In the round-up: The Singaporean government says that there was “nothing to suggest” that contracts for its Formula 1 race were compromised by a corruption scandal.
Show which drivers and teams you are supporting
Which F1 drivers and teams are you supporting this season? Here's how you can show your support for your favourite on the grid on RaceFans:
- Log in with your RaceFans account (sign up here if you don't have one)
- Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
- Select F1 Teams and Drivers
- Make your selections then click Save Changes
In brief
‘Nothing to suggest’ Singapore GP contracts compromised
The former transport minister of Singapore who allegedly received around £100,000-worth of bribes from Singapore Grand Prix chairman Ong Beng Seng, including tickets to the race over multiple years, did not compromise the Singaporean government’s deal with race promotors, they claim.
Subramaniam Iswaran resigned from his position this week after he was charged with 27 corruption-related counts relating to alleged gifts he received from Ong over several years. In a statement released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Singaporean government said there “is nothing to suggest as of now that either the F1 contracts or other contracts were structured to the disadvantage of the government.”
Iswaran pleaded not guilty to all 27 charges. An investigation into Ong is underway.
Martins confirms second F2 season with ART
Alpine junior driver Victor Martins will compete in his second season in Formula 2 for 2024 with the same ART team he raced with last year.The F3 champion of 2022, Martins finished fifth in the championship last season with a single race victory at Silverstone, 53 points behind his team mate Theo Pourchaire, who took the title.
“Together with ART Grand Prix, we have a mutual past that is made up of passion and success,” said Martins. “One which has seen the crowning of several titles, I hope to add another in 2024, a decisive season for my development.”
Weug to represent Ferrari in F1 Academy
Ferrari have confirmed that academy driver Maya Weug will race in the team’s scarlet colours in this year’s F1 Academy championship.
The 19-year-old will race with Prema in the second season of the series this year after racing in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2023. Each Formula 1 team will support a single driver each in the all-female category this season.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Austria's Red Bull tops €10bn in annual sales despite slower growth (Irish Examiner)
'Red Bull’s net sales exceeded €10bn for the first time last year, helped by rising demand for its energy drink. The Austrian company sold more than 12 billion cans of the caffeinated beverage, a 4.8% increase from 2022, according to selected metrics published on its website. The pace of expansion slowed from two years of double-digit increases.'
Bridge used for Formula 1 race to be removed in time for Super Bowl (Las Vegas Sun)
'I’m telling ya, if that bridge becomes permanent, I’ll be out of business 100%, no doubt about it. We don’t need F1, Vegas is its own animal. We sold our soul to F1 when F1 should’ve sold their soul to us.'
Formula E Gen 4 will be ‘game over’ for Formula 1 (Forbes)
Slyvain Filippi: ''It’s all about the downforce. Today we can make an electric motor that can beat a Formula One engine in acceleration, and even deliver the same high speeds. However, so much of lap times come from downforce. Formula E also runs tyres that are half road, half racing. The weight is the same already, and with the same aero and grip it would be similarly quick.''
Button facing challenge to readapt to Acura for Rolex 24 (Sportscar365)
'I don’t want to compare (the Acura to the Porsche), but they both do the same things. They are set up very well, neither do anything they shouldn’t. With the systems in the car, they have similar things you can play with; they just have different names and they are on different places on the steering wheel, and remembering where they are is the biggest pain!. These cars are complex, and the difficult part is working out what tools you have at your disposal and thinking about that while you are driving at the same time.'
Hamilton visits the Mulberry Schools Trust (Mercedes via YouTube)
'Re-live all of the best bits from Lewis' recent visit to the Mulberry Schools Trust. The seven-times world champion spent the day with the talented pupils, who were able to demonstrate their passion and enthusiasm to STEM subjects. The visit highlighted our ongoing Accelerate 25 initiative aims to increase diversity in motorsport and engineering at all levels.'
FIA Prize Giving Ceremony 2023 - Behind the scenes (FIA via YouTube)
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the FIA's 2023 prize giving gala in Baku, where Max Verstappen was officially awarded the world drivers' championship trophy for the third time.
