In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr wants this year’s Ferrari car to be easier to set up than its predecessor.
In brief
Sainz wants “easier to handle” Ferrari
Sainz, who was the only driver from Red Bull’s rivals to win a race last year, said he wants “a lot” of change to this year’s Ferrari.
“There has been talk that [the 2023 car] is a car that suits me, that I like,” he told As. “Honestly, it has given me headaches not only myself but also to my team mate and to Ferrari.
“It’s very difficult to understand. I’ve not enjoyed driving it – I’ve had to adapt in many aspects and try out various setup configurations. I hope that in 2024, it becomes more versatile and easier to handle and set up. Let’s hope for a better racing car.”
Wilson Fittipaldi in coma after cardiac arrest
Former Formula 1 driver Wilson Fittipaldi, brother of two-times world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, in currently in a coma following a cardiac arrest on Christmas Day.The 80-year-old raced in 35 grands prix between 1972 and 1975. His family posted on Instagram that Fittipaldi “choked on a piece of meat and had a cardiac arrest”. But that he was “resuscitated and is sedated and intubated.”
GB3 champion Voisin steps up to F3
The 2023 GB3 champion, Callum Voisin, will compete in this year’s Formula 3 championship with Carlin, the team have announced.
Voisin took two victories and 11 podiums over the 24 rounds of the GB3 season with the Carlin team. He will step up to the F1 support series with them for this year.
At Formula Regional level, MP Motorsport have also signed driver Nikhil Bohra for the Formula Regional European and Middle Eastern Championships.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Exkluzív: Marko aláírta új szerződését a Red Bullnál (Formula.hu - Hungarian)
'Helmut Marko had good reason to be optimistic about the continuation. If everything is correct, the professional recently indeed extended his contract with his employer, Red Bull, which has undergone significant changes in management since Dietrich Mateschitz's death in October 2022.'
Driver development programme:
2024 applications are now open (More Than Equal)
'The More than Equal Driver Development Programme is a high-performance preparation programme that supports young, talented female drivers who have the ambition to develop into elite racing drivers. If you believe that you have what it takes to be a Formula 1 driver of the future, please complete the application below and we look forward to learning more about you. Applications close on 23:59 GMT, January 31st 2024.'
Dillmann: Decision to Leave Vanwall Mid-Season ''Paid Off'' (Sportscar365)
'It’s really sad for them because they made a big effort, but I am not surprised. There were many things to do with the car, like the engine, and it wasn’t ready.'
Aston Martin to enjoy seasonal boost in sales and margins, says analyst (Proactive Investors)
'Another boost for Aston Martin shares that month came when Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, the company's largest shareholder, sold a minority stake in the Aston Martin Formula One team to US private equity firm Arctos Partners. The investment by Arctos, which has a stake in the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club owner Fenway Sports Group, values the F1 team at about £1 billion and sparked expectations of greater investment in the team and therefore for the brand.'
Providing fair play in the virtual world (Motorsport UK)
''The original plan was for Motorsport UK to provide one of its expert stewards and we would add two sim racers to provide a balance. However, we found several qualified Motorsport UK stewards with sim racing experience, so they actually make a higher percentage of our stewarding panels – that’s great as they can tap into both sides of the coin with their experience and thus balance nicely with our pure sim racers.''
Four features we want to see in the F1 24 game (Balls)
'Retro F1 cars are a feature that has graced many previous entries in the series of Formula 1 games, most recently in F1 2019, which was particularly heavy on classics from the careers of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. We'd love not only to see some classics like the Ferrari F2004, McLaren M23 or even our own Jordan 191 in the game - but we'd also love a return to the one-off addition of classic tracks from F1 2013.'
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:
Besties before, now part of the Alpine family for 2024 💙 pic.twitter.com/ZNiPL2WN6p
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) January 4, 2024
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
After our overview of how F1 team identities have evolved over time, reader Lucas explains their favourite quirk from the current field…
One of my favorite F1 facts is that the team founded as Toleman has competed against the original Renault and Lotus teams, but later competed against another Lotus team while it was called Lotus Renault. That of course was before and after being owned by Renault. Now it’s owned by Renault but called Alpine and runs almost in the Toleman colours…
Lucas
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Fukobayashi, Yeezy918, F1Alleycat and Yezy918!
Mooa42
5th January 2024, 4:07
So Alpine takes another Mercedes/Wolff reject! On-wards and probably backwards for 2024.
Todfod (@todfod)
5th January 2024, 8:48
What else would you expect from a team that signed Ocon as their lead driver?
bosyber (@bosyber)
5th January 2024, 11:49
Given their results @todfod, that certainly wasn’t the worst thing that happened at that team over the last few years. If they’d have solid team leaders goals and finance, and most of all direction to win, then perhaps Alonso would have been there and piastri would be driving for them with Prost to advice. Who knows where the Enstone team could go over the next few years then. But alas.
