FORMULA 1

[MIKA27]

MCLAREN: TOTAL CONFIDENCE IN TRANSPARENCY BETWEEN RENAULT AND US

McLaren F1 boss Andreas Seidl has denied that Renault’s works team has a qualifying “party mode” setting that is not available to its customer.

After Silverstone, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz said he was surprised by the top speed achieved by Daniel Ricciardo in the works car, even though they theoretically use exactly the same engine.

But Seidl denied to AS that this wad evidence of unequal treatment, “If you see the data, it has to do with the settings used by Renault.

“We have total confidence in the transparency between us, and the rules are very clear that manufacturers and customers must always receive the same in terms of equipment and engine maps and things of that nature.”

When asked specifically if Renault has a ‘party mode’ that McLaren does not, Seidl answered: “Not at all.”

[MIKA27]

ZANDVOORT REVAMP TO TARGET OVERTAKING AS A PRIORITY

The designer in charge of revamping Zandvoort for 2020 says the Dutch Grand Prix could be surprisingly exciting despite reservations that the seaside circuit might not be conducive to overtaking for Formula 1 cars.

After a thrilling race at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton suggested he was not looking forward to Zandvoort’s return to the calendar next year, “There are ones (circuits) that they are selecting for the future that we’re going to have not such great racing.”

Many of Hamilton’s rivals who have also raced at Zandvoort in their junior careers agree that the layout will not promote close racing in F1.

But Jarno Zaffelli, whose company Dromo has been put in charge of revamping Zandvoort, told the Formule 1  website that the track can host exciting grands prix. Zandvoort has a great layout and a great location. I see a lot of potential.”

As for overtaking, Zaffelli added: “I think many people will be surprised. The starting point is to activate the layout as well as Silverstone as much as possible.”

He said his company is already working with the drivers to ensure the track revamp is successful, “The main goal is to keep the classic circuit. I’m not going to destroy the heritage of Zandvoort.”

[MIKA27]

RUSSELL: WILLIAMS AND WOLFF KNOW HOW WELL I AM DOING MY JOB

George Russell says he is not concerned that the start of his Formula 1 career sees him stranded at the back of the grid, with a car that is three to four seconds off the pace.

The other Formula 2 rookies that are doing well in 2019, such as Alex Albon and Lando Norris, were actually beaten to the second-tier title by Russell last year.

“No, I’m not worried,” Russell told France’s Auto Hebdo when asked about his results affecting his reputation. “I know that my career depends on a small group of people like Claire Williams and Toto Wolff. Only they are aware of the situation and know how well I am doing my job.”

“I’m happy for Lando and Alex. If young drivers are able to show that they can fight against more experienced rivals, that’s good for me too,” he said.

One plus for 21-year-old Russell is that he has been consistently faster than his experienced teammate Robert Kubica this year.

“I don’t really compare myself with my teammate, but if I can look good against a teammate then that’s always good,” he said.

But Russell also had to play down rumours that Williams supplies the best equipment to him rather than Kubica, “Everyone has the right to their opinion, but I just try to concentrate on what I have to do.”

“I get along great with Robert. We are at different stages of our careers and we don’t hide anything, and at the end of the day we have similar views about what can be improved,” added the Englishman whose career has been in part backed by Mercedes.

[MIKA27]

MEXICO SET FOR NEW GRAND PRIX RACE DEAL

The Mexican Grand Prix could be set to escape Liberty Media’s race axe with a new deal reportedly on the table for organisers to sign.

The Formula 1 owner wants to keep the 2020 calendar at 21 races, even though new venues Zandvoort and Vietnam will be added to the schedule.

So with Silverstone getting a new contract and Monza set to follow, it could mean that Barcelona and Hockenheim are most likely to be ousted from the calendar.

Mexico, also with an expiring deal, is tipped to stay according to Auto Motor und Sport who report that a “handshake agreement” with Mexican organisers has been reached.

Asked if he has news about his home race, Mexican driver Sergio Perez said: “Not yet. I heard something recently but so far nothing has been confirmed.”

Meanwhile, the 20th running of the Mexican Grand Prix takes place at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on 25-27 October. The country having first hosted F1 in 1963 and thereafter sporadically through the seventies, eighties and nineties.

In 1992 the venue hosted a final race before a long absence, returning to the calendar in 2015 at the revamped circuit named after the country’s great racing brothers who both perished while racing.

[MIKA27]

LUCKY ESCAPE FOR BUEMI DURING PIRELLI TEST AT SILVERSTONE

Red Bull and Williams completed two days of 2020 Pirelli Formula 1 tyre testing at the Silverstone circuit this week, carrying out tyre testing on behalf of Pirelli.

After the riveting British Grand Prix, Williams and Red Bull Racing remained at Silverstone for testing duty where both teams ran a car on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On the final day (Wednesday) Robert Kubica was in action for Williams with Formula E champion and former Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi back in an F1 car.

But the test was marred when Buemi crashed heavily while on duty in the RB10 and although he was unhurt, by the forces estimated at 20 Gs, he was sent for observation at the circuit’s Medical Center.

Early evidence suggests that the RB10 suffered a collapse of the left rear wheel which rendered the driver a passenger before the vicious impact. Red Bull and Pirelli were still investigating the cause at time of writing.

Earlier the Swiss driver had completed laps with the 2020 prototype rubber without incident.

The session was immediately red-flagged as they extricated Buemi and cleared the wreck, thereafter Pirelli called it a day. Nevertheless together with Kubica, the pair added 158 laps of mileage to the new rubber.

Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly drove on Tuesday, completing a total of 102 laps over the day with George Russell was in the Williams completing 98 laps, on a productive day for Pirelli who were evaluating dry tyre compounds for next year.

After the Silverstone test, four remain for Pirelli: two at Paul Ricard, one at Suzuka and one at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Next up McLaren will test at Paul Ricard on 12-13 September.

[MIKA27]

Uralkali's Force India takeover case to be heard in 2020

A court case over the sale of the Force India Formula 1 team will be heard in late 2020, it has been confirmed.

