In the round-up: Formula 1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli remain concerned about the design of certain kerbs at the Yas Marina circuit despite revisions to them ahead of Saturday’s running.
In brief
Pirelli not satisfied with Yas kerb changes
Following the first day of practice at the Yas Marina circuit Pirelli’s head of motorsport Mario Isola said he was in discussions with the FIA over certain “aggressive” kerbs at the remodelled track. He named turns five and nine as areas of particular concern due to similarities with the kerbs used at the Losail International Circuit where four drivers suffered punctures during the Qatar Grand Prix.Ahead of Saturday’s running at Yas Marina alterations were made which included easing the inner part of the twin-row kerbs. However a Pirelli spokesperson told RaceFans they were not satisfied with the solution and were still discussing the again with the FIA.
No F1 drivers have suffered punctures during the first two days of running this weekend. However this was also the case in Qatar prior to the failures, following which Pirelli noted no driver had conducted practice runs of comparable length to race stints prior to the grand prix.
Vettel criticises driving standards in qualifying
After Esteban Ocon was reprimanded for impeding him – and Vettel was cleared for delaying Pierre Gasly – the Aston Martin driver claimed F1’s regular qualifying problem occurs due to “too many cars in the same spot, and always the same people jumping queues. Nothing else.”
Vettel said the queues, which saw the Aston Martin driver have to almost stop on track, happen when drivers “jump, jump, jump and then you run out of track. Same happened in Saudi, same happened in Austria, same happened many times this year.”
F1 drivers, Vettel said, should behave to a higher standard on-track. “I think we should know the track and how many corners are to come, but it doesn’t feel like it when there’s only one or two corners to go and everybody jumps each other and then gets surprised to stop in the last corners.”
Sainz “very, very happy” to compete for fifth in first Ferrari season
Carlos Sainz Jnr goes into the final race of 2021 just 8.5 points behind Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc and 4.5 points behind former McLaren team mate Lando Norris, the trio competing for fifth place in the world drivers’ championship.
Sainz acknowledged he would “need something weird to happen” to his team mate to claim fifth, “which I don’t want because I don’t want any chance of McLaren getting ahead in the constructors, so I just want to finish the season on a high.”
“Today, the homework is done with our strong quali and tomorrow with a strong race,” Sainz continued. “We go to the winter break very, very happy independently of where I finish in the championship.
“To be in the fight for P5 already, with Lando and Charles and it’s their third year in the car and actually have a chance of beating them in the drivers’ already means it is a positive year and I just need to focus on getting a good season finale to go into winter break confident.”
Deledda given three-place grid drop for feature race
Alessio Deledda picked up a penalty for the final Formula 2 race of the year after he was found wholly responsible for contact with Olli Caldwell during the second sprint race. The incident, at turn nine, saw Deledda move into Caldwell’s path while defending. The stewards ruled Caldwell was significantly ahead at the time.
Despite the grid place drop, Deledda’s starting position for the feature race will not change, as he had qualified last.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
We have apologised unreservedly to Max, Lewis and the teams for wrongly including footage of two crashes in an on air Christmas ident. This was a clear mistake and the images have been removed.
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) December 11, 2021
Formula Renault 2.0🥇
FIA Formula 3🥇(as a rookie)
FIA Formula 2🥇(as a rookie)Yet people complain Verstappen is a bad example for young kids cause he’s overaggressive and “unsportsmanlike”.
A bad example for young kids is Piastri without an F1 seat in 2022. 🤢
— Dani Juncadella (@dani_juncadella) December 11, 2021
There was a situation l, which I initially believed to be an urban legend, whereby Miami EPrix in 2015 saw final walls of the circuit being positioned as the dummy grid sat. ‘Don’t be ridiculous’ I thought when I researched the @EvroPublishing book.Then someone sent me this!👀😱 pic.twitter.com/liDRNTxXN8
— sniffermedia (@sniffermedia) December 11, 2021
After such a difficult year blocked outside Japan I’m very happy to announce that I will continue in Japan for 2022 racing in Super Formula and Super GT as a factory driver for Toyota, I cannot thanks enough Toyota, Tom’s, Kondo Racing for the continuous support!! Bring on 2022😆 pic.twitter.com/L027LrECUF
— Sacha Fenestraz (@sachafenestraz) December 11, 2021
Saturday quizz : Watching @F1 and seeing those cars crawl back to the pits after their fast lap. Did you know @indycar uses a different rule with a qualifying Line that’s always 1 corner before Pit entry so we pit right away end of the lap to not get in somebody’s way?
— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) December 11, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
‘He never got nervous or weak’: the making of Hamilton (The Guardian)
"I am very proud to this day that I raced against Lewis. He was a very fair driver, not a dirty driver. If somebody pushed me about on track I would hit them up the arse, give them a little lesson. He never did that, he was never aggressive to the point that he would hit someone on the track, he was very, very fair."
Abu Dhabi F2 test: Super Formula Lights champion Teppei Natori’s participation is announced (Buzz)
"Teppei Natori, a member of the Buzz Driver Management Programme, will join the Trident team for the F2 test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi from 16-18 December."
"Go, Max. You may be a Belgian yob, but I’m rooting for you, boy."
