In the round-up: Sergio Perez suspects Racing Point missed out on a better result by not pitting him during the second Safety Car period.
What they say
I think, looking back, we probably should have pitted under the Safety Car. But of course, now it’s easy to know that.
At the end I was struggling with my tyres to hold the people behind on fresher rubber. So that was a bit difficult for me right at the end of the race. But all in all, the positive is that we have a competitive package and then look forward for the next one, which is in a couple of days’ time.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
"Ahead of next week, we must focus on the main negative of the weekend: the car reliability that not only cut Daniel’s race short but also impacted Esteban’s build up to qualifying earlier in the weekend compromising his starting position."
An unexpected podium (Ferrari)
Mattia Binotto: "We are pushing as hard as we can to bring updates to the car as soon as possible, although we know that no package can be a magic wand that radically changes the hierarchy among the teams. Having said that, we have seen in this first race that a few tenths more or less can make a big difference in terms of grid position, so we must leave no stone unturned."
Guenther Steiner: "The good thing is, the drivers seemed to be as happy as they could be with the car. They feel that the car is raceable, so it just feels like we missed an opportunity."
Giovinazzi opens our 2020 tally in high-attrition Austrian GP (Alfa Romeo)
Frederic Vasseur: "Scoring points in the opening race of the season is always a good thing, but there are more positives than just the result at the chequered flag. Our race pace was a definite step forward from yesterday’s qualifying and we were able to extract more of the potential of the C39."
Nicholas Latifi: "Today was all about learning for me. We struggled early on in the race with some cooling issues so I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to. It was about managing a bunch of things, but that is part of Formula One, it can happen."
VeeKay awakens from Texas nightmare with dream finish in Indianapolis (IndyCar)
"It’s amazing. Even this morning, I knew I had a good car. But we really nailed the strategy, and I felt great driving the car, too. I felt super confident and super controlled in the car."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
From being so far up the grid I almost got a nose bleed to P3 in the race, today was a good day 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/eg3qe8koF1
— Marc Cox (@MarcCox) July 5, 2020
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Comment of the day
Those who were hoping to see a rejuvenated Sebastian Vettel in Austria were disappointed:
This basically sums up Vettel of recent years. Extremely poor performance all weekend. No surprise Ferrari decided to not renew his contract. He seems spent.
I’m sure that there is a quick driver in there somewhere, but racing for Ferrari has possibly taken it’s toll. He may needs a new project, Racing Point is a good a shout, but it will be a risk for the team.
I think he’s done. No shame in retiring and doing something else. He’s been off it for a couple years now, perhaps it’s time to quit while you’re, sort of, ahead.
@Jaymenon10
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On this day in F1
- 45 years ago today Niki Lauda, James Hunt and Jochen Mass were covered by just 2.3 seconds on the podium at the French Grand Prix.
ColdFly (@)
6th July 2020, 0:09
Maybe Steiner should read this story on Racefans.net: Brake failures which put both cars out not Haas’s biggest problem – Grosjean.
He can also find it on the dictation apparatus of Grosjean’s press person ;)
Chaitanya
6th July 2020, 5:40
(from GPFans)
Steiner has also blamed Ferrari for PU.
ColdFly (@)
6th July 2020, 0:15
Is that wasp about to attack Perez?
Shimks (@shimks)
6th July 2020, 0:44
@coldfly That’s Benito the Bee, Checo’s pet. It goes everywhere with him. It doesn’t mind flying and never suffers from jet lag.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
6th July 2020, 10:24
I think it might be the same wasp that was attacking Norris whilst he was being interviewed by Sky.
He’s known locally as something of a troublemaker. The wasp, not Norris!
Only Facts!
6th July 2020, 0:25
At least RP is having big team problems now. A wrong strategy doesn’t cost them points anymore, it costs a podium finish.
Adding fuel to the fire, last year’s W10 in pink can beat this year’s Ferrari, which is the source of all complaints by McLaren. Who, by the way, can beat this year’s Ferrari as well. Impressive leap ahead.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
6th July 2020, 2:00
RP definitely missed a trick with not pitting under the safety car, which is unusual for them because usually they are strategically good at capitalizing on these situations when the opportunities come up. Maybe on this occasion, because they have a more competitive car than usual, they found themselves favouring the more conservative option. Which in this case, proved to be the wrong one.
Emanuele (@allyita)
6th July 2020, 7:50
yeah, i got the same impression, they need to adjust their strategy mentality from “underdog” to: we can and must play with the big boys now
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
6th July 2020, 8:09
Anyone know when Perez actually sped in the pitlane? If it was under the safety car drive through the pit lane (during Kimi clean up), then that’s an embarrassing mistake. If it was under the pitstop (when he had the little race with Lando), then how did it take 40 laps to be announced. I feel like they might have changed their strategy if they knew about this penalty sooner.
J_Oliver
6th July 2020, 9:36
The official document says it happened at 16:24, that’s 1:14 into the race so it must have been while following the safety car. I guess he forgot he still had to respect the pit lane speed limit.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
6th July 2020, 2:08
“We must focus on reliability”
Maybe they should put that on Cyril’s t shirt – he’s been saying it over and over since 2014. At least Renault has been consistent.
Niefer (@niefer)
6th July 2020, 2:44
I don’t remember how many laps he spent in his biggest stint but, if there is a driver that such strategy can be trusted, this one is Perez. I wouldn’t dwell much about it, though. They played the big game today and sometimes it doesn’t pay off.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
6th July 2020, 3:15
Thanks for CoTD @keithcollantine :)
Jere (@jerejj)
6th July 2020, 7:35
I agree with the COTD, although concerning team-options for next year: RP/Aston Martin already has both current-drivers under contract, so Renault or teams further down the field would be options for him if he’s interested in (properly) joining the midfield. Mercedes, of course, doesn’t have either driver under contract beyond the end of this year at present, but I have doubts about his chances of going there.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th July 2020, 9:31
befor the sc he was starting to pressurize Albon but during the sc Mercedes didn’t pit so he couldn’t pit either, it makes it an easier pill to swallow, RP could have scored big big points, at least it was not their fault.
Duncan Idaho (@didaho)
6th July 2020, 14:48
These guys have access to some of the best engineering teams & facilities on the planet – why can’t they produce a clear mask?
Trayambak Chakravarty (@major-dev)
6th July 2020, 17:32
Sebastian Vettel is 33 years old, he is not ‘spent’.