In the round-up: Alpine are only planning minor revisions to their A523 over the remaining races of 2023.
In brief
Alpine “on the ’24 car now”
With six rounds of the season left to run, Alpine are unlikely to move up or down from their current sixth place in the constructors’ championship. The team brought a substantial revisions to its car at the Singapore Grand Prix last month, but isn’t planning any major changes before the end of the season.
“I would say probably [that’s] the last major upgrade,” said the team’s head of trackside engineering Ciaron Pilbeam, “but we’re not quite done yet. We’ve got one or two other bits and pieces coming later in the year.”
The team is now concentrating on its chassis for next year. “We’re on the ’24 car now, almost exclusively,” Pilbeam confirmed.
Aragon test for Alpine WEC racer
“It’s been an intense two days,” said Alpine’s vice-president of motorsport Bruno Famin. “All the shakedown stages are now behind us, and we’ve got down to the nitty-gritty at Aragon, with the fine-tuning of the car’s different systems and the aero work.”
A further run is planned at the shorter and slower Jerez circuit in the south of Spain in two weeks’ time.
Mexican GP promoter tells fans not to boo drivers
The promoter of the Mexican Grand Prix has launched a new campaign urging fans to “promote respect within the Formula 1 community and amongst the race-going fans.” A promotional video for its ‘Racepect’ highlighted a past occasion where Max Verstappen was booed at the British Grand Prix.“We invite all motorsport fans around the world, to passionately cheer for their favourite driver, but also behave respectfully towards other competitors,” said the race’s Marketing and PR director Rodrigo Sánchez. “Let us build an environment based on tolerance, inclusion, diversity, and above all, respect during a Grand Prix.”
Ward explains organisational changes at McLaren
McLaren has revised the organisation of its IndyCar team. Gavin Ward’s job title has been changed from racing director to team principal, while former driver Tony Kanaan sees his former role of special adviser become that of sporting director. Brian Barnhart remains general manager.
The scale of the team’s operation grew by 40% last year as it expanded to a third full-time entry for Alexander Rossi. “Last year at this time the team went through significant changes and growth, and we had to move fast to recruit and stay ahead of preparation for the upcoming season,” said Ward.
“We’ve used the last several months as an opportunity to observe our ways of working — where we’re strong and where we need to be better. I’m excited for these changes. This team has great characters and a ton of talent, and this is all about leaning into people’s strengths and allowing the team to run fast and effectively.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Step inside McLaren's brand-new F1 wind tunnel (McLaren via YouTube)
Morgan appointed team manager at Juncos Hollinger (Racer)
'Juncos Hollinger Racing has promoted from within to fill the team manager vacancy created by the outgoing Vince Kremer.'
Sebastian Montoya: My greatest influences (Formula 3)
'There was one time we crashed – the first time I was quick enough, but I didn’t know it was him. (Juan Manuel) Correa and my dad were fighting. I caught them up and was going to pass them, but then my dad hit me in the back and spun me. I threw my headphones and thought it was Correa, so I turned around and asked who hit me.'
'If sportswashing going to increase my (gross domestic product) by way of one percent, then I will continue doing sportwashing. I don’t care. One percent growth of GDP from sport and I’m aiming for another one-and-a-half percent – call it whatever you want, we’re going to get that one-and-a-half percent.'
F1 race forces shift in dates for football state title games (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
"I want to make it very clear that this isn’t because of Allegiant Stadium, it was because of Formula 1 and the race event that was scheduled on top of what is now our traditional state championship weekend."
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
The latter objection though relates to biodiversity impact, and is not yet fully resolved. UK planning explanation coming up…
— Cllr Sam S Collins (@NorthHertsSam) October 2, 2023
NEWS: We’re excited to announce our the final three races of the 2023 British F4 Championship will all be broadcast LIVE on ITV and ITV Sport’s YouTube channel.