Russian potash producer Uralkali is suing FRP Advisory LLP's Geoffrey Paul Rowley and Jason Daniel Baker, who acted as administrators to the Force India team last year, after it claims to have submitted a higher bid for the team, but ultimately lost out to a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, who now controls the outfit under the Racing Point banner.

Uralkali, which is partially owned by Formula 2 racer Nikita Mazepin's father, Dmitry, is seeking "substantial damages" for what it claims was a "flawed sales process which ignored a higher bid for the business".

It's claimed Uralkali submitted a bid of between £101.5 million and £122 million for the team "depending on the specific structure of other bids".

"The offer proposed sufficient funding to satisfy the claims of all creditors in full and included an undertaking to provide significant working capital and a new investment program over a five-year term to ensure the future success of Force India," a company statement said.

"The Company estimates that, after repayment of all valid claims of creditors and administrator’s costs its proposal would have resulted in more than £40 million being available to Force India`s shareholders and, consequently, further used as a source of repayment of any stakeholder claims."

It went on to add: "Based on facts confirmed to us by the Administrators, the bid accepted by the Administrators was significantly inferior to Uralkali’s bid. Uralkali’s bid should therefore have been the winner."

The matter is due to be heard in London's High Court between October and December 2020, with all involved parties required to submit evidence related to the case in April next year.

[MIKA27]

Sebastian Vettel says 2021 rule changes will influence his future in Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel says his future involvement in Formula 1 past 2020 will be dependant on the new regulations coming into force for 2021.

F1 is planning a major technical overhaul to aid closer and more unpredictable racing, a future it hopes will address many of the current concerns surrounding what is currently a two-tier championship where the teams that can spend more are dominant and those behind rarely, if ever, have a chance of winning a race of even securing a podium.

Vettel has been a strong critic of the current direction and is hopeful that 2021 will bring the required changes, insisting it will influence his decision to continue racing in the sport after 2020, when his current contract is due to expire.

"I need to still look at it [F1] in a way that I say the cars are exciting, the format is exciting, the formula is exciting," said the four-time champion. "Time is ticking, obviously.

"I think it’s good that we’ve been asked. I think we gave our opinion and we will give our opinion again and hopefully we find the sport taking the right turns to grow, to allow us to race, to allow us to challenge ourselves and explore our skills."

Vettel highlighted the current weight of the cars, which has gradually increased, and the need to save tyres and fuel which means a driver cannot push for the entire grand prix.

"At high speed, [the current cars] are top of the class. Low speed, I wouldn’t say bottom of the class, but they’re just too heavy, that’s something I don’t like.

"I think a Formula 1 car that I got to know at first was very exciting throughout the speed ranges. And the race turned out to be a sprint race which was great because you could push yourself and the car and the tyres every lap.

"That has changed a bit. We are managing – some races more, some races less – and I think generally, or very simply, you enjoy the races that you don't have to manage, you can go flat out.

"Some management I think will always be there, and rightly so because you need to also use your head not just your feet and hands, but still I think the one rewarded most should be the fastest guy."

[TheGipper]

Hope they can keep Mexico on the calendar, there's been some entertaining races there recently.  I also like the reliability challenge the high elevation there seems to present the teams.

[MIKA27]

On 7/19/2019 at 1:09 PM, TheGipper said:

Hope they can keep Mexico on the calendar, there's been some entertaining races there recently.  I also like the reliability challenge the high elevation there seems to present the teams.

Yes, I like the Mexican GP

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CLARKSON: IF MERCEDES AND FERRARI DON’T LIKE IT THEY CAN F@CK OFF

Jeremy Clarkson summed up what might be a radical line that Formula 1 fans may be feeling with the regards to the over-regulation of drivers in the top flight, the TV host has a proper rant which Formula E driver Lucas di Grassi posted on Twitter.

Whatever the motives, sinister or not, taking a swipe at F1 is easy these days as the sport reels from stewarding decisions that are shackling their craft, and Clarkson is clearly fed up with the situation.

He says in his little rant, ” All of you f**k off, I want to see Villeneuve and Arnoux wheel-to-wheel, last lap of the French Grand Prix. And if Ferrari don’t like that then they can f**k off, well in fact Mercedes can f**k off… in fact, they can all f**k off.

“And Ferrari saying, ‘Oh well we have marketing strategies’ and ‘Mercedes saying, oh but we…’ f**k off the lot of you. Let’s turn it into a proper sport again and not some health and safety exercise. I would rather watch a Formula E race than Formula One. Sorry, I was ranting away a bit there, but they can all f**k off!”

The “they” referred to are clearly the FIA appointed race stewards who have come to prominence in recent races, the Canadian Grand Prix, in particular, they made a race altering decision which denied fans hard wheel-to-wheel racing.

Furthermore, fans, teams and drivers have questioned the inconsistency of penalties dished out by in recent races, with Clarkson’s parody a sad reflection on the state-of-affairs in F1 and the negative perceptions that are festering as the power brokers of the sport plot the way forward.

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TODT: WE WANT MORE CHANCES FOR A DRIVER TO MAKE A MISTAKE

While the future of Formula 1 is being mapped, FIA president and former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt has added to his list of suggestions for improving the sport at the highest level.

Earlier, the FIA president said the sport should look into reintroducing refuelling, as the cars have become much heavier than in decades past.

But Todt has some more suggestions according to Globo, “We have to consider the list of all of these driver aids. We want more chances for a driver to make a mistake. Think about when Michael probably lost the championship in 1998.”

Todt, who led the team in the golden era at the turn of this century, also proposed that F1 should ban anti-stall systems and also thinks telemetry should be banned, especially with the way it is instantly analysed by team members back at the factories.

“We want races to be less predictable, and for that, we must get rid of telemetry,” said Todt who recently threw refuelling back on to the table for consideration and found support for lighter cars from five-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver reasoned, “Except for having a lighter car, I don’t think many of those (other suggestions) are going to do much. The cars don’t need to be 730 kilos. They just don’t need to be that heavy. With a lighter car, we could fight harder.”

