In the round-up: Lando Norris was pleased to salvage sixth place from the Tuscan Grand Prix on a weekend when McLaren were not competitive.
What they say
Norris failed to reach Q3 for the first time this year but finished well inside the top 10:It was a tiring race. Very physical. A lot of stop and go.
It’s not easy to always get out the car, be out of the zone and get back in and nail everything and be on the limit of a Formula 1 car around Mugello, it’s not easy at all.
It was a tough race, but I don’t think I could be any happy with our result. Of course we got a little bit lucky with some people crashing ahead of us and so on. Our pace today was not very good and we still had sixth.
A lot of damage limitation for us as a team, I think, even though Carlos was out, which was a bit unlucky. I think we made the best of a bad weekend.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Now @F1 driver silly season is almost over, seems focus shifts to TP silly season: hearing Andy Cowell replaces Otmar Szafnauer at @RacingPointF1, who moves to @WilliamsRacing. Keeps them in Mercedes family + ties in with various comments. Long shot, true, but there’s logic…
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) September 13, 2020
Have to do a doping test, where you have to pee into a pot. Why when I have to do this does my body feel like I’ve not drunk in the last 30 days 😂😂 been sitting here 2 hours now
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) September 13, 2020
I hate it when drivers throw steering wheels, surely they have some idea of the time and money that goes into manufacturing one. 🤦🏽♀️ #TuscanGP
— Ellie Williams (@elliew317) September 13, 2020
The late SC lights out prevent a leader from going early, prompting them to go very late instead. Not the whole reason for all these restart crashes in F1/2/3, but certainly increases the risk up to T1/2 with so many cars bunched up. #TuscanGP
— Jack Aitken – 한세용 (@JaitkenRacer) September 13, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Romain Grosjean: "At the first red flag I saw the state of the car, I didn’t know how we were going to keep racing, half of the left-hand side was missing. The guys said to hang in and we did our best. The last restart was fun, I managed to get up the order a bit. But when you’re missing about two seconds a lap, which we had calculated in aero damage, there’s not much you can do."
Checo into the points in tricky Tuscan GP (Racing Point)
"First of all, I’m okay after what was a big impact. We’re still investigating the cause of the crash. It all happened so quickly, but it felt like a puncture."
Lewis wins inaugural Tuscan GP, Valtteri second (Mercedes)
"The Safety Car restart was probably more challenging than the race start itself. We’d spent a long time this morning talking it through, we knew that the Safety Car lights would go out really late which meant the lead driver can’t go early as everyone will sit in their tow and pass."
"Frustratingly the subsequent red flag lost us track position and allowed Grosjean and Raikkonen to un-lap themselves. We had a poor final stint, losing places at the restart and then struggling to overtake Vettel."
"The only regret is that we had only one car in this brilliant race as Esteban had to retire due to a brake overheating problem; the root cause of which will have to be investigated."
Ineos in £700m bid to buy F1 giants Mercedes (Daily Mail)
"Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula One team is close to signing a £700 million deal that will see it sold to chemicals giant Ineos and Britain's richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, it was claimed on Saturday night."
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.
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Comment of the day
Mick Schumacher, who is close to securing an F1 seat in 2021, is rising above his rivals in Formula 2 this season, says Tommy:
This weekend highlighted to me the immaturity of some of the drivers in F2. The radio tantrums, the late unnecessary dives, not giving your teammate space and so on. A cool head and consistency will win this championship and Mick sure seems to be on track in that respect. Hopefully he can hold it together.
Tommy C
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On this day in F1
- 40 years ago today Nelson Piquet took the championship lead from Alan Jones by leading him home in the Italian Grand Prix at Imola
Rott
14th September 2020, 0:24
Same thing every race. Couldn’t be happier…couldn’t be happier.
For crying out loud, your direct competitor Renault thrashed you here. Nothing to be happy here. Wake up and bring mclaren to former glory and out of the hole Button dragged you into.
melanos
14th September 2020, 0:41
Was it Button’s fault?
Rott
14th September 2020, 2:58
No it’s not, it’s Whitmarsh’s incompetence and blind faith in a very average driver that was Button.
Luckily they are getting Daniel next season, finally a proper driver in the team that was one of the greatest once upon a time.
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
14th September 2020, 7:27
Button? You mean the world champion who was one of the closets teammates Hamilton ever had?
F1oSaurus (@f1osaurus)
14th September 2020, 7:57
@mouse_nightshirt I think he’s referring to Whitmarsh who was doing everything he could to help Button over Hamilton and in doing so just made the car slower and slower (since it needed to be “balanced”). Plus he destroyed the team organisation.