Ferdinand
7th January 2024, 9:03
Alpine will always take the wrong decisions, its their purpose in the sport. They enable others to shine.
Nick T.
7th January 2024, 20:07
It should be France’s new tourism motto: “We enable others to shine.”
Renault has been a joke since their return and it gets worse each year.
Ludewig
5th January 2024, 10:16
It’s pretty funny/sad how the radicals can’t help themselves and drop the mask. The name clearly shows that the goal is not equality, but to stack things against men. The name is eerily similar to the most famous sentence in Animal Farm (“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”). But there it was criticism of discrimination, rather than an aspiration to discriminate.
Of course, this is no surprise, because in universities where women are now the majority of students, there are still women-only grants. If equality was actually the goal, you’d assume that these would be changed into men-only grants as soon as women became the majority. But of course, equality is not actually the goal.
bosyber (@bosyber)
5th January 2024, 11:52
Given that to be an F1 driver one indeed has to be a lot more than equal to their compatriot motorsport drivers male or female, it might also be a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference to Animal Farm. But then you’d have to believe that others can have a sense of humor and intelligence too.
AlanD
5th January 2024, 14:04
Ludewig, the topline numbers don’t tell the whole story. Whilst the majority of UK students overall are female, that is not true for Oxford or Cambridge, for example, not true for STEM subjects, and not true for earning potential. Women are better reperesented in low value degrees but less so in degrees with higher earning potential. Nursing is a degree subject in the UK, and 90% of nursing students are female which has a significant effect on the overall male-female ratio.
Education think tanks are well aware of the changing student demographic and are already looking at the reasons why males are under-represented at university and asking how they can redress the balance. Research in the US found that about a third of men simply didn’t want to go to college, compared to just a quarter of women, and about a quarter of men felt they didn’t need further qualifications for their chosen career or vocation, compared to just a fifth of women. However, when it came down to financial reasons, women were more likely to have said they didn’t go to college because they couldn’t afford the college fees, or because they were a young parent.
The gender gap is closing, but look at how any years it took to achieve this, and how it needed positive effort to overcome the discrimination and prejudices such as “women are simply not interested in engineering” etc. And I hope you would agree that society is better off from these equality efforts.
Nick T.
7th January 2024, 20:18
That’s because females, as studies show time and again, are less interested than men in professions that are solely financially rewarding like financial “services,” wealth management or commercial insurance. This is also the reason for the mythical “pay gap.” Those stats are based on average regardless of job, which is silly.
While cultural legacies I am sure play a small part still, the primary reason for the imbalance in STEM field education and employment once again comes down to lower interest level in the field on average.
MichaelN
5th January 2024, 14:13
They want to support/manage female talent, and their shtick is that they’re doing so to find/develop a female F1 world champion. By definition, that requires said woman to be more than equal.
I won’t go into it again (at length) now, but this focus on F1 is no doubt good for the people involved in the scheme, but seems entirely counter productive because the bar is set far too high. In summary; the vast majority of people in karting never make it to F4. THe vast majority of people in F4 never make it to F3. The vast majority of people in F3 never make it to F2. The vast majority of people in F2 never make it to F1. Of the people who do somehow make it to F1, only about 11% have won even a single race, and only 3% of all F1 drivers have won more than 10. The same percentage as has won a title.
Supporting female participation in motorsport is fine, and the name of this scheme is just a marketing slogan. The real issue is that the goal itself is highly questionable, and it’s not clear what this adds to existing FIA programs to support female participation. But who knows, maybe they’ll surprise everyone and find, develop and support a potential competitive F1 driver. That’d be great.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
6th January 2024, 23:08
It has to do with the psychology behind branding. And a bit of virtue signaling. Market share is really all those types care about, so if they can be more ‘inclusive’ then it just means more $$$. There is a ‘sick’ side to sports, that I really won’t go in to, that hinges on deslusion, which is highly profitable enterprise. I don’t have a problem with Diversity, or being Inclusive, but I think the Equity (D.I.E) bit is a pretty sus, and sounds more like an inside joke.
Nick T.
7th January 2024, 20:20
If their motives were pure, they’d show patience and play the long game by starting by with financing female karters.
SteveR (@stever)
6th January 2024, 4:32
Well, who wouldn’t want that?
Ferdinand
7th January 2024, 9:04
Well in all honesty, it would also help and be nice if the Ferrari drivers would have a broader operating window / range of being able to adjust to the car. Limited talent.