Ricciardo looking forward to tracks that “don’t bite as much” after Baku

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In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo is eager to race on a more forgiving circuit again after an incident-filled race weekend in Baku.

In brief

Ricciardo eager for triple-header

McLaren driver Ricciardo, who crashed during qualifying last weekend, said after Sunday’s race he is eager to drive on some more conventional tracks over the coming weekends.

“I think to get points after yesterday, just to get the laps in and to continue to circulate and learn a bit more, it was positive,” he said. “So we’ll roll on. I’m looking forward to a triple-header and some conventional tracks, ones that don’t bite as much.”

The French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard is the next round on the calendar. “Paul Ricard, I kind of feel like I’ve criticised that place for being too open in the past,” said Ricciardo.

“But I think after Baku a few of us will be glad that we’ve got some run-off. So I look forward to three on the bounce, I think I need it at the moment just to keep in the car, keep in the rhythm.”

Jeddah circuit’s pit buildings revealed

Jeddah City Circuit pit building renderings, 2021
Jeddah City Circuit pit building renderings, 2021

The first renderings of the pit buildings at the new Jeddah Street Circuit have been revealed.

The 280-metre long, four-storey structure will house the team garages, race control, Paddock Club and other facilities at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December.

Grosjean “hates watching” – Daly

Romain Grosjean, Coyne/Rick Ware, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2021
Grosjean was eager to get back in his car, said Daly
Conor Daly, who led more laps than anyone in last month’s Indianapolis 500, spent time talking with Romain Grosjean during the event. The Coyne driver sat out the race, as he did the previous other oval rounds, but will be back in action for the remaining road and street events, and has indicated he could enter the final oval round too in Gateway.

“Talking to him, the biggest thing that I notice is that he hates watching,” said Daly. “He’s like, ‘I can’t wait to get back in it’. You know what I mean?

“I think there was something, the Indy 500 did look pretty cool. I was like, ‘Yeah, man, it’s pretty cool, maybe you should try it out some time.’

“Who knows what will happen there. But he’s a good dude. I think he’s enjoying it. He’s embracing it as much as possible, which is really, really cool.”

Horner-Wolff spat continues

The tit-for-tat exchanges between Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and his opposite number at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, continued following Sunday’s race.

Asked about Wolff’s remark that Mercedes need to beat on their ‘A-game’ to beat Red Bull, Horner remarked: “A lot’s been made of Toto’s comments this weekend. He’s never afraid to roast his team so publicly, which I disagree with. But that’s his prerogative.”

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Comment of the day

Should Sunday’s races have been red-flagged after Stroll’s crash?

Verstappen has been quite aggressive with the rear tyres this year, but it appears that Red Bull work the rear tyres harder than Mercedes.

However, it does look like that there was a lot of debris on the track after Stroll’s crash or even before the incident. I think we need to do a better job of cleaning the tracks while a race is going on. I’d rather red flag the session if there is too much debris to be safe.
@Krichelle

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On this day in F1

  • 30 years ago today: Christian Fittipaldi won the third round of the F3000 championship at Jerez ahead of Alessandro Zanardi and Andrea Montermini

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29 comments on “Ricciardo looking forward to tracks that “don’t bite as much” after Baku”

  1. cotd that first statement is based on what?

    1. @peartree

      I have been noticing and it has been since Bahrain, that the Red Bull has a lot more torque on the lower gears compared to the Mercedes. This is particularly noticeable on both cars, but it is more on Verstappen than on Perez. The latter does have at times when watching the onboards, but the power delivery is not as “brute or aggressive” compared to Verstappen’s. Of course, the more torque you deliver and power in the low speed corners and gears, the more energy you put to the rear tyres. I am guessing it could be the way the gear setup is, or driving style or even the deployment of the ERS. But I have noticed it a lot on Red Bull, especially Max.

      1. @krichelle How can you notice such a thing?
        f1 rules state 1.6 turbo hybrid with a limit on maximum kw output, besides the merc is the most powerful pu, any difference in gearing is anything but minimal and both cars should have pu maps that maximise all available traction, they have more power than grip. Only data can see what you claim to see.

  2. Asked about Wolff’s remark that Mercedes need to beat on their ‘A-game’ to beat Red Bull, Horner remarked: “A lot’s been made of Toto’s comments this weekend. He’s never afraid to roast his team so publicly, which I disagree with. But that’s his prerogative.”

    This is what he said:

    There’s just so much we need to improve that I just want to get on it right now to make sure we are able to compete for this championship.
    We can’t continue losing points like we did in Monaco and here. It’s just not acceptable, for all of us.
    We just need to be the best of us, the best that we have, and we haven’t given the drivers a competitive package this weekend – far from it. It is not only the incident at the end that frustrates, it is overall not meeting our expectations, all of us together – Lewis, the engineers, myself, everyone in the team.

    I think he was asked a question and gave an honest answer, no spin no political double speak, certainly not a ‘roasting’. Horner could learn a lot from Wolff about team cohesion and not playing politics.

    1. Really? Team cohesion? And is Bottas included in that team that you mention? ….
      Both Horner and Wolff are and have been snakes at times. It is only fitting they’re having a public spat. I don’t like it when drivers do it, but I’m enjoying some sleaze and dirt from the bosses :-D

  3. About time I get another COTD hehe. Thank you.

  4. I don’t think the rule about the fastest lap is complicated at all. It seems to me like either a simple mistake, or an alarming lack of knowledge, from the person behind the social media channel.

