In the round-up: Daniil Kvyat is excited by the prospect of a future race near Saint Petersburg.
What they say
The Igora Drive circuit near Saint Petersburg has been tipped to take over from Sochi Autodrom as the home of the Russian Grand Prix. Speaking in an Instagram interview for Sky, Kvyat said relocating the race could help attract more fans from outside Russia:
Yes, I would say very excited. If it happens, it’s going to be mega. I think obviously Sochi’s great still but if you’ve go to St Petersburg I always said that we will be closer to Europe and more people from Scandinavian countries will be able to join. And it’s going to be cool. It’s going to bring I think Russia a bit closer to the racing world.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
GTK where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We're interested in drivers, not quitters.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
King of the Spa, @OconEsteban takes P1 in race 1 🎖️#RVGTshow #RSspirit #VforVictory @RenaultF1Team pic.twitter.com/Bv0UrM83bg
— Team Vitality (@TeamVitality) April 7, 2020
Ok @IndyCar fans! I’m going to host a special event on @iRacing tomorrow night for you all to join… thinking fixed setup, IndyCars, at @Brands_Hatch Indy circuit…. who’s game?! 🙋🏼♂️#INDYCAR
— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) April 7, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
F1 vs IndyCar: Which Esports series has the right formula? (RaceFans via YouTube)
My home race will have to wait for now... (Nicholas Latifi)
"Today we learned that the Canadian GP has been postponed due to the coronavirus. Naturally, I’m sad that I’ll have to wait for the chance to race at my home F1 event."
Portimao gains FIA Grade 1 licence, able to host F1 races (Crash)
"Portimao will be able to host Formula 1 races in the future after being awarded an FIA Grade 1 licence, opening up the opportunity to join the F1 calendar."
Token system for car development being considered (Autosport)
"A similar system was used for power units in the early years of the hybrid era, with each component assigned a certain token value."
Monza 2017: the double win that never was (F2)
"For me, I didn't agree 100% with it the penalty, so I was really angry."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Comment of the day
If Paul Ricard does hold two races, they should experiment with different layouts, says Mark:
To be honest, I’d be quite intrigued if they tried to make the two races as different as possible. You could, for instance, run the Mistral straight without the chicane and without DRS zones one day, and then run the chicane with DRS zones before and after the next day. Would be interesting to see which creates the better racing.
You could even potentially make the layouts different enough that you might shake up the order, playing to different teams’ strengths.
This is going to be a season unlike any other (if it happens at all), so they may as well experiment.
@MarkZastrow
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Craig Woollard!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
8th April 2020, 0:33
It would be so awesome if they could move one of the cancelled GPs to Portimão. That track is absolutely stunning. One of the best in the world.
Pete
8th April 2020, 2:21
Hell yeah, get rid of one of more boring races like Spain
Jockey Ewing
8th April 2020, 4:39
Yes, I’d like to see that too. The runoff zones around sector 2 are a bit small for those often blind corners and elevation changes, but very nice track.
As i remembered Portimao had FIA Grade 2 so they can not host F1, so I was quite surprised with seeing a Grade 1 at Wikipedia for the track. After googling a bit I found out they earned the Grade 1 recently.
F1gpmoto
8th April 2020, 6:56
Yeah was recent.
https://www.crash.net/f1/news/937687/1/portimao-gains-fia-grade-1-licence-able-host-f1-races
Also Estoril got upgraded from 1T to Grade 1 a few years ago too.
I agree it would be good to host a race in Portugal this year considering they seem to be somewhat okay so far. In fact I’d love to see a race on both these circuits why not?
frood19 (@frood19)
8th April 2020, 6:56
It’s in the round up…
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th April 2020, 7:43
Like st petersburg it is not big enough for current f1 cars, aero wake should be a big problem.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th April 2020, 7:47
@peartree You mean ‘would’ be. BTW, neither is Zandvoort big enough for current F1-cars.
regs (@regs)
8th April 2020, 12:34
Still Igora is too short. There is Grade 1 circuit 100 km west of Moscow. It has all infrastructure, but also a bit short. There were plans to extend it to over 5 km, but they never went into reality.
regs (@regs)
8th April 2020, 12:36
In my personal opinion, new F1 circuits should be at least 9 km long with 400 kph straights. Higher average speed would allow 400 km long races.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2020, 19:36
@regs The current and long-standing standard minimum target of 305 km for full race distance is perfectly fine.
