In the round-up: Sergio Perez said he would welcome more street circuits on the Formula 1 calendar
In brief
Perez would welcome more street circuits
Ahead of demonstrating a Red Bull RB7 around the Spanish streets of Madrid, which is rumoured to be under consideration to potentially host a grand prix in the future, Perez said he would welcome more street circuits onto the calendar.
“I think street circuits are special – it would be good to add more to the calendar,” said Perez. “There’s a very special atmosphere when we go there, especially like the one that can be found in cities like Madrid.
“Yes, I have done well [at street circuits]. I think that confidence of arriving at the circuit and the weekend to do things right is important.”
Evans “feels really bad” after Cassidy crash
Jaguar Formula E driver Mitch Evans expressed his regret after the dramatic accident in the early laps of Sunday’s Rome Eprix that saw him launched over Nick Cassidy.Evans was behind his two championship rivals, Cassidy and Jake Dennis, on the second lap of the race as the pair held first and second. As the trio approached the uphill braking zone for turn seven, Evans lost control and hit the pair ahead, bouncing over the top of Cassidy. The clash ensured never Evans nor Cassidy scored points, while Dennis claimed the championship lead by 24 points.
“It sucks right now,” lamented Evans. “It all happened very quickly. I wasn’t expecting them to back up so much when I was approaching the back of Jake. I tried to avoid it, but then obviously once I started to ride Nick’s wheel I just kind of got out of control.
“I feel really bad. It just kind of caught me by surprise. I was not expecting them to be that slow at the apex. But yeah, it really, really hurts. So I feel sorry for Nick. I’m sorry to the Envision guys. It’s obviously really hurt my championship now. So yeah, it sucks.
Lawson within point of Super Formula lead after third win
Red Bull Formula 1 reserve driver Liam Lawson moved within a point of Super Formula championship leader Ritomo Miyata by taking victory in the sixth round of the season at Fuji.
Lawson won by four seconds over Tadsuke Makino to secure his third win in the series in just six Super Formula starts. Miyata completed the podium in third place to hold onto the lead of the championship by just a single point with three races remaining.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Ricciardo ‘not scared about retirement’ as he has say on Hamilton (Crash)
''If I am a world champion, I don’t know if I’ll be retired, because that would mean that things are going well. But then I do look at some sports, I follow UFC a lot and a lot of fighters do stay a bit too long and their career kind of tapers. There is something kind of cool about going out on top. Then I look at Nico Rosberg and I get it, but it also felt like maybe one year too early. So it’s hard to find that balance.''
Zak Brown proud to celebrate 60 years of McLaren (Sky)
'McLaren boss Zak Brown has been celebrating the 60th anniversary of the team at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.'
2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button Talks Triple Crown, and His Worst Cars (Car and Driver)
'I have no interest in racing IndyCar. I have a lot of respect for the guys that race in IndyCar. I know a lot of the drivers, I've raced against them, they're good friends. But racing at Indy? No. No interest. Road courses I would be interested in driving an IndyCar but not ovals. I don't know ovals at all, and at this point in my life, I've achieved what I've set out to achieve. Now I'm having fun. I don't feel an Indy 500 would be fun for me. It's a little bit too scary. '
Cassidy on Evans apology: He did most of the talking (Total Motorsport)
''He did most of the talking. He’s a great guy and driver. These things happen but it’s still heartbreaking.''
EXPLAINED: From multi-car crash to Race 2-ready in Rome (Formula E)
Exploring how teams collaborated together to ensure all drivers involved in the heavy crash during Saturday's first race in Rome were able to compete in yesterday's second race with limited parts available.
Rossi raises the roof at Misano with maiden Fanatec GT Europe victory (GT World Challenge)
'Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin secured a breakthrough Fanatec GT Europe victory in today's Sprint Cup race at Misano, triumphing on Rossi’s home soil in their #46 Team WRT BMW. The win ended an eight-year wait since the last Sprint Cup win for BMW and was the first for Team WRT since it launched its high-profile alliance with the German marque. Significantly for Rossi, it came at a circuit located just 15 kilometres from his hometown and named in honour of his late friend Marco Simoncelli.'