[MIKA27]

FERRARI SHOULD MAKE A RAID ON RED BULL’S TOP GUNS

While the woes of Ferrari are well and truly documented, it is clear that the big bosses at Maranello – John Elkann and Louis Camilleri – are mysteriously looking the other way as Mattia Binotto is left dangling like a wet rag in the wind.

We will soon be informed of a structure change at the Scuderia with a trio of engineers set to take over Binoto’s duties in the technical department. Apparently, the structure has been in place in the red pit garage since Austria but for some reason, we are to be told about it around Hockenheim time.

One assumes that this will allow the team boss to get involved in the political side of running the show while the men who appointed him are despairingly invisible.

As unsuited as he is to the role, Binotto must become Luca di Montezemolo of a quarter a century ago and look to the current Formula 1 landscape to see the future, see what Luca saw in Michael Schumacher and the troupe at Benetton all those years ago and then buy the lot!

That group today is Max Verstappen, Christian Horner, Adrian Newey and Helmut Marko. And if you look at the parallels they can be remarkable to the open-minded.

On the premise that Max is going to be the best, or among the best, of this era for at least another decade and a half, it’s pretty much as Michael was at the time, although the German had titles, but no Mercedes to contend with.

Of Luca’s corporate raid on the house of Benetton and Flavio Briatore got Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi from the Reds. Word is the Scuderia even paid their salaries that year, but that’s just naughty gossip among scribes.

So Mattia as the modern-day Luca, Max will be Schumie who brings along:

- Christian Horner to do the things that Christian does… aka Jean Todt of the time;
- Adrian Newey to do things he does… aka a mix of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne;
- Helmut Marko to be the Willi Weber (without the sleaze) as the decoy, good for a quote and calling it as it is for the best of his team and driver. As he does right now.

If they keep Charles Leclerc in the other car we will suddenly have the dream team to take Ferrari to the next generation of glory. Two guys who will drag each other to greater heights. The next generation Pironi-Villeneuve, Senna-Prost, Lauda-Hunt, Mansell-Piquet, Hakkinen-Schumi; Rosberg-Hamilton.

And those who know the scarlet history of Ferrari will know how the great Enzo enjoyed pitting his drivers up against one another to get the best out of them. But that’s a yarn for another time…

The pairing of Charles with Max, and the abovementioned heavy-hitting ‘former’ Red Bull entourage, might be the only solution left to return Ferrari to future in the short-term.

And all they have to is simply check on the blueprint of their own Golden Age.

I am not sure this type of transaction could even happen and for sure Red Bull are smart enough to have their bases covered. If anything that their quartet is the solution to Ferrari’s problems is a feather in their cap.

Furthermore, with Honda stepping it up this year, they may collectively feel that they would be getting off a very good thing that looks set to do the business for them again.

But still, I cannot help thinking about Ferrari and their implosion, Seb’s waywardness. Although not a fan I am mates with several who bleed tifosi red and as en Everton supporter know their pain.

And of course, F1 needs a strong Ferrari again if only to break the curse of Mercedes perfection. Time for all of F1 (apart from their fan base of course) to collectively take on this colossus by rising to their lofty benchmarks.

Which might only happen by putting the best of Red Bull and the Reds into one platoon and go to war with Max and Charles leading the charge.

If I were Ferrari, I would break the bank for the four Bulls herein mentioned and trigger the next decade of high-level entertainment in the top flight. Guaranteed.

I thought it worth putting it out there for discussion sake on a quiet day in our F1 world and at a time when Ferrari needs a fix and fast.

[MIKA27]

PEREZ: SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG WITH FORMULA 1

One of Formula 1’s elder statesmen, Sergio Perez, has highlighted the frustrations suffered by the current era drivers who do not race for one of the top three teams.

The Mexican pointing out what many have been claiming for several years: There is something wrong with motorsport at the highest level.

Perez is bucking the trend in which drivers tend to be politically correct, avoiding criticism of teams or the sport, all taboo in the past but as F1 seeks a path for the future, the likes of the Racing Point veteran is becoming increasingly vocal.

This week when broaching the subject during a select media gathering, he said, “It’s something that’s bad for the sport and bad for drivers. You have fantastic drivers that have never been on a single podium. That’s crazy to hear.”

A ‘quick maths’ pecking order analysis would be that Mercedes are around six tenths up on their rivals, but it does tend to vary depending on conditions, tracks, weather, luck and other anomalies.

Up next are Red Bull and Ferrari, followed by the midfield which about 1.2 seconds shy of the benchmark time – this comprises the six Bet of the Rest teams all 12 drivers within a second – and of course Williams duo about 2.5 seconds off the top guns on a good day, and three seconds plus on a good day.

Hardly a level playing field. However, it can be pointed out that the sport in the top flight has never been a level playing field, less so since the era of the ‘garagistes’ was usurped by the arrival of manufacturers.

Perez is adamant that the huge margins cannot be attributed to drivers, “Between the best and the worst it is three tenths. In between the best and the worst car it is more than three seconds. So, it is something fundamentally wrong.”

Perez labelled F1’s 2021 regulation change as a “massive opportunity” for teams like SportPesa Racing Point but says the ferocity of competition in F1’s midfield shows what can be achieved.

“I hope they keep good cars, fast cars,” he said. “When you look at the midfield, today, one-tenth will change a lot, from P16 to P8, and I want that for the whole of the grid; that things are not won by teams, but by drivers.

“I think it’s what all the drivers want to see. To be in a series where the driver can make the difference. I think that would be what’s best for the sport. If they can achieve that – that would be great.

“At the moment it’s a team series, not a driver series,” added the 29-year-old who has 165 grand prix starts to his name, with eight podiums to show for his efforts always in a ‘second division’ F1 car.

This is not the first time quiet-spoken has raised the issue, last month he told reporters, “We see in other racing series where there are more opportunities to overtake than Formula 1.”

“But, mainly the top 15 don’t have the chance to win. They have no chance. That is very, very difficult,” lamented the Racing Point driver.

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BUTTON: IT MIGHT BE THE LAST TIME I EVER DRIVE IT…

Jenson Button fears he may have driven for the last time the Brawn GP car that took him to a stunning 2009 Formula 1 world championship.

