In the round-up: Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says his two junior drivers are having to learn as quickly as they can in their first season of Formula 1.
In brief
Varied races “ideal” for rookie drivers – Steiner
Windy conditions in Bahrain and a damp race at Imola gave rookie pair Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin useful opportunities to learn in the first two races of the year, says Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.“We got the rain and had to deal with it and learn from it,” he said. “The drivers are drinking from a water hose at the moment, every grand prix is bringing something new up.
“For learning it’s ideal, just learning things like the processes and how to behave in these situations. Once you’ve done these things once, the second time, for sure, it brings a lot less stress I would say.
“Do you want it all at the beginning? Maybe not, but if it comes, you take the experience. I think it’s a good thing all these new experiences.”
Red Bull lost less from new floor rules – Verstappen
Max Verstappen has admitted the new floor rules introduced for the 2021 F1 season have played into Red Bull’s hands.
“I’m happy with what we have with the RB16B,” said Verstappen, who goes into this weekend’s race one point behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton. “It’s faster, it has more grip and better balance. We lost downforce with the floor, but I think we lost a bit less than other teams and it shows that we made a good step forward.
“We’re starting the season strong, the best we’ve had since I’ve been with the team. It’s a long season, and if we want to fight for the championship, we have to keep improving.”
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"The other thing that pissed me off a little bit was Toto (Wolff) coming out and saying this, that and the other, 'if he's not careful he'll end up racing a Renault bloody sedan' or something. And I think that at the end of the day, I know he could be a reserve driver for Mercedes or whatever and I know Mercedes supply engines to Williams but if I was George Russell I'd say 'pull your head in, I drive for Williams, not for you'. And I just think that for me goes a little bit of the direction that Formula 1 is going, there's too much outside influence from every direction in these sorts of situations."
"Caio (Collet) and Victor (Martins) are really pushing each other to another level. That is really nice to have in the team. Then, we’ve got a really young driver in Tijmen (Van der Helm), who is still super young, but profits from having two strong, slightly more experienced, teammates next to him."
F1 2020 - Patch Notes (Formula 1 Game)
"Addressed a crash in career that could occur when completing a tyre management practice program and using a mid-session save."
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Comment of the day
The Sprint Qualifying format has finally been confirmed and approved, but many of you still have doubts over it:
I’d be willing to consider this if championship points weren’t on the table. Part of the argument of adding a point for fastest lap was that, unlike points for pole, meant that it remained impossible for the championship to be decided on a Saturday. That is now a possibility (unlikely thanks to the “trial” status but still possible).
The limited roll-out doesn’t help either, as it’s a classic case of F1 attempting to do something that will make them more money while using misleading fan opinion to justify their attempts.
Also, this is clearly a sprint race that works in a similar way to F2 sprint races (without the reverse grids and with far fewer points on offer) but still directly affects the race (or feature race in F2). But branding it as ‘Sprint Qualifying’ and then offering points for it – can’t say I’m happy with it.
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Biggest achievement in my career as a media producer. Jean Alesi’s flying lap with Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312 B3 (1974) in Monaco. Releasing more footage this week. All rights reserved Automobile Club of Monaco & VRI. #f1 #monaco #ferrari #jeanalesi #nikilauda #MonacoGPHistorique pic.twitter.com/77vDXL3ciq
— Lucas Brito (@LucasBritomc) April 26, 2021
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But who is it – and did they make beyond around turn one?
Find out soon…#F1 pic.twitter.com/8WLK70wEOj
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New episode of @SmartLess podcast this morning, and they randomly start talking about #DrivetoSurvive on Netflix and how good it is. I tell you. The legs this show has and it’s ability to get to random viewers that wouldn’t normally care about car racing is 10/10.
— Jamey Price (@jameypricephoto) April 26, 2021
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On this day in F1

- 35 years ago today Alain Prost won the San Marino Grand Prix, avenging his lost victory 12 months earlier, when he was disqualified
Tristan (@skipgamer)
27th April 2021, 2:04
Is drinking from a water hose a common saying, or is he just referring to HAAS’ inability to afford glassware? 😂
The Lucas Brito tweet is amazing, be sure to turn the speakers up!
Dennis Howard
27th April 2021, 3:35
I think he mangled “drinking from a fire hose”, a fairly common US expression.
Brian (@bealzbob)
27th April 2021, 16:13
I was just about to say I’d heard that phrase for the first time last week when Jimmie Johnson was describing his debut in Indycar. I assumed Steiner must’ve heard it too and liked the image :-)
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
27th April 2021, 9:45
Translation: they’re having too many challenges thrown at them at once, in an uncontrolled way. I’m not convinced it was the metaphor Guenther was looking for, given the rest of the quote.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
27th April 2021, 10:55
@skipgamer @alianora-la-canta Ha! thanks for not being the only one, as a native English speaker myself I found that phrase a bit perplexing. I just imagined a dog attacking the end of a water hose frantically. I’m sure he knows what he meant by it.
Ancient1 (@ancient1)
27th April 2021, 6:12
AJ – a “spade is a spade” Love it!!!
Dave
27th April 2021, 11:19
Brilliant response.
Delphi
28th April 2021, 2:30
Yup, he’s a classic and that’s exactly how he went about it too.
Didn’t always work out well for Alan & wouldn’t work at all for George.
Aiii (@)
27th April 2021, 7:36
Verstappen is being misquoted in that title and misrepresented in that intro there. He’s saying they appear to have lost less than the competition which he credits to their developments.
Nowhere do I see him saying the changes affected them less than others.
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
27th April 2021, 8:19
Yes, that is exactly what I read in the comment. Red Bull has just done a better job at clawing back the lost downforce.
I still think it’s strange that the first comments about high and low rakes started on the friday of the first GP (for me at least, that’s the first time ever it was mentioned)
ColdFly (@)
27th April 2021, 8:59
I haven’t read the full interview, just the title/comment/quote here.
I must admit the title seemed to indicate that the measure itself was less hurtful for RBR.
But the quote made clear that the reason they lost less was because RBR “made a good step forward.”
John Ballantyne
27th April 2021, 11:11
Typical bare-bones comment from Jonesy, tell it like it is. I don’t think that today’s paddock could take the shock with him in the mix.
Delphi
28th April 2021, 2:35
Title is correct but quote is too short, less expurgated
“I’m happy with what we have with the RB16B, it’s faster, it has more grip and better balance. We lost downforce with the floor, but I think we lost a bit less than other teams and it shows that we made a good step forward.”
Dex
27th April 2021, 14:43
Tell Mazepin not to spill that water in front of his tyres during races/qual/pracise sessions. But now it all makes more sense.
Delphi
28th April 2021, 2:44
I watched most of the Monaco Historic GP 2021 races – Alesi looked awesome defending but until unhappily encouraged into the wall on the straight – racing was willing and the price for that was paid a few times (or at least a few calls made to one’s banker).