FIA clampdown on political gestures ‘won’t affect much’ for Hulkenberg

In brief

FIA politics clampdown “a difficult subject” – Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg, who will drive for Haas in the 2023 F1 season, told RTL the FIA’s recent ruling was “a delicate, difficult subject” but that he was “never one to use this platform for political news.”

He said the new restrictions laid down in the FIA’s International Sporting Code “will not affect or impair that much” for him, but may do for others. “I think that’s a personal story,” he added. “Everyone has a personal attitude towards it.”

“Labrador” Leclerc is overrated compared to Sainz – Coronel

Touring car driver Tom Coronel believes Carlos Sainz Jnr is underrated compared to his team mate Charles Leclerc, who finished runner-up in the world championship.

“Leclerc disappointed me because he went very well at the beginning of the year, when everyone shouted ‘he is a champion candidate’,” Coronel told Formule 1 magazine. “But personally I have always been more of a fan of his teammate Carlos Sainz, who had a lot of bad luck.

“People pretend that Sainz is second pilot at Ferrari, but look at the scoring: Sainz was in front in 2021. Leclerc gets too much credit for me compared to Sainz.”

Coronel believes Leclerc was too reluctant to demand better from the Ferrari team when they let him down during the season: “He is an ideal son-in-law, a labrador.”

Andretti expands into top-level sportscars

While they continue to work on entering F1, Andretti Autosport have now found a way into another top-level racing series by taking an ownership stake in sport car team Wayne Taylor Racing.

WTR are one of the top prototype teams in IMSA, America’s answer to the World Endurance Championship, and is a series that Andretti already compete in down in the tertiary level LMP3 class. They will continue to race in LMP3 as well as the top GTP class.

Andretti also has squads competing – often in alliance with other teams – in Extreme E, Formula E, IndyCar and Australian Supercars (top-level series for off-road racing, single-seaters and stock cars respectively).

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

The top 10 F1 drivers of 2022 – as chosen by the drivers (F1)

'Max Verstappen has another accolade for his mantelpiece, with the Red Bull driver coming out on top in our exclusive poll of his peers. In the fifth running of our Drivers’ Driver of the Year vote, we asked this year’s full-time drivers to assess their rivals’ performance on track and create their personal top 10 ranking.'

Al Dhaheri to join Prema for 2023 Formula 4 season (Prema)

'Prema announces that Rashid Al Dhaheri will race with the team for 2023. The 14-year-old Emirati will make his car racing debut in the Italian Formula 4 Championship next April, a couple of weeks after reaching the minimum age for competition of 15.'

Robb optimistic over 2023 IndyCar chances (Racer)

'The odds of having 2020 Indy Pro 2000 champion and 2022 Indy Lights race winner Sting Ray Robb on next season’s IndyCar grid are moving in the right direction.'

IndyCar race winner Scott McLaughlin (Speedcafe)

'Three-time Supercars champion and IndyCar race-winner Scott McLaughlin joins host Greg Rust at the desk for this episode of the KTM Summer Grill.'

Formula Scout Top 50 junior single-seater drivers of 2022: 50-41 (Formula Scout)

'Kicking off Formula Scout’s annual end-of-year ranking of the best performers across the junior single-seater landscape'

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 and more:

Unwrapping a festive feast 🎁 Wishing everyone a very happy holidays 🎄 pic.twitter.com/IGRa5KOk1i

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) December 24, 2022

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• Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory

Comment of the day

Max Verstappen and his father Jos have spoken further about the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that continues to ire the Red Bull driver in a new documentary about his 2022 season.

In hindsight I can understand why the Verstappens weren’t too happy for P3 if the other car was capable of winning the race. It was only the seventh round, with more than two-thirds of the championship still to raced, and Leclerc and Ferrari seemed serious threats in the long term, ‘losing’ points could have been costly at the end.

I also can understand after winning the title last year they thought Verstappen should be able to capitalise on the better strategy if Red Bull splits the drivers. But I also think that a team’s primary goal for a single GP is to maximise their collective efforts, possibly finish in a one-two, take away as many points as possible and take away as many points from the rivals as possible. And in that regard Red Bull excelled, ‘losing’ only three points.

Of course the story could have been different if Perez didn’t end Q3 the way he did, or if it was not raining, or if touching the pit exit line is judged differently, or if any of the relevant pit stops happen a single lap earlier or later, it’s just too many ifs, and even if Verstappen could have easily collected more points that day, so could have their closest rivals.
AndrewT

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Jsc, John Graham and Dynamite Clock!

On this day in motorsport

• Nine years ago today Michael Schumacher suffered serious head injuries in a ski crash in France