A decade on from one of the most extraordinary seasons in the sport’s history, the Briton enjoyed putting the car through its paces again at Silverstone in the build-up to the British Grand Prix.

“It was a real pleasure,” said the 39-year-old, now a pundit for Sky Sports television, whose lap on Thursday was for the cameras rather than the crowd. It might be the last time I ever drive it because it’s the only gearbox left. And the only wishbones left.

“Obviously, they are carbon fibre so they are lifed. They can become lifed after a very short period of time, the glue goes off. They were doing an ultrasound on the wishbones, making sure there weren’t any hairline cracks or anything,” he continued.

“And I’m just about to jump in the car and do 300kph. And I came past the old pits flat through the corner, which is an easy flat corner, but Ross said he felt quite nervous seeing the car go at full speed.”

Ross Brawn, the former Honda team boss who put his name to the team after keeping them afloat following the Japanese manufacturer’s withdrawal at the end of 2008, owns the car Button won the title in.

There are two others — one without the full internals that Button owns and keeps in a warehouse, and another belonging to Mercedes, who provided the engines and bought Brawn at the end of 2009.

The gearbox in Brawn’s car, Button said, is the only working one and there are no spares, “When Mercedes bought the team, the car became the show car. So it basically did two years of doing ‘donuts’ (spins) and burnouts. So they destroyed all the gear-boxes.

“And you can’t build more wishbones because the tools were thrown away. And they were crushed. Why would you do that? I do have one at home but I’ve just been told mine doesn’t have internals and the gearbox.

“No-one told me that when they gave me the ‘complete’ car,” smiled the Briton, who is hoping to put his on display in a museum in Los Angeles.

Button won six of the first seven races in his title season with a car that was in a class of its own from the moment it first broke cover. He won the title in Brazil that October.

“It’s such a small car compared to what we have now,” he said of his impressions now. “It’s a lot narrower, that’s the regulations, but it’s also really short because you don’t have the battery packs and the fuel cell.

“It doesn’t need to be so big because we had refuelling. The thing’s tiny and it’s just beautiful. It doesn’t look out of date at all. The front wing’s a bit big, and not the prettiest thing, but apart from that the car is stunning.

“I jumped in, used the same seat, same seat belt, position, drove out of the garage and everything just worked like I remembered… everything just felt very natural,” added Button who won five times in the now-iconic F1 car.

MIKA: Giant killers this team and car back in 2009!! 

I love JB comments at the 2:03 mark: "That sound.... nothing against F1 cars these days, but this is better!"

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SEIDL: MONEY TO WIN IN F1 NOW WOULD JEOPARDISE OUR EXISTENCE

Team chief Andreas Seidl says McLaren cannot return to title-winning form unless Formula 1 changes drastically, citing unsustainable costs as the cancer which can only be stemmed by proper governance of the sport.

The German, who arrives from Porsche’s Le Mans programme to be the new McLaren team boss, was last in F1 a decade ago with BMW.

He told Auto Hebdo that his first job is to maximise McLaren’s current potential, “We may not have the budget of the three big teams, but it is substantial. As an organisation, we are not at the level that we should be.”

He said the big change he has noticed since working for BMW in 2009 is that Formula 1 budgets have “exploded” since then, “I have kept watching F1 as a fan and I think it has not lost anything. It’s still an incredible platform. From this perspective, it has not changed since 2009 when I left.

“The only difference is that the budgets have exploded and the gap between the three top teams and the rest of the field is no longer sustainable. Now, for a team like ours to be competitive, we would have to invest so much money that it would jeopardise our very existence.”

Therefore, he admitted he is more than supportive of Liberty Media’s push to introduce team budget caps, “I know every competitor has its agenda, but we need strong governance. The 2021 regulations will weigh extremely heavily on the future of the sport.”

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MARKO: VETTEL NEEDS TO DITCH FERRARI AND CHANGE TEAMS

Helmut Marko thinks Sebastian Vettel needs a change of team in order to get his Formula 1 career back on track as Red Bull’s former driver finds himself under tremendous pressure at Ferrari after yet another glaring error, this time at the British Grand Prix.

The German ace, who is nominally Ferrari’s number one driver, has lost the crucial backing of the Italian media after the Silverstone fiasco while they urge team boss Mattia Binotto to focus on Charles Leclerc for results.

“At Red Bull, he hardly made any mistakes,” noted the energy drink outfit’s new star Max Verstappen. “You do not forget how to drive. So why does this stuff keep happening to him over and over again at Ferrari?”

Marko, the Red Bull driver manager who brought Vettel into F1 and hosted his four world championships, thinks it is a crisis of confidence for the man that took the energy drinks outfit to four back-to-back world titles earlier in this decade.

The team’s outspoken consultant told Auto Bild, “You make mistakes when you are no longer sure of yourself. It happens in the subconscious.”

Vettel has a contract for 2020, but that has not stopped speculation that he might either quit F1 or even return to Red Bull.

Marko suggested that leaving Ferrari might be the only thing that can put Vettel back on track, “Sebastian would have to be in a different environment. In order words, change the team, but I see no way for 2020.”

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GASLY: I AM SOMEONE WHO IS ALWAYS OPTIMISTIC

After a well below-par start to his Formula 1 career with Red Bull, Pierre Gasly redeemed himself with his strongest showing thus far alongside teammate Max Verstappen during the recent British Grand Prix weekend.

Gasly appeared to have a slight edge during the three practice sessions at Silverstone, although he was beaten in qualifying by his highly-rated Dutch teammate, the Frenchman outscoring the Dutchman last Sunday.

Outscoring rather than beating him as Verstappen’s race was seriously compromised by a wayward Ferrari in the hands of Sebastian Vettel.

Gasly did not put a foot wrong on his way to fourth place, his best result in F1 since he finished fourth in Bahrain last year with Toro Rosso.

Much was expected of the Frenchman who stepped up from the Red Bull junior team to replace Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo, but that’s where the fairytale went dark as he has struggled to find his sweetspot with the RB15 while his teammate shines in a similar cockpit.

