In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel believes Mercedes are still the team to beat in qualifying but Ferrari are faster in the races.
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Ferrari don't need to hide from Mercedes - Sebastian Vettel Q&A (F1)
"Mercedes has a very strong package - you see that in qualifying where I believe that they are still a bit ahead. But a race is always a different matter. I would say that we've been slightly faster - and maybe you can make a difference as well."
'Ferrari won it, they did the better job' - Hamilton (Channel 4)
"It wasn't 'ours to lose', it was both of ours to win."
Mercedes have to raise game to meet Ferrari challenge - Hamilton (Reuters)
"For sure you can always go back in lots of scenarios and say if you'd done this differently you could win, but that’s hindsight... so we have to do a better job."
Fernando Alonso denies claims he could leave McLaren-Honda mid-season (BBC)
"Everyone (acts like they are) close to me and it's like I have a depression, and it's not like that."
Honda engine problems go beyond lack of power - Alonso (F1i)
"In Australia it was a record for us, the fuel saving. It's going to be difficult for us this year, as long as the engine doesn't improve."
Max Verstappen on Red Bull's early-season problems in 2017 (Sky)
"However, the Dutchman did confirm the now-banned systems had been a development path the team had been considering and many in the paddock have suggested the RB13's handling imbalance may be linked to the crackdown."
Daniel Ricciardo: On-board footage reveals Red Bull's gap to Mercedes and Ferrari (ESPN)
"I think for me at the moment we don't have enough rear grip, so downforce basically."
Kaltenborn slams Wehrlein conspiracy theories (Autosport)
"It surprised us he actually got medical approval to be able to be in the car again that quickly, and the doctors also told us it's the result of having such a fit condition."
In search of Pascal Wehrlein (Racer)
"Another rival team source believes the absence can be explained as Wehrlein being 'bloody lazy' over the winter, and not having started significant training before his accident."
Pirelli confident of fewer one-stop races as season progresses (Motorsport)
"We will have higher numbers for degradation in the second part of the season, but still in the range of the (FIA) target letter."
Lewis Hamilton’s battle with Sebastian Vettel could match F1’s great rivalries (The Guardian)
"Showing emotion is one of the British driver’s traits that seems to rile many of his detractors."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
One race into the season and Fernando seems destroyed. I've never seen such resignation in him. How much longer can he endure the struggle?
— Will Buxton (@thebuxtonblog) April 6, 2017
Oops. Maybe should've painted those sooner… #F1 #ChineseGP https://t.co/ba9auAvnnp
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 6, 2017
This season's technical regulations affect not only the Formula 1 cars, but also the race tracks! Renewed starting grid at Sochi Autodrom. pic.twitter.com/MQbXdVWd9n
— Sochi Autodrom (@SochiAutodrom) April 6, 2017
Love this. Official F1 Race Programme now comes with stickers to complete quali and race results pages! pic.twitter.com/yEXPQGlR8l
— Will Buxton (@thebuxtonblog) April 6, 2017
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
If F1 is going to introduce new race formats, should they be for non-championship races only?
The non-championship races could be renamed as one off championships like the one-day classics in cycling. they could be geographically based, for example we could have the European Cup held at an old European circuit that doesn’t have a current slot on the F1 calendar. this would be way more marketable and attractive to attend/race than a “non-championship race” (which is basically an invitation to demure).
in fact to take the cycling analogy further we could have the one-off races have a special focus, like street circuits, fast tracks (Monza) or even artificially wet races (don’t kill me).
@Frood19
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On this day in F1
Jim Clark died on this day in 1968, during a Formula Two race at the Hockenheimring.
Sven (@crammond)
7th April 2017, 0:10
A non-championship F1-race in another race format is as needed as a football friendly with 3 teams and 3 goals on a triangular field.
Fletch (@fletchuk)
7th April 2017, 0:18
How about this for some ideas! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH_ihfDnohI
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th April 2017, 1:17
I don’t think it should be totally dismissed as a promotional idea. What if they were staged using the previous years cars and reserve drivers, 100km races, no tyre changes (wets and punctures excepted ) as support races for other series? Difficult ? yes, impossible? no.
Neil (@neilosjames)
7th April 2017, 12:42
I’d probably be more interested in watching that than a normal football match…
But then, I like the non-championship race idea too.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
7th April 2017, 0:20
Strategy appears to be more important than a slight power deficiency, so getting a good race grid slot is important to getting a good race result.
beneboy (@beneboy)
7th April 2017, 0:26
Will Buxton – One race into the season and Fernando seems destroyed. I’ve never seen such resignation in him. How much longer can he endure the struggle?
Fernando Alonso – Everyone (acts like they are) close to me and it’s like I have a depression, and it’s not like that.
I do sometimes wonder how much of what we read is due to editorial deadlines (or filling Twitter these days), rather than being actual news.
Nice comment about Lewis from Fernando in that article, comparing him to Schumi as one of the best out there, and a driver you want to beat. I really do hope something changes soon so we can see them racing against each other with more equal machinary, it’d be a great shame if we never get to see a proper Alonso vs Hamilton battle in a race (dare I say Championship ?) again. Ideally for me, that would be with Fernando in a fast Honda, if such a thing can be built sometime soon.
OOliver
7th April 2017, 5:57
It won’t be the first time F1 journalists have seen ghostly apparitions. One thing about Alonso, is his unbelievable will power. With some journalists, there is no clear distinction between, imagination, wishful thinking and reality.
