In the round-up: Mick Schumacher was surprised by the lack of grip at the Algarve circuit, which he likened to driving a Formula 3 car.
In brief
Portimao’s grip makes F1 feel like F3
Schumacher has never previously raced at the Autodromo do Algarve, though he did test a GP2 car there before it was resurfaced. After experiencing his new surface for the first time yesterday he was surprised how little grip there was.“It’s definitely a lot, lot more slippery than what I’m what I’m used to,” he said. “But it definitely was fun. We had a very lively car there. It kind of brings memories back from F3 and go karting style.
“Interesting track. It is quite impressive, a lot of blind corners and obviously it’s quite short but therefore it’s very intense. We have the very long corner in the last part where the neck sometimes gets long, but it’s definitely, definitely good training and definitely good fun.”
Vasseur happy with Ilott’s first practice drive
“He did a good job. [First practice] is not an easy exercise and he had to jump into the car for this. I think he drove in Portimao five years ago, six years ago with F3 and the session is very difficult.
“He had two kinds of pressure: the first one is to do a good job. The second one is don’t spray the car somewhere – and he did very well.
“He was a bit conservative at the first part of the lap, but he did a very strong job compared to Kimi on the last part of the laps, on the last stint so we are quite happy. The feedback is okay and the integration into the team is good.”
Social media boycott grows to 14 F1 drivers
Since Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton announced they would be joining English football’s boycott of social media this weekend, a further 11 drivers have announced they will join them. Esteban Ocon, Nicholas Latifi, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, Nikita Mazepin and Carlos Sainz Jnr have issued their own announcements confirming they will be taking part in the boycott.
Lasting until 23:59 on Monday, the drivers have committed not to post during the boycott period. The action is intended to impact social networks which have failed to take action against racism and discriminatory abuse on their platforms by depriving them the engagement driven by popular sports’ and star’s content.
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Snapshot
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
'I really respect Correa' - Smolyar on why he's excited to race with his new team mate (Formula 3)
"“I really respect Correa for what he has been through and how he has managed to come back. I am really happy for him. As much as I want to beat him on track, I hope he does really, really well this season."
"After the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 Grand Prix events in Montréal due to Covid-19, Bell's investment brings the financial stability and enhanced investment needed to ensure the long-term growth of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix. Bell will ensure that tickets sold for the 2020 race are valid for the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix or ticket holders will be refunded if they prefer that option."
The Contenders: Joey Mawson (Australian Racing Group)
"For someone who hadn’t even planned to contest the full season, Joey Mawson has made a pretty impressive job of becoming a title contender in this year’s S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship. In fact, ‘pretty impressive’ doesn’t even quite cover it: Mawson has stunned this year and after a few quiet years his career has burst into life once more, people reminded that this guy once knocked off Mick Schumacher for the title in German Formula 4 not all that long ago"
Born into 'a family of speed' Lundgaard is determined to go the distance (F2)
"'We accept everything in order to enjoy the sport that we love to do,' he continues. 'We are risking our lives here and we have all seen what can happen.'"
Lynn looking at bigger picture after maiden Formula E podium in Valencia (Formula E)
"It’s been a long time – well, I’ve never had a Formula E podium so it was quite crazy, really. I’ve felt so close so many times so from that side, it feels super sweet."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
Stephen Crowsen noted that George Russell’s strong first practice performance, where he placed seventh-fastest, wasn’t just good for a Williams: it was the best of the non-factory Mercedes cars’ times.
What impresses me with George’s effort is he was the fastest of the Mercedes customer cars. I know we shouldn’t read a lot into these times, but I would have expected to have him behind the Aston Martins and the McLarens.
If he can keep this up then I don’t see why he won’t get to Qualifying 3.
@drycrust
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Ivan!
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On this day in F1
- Five years ago today Nico Rosberg scored his seventh consecutive win in the Russian Grand Prix, while Daniil Kvyat triggered a first-lap crash which eliminated a furious Sebastian Vettel
Mog
1st May 2021, 1:59
Geez. Boycotting social media is such a meaningful sacrifice and I dont know how ill cope without the latest updates.
XMG (@)
1st May 2021, 6:37
Funnily enough, this isn’t about you or how you’ll cope. The purpose of the boycott is to reduce engagement on social media platforms and the subsequent revenue that generates for parent companies, in the hope that they’ll do more to tackle the racism that is still prevalent on said platforms.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
1st May 2021, 7:50
It would have even more impact if journalists and teams were to follow. Basically no F1 news on social media for the whole weekend. Fans that rely exclusively on those might discover new sources and be driven away…
Depending on the scale, impact might be noticeable. Some might say that current scale is too slow but I can see it growing if they keep doing it.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
1st May 2021, 7:50
Too small*
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
1st May 2021, 10:09
@jeanrien Except this initiative wasn’t started by F1. It started in the soccer circles and just some people and groups within F1 decided to show solidarity by joining them. If it was an F1 initiative then ofc they should get everyone on board beforehand to maximise the effect, but seeing as this was not organised preemptively it would probably be too difficult to get all the shareholders in line.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
1st May 2021, 11:10
@keithedin I haven’t said it were and that is the “magic thing” about social media, snowball effect is fast and some messages can spread fast (for good and bad). And it’s apparently happening as @hazelsouthwell points out below.
Social medias are more dependent on the social mass opinion than political views and I really think this kind of gesture is the way to go and make a change. In a way, we can also take responsibility and pause our usage during the week end, not critic and leave others do something, every small bit counts especially when they grow enough to have an impact.
