Low-speed Hungaroring should play to AlphaTauri’s strengths – Tsunoda

In brief

Tsunoda hoping AlphaTauri to be more competitive

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda struggled to 16th in qualifying and the race at the British Grand Prix, but the move from the high-speed sweeps of Silverstone to the slower corners of the Hungaroring leaves him optimistic, and also could mean Daniel Ricciardo makes his Formula 1 return this weekend in a car capable of scoring points.

“Hungary hopefully will be a better situation with more slow-speed corners that we’re pretty good at through the previous races,” said Tsunoda. “So hopefully it will work. But I’ll just see how it goes.”

Tsunoda also has strong form at the Hungaroring. His second-best result to date was a sixth place at the track during his rookie season in 2021. So far AlphaTauri has finished no higher than 10th this season, with the team’s strongest results coming on street circuits but not necessarily ones populated by low-speed corners.

Tsunoda will have a new team mate this weekend as Daniel Ricciardo takes Nyck de Vries’ place.

Haas and Pirelli “love” Fittipaldi’s behind-the-scenes work

“Pietro hadn’t driven the VF-23 yet because during pre-season testing, Nico [Hulkenberg] was new to the team and we needed to use every minute we had available in the car for him to get accustomed to it. As soon as we can, we’ll get Pietro in the car because he’s our reserve driver, so should something happen to our drivers, he will be in the car.

“We need to put him in the best position should it happen, and he’s always very good, very consistent, and very reliable. The engineers love him, Pirelli loves his feedback, so it’s always good having Pietro around but also to keep him motivated. He’s a race car driver and he races in LMP2 to stay race sharp should the opportunity arise for him to get into an F1 car. He’s doing a great job and we’re very thankful to have Pietro around.”

Fittipaldi is racing in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA this year, and won the LMP2 class in the Six Hours of Monza this month.

F1 cars to run at Bathurst

The Bathurst International event on the 10th to the 12th of November this year will feature top-level single-seater cars lapping Australia’s famed Mount Panorama circuit.

Organisers of the event have dubbed the group of cars doing demonstration runs as an ‘international open-wheel cavalcade’, and although no chassis have been named yet as applications to enter has only just opened, they say the list of cars taking part already includes “classic and more modern” F1 machines as well as cars from IndyCar and Formula Renault 3.5.

The most recent F1 demo to take place at the track was conducted by Red Bull this February, with Liam Lawson at the wheel of their RB7 car from 2011.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Lundqvist inching closer to IndyCar debut (Racer)

'Although he wouldn’t be drawn on the team in question, reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist says he’s targeting the last few IndyCar rounds of this year to make his series debut.'

Hitech GP committed to staying in F2 and F3 if F1 entry bid is accepted (Formula Scout)

'Hitech GP team principal Oliver Oakes says that if his Formula 1 entry bid is accepted by the FIA it will not impact his team’s participation in the support series.'

Pourchaire on being more focused, consistent and faster than ever before (F2)

"It's great because it helps for my future, even for Formula 1 teams looking at me. Of course, it's my third F2 season, but I'm only 19 years old still. I will be 20 in in August, which makes me the seventh youngest on the grid. I would say it’s like I’m not really a third-season driver in F2, I’m just young."

Motorsport UK supports Formula Student to embrace sustainable fuels (Motorsport UK)

'Motorsport UK, working with Coryton Fuels, will bring sustainable fuel options to the 2023 edition of Formula Student for the first time in its 25-year history.'

Lando Norris: Same Interview, One Year Apart (McLaren)

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— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 18, 2023

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Comment of the day

Nobody knows who might be the second fastest team at this weekend’s Hungarian GP, with four in contention to be Red Bull’s closest rival following McLaren’s upgrades turning their MCL60 into a podium-capable car last time out at Silverstone. But might Mercedes now be consistently the third fastest, regardless of circuit?

If McLaren’s resurgence proves anything, its that Mercedes have a really poor chassis this year. In the first half of the season, we’ve had one Mercedes customer (Aston) be quicker than them quite consistently in slow-speed corner and street circuits, and now, another customer (McLaren) quicker than them in high-speed circuits with fast corners. The Mercedes power unit it still up there in terms of its performance and packaging.

I just don’t see Mercedes making any progress until they adopt the same Red Bull style sidepod concept and aero philosophy. It should encourage them that McLaren and Aston have a Mercedes power unit in a Red Bull aero car, and are making progress towards the front. They need to scrap whatever ‘development path’ they had for the rest of the season, and just make a black Red Bull after the summer break. It will be their only shot at being competitive in 2024.
Todfod

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On this day in motorsport

• 40 years ago today Ayrton Senna tested a Formula 1 car for the first time. He drove a Williams FW08C at Donington Park.