In the round-up: Max Verstappen’s race engineer admits his driver has been bored during some of his more dominant drives to victory this year.
In brief
Verstappen “loses a bit of interest” when dominating
Gianpiero Lambiase, who has been Verstappen’s engineer since he joined Red Bull in 2016, told his driver “sometimes I get the feeling that you are just bored basically sometimes” in a video released by Red Bull.
“I think even if we are 30 seconds up the road I’ll still be in the zone, as it were, still trying to maximise everything and taking everything seriously,” Lambiase said. “Whereas I think at that point [Max] has perhaps lost a bit of interest and is like ‘come on GP, just chill out a bit’.”
Verstappen pointed to the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, which he won with over half a minute in hand over Red Bull’s closest rival, after unsuccessfully suggested to Lambiase he could pit for fresh tyres and attempt to score the fastest lap bonus point. “At exactly the same point I’ve got Christian [Horner, team principal] in my ear saying ‘no, no, we don’t need that’,” the engineer explained.
The three-times champion admitted occasionally making “cheeky comments” on his radio. “And it’s definitely not going to be the last one,” he added.
IndyCar’s Armstrong enters F3 Macau GP
IndyCar racer Marcus Armstrong will make a surprise return to the Macau Grand Prix next weekend. The race awards the FIA Formula 3 World Cup, and the entry list reveals Armstrong will race for Dutch team MP Motorsport.Although MP has not announced the high-profile signing, Armstrong did share on Tuesday that he was visiting the Netherlands and was not too far from the town the team is based in. Also swapping top-tier single-seaters for an F3 seat in Macau will be Formula E racer Dan Ticktum.
Armstrong finished eighth in the Macau Grand Prix in 2018 and ’19, and was also FIA F3 championship runner-up in the latter year. He then spent three seasons in Formula 2, winning four races in total and coming 13th in each campaign, and was IndyCar’s rookie of the year in 2023 despite racing part-time. He will be on the grid full-time next year.
FREC runner-up also heads to Macau
While the 2023 Formula Regional Europe champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be jumping all the way up to F2 soon, his title rival Martinius Stenshorne will be stepping down to Formula 4 in a few days’ time.
The Macau Grand Prix will be run over two weekends, and the first of those features a non-championship round of the F4 South East Asia championship. It has also attracted names from further up the racing ladder, including FREC runner-up Stenshorne. The 17-year-old Norwegian will race for a tie-up between Irish team Pinnacle Motorsport and Japanese squad B-MAX Racing, and will actually be looking for his first F4 win since he failed to taste victory in the four F4 series he appeared in last year.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
WEC set for 37-car full-season grid in 2024 (Sportscar365)
'The FIA World Endurance Championship will feature a 37-car grid next year. Its CEO Frederic Lequien, along with ACO President Pierre Fillon and FIA Endurance Commission president Richard Mille confirmed that the number represents the maximum size it can accommodate at two tracks on the calendar. Both Imola and Circuit of The Americas have 37 garages, which is the limiting factor.'
WTR Andretti’s Albon hopes for Rolex 24 fall through (Racer)
'Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s hopes of having Alex Albon as part of its line-up for the 2024 Daytona 24 Hours race have fallen through.'
Alonso is still hungry for more world championships – thanks to Hamilton (GQ)
''In the pandemic, I remember being at home and putting on the table what possibilities I had for the following year after finishing the WEC. I thought that only F1 was in good health. All the other categories had a lack of sponsors, most of the races were cancelled, whereas F1 remained very strong even during the pandemic. So, I thought the next challenge could be the ultimate challenge: to come back to F1 and try to be competitive again.''
Ricciardo: Thankful to be alive after tyre near-miss (Speedcafe)
'Daniel Ricciardo declared himself “thankful” to be leaving Interlagos with his life after almost being hit by a stray tyre at the start of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.'
Simpson turns laps in Bahrain during global testing tour (IndyCar)
'The WEC test continued an aggressive off-season testing program across a variety of machinery designed by Chip Ganassi Racing's managing director Mike Hull for Simpson, 19, from the Cayman Islands. Simpson also is testing a previous-generation Formula 2 car, a World Series car and Ganassi's Indy car.'
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 X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Enjoy the sound of @PiFitti rolling out in the No. 30 @HondaRacing_HPD for the first time🤘@IndyCar pic.twitter.com/g2xPZTb096
— Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (@RLLracing) November 7, 2023
🇧🇷Dia histórico para os Fittipaldi Brothers! Primeira vez dividindo a pista! ❤️ 🇺🇸Special day for us Fittipaldi Brothers! First time sharing the race track together! pic.twitter.com/RQ7SXxFf4x
— Pietro Fittipaldi (@PiFitti) November 6, 2023
I have no time for those criticising @HaasF1Team for requesting a review of the #USGP results.
The rules are clear and if they weren't enforced properly any team has the right to challenge it.
