In the round-up: Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg noticed some improvement from his upgraded car at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
In brief
Hulkenberg pleased to pass in his Haas
Haas chose to start their drivers from the pit lane in the United States Grand Prix so they could make changes to their cars to improve performance. Hulkenberg finished 11th from there and was pleased with his upward trajectory, which resulted in his best grand prix result since April.
“I think it was the right call to start from the pit lane and change the set-up, because it turned out to be much better,” he said. “We were much more competitive, but obviously paying the price for starting all the way from the back. It wasn’t easy. Felt tricky. A lot of management going on, but obviously relative to others I think the pace was okay, from what I could see and judge. So some positive signs.”
“It was a long time that I’ve actually overtaken people and not got overtaken, and it felt nice, and good,” he added.
Alpine junior Mini to race for Prema in second F3 season
Gabriele Mini has signed with Prema for the 2024 FIA Formula 3 season, having recently reunited with the team.
He won the 2020 Italian Formula 4 title with Prema, then did two Formula Regional Europe seasons with ART. Mini came second in the standings last year, and off the back of it Alpine signed him to their academy.
The 18-year-old spent this year with Hitech, first racing in Formula Regional Middle East and then in FIA F3 where he took two wins en route to seventh in the standings. This month he returned to Prema for post-season testing, going second fastest at Jerez and Barcelona then topping the times at Imola. He will race for them in next month’s Macau Grand Prix in addition to next year.
Hadjar apprehensive about F1 outing
AlphaTauri will run Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar in the first practice session in Mexico this weekend, despite the Formula 2 racer having never previously driven a Formula 1 car or seen the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“I’m super excited to be driving in FP1, but at the same time, I’m a bit apprehensive, as I’ve never driven a F1 car,” Hadjar admitted. “To do so for the first time at an official practice session for a grand prix is quite something.
“The team has not set me any targets, so I don’t feel under any particular pressure, and I think I’m as well prepared as I can be. After Daniel Ricciardo was injured and Liam Lawson stepped in, I did a lot more work in the simulator to help the race drivers prepare, so I have a good understanding of how all the controls in the cockpit work.”
Ferrari name six finalists for Scouting World Final
The fourth running of Ferrari’s Scouting World Final has begun, with the winner becoming a F1 junior with the team next year.
There are six finalists, and they will be assessed in F4 cars on Ferrari’s Fiorano test track as well as off-track at their Maranello headquarters. Going into the final with the advantage of experience are 2022 Brazilian F4 champion Pedro Clerot and 2023 NACAM F4 champion Pedro Juan Moreno (who is missing this weekend’s F1-supporting round in Mexico to be at Fiorano), while the other four finalists come from karting.
Rene Lammers, son of ex-F1 racer Jan, is this year’s European champion and World championship runner-up, Italian karter Emanuele Olivieri came fifth in the long-running Lonato Winter Cup, while Filipino William Go has been scouted out by Motorsport Australia on Ferrari’s behalf along with Enzo Yeh. The Taipei-born driver will make his car racing debut soon in F4 South East Asia.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
The things I will never forget (The Players’ Tribune)
Felipe Massa: ‘Being defeated fraudulently is revolting. And sweeping the dirt under the rug is vile. The world of sport needs an answer and deserves reparation. For my part, I can say that I still live with a tremendous feeling of injustice.’
Mick Doohan wants motorsport at Brisbane Olympics (Speedcafe)
‘Doohan got behind an ongoing lobbying effort by the FIA to have motorsport as part of the summer games at a Parliamentary Friends of Motorsport function in the Queensland capital. Karting was short-listed for the 2028 Las Angeles Games but missed out.’
Prema to go up against top Asian teams in F4 SEA’s Macau races (Formula Scout)
‘A grid of 25 cars is expected for the revived Formula 4 South East Asia series’ upcoming non-championship round in Macau, and includes European drivers and teams. Headlining the provisional entry list is Italian team Prema, which ran the inaugural Euro 4 champion and won the Italian F4 teams’ title for a seventh time this year.’
Bruno Famin on the Alpine A424: ‘We will not be 100% ready for Doha’ (Autohebdo – French)
”There are many things to validate and fine-tune, particularly the systems part which is quite complicated,’ said Alpine Motorsports’ vice-president Bruno Famin. ‘We were a little bothered by the temperature at the hood, but we will have a variant that will be operational for the next session. It will go through the wind tunnel and has received the green light from IMSA for approval.”
Pierson to continue with HMD Motorsports in 2024 (IndyCar)
‘Returning for his second season, Josh Pierson will continue with HMD Motorsports in Indy Nxt for the entire 2024 season. Pierson first joined HMD in 2023 on a multi-year deak as he began setting his sights on IndyCar as an Ed Carpenter Racing junior driver.’
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