In the round-up: Ferrari believe the Belgian Grand Prix technical directive aimed at reducing porpoising is not the cause of their recent dip in performance.
In brief
Ferrari deny technical directive hit their form
Ferrari’s race director Laurent Mekies dispelled the idea that his team’s failure to fight for race wins recently is related to the technical directive introduced at August’s Belgian Grand Prix.The directive was aimed at reducing the bottoming-out effect suffered by Formula 1 cars at high speeds. The FIA introduced the Aerodynamic Oscillation Metric in order to prevent excessive bouncing and made changes to how teams’ skid blocks are measured for compliance to the rules.
Ferrari are yet to win a race since the directive was introduced. But Mekies does not believe the directive has had altered their performance.
“Really we don’t think there is any specific impact on our team here,” he said. “The [directive] is a good thing. It’s putting effectively more pressure on plank wear measurements, which have been there forever. It’s doing it in a bit more sophisticated way.
“We are fully in favour of it and we don’t think it has impacted any of our relative performance, there is certainly other factors for that.”
Tokyo government signs Formula E deal with plan to host race
Formula E and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have signed an agreement with the intention of a prospective Tokyo E-Prix joining the series’ calendar in spring 2024.
The bayside area next to the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre has been chosen as the location of the circuit that will be designed for the event.
Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike plans to make the megacity carbon neutral, and signed the agreement with FE’s CEO Jamie Riegle. Japan has long been a target country for FE, which counts Nissan among its competitors.
Juncos Hollinger IndyCar team to run in Argentina
Juncos Hollinger plans to expand its IndyCar team to two entries next year, but is yet to announce who will join Callum Ilott in their line-up. Canapino, 32, is a multiple champion in Argentina’s Turismo Carretera touring car series and drove for Juncos in the Daytona and Sebring sports car races in 2019.
Formula 3 returning to Monaco
There will be a Formula 3 race at the Monaco Grand Prix next year, marking the first time the category has appeared on the event support bill since 2005.
The Automobile Club de Monaco, organiser of the grand prix, revealed F3’s return as it launched ticketing for the 2023 edition. Although the series is not specified, it is understood the FIA F3 Championship – which regularly supports F1 – where will feature.
F3 was a permanent part of the Monaco GP weekend from 1964 to 1997, before International Formula 3000 took its place. The F3 Euro Series visited in 2005, with Lewis Hamilton winning both races held, but the tertiary tier of single-seaters has not been seen on the city streets since.
GP3, fore-runner to the current FIA F3 series, last raced at the track in 2012. However its final event was marred by a huge crash for Conor Daly, who was launched into a shocking aerial crash at the harbour front chicane when he tangled with Dmitry Suranovich.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Christian Horner set to be vindicated (Daily Mail)
'Horner had denied the accusations that (Red Bull) were £10m over the £114m ceiling. The discrepancy could be around £1m and is no more than a 'procedural' breach.'
'After ending his racing career, Navan native Keith Donegan is fully focused on life as RPM team owner in the Formula Regional European Championship. He speaks to Raf Diallo about his ambition to give Irish drivers an opportunity on route to F1.'
Saudi discussing security concerns with F1 - sports minister (Reuters)
'Saudi Arabia's sports minister said he had met drivers and Formula One bosses to address security concerns after missile attacks overshadowed this year's race in Jeddah.'
Ex-F1 chief Ecclestone faces trial in October 2023 over £400m fraud charge (The Mirror)
'Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone faces trial in October next year accused of failing to declare more than £400million in a trust in Singapore to the Government.'
Lewis Hamilton & Takashi Murakmi are collaborating (Highsnobiety)
'Let’s not beat around the bush: when someone from the world of sport creates their own clothing label (naming no names), more often than not, it sucks. Yet, when one does make it through the cracks and comes out the other side, they can actually be pretty good, and Sir Lewis Hamilton’s +44 brand looks to be falling firmly into that category.'
The man who masterminded Drugovich’s F2 domination (Formula Scout)
'Driver-engineer relationships are key for success in motorsport, and this year’s Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich benefited from rekindling a winning partnership to turn into the driver to beat.'
