In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr expects Ferrari’s race pace will remain strongly influenced by track to track variations.
In brief
Ferrari’s tyre wear issues track-specific
Carlos Sainz Jnr says that as Ferrari still don’t fully understand their issues at the French Grand Prix, their relatively good pace on the same tyres around Spielberg can only be put down to the circuit’s characteristics and not a change the team have made, yet.“It is unfortunately, at the moment, track specific. The car is very similar to [at] Paul Ricard, and we haven’t really found a solution or reason for our Paul Ricard struggles.
“So we expect our race pace to swing up and down, depending on the circuit. Then we’ll really find the reason why that happened in Paul Ricard.”
Stroll: Fix track limits at Spielberg with gravel
“Even if they just put a strip of gravel behind the (kerb)… I’m not saying every circuit has to redo the whole gravel trap, but if [there’s] a three-metre strip of gravel behind each kerb instead of a double kerb, I think that could make tracks more interesting.
“Instead of messing around with these track limits by one millimetre, you’re off and you can’t really see it from the cockpit and all that stuff, which is silly.”
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Ferrari and McLaren out of reach for Alpine this season
Esteban Ocon says it’s clear Alpine are not contenders for third place in the constructors championship as the former Renault team was last year.
“I was fighting with Charles [Leclerc] in some part of the race and he was much too fast compared to us, for sure.
“We are going to be fighting with AlphaTauri and Aston Martin all the way through the season. They seem to have a little bit more pace than us overall.
“So little by little we need to be scoring points and do the best we can.”
Giovinazzi: undercut and early-race gains failed to compensate for spin
Antonio Giovinazzi Styrian Grand Prix was ruined before the end of lap one, when he was spun at turn four following contact with Pierre Gasly. The collision was neither drivers’ fault but Giovinazzi said it effectively ended his chances in the grand prix.
“It was bad luck because I think after that, my race was quite compromised,” said Giovinazzi. “I pushed quite a lot in the beginning to catch the group, to overtake the two Haas and then we did the undercut on the hard.
“Maybe we pitted a little bit too early but we tried to undercut. But then in the end of the race, my tyres were in a good shape, and yeah we were too slow in the end. But I think my race, to be honest, was compromised from lap one.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
This one hurt. Every single member of the team should hold their head high today. We were up there on merit. Racing can be brutal but we keep fighting.
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) June 27, 2021
So bittersweet. One of my best performances with heaps of overtakes but should have been higher without the contact with Pierre. A shame about what happened but we've spoken and everything is ok. Our speed looks good for next weekend and thanks for your Driver of the Day votes 👊 pic.twitter.com/OZ2kJTw3c3
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) June 27, 2021
😑😑😑
Short race today, let’s think about next weekend now. pic.twitter.com/PLbDTMUeY6— PIERRE GASLY 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) June 27, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Sports fans warned: you will be guinea pigs at UK summer events (The Guardian)
"I’m not sure people buying tickets are fully aware that there is a risk involved, and that the purpose of the event is to measure what dangers are posed."
Martins guest column: racing at home was mega (Formula 3)
"I learned how to be opportunistic. To see the opportunities and go for them straight away, without waiting one or two laps, and without overheating my tyres."
Simmons seals race three success at Silverstone (British F3)
"The British driver started fourth on the grid and led for the majority of the race holding off Alex Connor and Roberto Faria, with the trio covered by half a second at the flag. Pole sitter Reema Juffali had her best race in the series so far to claim fourth, with Elite Motorsport pair Jose Garfias and Tom Lebbon completing the top-six."
Bearman makes it five wins in a row in restarted Italian F4 race (Formula Scout)
"Ollie Bearman won his fifth successive Italian Formula 4 race as Cenyu Han had a spectacular accident that caused a red flag at Vallelunga. Bearman got a good start and resisted pressure from Prema’s Sebastian Montoya in the opening moments of the race before a safety car was brought out for separate incidents involving Samir Ben and Erick Zuniga."
2021 W Series race one Red Bull Ring highlights (W Series)
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.
Comment of the day
After Verstappen’s dominant victory makes it three Red Bull wins in a row, Gechi Chan says Mercedes’ helplessness seems like tables genuinely turned, now.
The past few years, most of the races Red Bull won were super tight or steals (down to some bad luck for Mercedes or strategy errors).
But this race was proper dominance, like Mercedes used to do so often.
I don’t recall ever hearing Lewis ask “what should we do” and getting no real answer from Bono in regards to having a chance to win a straight-fought grand prix.
@gechichan
Happy birthday!
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On this day in F1
- 40 years ago today Rick Mears won a pair of 83-lap CART IndyCar races held at Atlanta Motor Speed. In race one Johnny Rutherford took second ahead of Mario Andretti; the pair swapped positions in race two
Tristan (@skipgamer)
28th June 2021, 2:42
Re: CotD isn’t it great? No team should have the answer on how to win every race. We have a championship in our hands!
Re: Stroll and gravel strips. Gravel will still go everywhere when people go through it meaning time lost sweeping it or potentially having dangerous marbles in the run offs, and it’s more expense for the circuit owners to implement/change for other motorsports where it might not be suitable.
I don’t even think the safety implication of a gravel strip has been considered either. Surely if a car starts to slide or sink into gravel then comes back into contact with tarmac with a potentially hard edge too boot, there’d be some physical interaction there.
It just seems like a non starter. If not having any feel for when they are close to the track limit is an issue, surely a ripple strip on all track limits would be an easy and obvious solution.
Leroy (@g-funk)
28th June 2021, 4:26
Re: Strolls comment on track limits. The thing is, they have given drivers more than 1mm. The track limits are still defined as the white line. What Massi has done is say they will not be punished if they exceed track limits by a certain amount in certain places. In the picture above they look to be given 2m of grace before they are declared to have violated track limits. As usual, if you give drivers a millimeter, they will take 2 meters and ask for more.
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
28th June 2021, 8:27
That’s not entirely true – the ruling changes from circuit to circuit. In the guidelines, it is defined as the white line. However, on some tracks and more confusingly, some corners, it is defined as the kerb edge.
I had been pushing for a 3m gravel strip for some time, so it’s interesting to hear a driver ask for the very same. It’s a case of balancing FIA/FIM/day to day requirements which is the trickiest part.
Balue (@balue)
28th June 2021, 7:01
Wow at the Guardian’s ‘sporting events virus spread experiment’ -conspiracy theory
Dave
28th June 2021, 7:33
Re Ferrari: Well, both cars home in the points, but not enough to rebuild them.
Re Martins: Now there’s F3 this week!
Jere (@jerejj)
28th June 2021, 7:57
Stroll’s suggestion is something I’ve been suggesting, although not gravel. The surface material used at some Bahrain corner exits. I’ve only mentioned slow-speed corners, though, and Red Bull Ring’s last two are the opposite, so I’m okay without any physical deterrent besides curbing.
COTD: I agree 100%.