In the round-up: Enzo Ferrari’s son Piero describes his father’s desire to win the Indianapolis 500, after team principal Mattia Binotto indicated they could return to IndyCar racing following F1’s budget cap reduction.
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
"Ferrari had been with (Alberto) Ascari... Then, in the 1980s, we built a car for Indy, but it never did a single kilometre. I believe my father would have liked to win there."
Large events in Austin not likely through end of 2020, officials say (Austin American Statesman)
"We are working on a plan to help forecast what we think is going to be reasonable, but looking through the end of December, we don’t have any indications at this stage that we would be able to mitigate risk enough to have large events, particularly ones (with) over 2,500 (attendees)."
IndyCar announces updated 2020 series schedule (IndyCar)
"Two events have been canceled for 2020 due to local restrictions surrounding the pandemic: the Indy Richmond 300 on Saturday, June 27 at Richmond Raceway and the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday, July 12 on the streets of Toronto."
Wolff critical of ‘opportunism and manipulation’ within F1 (Racer)
"In a sense it was good because I didn’t need to interact with certain people. On the other side, you could clearly see that there were people that felt the need to communicate over the media."
Renault setzt nicht nur auf Alonso: Angeblich Treffen mit Bottas-Manager (Motorsport-Total - German)
"Valtteri Bottas's manager Didier Coton is said to have been in contact with Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul."
Carmaker McLaren clashes with bondholders over emergency financing (FT - registration required)
"Investors in McLaren’s existing £525m bond issued in 2017 are fiercely resisting the move. They argue that the company already pledged these assets to them in that deal, when the debt was raised to buy out a stake owned by the group’s former chairman Ron Dennis."
Interview: Formula E’s Vergne talks mental strength and life in lockdown (Motorsport Week)
"(The performance difference of cars) was my biggest problem in Formula 1, knowing that I was never coming to a race track to fight for a podium. That was my biggest problem because the car was not at the strongest."
Racing cockpit manufacturer Gran Turismo 7 'leak' a mistake (The Sixth Axis)
"A professional racing cockpit manufacturer based in Australia seems to have confirmed than Gran Turismo 7 will be be out this year this year which means it could be one of Sony’s big launch titles for PlayStation 5."
Round 3 of F2 Virtual Racing heads to the streets of Monaco (F2)
Marcus Armstrong, Dan Ticktum, Callumm Ilott, Luca Ghiotto, Robert Shwartzman, Arthur Leclerc, Louis Deletraz, Juan Manuel Correa, Jack Aitken, Nobuharu Matsushita, Felipe Drugovich, Artem Markelov and Enzo Fittipaldi are among those who will take part.
Race Rewind: Drama at Darlington (NASCAR via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
Anyone else still using Grand Prix 4 for their F1 racing fix?
I’ve tried the Codemasters F1 games, and have bought a few (including F1 2019) – they all look great – but there’s a reason why I keep going back to Grand Prix 4. Even thought it’s 18 years old, it’s still the best one. The mods you get for it to update the graphics and bring in the new seasons, cars and tracks are a big part of that.
Mark McCubbin
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MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
22nd May 2020, 0:42
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
22nd May 2020, 0:43
messed up the quote. barnacles.
pastaman (@)
22nd May 2020, 1:42
The chassis is contracted to a single supplier (Dallara) per the rules. Though the series is basically spec (two engine manufacturers), you’ll see that the big teams that spend the most money still manage to win the championship year after year. If Ferrari took their (hypothetical) entry seriously, they could be regular front runners.
Exediron (@exediron)
22nd May 2020, 2:12
There’s still some ability for the team to manufacture their own parts. The big teams (Penske) get a lot of competitive advantage from their own suspension designs.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
22nd May 2020, 11:00
Yeah i get that, i saw Mclaren botch it too, but still, sticking a prancing horse to a dallara just doesn’t seem right to me
Bio
22nd May 2020, 13:00
The 333 SP is a Dallara chassis with a Ferrari V12 bolted on it, as far as I remember nobody complained…
anon
22nd May 2020, 19:14
Bio, it is true that Dallara did work on the car, but that is not quite the same as Ferrari were working directly with Dallara in a technical partnership – for example, the aerodynamic package was a collaboration between Dialma Zinelli (from Dallara) and Giorgio Camaschella (from Ferrari).
There is also some debate as to how many of the chassis were built by Ferrari themselves – some have suggested that only the first chassis was, but others have suggested the first four were built in-house by Ferrari. In that scenario, Ferrari were still involved in helping to design the chassis of the car – whereas a modern IndyCar is designed and manufactured solely in-house by Dallara.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
22nd May 2020, 12:45
Spec series yes, but perhaps Penske will change that when he bought Indycar series and the Indianapolis track.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd May 2020, 5:32
Indy was not always a spec series. journos dictate the narrative, someone made a question that only had one answer so it fits the current fresh story.
Don
22nd May 2020, 12:52
They’d enter as an engine mfg. They could have a factory team and supply engines to about 8 total cars. They should have done this long ago, and just about did in 2018 before Sergio Marchionne died.
jlb
22nd May 2020, 0:55
Bottas to Renault? Silly season is on fire.
Serkan (@serkank)
22nd May 2020, 1:31
that would be a super move for Renault
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
22nd May 2020, 3:09
Yes, it’d be a great move for Renault, and I guess Renault is a better option than going back to Williams, but Mercedes is by far an even better option.
black (@black)
22nd May 2020, 8:27
@drycrust Maybe Mercedes gave Bottas notice that they’re going to promote Russell eventually (2021) as they made some comments earlier this week so he started looking for alternatives. And Renault is a quite good alternative (ife they don’t pull out of the sport).
