In the round-up: Team Nordic won the Race of Champions Nations Cup after Tom Kristensen beat Mick Schumacher in Mexico. Kristensen was partnered by World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson, Schumacher by four-times Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel.
What they say
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Take a bow, Team Nordic! Tom Kristensen and Johan Kristoffersson take the ROC Nations Cup after an epic battle against Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher. #ROCMexico pic.twitter.com/KlFNCR9pJS
— Race Of Champions (@RaceOfChampions) January 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/ben_michell/status/1086547818339287040
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Toyota Racing Series statement (Toyota Racing Series via Facebook)
"Following consultation with all team owners and drivers, Toyota Racing New Zealand have today (Sunday) made the decision to cancel all remaining qualifying and racing for the Castrol Toyota Racing Series after gale force winds made circuit conditions unsafe for the high speed formula TRS cars at Teretonga Park in Invercargill."
F1 teams consider PM letter amid Brexit fears (Autosport)
"Richards says these issues could threaten the viability of teams having major bases in the UK, which has traditionally been an F1 stronghold. "
Red Bull: Alonso-Deal scheiterte nach Geheimtreffen in Madrid (Motorsport-Total (German))
Red Bull held secret meetings with Fernando Alonso's management in 2007 about him potentially joining the team in 2008.
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Comment of the day
Give Mick Schumacher time to prove himself, says Christopher:
I’m super happy that Mick signed with the Scuderia. I just hope he is given the space to grow without everyone comparing him to his dad.
If Mick shows the skill in the next couple of years, it will be awesome to see the Schumacher name back in F1. It looks like we could have quite a few second generation stars in the coming years. Two Schumachers, Alesi, Fittipaldi all are on the rise. Let them be judged by their merits and not their surname.
Best of luck to them all, especially Mick and David.
Christopher (@Twiinzspeed)
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Lenny (@leonardodicappucino)
20th January 2019, 6:16
I personally don’t think Mick Schumacher and his management team made a smart decision by joining the Ferrari Driver Academy, because the Schumacher’s have enough money to keep funding Mick’s career for 3-4 more years. He can go to Force India, Williams, or Haas (or maybe even Sauber independently) after maturing in F2, and then when the time possibly comes that he moves to a top team, he will be able to make that decision more freely, and not be as constrained by Ferrari. Mick will not be in a top team until well after the 2021 shake-up, and who knows, maybe Ferrari will be the fourth-best team by that point behind Merc, RBR, and Renault. It just restricts his progress a lot because he will pretty much only be able to get a seat at Sauber, meaning that if one isn’t available when he wants to move up, he’s going to have to do a stop-gap year like Gasly, which will slow his development.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th January 2019, 6:42
@leonardodicappucino – very good point.
Jere (@jerejj)
20th January 2019, 7:27
@leonardodicappucino A valid point and I agree with you.
anon
20th January 2019, 9:22
@leonardodicappucino, does it necessarily restrict his opportunities that much? Both Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez were originally part of Ferrari’s Driver Academy, but they both subsequently left the programme and have been able to continue in F1 on an independent path.
Indeed, in the case of Perez he was able to leave Ferrari’s programme in order to move to McLaren, and it seems that Ferrari did not make it difficult for him to leave. Now, he was unfortunate to move there just as McLaren started to go into decline, but he was able to go to what had been, up until then, one of the top three teams in the sport and a major rival to Ferrari – to me, it suggests that Ferrari aren’t as restrictive as some other young driver schemes are.
Lenny (@leonardodicappucino)
20th January 2019, 13:24
The case of Perez is a fair point, although the Ferrari Driver Academy was still in it’s infancy back then, with Perez being the first one to make it to F1, and with Ferrari having two fairly stable drivers in it’s main team and more quite promising drivers in the academy (e.g. Bianchi). Stroll, however, is not a great example. He was dropped off the driver academy after being comfortably beaten by Charles Leclerc (with both in their rookie season and Stroll at the Prema powerhouse while Leclerc was at smaller team Van Amersfoort Racing), who they signed as a replacement in the FDA the following season, and causing major crashes in Monza and the subsequent round at Spa that saw him disqualified from race 3 at the former and excluded from race 3 at Spa. I think they probably just didn’t want him after his antics.
Jere (@jerejj)
20th January 2019, 7:30
”Red Bull held secret meetings with Fernando Alonso’s management in 2007 about him potentially joining the team in 2008.” – As if we didn’t know already.
I entirely agree with the COTD.
A cheque from Caterham only some four years late, LOL.
Christopher (@twiinzspeed)
22nd January 2019, 20:03
@jerejj Thanks! That’s my first COTD. :)
Some of the guys commented that Ferrari my not be the best choice for Mick, but I think it’s a good one. Ferrari will do a solid job of protecting him as he grows. They also have several ties that could offer Mick test milage with Sauber AR or Haas. His other options aren’t as appealing with Red Bull’s junior program being a bit of a Viper pit, Mclaren is too restrictive, and Schumi has very no real ties to Renault. Mercedes would be the only other viable option outside of the Scuderia.
Abe (@okeptl)
20th January 2019, 8:59
The main highlight from ROC for me is that Enzo Bonito (Veloce esports simracer) defeated Lucas diGrassi quite comfortably. That same diGrassi who says how he loved FE, because it requires more raw driving skills from their drivers.
Says a lot about the luckiest FE champion to date, when a professional simracer can finish more than half a second ahead of him.
thegamer23
20th January 2019, 10:21
Reading too much into it maybe?
Newgarden & Hunter-reay lost to some unknown locals Mexican drivers… Race of Champions is such a strange event, you should take everything with a pinch of salt.
By the way, Bonito has driven in the Italian Porsche Championship this season & had karting background..he’s not like the classic sim-racer (like Brendon Leigh)
FlyingLobster27
20th January 2019, 10:54
The RoC is just a bit of fun, a bit of a gala, but that’s it. It used to be an end-of-season rally gala in the Canary Islands, with a Super Special Stage format on a half-decent circuit, but on a puny stadium track, there’s nothing to take away from it apart from the little bit of fun.
The only moment I raised an eyebrow about this event was in 2006, when Mattias Ekström beat Sébastien Loeb in a duel with Citroën Xsara WRCs, a car Loeb had been driving for 5 years and won three championships with by then.
ColdFly (@)
20th January 2019, 12:16
Good point!
Some comments (including mine) are too much driven by the dislike of a particular driver.
Gabriel (@rethla)
20th January 2019, 12:54
@coldfly He does sound properly beaten however. “Had a karting background” aint exactly an explanation to beating an FE champion :)
nase
20th January 2019, 17:32
See here and here.
Gabriel (@rethla)
20th January 2019, 20:47
Thats what i just commented on…
nase
21st January 2019, 6:15
I know.
Abe (@okeptl)
21st January 2019, 8:39
@thegamer23
I’m somewhat biased and I apologize for that. Maybe I am reading a bit too much into it, but I still believe that he was the slowest and luckiest FE champion to date
anon
22nd January 2019, 21:38
@okeptl, mind you, Bonito did also go on to then beat Ryan Hunter Reay in the same competition, and Hunter Reay is a former winner of the Indy 500 and an IndyCar Series champion who was 4th in the 2018 IndyCar championship. It’s worth noting that, in the previous RoC, Bonito managed to get within 0.4s of Petter Solberg, despite that being the first ever time that he had sat in a race car.
Rather than mocking di Grassi, perhaps the question is not whether those drivers are bad, but whether Bonito is perhaps a more talented driver than you are giving him credit for.