So while Button may not be the direct reason, tending to his desires for car development was a big component of their downfall and losing the best driver.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
14th September 2020, 15:06
@f1osaurus Made the car slower and slower? McLaren in 2010 was 2nd in pace only to Redbull, 2nd to Redbull again in 2011, and in 2012 was pretty much equal with Redbull in terms of pace. Their problems in 2012 were reliability and operational errors – the car was very competitive and seemingly didn’t suffer from any ‘bad development’ from the drivers’ side.
F1oSaurus (@f1osaurus)
14th September 2020, 15:18
@keithedin Yes 2010 was good and the car was close to Red Bull, 2011 was slightly worse with the gap to Red Bull much more apparent already. In 2012 McLaren had the random win here and there, but the car wasn’t a constant contender anymore. They dropped to P3 in the WCC.
The team kept sliding back a bit further in performance every year. That’s … “slower”
Indeed also the team became a chaos with more and more technical issues. Especially again, 2012 was a disaster. That’s part 2 of Whitmarsh slow destruction of McLaren I mentioned.
anon
14th September 2020, 20:59
@f1osaurus I would have to rather disagree with you there, because the problems that the 2011 car had were related to a very specific technical issue.
The 2011 car was designed around a particular type of blown diffuser – perhaps more popularly known as the “Octopus” exhaust, though McLaren called it a fantail exhaust – that was designed to control rear tyre squirt and to recreate the blown diffuser effect that was restricted at the end of 2010.
However, what then happened was that the FIA announced only a few days before the start of pre-season testing in 2011 that they would be heavily restricting the use of Glass Ceramic Carbonfibre, a critical insulating material which the McLaren exhaust system required to protect the floor and bodywork from the high temperature exhaust gases. That FIA announcement was basically a targeted ban on McLaren’s exhaust concept, as they were the only team which was developing such a concept that needed that material to make it work.
The car was therefore slower because McLaren was hit with a technical directive that targeted the MP4-26 in an extremely precise way in 2011 – which suggests it was more of a case of a rival getting wind of what McLaren were doing and then ensuring that a technical directive was passed to hinder them (analogous to, say, the way that Lotus were hit with a ban on their plan for a reactive ride height system in 2013).
Sean (@seanloh)
14th September 2020, 1:10
Grosjean’s car look like it had a fight with a carbon fiber shark. Large chunks were missing. By the first safety car I thought they were surly going to retire the car. Finishing seemed like a victory for him today.
JC
14th September 2020, 2:24
According to Ted in his notebook, Grosjean had actually switched the car off until they realised the red flag was coming, so he fired back up and limped it back to the pits.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
14th September 2020, 5:45
The article about the sale of Mercedes is quite interesting, but not a real surprise.
Its has been reporting over this past year, that since Ola Kallenius ascended to the role of Chairman, Merc’s long term commitment to F1 was always under a cloud of uncertainty. Since he plans to “de-ICE” Mercedes going forward, the sale of the team the was inevitable. 700 million for majority stake in the team sounds like a good deal. There is a possibility that Merc’s advantage will diminish with the upcoming rule changes, so what’s better than pulling the plug while you’re still ahead? Continuing as a PU supplier still allows them be associated with F1, getting whatever exposure that’s worth.
I guess this also opens the door for Toto to leave and pursue other opportunities, like running Racing Point for example. Perhaps, this could also give Lewis the chance to retire as an 8 time world champion.
All good things must come to an end.
For INEOS however, what better platform to market themselves? Rightly or wrongly so, whether you like it or not, in the coming years (by the end of the decade), oil and gas, resources and chemical companies will be deemed pariahs of society by our overlords . Like tobacco, they will be banned from advertising, hence, if INEOS can get a good 5 to 7 years of marketing, I guess it will be a good ROI.
anon
14th September 2020, 8:06
@jaymenon10 the source being used here – the Daily Mail – is a pretty unreliable source though, so like many I would be rather sceptical of this being true.
Ian Tommins (@thelem)
14th September 2020, 11:20
I’d normally agree that the Daily Mail is not a reliable source, but their source is Eddie Jordon, who has a good track record of getting F1 scoops.
anon
14th September 2020, 11:51
Maybe in the past, but his accuracy in recent years seems to have gone down as he is less closely connected with the sport these days. How many of his more recent predictions have been correct?
Robbie (@robbie)
14th September 2020, 15:41
@jaymenon10 Just cherry-picking a few comments you made. Are you sure Mercedes plans to ‘de-ICE’ or is it just that they will no longer have vehicles that are purely ICE powered and will concentrate on electric, sure, but mainly hybrid, which is still considered ’electrification?’ Just saying that from my observation no maker is going full electric any time soon as there simply isn’t the demand nor the practicality yet. Hybrid cars on the other hand are stingier and stingier on gas, but allow the practicality of ICE cars because they have proper range, and are recharging themselves on the fly.
