In the round-up: Fernando Alonso expects progress at Aston Martin in their second season together next year.
In brief
Alonso expects stronger 2024
After scoring eight podium finishes for Aston Martin in 2023 and taking his best championship position for 10 years, Alonso sees several reasons why they should be stronger next year.
“This being my second year with the team will help,” he told their official website. “I don’t need to do many of the things I had to do at the start of this year: I don’t need to put names to all the faces; I don’t need to do seat fittings, learn the terminology and do all of the other accommodations that have to happen when you’re a new driver in a team.
“Everything will just be easier. We can focus more on performance and preparation for the first couple of races right from day one.”
He said the huge step forward the team made between the last two seasons also gives them a better platform to work from.
“We also have a very strong baseline to work with from 2023. When we arrive at a race, the work we do will be an optimisation of what we did this year. The 2022 car was perhaps not good enough as a reference for us this year, and on many weekends, we were starting from zero. 2024, it should be easier in terms of preparation, and we can focus more on detail.”
Ferrari confirm car launch date
Ferrari have become the first team to announce a launch date for their new car for the 2024 F1 season.The successor to the SF-23 will be revealed on February 13th.Floersch changes F3 teams
Sophia Floersch will spend a third season in Formula 3 next year, moving from PHM Racing by Charouz to Van Amersfoort. She finished seventh in the championship this year, having also previously contested the 2020 season for Campos.
Floersch, who is a member of Alpine’s junior driver programme, raced for Van Amersfoort in the non-championship Macau Grand Prix last month. “I am super excited to be back with Van Amersfoort Racing,” she said, “it feels like coming home. I have confidence in our ability to progress and deliver strong performances together.”
Alpine confirms buy-in
Alpine has confirmed the purchase of a 24% stake by Orto Capital, the investors behind which include Kansas City Chiefs NFL team players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, golfer Rory McIlroy (through Symphony Ventures Capital), boxer Anthony Joshua, footballers Trent Alexander-Arnold and Juan Mata and Eberg Capital founder Roger Ehrenberg.
The stake was purchased for €200 million (£172m), which values the team at around $900m (£711m).
Ye joins Ferrari
Ferrari’s endurance car racing division has announced Yifei Ye has been hired as a driver, but not confirmed what his role will be. Ye raced for JOTA in the World Endurance Championship this year, which included making five starts in their Porsche 963 Hypercar, culminating in a fourth place finish in the season final at Bahrain International Circuit.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Most talked about athletes of 2023: Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar back on top (Sports Book Review)
Max Verstappen is ranked as the fourth most-talked-about athlete of 2023, moving up nine places, putting him behind footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Lionel Messi.
Rinicella steps up to FREC with MP Motorsport (MP Motorsport)
'Valerio Rinicella has decided to keep in the family for his promotion to the Formula Regional European Championship. The 16-year-old Roman will continue at MP Motorsport as he steps up from Spanish Formula 4.'
Helmut Marko über F1-Zukunft: 'Noch ist nix entschieden' (OE24 - German)
'There is now an expanded circle of people that includes Mark Mateschitz, the Thais and Oliver Mintzlaff. The way we were able to decide things with Dietrich Mateschitz was unique. After this winning season, which eclipsed everything else, I felt incredibly sorry that he was no longer able to experience it.'
Ex-Schumi-Manager Weber: 'Ich habe keine Hoffnung mehr' (Express - German)
Willi Weber (Michael Schumacher's former manager): 'I should have visited Michael in the hospital. I grieved like a dog after his accident. It hit me incredibly hard, you can imagine that.'
My job in F1: Doug product engineering team leader (Mercedes via YouTube)
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:
We would like to thank Jordan Sherratt and Andrea Capoccia for being a part of the Scuderia Ferrari Esports Team team.
