In the round-up: The editor-in-chief of German magazine Die Aktuelle has been sacked after the publication ran an ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher generated by an online AI chatbot.
In brief
Editor sacked for “tasteless” Schumacher article
German publishing company Funke Mediengruppe has apologised to the Schumacher family after one of its magazines published a fake interview with seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher which had been generated using an AI chatbot.
A representative of the Schumacher family confirmed to RaceFans that they planned to pursue legal action after the ‘interview’ was published in Die Aktuelle magazine. Schumacher suffered brain injuries in a skiing accident in 2013 and has not appeared publicly since. Funke managing director Bianca Pohlmann said the publisher offered its apologies to the family for running the article.
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have been published,” Pohlmann said. “It does not meet the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like Funke.”
Funke also confirmed that Die Aktuelle editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who had edited the magazine since 2009, had been removed from her position as a consequence.
Mazepin takes Canadian government to court over sanctions
Former Haas driver Nikita Mazepin is suing the the Canadian government in a federal court over sanctions placed on him last year in a bid to help revive his F1 career.The Canadian Press reports that Mazepin, who is Russian and was dropped by Haas following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is taking the Canadian government to federal court to remove him from the nation’s sanctions list. Mazepin’s father, Dmitry, was also sanctioned as head of the petrochemical company Uralkali, who were also dropped as Haas sponsors.
Court submissions reportedly claim that Mazepin considers his case urgent as “it will be extremely difficult — if not impossible — for him to be recruited again as an F1 driver or as a driver in other motorsport championships” if the sanctions are not dropped.
Mazepin competed in February’s Asian Le Mans series with 99 Racing in the LMP2 class.
Formula E delays Attack Charge pit stops to 2024
Formula E will delay its plans to introduce pit stops to ‘recharge’ cars during races later this season, the series’ leadership has confirmed.
The regulations for the 2023 season – the first with Formula E’s Gen3 car – included plans to introduce a mandatory 30 second pit stop to charge car batteries during races at select rounds later in the season, after which drivers would receive two periods of increased power output. However, Formula E has decided not to introduce the system in 2023 and instead postpone its implementation to next season.
The second Formula E race of the weekend at Berlin will take place later today. Mitch Evans took victory in yesterday’s race, ahead of Jaguar team mate Sam Bird.
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Motor racing links of interest:
"I think he would like to win his eighth title but I have a passion in that I think he should go to Ferrari but that’s just me talking nonsense. The reason why is I don’t want him to become stale, and I think when he was at McLaren he did well but he moved quickly to Mercedes."
Haas boss Steiner admits Ricciardo made the right decision to walk away from F1 (Daily Mail)
"It's good to have a year in my opinion just to reflect on it because, for sure, the last year wasn't easy for him because he is a good race car driver and he was beaten by his teammate. And for sure, he's not happy about that. He's still not happy. But does he want to come back and prove that he’s what he was before? A winner. Or is he given the opportunity? Because it's not only his decision. It is the decision of one of the teams which take him on as well."
"There are always caveats when analysing data like this – track conditions, fuel loads, position on the track when an incident happens etc – but what it does show is that Tsunoda has ticked a lot of boxes in terms of what is expected of him. He has found some consistency, not just across a weekend from Friday practice through the Sunday’s Grand Prix, but across three races, on three very different tracks, and with a car that is not capable on pure performance of fighting for points. And yet, he’s put himself in a position to score in all three rounds so far."
What is an F1 Car Concept? (Mercedes)
"‘Car Concept’ is regularly mentioned when bodywork is changed on a Formula One car. Visual differences that are clear to see. But does that accurately reflect what a team means by a ‘car concept’?"
Academy Driver Chadwick shares how she’s adapting to Indy Nxt in her own words (Williams)
"My first race was a mix of emotions. On one hand, I was a bit disappointed with the result, but on the other side, there are so many positives and learnings I can take away. It was certainly a baptism of fire, but I think that’s a good thing in a way – to throw myself into something like that and take away so much new experience."
F1 Clienti and XX Programme feature at Circuit of the Americas (Ferrari)
"Opened in 2012, the circuit, which hosts one leg of the Formula 1 World Championship, will welcome some of the single-seaters and sports prototypes that have made the history of the Prancing Horse. These include an F150 that competed in the 2011 F1 World Championship, driven by Fernando Alonso, who won that year’s British GP at Silverstone. The car’s name is a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. The event will feature 11 hypercars developed at Maranello specifically for the non-competitive track activities of the exclusive XX Programme, including the 599XX, the 599XX Evo, the FXX Evo and the FXX K Evo."
