In the round-up: Lance Stroll tested a GP2 car at Imola to prepare for this weekend’s race.
What they say
Stroll returned to the track he clinched the 2016 European Formula 3 title for a familiarisation session in a GP2 car:
It was fun, it was cool. I came here little a while ago in a GP2. It’s a cool car, a lot of fun to drive. And it’s a great track so it was a useful experience. So I would say yes it never hurts to do laps on a track to refresh your memory. We’ll find out tomorrow.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Great to be back @autodromoimola – been almost 15 years… pic.twitter.com/pIGfbe3zgN
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) October 30, 2020
The only way @MercedesAMGF1 will fail to win the constructors championship on Sunday is if @RedBullRacing out-score them by more than 33 points.
The last time that happened, this happened:pic.twitter.com/M5GAWhD8Zi#F1 #ImolaGP
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) October 30, 2020
Took some time out of a set up day Friday. Very special place. #ImolaGP #Senna pic.twitter.com/3onsJlypeS
— Bernie Collins (@bernie_collins1) October 30, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Ricciardo says Hamilton’s racism fight has opened F1’s eyes as he praises brave Brit (The Sun)
"When it all kind of first started I was like 'Man, how don't I know this and how could I be so ignorant?'"
British GP next year to avoid Wimbledon and Euro 2020 finals (The Guardian)
"Next year’s British Grand Prix is set to avoid a direct clash with the Wimbledon men’s singles final and football’s Euro 2020 showpiece at Wembley. It is understood the Silverstone round is due to take place on 18 July, a week after the conclusion of the tennis and the delayed Euros."
Statement on Covid-19 testing (FIA)
"The FIA and Formula 1 can today confirm that between Friday 23rd October and Thursday 29th October, 4281 tests for COVID-19 have been performed on drivers, teams and personnel. Of these, nine people tested positive."
How the Mercedes F1 team is racing towards diversity (Mercedes)
"It’s also about tweaking the intake of the Mercedes F1 team and making it more attractive to people from varying backgrounds. With that in mind, the team will be setting up programs to encourage more people into F1, and recruitment processes are also being benchmarked externally."
New French Restrictions Put Paul Ricard 1000km in Question (Sportscar 365)
"France’s introduction of tighter social restrictions has raised questions about the status of next month’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season finale at Paul Ricard."
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Comment of the day
Was Lando Norris right to apologise for his remarks about Lewis Hamilton?
I think he did need to apologise.
Even if the comment was factually correct, that still doesn’t make it not disrespectful to say. Again, if its Hamilton’s job to only beat his team mate, then that applies to Norris, if he and Sainz where in that Mercedes, he’d be finding out how tough it is to be in a strong car and have the constant pressure to perform, getting beat regularly by someone in the same equipment, pressure from his team, and pressure from the media.
Hamilton’s had to deal with the pressure to perform from Australia 2007 and has put in some incredible performances to get to 92. To brush it off the way Norris did was incredibly disrespectful.
N
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Kribana (@krichelle)
31st October 2020, 3:56
Hmm in terms of COTD, I would probably agree on the reason regarding the difficulty of driving constantly at their best. I think the media needs to know “who” they are interviewing before asking questions. Some drivers are happy to answer politely, and are open to any sort of questions, whilst there are some drivers who literally do not care at all. Because Norris was responding to a question. It was not like he started by opening the talk directly.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
31st October 2020, 4:33
@krichelle The media is not there to help the drivers come across as politically-correct people, they want the headlines from comments like Norris’.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
31st October 2020, 5:00
Well doesn’t mean that Norris can just write-off Hamilton’s achievements as being easy and only because he has the fastest car, does it? Yes he was asked about it, but so were literally every other driver because it’s a huge milestone that Hamilton crossed and it’s only fair that the media asks about it. Only Norris was disrespectful in his answer, he just trivialized the achievement, and that was far from fair, as was highlighted by COTD.
bosyber (@bosyber)
31st October 2020, 5:26
Indeed @sravan-pe,I have to that I found it silly to some of the same posters that were all about how Verstappen should be allowed to not care who he hurts with his words are also blaming Norris for saying what he wants, ie wanting to apologize. I suppose for them it is better not to care than to be caring
(Norris: I don’t want to be that kind of person. Thanks for being decent Lando)
Kribana (@krichelle)
31st October 2020, 8:35
@sravan-pe
Yes, of course. My point is that, if the interviewers do not want some rude answers from drivers, they should be wary of the driver they are interrogating, and also asking relevant questions. Although it is also the drivers’ responsibility to keep a cool head, unless of course, they do not care if they get attacked after what they said. I guess his response could highlight a little bit of frustration.
Jere (@jerejj)
31st October 2020, 6:34
The Guardian: Time will tell what COVID has to say about that.
One thing about next year is for sure, and it’s that the proposed Brazilian GP in Rio most definitely won’t happen purely due to the time frame. There isn’t enough time left for getting everything ready in time, starting entirely from scratch, especially as it’s probably only going to get delayed due to blocking and protesting like with Miami, so a thing of 2022 at the earliest. Jeddah is another matter because of using already existing roads as a temporary track, but permanent ones require more lead time than roughly twelve months.
Jere (@jerejj)
31st October 2020, 6:39
I.e., 23 rounds could only happen with an already existing track. Otherwise, it’s 21 of this year’s original 22 (all bar Interlagos) + Jeddah. Again, too early to declare for 100% certainty that all events would take place next year due to the difficulty of predicting the COVID situation 6-12 months from now or even less than six.
Dave
31st October 2020, 9:48
That’s the car Stroll and Verstappen would have raced, had they not debuted in F1 too early.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
31st October 2020, 11:43
Lewis did not open my eyes at all, the fact Lewis opened Daniel’s eyes is what opened my eyes. Don’t understand racism at all.