And as to oil and gas companies becoming pariahs in another decade, I highly doubt that as they will be needed in order to produce whatever vehicles will be driven going forward. What will electric cars and their batteries be made of without oil and gas companies full involvement? They are needed to make solar panels and wind turbines too.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
14th September 2020, 15:50
@Robbie
You’re possibly right about Merc’s plans, but the general feeling I’ve had reading Dieter’s reporting was that Kallenius isnt big into F1, certainly not in the long term. Also, it appears that him and Toto aren’t exactly best of mates. Perhaps I’m wrong.
On oil and gas companies,.well according to the media and various esteemed politicians, everything that we need to run a world economy and function as nations will magically appear, because the world will end in 12 years. Haha.
Ancient1
4th October 2020, 9:42
Your comments about Merc & Ineos are just plain commonsense, actually.
Ineos is British based & Boris has an agenda to cease petrol/diesel sales way before the original date of 2040, as the Govt realises they require more time to achieve 2050 environmental targets.
Merc ‘DE-ICEing’ is inline with their road vehicles to Electric Vehicles (EV), hence the entry in Formula E.
NB: Susie Wolff & Nico Rosberg are in FE [perhaps Toto???]
VAG’s similar policy to EV’s & FE with Audi & Porsche. Hence Porsche’s F1 power unit, that actually was bench tested, will never see light of day & won’t be an RBR option. Andreas S. will probably know where it is.
ColdFly (@)
14th September 2020, 9:37
@keithcollantine, as we passed mid-season will you be sharing your driver ratings?
I guess could be something like: HAM, VER, RIC, SAI, GAS, NOR, LEC, RUS, RAI, STR, PER, LAT, KVY, BOT, OCO, ALB, GIO, VET, MAG, GRO (without too much deliberation/reflection).
frood19 (@frood19)
14th September 2020, 9:59
@coldfly I quite like that ranking, though I might have Perez above stroll and latifi a bit lower. your bottom 4 seems about right!
Dan Rooke (@geekzilla9000)
14th September 2020, 11:14
Oooooooooh! I can’t disagree much with that! I may swap a few folk around, I’d probably have Perez above Stroll but Stroll has improved this season – and Perez may drop off a bit for the rest with the uncertainty over his future (unless he pushes himself to prove a point).
HAM and VER really are the 2 main talents this season. RUS has impressed me too and he seems quite racey. LEC has managed to steer a cow around the track and somehow get decent results at times!
Balue (@balue)
14th September 2020, 17:42
@coldfly Leclerc that low again? IMO he’s severely underrated. Don’t forget the dog of a car he has to deal with. Still maxing it.
anon
14th September 2020, 21:10
@balue mind you, Leclerc has also had a couple of notable DNFs due to driver inflicted errors – the collision with Vettel in Styria, which he himself took full blame for, and ultimately his crash in Monza came about because he was pushing too hard on the restart.
Two self inflicted DNFs in nine races, one of which involved him also taking his team mate out of the race, are ultimately mistakes that do take some of the gloss off of his performances.
Ancient1
4th October 2020, 9:49
BWOAH!!!!, if they were in the same cars “the Old Man” [Kimi] would definitely be higher.
sato113 (@sato113)
14th September 2020, 10:44
the preview for this round-up on the home page suggests there’d be an article about Stroll being ‘ok’ after the crash. But it’s no where to be found?
Robbie (@robbie)
14th September 2020, 15:45
@sato113 It is mentioned in the second paragraph of the article whose heading starts with ‘Checo’ and has in brackets (Racing Point).
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
14th September 2020, 12:15
Why is Norris so happy? He passed Pérez on track, only to lose the place in the pits as he stayed out too long. He should have finished 5th.
Balue (@balue)
14th September 2020, 17:39
@f1infigures Indeed. It wasn’t really a great showing and likely would have been beaten by his team mate, but I guess the result is still good at McLaren.
Balue (@balue)
14th September 2020, 17:38
Huge news with the Andy Cowell rumour, if true. It fits with what he said in Beyond the Grid interview about wanting to work on the chassis side as was his original intent, and something more ‘from scratch’. His job now was anyway all about people management he said, and obviously doing a great job with that.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th September 2020, 1:05
On cotd, the f2 kids manage to safely pull the sc restart. Sure throwing the steering wheel looks like burning money though it is surely less expensive than burning an engine.