'The Aston Martin F1 team’s chief communications officer Matt Bishop had this to say about the Misano incident: 'If any driver I worked with ever proposed to do so (pay tribute to such a person), I would very firmly urge them to reconsider'.'
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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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Ocon walked through the subway after his DNF yesterday 💀 pic.twitter.com/knvleTJ0vf
— Rumz (@rumz3y) October 3, 2022
¡Estoy feliz de compartirles que estaré en casa a bordo del RB7! ¡No se lo pierdan, 25 de octubre en Guadalajara! ¡Los espero! #ShowRunGdl #JaliscoEsMexico pic.twitter.com/wlqFk59SdM
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) October 4, 2022
https://twitter.com/SUPERFORMULA_En/status/1577252196919320578
It has been a real pleasure to share the garage with you @Sebastien_buemi.
Great working relationship, constantly pushed each other and had many laughs off track, too. Your helmet will get a special place, wishing you all the best for the future my friend! 🤜🏼🤛🏼#MAXG #helmetswap pic.twitter.com/9B1jNUdlky— Maximilian Günther (@maxg_official) October 4, 2022
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Mekies says it’s “probably game over” for F1’s budget cap if teams have already abused the financial regulations introduced in 2021, but also says there’s a question of if teams “agree on the entity of the breach” when interpreting the restrictions set. This could make it tricky to regulate supposed breaches.
I’m genuinely surprised that numerous F1 teams and fans can’t appreciate that the budget rules would have been contested to the same rigorous level as the sporting regulations.
It may surprise some but accounting and tax legislation can be debated by two parties with both being correct. As with F1’s sporting regulations, it’s whether the rules are open to any alternative interpretation that matters. If they are, blame the rule-makers.
Joshgeake
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Cholle, Yorricksfriend, Jason Sultana and Ddoc!
petebaldwin (@)
5th October 2022, 1:51
Wow there’s going to be some salty Lewis fans this week if the reports about the cost cap are correct… Multiple places are reporting it’s a minor breach of less than 1% over something “procedural.”
S
5th October 2022, 5:32
I’m sure they’ll do their usual of defending themselves with accusations that the truth has been replaced so as to help Red Bull.
Typical F1 fan stuff.
anon
5th October 2022, 8:23
S, you seem to be intent on deliberately stirring up trouble by making posts that are deliberately seeking to taunt and provoke others into retaliating – will you please stop that sort of posting.
S
5th October 2022, 8:54
Nope.
But you are more than welcome to ignore all of my comments.
I’m sorry that it’s so offensive to you that I mentioned a typical human behaviour pattern that regularly and repeatedly presents itself here, just as it does everywhere else in society.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th October 2022, 3:02
It’s indeed very predictable, no need to assume it’s a comment to stir up trouble, because let’s assume for a second that the 1% figure is correct: then exactly what S said will happen on this website.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
5th October 2022, 9:48
As the FIA has form in covering things up they have a point.
Of course ORBR fans will be cocker-hoop and once again have their day in the comments section but overall this whole saga is doing nothing for the sport or show.
jff
5th October 2022, 7:53
I understand that RBR accepts that it overspent the budget cap in a massive way. Their excuse though is that they thought the cap was per car and not for the whole team.
RBR is now arguing that they didn’t overspend on Max’ car, and that the whole overspend was with Perez.
They voluntarily admitted guilt and offer to exclude Perez from last years championships.
Case closed.
MacLeod (@macleod)
5th October 2022, 8:05
I think they tried everything and i found it already strange that Red Bull had over spend and Mercedes didn’t. The only thing what happen is there was a different opinion on stuf and that was spoken between both parties.
Problem was there is a Mercedes mole bringing this to her ex-employers and Toto is trying to get politics working against his rivals to get it changed. This is more worrying as this happened already before (Mercedes second rod in Canada)
anon
5th October 2022, 8:58
@macleod that would be the stay that even some of Red Bull’s former engineers had taken a look at and concluded was a bodged job, and where they thought that the conspiracy theories being put around were an utter joke? And how exactly is somebody working in the FIA’s legal department supposed to be influencing decisions being made by the FIA’s technical department to begin with?
