In the round-up: Formula 1 has unnecessarily disrupted its last two races, says George Russell.
In brief
Red flag was another “unnecessary” call – Russell
Russell criticised the decision to red flag the Australian Grand Prix after deploying the Safety Car in response to Alexander Albon’s crash. He compared it to the surprising use of the Safety Car when Lance Stroll retired dur the previous race in Jeddah.
“I was pretty disappointed initially with the decision to red flag the race,” he said. No words for that. Obviously, we had a similar situation in Saudi with the Safety Car coming out in an unnecessary circumstance.”
He said Mercedes “made the right decision” by pitting him from the lead when the Safety Car came out, though the later red flag took away the advantage he had gained by changing tyres. “Pitting, I think, was the right call under the safety car,” he said. “I was surprised when I saw Lewis and Max stay out, and I was kind of pretty pleased when I saw that because I thought it played right into my hands. And then obviously the red flag ruined things.”
Police arrest suspects in Leclerc case
Almost a year since Leclerc was mugged for a bespoke Richard Mille watch in Viareggio, Italy, local police confirmed they have arrested four people in connection with the crime. A number of watches were recovered, though it has not been confirmed if any belonged to the Ferrari driver.
The watch was taken after the thieves stopped Leclerc and asked him for a photograph. Following the robbery last year he said the police’s investigation “hasn’t been as smooth as what I’ve read.”
Former Mercedes designer “not surprised” team’s reign ended
Former Mercedes technical chief Aldo Costa says he isn’t surprised the team was wrong-footed by a change in the technical regulations last year, but is convinced they can bounce back.
Costa, who worked for Mercedes between 2011 and 2019, told La Gazzetta dello Sport his former team’s defeat “didn’t surprise me, in the sense that they have been winning for many years, they have been the reference for everyone.”
“It’s perfectly fine that they didn’t interpret a regulatory change in the best possible way. More precisely: they didn’t have the timing that others had, because then they recovered during the season. And it is in these things that the strength of a team is seen. They have all the numbers to return to winning.”
Despite Red Bull’s dominance of the 2023 season so far, Costa is convinced the championship will become more competitive. “I think so,” he said. “It could be a three-way fight. I think we’ll see a good show.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Las Vegas Grand Prix speeds city’s transformation into sports juggernaut (Reuters)
‘Organizers expect more than 105,000 fans per day to attend beginning with open practices on Nov. 16-17 and the race on Nov. 18. They estimate it will inject around $1.2 billion into the local economy.’
Doohan: Valuable points earned but podium fight could have been on the cards (Formula 2)
‘Qualifying was nowhere near where we should be. We were obviously the fastest by far in practice and I think we were very fast again in qualifying – just got caught out a little bit with the strategy and the red flag.’
Herta’s split with father as strategist difficult but latest life change for IndyCar star (NBC)
‘He made it clear at Texas that he didn’t ask for his dad to be moved from his team, and without prompting said: ‘Do I think a needed change would have changed the result of the races? No. It was a team decision, that’s all I’m going to say.”
Rokit enlists lawyer Klayman to sue former F1 partner Williams (Sportico)
‘Klayman, who also did not respond to a request for comment, founded the conservative watchdog groups Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch and made a name for himself in the 1990s by aggressively bird-dogging the Clinton administration. However, over the years, Klayman has been repeatedly censured and sanctioned by courts and bar associations over his legal practices. Last year, Klayman’s law license in Washington, D.C., was suspended for 18 months over multiple professional conduct violations.’
Is Formula One a serious sport or senseless Netflix fodder (The Times – subscription required)
‘Increasingly, it’s no longer sport, because sport has ruled that cannot be adopted or ignored according to whims and the hope of better viewing figures. Also, sport doesn’t require a director. That’s what makes it so compelling. Sport’s improvised.’
Ferrari Hypercar Driver Profile: Miguel Molina (Ferrari via YouTube)
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
From the @HungaroringF1 press conference: dr. Adam Schmidt, state secretary of sports announced that the government supports the development of the track. He also confirmed that the right of ownership now belongs to the Ministry of Defence’ State Secretariat for Sports. #f1
— Sándor Mészáros (@mesandor) April 4, 2023
Formula 1 Ferrari time to wake up ‼️‼️‼️‼️
— Lapo Elkann (@lapoelkann_) April 4, 2023
Still can’t get over how much fun Sunday was. Thumbs up @IndyCar
— Colton Herta (@ColtonHerta) April 4, 2023
I think it’s a real shame that FE, which hasn’t had a rookie test since the 1st of March 2020, seconds before everything shut down, is excluding drivers who’ve done two previous tests from being classed as rookies. it’s a new car, why shouldn’t Caldéron or Chadwick get a chance?
— Hazel Southwell (@HSouthwellFE) April 4, 2023
In that respect, it reminded me a lot of this from two years ago involving @LewisHamilton:https://t.co/0vJ6fW37AR#F1 #AustralianGP
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) April 3, 2023
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Andy Mail, Red Andy and Matt88!