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
Ahead of F1’s closest title fight for 47 years, DaveW says it’s Formula 1 as a whole – and interest in the sport – that’s going to win, regardless of who lifts the trophy.
Great story of redemption for Jeddah Q3. What twists this season has. And it also shows, if you just looks at the races and the data, that RBR was really back in the saddle after Qatar. That Q3 slip up and the decision to go on the mediums really flattered Mercedes there. And here they really either sandbagged or had the track come to them massively in the cooler weather.
Either way the car is just as good now as ever and the top drivers are really on par. The best drivers in different but equal cars is kind of the ideal for F1. A complete competition between drivers and constructors. Just hope we have a clean duel tomorrow so the season ends on a high note for both contenders whoever wins. I can say that whoever wins, for different reasons, it will be a good story. To be honest I’m kind of looking forward to it ending as this has been a bit stressful!
@dmw
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Andrew Hey, Christian Andrade, Rigi and Topher Smith!
Kribana (@krichelle)
12th December 2021, 0:36
Regarding queue jumping, this is already getting stupid. Get out first and do your laps if you do not want trouble. It’s nobody’s fault that you did not get a lap in because you went out too late and mismanaged the outlap. Gentleman’s agreement is just getting rubbish because apparently nobody follows them.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
12th December 2021, 2:21
I agree – there’s a saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
This has been going on for years now and still teams leave it to the very last second to send their driver out. We’ve even seen occasions where drivers don’t even get to the start line in time but still they persist in this silliness.
To me the smart move would be to get out when there’s minimal traffic and have an uninterrupted warm up and hot lap but pretty much no one tries it.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
12th December 2021, 3:09
That’s been Russell’s trick when he’s made it to q3 and it’s worked wonders. One would think the teams have all the data as to the advantage of a clean outlap vs the extra track rubber/temp, it must be worth the gamble of being caught out or they wouldn’t be doing it. It’s easy to say what the right tactic is from our arm-chairs.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
12th December 2021, 7:16
I agree @krichelle – I have always said that finding enough space for a clear lap is part of the challenge of qualifying, especially in this format.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
12th December 2021, 3:27
That piece in The Guardian was cheerful.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
12th December 2021, 3:49
Re: Pagenaud’s quip about in-laps and IndyCar’s timing line (which I agree is clever), I’ve always thought it was cooling and recharging the hybrid systems that prevented F1 from adopting the same. However, why not mandate that ERS systems can only be charged by plugging in to an electrical outlet in the pits during quali? It seems there would be sporting and commercial benefits to having F1 cars be true plug-in hybrids.
W-K (@w-k)
12th December 2021, 6:34
Think you need to and discover how hybrid system works. The drivers can only use battery power in the pit lane and is used every time the cars accelerate. The batteries would be half empty by the time they started their qualifying run.
S
12th December 2021, 3:58
Q2 traffic was another of F1’s awful jokes.
This is a live racing circuit, nobody should be driving that slowly – and certainly not stopping completely as Vettel did.
Why can’t F1/FIA just enforce their own Sporting Regulations and the International Sporting Code?
So much of both documents are routinely ignored.
nandy
12th December 2021, 5:49
Bring back one lap qualifying for the top ten. Problem sorted!
W-K (@w-k)
12th December 2021, 6:35
Boring
W-K (@w-k)
12th December 2021, 6:38
Imagine your reaction when my driver goes out first on a dry circuit, and then before your driver gets his turn the heavens open. i.e. A good Spa w/end.
nandy
12th December 2021, 6:48
It is what it is. At least they would be guaranteed to start in the top ten.
Much rather see a full one lap from the fastest ten cars than the absolute poop show we see now – it looks so amateurish.
S
12th December 2021, 8:29
And we usually only get to see Hamilton and Verstappen anyway.
It’s like nobody else in F1 exists.
S
12th December 2021, 8:28
I agree. I like that style of qualifying.
No qualifying format could be more sportingly pure, which is why I find it so baffling that F1’s purest supporters don’t like it.
If shootouts are ‘boring’ – we can surmise that it can only be because the cars themselves are boring.
In which case, we can go one step further and ask that if multiple cars are required on the track (race-style) to make qualifying ‘good’ – then why the resistance to sprints?
Davey
12th December 2021, 15:05
For Monza so that we don’t get traffic jams, yes.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th December 2021, 6:31
The WDC battle, especially recently, has been somewhat stressful, so yes, the ending is positive in some ways.
W-K (@w-k)
12th December 2021, 6:44
Re: Pirelli tyres
Another case of unintended consequences.
Short practice sessions,
no long runs to test tyres towards ‘end of life’,
Punctures in race.
S
12th December 2021, 8:32
Not relevant @w-k.
They don’t stress tyres in practice the way they do in a race, regardless of how long the practice sessions are.
With the stupid engine rules limiting their running, the cars wouldn’t even be on the track for that extra time.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
12th December 2021, 22:38
Cotd didn’t age well… I’d say most neutrals or people with a passing interest are only talking about F1 in a negative light right now!
Coventry Climax
13th December 2021, 9:47
Typical for Pirelli to worry about something other than themselves or their product.