In the round-up: Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey says their dominant 2023 season has been less trouble-free than it looks.
In brief
Newey says Red Bull have overcome “lots” in 2023
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen have won all five of grands prix between them so far this year for Red Bull. But Newey said the team have had to overcome “lots” during the season already to achieve that.
“It’s the old duck paddling frantically,” he told the team’s podcast this week, “it might look smooth on the top, but it’s not been so smooth underneath.”
“We had a few reliability concerns coming out of the Bahrain test, so there’s always things that kind of you’re always worrying about things. Reliability, performance as well. Melbourne, we struggled to switch the tyres on, particularly on Friday. Got a little bit more on top of it by qualifying, but it certainly wasn’t an easy ride.”
Former McLaren figure praises Hamilton’s wheel-to-wheel demeanour
Sam Michael, the former sporting director of McLaren and technical director of Williams, has praised Lewis Hamilton for his ‘clean’ style of racing, particularly in his rivalry with Max Verstappen.
“Lewis has always been a clean driver. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do something that you’d think ‘oh, that was dirty’,” Michael told the official F1 website.
“Even looking at the recent stuff with him and Max, he goes out of his way to not do stuff. So he might do things where, I don’t know, the pushing off the track and stuff. But that’s not putting the car into a position where it’s like ‘you do this and we crash’. You don’t see Lewis do that, do you?”
Hamilton and Verstappen have touched wheels several times in recent years. The pair infamously tangled at Silverstone in 2021, a collision which Hamilton was penalised for. Verstappen was given a penalty when they collided again at Monza that year and again when they tangled in Jeddah.
They seldom met on track during 2022. However they did make contact at Interlagos, where Verstappen was penalised again.
Sainz shuts down injury claims
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jnr has rubbished suggestions he picked up an injury ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
In the week leading up to the race it is tradition for a charity football match to take place in AS Monaco’s ground Stade Louis II between two teams that feature past and present Formula 1 drivers. Some shared their concern online when they saw Sainz had to have a leg strapped up following an incident during this year’s match.
Speculation Sainz had injured himself and put his race participation at risk prompted him to take to social media to say otherwise. “I am well and completely ready to race this weekend in Monaco,” he said. “What happened yesterday was simply a contact during the traditional charity football [match], but it was not an injury. I enjoyed playing football as I always do and now I am really looking forward to the weekend.”
He added the hashtag ‘stop inventing’, referring to a remark he made on the radio to his Ferrari team last year.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Donington Park complete resurface hailed by top racers (Donington Park)
‘Donington Park has confirmed full details of a complete resurfacing programme after the entire length of the 2.5-mile circuit was renewed ahead of 2023. This is the first time the circuit has been fully resurfaced for over 20 years and improved grip levels have already seen lap records tumble.’
‘Katherine Legge makes an important point as the only female driver in the upcoming Indy 500: ‘The car doesn’t know the difference, but people do’. Legge, 42, will be making her third appearance — and first in 10 years — in the iconic race. But despite the Indy 500’s 107-year history, she’s just the ninth woman to ever race in it.’
‘This campaign is a mockery of ‘Winners drink milk’ — a phrase promoting the beloved tradition of the Indy 500 winner chugging milk in Victory Lane. Aside from planting billboard advertisements near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the committee also sent a letter urging the speedway to give the winner plant-based milk or water instead.’
Martins’ need to improve in F2: ‘It’s a matter of pushing at the right level’ (Formula Scout)
‘Victor Martins’ start to the F2 season has had ups and downs, with the rookie sitting 15th in the standings after four rounds. The Alpine junior has showed really strong pace since the beginning, qualifying second on debut at Bahrain and claiming pole position at the second attempt in Jeddah, but has only scored in two races.’
Euroformula heads to Spa for exciting duels (Euroformula)
‘CryptoTower Racing Team is this time entrusting its cars to new drivers. Josh Mason, though, is a very well-known face. The Brit, who took three Euroformula wins last year, returns to the series while Gerrard Xie will make his first appearance. He is the reigning Chinese F4 champion and has recently started his racing career in Europe.’
Additional GB4 race confirmed for Donington Park this weekend (GB4)
‘There will now be four GB4 Championship races at Donington Park this weekend (27/28 May), with an extra contest added to the event schedule following the abandonment of race one (round four) at Silverstone.’
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Sumedh and Joe Papp!
