In the round-up: Guenther Steiner said that Mick Schumacher’s 2022 contract is still in process, although Nikita Mazepin’s has been signed.
In brief
Mazepin’s 2022 Haas deal signed, Schumacher’s ‘being sorted out’
Haas announced last December Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher had joined them as part of a “multi-year” agreement, though the driver recently indicated plans for him to race at the team next year had not yet been finalised. Team principal Guenther Steiner said they are in discussions with Ferrari to firm up his deal.“There’s a few things which just need to be sorted out,” said Steiner. “It’s a three-way contract obviously because he’s got one with Ferrari. There’s needs to be a few ‘t’s crossed and a few ‘i’s dotted and then we will get three.
“Mick is right in saying he’s not signed, there is agreements in place but because it’s a three-way it’s always more difficult than when it is a straightforward one-to-one contract.”
Schumacher’s team mate Nikita Mazepin, whose father Dmitry’s Uralkali company became the team’s title sponsor this year, is locked in for 2022 said Steiner. “Everything is signed there, everything is fine.”
Lotterer: crash with Da Costa part of “the game” in Formula E
Lotterer finished outside the points for the seventh time this season after clashing with Da Costa in an incident the Techeetah driver considered wholly Lotterer’s fault. Lotterer was issued a drive-through penalty during the race as well as two penalty points against his Formula E license, bringing him to a total of 8 penalty points currently.
Speaking after the Eprix, Lotterer said he felt his move was legitimate and that the crash was at least partially Da Costa’s fault. “Well, I clearly showed that I defended early and it was his choice to go in that hole and he touched my rear.
“As we saw before he touched the wall, he’d touched my rear, my car was pointing in the wrong direction. So for me, the penalty is not fair because it’s the game, you know, and he could have gone to the outside, as well – he was on 250, he had more speed to go out and I clearly showed that I wanted him not to go on the inside and that’s my right.
“He came from behind, I don’t know why they decide things like that. In Rome it was the other way around, I got hit when I’m in front and I got a penalty for it.”
Da Costa called the incident “not acceptable driving standards” in a social media post, asserting Lotterer was wholly to blame.
Jeddah Grand Prix tickets go on sale at 40% venue capacity
The promoter for the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has put tickets on sale for the race, with initially 40% of the race’s capacity being released for purchase. Tickets can be purchased locally and as international visitors.
As part of the announcement, organisers confirmed that capacity was intended to expand, as the global vaccine coverage against coronavirus increased.
Codemasters announce Grid Legends
Codemasters, maker of the official F1 games, have announced Grid Legends, coming 2022. The game allows players to customise race modes and tracks, including a mix of traditional and street circuits.
Players also feature in their own Netflix-style documentary around their motorsport careers.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
UNSEEN FOOTAGE!@Lucasdigrassi almost pulled off an audacious move after nipping through the pitlane to grab the lead during a safety car period.
But it was ruled he didn't come to a stop before exiting the pit and was black flagged for declining a drive-through penalty. pic.twitter.com/DeXEI11K0V
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) July 25, 2021
Statement:
Everything we did today was clearly permitted by the rules of the championship. We only could do it if the safety car was in a lower speed than the pit-lane speed limit, otherwise I would lose positions.
It was a bold, risky move but I’m fully behind my team when…
— Lucas di Grassi (@LucasdiGrassi) July 25, 2021
… the decision was taken. The penalty was correct applied because the vehicle (the wheels did reach 0) didn’t go to full 0 km/h AFTER the data was analyzed in detail, as it was so close.
I was only informed of the penalty after the checkered flag, via radio.
— Lucas di Grassi (@LucasdiGrassi) July 25, 2021
Just saw the remains of Max Verstappen's left rear wheel from last week, I'd not appreciated the huge forces involved on some parts of the car – hopefully share a picture later.
— Cllr Sam S Collins (@NorthHertsSam) July 24, 2021
What I'm enjoying most about researching the book is uncovering little facts that I'd not come across before – such as Niki Lauda attending the James Hunt celebration meeting to sign autographs – just imagine Max V doing the same at a clubbie to honour Lewis H?
— Ben Evans (@bencommentator) July 24, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Spa 2021: Race three penalties (British F3)
"On the first lap of the race, cars 12 (Alvarez) and 13 (Ushijima) overtook several cars at turn four (Eau Rouge) with all four wheels beyond the white line. Five seconds has been added on to the race times of both drivers, with Ushijima dropping from third to sixth in the amended result. Alvarez's position does not change."
Bearman leads Bedrin in VAR one-two in Italian F4’s third Imola race (Formula Scout)
"Iron Lynx’s Leonardo Fornaroli started alongside Bearman on the front row, but he was outlaunched by Bedrin and Prema’s Sebastian Montoya behind, with Bedrin getting through on the inside while Montoya moved ahead of him on the outside entering Tamburello for the first time."
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Comment of the day
Formula 1’s new rules for 2022 may prove a step backwards in terms of the level of competition in the championship, Keith suspects:
I think in the long run it is a step in the right direction. This is the biggest and most well researched change in aerodynamics ever in order to promote close racing, so I feel that it has to be an improvement overall, even if they are retaining DRS for the time being.
However, since we finally have some competition at the front of the field this year, I think next year might be a step backwards in those terms. Whenever there is a major regulation change there tends to be one team that comes out ahead, before convergence starts to happen towards the end of that set of regulations, so I expect the same might apply here to some extent. But since the engine performance is frozen and design regulations are more prescriptive, hopefully that means convergence will happen much sooner with this set of rules than the previous one.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Unitedkingdomracing, Oscar Jean Diaz Bustamante and Paolo!
