In the round-up: Mercedes’ race drivers will be in action for the first time this year at next month’s Pirelli tests in France and Spain.
In brief
Mercedes to use race drivers for tyre test
Mercedes will call upon their race drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for their two Pirelli tyre tests in February.
All teams are invited through the year to conduct development tests for Pirelli using the previous season’s cars, and most of the tests focused on the 2023-spec tyres will be done before the season starts.
Mercedes will be trialling slick tyres on 1st-2nd February at Paul Ricard with Hamilton and Russell, before AlphaTauri then do two days on grooved tyres for wet conditions in the two days after that.
On 7th-8th February, the Mercedes drivers return to action to do further slick tyre testing at Jerez alongside Aston Martin and their race drivers. While other teams have done private testing with older cars, the Pirelli development days will mark Hamilton and Russell’s first on-track outings of 2023.
Rain hampers Shwartzman’s Ferrari test
Ferrari meanwhile have already been out on track at their own Fiorano test circuit, with Robert Shwartzman in the car yesterday and Carlos Sainz Jnr driving today.The SF21 car from 2021 was chosen for the test, which is a staple of Ferrari’s pre-season preparations to get drivers ready to the physical challenges of an F1 car again. Shwartzman was driving as he has been promoted to being one of the team’s reserve drivers this year, and had most of his running take place in the rain and therefore only completed 87 laps over the whole day.
Observing the test, and integrating themselves into the test team, were Ferrari juniors Arthur Leclerc, Maya Weug and Aurelia Nobels.
Euroformula Open to hold 80th Pau Grand Prix
Euroformula Open has adjusted its 2023 calendar to feature the 80th edition of the Pau Grand Prix.
The street race in France was first held in 1933 and has been host to cars from Formula 1, 2 and 3 in the past. Since 2019 it has been headlined by Euroformula Open, with double amputee Billy Monger taking a history-making win in the grand prix that year.
In 2020 and 2021 the event did not got ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and returned last year as part of the Euroformula Open calendar for a second time. Vlad Lomko was the winner.
To incorporate the grand prix into its 2023 calendar, having initially organised an eight-round season without it, Euroformula Open has had to drop its October visit to Mugello in Italy. The Pau GP takes place on 12th-14th May.
Rossi’s McLaren livery revealed
McLaren’s new signing Alexander Rossi has become the first of the team’s IndyCar drivers to have their 2023 livery revealed.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Ferrucci drawing on Bourdais lessons at AJ Foyt Racing (Speedcafe)
'Santino Ferrucci says he will draw on lessons from Sebastien Bourdais in his role as de facto team leader at AJ Foyt Racing in the 2023 IndyCar season.'
2023 Diriyah E-Prix preview (Maserati)
'Diriyah is one of the most challenging races of the season, and with a mixture of different corner types, it tests almost every aspect of a driver’s skill. The circuit is fast and extremely technical, and this means that it’s quite important to build up to doing a strong lap.'
Trident completes Formula Regional European Championship roster with Tangavelou (Trident)
'Owen Tangavelou will be joining Trident for the 2023 Formula Regional European Championship season, the team is delighted to announce. The Italian operation will line the experienced racer up alongside Roman Bilinski, who will attempt his second season in the series, and rookie driver Nikhil Bohra.'
The Red Bull super engine: The evolution of the Honda power unit (Formu1a.uno)
'At least initially, this engine was supposed to be totally new. However, Honda’s F1 engine development manager explained that 'for a number of reasons, it was decided not to take it to the track'. Due to Honda’s departure – at least officially – at the end of 2021, it was decided to make an effort to bring a final, upgraded power unit to the track.'
The factors that ended ADAC F4, and left much of German racing at risk (Formula Scout)
'With neither Hockenheim nor the Nurburgring being current F1 venues, the series’ tracks were clearly a disadvantage in attracting drivers but was far from being the only factor contributing to lack of interest.'
Salters: WEC Hypercar programme would be Honda decision (Sportscar365)
'The potential of having the Acura ARX-06 compete in the World Endurance Championship would be a global Honda decision according to Honda Performance Development president David Salters, who has reaffirmed Acura/HPD’s position, which remains unchanged.'
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 to us via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Sunny winter day, a proper light racing car and 2 legends driving 💪🏻👌
Best way to start the season! #realF3 #F1naSPORTTV pic.twitter.com/QX7KchzPug— WINWAY (@_winway) January 23, 2023
FA14, reporting for duty.
¡Hola, @alo_oficial! 👋 pic.twitter.com/dVIMgd7uTd
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) January 24, 2023
Hear from Cara Krstolic, Director of Race Tire Engineering and Manufacturing, about the first test on the new Firestone tires. pic.twitter.com/thKc9lRYVN
— INDY NXT by Firestone (@INDYNXT) January 23, 2023
Getting all the details ready in Kuwait #F4UAE pic.twitter.com/qyL57JdQbX
— Noah Strømsted (@noah_stromsted) January 24, 2023
皆さんご心配ありがとうございます。
緊急回避が下手なのか、猛スピードで壁に突っ込むのはこれで2回目。安静にします。 pic.twitter.com/Pm1OGloUx9— 山下健太/Kenta Yamashita (@kentayamashitaa) January 24, 2023
Jack Beeton joins All Road Management 🤜🏻🤛🏻
📸: @DutchPhotoAg pic.twitter.com/w305Emomqs
— All Road Management (@All_Road) January 24, 2023
comfy 😄 pic.twitter.com/Tqg8ZqUuk2
— Ollie Bearman (@OllieBearman) January 24, 2023
Three-times @WSeriesRacing champion @JamieChadwick was among those taking part in pre-season testing for the upcoming @IndyNxt (formerly Indy Lights) season at @HomesteadMiami yesterday. pic.twitter.com/WYv1JeCJwE
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) January 24, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
F1 and the FIA have had another disagreement that’s gone public, this time about comments made by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem regarding reports of an interested buyer of F1’s commercial rights valuing the series at $20 billion (£16.16bn).
After he advised caution over “alleged inflated price tags” being put on the value of F1, the current commercial rights holder Liberty Media wrote a letter which was seen by several media outlets and revealed several accusations F1 had made about Ben Sulayem’s comments.
I think Ben is slowly learning that asserting himself comes at a steep price when the other party is megaconglomerate.
Sja
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Mouse_Nightshirt, Taimur, Dylan Lopez, Danny Brennan and Lalit Palaparthy!
Dane
25th January 2023, 15:41
That’s one gorgeous looking IndyCar for Rossi. I hope it’s a hint of things to come for the F1 squad.
Biker56 (@biker56)
25th January 2023, 20:48
Pretty sure the Merc drivers would prefer the previous to the previous year’s car for the tyre tests…
Stewart
26th January 2023, 10:41
So how does that work, with a car usually on smaller rims doing tyre tests for those with bigger rims, are they running the new wheel and tyre size on the old setup ???