In the round-up: Charles Leclerc says he has a particular weakness in qualifying at Interlagos and the Autrodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which he intends to work on once the season is over.
In brief
Leclerc “still needs to work” on Mexico and Brazil tracks
Leclerc took two pole positions back to back, earlier in the 2021 season, at the Monaco and Baku rounds. However, he was outqualified by his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr at the past two grands prix and said he needed to address a particular weakness at those circuits.“Mexico and Brazil are two tracks that I’ve been struggling in the past,” Leclerc admitted. “I worked quite a lot this year to try and do a better job in qualifying. It seems that I managed to find that pace in the race, but not really in qualifying. So I still need to work on those type of tracks.”
He doesn’t believe he has a specific problem on either track. “Iit was a little bit everywhere, to be honest,” said the Ferrari driver.
“Whenever I have a bit more time and especially during the off season I’ll try to put some focus on it to be sure that next year will be on point on these two tracks, especially.”
Vandoorne and De Vries to test IndyCars
Mercedes is set to leave Formula E at the end of the upcoming season. Despite rumours the team might continue as a privateer entry, it has not confirmed a commitment to continuing into the new ‘Gen 3’ era from 2023 onwards.
Drivers “struggling quite a bit” with jet lag
Several drivers admitted they were feeling the effects of jet lag after gaining seven hours in their trips from Brazil to Qatar.
Pierre Gasly admitted he was feeling “not great” and “struggling quite a bit with sleep and recovering properly.”
“But that’s fine, we’ll get it out of the way and we’ll do it the best way we can,” added the AlphaTauri driver.
Lance Stroll said he had had “very little” sleep since arriving in Qatar. “I was having a really nice sleep on Monday night, I was after Brazil and slept in a few days in Brazil, and I was having such a nice night at one o’clock in the morning, had this frickin’ alarm problem, kept going until five o’clock. So it’s just not meant to be, these days.”
Other drivers have found fatigue more of a challenge. Yuki Tsunoda said he “slept really well the last two days” but was beginning to struggle physically at the end of the triple-header.
“In Brazil, I felt it a little bit,” Tsunoda admitted. “To be honest, not a little bit, quite a lot. It’s not perfect. Definitely I need to improve physically, as well.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Apparently mentioning @jpmontoya in a #Ferrari #F1 car is the ticket to getting F1 Twitter fevered up! So here are some photos from today ! pic.twitter.com/mRnYSFbi2e
— jameypricephoto (@jameypricephoto) November 18, 2021
A closer look… 🔎#BornEV #RaceToRoad pic.twitter.com/GpGTQm3PK0
— Mahindra Racing (@MahindraRacing) November 18, 2021
Absolutely gutted, a good friend of mine & an amazing lawyer passed away yesterday morning. Chris McGrath was involved with INDYCAR quite a bit in his life, in 2017 he was instrumental in making the Alonso/Indy deal worked out fairly. Rest easy my friend, you will be missed. 🙏
— Stefan Wilson (@stef_wilson) November 18, 2021
F1 is a complicated sport, but try explaining to the man on the street how it can take five days to reach a decision on whether to make a decision, having not made a decision in the first place, is pretty bonkers.
— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) November 18, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Ex-F1 team boss Eddie Jordan considering £3bn bid for Playtech (The Guardian)
"The former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan is part of a consortium considering making a £3bn offer for Playtech, as the London-listed gambling software supplier becomes the focus of a potential bidding war."
Auction: C1980 Ferrari 312 T4 Child's car (Bonhams)
"This amazing miniature masterpiece was built as an accurate commemoration of Jody Scheckter's 1979 world drivers' championship-winning Ferrari 312T4 Formula 1 Grand Prix car. Made in Italy by CMP, this rare and unrestored Ferrari 312T4 child's car is powered by a four-stroke engine and measures 2.2 metres in length and 1.12 metres in width. "
Trailer: Formula E Unplugged (Formula E)
"Launching on Monday 22 November, Formula E Unplugged is an honest and unfiltered 15-episode documentary series looking at the story of season seven, focusing on the men and women in the paddock who strived, struggled and succeeded in a record-breaking season. Available across Formula E's YouTube and Facebook, the series gives you an unrestricted viewing access through the highs and lows of the all-electric racing 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.
