In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo says he prefers his team not to tell him if his team mate has retired from a race with a technical problem.
What they say
Ricciardo’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg retired during the Chinese Grand Prix, but Ricciardo said he preferred to be kept in the dark about what had happened:
I didn’t know. I suspected because I didn’t see his name on the scoreboard and at one point I stopped seeing him in my mirrors and I felt it was too early for his pit stop. So I did suspect.
But to be honest I prefer not to know, just focus on my race. Obviously now I know, [there’s] still some work to do reliability-wise.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Due to my IMSA commitments as we now hold the championship lead, I won’t be taking part on the next Formula E race in Paris. Good luck to the whole team @geoxdragon ! #Fanboost pic.twitter.com/Rrx5fcHrT1
— Felipe Nasr (@FelipeNasr) April 22, 2019
Thanks for the awesome replies, ready to get suited back up! Was pumped that the #48 was available – I've enjoyed getting to know the Gurneys over the years and love a little throwback where we can get 'em. Also got mad respect for the man @JimmieJohnson, planning to rep it well! pic.twitter.com/R0t48mY5yZ
— JR Hildebrand (@JRHildebrand) April 22, 2019
First time on an oval for me yesterday @TXMotorSpeedway . Incredible feeling, like nothing I’ve ever done before! It was difficult but a lot of fun. Lucky to have such a great team @SPMIndyCar and teammates @Hinchtown @robertwickens to help me getting comfortable and up to speed pic.twitter.com/dWtCs2PdL7
— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) April 20, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Dr M says F1 may return to Malaysia next year (The Edge Markets)
"We think that by having the grand prix (again), we will be able to get more than 100,000 spectators and that will be worthwhile for us. Besides that, when we have the grand prix, the television stations broadcast this all over the world, bringing about 200 million viewers"
Red Bull on Verstappen's F1 form and team's new Honda era (Sky)
Christian Horner: "He's done a remarkable job. During the course of last year, he really selected another gear and pretty much since Montreal onwards."
Crowds throng Vietnam F1 site for sneak peek (The Straits Times)
"Tens of thousands of spectators turned out in Hanoi on Saturday to watch a demonstration at the site of Formula One's Vietnamese Grand Prix circuit by former F1 racer David Coulthard and fellow British driver Jake Dennis."
Willi Weber: Michael wollte Micks Manager in der Formel 1 werden (Motorsport Total - German)
Michael Schumacher's former manager Willi Weber says the seven-times champion intended to manage his son's F1 career, before he was injured in a skiing crash at the end of 2013.
'Gen 7 NASCAR needs big overhaul' (Motorsport Magazine)
Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook: "I think with the shift towards hybrid in a lot of our road cars, the power train needs to have the potential to support hybrids in NASCAR. It doesn’t need to come in with the Gen 7 car, but the Gen 7 car needs to be designed to allow for hybrid to come in the future."
FIA Karting European Championship 2019 OK Junior Round 1 Angerville Sunday (YouTube)
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Comment of the day
Should Esteban Ocon already forget about racing a Mercedes next year?
Frankly, the Ocon to Mercedes rumors grew disproportionately large simply because Bottas’s second half of 2018 was teeny tiny bit lower than normal while Hamilton’s second half of 2018 was the stuff of legends, greatly exaggerating the gap.
Bottas was always better than Ocon, especially when it comes to qualifying. Ocon meanwhile has only managed to beat Perez (a known journeyman when it comes to qualifying) by no more than one or two tenths
Sumedh
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On this day in F1
- 30 years ago today Gerhard Berger survived a fearsome, fiery crash at Tamburello which stopped the San Marino Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna won the restarted race but fell out with McLaren team mate Alain Prost
ColdFly (@)
23rd April 2019, 7:11
I don’t think Ocon is the next superstar either, but rating Bottas second half in 2018 higher than Ocon’s would even surprise Bottas himself.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
23rd April 2019, 17:02
And it seems that this years car is so good that Bottas is really competitive.