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On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today McLaren’s Keke Rosberg took pole position for the German Grand Prix, having announced his retirement plans the day before
JohnH (@johnrkh)
26th July 2021, 1:31
I wonder who will replace Räikkönen if he retires at the end of this year?
Red Pill (@redpill)
26th July 2021, 2:51
I hope to see a Schumacher & Bottas line up at Alfa next year. That would be a solid line-up to give Alfa a driver line up to get them up to speed and develop. Schumacher could learn from Bottas and become a solid racer giving Alfa lots of potential in the coming years.
Who would want to stay at HAAS? They’ve proven themselves to be a solid candidate to carry the Red Lantern (Lanterne rouge).
Jere (@jerejj)
26th July 2021, 7:43
@johnrkh Bottas has been rumored recently.
My predictions are Giovinazzi-Shwartzman/Ilott or Bottas-Shwartzman/Ilott. Giovinazzi-Bottas is also a possibility as everything’s open for Alfa Romeo.
@redpill
Broke1984 (@broke1984)
26th July 2021, 11:25
@jerejj indeed. Even signing all 3.
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
26th July 2021, 1:55
They look like Beavis and Butthead. Drive like it too.
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th July 2021, 9:51
Don’t go commenting on how they look and then try to make that say something about their driving (in the worst car in the field), that’s really not done @darryn
GeeMac (@geemac)
26th July 2021, 7:07
I am honestly very surprised Schumacher’s team are leaving him at Haas for 2022, moving him to Alfa Romeo seems a much more solid bet for his future in the near term. Haas has been meandering for a while now, not sure what the future will hold for them. Perhaps his team is giving them the benefit of the doubt for 2022, with the rule changes the grid may be shuffled a bit, with a view to moving him on in 2023?
Mayrton
26th July 2021, 8:25
Me neither. Schumacher maybe not being that good? And in need of another year? Doesnt bode well for the future
Red Andy (@red-andy)
26th July 2021, 9:13
Schumacher has form for needing a year-and-a-bit to find his feet in a new series – the same thing happened in F3 and F2, and he ended up winning titles in both quite comfortably.
Not ideal in F1, where results are expected right from the off, but for this reason sticking with the likes of Haas is probably wise. The only thing he can realistically do in that seat is beat his teammate, and as long as he does that more often than not he will be fine.
IfImnotverymuchmistaken
26th July 2021, 11:15
As I recall, HAAS was among the first teams to completely turn to the ’22 design, so maybe next year they do make a significant progress.
Who knows, maybe next year they’ll be ahead of Alpha and a recurring points contender?
Red Andy (@red-andy)
26th July 2021, 7:20
That Lotterer considers ramming your opponent into the pit wall “part of the game” explains why he gets involved in so many collisions and picks up so many penalties.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
26th July 2021, 17:05
Don’t say that apparently RF thinks Andre is a victim here.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th July 2021, 7:41
Mazepin was already under contract beforehand, as is Mick under contract beyond this season, but I guess the form is 1+1 rather than a straight two-year (or more) like with Alonso from what I found out recently.
COTD: This could be what’s coming initially, but budget cap, alongside PU freeze and more prescriptive design, also impacts things, so the field will probably be closer than usual on the first season of a big technical reg change.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
26th July 2021, 12:12
@jerejj Yeah I hope that is the case, or better yet that any of Ferrari, McLaren, Aston or Alpine could even significantly close the gap to the two current front runners and compete more regularly for podiums and wins.
I’m mostly just managing my expectations a little so that if it does turn out that the WDC and WCCs are dominated by one team that at least in future years the new regulations should start to pay off.
Robbie (@robbie)
26th July 2021, 16:38
@keithedin I’m with you on your cotd and your response here, especially about the well researched aero change, which has been unprecedented by Brawn and his team with two cars nose to tail in a wind tunnel. I expect that if a team dominates it won’t be by much, as it should be more a driver vs driver series and not a car advantage series as much. That said even with the very spec series Indycar you still have the bigger teams winning more often, so they just know how to get that extra little bit out of their car, and as well attract the better drivers, and with F1 there is surely more scope for differentiation than in Indycar.
Not sure if you saw me comment elsewhere but regarding DRS, it is my hope that if they retain it and use it it will be in such a way as Domenicali described where all drivers will use it at all times on the designated straights as a measure to reduce drag and therefore save fuel and as well lower lap times, for as he said they don’t need that downforce/drag on the straights anyway. This would not depend on being within a second of the car ahead, but would be available to all drivers all the time and therefore would not be an unfair advantage to a trailing driver as it has been with these clean air dependent cars they’ve had.
I look forward to a much more driver vs driver series with harder fought and won races and Championships.
SadF1fan
26th July 2021, 9:21
If Niki Lauda would still have been alive neither Toto nor Lewis would have acted in the way they did…
Captain Pie (@captainpie)
26th July 2021, 19:55
Not sure I understand the tweet from Ben Evans – is he saying that Max wouldn’t attend out of spite or that Max would attend and that wouldn’t be ok?
Having not read the autobiography it’s hard to understand the context, but it feels like a needless stir of troublemaking when none is needed.
If anyone can explain I’d appreciate!
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
27th July 2021, 6:18
Schumacher, fast becoming George Russel, stuck in deadend car, unfit for promotion, despite his performances.
Dave
27th July 2021, 15:52
Re Schumacher: He should publicly say something about the livery once he moves to another team.
Re Grid Legends: In the announcement trailer there’s some increased damage. And nice to see a revealed Nathan McKane played by an actor.