Analysis: How Jaguar sealed a first one-two (Formula E)
Karun Chandhok analyses the close stage of the first Berlin Eprix of the weekend and how Jaguar successfully secured their first ever one-two finish.
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Final preparations are beginning at the Miami International Autodrome 👀 #MiamiGP x @cryptocom pic.twitter.com/sHH0rjF35P
— F1 Miami Grand Prix (@f1miami) April 22, 2023
A sneak peek at Guenther’s reading the audio edition of his book Surviving to Drive 🎧
Listen now on Audible 👉 https://t.co/rvMlng1bYF#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/rZE2VyLkPS
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) April 22, 2023
BOOGIE stopped by the factory in Hinwil to do a few touch ups to our ‘Art Car’. It’s looking better than ever and it’s ready for its next appearance: watch this space! 🎨🙌 pic.twitter.com/DLfYrNqhjC
— Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake (@alfaromeostake) April 22, 2023
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Comment of the day
Does F1 need tyres with high wear to produce good racing? No, believes @dbradock…
I’ve said for a while that the problem with the current tyres isn’t the wear, it’s that their delta isn’t big enough.
If they produced three sets with a substantial delta (and corresponding wear), it might just get teams to take more chances instead of every single team adopting the same approach race after race.
If it became more a matter of two or three stops on softs being able to compete with (say) a single stop on medium/hard combos we’d likely see some teams roll the dice more often and we’d see again faster cars cutting through a field more often.
Currently there’s just no chance of that happening because the tyres simply don’t have a big enough differential for long enough.
DB-C90
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Wonderduck, Hydro, Rylan Ziegler, Kadir Issa and Benh!
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
23rd April 2023, 0:15
He had a career?
RedEaredRabbit (@redearedrabbit)
23rd April 2023, 7:44
Absolutely. He careered into the barriers, he careered into the gravel, he careered into any driver who got too close.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
23rd April 2023, 9:01
+ something 👍🤣😂😂😂
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
23rd April 2023, 9:07
I don’t get why so many remember him for crashing so much. His main problem by far was just lack of speed and being uncomfortable with the car. Schumacher and many other drivers crashed a lot more than mazepin and also cost the teams a lot more in repair bills. Crashing just wasn’t Mazipins obvious weakness.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
23rd April 2023, 10:24
Why? He spinned multiple times a day during testing, at least once every session afterwards before spinning out of the race at literally the first corner he encountered in the race… and that was just the first race of the season. Seems like a good reason to remember him as someone with zero car control.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2023, 20:27
Yes, I remember a quip someone made which I liked a lot that they should’ve paid mazepin per lap, since initially he tended to not even complete a lap!
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
23rd April 2023, 22:36
He had a lot of minor crashes, but more often in practice than the races. My point being that Scumacher crashed more than him and caused much more damage. All this said, Schumacher was still far better – but in terms of crashing, i would say there are many drivers on the grid in the past few years that have crashed as much or more and caused more damage than Mazepin did.
Coventry Climax
23rd April 2023, 13:03
Remember this famous british ski-jump athlete named ‘Eddie the Eagle’?
There’s no jumper that’s serious about his sports and compares his achievements to Eddie.
Equally, comparing a driver’s achievements against those of Mick is pointless.
MichaelN
23rd April 2023, 16:37
@thegianthogweed Because Mazepin was already on the Bad List before he even got started. Largely thanks to himself, mind you – but it’s worth keeping in mind that he did earn enough superlicense points to race in F1. Unlike some other drivers that are, apparently, generational talents. And if Mazepin had been partnered with anyone other than media-darling Mick Schumacher, he might have been able to turn that around.
But a combination of some questionable personal choices, a disreputable source of funding, a hilariously bad first race weekend, and a teammate that could do no wrong in the tone-setters in the paddock, and the only way out for him would have been to basically do an ‘Alonso in a Minardi’ season, and that was never going to happen because… well, he’s no Alonso.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2023, 20:28
Don’t agree in this case, he was completely outclassed by schumacher, and I mean, hulkenberg for now is doing better than schumacher was, that’s not impressive by mazepin; if he had been faster than schumacher people would’ve noticed it but he wasn’t, he was so slow he shouldn’t have been in f1.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
23rd April 2023, 0:17
Filling the “marina” is in full swing :)
Maciek (@maciek)
23rd April 2023, 1:27
Mazepin is such a waste of space. Surely, now the Canadian government will drop everything to right an egregious wrong of unprecedented urgency. Friggin entitled little poop.
