In the round-up: Claire Williams says she would be very reluctant to let George Russell leave Williams.
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What they say
Russell is a Mercedes junior driver but Williams is keen to keep him in their team:We haven’t had any conversation about George potentially leaving the team in the short-term because he’s on a long-term contract with us.
George is, for me, personally I feel that he’s world champion material and why would I want to lose George from our team? I would do everything in my power to keep George Russell at Williams.
My ambition is one day that we will be able to provide George with a car where in steps he can start competing at the top of the midfield and then hopefully compete [for] the podium. that’s going to take time, clearly, but we’ve got to have ambition.
George is a big part of Williams’s future. We made a very clear decision when we brought George in last year why we chose George because we wanted him to be a part of this journey and I hope the end result of that journey is that we give him a good enough car to show his true potential.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
😉 #Motorsport125 pic.twitter.com/tPC3VmUpFM
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 23, 2019
Why has the #GermanGP struggled lately? The dearth of racing on the support bill can't help. Most grands prix have too little, but Hockenheim has no #F2 or #F3; #F1 aside, there's just 140 minutes of races over three days (#F4, Renault Clios and Porsche Supercup).
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) July 22, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Why Bottas still believes he can beat Hamilton to the F1 world title (ESPN)
"Sometimes I say, 'You're a f---ing c---! You are stupid!' and sometimes I say, 'You are the best'. I just like being honest with myself."
Leclerc charts his journey to the top of Formula 1 (BBC)
"They lived in Monaco, with its reputation as a rich man's playground, but Leclerc says they were 'not particularly wealthy - in 2011, I had to stop karting because my father did not have enough money for me to continue and we did not have enough sponsors to help us'."
German GP preview (Racing Point)
"This weekend sees the arrival of some aero development items as we continue our push to bring performance to the track. We will use Friday for testing to hopefully unlock more speed from the car."
"I am looking forward to driving there and to test new items on the car. We hope to gain some pace and if the car handles well like it did at Silverstone, then we will have some fun."
WEC to Move Spa Date to Avoid Formula E Clash (Sportscar365)
"The penultimate round of the 2019-20 season will now likely take place on April 23-25 instead of the originally announced May 3-5, in an effort to prevent one of three clashes between the WEC and the all-electric open-wheel championship."
2020 F4 UAE calendar confirms maiden Formula 1 support event (F4 UAE)
"The FIA Formula 4 UAE Championship powered by Abarth has released its official five-round calendar for the 2019/2020 season, including a maiden non-championship support event at the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix later this year."
'I will fight it' - Donnelly determined to make his latest recovery (Motorsport magazine)
"You hit a barrier at 176mph, go through 44g, and you’ve all that damage, right? And you fall off a bike at 20mph and the pain and everything is exactly the same. If somebody told you, you wouldn’t believe it."
RC Enerson and Lucas Oil of Racing to Partner with Calrin at Mid-Ohio (Carlin)
"Carlin is proud to announce that RC Enerson will join the team for the 13th round of the IndyCar season at the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio piloting the number 31 Carlin."
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Comment of the day
Is Nigel Mansell right to suggest today’s F1 cars aren’t the real thing?
While I think it is a bit of a ramble on Nigel’s part, there is some truth to it. But for different reasons.
The first, technology was not as advanced back then so you were putting 1500hp on 80’s suspension chassis and brakes, which, like group B rallying, has to be genuinely terrifying. The other part was deregulation which allowed these qualifying trims with ridiculous engine settings.
The first is long gone and cannot be replicated, but not the second. Current drivetrains and chassis could take much more power than what they did in the 80’s I wager. It would be fun to see this happen, but FIA seems to want to go in the opposite direction and regulate everything until we have a spec formula.
@Eljueta
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nase
24th July 2019, 1:01
Does anyone know why there are so few support races in Hockenheim? When I first heard that F2 was going to skip this venue (despite its central location in Europe), I assumed that the reason for this was an excess of support races. Turns out I couldn’t have been further off the truth …
But why?
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
24th July 2019, 2:47
Seems pretty bad doesn’t it.
I can only imagine that other series didn’t want to commit to appearing at a venue that is doomed to lose F1 after this year so they’d be unlikely to capitalise on future appearances.
