In the round-up: Haas driver Kevin Magnussen admits he has been ‘lacking a little bit of confidence’ over the start of his 2023 season so far.
In brief
Magnussen admits to ‘lacking confidence’
Magnussen has been out-qualified by new team mate Nico Hulkenberg in all three rounds of the 2023 season so far, failing to reach Q3 once while Hulkenberg has only missed out in the final qualifying phase in Jeddah.
Despite taking points in the race in Saudi Arabia, Magnussen sits behind Hulkenberg in the drivers’ championship. Asked if he was less confident in the team’s VF-23 than he was in last year’s car, Magnussen said “yeah, I think so.”
“I think we’ve found it for qualifying and the race, or all of the three weekends we’ve had so far, but we haven’t started off in the right place with the set-up,” he explained. “Then you lack a little bit of confidence, because if you start in FP1 pretty close to what you’re going to run in qualifying, you get a lot of laps with that car and that balance and you can optimise your driving style around that. And it’s never optimum going into qualifying with a different set up, a new set-up you haven’t tried.“So I think that’s the target for us – to hit the ground running a little closer to what we are going to run in qualifying and the race and hopefully that’s going to be a step forward for us.”
Hamilton’s thrill watching brother Nic race at Donington
Lewis Hamilton described his experience as a fan watching his brother Nic Hamilton race to his career-best finish in the British Touring Car Championship last weekend at Donington Park.
“My brother, who I’m incredibly proud of, continues to be such a great voice,” Hamilton said in yesterday’s FIA press conference. “Every year he raises his own money because, obviously, racing in a series and in a sport where there is no access for people who particularly are disabled. And he stands for so much.
“He’s been fighting to try and make up for the disability he has with his legs, and it’s a continuous fight. But he got sixth in the race. And I was just standing in the crowd just watching this as a fan. I was so excited – and no one knew that I was there. I was just jumping up and down and trying to support him.”
Ferrari quickest in WEC Spa practice
Antonio Giovinazzi’s best time of 2’01.871 put his number 51 Ferrari hypercar on top of the times in the second practice session for this weekend’s Six Hours of Spa, ahead of the sister Ferrari.
The two Ferrari 499Ps set the pace ahead of Cadillac and the number eight Toyota as the opening day of practice for the third World Endurance Championship round took place at Spa-Francorchamps. Qualifying will take place today with the race on Saturday.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Luke Browning joins the Williams Racing Driver Academy (Williams)
"I’m really looking forward to being a part of the Williams Racing Driver Academy. A huge thank you to everyone at Williams Racing for the opportunity to shoot for the stars. To be welcomed into the family is a dream come true, the heritage of this team is phenomenal. I can’t wait to see where we can go, our journey starts here."
Oscar provides an insight into his F1 adaption (McLaren)
"I think it is going well so far, and I feel like I am improving all of the time. It feels like it is on an upward trajectory, and we are getting the most out of our car. Hopefully, we can make the car a bit quicker. It was nice to get more laps under the belt at Imola, it's always fun. It was good for training the neck and the other physical aspects of driving F1 cars. More laps, more time with the engineers, stuff that is only going to help me."
Interview: Formula 1 team Aston Martin optimistic of Baku podium (City AM)
"We’re conscious that the gap to P1 is still quite large. But I think Lawrence (Stroll) was very clear on where we need to be as a team going forward. To be world champion, you need to be P1 at one point. I like to say that we’ve normally done very well there (Baku) but I need to be a little bit careful. What we learned from the past is that everything can actually happen in Baku."
Taylor Kiel reflects on exit at Arrow McLaren, future of growth with Chip Ganassi Racing (Indy Star)
"I was upset, and I felt a little betrayed. That guy that ran one of the best teams in motorsports couldn’t get me in the door. They were practically winning everything at the time, and I just wanted to be part of that. It put me in a position to evaluate how bad I wanted it and to go out and find an opportunity."
Crawford: ‘Another street track is one more great opportunity for me’ (Formula 2)
"It feels nice to get enough to podium especially so early in the season. I think it's really good to have for the rest of the year and it definitely brings a lot of confidence. I think we struggled to understand where we were in the first few rounds and finally, we had good speed and that result - the podium definitely brings a lot of confidence for me as well as the team. But of course, we also need to score points in the Feature Races as well, because that's where the big points are."
Konnersport (EA Sports via YouTybe)
"Teaser for EA Sports' announcement of the upcoming F1 2023 game today, featuring a new playable 11th team."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Happy 80th Birthday, Helmut! 🎉 Cheers to many more highlights! pic.twitter.com/qWjYbqR3n1
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 27, 2023
back to the roots with the fluo red 🔴🔥 let’s get itttt pic.twitter.com/gXgABK4UMW
— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) April 27, 2023
Limbering up with LH. 🏓 pic.twitter.com/fzWRzPYFSF
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) April 27, 2023
From horsepower to halos, tyres to top speed. Discover everything there is to know about the F1 Academy cars! 🏎️#F1Academy pic.twitter.com/hfskLyIxyx
— F1 Academy (@f1academy) April 27, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
With some drivers likening the new sprint race rules akin to a “test session” outside of the top eight positions, @fer-no65 feels vindicated…
I said so as soon as the new format was announced.
Having the Sunday grid decided on Friday leaves room for someone qualifying well on Friday, having a terrible Saturday sprint qualy and having absolutely no incentive to risk anything on Saturday afternoon.
It can and will happen. Not sure if they are forced to start or anything… but given the sprint race is so short, the risk is so high and the reward so little, if a Hamilton, Verstappen or whoever with proper chances on Sunday find themselves in the back rows on Saturday, why even bother starting the race in the first place?
@Fer no.65
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Russell G., Varun, Krtekf1, Muz and Tez!
On this day in motorsport
- Five years ago today Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
28th April 2023, 0:19
Seems he’s ready to step up to McLaren then.
Mach1 (@mach1)
28th April 2023, 2:41
Is the Predictions Championship dead? It’s usually updated by now, isn’t it?
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
28th April 2023, 7:00
Re: COTD, can you just not start a race? I mean obviously you can, just say something is broken or kick something until it is. But can a team just say “nah”?
If it started happening regularly, teams opting out. What would happen? Presumably the sporting regs say you have to turn up and you have to compete.
It’d be a weird one. We could have a sprint to the fastest excuse not to race – race.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
28th April 2023, 7:23
@bernasaurus I think the Concorde Agreement requires teams to participate in every race weekend, but there’s nothing that says they must take part in every session at each meeting.
I remember once during the early 2010s, Red Bull decided to keep Sebastian Vettel in the garage for all the practice and qualifying sessions, because he was going to start at the back anyway due to an engine penalty. So they judged that there was no reason for him to participate and risk wearing his parts out further.
I could conceivably see one or more teams doing the same for the sprint sessions, but probably not at the first time of asking.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
28th April 2023, 7:30
@bernasaurus well there’s the rule about only missing a maximum of 3 events (the one that requires the outgoing Caterham team to race in Abu Dhabi to have any chance at securing prize money), but I guess the Sprint isn’t an event, only a session.
I wonder if there is any possible penalty that could be applied to the race for not trying in the Sprint, akin to bringing the sport into disrepute?
Jere (@jerejj)
28th April 2023, 7:05
Yes, he’s indeed been lacking confidence, but I’m sure he’ll improve & eventually stay put for next season.
COTD makes a good point, although not bothering to participate in the sprint would be extreme.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
28th April 2023, 7:30
Poor Kevin. Getting destroyed by a driver three years out of the sport.
I hope he’ll get as much support from Saint Günther of South Tyrol as his predecessor did.