Ocon’s main quality could be his downfall, his bravado, wolff must be weary of a piquet jr debacle. Ocon has done alot for Mercedes already, he always let Ham by as quick as possible and he hit a Ferrari in baku last year, colluded with Merc in Monaco and hit Max in Brazil, ocon did everything for his career, admirably I should add, however he could be a problem to Lewis, Ocon still has all of his ambitions intact, unlike bottas. Also Ocon is too tall to be succesful.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2019, 7:15
I don’t hold too much hope for the idea of Malaysian GP coming back, though, definitely not for the short-term future at least.
I agree with the COTD. Furthermore, the races are where it all matters in the end, and that’s the area where Perez was better out of the two, maximizing the chances and points to a greater extent than Ocon especially in Baku.
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd April 2019, 8:47
@jerejj Oh come on. Ocon got put in the wall by Perez in 2017 and in 2018 Raikkonen outbraked himself while Ocon was clearly ahead in the corner.
Perez was lucky to survive that 2017 crash and 2018 is also not something he could have done anything about.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2019, 9:39
@f1osaurus In Spa and Singapore, yes, but in Baku in 2017, it was the other way round, meaning that Perez was the one who got put into the wall. Regarding the 2018 Azerbaijan GP lap one incident: Ocon wasn’t ”clearly ahead” in the corner, far from it, in fact, Kimi was well side-by-side with him by at least half the car length, so Ocon should’ve given him more space, but instead resorted to shutting the door at the last minute leaving Kimi no choice to back off anymore. He couldn’t just vanish in thin air. Ocon should’ve had more spacial awareness given that it was the opening lap of the race when everyone’s close to each other, so 100% his fault even if the Stewards issued no penalties. A bit similar with two incidents from the 2011 Monaco GP, in which both Hamilton was involved, and got a penalty rather unfairly given that he was well alongside the driver ahead, (Massa at the Hairpin, and Maldonado at St. Devote later in the race) and got all the room taken away at the last minute without a chance to do anything to avoid contact. Occasionally, the leading driver seems to have this attitude of thinking he has the right to cause contact and potentially crash just because he’s ahead by the smallest amount of car length. In India later in the same season, Massa got penalized for failing to leave sufficient space for the driver alongside who coincidently happened to be Hamilton in that case as well.
GtisBetter (@)
23rd April 2019, 7:19
I wonder how NASCAR will handle the hybrid/electric era and it might be a good case study for F1. The manufactors are moving towards those road cars, but the crowd is all about that speed and noise, not to mention the decline in viewers which might take a huge hit with the shift.
@HoHum (@hohum)
23rd April 2019, 8:14
@pio,In this case I totally agree, being up close and personal with the thunder of 30+ big blocks going flat out on an oval is what made NASCAR popular. I don’t see NASCAR surviving if they go to hybrid hatchbacks (which is where Ford passenger cars are going) of course there are always pickup trucks and SUVs for a bit of noise and a laugh.
anon
23rd April 2019, 8:15
@passingisoverrated, NASCAR is well known to be badly struggling for viewers and spectators at the tracks, and has done so for over a decade – their viewing figures have fallen by over 45% in the last decade, and the rate of decline is increasing rather than slowing.
At some circuits, they’ve been taking out banks of seats to hide the fact that the crowds are now much smaller than they used to be. Last year, at the Richmond circuit, the crowd was announced as 42,500 for a venue that currently has a capacity of 50,000 – however, a decade earlier, that same circuit had a capacity of 112,500 and managed to fill out the circuit back then. Bristol Speedway, which has a capacity of 162,000, sold 48,000 tickets – less than a third of their potential capacity, which is why that venue is now taking out tens of thousands of seats (over 40,000 seats are going, if I recall well) to hide the empty chairs from the cameras.