We wish them the very best for the next steps in their careers ❤️#FerrariEsports pic.twitter.com/8L2ZJKJQU0
— Ferrari Esports (@FerrariEsports) December 18, 2023
FIA President’s Award – Climate Action – @ADAC 🏆
ADAC Sport President Dr Gerd Essner said he was “delighted” to have been recognised by the FIA and added: “With the app and the new opportunity to visit sporting events together, we are offering a sustainable solution to reducing… pic.twitter.com/rCcnEUlIXT
— FIA (@fia) December 18, 2023
@sim_maranello with the SF70 at Imola moving platform and seat belts simulating g-force is really good pic.twitter.com/8tKNK9vzv3
— Marc Gené (@marc_gene) December 18, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
EffWunFan, Sumedh and Red Andy were all in the hunt for victory this weekend but the top caption came from Pedro Andrade:
Carlos: “We are number one!”
Max: “…for one weekend.”
Pedro Andrade
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Nooma341!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
19th December 2023, 0:11
Athlete? With power steering, in a sitting-down sport? (and don’t get me started on the e-armfolders)
SteveR (@stever)
19th December 2023, 0:46
Ever done it? I have in junior formulas and it’s way more physical than you have any idea of.
Nick T.
19th December 2023, 19:19
I have raced for many years. Currently, I do vintage racing with a 1971 BMW 2002 (think of the Good Wood vintage races). When the competition is intense and it’s more than 80 out, our heart rates are at the same level as a marathon runner’s and you’re dying for that checked flag at the end. So, yeah, I bet I could last all of 2 laps in an F1 car.
Sham (@sham)
19th December 2023, 7:06
Plainly not someone who’s driven a racing car(or bike) of any description.
Just because you can’t see the muscles flexing, I can absolutely assure you that they are.
Urvaksh (@thedoctor03)
19th December 2023, 20:46
He’s missing muscles where they matter (top of his head) to make a comment like that so best to ignore!
Fairy (@)
19th December 2023, 10:58
Go try the G-forces (and no simulator gives you that. You need real stamina to finish at Singapore e.g.. When you can crack up the walnuts with just your neck as Fernando Alonso likes to do, you are probably ready.
Nick T.
19th December 2023, 19:22
It’s also no coincidence that many F1 drivers are constantly competing in endurance sports and are in top shape.
Tristan
19th December 2023, 3:51
Thought Renault was selling more off there for a second, but it’s just confirming the announcement from earlier in the year. Same investment group as Ryan Reynolds et al. if anyone else is similarly confused.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
19th December 2023, 4:25
Thanks, I was.
I can now resume my normal state of confusion, without that extra burden.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th December 2023, 6:21
Although the actual SF-23 might only be seen on the opening test day.
Fairy (@)
19th December 2023, 10:03
AMR are going to need a miracle (or a few ones) to keep up with the expectations raised by their excellent start in the last campaign. Another step forward like that and they would be on par with RBR, more or less, go figure. It was a huge disappointment how they went from a clear second to the fifth team along the season, after Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren (and RBR of course).
Anyway the attitude of Fernando Alonso has been a delight, always positive about the team even when it was falling behind. No “F2 engine,, F2 engine” this year. I wonder how many WDC would FA have now with the same racing abilities but better attitude and better career decisions from the beginning, but according to f1metrics he has been the best driver for eleven solid seasons up to 2019. and the third best of all time (Max was 9th, but it was then too early in his career).
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
19th December 2023, 11:39
Not so sure about 2024 for Alonso and Aston Martin.
I suspect their “rise” in fortunes may have been more about the other top teams failing to bring anywhere near good enough cars at the start of the season but managed to develop some pace into them whereas Aston didn’t really improve much.
If those teams start 2024 in better shape, he may not find things all that easy at all.
Asd
19th December 2023, 11:40
There’s little reason to expect a stronger 2024 for Aston Martin. All which Alonso listed is irrelevant. If it were, Alfa Romeo and Bottas would’ve had a very strong 2023 after how they had started in 2022. It wasn’t the case though.
In F1 you either build a fast car and are successful or you don’t.
All of those midfield and backfield teams happen to accidently build a fast car once in a while, have a good season where they overachieve, but in the next season they build a slow car again and often never build another fast car in 10 years.
I’ve seen it plenty of times again and again in the last 30 years of following F1.