Valtteri Bottas on why his F1 Team's new name is so, so long (The Project via YouTube)
Valtteri Bottas and his partner, cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, speak to Australian TV about their training together in Adelaide - including Bottas cycling in nothing but a pair of Speedos.
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.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Re: social media talk today about ‘Visa CashApp Racing Bulls’ potentially being the new name of the team currently branded as Scuderia AlphaTauri – it’s not true.#F1
— Daniel Moxon (@dmoxon_) January 17, 2024
Born today in 1940: Pedro Rodriguez, one of the brothers the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is now named afterhttps://t.co/s3Ras7tqvt#F1
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) January 18, 2024
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
With the CEO of Ford talking up the American motoring giant’s entry into Formula 1, Tristan is a little cynical…
High expectations. This doesn’t sound really good – not their team, just there for F1’s technology. It sounds like they’re already one foot out the door ready to cut and run.
That being said ,if their battery tech is as good as they’re claiming, Red Bull and Ford might work their way into a Mercedes situation with how they got their engine advantage.
It’s a bit suspect that R&D has begun on the engine while the car development is disallowed, they’d have to be thinking about packaging and how the car could be taking shape around the engine. Also, so much for budget caps.
Sounds like what is happening in meeting rooms today is of more consequence than what will be happening on the track in two years time.
Tristan
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Markg!
On this day in motorsport
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
19th January 2024, 0:58
I wonder if they execute people for corruption in Singapore or if that’s just for drugs offenses.
Ivan
19th January 2024, 16:50
Yeah please don’t paint us as some human-rights infringing state. If you must criticise Singapore it would be for our substandard state media and high cost of living and typical congested city stuff. Most of us are fine with our laws. We’re not oppressed or anything.
Brell-9W
19th January 2024, 3:42
Very interesting note about Victor Martins being re-signed by ART. He surely has to be the favourite to win the title. He is so much older than the two Prema drivers.
Some F2 seasons can influence the Formula 1 grid for many years to come (see 2018) and I suspect 2024 will be one of those years. The interest is also high to see how the new car works. It is still without power steering, but is supposed to be more accessible for a variety of drivers of different strength levels. It’s also a move to ground effects, so it’ll be interesting to see how different drivers handle it.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th January 2024, 6:05
The Singapore-related matter was already reported before last season’s event, firmly assuring the event isn’t under threat, so I don’t understand why the same matter is suddenly re-reported on some sites.
Mayrton
19th January 2024, 8:35
Corruption has never stopped F1 before, so why would it be different now?
Craig
19th January 2024, 13:25
If I was feeling cynical I’d say corruption draws F1.
Jungle
19th January 2024, 13:35
There are 5yrs of Bernie’s life that are unaccounted for.
Jungle
19th January 2024, 11:25
“Iswaran pleaded not guilty to all 27 charges.”
He later admitted he did release 27 lizards. A few of which made it onto the track!
Dusty
19th January 2024, 17:00
I admire the excitement, but it isn’t so simple, is it?
– FE could brat F1 on acceleration… Perhaps from standing still up to some arbitrary speed, but not really out of a corner on a race track. We could look at Monaco telemetry to check how close this is to reality.
– Deliver the same high speeds… doesn’t look like it’s close to that, currently with 470 HP and low drag cars you can go fast, but it seems pretty far away from F1 top speed fast.
– lap time comes from downforce… True, also drag comes from downforce. A car will need a lot more power output to overcome the additional drag, 1200HP+ instead of 470.
– to output 1200HP you either lose your range completely or you add an unreasonable amount of weight in batteries. Then you are too heavy to compare with F1 or don’t have range for a full lap.
Technology will optimize and solve some of these problems. If the elettic hype doesn’t die first. Fossil fuel or a sustainable replacement have such a huge advantage on power density, it’s hard to imagine a comparable performance over a GP distance or even a lap relying on batteries.