Saturday LIVE:https://t.co/35bh7DSgCF and https://t.co/i0dac46WW3Sunday LIVE:https://t.co/i0dac46WW3 pic.twitter.com/QltaaxnOJm
— ROKiT British F4 (@BritishF4) October 2, 2023
The immigration area at Doha airport is resplendent with the face of every single F1 driver. That should help them when they need to convince the officer that they really did fill in the section of their visa marked “occupation” truthfully #QatarGP 🇶🇦
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) October 2, 2023
There are some combinations of words which are so attractive to certain publications that the total lack of credibility of a source won't dissuade them from pouncing on it, regurgitating a story and pumping out an SEO-friendly headline. Current case in point: "Apple", "F1", "Sky"
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) October 2, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Were sprint races devised partly as a means of prolonging the championship fight?
It seems more like a backdoor reintroduction of the double points races, which were meant to draw out the title battle as long as possible because a decided championship is a huge turn-off for viewers, and the broadcast partners don’t like it – nor do the organisers who pay extra fees to ensure an end of the calendar slot.
FOM initially wanted three of such races in 2014, which became just one after discussions with the teams and the FIA, making Hamilton the only driver in all of F1 history to take 50 points in a single race.
MichaelN
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Pankit!
On this day in motorsport
- 30 years ago today Paul Tracy led Emerson Fittipaldi in a Penske one-two in the CART IndyCar season finale at Laguna Seca. Newly-crowned champion Nigel Mansell retired after colliding with Mark Smith
Jay
3rd October 2023, 0:17
Don’t boo drivers?
I think cheering for drivers should be banned because it makes the drivers who aren’t cheered for feel bad. Stop selling merch too. Poor Logan never sells anything and it makes him feel down right terrible.
How about salaries? Drivers making 10s of millions while others don’t even make a million. They should all be paid the same so some drivers feelings aren’t hurt.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
3rd October 2023, 9:54
This is the definition of a straw man argument.
Jay
3rd October 2023, 10:01
I don’t have a favourite team or driver but I do root against some drivers/teams. I enjoy the sport my way. Sorry if you have a problem with that. It’s really not malicious and I never want to see a crash or especially an injury.
Ferdinand
3rd October 2023, 12:42
I agree it is the world upside down if you can’t boo drivers but can cheer them on. Hypocrisy and censorship text book example. Sign of the times though.
baasbas
3rd October 2023, 12:48
@Ferdinand
Could you explain the hypocrite part to me? Honest question
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
3rd October 2023, 1:13
I wish they’d add some fake canned booing on TV to go with the crowd noise.
Coventry Climax
4th October 2023, 19:55
Especially during these small prix, or sprint thingies, as some call them.
Gusm.ai
3rd October 2023, 1:55
semi offtopic out of COTD: for some time now – lets say the last 20 years – my interest on a given GP is not influenced by the WDC.
As most seasons in this period were simply dominated by a single team – if not a single driver – I watch each GP for what it can offer by itself.
I would probably watch a race in monaco, monza, interlagos, spa, japan no matter what is the points standing. In a same vein, I wouldnt care for Abu dhabi, miami, barcelona race no matter how many points it awards or how many WDC were decided there.
GeeMac (@geemac)
3rd October 2023, 5:32
The Mexican GP organiser should have heard the Rangers FC fans booing their team after their loss at home against Aberdeen on the weekend. Those scenes were waaaay uglier than anything I’ve ever heard at an F1 race. Like it or loathe it, and I’m in the latter camp for what it is worth, booing is part of sport and will always be. F1 wants to attract new fans, well those fans will bring their habits from other sports with them to F1. Booing is one of those things…
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
3rd October 2023, 7:23
I suppose the difference is that football fans tend to boo their own team, and F1 fans boo their rivals. Now, Rangers and Aberdeen fans have a colourful history of singing considerably worse than booing, but the weekend was mostly limited to Beale’s atrocious underperformance and a lack of ambition or fight from clueless players. In F1 I think that fans boo their rivals, which I totally disagree with. These guys are risking their lives for our entertainment and they all deserve huge respect every time they drive. Booing during national anthems is distasteful in all walks of life but I’ve heard it at F1 races and it was very apparent in the Scotland-England game last month so you’re right that it’s a filtering problem.
