanted it with JOTA. I am in the car for a one off at a home race is amazing. I will be in just full enjoyment mode and starting to work with the team for the year is great. I love those guys and they are my family as I’ve been there for almost four years now.’
Opinion: F1’s race control got it right in Australia (Racer)
‘In Abu Dhabi it’s obvious the rules weren’t followed correctly, and the rules were changed moving forwards to make it clear what needed to happen when it comes to the Safety Car deployment and cars unlapping themselves in the future. But at that point, there was already talk about green flag finishes being what the teams were pushing for.’
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