In the round-up: Lando Norris says he ended up compromising his race by trying too hard to keep Alexander Albon behind.
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What they say
Norris said he was already struggling with a damaged car when he locked up his tyres trying to stay ahead of Albon.I made a good start with my run down to turn two. But then I had to avoid a lot of people who just went into turn one way too deep. Then there was a big crash and I had to avoid the crash. Some of the debris hit my car and damaged it, the steering and stuff. So we had problems all the way throughout the race.
I was trying to manage that and do the best job I could. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
I was racing the Red Bull of Albon, which finished second with Verstappen, so the car’s a lot better than ours and was on much fresher tyres. So I tried but I was having to push a lot and risk a lot to try and keep him behind and I ended up making a mistake, locking up, which happens sometimes when I have to push like this. So a very difficult race. We did our best.
I think we did a good job and everything we could do but other circumstances just made our life pretty difficult.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
If you ever wanted to read an @FIA @F1 superlicence, @insideFDA driver @ShwartzmanRob just posted his on @Instagram.#F2 pic.twitter.com/1e4yNnTHCT
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) September 29, 2020
Seb's Indian Grand Prix tales 🙂
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Former Boston Grand Prix CFO arrested for alleged tax and fraud scheme (The Boston Globe)
"Casey, prosecutors said, in 2015 became chief financial officer of Boston Grand Prix, which had planned to host an IndyCar race in the Seaport in September 2016 before the event was scrapped in April of that year. The Grand Prix group made payments to or on behalf of Casey totalling $308,292 in 2015 and $601,073 in 2016, which he allegedly “failed to include in the gross income he claimed on his personal tax returns for those years,” the statement said."
The World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes (Sports Pro)
"Lewis Hamilton is 21st in the list and Charles Leclerc is 37th."
Supercars GP TV question (Auto Action)
"The preferred date for the AGP is March 14. Whether it goes ahead as the opening round of the 2021 F1 world championship will depend on Australia easing border restrictions."
Motorsport Manager Online roadmap (Playsport)
"These four updates are scheduled over the next six months, and are designed to tackle key features which aim to improve the game’s health, enjoyment and long-term replay-ability."
"The Guestia App allows our travel team to plan all individual travel and logistical arrangements for our racing team. With the outbreak of Covid-19, the platform enabled McLaren to provide real-time information to all team members about the changing situation."
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Comment of the day
Were Hamilton’s penalty points cancelled because F1 doesn’t want him to receive a ban?
Maybe I’m too cynical but I think F1 are uncomfortable of giving the reigning world champion and current points leader a race ban and then seeing him win the title anyway.
I don’t think F1 ‘has it in for him’. He’s been on the receiving end of some dodgy choices and he’s benefitted from some too. Consistent stewarding is a different argument and something that needs looking at though.
Adam (@Rocketpanda)
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On this day in F1
- 30 years ago today Alain Prost kept his title hopes alive by winning the Spanish Grand Prix while a damaged radiator put rival Ayrton Senna out. Second for Nigel Mansell gave Ferrari their last one-two for eight years.
OOliver
30th September 2020, 2:37
I very much doubt COTD was the reason his last penalty points were canceled.
Neither Hamilton nor Mercedes have that power to influence the FIA decision.
The infraction should only have resulted in a clarification and then a warning. The stewards were too hasty to punish and that was were they erred. You then cannot change the punishment because the race is over, but the penalty points can be removed.
F1oSaurus (@)
30th September 2020, 8:21
How is the COTD claiming that it was Mercedes behind it? Rather it suggests that it’s a face saving affair from the FIA itself.
You could see exactly the same thing when Vettel was about to get a race ban in 2017 and 2019. When it got close, the stewards suddenly bent over backwards not to give him an extra penalty.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th September 2020, 10:01
@f1osaurus 2018, not 2017 and 2019.
F1oSaurus (@)
30th September 2020, 15:01
@jerejj Well I remembered 2017 (Baku) and 2019 (Monza) after which he was in trouble. Maybe 2018 as well, but I don’t remember that one.
Maybe this helps?
