In the round-up: Photographs of Red Bull’s floor which appeared after Sergio Perez crashed at the Monaco Grand Prix revealed a “conceptually” similar design to Aston Martin’s.
In brief
Red Bull’s floor “interesting” – McCullough
Aston Martin’s performance director Tom McCullough said pictures revealing the little-seen underside of the RB19 were “interesting” but not about to prompt the team into a rethink of its design.
“It’s always interesting to see photos but ultimately you’ve got your own development tools, wind tunnel, CFD,” he said. “You’re forever trying parts to try to improve your flow structures, your downforce, your efficiency, et cetera.
“So interesting to look at, but I think conceptually not hugely different. So it’s just more interesting, I’d say.”
Pirelli confirm compounds for Montreal, Red Bull Ring and Silverstone
Pirelli have confirmed the tyre compounds teams will run at the next three grands prix in Canada, Austria and Great Britain.
The softest combination of C3, C4 and C5 will be run at both next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal and the Austrian Grand Prix around the Red Bull Ring – the second of six sprint weekends in the 2023 season. The following week at Silverstone, Pirelli will bring the C1, C2 and C3 tyres to the British Grand Prix weekend.
Pirelli will introduce a new specification of tyres at Silverstone, a revised construction originally planned to be brought into the sport for the 2024 which is being fast-tracked due to increased lap speeds seen so far this season.
Let smaller teams catch up – Alfa Romeo boss
The FIA should do more to help smaller Formula 1 teams scale up to match the resource of their leading rivals, says Alfa Romeo team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi. He told Mundo Deportivo the restrictions on spending under the budget cap create an obstacle to teams who lack the facilities of the leading competitors in F1.
“If we really want to get to a point of creating opportunities for everyone to aspire to at least podiums, we have to end this structural difference between big and small,” he said. “Allow the smaller teams that have not operated at the level of the budget limit of the year previous, to be able to allow you to invest resources not to surpass the big ones, but to recover that difference.”
Ferrari lead final practice at Le Mans
Shortly after taking pole position for this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Ferrari headed the final practice session before the warm-up and race on Saturday. The number 51 car shared by Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado lapped in 3’27.275.
The number 709 Glickenhaus car, which will start the race from 14th place, was second-quickest.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Monaco: belastingparadijs voor topsporters (Volkskrant – Dutch)
‘If Verstappen remains based in Monaco until 2028, his tax benefit will increase to at least 200 million euros over 13 years. Due to this tax avoidance, not to be confused with illegal tax evasion, the home countries of all Monaco-based athletes miss out on hundreds of millions of euros in revenue.’
Committed to doing out part: FIA releases its 2023 environmental report (FIA)
Mohammed Ben Sulayem: “The rise of activities last year, strong prospects and ambitions for future growth, and the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, have shaped new challenges for our Federation. We know that we must strengthen our sustainability efforts to positively contribute to the global response to climate change, ensuring that mobility and motor sport are a key part of the solution.”
Ricciardo and Will Arnett to host alternate F1 telecasts on ESPN (ESPN)
“Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett will host an alternate telecast on ESPN2 during next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.”
Ferrari’s heroic 1965 victory at Le Mans (Ferrari)
‘But just when Scuderia Ferrari looked to be cruising to victory, the P2s ran into trouble. Ferrari has always used motor racing to test new components, and in 1965 trialled new brake discs featuring radial ventilation slots (which would soon become commonplace in racing). They began to crack. The older, slower Ferraris quickly moved up the field.’
Maserati is back: Formula E star Gunther follows in Fangio’s footsteps (Motor Sport)
‘Good for him. Good for the team. And good, it seems, for Maserati – because here’s the other slab of significance: the victory marked the first for the Trident as a ‘works’ entity in a world championship single-seater race since… the 1957 German Grand Prix (although while we’re on spurious historical links let’s doff our figurative cap at this point to Pedro Rodríguez and his victory in the 1967 South African Grand Prix in a Maserati V12-powered Cooper).’
Nine things you didn’t know about Nikolai Tsolov (Alpine)
“I can speak Bulgarian, English, and Spanish. I can understand Italian fully and can speak maybe a little bit and I can understand a little bit of Portuguese but not much.”
Moto GP 23 Launch Trailer (Milestone Games via YouTube)
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Happy birthday to Stevo and Ricardo Marques!
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