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.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Very cool weekend at @fosgoodwood and an awesome job by the whole team to deliver such an epic celebration of McLaren’s 60 years of racing! Our cars stole the show! pic.twitter.com/jdPtpkKQyN
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) July 16, 2023
You just know @alex_albon LOVED that #FOS run in the FW08C 😎 pic.twitter.com/oU1iyv7CjV
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 16, 2023
🎾 First tennis match I watched,
not a bad place to be! ✌🏼#WIMBLEDON pic.twitter.com/aUBSc2hzyy— 周冠宇 | Zhou Guanyu 🇨🇳 (@ZhouGuanyu24) July 16, 2023
Eye to eye with @SChecoPerez 👀 #RedBullShowrun 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/cKVnKoErSf
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 15, 2023
The FIA extends its condolences to the family and friends of the two competitors who were fatally injured in the 2023 Sligo Stages Rally. Our thoughts are also with Motorsport Ireland and the event organisers at this difficult time.
— FIA (@fia) July 16, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
This weekend’s Caption Competition winner is @dbradock!:
Liberty have these rose coloured glasses – if you put them on, then sprint races are fantastic to watch!
DB-C90
Thanks to everyone who came up with caption idea this week and a special mention to Tommy C, EffWunFan, DavidS and NinjaBadger who all came up with particularly good captions.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Bradley13 and David Hoops!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
17th July 2023, 0:32
You’ll enjoy Formula E then, Checo.
Mayrton
17th July 2023, 7:35
Which is where he should be (& should have been for some years)
Chris Horton
17th July 2023, 11:37
Where is this stuff coming from? Because what? He’s not as good as Verstappen/can’t drive a car built for Verstappen’s extreme driving style?
Remember the rest of Perez’s career. Christ people have short memories.
David (@nvherman)
17th July 2023, 15:11
We do remember the rest of his career: that’s the problem for him. He’s never done anything special, and he’s been beaten by his team mate in six of the 12 seasons he’s competed in.
2011: Beaten by Kamui Kobayashi
2012: Beat Kobayashi
2013: Beaten by Jenson Button
2014: Beaten by Nico Hulkenberg
2015: Beat Hulkenberg
2016: Beat Hulkenberg
2017: Beat Esteban Ocon
2018: Beat Ocon
2019: Beat Lance Stroll
2020: Beat Stroll
2021: Beaten by Max Verstappen (and scored less than half the points)
2022: Beaten by Verstappen (scored 149 points less)
2023: Being beaten by Verstappen (currently 99 points behind after 10 rounds, has missed Q3 6 times)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2023, 22:16
All this only points out he’s an average f1 driver, and the comment the previous poster was replying too basically said he shouldn’t be in f1.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2023, 22:17
to*
Miane
17th July 2023, 5:06
Lawson, Lundgaard, Palou and Drugovich. Some names that should be in F1.
Dex
17th July 2023, 6:18
Lawson was average at best in F2 just few months ago, Drugovich kinda inherited the title after better drivers went to F1 or other sports; but at least he won his title in style. Lawson was much below his level, and I’m not sure if Japanese series offers serious competition enough to prove he deserves F1. I don’t get the hype, perhaps because his name is Lawson, and not something Czech or Spanish. Indy is a completely different championship as well, but it would be very interesting to see what those guys could do in F1. I wouldn’t dare to try to predict which one would be the most suited for F1.
Miane
17th July 2023, 14:34
Drugovich inherited the title? I think you don’t watch F2, it was mostly the same field Piastri raced against, ok Drugovich had more experience but he won in a midfield team (and that’s very clear now) in one of the most dominant championships.
Lawson had some bad luck in F2, things didn’t went his way. But he was virtual champion in DTM at only 18 and he never had raced those cars, now he’s title contender in Super Formula as a rookie again.
Indy is super competitive, it’s the only category close to F1, what Lundgaard is doing is amazing since he’s in a smaller team and only in his second season (and he’s only 21 also).