Either that or the organisers are really really bad at their job.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
24th July 2019, 7:21
Probably cos after eliminating European F3, GP3 wanted to really stress the point by omitting one of Euro F3s traditional races.
#Cynical
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
24th July 2019, 2:44
Didnt Williams also say that Bottas was world championship material as well?
Kingshark (@kingshark)
24th July 2019, 3:29
@jaymenon10
Given that Bottas was barely any faster than a past-his-prime Massa in the same car, I would have found that comment rather hard to believe.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
24th July 2019, 3:43
@kingshark
Thats exactly the point I was trying to make.
Sure Russel is (unfortunately) wiping the floor with Kubica. At the same time, this is a man who hasn’t been in an open wheel car for 8 years, and for the lack of a better description, has one functioning hand.
foggy
25th July 2019, 0:50
Not sure I agree he is championship material, in a better car he would be a handy driver but so probably would Kubica …. my gut feeling tells me Norris has more potential.
anon
24th July 2019, 7:31
Pretty amazing foresight by her as Bottas was leading the championship earlier this season and still ‘swears’ he can achieve it ;)
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
24th July 2019, 11:08
Maldonado before him and Hulkenberg before him, etc etc. Everyone was Champion material, only Rosberg proved to be championship material from promising young talents.
Not like Hulkenberg lacks talent or Bottas is not good, but being spectacular is different to WDC.
On the way there you need to beat Lewis Hamilton and before him you needed to beat Sebastian Vettel.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
24th July 2019, 20:34
A: Vettel will do job himself for you anyway
B: other than Bottas and Rosberg no other driver has had equal material to Lewis…. Rosberg beat him and Bottas’ attempt is in progress so let’s wait and see. Still even a 50% hit-rate is pretty good by my book.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
25th July 2019, 1:17
Rosberg could only beat Hamilton when Hamilton’s equal car had serious reliability problems.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
24th July 2019, 3:08
I normally don’t support British drivers and often actively root against them, but there’s just something about Russell that makes him so damn likeable.
anon
24th July 2019, 7:29
Norris and Albon are pretty likeable as well.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
24th July 2019, 8:25
3 out of 4 ain’t bad.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
24th July 2019, 20:37
Not sure why Norris is so liked really. He laughs like a hyena (constantly) and I don’t find him particularly mature or intelligible when he talks in interviews. I don’t know the kid at all otherwise, so what am I missing here?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th July 2019, 17:56
@kingshark it’s his blue blood, looks like the giant version of george the royal baby.
Can’t be wch material, too tall.
foggy
25th July 2019, 0:55
I am British and obviously support British drivers along with a few non Brits …. but I can’t make up my mind if I like Russell or not, trouble is I can’t say why I’m undecided.
eljueta (@eljueta)
24th July 2019, 6:36
Thanks for the COTD @keithcollantine I will now print it and hang it on my wall :D
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
24th July 2019, 19:45
Congrats, @eljueta. Great CoTD.
We expect you to print it on your dot matrix and hang it dangerously on your wall made from leftover poles and rusty wire scavenged from ’87 Stowe catch-fencing.
georgeboole (@)
24th July 2019, 10:07
Looks like a nice guy and has skills too. Want him to fight with the rest of the new generation but I guess I ll have to wait until that Mercedes seat becomes available
Jere (@jerejj)
24th July 2019, 12:42
It indeed is a bit weird that Hockenheim isn’t part of the F2 and F3-campaigns this year despite being a European venue, and a majority of the venues used for these series’ are in Europe.
Joao (@johnmilk)
24th July 2019, 13:59
If I was Mercedes and for some reason had to fill a seat alongside Hamilton I would go with Russel not Ocon
But lets see what the kid can do when he has proper competition, which I don’t think Kubica is at the moment
hobo (@hobo)
24th July 2019, 15:25
@johnmilk – I can see how Mercedes might want to bring in a young driver as they would not disturb their champion (sounds like sarcasm, but is not) and would have a driver onboard for when Hamilton eventually retires or leaves.
But I do hope that Mercedes don’t go that route. Without a second driver that can challenge Hamilton, we end up with runaways (like this year).
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th July 2019, 18:03
@johnmilk ocon and russel are too tall, no top team would consider either.