Jockey Ewing
10th April 2020, 2:26
Autódromo José Carlos Pace at Interlagos is one of my favourites, because it’s one of the shortest GP tracks. I don’t know somehow if cars following each other with an 1-2 seconds gap is way more interesting to me than when they get lost on a long track and many of them just lapping alone. Yes, I understand these cars maybe would look good if the average F1 track would be significantly widened, but dirty air, and costs are much bigger problem. Simpler aero -> aero development is cheaper + less dirty air -> closer racing. Simpler aero -> less downforce -> cars are more challenging -> watching and driving them are more amazing. Probably if it’s about innovation, FIA and Liberty could pay for a new wind tunnel design, where they can measure the “dirty air factor” of a car, and detune cars which are generating too much dirty air. It should be done not to have a BOP-like thing, just to take away the benefits of feeding the poor follower with dirty air.
Ok it’s easy to say, but hard to implement, even the amount of detuning is not easy to calculate and update, but developing a wind tunnel like that would be something really new and amazing innovation. I’d say it should be big enough to measure air flow even far behind (and on less far distances too) the car, and from multiple angles too. But this is a quite possible use case for a combination of IOT, sensor clouds, big data and some innovative ideas. Having somehing like this, would encourage cars with cleaner lines, and achieving the goals of the planned simpler aero, while not being restrictive on the chassis design.
And as any innovation this new kind of wind tunnel could be really useful outside of F1 too.
regs (@regs)
10th April 2020, 4:44
@jerejj, you probably misread my post
Jere (@jerejj)
10th April 2020, 7:33
@regs No, I didn’t. You suggested 400 km for the full race distance, so I responded to that part of it. What did you mean/imply if not that?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th April 2020, 23:18
@jerejj no I mean should, doesn’t matter if f1 is racing there or not, but it is just my opinion, having watched races in both tracks.
SteveR
8th April 2020, 2:38
Even more awesome would be to see F1 at Elkhart Lake. What a fantastic track! Went there years ago for a CART race and was blown away. No assigned seating, terrain changes, and some spots requiring real balls. Sort of like Spa before everyone could do Eau Rouge flat. I remember Villeneuve trying, repeatedly, to do it without lifting. It’s funny how the body wants that little security lift and how hard it is to overcome….
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
8th April 2020, 7:45
Re COTD
Really, the FIA should be putting the organisers of the French GP on notice the Grand Prix will be cancelled unless there’s evidence of a decline in infections in France down to some pre-determined safe criteria. Also, there needs to be a way of getting a car to the race track and racing it with as few people as possible being involved.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th April 2020, 7:48
@drycrust There is by bringing in the minimum number of people required to run two cars.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th April 2020, 7:46
If it ever happens that is, and considering potential future venues is rather pointless right now given the situation.
As for Portimao: G1 license doesn’t guarantee anything, it merely opens up opportunities, but whether Portimao ever joins the championship is a different matter.
Regarding the COTD: Should a second French GP happen, it should happen without the Mistral straight-chicane with the rest of the track remaining unchanged from the last two seasons. No need to left DRS out, though, except for the Mistral straight, which would be a ‘must’ due to the nature of the following corner Signes.
Finally, Nicholas Latifi is most likely going to have to wait for his chance to race in Montreal till next year.
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th April 2020, 8:19
st Peter circuit should be allright as long they have height difference. But we will see when cars are driving on that circuit.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th April 2020, 11:55
@macleod ‘If’ they ever get to that point that is, since nothing’s set in stone, all speculation.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
8th April 2020, 9:07
Igora Drive’s layout seems a bit uninspired. Not a fan right now.
Balue (@balue)
8th April 2020, 21:43
..and to get more F1 drivers like Max Verstappen, you obviously need a better program as he’s specifically said that’s the issue. Don’t know why that’s now ‘the thing that can’t be mentioned’.