Antz (@antznz)
17th July 2023, 20:41
Lawson finished 3rd in F2. He was more often than not on the alt strat which usually failed due to sc timing. He passed a lot of people in F2 due to the bad timing but missed many points. That season wasn’t reflective of his potential. He’s been dominant in other categories as well so imo is deserving of a seat to see what he can do.
some racing fan
17th July 2023, 5:15
So does that mean that the new Madrid circuit would be the host of the Spanish GP?
Jere (@jerejj)
17th July 2023, 6:11
Most likely, yes, later this decade.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th July 2023, 6:11
While F1 already has relatively many street or otherwise temporary circuits, I’d also be okay with more such circuits, not to mention that’s pretty inevitable anyway & not the world’s end despite some current circuits inevitably getting sacrificed for them in the long term.
Yet another Stellar performance by Lawson, so I’d be truly surprised if he doesn’t race in F1 next season with such a performance level in a series like SF.
Hirakawa made a good comeback starting from the back, while Nojiri’s pace was nowhere.
Antz (@antznz)
17th July 2023, 20:46
@jerejj pretty sure Lawson will be at AT (or whatever the name becomes) next year. I think it’s been correct to give him time and keep pushing him into new series and experiences. He seems ready for F1 now.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th July 2023, 21:11
@antznz I agree
Sham (@sham)
17th July 2023, 8:59
The last thing F1 needs is more street circuits – there are at least 2 too many as things stand.
JohnEver (@johnever)
17th July 2023, 11:20
yeah, I agree
bring back real circuits like Hockenheim, Nurburg, Sepang to name a few…
and let the -in my opinion- silly street-circuits for Formula E and Indy
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
17th July 2023, 18:44
+ 1
rsp123 (@rsp123)
17th July 2023, 15:55
+1
Yiku
17th July 2023, 9:04
Yuki needs love
Electroball76
17th July 2023, 9:26
They could have a separate “F Street” series or something. They could all be sprint races. Done in an hour and cleared away for the pop concert. Imagine, Perez and De Vries battling head to head at 90km/h down the high street.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
17th July 2023, 9:36
I know Checo fancies himself the king of streets, so it’s no real wonder he’d welcome more tracks like that as he seems to like them. Understandable. I think for the sport it’s a double edged sword. Yes, street circuits are appealing from a presentation point of view. It makes Formula 1 seem thriving when the packed grand stands are in the shot all the time. As long as F1 is booming and popular at the tracks in question, it makes for great visuals. It also helps in showing the speed of the cars, etc. Street tracks, undoubtedly, look pretty cool.
Of course this is a double edged sword, as Formula E often demonstrates, it also really makes the show look low rent if the grandstands are empty. Now in FE’s case there’s generally only one or two grandstands to speak off anyways, so that makes it even worse when they’re half-empty and naturally F1 is not in direct risk of having empty grandstands any time soon with the current boom. But we’ve seen it in the past on certain circuits in countries where F1 wasn’t thriving and to me it seems empty grandstands are easier to hide when they’re further from the track, so maybe don’t do street circuits in those countries especially.
But for the racing point of view, street circuits are a death knell of excitement. Overtaking is hard, the tracks themselves are often uninteresting due to the nature of being flat, narrow, having tons of slow corners combined with maybe a long boring straight. Yes, qualifying can be exciting. And yes, there’s a risk of spectacular crashes (but also an element of danger with severe risk of injury or worse that F1 really should try to avoid). But all in all it’s more likely a procession from start to finish that’s boring for over 95% of the race. Have a few street races, sure, with 24 races having a few differing types of racing is fine. But don’t go overboard. Keep it simple, 4 or 5 street races are more than plenty.
S
17th July 2023, 9:39
And that’s different to F1’s events at permanent circuits, how, exactly?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
17th July 2023, 18:48
I agree with much of this @sjaakfoo. I think the number of street circuits is about fine as it is but I don’t really want to see the number increase any more. Having said that though, Barcelona generally produces pretty dull races with the current and most recent generation of F1 cars. So I doubt a well designed street circuit in Madrid would be any less interesting.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2023, 22:26
Yes, we have a handful of them now, if anything I wouldn’t put them all in consecutive races, we have around 24 races, or at least that was the goal, I’d put 1 every 5 races to keep street tracks special.