2017 after Baku: https://www.racefans.net/2017/07/02/how-vettel-could-incur-a-race-ban-in-austria/
2019 after Monza: https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/08/vettel-three-points-from-race-ban-after-penalty-for-dangerous-incident/
Also fun:
https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/13/vettel-has-scored-most-penalty-points-of-any-driver-since-they-were-introduced/
Jere (@jerejj)
30th September 2020, 16:52
@f1osaurus I guess I recalled incorrectly when Nico Rosberg jokingly offered himself for a one-off replacement drive when Seb was three penalty points away from a race ban. I remembered he would’ve said that in 2018, but it was last year after all.
https://youtu.be/Kuam5n3QAco
F1oSaurus (@)
30th September 2020, 19:36
@jerejj Ha, ha, Rosberg always ready to help out :)
Mashiat (@mashiat)
30th September 2020, 6:49
Not gonna lie, for a whole 2 seconds, I thought Vettel was doing an impression of an Indian accent.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
30th September 2020, 7:54
I paused and restart the video because I thought the same.
Philip (@philipgb)
30th September 2020, 6:56
Re COTD
I think they would absolutely jump at the chance to issue a race ban to Hamilton. Who cares how it looks or how controversial it would be, that kind of story sells and makes the news
It then producing a race where Verstappen now only has to get on top of Bottas and a rusty Vandoorne is just gravy
Red Andy (@red-andy)
30th September 2020, 7:16
@philipgb If that’s the case, why did they rescind the penalty points? And why not issue any for his track limits infraction in qualifying? He could be looking at a race ban already if the stewards had been harsher.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th September 2020, 7:47
I guess there’s still at least some chance of The Australian GP happening as the season-opener after all, even though, an article from this site not while ago implied that the Australian GP could take place alongside the Singapore and Japanese GPs later in the year. Time will tell.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
30th September 2020, 8:05
Re COTD. My problem is why F1 canceled penalty points just because the team said they’re the one to blame? This is bad precedence. What if Renault and Red Bull claim that Ricciardo and Albon mistakes were their instruction and asked for financial penalty instead?
F1oSaurus (@)
30th September 2020, 8:35
@ruliemaulana Probably the same reason as to why an unsafe release has been changed to a team offence. The driver could check the mirrors before going, how is only the team responsible?
JimG (@jimg)
30th September 2020, 9:55
@f1osaurus:
I doubt that that is a realistic option. Aside from the quality of vision afforded by the mirrors on an F1 car, he’d be looking through the three men working on the left-rear wheel. I don’t know exactly how the teams work it, but it would make sense to me to have someone dedicated to looking for traffic coming along the pit lane, who can hold the driver until it’s safe to go. Also, F1 is a team sport, and this is one situation in which one team member (the driver) relies on other team members (the pit crew) to support him.
F1oSaurus (@)
30th September 2020, 14:56
@jimg I’m just saying. It could be argued that it’s up to the driver not to hit the competitors.
Point is, it was considered a driver error and these days it rarely is anymore. Apart from when the driver really goes overboard. Like Verstappen putting Bottas in the wall in Monaco.
JimG (@jimg)
30th September 2020, 15:29
@f1osaurus I kind of get where you’re coming from, the driver is the one ultimately in control of the vehicle. Everything about F1 has become so specialised and optimised in pursuit of winning that it does seem to lose sight of the fundamentals sometimes.
F1oSaurus (@)
30th September 2020, 15:34
@jimg I’m not saying that’s how it should be, but the unsafe pit release was considered a driver error at some point and it’s not anymore.
So in that light, I proposed that it might make sense to see the interpretation of such extreme fuzzy rules as a (partial) team issue rather than (solely) a driver error.
John H (@john-h)
30th September 2020, 9:14
Completely agree. The penalty was not correct imho in the first place, but once they awarded it they should have stuck to it. A poor precedent that will, as you say, have consequences in future cases.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
30th September 2020, 10:06
After last week’s race I didn’t stay for the podium ceremony and I’ve seen a few photos from the podium with the drivers wearing their gloves, does anyone know why they did that?
Red Andy (@red-andy)
30th September 2020, 11:20
Trying to avoid contact with any nerve agents lying around the place?
Adam (@rocketpanda)
30th September 2020, 14:04
Woo, COTD ^^
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
1st October 2020, 22:05
Norris is learning the wrong things of sainz.