Balue (@balue)
24th May 2020, 19:06
@black Yes it was always going to be Russell from 2021 onward, wasn’t it
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
22nd May 2020, 1:19
I still don’t get the hate for the Codemasters games as they are exactly what they are supposed to be… A fun & accessible officially licensed F1 game aimed at the wider audience & going off the usually positive mainstream reviews & sales numbers it hits that target.
It’s the same as the Dirt & Grid games, They are aimed at the wider audience & designed to more more on the fun/accessible/arcade side because that is what the wider audience looks for. They went more towards the sim side with Dirt Rally & it didn’t get anywhere near the sales numbers the ‘Dirt 1/2/3/4’ games did which is why they are going even further down that arcade route for the upcoming Dirt 5.
I get all these Codemasters driving games because I really enjoy them as they offer exactly what i’m looking for from them. Not everything needs or should be a sim because that simply isn’t what the majority of people who get them are looking for, If it was then the more sim based stuff would sell significantly better than they do. The sim stuff is a very niche market, Always has been & likely always will be.
iFuel (@ifuel)
22nd May 2020, 2:24
Correct me if I’m wrong, nut it seems that the efforts that were made to kick Ron Dennis out of McLaren are exactly what is jeopardizing the company’s health in these difficult times?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
22nd May 2020, 8:40
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Keeping Ron Dennis was seriously jeopardising the team back then..
GeeMac (@geemac)
22nd May 2020, 9:04
@ifuel @eurobrun Not necessarily. I’m a banking and finance solicitor and I can tell you it is quite common for a company to offer the same assets as security to multiple financiers. If the existing bondholders and the new lender agree to it (which the new bondholders don’t have to, because why would you weaken your position without a quid pro quo), they will put in place a document called an Intercreditor Agreement which will set out the circumstances in which each set of creditors can receive payments under their various finance documents, who gets priority over the assets in certain circumstances and who can enforce the security in what circumstances.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd May 2020, 5:33
I would like to fuse gp4 and f1 challenge and get the perfect f1 game.
Kasim
22nd May 2020, 6:20
Hm.. maybe have them learn the fusion technique, not sure it will work out though:/
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
22nd May 2020, 7:46
Maybe Renault have contacted Bottas because they think, or have heard Vettel is going to Mercedes. LOL.
HK (@me4me)
22nd May 2020, 8:58
I think it makes a lot of sense for Bottas to sign for Renault.
Wolff talks about loyalty but they have only ever given Bottas a one year deal or extension, and now there are several drivers in the running for that second Mercedes seat. Aside from the possibility to sign Vettel, the Mercedes young driver program has recently be questioned, and I think rightfully so, for not yet proving a young driver with the opportunity to drive for the team. Wolff might just wait to see how Russell performs in the first couple of races in 2020, and then decide that he’s ready. A perfect move to showcase loyalty, show the worth of their young driver program and pick up some refreshed marketing exposure that goes with a new driver line-up.
Imagine Renault signing any other driver in that period of time. Then what for Bottas?
Waiting for Mercedes to decide could possibly gain him another 1-year extension for 2021. The possibility to drive the fastest car, yet also an almost guaranteed role of support driver to Lewis Hamilton. A few poles and races wins are distinctly possible. A championship title very unlikely. Bottas has to weight all of this up against the 50-50 chance of being left out.
I think a 3-year Renault contract would be a very attractive option for Bottas. 2021 to settle in with the team while racing in the midfield, then 22 and 23 to be competitive racing near the front (hopefully). It would certainly allow him to focus on his driving and not have the headache of annual contract negotiations. Ultimately I think Bottas rather secures a reasonably competitive seat for the years to come, then betting on the best car for one year which in any case will not deliver him the title.
GeeMac (@geemac)
22nd May 2020, 9:00
Go on then Piero, green light the Indy Project then. If my understanding is correct, Ferrari are only talking about the Indy project as a parallel program to F1, rather than as a replacement to the F1 program, because they want to carry on spending ludicrous amounts in F1 and are worried about laying off staff. If that is genuinely their intention, they should use the surplus funds they have to set this project up and have a crack.
But they won’t. Because they know, at least initially, they’ll get spanked by Penske, Ganassi and Andretti (and probably ECR at Indy as well).
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
22nd May 2020, 9:31
I think the F1 gaming market will always be stuck between accessibility and realism. Codemasters have done a fine job on F1 2019, if you are using a controller and want to play 30 minutes after work then it’s perfect. I’m sure a lot of F1 fans, particularly in the early 2000s, became entranced by the sport through this style of game. However, I’ve become more and more worried by recent titles notably the pay-to-customise angle. £20 extra for a couple of Senna-Prost challenges was extortion. Paid Christmas liveries felt out of place with the direction the sport is trying to go. I admire their career mode, but the customisation is laughable compared to Gran Turismo and the graphics for damage, whilst contractually difficult, should have been addressed by now.
Fundamentally, I think most fans on this site would ideally like to see a career mode from 1928 to present day where you can hop into the 1983 Ralt F3 and race Brundle versus Senna through to the year 2000 on the most accurate tracks in VR versions of the cars. Of course that isn’t going to happen overnight but the COTD raises a good point – baseline realism and quality will always be coveted. I’d like to see the sport use an iRacing equivalent version of GP4 or Gran Turismo where modders can add their own cars, tracks, graphics and unite the motorsport community. This requires huge initial investment but this pandemic has shown the appetite for esports and the history of GP4 is testament to modders commitment.