In the round-up: Kevin Magnussen says he is confident Haas can find more speed this season.
In brief
Haas have ‘broken status quo’ in search for performance – Magnussen
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen says he is confident that the team will be able to find more speed out of their car this season after a disappointing end to 2023 saw them finish last in the championship.
“We need a better car,” Magnussen admitted. “Last year we weren’t been able to find better performance even on the drawing board. So we need to break that, which I think we have already.
“Things are looking better back at the factory and kind of broke that status quo that we had for too big a part of the season. So I think things have already changed.”
Berger’s backing convinced Red Bull of Lawson’s talent
AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer says that retired F1 driver and multiple grand prix winner Gerhard Berger helped to convince Red Bull to give Liam Lawson an opportunity.“Gerhard is a big fan of Liam’s racing style,” Bayer told Speedcafe. “He said, ‘He’s the one. He’s going for the gap, and he’s fast’.
“Helmut [Marko] was also very convinced by his natural speed but Franz [Tost] was initially a bit skeptical. He said, ‘Looking at his results, I’m not sure’. If you purely look at the results, he wouldn’t be a standout driver, but he has done a lot of racing, and in different categories, and again and again he was showing there was a spark. Helmut was 100 percent ‘that’s the guy’.”
De Mevius beats Sainz Snr as Dakar rally begins
The first stage of the annual Dakar Rally was surprisingly won by Toyota driver Guillaume de Mevius ahead of Audi’s Carlos Sainz Snr, who suffered multiple punctures over the almost 400km stage.
World rally raid champion Nasser Al-Attiyah and multiple WRC champion Sebastien Loeb suffered setbacks during the stage and are both outside of the top ten positions.
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Motor racing links of interest:
'Businesses that lost millions of dollars in revenues because of the Formula 1 car race in the Strip corridor in November have banded together to ask Clark County government, the LVCVA public tourism agency and F1 for financial compensation for their losses. ''We don’t need the F1. The F1 needs us,'' Jay’s Market owner Wade Bohn told LVSportsBiz.com on Wednesday. ''We want to be compensated for the losses that occurred due to everything F1, the county and the LVCVA did.'''
Send your message of support ahead of the 2024 season (Williams)
'We know you always have our back, and the support we felt from everyone during the previous campaign was immense... and this is just the beginning. That’s why we’d love for you to send your own message to the team as we get set for the year ahead. Use the form below to leave a message, however long or short you’d like, and we’ll share some of our favourites very soon.'
'Ethical considerations also come into play. Motorsport, like many other youth sports, relies on the financial contributions of children and their families. However, the question arises: is it ethical to hinge the sport’s financial sustainability on the spending habits of children and their families? The FA, by restricting major titles for young footballers, acknowledges the potential pitfalls of such an approach. Aligning with this model, Motorsport UK could foster a more ethical and inclusive karting environment, prioritizing the well-being of young participants over financial gains.'
F3’s Jonny Edgar and Indy Nxt’s Nolan Siegel team up for Daytona 24H (Formula Scout)
'The pair have been signed by Sean Creech Motorsport to race a Ligier JS P217 in IMSA’s LMP2 class which they will share with Lance Willsey and three-time overall Daytona 24H winner and two-time IMSA champion Joao Barbosa.'
Doriane Pin | Sportscars next big thing? (Mora via YouTube)
YouTuber Mora chronicles the impressive racing career of Doriane Pin to date.
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— Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) January 6, 2024
⚪️ 1966 ⚪️
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🟠 1968 🟠Did you know we had three different colours in our first three years in @F1? 👀#McLaren pic.twitter.com/fo6LRVsPED
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) January 6, 2024
AUS Nationals Gran Fondo ✔️
Fun riding out there with everyone and great atmosphere. Cheers!#VB77 @SRAMroad @canyon_bikes pic.twitter.com/0ZFz2P898V
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Comment of the day
With Red Bull team principal saying that 2024’s 24-race calendar is “right on the limit” of what teams can deal with, Diez Cilindros does not fully believe teams as as concerned as they claim…
I think it’s massively hypocritical from the teams to be year-after-year saying “it’s on the limit” and at the same time keeping signing Concorde Agreements where those limits kept raising.
Nobody takes you, teams, seriously, because we know you’ll sign 30, 40 or whatever races if that gives you more money, no matter how hard that can impact on your team’s health. If 19 races was the limit on 2010, 20 won’t be doable. If 20 was the limit on 2013, 21 won’t be doable. And so on up until August 2020, signing for 25 races. You care little about “human health”.
Diez Cilindros
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Raginginferno, Akshay.It and Mole!