Craig
17th July 2023, 9:52
I think we’ve got enough street circuits.
Todfod (@todfod)
17th July 2023, 11:57
Not enough for Checo. If he had a choice there would be 21 street circuits on the calendar, with Bahrain the only racing circuit. He’d still lose the championship at the end of the year.. but hopefully, with less than a 100 point deficit.
Coventry Climax
17th July 2023, 10:27
No, Zak, not your cars stole the show, this one did:
Antz (@antznz)
17th July 2023, 20:48
Ooo that’s nice!
Coventry Climax
17th July 2023, 10:29
Perez just thinks he stands a better chance at street circuits.
MichaelN
17th July 2023, 22:17
Which is a classic case of buying into the hype.
His win in Azerbaijan in 2021 was gifted to him when Verstappen crashed out due to a Pirelli failure.
His win in Monaco in 2022 followed a contentious qualifying session where Pérez caused the end of Q3. In the race he was helped by Ferrari being too slow to react to the weather, then held up by (Red Bull affiliated) Albon in their outlaps. Pérez won the race less than 1,5 seconds ahead of not just P2, but P3.
His win in Singapore in 2022 lacked competition from Verstappen, who had been faster all weekend but ran out of fuel in qualifying. Pérez’ win was saved by the stewards choosing (for whatever reason) to not penalize him twice for two safety car infringements, but just once (convenient!), which meant he kept his win with mere seconds to spare ahead of Leclerc, who had followed him around all race.
His win in Saudi Arabia in 2023 lacked competition from Verstappen, who retired from Q2 and had to start 15th. Verstappen was back in 2nd at the half way mark and finished only a few seconds behind Pérez.
His win in Azerbaijan in 2023 came after he trailed Verstappen in the early phases of the race, but lucked into a safety car pitstop to put him ahead, as Verstappen had made his stop just before the safety car came into play. In the ensuing 40-odd laps he pulled out a 2 second lead.
Monaco 2022 is the only street race where he sort of won it on his own, but even that’s something Verstappen might take issue with.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2023, 22:30
Even with the SC help and verstappen starting from the back in those 2 races, it was impressive perez had same or more pace than verstappen, as they’re not equal drivers in general.
Coventry Climax
17th July 2023, 10:31
That foto, for the caption competition, is just way too scary to be the subject of fun.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2023, 22:31
I disagree, thought it was a fun one.
PeterG
17th July 2023, 10:45
Problem with new street circuits is that the modern style F1 street circuits usually lack most of what used to make street circuits so interesting & more of a challenge than the permanent venues.
Street circuits used to be tight, bumpy, dusty & with no margin for error yet now they tend to be just as smooth, wide & grippy as the permanent circuits with almost as much margin for error.
And they often now follow the same design characteristics which removes the other thing that used to make street circuits cool which is each one used to have it’s own unique feel & character. Now they just feel pretty samey as they all have the boringly long straght into a slow corner, They all have the fast esses copy-cat section & some very long (Maybe slightly banked) corner & they all have pit facilities on par with most other venues.
Baku is a bit more like a traditional street circuit in some regard which is maybe why it stands out a bit more over Miami, Vegas, Sochi & even Singapore to a degree.
Finally Sergio says street circuits are cool because they are special, Yet the more of them you have the less special they start to feel. Especially if they are going to end up all feeling fairly similar with no character of there own.
Circuit De Catalunya may not always be the best circuit in terms of overtaking but it is at least a good circuit with a nice mix of corners, Some elevation change & a fun circuit to drive that offers a nice challenge which is a fun visual spectacle to watch cars lapping. A modern style street circuit tends to be none of those things & honestly i’d bin the lot of them.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2023, 22:33
Yes, that’s also a good point, they’re not so special if they’re all so similar.