I suppose idiots will be idiots and we can try to stop unbecoming behaviour. I think the Mexican official is concerned that the cauldron of the podium ceremony, filled with booing of Max from Checo fans, will make Mexico look bitter. So I’d rather someone made a stand for decency than simply accept it as run of the mill.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
3rd October 2023, 11:38
I suppose the difference is that football fans tend to boo their own team, and F1 fans boo their rivals. Now, Rangers and Aberdeen fans have a colourful history of singing considerably worse than booing, but the weekend was mostly limited to Beale’s atrocious underperformance and a lack of ambition or fight from clueless players. In F1 I think that fans boo their rivals, which I totally disagree with. These guys are risking their lives for our entertainment and they all deserve huge respect every time they drive. Booing during national anthems is distasteful in all walks of life but I’ve heard it at F1 races and it was very apparent in the Scotland-England game last month so you’re right that it’s a filtering problem.
I think the Mexican official is concerned that the cauldron of the podium ceremony, filled with booing of Max from Checo fans, will make Mexico look bitter. So I’d rather someone made a stand for decency than simply accept it as run of the mill.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
3rd October 2023, 12:28
@geemac I don’t think other sports fans being worse is a good reason to just accept it in F1. I personally find most booing to be distasteful and poor sportsmanship, so I certainly don’t have a problem with organisers encouraging people to be civil and respectful towards competitors they may disprove of for whatever reason. This is a very mild measure after all – they are not going as far as to say people who boo will be removed from the premises. I don’t believe this issue of booing was a frequent occurrence in F1 racing until relatively recently, and I for one would rather we keep it that way as much as possible. Some other sports do manage to cultivate a culture of respect and good sportsmanship amongst their fans, and I think F1 should try to do the same.
sumedh
3rd October 2023, 5:50
I agree with COTD. FOM must have stacked the sprints towards the end of the season thereby having more points on offer towards the end in the hops of prolonging the championship fight. But in their defence, no one could have forecasted a) Red Bull and Max’s error-free dominance and b) Checo’s horrible perforrmances.
S
3rd October 2023, 7:50
Both of these aspects were easily forecast.
Verstappen’s been getting more consistent year-on year, Red Bull is consistently at the front and dominated last year under the same rules with the same cars, and all of Verstappen’s team-mates are treated as second-fiddle in the team.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd October 2023, 6:09
LV Review-Journal: Perhaps that explains the switch to Thanksgiving weekend for next season so that Football State Title Games (I’ve never heard about them) can occur on the weekend before again.
COTD: Good points, although I don’t recall three being an initial preference for 2014 rather than only the final event & as for the first paragraph’s ending, nothing such, other than Abu Dhabi paying for being the season-finale location.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
3rd October 2023, 7:10
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishmirror.ie/sport/other-sport/formula-one/formula-1s-double-points-system-3193701.amp
Yeah, it was due for US and Brazil, so the final 3 races.
MichaelN
3rd October 2023, 14:39
Right, it was quickly abandoned but it was the initial plan.
Simon
3rd October 2023, 21:14
2 and 5
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
3rd October 2023, 11:54
Any news about Apple exclusively acquiring the broadcasting rights for F1. Rumors suggest that Apple is prepared to offer a staggering annual contract of 2 billion to broadcast F1 exclusively on its Apple TV platform. If this is true, there is no need to predict how Liberty will respond to this offer.
If Apple invests this much, they anticipate an unprecedented return. Armed with detailed consumer data, they can tailor products precisely. F1 will just be a platform to showcase their offerings. IIRC, this is not the first time Apple has been linked to F1.
In 2016, Joe Saward reported that Apple conducted due diligence when Ecclestone sought a buyer, but opted out. They were also tied to a potential investment in McLaren but chose not to proceed.
Coventry Climax
4th October 2023, 19:58
I’m sure the on screen metrics would improve. Hugely. But best would still be if they were done away with altogether.
SteveP
3rd October 2023, 20:18
You know how they say that every cloud has a silver lining?
Well, if the major money isn’t coming from oil wells in the Middle East, then maybe those tracks we all love to dislike won’t be on the calendar.
How many sports-washing sessions would we avoid then?