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Comment of the day
As tensions heighten across the F1 paddock, awaiting the decision of Hamilton and Verstappen’s Sao Paulo incident’s review, Phil Norman reflects on a much bigger conflict between the interests of human rights activists and F1’s promoters.
I think Lewis is right of course. Then I am sure that several of his fellow drivers feel the same way. But F1 management and Liberty are moving in the opposite direction as far as putting money first. I suspect they will be quite glad when he retires.
Many people on here are very keen to make comparisons with other countries currently on the calendar and European or North American countries that have long held races e.g. the UK, France the US. The point is though those in charge of F1 are choosing new places to visit each year. There is a choice to expand and a choice being made as to where Liberty expands the number of races, or replaces existing ones.
People like Domenicali and Brawn can try to dress-up these new destinations like they are partly being introduced to encourage change and new attitudes in these countries like the middle eastern states. But really we only need half a brain to realise that these decisions are principally about huge sums of income and profit. Not about improving human rights or diversity. When management make those kind of statements they are taking us for fools.
The drivers and anyone not tied in the management of F1 are quite right to highlight human rights issues in these countries and to try hold the sport more accountable as Lewis says.
Phil Norman
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Joao and Matteo!
JohnH (@johnrkh)
19th November 2021, 0:48
COTD 100%.
frood19 (@frood19)
19th November 2021, 7:43
Agreed. I do think it’s ok for people to question regimes in Western countries too – if you’re shining a light on despotism then do it in your own backyard too. But COTD covers that point.
One thing to add is that the sport is centred on western Europe (just UK, Germany, Italy and France basically) so the sport is culturally and historically tied to these places. If the sport decided not to visit China (for example) then this is essentially what soft power is (irrespective of perceived hypocrisy). It will be interesting to see what tennis does in light of the disappearance of Peng Shuai. F1 (eventually) boycotted South Africa during apartheid – the question is, would it happen again now the sport is run by an investment company?
drmouse (@drmouse)
19th November 2021, 11:29
It would depend on the bottom line, just as it did then. If enough people make enough of a fuss that enough money is at risk of being lost, they will step up and do something about it.
Simon
19th November 2021, 1:15
2016
Montreal 12 June, Baku 19 June. Baku, Azerbaijan is 9 hours ahead of Montreal
2021
São Paulo 14 November, Lusail 21 November. Qatar is 6 hours ahead of São Paulo 🤔🤔🤔
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
19th November 2021, 6:59
2016, start in Europe, spend 5 days in different time zone, then go back to Europe. UK to Azerbaijan isn’t much of an impact.
2021, start in Europe, spend 12 / 13 days combined in different time zone (Mexico and Brazil). Body finally adjusts, just in time to head back east.
9 or 6 hours doesn’t really make much difference, but the being in a different time zone for longer does. Generally the more frequently you travel, the more your body learns to deal with it, but when the jet lag hits you, it properly does a number on you!
Jere (@jerejj)
19th November 2021, 7:24
@Simon Sochi Autodrom-Suzuka in 2018, the same way round, i.e., west-east travel.
Davey
19th November 2021, 15:09
Also in 2014-2015.
bull mello (@bullmello)
19th November 2021, 1:42
Ben Hunt tweet is correct.
–
Also agree with COTD for sure.
S
19th November 2021, 6:31
As if the ‘average man on the street’ cares enough about F1 to want to hear about a stewards decision, the lack thereof, or any appeal against it.
Rob (@rossorob)
19th November 2021, 9:38
@bullmello Yep, F1 is the fastest sport in the world and yet its stewarding process operates at a snail-pace.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
19th November 2021, 2:02
That’s a bs COTD. Saudi is not worse than US on killing innocent people.
Gusmaia
19th November 2021, 2:39
here is a joke: a gay a jew and a woman walk into a bar in the USA. In Saudi Arabia they dont.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
19th November 2021, 4:25
Yeah right. Not having a gay bar is worse than killing innocent people.
DanielH (@danielh)
19th November 2021, 4:26
Because there are no bars in Saudi?