Gasly has more than once said he is not stressed by his situation, but did admit after Silverstone that the result was a timely boost for a driver who has two more races to convince Red Bull’s Helmut Marko that he is the man for the job.

“I am someone who is always optimistic,” declared the 23-year-old. “I have always been confident that once we get everything sorted things will get better. I am happy that things came together this weekend. But I think we need to keep pushing in that direction and we can get even more.

“I am pleased with fourth place but of course as a competitive guy, I am a bit disappointed to miss out on the podium by a couple of seconds. I think we need to look at the whole picture and the whole weekend, which was a big step forward.”

Nevertheless, he needed a big result sooner rather than later, and at Silverstone, he took a step in the right direction, “By far the best weekend of the year, so we can be pleased.

“There were quite a lot of things going on after Austria, a lot of meetings with the team checking the whole weekend and how to improve things. We made a lot of changes and I am pleased that from the first session we could see the big step forward.

“It was a strong Friday, strong Saturday and strong Sunday. I just enjoyed the whole weekend a lot more so I think we can be pleased with the step we made,” reflected Gasly.

It would be fair to say that the Red Bull number two driver is having a crisis of confidence but, at the same time, his team are doing what they can to help their driver find his mojo.

He acknowledged, “I think there are so many things that made it possible; it wasn’t like one big thing, it was many little things to sort out and to maximize. It is still not perfect but I think we did a massive step forward in every area.

“We still need to find that extra, final step to make it to the podium but the whole weekend was strong,” added Gasly who will now seek to find consistency in his performances as he still has to raise his game considerably to match the driver he shares a garage with, let alone beat him.

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Vettel: No "strong need" for F1 to add more city races

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel doubts the need for city-centre races like a London Grand Prix and is happier staying at Silverstone than Formula 1 trying “something fancy”.

The British Grand Prix’s future has been secured until 2024 after circuit bosses struck a new deal with F1 ahead of the 2019 edition of the race.

Silverstone will continue to host the race and has also received certain assurances to protect itself if F1 successfully executes an additional grand prix in the UK in London, which has been under discussion for some time.

Asked by Motorsport.com for his thoughts on Silverstone and F1’s desire to race in London after the new British GP deal was announced, Vettel said: “I’m happy with Silverstone, let’s put it that way. I think it’s a great place. There’s no problem with putting a great show on here. There’s no problem getting a great crowd.

“It’s one of the best races we have. It’s a very fair crowd as well, even coming here as a German!

“I don’t think there’s a strong need to go into the cities. I don’t think there would be more people in the city than here. This is great. Every year I can remember more than 100,000 fans each weekend.”

Silverstone hosted the first F1 world championship grand prix in 1950 and has been the biggest player in keeping the British GP on the calendar every year since then.

A London F1 race has always been targeted as an additional race rather than one that would wrest the British GP from Silverstone.

Vettel said: “[Silverstone] is the home of motor racing so we have to come here. I’m quite happy we stay and don’t try something fancy. I think it is a great track, every driver likes it.

“The fans come here every year in big amounts so there’s nothing wrong with it. I hope [Silverstone] negotiated a good deal and squeezed a lot out of Liberty.”

The prospect of a London F1 race has never previously developed into a serious bid, but F1 has explored options away from the centre of the English capital city to make it more realistic.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has indicated a London race would likely need to be a “one-off” but reiterated at Silverstone that it would be “fantastic to see an F1 car race around the streets of London”.

“If it is another fantastic venue and circuit that adds to the 21 race calendar, if we are fortunate enough that two of those are in this country, then I would certainly take it,” Horner added.

“But now it has been an amazing crowd here this weekend, huge support ,and hopefully now with the investment that Silverstone would be able to make with the longevity of their deal we will start to see more fans getting closer to the pits and in the infield here."

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Lando Norris: The driver who races all day and all night

For McLaren rookie Lando Norris there aren’t enough racing hours in the day, and whether it’s on track or at home, he’s always at the wheel…

Eighteen hours. That’s the shift Lando Norris pulled at the McLaren Technology Centre on Friday during the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix weekend. He was on race support duty, which means he was responsible for running various programmes in the simulator to help the team and drivers on-site at Suzuka make decisions ahead of FP3 and qualifying. Fast forward to today, and the supporter has become the supported, with the British youngster promoted to a McLaren race driver for 2019…

“I remember I spent the day at the MTC on Thursday and then headed home for a few hours’ sleep before heading back at midnight,” says Norris, as we chat in McLaren’s paddock hospitality unit. “Then I didn’t finish until around 6pm – so that was a long day! But I learned so much from doing sessions like that. In that role, you’re spending hours and hours in the simulator doing all the correlations, giving feedback and suggesting what the team can do trackside. That was great for me, because it helped prepare me for now.”

Now Norris is a McLaren race driver, one of four Brits on the 2019 F1 grid. He’s teamed up with Carlos Sainz – a veteran of four-and-a-half seasons – at McLaren in an all-new line-up for the iconic British team. Rookie Norris has made a good start, finishing a brilliant sixth in only his second race, in Bahrain, and scoring points again in Baku. A couple of DNFs and an 11th followed, before Norris bounced back with ninth at Paul Ricard and sixth again in Austria. It means he's already done enough, both in the way he's handled himself on and off track, to earn an extension to his contract at McLaren for 2020 alongside Sainz.

“Confidence in myself” is his biggest takeaway from the early part of his maiden 2019 season, Norris admitting that he was so nervous and tense in Australia, he couldn’t “enjoy it as much as I wanted”. By Bahrain, though, those nerves had settled and the years of preparation he and McLaren, who had supported him for several seasons and brought him through as a junior and then test and reserve driver, were paying off.

“By the time I made my debut, I was already quite bedded into the team,” says Norris. “I did a few FP1s and tests so I knew everyone in the team.” That served him well trackside, but Norris realised there was more to be done back at the factory. What’s the best way to get to know everyone? A work placement of course.