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
7th April 2017, 9:12
clear example of Buxton (acting like he is) close to Alonso ;)
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th April 2017, 9:33
To be fair to Will Buxton, if you saw the interview he did with Alonso you would struggle to come to any other conclusion but that @beneboy. His China “Paddock Pass” show is on YouTube if anyone wants to have a look.
That said, we all know Alonso is a clever guy and is good at playing political games. I am sure he is adopting this dour, depressed demeanour solely to send a message to Honda that the PU they have produced is unacceptable rather than being an accurate reflection of his state of mind or his motivation because when he is in the car he is still very much on it.
asherway (@asherway)
7th April 2017, 14:47
@beneboy – Buxton is a goose. All emphasis and no content or insight. Classic example of a horrible broadcaster. He’s had it out for ALO for some time and will take every opportunity to put ALO in a bad light.
I would say in general though that F1 talking heads are pretty horrible. So much bias on Sky and NBCSports dumb everything down to a ridiculous degree. Not sure about other languages or broadcasters…
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
7th April 2017, 0:48
Non-Championship races are something that I can’t really see happening as I’m not sure the teams would ever agree to it.
Firstly it’s extra cost’s for them & depending on where you have it, It’s either going to impact on there preparation for the start of the season, Interfere with the ongoing season or at the end of the year be something that none of the team personnel want to do as it has an effect on there post-season break & affects the preparation for the following season.
It also poses the risk of damaging equipment which could impact on the actual championship season.
There is also the risk of injury to crew or driver. Teams are already reluctant to let there drivers drive other cars or do other races, Look at what happened to Robert Kubica while doing a pre-season rally event or what happened with Pascal Wehrlein at the race of champions earlier this year.
There’s zero benefit to teams in non-championship races, It’s a part of why F1 & actually most other categories stopped doing them.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th April 2017, 6:45
There would have to be either an obligation (that doesn’t make sense though) or a serious amount of money in it for the teams (but will the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull really be motivated by money?)
frood19 (@frood19)
7th April 2017, 9:39
well, if you keep using the term “non-championship race” then obviously no one will be interested. but if someone like Liberty media introduces a new type of race, with prize money, sponsors and then invites teams to race, why would they turn it down? it could be mega publicity. we need some new ideas and i think a lot of people have got too used to ecclestone’s way of running the sport.
a street race through london? or new york? it could follow a similar format to a GP, but maybe condensed. so you could have a free practice period in the morning and the race in the afternoon. maybe it could be on a saturday to distinguish it from the actual GPs.
other sports hold events which are not part of the standard calendar (the masters in snooker does not award ranking points but it’s one of the most prestigious events to win). the touring cars used to do the Tourist Trophy at donnington – it didn’t count towards the BTCC but they all entered because it was a good race.
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th April 2017, 0:56
Great to see that Pirelli are still working to make F1 even worse than they have already made it and confident they will achieve the result Bernie wants.
@johnmilk
7th April 2017, 7:28
@hohum it isn’t just Pirelli, the problem comes from FIA as well.
This is from the article:
They have to stop with this non-sense of mandating degradation, just let them do the best possible tyres.
At least it is better than the blackberry marmalade things we had last year.
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
7th April 2017, 9:16
I was really hoping that Pirelli and FIA had solved F1’s major problem: @HoHum complaining about tyres. :p
Maciek (@maciek)
7th April 2017, 1:24
I kinda wish Alonso would quit McLaren, just to say enough is enough, but I don’t suppose he will. It’s really only dawning on me now just to what extent Honda’s botched return is taking on galactic proportions. Very poor form for a historic manufacturer, certainly from a PR standpoint. How much longer will the bosses back in Japan think that continuing the project is a good idea?
@johnmilk
7th April 2017, 7:29
I wonder if his comments are a dig at Webber?
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
7th April 2017, 15:13
Alonso is making $40m this year. He’d be mad to walk away from that just because McLaren are not in the points.
Now, his contract runs out after this season….
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
7th April 2017, 2:06
THe espn video was very interesting. What Ricciardo said goes along what I’ve been saying both of us refering to the onboards, the rear of the red bull is a bit loose and the car looks like it’s down on downforce. The RB is also noticeably shorter than the Mercedes and a little bit shorter than the Ferrari. What I had no idea about is that RB changed the construction of the bulkhead. On motogp changing the chassis from one of the multiple arragements of aluminium constructions to carbon (Ducati) is a major change I wonder if that’s the same for F1.
@johnmilk
7th April 2017, 7:33
@peartree the main problem is that they cannot run as much down-force as they want, the Tag-Heur needs some winding
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
7th April 2017, 22:30
@johnmilk Horner said they lack pretty much the same lap time from both car and engine. This morning on sky (fp1) Horner said they are losing on “minimum speed” “straights” and he said high speed (corners) was “ok”
angelic (@angelicdarkness)
7th April 2017, 3:51
And so the bragging starts. I was kinda impressed by their focussed attitude prior to this. Meh.
Duc Pham (@ducpham2708)
7th April 2017, 4:57
Somebody commented after just reading the headlines.
grat
7th April 2017, 21:38
You don’t really expect people to be literate in the information age, do you?
@johnmilk
7th April 2017, 7:35
I don’t know if the Chinese promoters forgot that they had a GP weekend. It isn’t just that problem with the Ricciardo’s name on the asphalt. I saw an image of the Sauber garage with Werhlein written on it, no 94, but with the Ericsson’s helmet on it.
MrF1GuyV12POWAHHH (@)
7th April 2017, 8:49
A Red Bull with little downforce, did not expect that.
Prashanth (@)
7th April 2017, 23:31
What a ride. Well done young man…
Vettel looked a bit shaky though after the break.