Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Red Bull Ring, 2023

Hamilton ‘paid the price for not gambling’ on slicks earlier

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says he should have pitted for slick tyres in the sprint race earlier than he did

In brief

Hamilton ‘paid the price for not gambling’ on slicks earlier

Hamilton was running in 11th place when he pitted for mediums at the end of lap 17 – two laps later than his Mercedes team mate, George Russell.

He rejoined behind his team mate in 15th and then moved up to tenth by the finish, missing out on points.

“I had a great first lap and then generally just struggled with the balance of the car,” he said. “I think when you get into the wet conditions, it highlights the issues you have with the car and those don’t give you confidence.

“Otherwise I transitioned to the slicks way too late. I don’t really like gambling, so I didn’t. So I paid the price for that. But otherwise I’m relatively happy with it.”

Motorsport world shares shock at Van ‘T Hoff death

Many in the motorsport world have expressed condolances to the family, friends and team of Formula Regional European Championship driver Dilano van ‘T Hoff who was killed in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps, yesterday.

A statement from the FIA extended the governing body’s condolences “to the family and friends of Dilano van ‘T Hoff and to the MP Motorsport Team” after the accident.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said that the Dutch driver “died in pursuit of his dream to reach the pinnacle of motorsport”.

“Along with the entire motorsport community, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones,” he continued.

Formula 2 racer Juan Manuel Correa, who suffered serious injuries in a horrific accident at Spa which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert, said that “getting behind the wheel and racing” in yesterday’s sprint race “was not easy” after the news.

“I can’t really express how numb I feel, but I want to give my deepest condolences to Dilano’s family, team, and friends,” he said. “My deep thoughts are also with the other drivers involved. Stay strong, you have all my support.”

Novalak loses F2 podium for illegal tyre pressures

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Clement Novalak was disqualified from the Formula 2 sprint race in Austria, which means he loses his first podium of the season.

The Trident driver was found to have breached Article 12.9 of the Technical Regulations as scrutineers found Novalak’s rear tyre pressures were below the minimum limit. This means Isack Hadjar is promoted to third in the final classification, with Oliver Bearman collecting the final point position.

Elsewhere, Enzo Fittipaldi and Kush Maini were both penalised for separate incidents of contact, both of which involved the other. Fittipaldi was given a three-place grid drop for today’s feature race for minor contact at turn three and one penalty point, while Maini was given a converted drive through penalty of 20 seconds in the sprint race classification and three penalty points for pushing Fittipaldi off onto the grass along the back straight, which forced him to retire.

Gray, Bedrin penalised for F3 contact

Oliver Gray has a five-place grid penalty for the next race he competes in after colliding with Rafael Villagomez at turn four in the sprint race. He was initially given a time penalty, but because the incident put both drivers out of the race the stewards decided to convert the penalty to a grid drop.

It is likely to come into effect for today’s F3 feature race, which means Gray will now start in 25th.

Meanwhile, Nikita Bedrin was given a 10-second time penalty following his collision with Oliver Goethe at turn 10, which gave the Trident driver a puncture. It dropped Bedrin to 25th in the final classification after crossing the finish line in 17th.

Stewards deemed both drivers “wholly to blame” for their collisions, with each also receiving two penalty points on their licence.

Button eighth on grid for second NASCAR race

Jenson Button will start his second race in the NASCAR Cup series from eighth on the grid. He qualified his Rick Ware-run Ford Mustang 1.1 seconds off pole-winner Denny Hamlin in Chicago, on a new track which is holding the series’ first street race.

Reigning Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen qualified third on the grid for his first start in the series.

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Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

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Comment of the day

After Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen almost clashed while fighting for the lead on the opening lap of the sprint race, reader Edvaldo wasn’t impressed by Perez’s performance…

Perez is really testing the team’s patience. Verstappen could’ve easily lost control on that wet grass and crashed on the first lap of a Sprint race because Perez is trying to make up for his awful performance of yesterday.

And given that when he finally cleared Hulk (on lap 9, with that car…..) he was 9 sec. off Max and finished 21 behind, it would be meaningless anyway, he just isn’t nowhere near fast enough to challenge Max for more than a couple of corners.
Edvaldo

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Avegaille and Andy2286!

On this day in motorsport

  • On this day in 1978 Mario Andretti led another Lotus one-two in the French Grand Prix, extending his points lead over team mate Ronnie Peterson

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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4 comments on “Hamilton ‘paid the price for not gambling’ on slicks earlier”

  1. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    2nd July 2023, 5:53

    Sometimes gambling in changing track conditions pay off, sometimes not.

    What a barrel roll that reminded me of Heidfeld’s 2006 US GP roll, among others.

    COTD couldn’t be more spot-on.
    He was unnecessarily desperate, but fortunately, nothing happened in the end despite the high chance.

  2. SteveP
    2nd July 2023, 7:42

    Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s stake in Alpine cost them NOTHING

    I think that might put an entirely different valuation on Alpine than has been bounced around in the media recently.

    1. MichaelN
      2nd July 2023, 13:10

      That is if the “sources” who shared this supposed information with – of all people – the disreputable English rag The Daily Mail actually know what they’re talking about. F1 teams deal with serious money flows. It seems highly unlikely that the owners of a team would just give away a quarter of their business.

  3. PlosslF1
    2nd July 2023, 13:21

    Regarding the Maurice Hamilton tweet perhaps he should of checked the showbiz and entertainment section as F1 is clearly aiming for that crowd now days…

Comments are closed.