“I had eight days of work experience, going around all the different departments in McLaren,” he says. “I had the chance to build some stuff and take it home with me which is pretty cool. I loved doing it, working in the carbon shop, the trim shop, composites. Design Technology was the lesson I looked forward to most at school! I spent time in the main departments, then later on meeting the nightshift crew and then the engineers and the guys who work in the offices upstairs. That really helped integrate me at McLaren.”

His racing schooling counted for a lot, too. His first love was four wheels, when he was given a quad bike as a kid. Then he had his head turned by two wheels, when he became interested in watching MotoGP and riding motorbikes. But when he was given a go-kart for his birthday, the car racing bug started to bite. “My dad took my brother and myself to Clay Pigeon, which was our local kart track in Yeovil, one day after school,” says Norris. “It was the British National Championships. It was the first racing I went to see, of any sort. I wanted to have a go.

“Not long after, I was given a bambino go-kart, which is the smallest you can get. We had some stables and there used to be a horsewalker, so I just put some cones out and made a little track. It wasn’t big enough to build a proper track, but it was a decent enough space to have a bit of fun. Then eventually I went to a kart track and did a bit of driving and that’s where it really started.”

He raced proper from the age of seven and while it was a slow start, it culminated in him becoming the Karting World Championship's youngest champion. “It was then I had a better structure of people around me,” said Norris. “My dad and my manager helped, with my manager planning out everything. I knew I had to train more, eat better. Having the right group of people around to point me in the best direction was important. From that side, I’ve been lucky.”

Norris debuted in the Ginetta Junior championship in 2014

He debuted in the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2014, finishing third overall and winning the Rookies' Cup. The year after, he won the MSA Formula Series with Carlin – starting a relationship that would have a big impact on his career thereafter. Two years later, Norris was F3 European champion with Carlin and then stuck with them in F2, despite it being a new project. “We knew they had very good people there,” said Norris of the decision to join Carlin for F2. “The engineers, the mechanics, everyone works together very well, and we knew the potential they had from F3. We took the engineer I had in F4 to F3, and then to F2.

“He was the guy I would go to for a lot of things. He taught me a lot, he’s also very good at setting up the car and making the car fast, which is obviously a good thing.” It proved a good decision: Carlin won the teams’ championship while Norris went on to finish second, behind Mercedes junior George Russell, in the drivers’ standings. McLaren came calling; the race drive was his. It’s been an impressive rise, and one that shows no signs of easing off. It’s perhaps not surprising given the effort Norris puts in.

“I pretty much do racing non-stop – I drive at the track, and when I get home I play on my simulator,” he says. If Norris has a day off, he'll still spend “eight or nine hours” on the simulator. “I’m always involved in something to do with racing and driving so my involvement is higher than most,” he adds. “I love doing it. It’s a passion for wanting to learn different things, to just constantly drive and become better at what I do.”

Lando Norris is certainly not afraid to put a shift in. And so far in his career, it's an approach that has served him well.

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Why The Hulk is at a career crossroads

“Make or break”. That’s how Renault Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul described the prospect of Nico Hulkenberg’s 2019 season at the launch of the team’s new R.S.19 car back in February.

It was a year where Hulkenberg would line up alongside a proven race-winner, in the form of Daniel Ricciardo, for the first time since he was paired with Rubens Barrichello at Williams in 2010. A year where, at the end of the season, he’d find himself out of contract for the first time since he joined Renault for 2017. A year, in short, that would dictate what direction Hulkenberg’s F1 – or perhaps simply ‘motorsport’ – career would go in next.

I put the “make or break” line to Hulkenberg in Renault’s comfortable, sweetly old-school motorhome as the team’s yellow-and-black clad waiting staff bustle around us. He knits his brow, then toys with his bottle of water before offering up an answer. “It’s actually the first time I’ve heard this,” he says. “But I'm not surprised. We are a very performance-orientated sport and business, and that's normal. If you don't perform, you're quicker out the door than you know it.

“So I'm not worried or surprised at all. My own expectations to myself are very high, and of course the team's are as well. They hired me for a reason, so of course, you have to deliver as a driver.”

Taken out of context, Abiteboul’s comments jar against Hulkenberg’s achievements in his time with Renault. To say the team had languished in 2016 when they returned to the sport would be an understatement. Ninth that year with Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer behind the wheel, only Sauber and Manor scored lower.

Fast forward 12 months and the team were sixth, with Hulkenberg – after replacing Magnussen – scoring four sixth-place finishes and taking points a further four times. By the time Palmer was moved aside in favour of Carlos Sainz for the 2017 United States Grand Prix, Hulkenberg had scored 34 points. Palmer, just eight.

2018 was even better for Hulkenberg, as he held off the likes of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and his well-thought-of team mate Sainz to slot into the championship’s ‘best of the rest’ position of seventh while helping Renault to fourth in the constructors’, five times finishing in sixth place and with a season-best of fifth on home turf at Hockenheim.

In short, he’s hardly floundered at the team. Sure, he’s undoubtedly ridden the wave of Renault’s infrastructure coming on-song. But he’s still had to operate the surfboard, and he has consistently done that at a mighty fine level. Totted up, as of the 2019 British Grand Prix, Hulkenberg has scored 129 of the 226 points Renault have netted since their F1 return in 2016. So why, the team boss aggro at the start of the year?

“I think he’s got another extraordinary team mate now,” Abiteboul explained back in February. “He has an opportunity to show what he’s capable of against what is a proven quantity, an extremely well-rated driver. So he knows it’s an opportunity for him. It’s also a year where, collectively, him and us will have to decide what happens next.”

Which brings us up to now. We stand on the brink of a silly season in which Hulkenberg could potentially be a major factor. Ahead of the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, Abiteboul brought his comments from the start of the year up-to-date: “Nico has delivered for the team, clearly – and if you look at where we were when Nico joined us and where we are today, it's crazy the change to the team.”

But the question remains: will Renault ultimately opt to stick with him? And, more crucially, will Hulkenberg opt to stick with Renault?

