Red Bull bringing ‘extra performance for coming races’ with upgrade – Verstappen

In brief

Verstappen teases Red Bull upgrades

Red Bull will seek to pull even further ahead of their rivals as they plan to bring new parts for their RB19 this weekend. Runaway championship leader Verstappen said the team “have a couple of upgrades this weekend.”

“Hopefully they will do what we expect them to do so we can find extra performance for the upcoming races,” he added. “Let’s see where we stand on a track where you run high downforce [set-ups] with relatively low-speed corners.”

Red Bull has won three times at the Hungaroring, with Verstappen’s first win at the track coming last year. “Last year it was tricky to make the right calls with the incoming rain and colder temperatures,” he recalled, “but as a team we remained calm and made all the right decisions.”

World Endurance Championship ‘suffers data leak’

They claimed to have found two Google Cloud storage buckets on June 16th which contained “hundreds of passports, government-issued IDs, and drivers’ licenses belonging to FIA WEC drivers”. Le Mans Endurance Management, which operates the WEC website, has since ensured that any leaked files have been removed from view.

Goodwood Festival of Speed’s 2024 date is announced

Goodwood has announced the next edition of the Festival of Speed will take place on the 11th to 14th July 2024. It also revealed how ticket holders for Saturday’s action at last weekend’s even will be compensated it was cancelled due to severe winds.

Anyone who bought a ticket for last Saturday has already been contacted about having their ticket be transferred for use on the Saturday of next year’s event. The promoters claim a “large proportion” of people have already taken up that option, meaning there will be fewer tickets available to buy for that day. Tickets go on sale to the general public on 6th November this year.

F1’s latest video game flops in release month

Although the sale of video games in Europe rose last month, the release of the latest edition of the official Formula 1 racing game did not contribute much to that.

F1 23 was released on 16th June and its sales were down almost 47% against what the preceding F1 22 title managed during its release month according to Games Sales Data. It was the sixth most purchased game last month (combining digital and physical sales) but only 0.3% of F1 23’s sales were for PC users, console owners accounting for the vast majority.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Franz Tost wonders: 'Perhaps we haven't done enough tests with de Vries' (Autohebdo - French)

'We drove on many circuits that de Vries did not know at the start of the year. However, there are also sprint weekends, where after just one free practice session you are thrown into qualifying. It's then very difficult for a newcomer to obtain good results.'

County of Monterey Board of Supervisors approves long term concession agreement for Laguna Seca (Racer)

'In a historic move to ensure the long-term future of the Laguna Seca Recreation Area, home to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors today approved a new, long-term concession agreement with the local non-profit Friends of Laguna Seca.'

Live music and celebrity stardust are making F1 a true festival of speed (Independent)

'Formula One is determined to make sure the action doesn’t stop when the chequered flag falls as it experiences an unprecedented period of popularity.'

The setup: Iowa with Luke Mason (IndyCar)

''A driver's confidence in their feeling of what the right-rear tyre is doing for me is the single most important thing (around Iowa). It might not look like it, but the tyre is constantly sliding, and having it slide and break away in a progressive predictable way allows your drive to be more aggressive and confident in their inputs.'

Correa 'a joy' within VAR’s F2 team and 'an example for younger drivers' (Formula Scout)

'Van Amersfoort Racing team boss Frits van Amersfoort has praised Juan Manuel Correa’s racing comeback since his life-threatening 2019 crash and that he can be 'an example for younger drivers'.'

DHL Express and Club Athena partner for 'Girls at Track' event to inspire next generation (Andretti Autosport)

'DHL has developed a unique event for young girls to explore career opportunities in science, technology, research, engineering, the arts and mathematics), and how those skills can be leveraged in both motorsport and transportation industries. The DHL-sponsored Andretti Autosport will support the 'Girls at Track' event, engaging the young girls in their exploration of career opportunities for their future.'

How has Gabriel Bortoleto been so consistent in 2023? (FIA Formula 3)

'Gabriel Bortoleto has scored points in every single race following his day one contact with Rafael Villagomez in the Sakhir sprint race. It was the first collision of the season and so far, the only blemish on an otherwise impeccable record. His reliable results have formed the foundations to an impressive rookie pursuit of the F3 title.'

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Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

No changes to the DRS zones for this weekend's #HungarianGP.

More data on the Hungaroring: https://t.co/QzYZaCvnRr #F1 pic.twitter.com/4qU1qKTP31

— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 19, 2023

Collegiate Women Athlete of the Year ✔️
Naismith Player of the Year ✔️
Grand Marshal for the #HyVeeHomefront250 🔜
 @CaitlinClark22 will serve as Grand Marshal for Saturday's race! pic.twitter.com/OMKR1uWaGd

— Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend (@INDYCARatIowa) July 19, 2023

“There’s so much more to it than what you see on the TV.” – Declan, 17

At the recent British GP, we invited over 50 young people from diverse backgrounds to Silverstone to explore the exciting careers available within STEM and motorsport.

Check out highlights from the day 🔽 pic.twitter.com/7LOEN1hQYG

— Mission 44 (@mission44) July 19, 2023

He's back!

Updated biography of @danielricciardo:https://t.co/HMEXJ397TF #F1 #HungarianGP

— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 19, 2023

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

Comment of the day

After AlphaTauri brought an end to Nyck de Vries‘ F1 career, for now, RaceFans looked at how some of the team’s previous drivers fared in their first 11 races in the world championship. None of them were sacked, but showed how tricky it can be to judge a driver after so few F1 starts.

I think it was the right move, as Nyck de Vries was already very experienced and looked very unlikely to be more than an average F1 driver. And the signing was far more about testing if Daniel Ricciardo was good enough to race for Red Bull again anyway.

But I do think it is interesting to consider which great drivers would have been sacked based on their first 11 races if their teams had been this harsh.

Graham Hill, for example, made his debut in a very uncompetitive Lotus in 1958. Perhaps unsurprisingly as it was only four years after he first drove any car at all, he got off to a slow start, was generally outperformed by Cliff Allison and made a few mistakes. It probably didn’t start much better than de Vries’ career. Hill continued to struggle in 1959 with Lotus, although he was a bit stronger, but he really came good in 1960 with a move to BRM and almost won the British Grand Prix from the back. By 1961 he was better than Tony Brooks, and in 1962 he was world champion.

Niki Lauda made his debut with March in 1972, and is often used as an example of why pay drivers can be good. He was totally destroyed by Ronnie Peterson in the same car. But he got a drive with BRM and showed more promise, not being far off the pace of race-winning teammates Clay Regazzoni and Jean-Pierre Beltoise, and was promoted to Ferrari in 1974. He was the fastest driver on the grid in ’74 and by 1975 he was the best in the world, becoming one of the all-time greats.

Nigel Mansell had a more promising start to his career, but by the end of 1984 he had consistently been second best to Elio de Angelis and looked like a midfield-level driver. Only two years later he almost won the championship for Williams.

I think that the first 11 races of Hill and Lauda’s careers were no more impressive than de Vries’ but he was far more experienced as a driver before joining F1 and it is very unlikely that he would have been as successful as them.
F1 frog

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to K, Steve and Arijitmaniac!

On this day in motorsport

• 15 years ago today Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix despite falling from first to fifth when McLaren failed to pit him during a Safety Car period