Haas must aim to “take a big step like Aston Martin” – Magnussen

In brief

Aston Martin gains surprised Magnussen

Haas finished eighth in the constructors’ championship last year, one place behind Aston Martin. However they have seen their rivals take a leap forward this year, while Haas remains in the thick of an increasingly close midfield fight.

“Every year we talk about how close it is this year and certainly this year it’s taken a big step again towards being more close,” said Magnussen. “So I think it’s not going to be the case that you get to the first race with a car and you see where you are and you stay there the whole year and every race you know you’re fighting for P8 or P9 or whatever.

“This year you’ve got to get everything right to get that the P8 or P7 or whatever is the ‘best of the rest’. There’s one of the midfield teams that’s moved up close to the top and it’s a different grid this year. I think that was what surprised me a little bit.”

Magnussen said Haas made the gains they expected during the off-season but need to target more to catch up with the likes of Aston Martin.

“We knew we were going to take a step with the car this year and we were confident about that and it shows on the track,” said Magnussen. “We do have that performance that we were hoping for. Other teams have just done a really good job, too. So we’re still in that mix of the midfield.

“Of course, we would love to be towards the top, taking a big step like Aston Martin. But that’s what we’ve got to aim to do in the future.”

Mercedes’ Imola update a “first step”

“It takes quite a long time to develop in the wind tunnel and you can’t just do these things overnight,” said the team’s trackside operations director Andrew Shovlin. “The Imola package are the first steps in that direction. We are hoping to bring other updates later in the year.

“We do hope that it is quicker, we hope that it’s better in terms of qualifying and race pace. The key thing though is that we are not just looking to bring a lap time update, we are looking to head off in a different development direction. One that we think gives us a better chance in the long term of being able to challenge for race wins and world championships.”

Ericsson was “pretty broken” after losing F1 drive

Marcus Ericsson said he felt he never managed to get his F1 career going, as he lost his drive after five seasons in the series. He described the moment he learned he had lost his place on the Formula 1 grid at the end of 2018. With his Sauber team mate Charles Leclerc heading to Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen’s arrival in his place meant an end to Ericsson’s time at the team:

“I knew the other seat that Charles had was going to be a Ferrari junior or a Ferrari driver in that,” he told David Land. “So Kimi got signed in sort of ‘my’ seat and then I knew this is it, that’s over. But in a way I never really got my F1 career to sort of get going. At that time I was pretty broken down in my confidence levels and everything. I had a tough time.”

Ericsson admitted “in some ways it was disappointing, of course, but at the same way, I also felt it’s a chance for me to do something else and really find some new motivation.”

He eventually moved to IndyCar with Schmidt Peterson and now drives for Ganassi. “The same day I got the information that I was going to get replaced, I called my manager and I told him we need to look at America, we need to look at IndyCar, that’s where I want to go,” said Ericsson.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Mario Andretti Says Son Michael's F1 Deal Had 'Better' Be Approved (Autoweek)

'I know Gene Haas has a team and he never planned on having an American driver. Michael has committed to having at least one American driver always. Also, there is no official team that is fielding Formula 3 or Formula 2 and Michael has committed to having a Formula 3 and a Formula 2 team to give some American driver the opportunity to go to Europe and pursue Formula 1.'

The Florida Man of Formula 1 (The New York Times)

'In 2019, Daniel Sargeant (Logan's father) pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to foreign bribery and money laundering charges related to his business dealings abroad. He is free on a $5 million bond and is awaiting sentencing. A Williams spokesman said that Logan Sargeant was not “in a position to comment” on any of the legal matters involving his family.'

Pourchaire: ‘I’m in a good place but will keep the same approach with title lead’ (F2)

'I’ve been focusing on consistency, first of all in qualifying and then in the feature races because the qualifying is very important in Formula 2. To be able to start in the front for the feature, it's so important.'

How Sky Sports has reinvigorated its F1 coverage (Broadcast Now)

'There’s some stuff we could release but it wouldn’t be a good move – you might see it on Drive To Survive in a year!'

Peugeot wins and Foster spins in French F4’s opening Pau race (Formula Scout)

'Enzo Peugeot won a dramatic first French Formula 4 of the weekend on the streets of Pau after battling with championship leader Evan Giltaire.'

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Comment of the day

Pirelli needs its own car for Formula 1 tyre development, says MichaelN:

They had that old Toyota way back when, but I haven’t seen anything like it in years. Pirelli doesn’t have to make a competitive F1 car (it’s hard enough for nine teams) but, crucially, they are not constrained by the regulations either.

They can make something that matches the figures coming out of a Red Bull by ‘cheating’ their way to that performance. Back in 2021, teams bolted on all kinds of gadgets to mimic 2022 downforce levels. The tricky part is probably finding a PU.
MichaelN

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On this day in motorsport

• 35 years ago today Ayrton Senna put his McLaren on pole position at Monaco by a phenomenal 1.427 seconds ahead of team mate Alain Prost