In the round-up: Oscar Piastri says he ate little during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as he struggled due to illness.
In brief
Baku “very difficult physically” for Piastri
Unwell Piastri skipped McLaren’s media session after finishing 10th in Saturday’s sprint race in order to recuperate. He missed out on the points again in the grand prix, taking 11th, but said he felt in better shape.
“Today’s probably been the best I’ve felt all weekend, which isn’t saying much,” Piastri told media including RaceFans after the grand prix. “It’s been very difficult physically, especially yesterday it was pretty rough.
“I think I had about four pieces of toast for the whole weekend. So I need to get some food back in me before Miami. It’s been been tough, happy to see the end of it, but I still learnt a lot today on tyre management and stuff like that. So we’ll have a look and see what we can do better next time.”
Verstappen “let himself down” – Russell
George Russell said he doesn’t need an apology from Max Verstappen over his outburst on Saturday following the collision between the pair in the sprint race.
“I think he’s a two-time champion, leading the championship again at the moment, it doesn’t bother me, but he probably lets himself down a little bit with those sort of comments,” said Russel. “Max is a super good guy, great, great driver it’s just words like that are just a bit unnecessary.”
Following his profane rant at Russell in parc ferme, Verstappen referred to him as “princess George” in interviews with Dutch media.
Russell was unmoved when he reviewed footage of their collision. “To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed at how little everything was,” he said. “I was expecting it to be a lot more. Obviously, there was a bit of contact, as there often is up and down the grid on lap one. So I was expecting a bit more.”
Martins disqualified
Victor Martins has been disqualified from the Formula 2 feature race in Azerbaijan after a technical infringement on his ART car, losing his highest points-scoring finish of the season so far.
The stewards ruled his car was in breach of Article 4.3.13 of the technical regulations, which states no part of car floor fins’ lower edge can be below the reference plane or more than 10mm above. The technical delegate said the floor fins were 3.4mm below the reference plane.
Martins’ disqualification drops him from joint 11th to 15th in the championship. Frederik Vesti gained his fourth place, ahead of Kush Maini, Dennis Hauger, Isack Hadjar, Richard Verschoor, Jak Crawford and Arthur Leclerc, who took the final point.
Crash raises concern over “unsafe” WEC tyre warmer ban
Antonio Fuoco’s crash during Saturday’s World Endurance Championship race has prompted more drivers to speak out over the series’ decision to ban the use of tyre warmers.
“It can’t be ignored that top class drivers have been struggling with cold tyres since testing of these cars began, and is the energy saved on those tyre warmers less than the cost of crash damage that has been accumulated?” asked Jack Aitken on social media.
The former Williams F1 driver said the fact tyre warmers are not permitted in other series does not prove WEC can easily do the same. “IMSA run the same tyres, we’ve just been blessed with hotter ambient temps so far,” he said. “Daytona when it was cold was something. Other series with different tyres and usually much lighter cars cannot be compared, they are not the same.”
“Yes, there are soft and hard [compounds],” he added. “However, if you choose the soft to get an ounce of grip (warm-up was still very, very difficult) you cripple yourself by running a tyre that cannot live with the high energy demands of a track like Spa. Like, unsafe levels of wrong choice.”
New deal for Barber
Barber Motorsports Park will remain on the IndyCar calendar for at least the next four years. The series announced a new contract to continue racing at the venue until 2027.