In the round-up: Pierre Gasly says Yuki Tsunoda’s rash criticism of AlphaTauri after exiting qualifying in Q1 was an ’emotional’ response to a tough rookie day.
In brief
‘Quite emotional’ Tsunoda will learn
After dropping out in the first round of qualifying, Tsunoda suggested in an interview he was being given a different car from Gasly. He later apologised for his comments, which Gasly said believes were an emotional response to a tough day.“Yuki obviously had a tough qualifying yesterday, and he is quite emotional,” Gasly explained. “So I think it’s a bit of emotional control. But he’s also young and I believe he will learn and improve on this.”
No need to ‘pick up’ Norris from hard race
Andreas Seidl said McLaren have no need to buoy up Lando Norris, despite a less good race result in Barcelona and being blocked by Nikita Mazepin in qualifying.
“I think there’s no need to pick him up. I just spoke with him after after the race and in the end, you have to accept with how this weekend went. Unfortunately, we did manage to finish higher up yesterday despite having a car that had more potential. We all know about the circumstances.
“So it’s important in order to simply move on. And today in the race, I think he did what he could do from his side that we did from the team said we could do, and he was simply not possible to do more than which is something you have to accept.
“I think you need to look also at the positive side, on a track where it’s simply difficult to overtake and it’s important that we still managed to score.
“[We took] 12 points on the race can where Ferrari was quite strong and the only loss today, I think six points in the championship. Lando, so far, had an incredible start into this season with an incredible performance. So there’s no need to pick him up, he’s fine and I’m sure he will strike back together with us at the next races.”
Safety car pit stop gamble backfire for Williams
Nicholas Latifi said that Williams were trying to improve their options in the race with their early, double-stacked pit stop behind the Safety Car. However they ended up losing too much time due to blue flags as faster cars lapped them, he explained.
“I think it was just an unfortunate position on track, in that all the quicker cars that had pitted from their first stint were basically coming up behind us. Obviously we’re just in an unfortunate situation with the lack of pace in the car. You just lose so much time when they’re running by you, it’s pretty much like taking a blue flag, every time a car goes by, you lose anywhere from one and a half to two seconds.
“At the time where I pitted, one car had gone by me, and then I think it was another seven cars probably over the next seven laps that were going to come by. When we pitted I was like: ‘Are we really getting rid of this tyre so soon? Wouldn’t it have been better to stretch it out and at least make it more even stint length?'”
“Because the ideal scenario would have been for us was to do an ‘option-option’ [tyre] race. Obviously that’s not allowed because by the rules. So when a Safety Car came out and gave us the opportunity, the track position to the Haas [cars], we’ll be much quicker, let’s do an option-option race and try and split the stints as evenly as possible.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Really don’t understand Red Bull’s strategy there. Verstappen tires were so clearly gone when Hamilton made his stop, let alone 20 laps later. Prime example of an engineer/strategist not fully taking in what the driver was relaying about his tires 🤷🏻♂️
— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) May 9, 2021
Same T-shirt slogans for @LandoNorris, @danielricciardo, @OconEsteban and @ValtteriBottas on the grid ahead of the #SpanishGP.#F1 pic.twitter.com/ThCWz5PE3M
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) May 9, 2021
In my actions before the race i decided to kneel to show to respect to those, who have lost their lives 76 years ago in the war. #9thMay pic.twitter.com/zemHtknQR9
— Nikita Mazepin (@nikita_mazepin) May 9, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
"It was the same big names near the front (this weekend), like (Dennis) Hauger. (Jack) Doohan was very quick in the last race today and Olli (Caldwell) did a mega job this weekend as well."
Barcelona race 2: Saucy perfect, Quinn great, Hadjar the fastest (Formula Regional by Alpine)
"In the first two positions, Quinn keeps the pace with Saucy, but cannot really come close enough (gap of around 15). Finally, Saucy also wins race two, followed by Quinn, Hajar (first of the Rookies), Aron, Minì, Ten Brinke, Alatalo, Pasma, Maloney and Beganovic."