It also comes across as very hypocritical that people who protest so much that we should not presume guilt without evidence will then proceed to claim that others must be “moles”, “corrupt” or “crooked” and are quite happy to pronounce that others must be guilty of criminal acts without evidence.
jff
5th October 2022, 12:09
Isn’t that the role of legal department, Influencing decisions in other areas of the business based on their legal expertise?
BasCB (@bascb)
5th October 2022, 8:27
Just as much as we cannot take the earlier “is supposed to have” reporting as completely true (yeah, might well be that either Mercedes or Ferrari were pushing this to put pressure on the FIA), we should not accept this one making everything sound like there really is nothing to look for and Red Bull are pristinely clean @petebaldwin.
I think the CotD is pretty accurate there – as Josh mentions, there is probably a lot of stuff that is interpreted differently by each to their advantage / to the disadvantage of their rivals. So then when we look at what is happening, it’s likely more something like:
1. teams report their results, everyone is completely within the budget in their own view (and Williams is a bit too late). 2. Other teams dig into what they can find out about the others and start posing questions to the FIA about some of the more dubious choices made in the reporting by others. 3. The FIA does see some merit to some of those arguments and has a closer look, probably requesting more information (from Red Bull, and AM it seems, but maybe others as well, although I am sure Red Bull would help a story about that getting out in return) for clarity. 4. A back and forth takes place between these teams and the FIA. 5. There is some sort of level of understanding what is accepted by the FIA and the FIA starts finalizing. It probably isn’t too keen on having to impose any sanctions, since a lot of it is about interpretation and teams might well sue. 6. Other teams get a bit of a heads on about what the FIA is planning to put out this week and 7. They decide to put out the message to put pressure on the FIA to “be tough on Red Bull. 8. Predictably, Red Bull makes sure the press gets their hands on a version of the rapporting that shows “nothing going on here”.
So let’s just wait for 9. the FIA publishes their views/reports and possible measures, sanctions etc. Then we get 10. teams criticize it for being too lenient/too harsh/just right, depending mostly on what position they are in.
slowmo (@slowmo)
5th October 2022, 8:31
So we’ve gone from Horner claiming there was no breach to it’s only a minor breach in the space of 5 days. Yeah this is only salty Hamilton fans that would be annoyed if Red Bull have cheated on the budget cap and none of the other fans of the other 9 teams or 18 drivers that finished below them in the championship.
This is nothing to do with Hamilton and everything to do with Red Bull and their conduct and trying to sadly deflect the issue to retread boring old ground is pretty sad behaviour.
We’ll soon find out exactly who has followed the rules and who hasn’t and then we’ll see what action is taken and whether it’s appropriate. Ferrari spent 2 years circling round in the midfield following their engine drama, I doubt they’re going to be satisfied with a slap on the wrist for anyone who has broken the rules if it isn’t a minor breach.
petebaldwin (@)
5th October 2022, 8:44
If it’s a major breach – they deserve a penalty. 100%. If, as is being suggested in the article above, it’s a (small) minor breach over something procedural, then there’s been a lot of drama over nothing.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
5th October 2022, 8:06
I obviously don’t wish death or ill health or anyone. But Bernie will be turning 93 at the start of his trial (it’s still a whole year away). That’s age where people who get that far do tend to suffer from poor mental and physical health. I could easily see his lawyers saying he’s not fit to stand trial.
“He’s been getting ‘confused‘ your honour – at one point he was saying he wanted to put water sprinklers around dry F1 tracks and other such strange things”.
GeeMac (@geemac)
5th October 2022, 9:06
As a lawyer, I can confirm that tax and accounting laws and regulations are the absolute worst. The budget cap will be as hotly contested an aspect of our sport going forward as the technical and sporting aspects are.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th October 2022, 11:23
Trial a year from now, LOL.
Didn’t Ocon have any other way of returning to the paddock or literally only via subway station hallways?
I agree with the COTD.