In the round-up: Formula 1 race director Michael Masi says Fernando Alonso’s recent comments about how racing incidents are judged did not have any bearing on the stewards.
Join RaceFans on Facebook
Don't miss anything from RaceFans - join us on Facebook here to see whenever a new article has been added:
In brief
Masi rejects Alonso’s stewarding comments
Following Alonso’s suggestion last week that there are different rules for different people, Masi said he “doesn’t engage” with such comments.
“Every driver is entitled to their views and comments, either internally or to the media, and that’s fine,” said the F1 race director.“The rules are applied equally for everyone,” Masi stressed. “He’s entitled to his view but we judge each and every incident looking at the actual incident and what occurs.”
Masi said that comments such as Alonso’s did not affect the stewards’ job. “We are very fortunate that we have a very good group of stewards throughout the year and no, I can tell you that does not place any additional pressure whatsoever on them.”
Norris was “quite scared” by poor visibility
“The laps to grid, you basically can’t see a thing,” said the McLaren driver. “I was quite scared, actually, how bad it was and even on the first lap.
“But I think the first lap, I managed to get a gap and control it very well from then on. I think it’s because the water sits on the surface quite a bit. It didn’t dry, so there’s always a bit of water on it, it’s not down in the cracks.”
However he said the conditions were no worse than at other venues. “The spray’s terrible at every other track we go to,” Norris explained. “It’s just this stayed bad for a little bit longer. I think lap one was more like oily water rather than just water.”
Red Bull junior loses DTM title in controversial finale
Red Bull junior and Formula 2 driver Liam Lawson lost the 2021 DTM title to Maximilian Götz in a controversial end to the season at the Norisring in Germany.
Lawson, who started the final race with a 19-point lead over Kelvin van der Linde, was taken out at the first turn by his ABT-Audi rival, along with AF Corse-Ferrari team mate Nick Cassidy (standing in for Alexander Albon). Van der Linde was able to continue but both AF Corse cars were damaged and effectively out of the race.
Götz, who had started the race 22 points adrift of Lawson in the standings, had to win in order to seal the title. Over the final two 2.3-kilometre laps Lucas Auer and Phillip Ellis, both driving for Team Winward-Mercedes, lost 16 seconds to Götz, allowing the Team HRT-Mercedes driver past for the title-grabbing win.
A championship victory for Lawson would have secured the points he needed to become eligible for an F1 superlicence.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Haas it come to this? Gunther Steiner on F1 team's bright future (Autocar)
"Steiner: 'So not only would we have made little progress with this year’s car, but also we would have compromised the future. And the future isn’t one year: it’s five years at least with the new regulations'"
Bearman becomes Italian F4 champion as Duerksen dominates Mugello (Formula Scout)
"Ollie Bearman claimed the 2021 Italian Formula 4 title with a round to spare by finishing a subdued 10th at Mugello in a race dominated by Joshua Duerksen. The pair shared the second row of the grid, and Duerksen immediately leapt into second place to challenge poleman Joshua Dufek for the lead. Bearman meanwhile dropped behind three cars, and their respective trajectories continued through the race."
Codemasters working on its 'Most ambitious and biggest” AAA game (Exputer)
"Recently, we came across a few new job listings on the Codemasters website, all of which suggest that the company has an unannounced AAA racing game in the works and it’s quite enthusiastic about it."
Formula Regional Europe round 18: Mugello (Formula Regional Europe via YouTube)
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.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
|@LewisHamilton: "We're going to have to get some music in this car. I can't listen to that terrible beep every single race."
Bonnington: "I could sing to you if you want."
Hamilton "Anything would be better than this."
Bonnington: "You haven't heard me sing."#F1 #TurkishGP— RaceFans Live (@racefanslive) October 10, 2021
A Honda Suzuka special ❤️ This beauty won't be on the podium today, but we'll still be chasing some silverware 💪🏆 #PoweredByHonda pic.twitter.com/GFoqhBZRBP
— Honda Racing F1_Archive (@HondaRacingF1) October 10, 2021
On #WorldMentalHealthDay, Toto opens up about coping with stress, his mental health routines, mindfulness, reflection and more. 🙏
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 10, 2021
Vettel, driving an Aston Martin, fittingly proves it's – No Time For Drys….
— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) October 10, 2021
https://twitter.com/EngineMode11/status/1447197990008102912
Yep, he still hasn't changed it. 🤣 @LandoNorris #TurkishGP 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/7OW98DbC3i
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) October 10, 2021
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU13T_5NK_l/
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Following a re-issued stewards decision that clarified Pierre Gasly was found ‘wholly’ to blame in his lap one collision with Fernando Alonso, Fer. No 65 observes that F1’s rulebook seems to have had a lot of updates for 2021.
Considering the number of clarifications from Masi this year regarding different penalties, you wonder if they just completely rewrote the rule book during the winter…
Every weekend it’s something new we are learning that was “agreed before the season”.
@fer-no65
Happy birthday!
No RaceFans birthdays today
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
Leonard ‘Big Lenny’ Persin (@)
11th October 2021, 1:13
It’s a shame that the online gaming with Codemasters F1 has been terrible for years. I don’t have much hope for the new title. Will likely be released full of bugs and take at least 15 minutes to get into a lobby, before falling apart after each race.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
11th October 2021, 3:49
Masi in denial, it’s his MO.
Perhaps the AAA game they are talking about is an f1 game.
Balue (@balue)
11th October 2021, 8:26
With Mercedes F1 having helped iRacing with its simulator model and their new Mercedes F1 car model with the help of their drivers, there’s absolutely no reason EA and Codemasters should have anything to do with F1 anymore – or even mentioned on F1 sites – especially as they were always producing games and not sims. @theessence @peartree
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
17th October 2021, 3:12
@balue There’s a much larger market for games than sims.
Indeed I myself really enjoy racing games, and the more realistic the better… to a point. I simply don’t have the time required to dedicate to mastering the likes of iRacing (maybe one day when the kids are older and slightly less work); and I suspect that I’m not the only one in this boat. I am lucky to get a few hours a month to play F1, and I just want to be able to hop on and play.
Preferably, we should have both. An actual sim and the game independently. I would probably still just buy the game because as much as I’d like to think I could drive an F1 car, I know that in a proper sim I’d be spinning out on every corner because I’m driving too slow for the tyres and aerodynamics to work.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
11th October 2021, 4:19
Might as well be signed up to twitter… Please seperate this single column scroll of doom into a seperate post please.
Comment of the day has been getting harder and harder to get to since the rebrand. The community has always been the best part of the site to me. Maybe I need to find somewhere more independent as it used to be.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th October 2021, 7:24
I wish that radio comm got broadcasted. Funny.
S
11th October 2021, 7:38
Is CotD suggesting they should no longer ‘agree to things before the season’ and simply apply the rules exactly as they are written in the actual Sporting Regulations?
That’s how I’d like to take it – given that that’s actually what written rules are for.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
11th October 2021, 7:58
I’m sure the change of philosophy and Alonso’s Russian GP actions and comments thereafter had absolutely nothing to do with each other. Just pure happenstance, a coincidence, completely unrelated.
How odd.
jff
11th October 2021, 8:03
Safety is paramount.
Maybe they could have started the race behind the SC and ed flag it after a few laps as it clearly wasn’t getting any better.
Balue (@balue)
11th October 2021, 16:45
With one steward admitting the reaction to a ruling was life-changing, and as stewards are people not living in a bubble, they will have seen (and even felt) people’s reaction to Silverstone and Alonso’s critizism now, so obviously both they and Masi are affected by this. But for the better it seems. They really tried to be consistent this time, not get revenge at Alsonso. Wether the ‘Brit bias’ that Alonso is alluding to will continue remains to be seen.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
12th October 2021, 0:58
The penalties they applied have been consistent (most of them at least), it’s the lack of penalties in certain instances that is starting to feel weird. And maybe some issues with the rules themselves, but then it’s a question of principle, not consistency.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th October 2021, 20:32
That dtm episode is disgusting.
d0senbrot (@d0senbrot)
12th October 2021, 9:42
@esploratore1
Agreed. I feel sorry for Lawson. Great season for such a young driver and GT rookie. KVL’s behaviour leaves me speechless, and the way Götz celebrated the gifted championship was ridiculous.
Surprised by how little attention it received on most motorsport websites.
Qeki (@qeki)
12th October 2021, 8:12
First traffic paradise and now Food Paradise, what’s next? Interview Paradise? Holiday Paradise? Yuki Paradise? Alpha Tauri Paradise? He clearly loves that word