Leroy (@g-funk)
23rd April 2023, 3:01
For all the Arrested Development fans, looks like Funke just blued themselves.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2023, 7:37
Mazepin won’t be recruited again as an F1 driver because not only do most teams have clear driver plans for the medium or longer term, but they don’t want him either.
Therefore, court action against the Canadian government is pretty pointless, not that they could do anything concerning an international racing series anyway.
Ricciardo ultimately made the right decision, but I doubt he’d make a full-time return next season, given he said quite recently that he’d only return in a top team, & even the lower ones are effectively non-options, considering their driver plans as referenced above, not to mention one of them has Seidl.
I agree with the COTD.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
23rd April 2023, 19:46
I disagree. Daniel should have taken a pay cut and driven for a team such as Haas or Williams or whoever. If he’d taken any seat then he’d be showing he is still one of the best drivers (or not) on the grid, he’d be keeping up with the technological developments in the cars, and he’d be contributing to the development of next year’s car. Instead he isn’t in an F1 car, his name isn’t seen on the timing boards at every Grand prix, his opinions are based upon F1 experience and technology that’s 6 months old, he’s getting older, and basically there’s no need to update his CV after every race.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2023, 20:34
I’m not sure if that would’ve been better tbh: you start with a backmarker team, do well, get promoted to a top team; if you leave a top team and go to a midfield team, it’ll be harder to impress and return to a top team, and ricciardo didn’t want to continue in f1 just to drive.
MichaelN
23rd April 2023, 7:48
In reference to the COTD, in a simulation such compounds might exist, but the ever increasing frequency of neutralisations will make every team hesitant about a ‘no stop tyre’. The chances of their competitors getting some or even all of their pitstop time back is likely to be too great.
The less said about Russian drivers the better. Let’s not forget why Russia is in this position, or rather, has put itself in it.
couldntstopmyself
23rd April 2023, 10:09
I don’t see the ‘delta’ as the problem, but rather the time lost during a pit stop. If a pit stop would only cost the time of stopping and changing wheels it would be much more interesting to include them in the race strategy.
It’s not impossible to achieve this by cutting a few corners when entering/exiting the pit (of course a drive through penalty would become meaningless).
Mazepin shouldn’t burden the Canadian legal system, but become focal in his own country against the illegal invasion of their neighbours. If he starts, more might follow, Russia/Putin will again respect the borders, and Mazapin can race again. Simples!
Imre (@f1mre)
23rd April 2023, 10:35
It’s impossible to cut corners during pit stops at most circuits.
Altough they could indeed make time spent in the pits as low as possible. But it’s been the case for 15+ years so probably nothing will change in this regard. It’s like they do not realize that a shorter pitlane increases the chances of more tyre changes. The best exmple is Paul Ricard.
Drive-through penalties are a dying breed, unfortunately. The go with time penalties instead. And those are awful.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
23rd April 2023, 11:20
@f1mre out of curiosity, I wonder when the last drive through was? I can’t think of a recent one at all (though I’m sure someone will remember one from 2019 or something).
I kind of assumed it was no longer in the rule book. To be fair, 5 seconds stop and go is probably the equivalent of a drive thru at Silverstone with how long that pit lane is.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
23rd April 2023, 11:21
At Paul Ricard sorry
MichaelN
23rd April 2023, 16:46
@bernasaurus There was a post-race one to Gasly in 2022 Japan (so effectively a 20 second time penalty), and I don’t think there were any in 2021 and 2020, but in 2019 Kvyat got one at the Chinese GP, as did Räikkönen at the Russian GP.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
23rd April 2023, 18:00
Thank you. You have much better memory than me!
Mr Fabulous (@mrfabulous)
23rd April 2023, 7:58
“Tommi” Mäkinen surely?
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2023, 10:28
@mrfabulous What does he have to do with any matter in this round-up?
Mr Fabulous (@mrfabulous)
1st May 2023, 19:26
@jerejj See the ‘On This Day In Motorsport’ spot
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd May 2023, 7:16
@mrfabulous I didn’t pay enough attention at the time.
Qeki (@qeki)
23rd April 2023, 15:50
Anyone have any idea what the “interview” was about