Lando Norris, McLaren, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2022

McLaren hopeful of avoiding power unit penalties after Canada problems

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In the round-up: McLaren are hopeful of avoiding any penalties for exceeding their power unit component allocations despite the problem Lando Norris encountered during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

In brief

Norris’ Montreal power unit can be salvaged

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says the team is not concerned about power unit reliability despite the problems they encountered in Canada. Norris had to abandon his qualifying effort during Q2 and both McLaren drivers were “managing parameters” during the final phase of Sunday’s race.

“What happened on Lando’s PU was a sensor that was causing a loss of power and a misfire, that we had in Q2,” Seidl explained. “We took the decision to switch then the power unit back to the other one, which is in the pool, in the morning. So we’re still on two PUs.

“We expect that the power unit can be repaired and therefore, for the moment, there is no sign that they couldn’t finish the season this year with three power units.”

Ocon “very happy” with potential French Grand Prix in Nice

Esteban Ocon welcomed reports Nice could take over as the venue for the French Grand Prix. F1 is not expected to return to Paul Ricard after next month’s race.

“I was very happy to read this,” said the Alpine driver. “I think obviously it’s a bit sad to lose Ricard, it’s a bit of our home. But you know, if we can find a solution to to keep a French Grand Prix and around Nice, back-to-back Monaco and Nice [is] not too bad.”

McLaren partners with Goldman Sachs for environmental push

McLaren has announced a new, multi-year sponsorship agreement with Goldman Sachs, which specifically lays out that the two will work together to meet environmental goals.

As part of the agreement, Goldman Sachs will help McLaren move forward on its plan to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reduce its carbon production to net-zero by 2040.

Mercedes partners with Sutton Trust for STEM education

The Mercedes F1 team has partnered with social mobility and educational charity The Sutton Trust to make its expertise available to high performing students as part of its Accelerate 25 programme.

The Sutton Trust helps to encourage students who come from underprivileged backgrounds but have strong school results. Its student will visit Mercedes’ Brackley factory and members of the team will participate in panel debates, university sessions and engineering days, take part in residential summer school programmes, run practical workshops and assist with university applications.

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Comment of the day

After Kevin Magnussen was forced to pit for a replacement front wing early on in the Canadian Grand Prix, Claus J says he could have dodged the black-and-orange flag by backing out earlier:

I’m not against attempting to drive alongside another car for the first corners on lap one. And I don’t think the move was particularly reckless, either. It would probably also have worked in a slightly faster car or against a less brutal opponent. In my opinion that was clearly a racing incident and I wouldn’t even put the majority of the blame on Magnussen.

That discussion is, however, moot. What made the move stupid was the fact, that he would have been passed sooner or later by Lewis anyway – what did he hope to gain? Haas must have known that they would be behind the three faster brands and at least Alonso, so trying to defend eighth and ninth against the likes of Ocon, Ricciardo and Bottas must have been plan A, one would think…

I get that race drivers are made from a competitive material; but a more mature team would have curbed the enthusiasm of their driver and told him to take a boring day at the office after such a qualifying. Sad, really.
Claus J

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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11 comments on “McLaren hopeful of avoiding power unit penalties after Canada problems”

  1. Can you imagine some of the great underdog drives or overtakes not happening because a driver backed off as they “would have been passed sooner or later”.

    I want to watch drivers fighting and taking moves regardless of where their finishing position will be. The whole “let’s not fight faster cars” mantra is so dull.

    1. Agree completely.
      F1 suffers enough from cars and drivers being unable to fight each other for position – but to actively discourage it is a terrible stance.

      It amazes me what some people seem to want to see in F1.
      Leave the boring risk aversion and settling for second best for Mon-Fri – weekends are for excitement, fun and fantasy.

    2. @cduk_mugello agreed though I think part of the problem is that passing is so ridiculously easy for the top cars with DRS that it does almost reduce the “incentive” for the midfield/backmarkers to fight too hard.

  2. A race in Nice, another street race… narrow, concrete walls everywhere, flat, 90 degree corners… who cares about the racing, the pictures will be nice and it will attract a lot of celebrities for the gridwalk and the pitboxes (to film when at the same moment a take-over takes places).
    And please, oh please… drop Spa ! It’s too dangerous ! What ? They increased the runoffs at Raidillon ?? Well.. than there is no challenge anymore. Drop it !

    Where are the days when there were 3 heroes at every race: The driver (and his team), the car and the circuit. The fans came for the racing, the racing was the show.
    Don’t get me wrong, I still like F1 and for me there is nothing more spectacular than an F1 car driving at it max on a circuit… but I get it, I’m getting old… and F1 is more popular than ever, so I’m probably wrong too…

    Hopefully one day Formula e will do the opposite and start racing on real race circuits.

  3. Should the French GP location change from Le Castellet to Nice, next season would have to be a hiatus year if both Shanghai & Kyalami feature on the schedule unless the event replaces Monaco, which I doubt.
    BTW, who says a Nice GP would form a double-header with Monaco, as Ocon suggests?
    I reckon more likely further into the season, be that pre-summer break with Hungary or post-summer break, given Monaco’s proximity. However, Spa & Zandvoort are also relatively nearby geographically.

    COTD: I couldn’t agree more. Nothing really to achieve by taking risks battling against a Mercedes.

  4. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    22nd June 2022, 12:33

    Completely disagree with COTD, sorry. Yeah, Magnussen probably would be overtaken eventually but we don’t know that for sure. I’m sure Alonso thought he’d clear Petrov’s Renault pretty quick too back in 2010 given their car disparity. Some great drives and great battles have been created by a ‘slower’ car overtaking a faster one and defending and the idea that Magnussen should have yielded to a stronger car is ridiculous and certainly not ‘racing’.

    1. Andy (@andyfromsandy)
      22nd June 2022, 13:49

      For me it is not that KMag should or should not try his absolute best it is that he turned in again just like the other race. This time Hamilton was actually partly over the kerb so was given zero room.
      Self inflicted and just as well this time it didn’t cause any damage to the Merc.

      1. Andy (@andyfromsandy)
        22nd June 2022, 13:51

        Yes Adam I agree that if at any point you are faster than the car in front you should try to make a pass.

      2. The thing is though that Lewis locked his wheels inside of Kevin’s wheels in an attempt to squeeze him and to back out Kevin either had to go on the grass or launch Lewis over his wheels if he braked.

        So ultimately I feel this one was as much on Lewis for giving Kevin no option but to stay there as it was on Kevin.

        1. I do agree that here, other than in Spain where it was all on Magnussen, it really was a racing incident @sjaakfoo; I do still think the COTD is right that Magnussen was unwise to take the move that far, in that corner on the 1st lap after his qualifying, and in a race where (V)SC’s were almost a given. Yes, he might have been able to slow them both down for a few laps defending until HAM got DRS, but in the end, his team needed solid points, and there were potential chances later in the race.

  5. McLaren’s owners need to reconsider Zak Brown’s position. The car is a total mess.

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