Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri, Miami International Autodrome, 2023

De Vries takes blame for Norris collision as tough start to season continues

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In the round-up: Nyck de Vries accepted responsibility for his first-lap crash with Lando Norris.

In brief

De Vries escapes penalty, but takes blame for Miami GP collision

De Vries ran into Norris at the start of the Miami Grand Prix, sending the McLaren off-track. It began a tough race for the pair in which Norris finished 17th, once place ahead of his assailant.

“After lap one, I was on the back foot,” said de Vries. “It was my mistake, I locked up and Norris [was right in front] and I touched. This compromised our first stint a little because there were a lot of vibrations on the right-front which affected our pace.”

De Vries said he wasn’t able to rejoin the pack as he didn’t have the benefit of DRS. “When you’re so behind and out of DRS range, you lose so much time on the straights that it’s tough to catch up. I was at the back, alone, so it naturally becomes easier when you’re not fighting as hard as in the middle of the pack when every moment counts.”

Indianapolis queries F1’s use of slogan

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Promoters of the Indianapolis 500 race have queried Formula 1’s description of itself as ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’, a phrase long used to describe IndyCar’s blue riband race.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation president Doug Bowles joined the Best of Monday podcast this week to talk about how the circuit has responded to appearances of the phrase in relation to F1’s Miami Grand Prix and forthcoming new race in Las Vegas.

“They actually started using that earlier [than Miami],” he explained. “And we actually reached out to our friends at Liberty [Media, F1’s commercial rights holder] and at Formula One Group, and they agreed not to use it.

Scott Dixon, Ganassi, Indianapolis, 2023
Practice for this year’s Indy 500 started last month
“It was really more specific related to Vegas, where we had the problem. This is the first time we’ve heard it related to Miami. So we will definitely be calling our friends there again.

“They’ve agreed that it is our IP and that they aren’t going to use it. So I’m not sure exactly how it got [used] – I heard it was used in the pre-race. A couple of folks actually mentioned it.

“I haven’t seen it in their marketing materials, which they’ve agreed isn’t their mark and they’d leave it alone. So we will follow up this week.

“I’m excited that F1’s here, but go build your own IP, go build your own 114 years of of existence, and not steal ours.”

Aston Martin amused by Alonso’s radio slip

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso laughed off a radio error he made during the Miami GP, in which he told his team he wanted to pit 12 laps (equivalent to over a fifth of the race distance) earlier than planned.

“I did a mistake,” he admitted in the post-race press conference after finishing third. “I was just telling them [the team] which lap I think the tyre will be in good shape before the stop. And then yeah, I make a mistake, because ‘Plan A minus 12’ it was already gone a few laps before that. A few seconds later I said ‘sorry’, they were already laughing on the radio. So they realised I was telling something stupid.”

Verstappen pleased to see his father take first win

(L to R): Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, Miami International Autodrome, 2023
There were two wins for the Verstappen family last weekend
Max Verstappen may have now won 38 grands prix in Formula 1, but his father Jos never got to taste victory in the championship.

However in addition to his competitive streak being passed on to his son, the former F1 racer continued to seek victory for himself. He won in A1GP in 2006, the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2008, and since 2022 has been competing in rallying in Belgium.

His latest venture led to overall success for the first time last weekend, on the same day his son won the Miami GP, as he won the Station Le Seau Monteberg Rally. It unsurprisingly caught the attention of his son.

“For his first win in a rally car, a completely different discipline. But yeah, I’m happy for him,” said the younger Verstappen during the press conference for his own win in Miami.

“I mean he definitely spends a lot of time on it, and it’s nice when things pay off, when you put all that effort in. For him of course it’s kind of a hobby, but he takes it very serious. I saw, I got pictures and videos and to see that smile on his face.

“You never lose that kind of competitiveness and happiness if you do well, right? If you get rewarded for your efforts. So yeah, very happy to to see him there get the trophy.”

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Comment of the day

Max Verstappen was not the only driver to go on an immense drive to victory from a midfield grid spot last weekend. The same happened in the British Touring Car Championship around a track even tighter than Miami’s temporary F1 circuit.

I watched the GP today and yesterday the BTCC from Brands Hatch.

You’ve read about Max’s drive and the speed of the Red Bull here [in Miami], but the third BTCC race was an equally incredible drive from Ash Sutton in the Ford Focus. Thanks to picking a start position of 11th on the reverse grid, he had some work to do, but wasted zero time. By three-quarters of the way around the 1.2 mile Indy circuit [configuration] he had overtaken seven cars into fourth place, seemingly without hitting any of them. And lowest possible hybrid time available thanks to his win in race two.

Only disappointed not to see the onboard of that first mile… maybe it’ll be on the highlights programme.
Frasier

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Kbc, Taurus and Jerichokane!

On this day in motorsport

  • 25 years ago today Juan Pablo Montoya got his F3000 title bid on track by winning round three at the Circuit de Catalunya

Author information

Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...

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8 comments on “De Vries takes blame for Norris collision as tough start to season continues”

  1. tielemst
    9th May 2023, 12:03

    Seems Nyck is having to take the blame a lot of times. I must say, so far it’s been a disappointing year for him and I for one expected more of him. I know it’s his first year, but he has a lot of experience in other classes.

    1. Mayrton
      9th May 2023, 13:09

      Yeah, he’s not doing great. At this level, I would be surprised if he still has a seat next year. But then again, it’s early in the season so maybe I am being a bit hard on him. But definitely not the debut we were expecting.

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        Addme (@dontme)
        9th May 2023, 17:16

        I doubt he will have one next year, unless he drives like one of the best drivers out there. Red bull has been working on junior drivers and have plenty in stock and it’s mighty competitive in F2 with a lot of talent. Several already have enough superlicence points.

        I wouldn’t be surprised if they both are gone actually next year. The whole point of Alpha is to create champions for Red Bull right away and not keep drivers around for too long. They are pretty ruthless when they have a good number of drivers in lower categories.

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        bogaaaa (@nosehair)
        11th May 2023, 22:38

        Addme, l am thinking next month, after Dan’s seat fitting

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    Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
    9th May 2023, 13:53

    Nyck needs to improve …. soon.

    Grats to Jos.
    I wonder how many times Max had to abandon him at petrol stations to finally teach him that “Verstapen’s don’t lose”

    “Kirill Smal”? That has to be an AI generated name hasn’t it?
    And that picture of him looks like a badly rendered NPC from a cheap video game!
    Yeah yeah – OK – I’m 63 and the world is starting to feel like an alien concept compared to the one I grew up in.

    Which one of you kids hid my slippers!

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    Matthijs (@matthijs)
    9th May 2023, 15:16

    Sure it was Nyck’s fault. But I saw an identical scenario as in Hungary 2021, when Bottas bowlingballed several cars off the track at the start. In both cases it was Norris who overtook and then cut across the track right in front of the culprit that causes the crash (Bottas and Nyck). Of course it is Bottas’ and Nyck’s responsibility to brake in time, but I was wondering in what way Norris cutting across contributed by misjudging the braking point. I don’t know how many drivers do the same as Norris does, but this makes him very vulnerable in being rear ended at turn 1.

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    KaIIe (@kaiie)
    9th May 2023, 17:33

    ““I’m excited that F1’s here, but go build your own IP, go build your own 114 years of of existence, and not steal ours.””

    According to the all-knowing internet, the slogan was first used in 1955. And the race was part of the championship back then, so… the line belongs to both Indy and F1?

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      Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
      10th May 2023, 1:33

      @kaiie Filing #73535928 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, registered to Brickyard Trademarks, Inc., an affiliate of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC, would suggest otherwise.

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