Latest signings give Norris “even more” faith in Brown’s vision for McLaren

In brief

Norris confident McLaren are taking steps forward under Brown

McLaren announced this week they have signed Red Bull’s chief engineering officer Rob Marshall as their technical director. He will join another new signing, Ferrari’s David Sanchez, at the team next year.

Norris said it is a positive sign for his team’s future. Asked how much faith he had in Brown’s vision for McLaren, he answered: “I would say a lot. Even more now than in the past.”

“I guess I would never want to say that I have no belief and I never have said it and probably won’t,” he continued. “But definitely since the last few changes, there have been a lot of good things coming from that, both in terms of mood, atmosphere, but at the same time, also performance and things to look forward to in the future.

“Not everything is purely direct in Formula 1. A lot of things take time. So I guess you have that part of it too, but definitely things have taken a step forward so I can easily confirm that and say it with confidence. But, until we see it, that’s the timely part.”

No rethink over Aston Martin’s Monaco pit call for Alonso

Fernando Alonso insists Aston Martin made the right decision to risk pitting for slick tyres first as rain fell during last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. The move surprised many, as six drivers before him had taken intermediates, and he returned to the pits the next lap for the same.

“I think it was the right decision,” Alonso told media including RaceFans. “Maybe if you have a crystal ball and you know the conditions, you know who stops, who doesn’t stop and then finally it rains and you need the inters – 100% you stop for inters.

“What I don’t like in Formula 1 is that we see always the negatives and we all see everything very easily from the sofa. I tell you an example: If we stopped for inters, this week we will only talk about the wrong decision of Red Bull for stopping one lap too late for Max. We would never say that Aston Martin was very brave and chose the right tyre – we would only talk that Red Bull chose the wrong tyre and they stopped Max one lap later. This is the other mentality of Formula 1, the unlimited search for perfection, which is not possible to reach some sometimes.”

• The six drivers – including two rookies – who aced tricky Monaco strategy call

Le Mans hypercar BoP changed after all

The FIA and Le Mans 24 Hours organisers the ACO are changing the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the hypercar class for next weekend’s blue riband endurance race.

Toyota have won all three World Endurance Championship rounds so far this season. A joint statement by the FIA and ACO said that the strict parameters governing each of the hypercar models would be modified as the performance difference between them was “greater than initially anticipated.”

“Considering these factors, and following an in-depth analysis of available data,” the statement continued,” the WEC Committee has decided that the goal of ensuring a level playing field within the Hypercar class will be best achieved by implementing correction between, but also within, the LMH and the LMDh platforms.”

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

F1, county take on repaving costs for Las Vegas Grand Prix (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

"County documents do not note the potential cost of the paving work. It was previously noted in March by Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO Steve Hill that F1 was seeking $37 million for the infrastructure work."

Lewis Hamilton's Vegan Neat Burger Revs Up US Expansion with $18 Million Raise (Vegnews)

"A new vegan fast-food spot in every major city backed by your favourite athlete? This fantasy can soon be a reality because this week, vegan chain Neat Burger announced it has raised an additional $18 million from new and existing investors, including Formula 1race car champion Lewis Hamilton."

Indianapolis 500 TV ratings see 2% bump, biggest share in 15 years (Indy Star)

"NBC saw a 2% bump year-over-year in its TV ratings for Sunday's red-flag-heavy Indianapolis 500, which averaged 4.92 million viewers when combining the traditional NBC broadcast (4.71 million) and streaming on Peacock and NBC's online platforms (216,000), according to Fast National Data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics."

Detroit Grand Prix to kick off in downtown after decades (Detroit Free Press)

"I worked down here in the eighties when the grand prix was here. It was fabulous. The streets were filled, businesses benefited, people could watch out of buildings, and I never felt, once it moved to Belle Isle, it was ever as connected with the city."

Can anyone stop the Kiwis in Jakarta? (Formula E)

"Last season in Jakarta, we saw air temperatures over 30 degrees, and it was Evans who mastered the heat to win the inaugural race here. The New Zealander perfectly calculated a late-race lunge for the lead and didn't look back. So far this season, we have already seen two hot ones in Hyderabad and Sao Paulo, and in both races, Cassidy and Evans were amongst the cream of the crop."

Ferrari 499P hybrid powertrain: how ERS and 4WD work (Ferrari)

"The Prancing Horse cars can only use the positive torque unleashed by the electric unit at over 190 km/h, that is, in specific conditions and on certain sectors of FIA WEC tracks. At Le Mans, these conditions occur near the final part of the Porsche curves and in the initial part of the track when exiting the Bugatti circuit and entering the 24 Hours circuit. At Monza, the venue for the fifth round of the 2023 season, drivers take the second turn of the Ascari chicane and the Parabolica corner, which leads onto the main straight at speeds of over 190km/h."

FIA delegates complete location check at planned Auto Moto Park Albania (FIA)

"The venue is to be set by the city of Elbasan, roughly 40 kilometres from Albania’s capital city, Tirana, and 75km from the second biggest city in the country, Durrës. The initial target for the circuit is to obtain grade three of FIA circuit licence, allowing racing with cars of power to weight ratio of 2-3kg/bhp and therefore open to classes such as Formula 3, Formula 4, TCR and GT3."

Mawson resigned to Supercars wait after FIA snub (V8 Sleuth)

"I’ve had support from Motorsport Australia to basically endorse and get myself upgraded but the FIA have simply stuck to their regulations, which means the revision is done at the end of the year in November/December. We requested an earlier revision but the FIA didn’t even respond."

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.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

What a crowd!!! Thank you fans! 💕💕#F1 #SpanishGP #F1Barcelona @f1 pic.twitter.com/3LX2mlpz9w

— Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (@Circuitcat_eng) June 1, 2023

#SpanishGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/hmGtYCepL5

— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) June 1, 2023

Confirmed: @neymarjr is an @OconEsteban fan 😉#SpanishGP #F1 @PSG_English pic.twitter.com/6VPvlQsxRK

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 1, 2023

.@detroitgp downtown looks pretty good

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) June 1, 2023

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

• Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory

Comment of the day

As RaceFans writers suggest what track changes they’d most like to see made on the F1 calendar, reader Jonathan Parkin suggests the Monaco Grand Prix is less exciting than it used to be due to the too many subtle changes to the famous street circuit…

The problem with Monaco that hasn’t been discussed yet is the challenge of the circuit has been slowly neutered as the years have gone on.

We’ve lost adverse cambers from some corners, there isn’t as many trees around the circuit as there was in years gone by, and since 2003 the Grover statue at Sainte Devote is removed every year. There has also been a proliferation of extra kerbs too. The middle sector from 2001 gained three kerbs next to barriers: just before Mirabeau, just before the tunnel where Ayrton Senna crashed in ’88 and just before the chicane.

Also every year the track is resurfaced in places presumably to remove bumps, but this also removes the white lines as well.

It’s true that the cars have outgrown the circuit, but the challenge has also gone and that has been the case for the last 20 years.
Jonathan Parkin

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Jayantj, Rahim.Rg and Aditya Fakhri Yahya!

On this day in motorsport

• 50 years ago today Jackie Stewart put his Tyrrell on pole position for what would be his final Monaco Grand Prix