Even the France family, which has run NASCAR for years, is now rumoured to be trying to find a way to ditch NASCAR given they know the sport is dying. The strategy of being “all about that speed and noise” has left the sport with a rapidly ageing fan base, emptying venues and deserting sponsors – it’s a strategy that isn’t working.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
23rd April 2019, 10:28
Motor Racing in general along with car sales are flagging across the globe, they sort of go hand in hand. The younger generations do not hold the same level of interest in either.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
23rd April 2019, 10:24
@passingisoverrated Well the way the US car market is going they’ll be racing Pickups and SUVs.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
23rd April 2019, 11:42
Pickup racing would look awesome if the engine had to be a chromed V8 mounted open on the back with short exhaust pipes and lots of fancy attachments.
Please note I claim copyright to this idea – I’m onto a winner here folks! ;P
JohnH (@johnrkh)
23rd April 2019, 11:54
@nullapax We had ute racing in Aus, lots of bumper car style racing. Lasted a few yrs I think…you are welcome to it :))
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd April 2019, 8:42
Wow, is it a slow “news” day or something? Picking up quotes from the China post race press conference.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
23rd April 2019, 20:46
It’s been a slow news week-and-a-half, not just here but across F1 as a whole. Hopefully things will improve on Thursday, when a new race weekend can be expected to bring fresh news.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
23rd April 2019, 23:44
@f1osaurus Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel were in the Chinese Grand Prix post-race FIA press conference. There are not quotes from any of them in this article, so I don’t know what you’re referring to.
PB
24th April 2019, 5:03
Danny Ric saying that to Rachel Brookes in the pen after the race was part of Sky’s post race coverage.
F1oSaurus (@)
26th April 2019, 22:48
@keithcollantine I’m referring to the post race quote from Ricciardo which is the basis of this article.
ColdFly (@)
23rd April 2019, 8:56
I’m a vocal critic of including old quotes in the daily round-up.
Just leave ‘what they said’ out if there is no good quote to report.
It wasn’t a slow news day though. There are many interesting stores in my other (now preferred) F1 news aggregator.
Joao (@johnmilk)
23rd April 2019, 9:31
M? What as in Muriel?
robinsonf1 (@)
23rd April 2019, 10:24
Chandler M Bing?!
Joao (@johnmilk)
23rd April 2019, 10:32
@robinsonf1 I see you are a cultured individual as well
ColdFly (@)
23rd April 2019, 13:29
Must be together wirth Ross though, as he the Dr.
@robinsonf1
Nitzo (@webtel)
23rd April 2019, 11:28
Its Mahathir Bin Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
He is also known as Dr. M.
@johnmilk
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
23rd April 2019, 11:45
Dr Mysterio the Malaysian Master of Motor racing?
faulty (@faulty)
24th April 2019, 3:01
COTY.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
23rd April 2019, 10:47
About time, Seb
Robbie (@robbie)
23rd April 2019, 16:23
I know it is Horner saying it so of course he is going to be positive about RBR/Honda’s outlook, along with Max’s, but he’s right. They have indeed followed through on what they had been saying going back to testing in terms of Honda’s improvement. And Max is indeed on it. The only comment that has been an anomaly, and should come as no surprise really given the source, is from Marko saying they would win five races this season. I can’t see that happening right now, but who knows, but for me they have still been highly impressive with tons and tons of potential going forward.
Ipsom
23rd April 2019, 18:55
Ocon really should have cut ties with Mercedes and went with McLaren last year :(
I mean Mercedes were super happy with their 2018 lineup and there was no major sign of seeing them change it, despite Bottas’ bad form
theRealMax (@millionus)
23rd April 2019, 20:16
Tomorrow’s headline; Horner say Verstappen “turns a corner”..! Sorry couldn’t resist ;)
erikje
23rd April 2019, 20:23
that’s the real Renault spirit and probably the only way to survive in that team .
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
25th April 2019, 8:50
That is exactly what an ostrich does. If I don’t see or hear it everything is ok.