Jere (@jerejj)
7th January 2024, 4:41
As I already replied to COTD in principle in the original article, the last part about 2020 is simply incorrect, but more relevantly, comparisons to what was said about 19-21 in the more distant past is pointless as those amounts aren’t quite as testing as 23-24, & most relevantly, teams would never sign for something like 30 or 40 simply because they could never do that much anyway as logistical & practical limits simply make those impossible in a global series, not to mention even maximum staff rotation couldn’t cover that many GPs.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th January 2024, 4:42
‘are’ pointless rather than is.
notagrumpyfan
7th January 2024, 10:21
Your comment is pointless until the last character ;)
Diez Cilindros (@diezcilindros)
7th January 2024, 7:31
PlanetF1, Apr 2021: “Stefano Domenicali has played down the idea of having more than 23 races in a Formula 1 season, despite the newest Concorde Agreement between the teams allowing up to 25 races to take place in a single year.”
(OMG, Domenicali lying again!)
I don’t get this point. Obviously 19 isn’t as testing as 24. The point is “19 is the limit!” and then, after a new Concorde agreement, 19 is way below the limit. When F1 members say “19 is the limit!” they don’t say “19 is the limit!”, they say “pay me more if you want more than 19”. Money make the impossible happen…
My criticism is not because of the absence of a limit, of course there is somewhere a limit. The criticism from my side is “you have been stating that we have reached the limit way before 24, but with an extra payment you find a new limit, so you don’t care bout human health, you can bend those “limits” with more cash”. Horner was especially hypocritical: “22 is beyond the limit” – Concorde agreement – “24 is right on the limit”.
Pay the teams twice, three times or whatever and they will make 30 or 40 races. It’s not an “if”, it’s just a “how much”.
And when you just talk about money, using “human health” in the argument is hypocritical.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
7th January 2024, 9:34
The point is, we will definitely see 25 GP in the near future, and someone high up will again say “25 is the limit”, or “25 is on the edge of the limit”. Then a few years later, we will see 26.
As such, every time anyone in F1 (Horner, Domenicali, Brawn, don’t care) spouts these repetitive statements, I yawn and scroll past their pointless garage comments.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
7th January 2024, 9:34
*garbage not garage
Alan Dove
7th January 2024, 11:02
These guys aren’t making the decisions. These guys aren’t in ownership positions.
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th January 2024, 8:04
Not if they don’t change the schedule as the current one is very destructive for the teams (everything)
Two and three header events should be very close to each other (for example Belgium Netherlands England and Hungary Italy Spain for a three header) Canada US – US and then US Mexico Brasil. Everything in the same time zone and relative close to each other.
Tristan
7th January 2024, 10:13
As others have said you seem to be missing the point.
The exact same could have been said about 25 races 5 years ago. These imaginary “limits” will keep being raised as long as it makes commercial sense to do so. No matter the cost to health, environment or even potentially life. When people are tired and pushed to the limit there’s a much higher chance of mistakes, Vegas was case in point.
How many times have we seen procedural errors with regards to stewarding or race control not securing the circuit correctly? Far too many to count. Maybe F1 should be focused on getting the circus operating safely with the current workload before continuing to increase it.
Tristan
7th January 2024, 10:16
Oh great, Stake’s backed by Drake. I’d dare Brundle to lowkey mention if he’s texted any teens how much he misses them lately if he’s spotted on the grid walk.
Nick T.
7th January 2024, 19:48
LMAO. Yeah, guy is a real creep. Really hope he doesn’t show up on the grid. I’m sure Lewis will be desperate to get another mega celeb in his circle though. He’ll send his old wingman over to Drake with a gift bag taped to his forehead.
Other than the mechanics’ mental and family health, GPs are so numerous it kils the anticipation and ends up feeling like a slog by the end of the season. Meaning GPs no longer feel special despite Liberty wanting to make everyone “its own Super Bowl.”
notagrumpyfan
7th January 2024, 10:22
Like in any other business, they can simply add a second or third shift.
Nothing wrong with businesses striving for more revenue.
MichaelN
7th January 2024, 13:09
It’s not that simple for F1 teams though, because the cost cap applies to most personnel salaries, as well as to the costs made getting everything to, and during, the race weekend. Salaries come with a lot of extra costs for taxes, pensions, healthcare etc. so adding an extra shift will quickly balloon costs.
notagrumpyfan
7th January 2024, 14:34
The cost cap is (or at least ‘was’) based on 21 races with a mechanism to increase when there are more races.
But of course the $1.2M additional per extra race doesn’t fund a full new shift of (travelling) staff if there are only a few extra races.
But smart planning and flexible roles could allow a team to hire extra staff for each extra race and make sure no staff member (except drivers and a few unique roles) has to travel to more than some 21 races.
Bob C.
7th January 2024, 10:40
Doesn’t Sauber become Audi by 2026? So, are we talking about a two-year “era” now?
Now, when I was a wee lad, we had proper “eras”. They lasted for …. well, longer anyway.