Apply the '@redbullracing in 2021' test. Would they have backed down? Hell no.#F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) November 7, 2023
If you actually believe what you typed, youd turn the tv off and not watch the footage of him walking around & just wait until the cars are racing again. They’re making money on your eyes watching it. There is zero difference between me taking his photo & the broadcast showing it https://t.co/ipnBNC1N1n
— jameypricephoto (@jameypricephoto) November 7, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was frustrated by a lack of pace in Brazil, while one of his drivers was more vocal about how race management actually made the team less competitive. George Russell’s failure to finish the grand prix made a bad weekend even worse, and before that he had spent many laps behind team mate Lewis Hamilton and wanting a change of strategy from the team to enable him to set a more competitive pace ahead of Hamilton.
Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to let the faster car through – even if he has to compromise his race later on. If they end up back to back again, you just switch back.
But this late into the season, it’s worth protecting track position and possible points for the lead driver. And that is obviously Hamilton, who has – or had – a genuine shot at second in the world driver’s championship whereas Russell is languishing in eighth place in the second-best car.
MichaelN
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Soundscape and Laura Brewer!
S
8th November 2023, 0:54
He’s not the only one…
Well, clearly BoP is a real turnoff, isn’t it…
Billy Rae Flop
8th November 2023, 12:39
Why not introduce it to F1 then if it’s not a turn off. But concrete and not at the whims if any one person. Something like BTCC.
Perhaps not even a system which isn’t based on positions and results entirely but also on relative performance. I personally wouldn’t like that, but at this point it seems the best thing for F1 might be another 2 seasons of max getting even more bored.
SadF1fan
8th November 2023, 19:09
BoP has been in existence for a long time in WEC, LMP 1 has been contested by atmost 2 teams for years….
What is new is the hyper car class which is in essence a budget cap, making it affordable to race, and suddenly there are loads of teams joining.
Nick T.
8th November 2023, 5:37
Kind of Lewis when the Mercedes was too fast for anyone to catch and Nico was gone. Horner worries about putting in another alpha (but want Norris, which is kind of an insult), but maybe Max will be bored into leaving faster than disgruntled by a hard challenge. Personally, I think Max’s threats to leave before 30 are BS, but I could see it happening right away after that. He seems to enjoy sim racing more than real racing. Probably cause the racing is a lot closer.
HAL
8th November 2023, 7:45
You don’t need to take the Norris discussion as an insult, it’s just PR BS. Norris has no reasons to jump into Max’s nest. Only young or desperate driver really targets that seat.
Max will likely stay motivated as long as he can win in that RB. When the time comes where another team will take over ; he will either leave the sport for another series or leave for another team.
Ludewig
8th November 2023, 9:10
Or a driver with self-confidence who thinks that he can challenge Max. Or one who wants to experience driving the best car and who accepts being second.
And I don’t think that Max will leave for another team. Just like Lewis, I think that their personality matches the team too well to leave for the other team, and they probably don’t see any other team as a real contender. For example, even if Ferrari has a good season by accident, they’ll just self-sabotage in no time.
Nick T.
9th November 2023, 0:53
Agreed. I don’t think only a desperate driver would join Max. A driver canny and confident enough to upset the apple cart is far from the realm of fantasy. Max never looked unbeatable until he got the best car and rookie and journeymen teammates.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th November 2023, 6:26
SpeedCafe: Indeed, although considering only the rubber part hit the rear wing, the outcome wouldn’t necessarily have been bad even if it hit his helmet instead, but still better that it hit the rear wing.
notagrumpyfan
8th November 2023, 9:30
The speedcafe article is pure clickbait, included in here to do the same.
And we’re doing exactly what they want us to do.
Coventry Climax
8th November 2023, 9:58
That’s a message in the category:
“If I hadn’t braked so well in advance for the lights to turn red, I could have been killed.”
AlanD
8th November 2023, 18:03
Jere, the “rubber part” is by far the heaviest part of the wheel, and a rear type is close on 12 kg of very solid rigid rubber. If one of those hits you at speed, you know about it and sadly, loose tyres have caused too many fatalities in motorsport.
Simon (@donsimoni)
8th November 2023, 8:42
I have this distant memory of Schumacher spinning in Indianapolis during a dominant race. He lost 10s and the commentators were quite confused, then the replay came on.
Sham (@sham)
8th November 2023, 15:05
A single dominant team is not necessarily dull – but a single dominant driver within a single dominant team is. I can very well imagine that he gets bored with managing tyres and just cruising along gaining a few tenths per lap when the car and himself are capable of much much more. He isn’t even being pushed for much of the time.
Schumacher, Verstappen – their dominant periods have been sleep inducing.
Mercedes, McLaren, Williams – Not at all, though I accept the period after 2016 for Mercedes was heading that way – Bottas kept it a lot more interesting than the likes of Perez and Barichello though.
Its not which car wins, its the complete lack of competition for the race and title win.
CarWars (@maxv)
8th November 2023, 16:02
we get bored as well
FW11B (@fw11b)
8th November 2023, 18:59
I feel sorry for him… maybe try going slower?
A M (@amam)
8th November 2023, 19:12
Not just Max– many of us are starting to get bored with the lack of competition at the front in F1. FIA/F1 bosses (Sulayam and Domenicali) however have said the don’t see it as a problem and have no intention if bringing in some changes to try mix things up. So, pre-pare yourselves to be bored to high heaven until 2026.