Haas’ 2023 car ‘one of our weakest but foundations are strong’ – Magnussen

In brief

Haas have ‘weakest car but strongest foundations’

Magnussen says Haas are stronger than their car’s performance has indicated through the 2023 season so far.

Haas sit eighth in the constructors standings on 11 points but have only secured one points finish over the last nine rounds, in Austria. Asked if the previous round at Monza has been one of his toughest in F1, after he and team mate Nico Hulkenberg were the last cars running at the flag, Magnussen insisted his team are stronger than they look.

“Certainly it’s one of the weakest [weekends], I think, but I still believe that the team is in a stronger place than it has been,” he said.

“It’s just a paradox that we have probably one of the weakest cars we’ve had. With the strong foundation that I see in the team, I think we can do a lot better and I think we will do a lot better. So it really is a patience game. It’s about really sticking it out with what we have at the moment and waiting for better things.”

Perez lacks focus for being Mexican – Marko

Speaking to Red Bull’s Servus TV channel on Monday, Marko said Perez produced “one of his better weekends” at Monza where he completed a one-two for the team behind Verstappen.

However, Marko added, “we know that he has problems in qualifying, he fluctuates, he’s South American and his head just isn’t as fully focused as Max or Sebastian was.” Perez is from Mexico, in North America.

“But the racing is good and his race yesterday was a very, very good race,” Marko continued. “He had three people to overtake, it wasn’t easy, and the Ferraris were faster on the straight. So he did absolutely everything right.”

Fans must respect drivers’ space in paddock – Gasly

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly has urged fans with paddock access to be considerate of them during grand prix weekends.

Last year’s Mexican Grand Prix saw scenes of some drivers being crowded at times by enthusiastic fans, while the relatively cramped paddock in Monza for last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix also saw some drivers struggle for room during the weekend.

“I love fans and I love to always stop by and give some time, but it’s our work environment,” Gasly said.

“Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to get around and make sure that we are on time for the commitment that we’ve got because it’s minute-by-minute, and it’s clearly one of the busiest pit lanes. It’s very enjoyable, but sometimes it’s even people like knocking at the door inside your hospitality, you wonder how they got there, so [they] need to give the space we need to work properly.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Formula 1 given new deadline by Massa lawyers – who label Hamilton 2008 title a ‘sham’ (Independent)

'The letter, from London-based Enyo Law, set a request for a reply of 14 days but, after responses from F1 and the FIA indicated that two weeks did not present enough time for a suitable reply, Massa’s legal team set a new deadline of 4pm on Friday 8 September for an adequate response to the matter at hand. Should no response be received, his lawyers ''anticipate being instructed to file claims in the UK High Court''.'

So, you want to be an F1 strategy engineer? (Aston Martin)

Tom McCullough: 'Despite all the talented and experienced people in the team, the reams of information at your disposal, the data, the technology and resources, you won't always make the right strategy call. One of the hardest things to understand is how the tyres are going to work in specific conditions and this will inevitably catch you out at some point.'

Las Vegas Strip workers air F1-related construction complaints to county commissioners (Las Vegas Sun)

"I don’t have time. I have to be two hours early to work and be two hours late to get out. Even though we wanted this Formula One race, it’s difficult taking care of four kids and our life for work. All the people working (on) Las Vegas Boulevard coming into work, it is very difficult for us."

Formula 1 owners are stuck marketing a sport after they sold us entertainment (Jalopnik)

'If F1 wants to pull itself out of this dominance-derived slump, it needs to readopt that Drive to Survive S1 mindset. It has already tried selling us repackaged versions of praise for Verstappen’s dominance, and fans aren’t responding. It’s time to find better angles, ones that can portray motorsport as being compelling even in the face of one-man show — before F1 loses all of its hard-earned momentum.'

Liberty Media Corporation announces definitive agreement to acquire QuintEvents (Liberty Media)

'F1 and Quint will continue to be operated as separate companies. The enhanced partnership creates numerous growth opportunities within F1 and for Quint’s other partnerships like the NBA, Kentucky Derby and Moto GP. The transaction will accelerate Quint’s specialized sales engine and leverage onsite event expertise to deliver best-in-class experiences to fans.'

F1 surprise for boy, nine, who passed maths GCSE (BBC)

Mike Elliott: ''We all saw it on the news and saw what he's achieved. Doing a GSCE in maths at nine is a fantastic achievement. To read that you were interested in Formula 1 and potentially becoming an engineer like me, I thought that was brilliant.''

Antonelli returns to FREC action as rumours swirl about his 2024 plans (Formula Scout)

'Stephane Guerin, who is in charge of trackside operations for the Mercedes Junior Team and primarily looks after their F2 title contender Frederik Vesti... could not be drawn to confirm if there was any truth to Antonelli moving up to F2, said 'we are focusing on Antonelli’s development, and the focus is now on FREC’s back-to-back rounds” at the Red Bull Ring and then Monza.'

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Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Yuki and his car through the Canal Grande, 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨, @redbullITA Fan activation… the World Premiere of our docufilm in Venice was a great success 🤩

Watch the full video 👉 https://t.co/nTiXxOreJB pic.twitter.com/j8XOeBkU6U

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) September 7, 2023

Fact… Liam was three when the RB1 debuted 😲⏪ pic.twitter.com/zbGzGUx9NM

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) September 7, 2023

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

Comment of the day

After our exclusive interview with Lando Norris, in which he admits to being careful about what he says on social media, Erg sympathises with the McLaren driver.

He’s referred to himself in past interviews as both an introvert and anxious, and that probably plays into it a lot more than him being “weird.” Given that he’s one of the most well-liked drivers by the other drivers on the grid who actually know him, it seems more like it’s his discomfort with the media piece of it (and the volume of hate he gets probably compounding on that).

The comments when he accidentally broke Max’s trophy [in Hungary] were absolutely insane, and there’s been a noticeable pull back from social media and almost an edge to him in interviews since then. It seems like that hate had more of an effect than people realized.

I think F1 fans, when it comes to all drivers, need to consider that we’d all be way, way worse in these situations than they are and they’re all pretty young whose entire lives have built up to this. There’s just not really much grace given to any of them and it’s a level of scrutiny that would mess with anyone’s head.
Erg

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On this day in motorsport

• 10 years ago today Sebastian Vettel won at Monza despite a flat-spot and a gearbox problem