    But if a rule needs to be complicated for it to work (as this top ten rule is absolutely necessary with the fastest lap point), then, in my opinion, so be it. Those who want to understand will put time into making sure they do, and those who don’t bother do not have a leg to stand on if they find a rule too complicated.

    1. The #F1 FLAP rule is less complicated than the Stars Strugglers nomination process.

      This message will disappear automatically.

      1. lol. both seem to be complicated. @balue ‘s comment is the real cotd.

    2. I have absolutely no idea why it must be restricted to the top 10.
      Would the sky fall if someone in 15th scored a point?

      Personally, I think it is less about being complicated, and more about being nonsensical.

      1. I think they wanted to avoid everyone running outside the points pitting with 2 laps to go, bolting on soft tires and going for it. This would happen every race and whilst it might be fun a couple times, it would get old very quickly.

        1. So what? Lots of things in F1 get old very quickly.
          It would spice up the end of the races a bit. And the guys down the back need the points more than anyone else – a point for a Williams, Haas or Alfa Romeo actually means something.

          Another point for Mercedes or Red Bull… Uh.. wow… yay…
          Not really edge of the seat stuff, is it. Expected, actually.

          1. And the guys down the back need the points more than anyone else

            I (and I guess all Bottas fans) would support this.

          2. Agree. Saying the riff-raff can’t have points because they’ll just fit tyres at the end of the race, when that’s exactly what the nobility is doing.

      2. They limited it to those in the top 10 to avoid something like what happened in Formula E a few years ago where the 2 championship contenders crashed on lap 1 & then turned the rest of the race into a bit of a farce as which one of them could get the fastest lap points was going to decide the championship.

        They pitted to change into the 2nd car which would never have been able to make it to the end (The 1st gen car could only do about half the race), They both waited to go back out to go for fastest lap before pitting to make setup changes & going out again.

        It turned the race into a 2 car time trial between 2 drivers laps down. You had the cars actually fighting for position & ultimately the race been becoming irrelevant as all of the focus was on Di Grassi & Buemi playing games.

        After the race Formula E changed the rules so only those in the top 10 could get the fast lap points to avoid that happening again & F1 has simply copied that.

        1. Pity I missed it. It sounds very interesting to me.
          A complex competition with many facets. Nice. I’ll have to search for it.

          But how does it differ to F1? Only one driver from each of Mercedes and Red Bull normally get fastest laps and win championships these days, and they are generally the only ones battling for fastest laps at the end of the races when their race is effectively done and they have nothing to lose….

          At least opening it up to everyone gives others a chance of a point. ONE point.

          1. I actually really enjoyed that Formula e race (season 2 race 10), although it has now been removed from youtube. It was a bit silly, but it was an interesting and unique title battle. Although I don’t think that was the reason for the rule change, as it was still used in season 3. I think the reason for the rule change is because when cars broke down in season 3, the driver would just try to get back to the pits, switch to the other car and then go for fastest lap, when they didn’t really deserve the point. Actually, I think the fastest lap rule, while it was good at the start, is now abused with the pitstops in the final few laps, and so it is time for it to go. If it was extended beyond the top ten, the late pitstops would just happen even more as drivers wouldn’t care about losing positions. Interestingly, Formula 1 gives nobody the fastest lap point if the fastest lap is out of the top ten, whereas Formula e gives it to the fastest driver in the top ten, even if they are the not the overall fastest.

          2. @f1frog
            Perhaps the solution, then, is change the points systems so that it awards points to all finishers, and not just the top 10.
            Then everyone is finishing the race for a reason. Battling for 305km and finishing 11th shouldn’t earn the same reward as crashing on lap 1 or not even starting the race. IMO.

            One of the reasons they introduced the fastest lap point, I believe, was to give drivers something additional to work for and fight for towards the end of the race – to make the closing stages more interesting.
            But if only 2 or 3 cars can generally attain it, and they are already the highest points getters most times, what has the system added?
            Nothing.

    3. @f1frog If the social media account made the error, then that would itself explain why so many others are repeating it. The official accounts are expected to know what they are talking about, and to be able to accurately parse the consequences of rules (simple or complicated) to the extent that these are stated by the account.

      This is an information authority issue, not a rule complexity issue.

  5. I think that the error of the F1 official social media channels tells more about how little these people know about F1 that about the complexity of rules. I agree that the rules are overcomplicated in occasions, but this specific rule is very simple and easy to understand.

    1. @esmiz @f1frog
      I fully agree with both of you. Simple indeed rather than complicated.

  6. Re Jeddah pit buildings: They look nice.
    Re Horner-Wolff spat: Let it continue!

    1. There sure seem to be a lot of trees in that rendering……..

      1. Jeddah is a humid coastal city, it’s quite lush as KSA goes.

  7. Circuit Paul Ricard should be easier for him. Also, the other three, who changed a team from last season. Alonso and the rookie trio too.

    Cars seem to be facing the wrong way around on the S/F straight.

    I enjoyed reading BBC’s interview with Domenicali. A point on the race calendar this year: He seems to use the Olympics as a reference for Japanese GP viability, but good to find out that at least some news regarding Australian GP should come at or by the end of this month, even though September is the ultimate deadline because that’s when the build-up process would commence.

    1. RandomMallard (@)
      9th June 2021, 11:27

      @jerejj I thought Alonso is a rookie after the young driver’s test ;-)

      1. @randommallard, I see what you did there.

        1. I get that one too…2020 so-called “Young” Drivers’ Test where he took part.

  8. Being relieved to go to an open track with lots of run-off – All time low in confidence for Ricciardo right now it seems like. He’ll likely turn it around some time this season, but right now it must be pretty tough mentally.

Comments are closed.