In the round-up: Alpine driver Pierre Gasly says his team’s car has a narrow window of best performance
In brief
Alpine has ‘small’ operating window with ’23 car – Gasly
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly says that his team’s A523 has a “small window” where it performs best.
The team are currently sixth in the constructors’ championship with Gasly admitting Alpine have been “disappointed” with the first half of their season. The team replaced team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Pat Fry during the summer break.
“I think it’s consistently trying to chase a bit the balance that I like from it,” Gasly explained. “If anything, it [balance] felt slightly better balanced at the start of the year compared to at the recent events. So we need to figure out whether it’s upgrades related or track or tyres, etc. But there is some work to do.
“Obviously the overall potential is not quite there compared to our competitors. But it seems also quite to be quite a small window to really make it operate at its best. So it’s not easy, but F1 is not easy. I’m sure we’ll come back stronger for the rest of the year.”
Miyata extends Super Formula lead over Lawson after horror crash
Ritomo Miyata extended his advantage over Red Bull junior Liam Lawson in the Japanese Super Formula series from a single point to eight points after Lawson was involved in a horrifying opening lap crash at Motegi.
Reigning champion Tomoki Nojiri took his second win of the season with Miyata in fourth after Lawson spun on the exit of turn one while fighting for the lead with Nojiri. As Lawson skidded in front of the pack, both Tadasuke Makino and Yuhi Sekiguchi were launched over Lawson’s car, putting both out of the race with Makino taken to hospital.
After the race was red flagged, Lawson finished in 13th place following a drive-through penalty for having his car repaired during the stoppage.
Moto GP’s Quartararo compares Bagnaia to Verstappen
Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 Moto GP world champion, has compared current champion Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia to reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen.
Bagnaia extended his lead in the current Moto GP championship standings to 62 points with victory at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. It was Bagnaia’s fifth grand prix win in the first ten rounds, with four sprint race wins.
“Pecco is a bit like Max Verstappen now, I think,” said Quartararo.
“He also had the best bike in the past few years, I believe. But you can have the best bike and still not achieve the results. It’s about the combination. But now it seems like he has the feeling that he’s unstoppable. I don’t see any rider now who can be faster than him.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
F1 Academy driver Bianca Bustamante highlights major obstacle in motorsport (Daily Express)
”I think W Series did its best to have secured funding for the past two or three years, they’ve done an amazing job to raise awareness for women in the sport. They raced alongside F1 and they’ve shown a great platform for young female drivers to get into the sport. For young drivers like myself, it has given me the opportunity to get into the world of single-seaters, as well as the F1 platform which led me to F1 Academy. In F1 Academy, we’re trying to do everything as systematically as possible, while also prioritising what’s important, which is performance on the track.”
Lights, camera… F1: The inside story of the first time Hollywood took on Formula 1 (F1)
‘As director Joseph Kosinski is doing now, Frankenheimer embedded himself, his cast and crew in the F1 paddock for the season, following the circus across the summer from track to track. He had 1961 World Champion Phil Hill driving his camera car, with the 1966 field making cameo appearances either as themselves or as fictionalised team-mates of the protagonists. And just like the new movie, Grand Prix used chassis from junior formulae in disguise – albeit F3 cars driven by many of the world’s greatest drivers.’
Benz and the Billions: Along the Road with Mercedes F1 Boss Toto Wolff (Boadroom)
”Back in the day, my mother or my friends considered a racing career idiotic. Many years later, it was the best thing I’ve done because I’ve been in a car, so I understand what the drivers are feeling and thinking. It’s given me an additional angle that not many people in the industry have, having been in a competitive racing situation.”
Getting to know OP: Part 4 (Oscar Piastri)
”I remember I was at home that weekend and Mark Webber was on pole position. Because of the time difference, it was the middle of the night back in Australia, so I fell asleep and woke up the next morning to find that he had won. As a fellow Aussie, I always wanted him to win so I was hoping I’d wake up to the right result. It was 2009, so I would have been 8 at the time and that is one of my very first memories of Formula 1. I remember watching the highlights back and the way he did it by recovering from a drive-through penalty was awesome and a big moment back in Australia, especially for the motorsport community.”
‘Mr Radcliffe, 44, who made his fortune founding online bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing is understood to have been driving the unique purple Pagani Zonda 760 LH when it crashed after buying it from Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton last year. The car lost control and crashed at Penmaenbach Tunnel on the A55 expressway in Conwy in north Wales on Tuesday. An eyewitness told MailOnline Mr Radcliffe was behind the wheel at the time and was uninjured in the crash.’
Kush Maini on his fast start to F2 (F2)
”Things seem to just be clicking this year which they weren’t last year. So, in terms of self-belief and speed, I have that. Now it’s just time to put everything together through a weekend. I still feel like we haven’t had a weekend this year where everything has come together. We still had some ups and downs even through a weekend like Baku. I feel we had the speed for pole, and I started P14. So, it’s still small pieces that are still missing, but it’s very small pieces, and I’m sure we can put those together.”
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