Jean-Éric Vergne says Formula E gave him a new lease on life after controversial F1 exit (Express)
"I don't know where I would be in the future. Obviously, my wish is to stay in, you know, to stay in the team. We’ve won so many champions, I mean, so many championship teams and drivers together that to me, it makes sense to stay.'"
Formula Regional Europe round 4: Circuit de Catalunya (Formula Regional Europe via YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNHEeA3FLQ
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
Ferrari had a notably good race, despite Carlos Sainz Jnr losing a few places – but Srdjan Mandic points out there’s signs they’re regaining real operational competitiveness, in areas that have been a struggle in recent years.
Fun fact: Leclerc’s and Sainz’s pit stops were equally fast – 2.2 at their first stops, 2.7 at their second stops.
Nice to see Ferrari getting consistency on their pit stops, considering how bad they were last year.
That new pit equipment seems to have helped them a lot.
Srga91
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Julian Castaldi!
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Adrian
10th May 2021, 5:27
If alpha tauri wanted a Japanese driver, they should have pulled someone in from super formula.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th May 2021, 7:37
@Adrian I don’t know if anyone there (besides Naoki Yamamoto) has enough super license points.
Patrick (@paeschli)
10th May 2021, 6:34
Love those armchair strategists talking about what Red Bull should have done after the race. If Red Bull had pitted Verstappen right away after Hamilton’s second pitstop, he would have lost track position due to the undercut.
Red Bull would have lost the race anyway.
The only way Red Bull could pit Verstappen and keep track position was waiting for a safety car.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
10th May 2021, 7:21
This, Mercedes were clearly faster. Way faster. That is why every strategy worked for Mercedes and none would work for Red Bull.
Hamilton would have won on 1 stop aswell.
anon
10th May 2021, 8:12
@jureo only two drivers ran one stop strategies in the end – Kimi and Ocon – and only Kimi had some degree of success with that strategy, with Ocon’s times completely falling to pieces in the closing laps.
If you look at the 2020 race, the majority of the grid ran a two stop strategy in that race, with that race suggesting it was a better strategy, and given Mercedes had kept back two sets of medium tyres for the race, they were giving a strong hint that they were looking at doing a two stop strategy. What disappoints a lot of people is that it feels as if Red Bull committed to that one stop come what may, even when the bulk of the field was switching to two stop strategies – it’s the feeling that they knew what was going to happen, but didn’t try to do anything to prevent it happening and stuck with a strategy that was a losing cause.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th May 2021, 7:39
@paeschli But if he pitted the lap after, he would’ve had a fresh soft set against HAM’s used mediums rejoining close behind.
ColdFly (@)
10th May 2021, 7:54
Too early for softs, @jerejj.
Emma
10th May 2021, 9:50
What if Max had come in 8 or 9 laps later to bolt on his new softs? Before you hasten to label me an armchair strategist, I must say this was Gary Anderson’s view and I’m pretty sure he knows a lot more about this stuff than you.
Dave
10th May 2021, 14:41
One quick question: Would you rename Catalunya’s Turn 4 to “Ramp” or would you rather not?
Jere (@jerejj)
10th May 2021, 7:42
Tsunoda will get better. I’m not worried about him.
Norris: Probably only a one-off subpar race.
The Williams drivers should’ve pitted immediately once the SC came out, not that it would’ve necessarily made a difference outcome-wise.
What war? I’m still not sure.
COTD: I agree.
ColdFly (@)
10th May 2021, 7:56
WWII.
Russian Remembrance Day yesterday.
DeanR
10th May 2021, 19:19
It’s the media and
Fans that caused this Tsunoda meltdown! A very strange and unwarranted hype train was created from TESTING!?! and he believed the hype. Honda are also blowing smoke up his proverbial and he thinks he should be well ahead of Gasly.
Reality check for all! Good driver. Nothing less, nothing more