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
1st May 2021, 10:15
@jeanrien That’s why we have, this weekend.
GeeMac (@geemac)
2nd May 2021, 7:29
The easiest and best thing to do is get off social media full stop. My wife and I did it 7 years ago – no facebook, no twitter no instagram – it was the best decision we’ve ever made. Just cut out all the noise. We live in a different country to our friends and family but we have their phone numbers, emails and have stuff like Zoom/Skype…it’s easy to keep in touch with people who matter to you.
#vivalarevolucion
BrawnGP (@brawngp)
1st May 2021, 7:12
Im sure Vettel will struggle without social media this weekend.
ian dearing
1st May 2021, 8:39
I heard he boycotted Myspace and Bebo.
Horia
1st May 2021, 7:21
Ha, this boycott is hilarious. It’s like a drunkard would say he’ll pause wrecking himself for four days, then return to the usual.
Imagine what Vettel will have to say about this. He’s boycotting since forever. I hope the reporters will ask him and he’ll seize the opportunity to give us a heck of a laugh about this pathetic hypocrisy.
If the pilots or sports guys would have the guts, they would quit using them altogether. And even more, not announce that on the very channels they are boycotting. Even then, they don’t deserve applause or attention for it. There are a lot of people on this planet still not fallen into this trap/trick called social media.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st May 2021, 11:17
You’ve missed the point. To create that sort of change, conditionality is needed. There needs to be the notion that income streams will be maintained if the pre-requisites are met.
Otherwise, the approach has and is likely to continue to be, “Fine, go (or don’t come in the first place) if that’s how you feel.”
Dave
1st May 2021, 8:59
Re Ilott: Hope he gets an F1 seat next year.
Re Correa: Very well said from Smolyar. I wish him well too.
Also on this day, Kvyat’s career was never the same again.
baasbas
1st May 2021, 9:01
So for all the latest and greatest we now need Kimi’s socials…
Frasier (@frasier)
1st May 2021, 10:00
The notion that sports people doing virtue signalling will make even a tiny jot of difference is rubbish. They need to roll up their sleeves, think about the best course of action and engage with those who actually have the levers of power. Marcus Rashford set the style.
The answer isn’t to introduce some arbitrary standard of abuse, where do you draw the line? Instead it should be to remove all anonymity, for everyone. Name and location published? Perhaps, we all self censure in our immediate circles because our inner thoughts don’t always sit well with others and we value our friends.
Trolls and bullies will always exist, but the number will be vastly reduced if they realise everyone will recognise them for what they are.
Anon
1st May 2021, 10:36
I can kind of agree here. The whole point of the blackout is not necessarily to signal to the idiots giving the abuse to stop, but more asking social media to do more. But you raise an interesting point as to what ‘doing more’ really entails. Whether it includes removing anonymity is an interesting question, but this would be very difficult to ‘prove’ an actual identity or location, especially with the ease people can fake the first, and change the latter with a VPN. And I’m not even sure if companies would, by law, be allowed to implement it at the minute. I’m pretty sure the UK, USA and EU all require consumers to opt-in to location sharing, and the EU especially can get very picky over privacy laws (not necessarily a bad thing). It’s ended up in a situation where we preferably have two polar opposites: easy identification and online privacy.
I definitely agree with the later half of your first paragraph. People need to take these events to high places, as that will be the only way they get solved. Marcus Rashford, as you mention, has been very good at this in recent months. I can also see Hamilton starting to engage in this side a bit more, having already had the discussion with UK and Bahraini officials recently, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a bit more involved in formal talks on the subjects of racism, human rights, equality etc…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st May 2021, 11:14
@frasier Last weekend’s Super League fiasco showed that social media users are among those who have levers of power in this situation, and that UK football (who started this boycott) have engaged with them before starting this. Two clubs even did a beta test for a week early last month, to positive reception.
In this case, the line is drawn at “hate posts that are illegal,” which is a pretty low line – the same one, in fact, that social media have to put in their Terms of Service to be allowed to operate. Since they’re also required to use best efforts to eliminate it, and even direct appeals to them have not resulted in its happening (which is probably the direct action you had in mind), this is the next step in the process of forcing social media to comply with the law. This is part of the reason why this method is effective – if there’s enough of a response to the boycott, the UK government will likely step in, say something, and the platforms forced to do something to escape their wrath.
If you think the current law is an arbitrary line, you’re about a decade too late to protest that – at least in the UK.
“Name and location published” would itself be illegal in the UK (social media aren’t even allowed to force users to yield their location, and some legal argument exists over whether names can be, provided a record of psuedonyms and their histories is maintanined long enough), thus not a solution for the problem the boycott initially set out to fix. This is due to doxxing, which was overwhelmingly found to be used as a tool of trolls and bullies against decent people, rather than against trolls and bullies (by anyone), last time I saw a review of the practise. In short, the possibility of anonymity (if only through persistent psuedonym) is considered a pre-requisite to protect against trolls and bullies.
If “Everyone will recognise them [trolls and bullies] for what they are”, so would the social media companies, and thus the situation which prompted the boycott could never have happened in the first place.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st May 2021, 10:49
And also the race that ended up being Kvyat’s last in the RB senior team.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st May 2021, 11:03
I got Joey Mawson’s autograph a few year back, when he was in F3. He personalised the autograph, even though I had not requested the addition, which was really thoughtful of him. I’m happy to see he’s found a series where he thrives.