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
19th November 2021, 3:56
@ruliemaulana
I guess you’re not very well informed about what has been happening on Yemen lately.
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
19th November 2021, 12:11
@rodewulf All atrocities are atrocities but you’re rather callously disregarding Afghanistan, Iraq and the destabilisation of Syria there.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
19th November 2021, 14:25
@hazelsouthwell
No, those are profusely on the news, basically everybody in the democratic world knows it. But our colleague above didn’t seem to know about Yemen.
And with the use of this word “callously” you’re really putting the cart before the horse in your conclusions here. In my posts I always oppose govt intervention and as such I’d never support a military invasion anywhere, for whatever reason. When people was behaving like good sheep hiding in the barn and so afraid of terrorism I was already saying no to all of it, regardless of good intentions.
jff
19th November 2021, 7:58
You seem to have found a (probable debatable and regime promoted) statistic to support your beliefs and now call the whole CotD BS.
Even having just a fraction of the half brain mentioned Phil will make people see that Saudi human rights are significantly worse than in the US (or almost every other country for that matter).
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
19th November 2021, 10:13
What are you talking about. Of course Saudi is one of the worse violators of human rights. But doesn’t mean China, Rusia, UK, and US not in the same group.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
19th November 2021, 14:37
@ruliemaulana
UK and US are not in the same group. And the reason for it is not that those countries are good. No state is good, but what makes the last two different for the rest is the existance of an open society, a tolerance (not complete, but way greater than in some other nations) with different ideas, and all forms of diversity. Far from perfect, but still better than the others mentioned, just to take a dimension on how the world in average is still unfree. A limited and discretionary freedom is still “free” in worldwide standards, sadly, as in many countries around the world the law is overtly and absolutely anti-freedom, and in this situation it’s always a lot worse. In the US and UK there’s no group that is treated like the Uyghur are dealt with in China PR, for instance. If there was, that would be more than a scandal.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
20th November 2021, 17:13
@rodewulf
Yes. US & UK are not in the same group. They’re the worst. Kind of countries that occupied other country for decades, installed puppet regime, selling drugs, then leave it ruined, kill the family that help them, freeze the country asset to make sure the millions people living in that country stay in poverty.
Maybe US a bit worse but UK always the biggest supporter.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
19th November 2021, 4:02
He actually lowered his tone since Hungary, and as for Seb the same thing. Let’s see how they will stand in ccp’s China.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
19th November 2021, 7:50
Just seen COTD. Thank you @keithcollantine. It’s an issue I feel quite strongly about.
Sumedh
19th November 2021, 8:10
Aww boohoo. Drivers with their private jets feeling jet lag. Are there any team members making any complaints? Any article referencing them? If yes, then we can talk about how triple headers are bad.
JimG (@jimg)
19th November 2021, 9:09
Are there any journalists asking team members how they feel?
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
19th November 2021, 9:10
Team members are not given press conferences to be asked about it, so if you were actually empathetic to them you could probably extend that if the drivers are suffering they are too.
cduk_mugello (@cduk_mugello)
19th November 2021, 9:41
@keithcollantine @hazelsouthwell Nice choice of COTD, but it’s hypocritical when this site is running promoted articles on behalf of the Saudi Grand Prix – with the sole aim of selling more tickets.
Why are you running promoted articles for the Saudi GP?
Perhaps, as the COTD rightly says:
cduk_mugello (@cduk_mugello)
19th November 2021, 9:43
For anyone who hasn’t seen the promoted Saudi article – it’s here: https://www.racefans.net/promotions/2021-sagp-01/
Interesting that comments aren’t enabled on that particular piece…
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
19th November 2021, 9:53
@cduk_mugello I can’t speak for Keith but personally I think we should go to Saudi Arabia, from firsthand experience of doing it. I’ve written about it for the site before – that doesn’t mean that I don’t think well-written opinions that say otherwise aren’t worth hearing, which is why I chose the comment of the day.
My views are definitely informed by coming from a “bad” country (I was born in the USSR and my home bit of it continues to be a human rights deadzone) – I appreciate that’s not the view of the west but my own perspective is naturally inclined to looking at the people sport is going to, not those who perceive its being taken away from.