It would be hard to argue that Hulkenberg wouldn’t deserve to stay at Renault on driving merit alone. In the opening half of their first year together, there’s been little to choose between Hulkenberg and the highly-regarded, seven-time race winner Ricciardo – although both drivers’ performances have been hindered by issues of getting the R.S.19 into its sweet spot. Post-Silverstone, Ricciardo has 22 points, Hulkenberg 17 – although they’d been level on 16 going into the weekend.

But it can’t be denied that there are some promising alternatives for Renault, chief among them being the currently Mercedes-backed Esteban Ocon, who was understood to have been destined for a seat at the team alongside Hulkenberg for 2019 until Ricciardo reared his head. Ocon – along with reigning GP3 champion, F2 race winner and Renault Sport Academy member Anthoine Hubert – also has one distinct advantage for a team that are effectively part-owned by the French state: he’s French…

For Hulkenberg’s part, meanwhile, if the option is there, staying with Renault looks to be a decent bet – assuming he plans to remain in F1, that is. Hulkenberg can’t deny the upward trajectory of the team since he came on board, even if 2019 has had its frustrations. Staying on the Renault ride and seeing where it ends up could be interesting – although the German admits that he’s in two minds about whether they can really take the fight to the top teams in the coming years.

“It’s not guaranteed – nothing is guaranteed,” he says, as the knuckles of the Renault PR sat next to us whiten perceptibly. “For sure, a lot's been invested, a lot of work has been done. The facilities are pretty different now, much more up to speed, all the infrastructure back in the factories, a lot more people working as well. So the whole team operation has grown.

“How confident can you be [of Renault becoming a top team]? That's really hard to say. But I see a lot of good things that have happened during the last 24 months. I feel we have a good foundation now. But we need to really prove it. We need to get the job done. So I'm confident we can go a long way. How far? Only time will tell.”

Does Hulkenberg have other options? There are currently spots still up for grabs at the top trio of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Hulkenberg and Ferrari have previous, with the German having apparently been set to head to the team in 2014 until Kimi Raikkonen was handed the seat, while even in 2019, Hulkenberg’s name has come up a potential replacement for Pierre Gasly at Red Bull should his season remain off-kilter.

But there’s no denying that the German would be a slightly leftfield choice for any of those three slots. Meanwhile, with only McLaren having fully firmed up their 2020 roster, there could be other sideways-y moves available.

Would Red Bull seriously consider a Hulkenberg/Verstappen line-up?

One rumour that had been doing the rounds in the paddock was that the debut of Porsche – the marque with which Hulkenberg won the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours – in the 2019/2020 Formula E championship had been turning his head. And while that avenue was shut down by Porsche’s recent confirmation of Andre Lotterer alongside Neel Jani for next season, with Renault’s 2019 season having failed, thus far, to kick on in the way that had been expected, perhaps a fresh start for Hulkenberg in a different championship – and the chance to leave behind an F1 series that at one time he’d looked poised to become one of the major frontrunners in – could be appealing.

Let's say, hypothetically, that he did decide to walk away from F1 at the end of the year. How would Hulkenberg himself reflect on a career that had initially suggested such great heights – this is the driver, after all, who as reigning GP2 champion shocked the sport when he claimed pole for Williams at Interlagos in his debut F1 season – but which has ultimately seen him comfortably top the ‘most Grand Prix starts without a podium’ list.

“When I started my first year in 2010, for sure my aim and intention was to make a good and a long career in Formula 1. That was what I was always chasing, being a Formula 1 driver”, he says.

“All in all, I feel in a good place, in a happy place. Of course, I would have liked it to be better, but there's no big regrets, or bitter thoughts about the past.

“Of course, I would have liked to have race victories to my name, championships etc. but obviously we know how it works in Formula 1 and you need to be in the right place at the right moment with the right car, team and unfortunately that timing for me in my career has never been perfect – I've never been in that sweet spot.

“But I've still made, I think, a good career out of it,” he adds. “I always feel I've done, really, the best, or often out-performed the material that I had – and if you don't have a race-winning car, that's the best thing you can pretty much do.”

So the next few weeks and months will certainly make for interesting viewing for Nico Hulkenberg’s fans around the world. But there’ll be many, both inside the paddock and out, who’d love to see his sizeable talent remain in Formula 1 for a few more years yet – and more than that, to see that talent finally rewarded with the podium appearance it so clearly deserves.

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Red Bull say Honda have ‘exceeded expectations’

Many saw it as a marriage of convenience when Red Bull and Honda paired up. Red Bull had had enough of engine partner Renault while Honda had a similar feeling with McLaren, subsequently joining Toro Rosso before adding the energy drink giant's senior team. So far, the honeymoon period appears to still be in full swing…

In their first race as a pair, Red Bull-Honda scored a podium when Max Verstappen took third in Australia. Verstappen added another in Spain and then delivered the Holy Grail with victory in Austria, in front of Red Bull and Honda board members, no less, in what was only their ninth race.

“This season was always going to be a transitionary year, with a new engine partner coming on stream and the whole marriage and integration that is involved,” said Horner. “That has exceeded internal expectations, in terms of by race nine we have a win and we have had a couple of podiums.”

Honda’s development curve this term has been encouraging. They’ve brought three new specifications already and each one has brought a reliability and performance step. There is another upgrade planned, the timing of which is unclear, although it’s unlikely it will appear before the summer break.

Another upgrade, though, will mean fresh engines are required and that will mean grid penalties for Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso, should they choose to use it. But both teams have said they are willing to take the pain in the short term if it means more performance in the long run.

“It was a very emotive win for Honda in Austria,” said Horner. “Some of their board members were there and they are starting to see, after all those painful years with McLaren, that the investment is paying off.

“Reliability has been strong – we still have all three engines available to use (per driver). They have only introduced new engines based on performance increments.

“We’re pushing for more in the second half of the year, which they have in the pipeline. Now they have tasted success and they see the benefit that success brings. After the difficulty of their reintroduction back into F1, the victory was the tonic they needed.”

The 2019 success of the Red Bull-Honda partnership has taken the team to a rather lonely third place in the current constructor standings, 52 points behind Ferrari but over 130 ahead of fourth-place McLaren.

