In the round-up: Alpine team principal Bruno Famin is pessimistic about the team’s chances in Monaco.
In brief
Alpine expect to “suffer” in Monaco – Famin
Despite being far from the slowest team in Friday practice, Alpine team principal Bruno Famin does not expect the characteristics of Monaco or the weather will play into the team’s hands
“We know that it’s going to be difficult here for our car, which is stiff, low, and we are going to suffer if the weather situation remains as it is – dry,” Famin said.
“We’re working, but it’s a good opportunity to work on the set-up, to improve it, and to work always harder to improve the car.”
Dixon quickest on Carb Day
[mpuu]Scott Dixon led the final ‘Carb Day’ practice session for the Indianapolis 500. The Ganassi driver, who will start tomorrow’s race from 21st on the grid, set a fastest time of 365.652kph (227.206mph), leading fellow seventh-row starter Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank.
Pato O’Ward was third for McLaren followed by Andretti’s Colton Herta and Castroneves’ team mate Tom Blomqvist. Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 race winner who narrowly qualified for this year’s race in 32nd place, had an encouraging run to the sixth-quickest time.
NASCAR points leader Kyle Larson set the 13th quickest time after triggering a caution period when he ran out of fuel on-track with 15 minutes remaining. The McLaren driver will start Sunday’s race from fifth. Pole-winner Scott McLaughlin was 20th in his Penske.
Software glitch halts Formula E practice
Five Formula E cars stopped almost simultaneously within minutes of the first practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit beginning yesterday. Porsche pair Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa, ERT duo Sergio Sette Camara and Dan Ticktum, and Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries all came to a stop, bringing out the red flags.
The session was suspended while the fault was traced to a software update which had been applied to all cars since the previous round in Berlin. Once practice was resumed, Mitch Evans lapped quickest for Jaguar and all 22 drivers set times.
Bearman, Correa and Maini penalised
Three drivers received three-place grid penalties for today’s F2 sprint race – Oliver Bearman, Juan Manuel Correa and Kush Maini – all for impeding rivals in yesterday’s qualifying session.
As a result, they will start 15th, 16th and 19th, respectively, on the grid for today’s sprint race. Taylor Barnard will start from reverse-grid pole.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Verstappen on Christian Horner, his dad and staying at Red Bull (The Guardian)
”I would rather not have these stories, these things going on within the team. We just have to deal with it and move on from it. I am contracted to the team to do my job, that’s performance, that’s what I am focused on. I am not a politician, I am not someone who likes to be political. I just focus on the performance with the people around me, try to distract myself from, let’s say, the negative.”
NI’s Bernie Collins on how more women are getting into F1 – on TV and in the pit (Belfast Telegraph)
‘Mention the name Bernie and F1 in the same sentence, chances are the mind immediately thinks of Bernie Ecclestone — the business magnate and former chief executive of the Formula 1 Group which oversees the motoring sport. There’s another important figure within the sport with the same first name, however, who has been playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role on some of F1’s biggest moments over the past decade — Northern Ireland woman Bernie Collins.’
Formula 1 seeking race marshals for 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix (Fox 5 Las Vegas)
‘Officials say they wanted to bring this new marshal programme to Southern Nevada residents to bring more opportunities to get involved in the race. The marshal program is in collaboration with US Race Management. There are about 600 positions available ranging from flagging and track conditions communications to pit lane and grid marshals.’
‘Lionheart’ Mansell collects Motorsport UK Lifetime Achievement Award (Motorsport UK)
David Richards: ”Nigel’s phenomenal racing career and his fighting spirit remain a true inspiration for aspiring drivers and motorsport lovers – his stellar performances on track earned him legendary status. We are thrilled to welcome him here to our HQ at Bicester Motion and to present him with his hard-earned – and thoroughly well-deserved – Lifetime Achievement award and also to show him how his career continues to inspire all those that form part of our motorsport community.”
Toyota ‘very happy’ Alpine also backing liquid hydrogen (Sportscar365)
Toyota Gazoo Racing team director Rob Leupen: ”It’s good, it’s the progression you would like to see. Toyota last year explained their interest in hydrogen in this environment (WEC), and now we can say Alpine is showcasing the same. It’s a powertrain concept which has a future. We are very happy about it, that we are not the only ones pushing this.”
Adverse weather forces cancellation of morning collective test at Spa Francorchamps (FREC)
‘Due to adverse weather conditions, the track at Spa Francorchamps, the venue for the second round of the Formula Regional European Championship, has been deemed unsafe to hold the first collective test session scheduled for this morning, which has been cancelled. The first collective test had already faced delays due to an earlier incident, and combined with the heavy rain, it led to the decision to cancel the session. Efforts are underway to try and reschedule the test.’
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