In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton describes his efforts to help boost Mercedes’ competitiveness during their win-less 2023 campaign.
In brief
Hamilton keeping an eye on rivals’ technical innovations
Hamilton says he has kept a close eye on their rivals’ technical innovations to ensure Mercedes miss nothing in their bid to improve their car.
“I’m in touch with the head of aerodynamics and I’m just checking up on him every week like: ‘How are we doing? What have you tried? Where’s the progress? Have you tried this?’,” Hamilton told Channel 4.
“I take snapshots of every car. I saw underneath the AlphaTauri the other day, and then I went back and I was like ‘hey, they’ve got these things on their floor!’. You’re just trying to find everything that you can pass on. But they know most of the stuff anyway.”
Mercedes expected to lead Las Vegas GP before Sainz clash
Hamilton’s first-corner collision with Carlos Sainz Jnr in Las Vegas derailed a strategic gamble which would have seen him lead the race, Mercedes believe. The team put hard tyres on his car, meaning he was poised to benefit when those ahead who started on mediums pitted.
“We tried both the medium and the hard tyre on the laps to the grid,” said Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin in a video issued by the team. “Lewis found that they were both quite low-grip, both difficult for warm-up so he was happy to go on the hard.
“There was a bit more risk, it’s a bit worse off the line but what it allows you to do is to offset to the whole field. Now, he obviously lost additional places. Carlos bumped into him at turn one and spun him, but had it not been for that, he would have been in a strong position again to take the lead on the road, running a completely offset strategy and then able to fight through the field in the end.”
However Shovlin acknowledged the timing of a later Safety Car period was always going to leave Hamilton with a difficult long stint on the medium tyre compound at the end of the race.
Haas “took a step back” in 2023
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner admitted the team’s progress reversed in 2023, as they enter the final round of the season last in the standings.
“I would say the start of the season was pretty good, it was looking promising. Getting Nico [Hulkenberg] in the team, we got exactly what we wanted with his experience, but we hit a wall with the development of the car, we couldn’t find further performance and others did,” he said. “We took a step back so hopefully we can take a step forward next year.”
Haas have scored 12 points compared to 37 last year, when they ended the season in eighth place. Only the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, under F1’s previous technical rules, were less competitive for the team, when they scored three points and zero respectively.
Yas Marina Circuit changes haven’t aided passing – Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo reckons the changes that Yas Marina Circuit made ahead of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have not improved the racing at the track, as F1 returns there this weekend to end its 2023 season.
“They changed the track layout a couple of years ago, and generally, although it’s made the driving experience a little better than before, I don’t feel it has affected overtaking opportunities, so it hasn’t improved the actual racing,” said the AlphaTauri driver.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
F1 could have done better communicating with Las Vegans, CEO says (AP)
Las Vegas CEO Renee Wilm: ‘I think we could have done a much better job communicating, particularly with all the local residents. We were posting to the websites we were required to, but I just think we were moving so quickly that we internally did not have the right resources to say ‘In addition to that, we also need to be communicating in the following 10 ways.”
GB3 championship confirms 2024 calendar, including maiden visit to Hungaroring (GB3)
‘The series then heads to Europe for the next three rounds, starting with the traditional visit to Spa-Francorchamps on 1/2 June, forming part of the Spa Euro Race for the second successive year. The first Hungarian visit follows on 22/23 June, alongside the International GT Open package, before returning to Zandvoort, this time on 13-14 July, as part of the Zandvoort Summer Trophy event.’
Graney: Verstappen was right about everything (Las Vegas Review Journal)
‘I was ready to fit Max Verstappen with a big red nose and floppy shoes. Maybe even some noise makers, puppets and stickers. But then a suggestion caused me to pause. As in, what if the F1 star was right about everything? The horror.’
Hartley happy to add to Kiwi success in motorsport world (NZ Herald)
”For a small country on the other side of the world, we do pretty well. I get asked why we’re so good quite a lot, as there are quite a few of us competing at the highest level all around the world. I don’t really know the answer but I’m just proud to be part of it and hopefully people will look back at this time and see how good we were.”
How Pourchaire, Vesti and Iwasa can win the 2023 F2 championship (Formula 2)
‘One qualifying session, two races and 39 points – that’s all that stands between Theo Pourchaire, Frederik Vesti and Ayumu Iwasa and their dreams of being crowned the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Champion at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. As title fortunes continue to chop and change, each of them knows the job that they need to do around the Yas Marina Circuit, so here’s the rundown of how the title fight could be won.’
Ericsson harsh in his criticism of RF (Sweden’s automobile club) (Bladet – Swedish)
”Someone has to wake up here,’ says IndyCar star Felix Rosenqvist. ‘There are more young Swedish boys and girls every year who step out to compete internationally, which costs enormous money. It is there with the young people that support is needed. It is sad if you dismantle something that young talents really need to get ahead. Those of us who have already made it are standing on our own two feet, but it feels sad that such a decision should destroy young drivers and all the fans who follow motorsport.”
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