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STEINER: WE NEED TO GET THE UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE WE ARE

Haas will again run different aerodynamic configurations on their Formula 1 cars at this weekend’s German Grand Prix as they try to turn around a season that has stalled after a strong start.

The American-owned team have failed to score a point since Monaco in May, a run of four blanks in a row, and have plunged to ninth out of 10 in the standings at the midway point in the season.

Haas took sixth place with Danish driver Kevin Magnussen in Australia in March when they were best of the rest after Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

They have since failed to turn qualifying speed into race pace and struggled to get performance out of the tyres.

Magnussen’s car at Hockenheim will have fresh upgrades designed to improve downforce and driveability while French teammate Romain Grosjean’s car will be as it was in Melbourne.

Haas, whose livery remains unchanged despite uncertainty over title sponsor Rich Energy, ran a similar aero split at Silverstone this month.

“We decided on this exercise to get data and understand better what the difference between the two cars is, good or bad, then we can see where we can make improvements. We weren’t sure if the update we introduced in Barcelona was better or not,” explained team principal Guenther Steiner.

“We’re running this again in Hockenheim, which is a different type of track with different temperatures — they’ll be a lot higher — and, as we all know, we couldn’t get a lot of data from the race at Silverstone from either of the cars.”

The Haas cars collided on the first lap of the British Grand Prix, suffering punctures and retiring soon after.

“We need to get the understanding of where we are and where we didn’t work in the right direction. That’s the thing we have to do,” said Steiner.

Grosjean said the upgrade introduced in Barcelona in May had felt wrong from the start, and he had wanted to revert back even then to the launch package which had less downforce but more stability. The Frenchman was sixth last year in Germany.

“For me, the feeling was not so good from the rear end, especially through medium- and high-speed corners. The feeling hasn’t been good in those corners since then.

“Going back to the Melbourne package, the car felt a lot better in those regions. It shows that something was not working as expected,” added Grosjean.

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BINOTTO APPOINTS TRIO TO REPLACE HIM AS FERRARI TECH BOSS

Mattia Binotto is no longer Ferrari’s technical director, instead, the role has now been distributed to three engineers as the shuffling of staff continues at Maranello.

With the ousting of Maurizio Arrivabene, Binotto was promoted from technical boss to also become the famous Maranello team’s new team principal in 2019, but some expressed doubts about whether the Italian could handle the dual role.

Speed Week now reports that the technical director job has actually been split into three new roles.

Now, Enrico Cardile (suspension), David Sanchez (aero) and Corrado Iotti (engine) all report to Binotto with Simone Resta returning from his role at Alfa Romeo to head the 2021 car project.

Binotto explained: “Since I was appointed team principal, we reorganised things internally because I had to be supported especially on the technical side. It’s not the same team anymore and it’s not entirely true that I have a dual role.”

MIKA: Thank F**K he is out in a way but the new structure will make matters worse IMHO.

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HAKKINEN: F1 STEWARDS ARE TAKING A MORE OPEN APPROACH

Mika Hakkinen believes that FIA race stewards were less strict in their implementation of the rules after the Canadian Grand Prix saga ended a great race on the spot as they dished out a contentious in-race penalty that might have been best dealt with after the race.

The F1 World Champion said as much in his post-British Grand Prix column for Unibet, “Following the controversy over Sebastian Vettel’s penalty in Canada, I sense that Formula 1’s Stewards are taking a more open approach to allow the drivers to race.

“At one point Max went completely off the track while trying to battle Charles, but there were no penalties. They were allowed to race, and Charles has learned from the incident in Austria when he was overtaken by Max.

“The young generation in F1 put on a fantastic display at Silverstone, with Max and Charles battling over third-position. Again both of them raced hard, and again they gave each other space and respect to race.

“Charles’s ability to position his Ferrari in exactly the right place on the track, defending his position from Max, was really impressive to watch. I enjoyed their battle, and it was nice to see Charles get his reward of a podium finish.”

“Max, however, was right to be upset when Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari hit the rear of his Red Bull after he had made a great overtake at the famous Stowe corner,” added Hakkinen.

But the Flying Finn’s viewpoint goes against what race director Michael Masi had to say after the race at Silverstone, which was hailed as one of the most exciting recent grands prix and it was notable that despite more wheel-to-wheel action than usual, less penalties were actually given to the duelling drivers.

Masi, who earlier this year took over as F1 race director following Charlie Whiting’s death, told Speedweek, “It’s mainly the track characteristics that led to the duels. The race was judged according to the same standards as before.”

Masi is tipped to remain race director at least for the rest of the 2019 Formula 1 Wolrd championship season.

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GROSJEAN AXE AVERTED AS HAAS SET FOR LIVERY COLOUR CHANGE

Haas is not ready to consider its 2020 driver lineup despite the issue of the American team’s drivers being a hot topic at present, after boss Gunther Steiner admitted his fury following the latest collision between Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen at Silverstone.

It has been speculated that accident-prone veteran Grosjean could be immediately ousted, but Haas ruled that out.

As for 2020, Steiner is quoted by Speedweek: “Nothing has changed. We won’t think about our drivers for 2020 before the summer break.”

However, there is speculation that Racing Point’s Sergio Perez is a candidate. The Mexican could be replaced for 2020 by Esteban Ocon.

But Ocon may also be a contender for the Haas seat and the Mercedes reserve driver told RMC Sport, “Every option is alive because Mercedes has an open mind, even if it (his potential 2020 team) has a different engine.”

Meanwhile, a tweet by Haas has indicated that following a high profile drama with its black and gold title sponsor, the team could revert to a mainly white livery for the German Grand Prix this weekend. Their car was previously light grey with red, white and dark grey sections.

It would be safe to assume that after the Silverstone debacle, Grosjean is one self-induced crash away from being fired.

Critics can ignore the 50/50, Haas team race-defining, lap-one, wheel-banging with teammate Kevin Magnussen and rather point to the Frenchman’s rookie error when – the veteran of 153 F1 starts – spun and clattered into the Silverstone barriers early into FP1 during the British Grand Prix weekend.