In the round-up: Red Bull has been outbid by Audi for Carlos Sainz Jnr’s services, according to Helmut Marko.
In brief
Audi outbid Red Bull for Sainz – Marko
Red Bull motorsport consultant Marko said the team has been “talking to” its former junior driver Sainz, who’s “having his strongest season in Formula 1.” However he believes they cannot match a rival offer put forward by Audi, who will arrive in F1 with Sauber in 2026.
“He has a very lucrative offer from Audi that we can’t match or beat,” Marko told Kliene Zeitung. “But we still know him from the Toro Rosso days, even back then he drove with Max. But it really hurt him back then when we at Red Bull relied on Verstappen and not on him.”
More ‘experiments’ in sprint rounds
Alpine driver Esteban Ocon expects the new rules for sprint rounds will lead to teams being more adventurous with their car set-up.
Parc ferme restrictions will lift between the start of the sprint race and grand prix qualifying on Saturdays this season, allowing teams to make adjustments to set-up. Ocon expects teams will take more risks as a result.
“Luckily, if things go wrong in that first stage of the weekend, you can always change the set-up back, which is a new thing,” Ocon said. “So probably a bit more experimental things you can try for that first stage of the weekend, but otherwise, it’s not a huge difference.”
Boya quickest as F3 test ends
Mari Boya was quickest on the third and final day of in-season F3 testing in Barcelona.Boya set the quickest time of the day in the morning session with a 1’27.034, almost four tenths slower than his own best time from Wednesday’s session. His Campos team mate Oliver Goethe was second quickest with Luke Browning third for Hitech, while Leonardo Fornaroli was fastest in the afternoon session.
The F3 season resumes next month at Imola as part of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend.
Garcia, Pin join FREC with Iron Dames
F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia and World Endurance Championship driver and F1 Academy race winner Doriane Pin will enter in this year’s Formula Regional European Championship with the Iron Dames team.
Both Garcia and Pin will make their debuts in the series with the team which Pin currently races with in the WEC GT class. Pin had won both races of the opening round of the F1 Academy in Jeddah, but lost victory in race two due to a penalty for taking the chequered flag twice.
The season will run over 20 races and ten rounds, starting next month at Hockenheim.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Australian government signs United Against Online Abuse charter (FIA)
Federal minister for sport, Anika Wells: ''We are delighted to sign the United Against Online Abuse charter, and join the coalition in their efforts to tackle online harassment. By working together, we hope to eradicate this problem and build a healthier, more positive and more sustainable future for everyone who works in sport.' '
The BTCC game may not be dead after all (Overtake.gg)
'A new non-exclusive agreement between the British Touring Car Championship and Motorsport Games allows BTCC branding in rFactor 2, plus ‘good faith’ game discussions.'
Hot Lap Racing - Release Date Trailer (Maximum Entertainment via YouTube)
'Awaken your inner champion! Hot Lap Racing drives to Nintendo Switch and PC on July 16th 2024.'
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Instead of being handed their trophy, the #ChineseGP winner will wear it around their neck.
When they wear it or lift it, the trophy will light up to symbolise the speed F1 cars race around the track.
It was designed by Pininfarina.#F1 pic.twitter.com/UxI1CAApbs
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) April 18, 2024
The year of the dragon 🐲🔥
Chinese GP 2024 @StiloOfficial helmet design by @tiffanycromwell 🇨🇳#VB77 #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/i1o2sd2Chd
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) April 18, 2024
Fernando Alonso is going to stay in F1 until at least 2026 😱
When I retired from Formula 1 I knew I needed a break from the incredible pressure which came with racing, testing and traveling all the time. Now we have 24 races, and I usually raced with only 16 races each year..
— Mika Häkkinen (@F1MikaHakkinen) April 18, 2024
When people find out that my team and other car skins in F1 24 are now in the non-editable database file. Oh boy. Quality of career videos from YouTubers in F1 24 will decrease significantly without the possibility of changing a livery in my team or career. 😬
— GameGecki (@GameGecki) April 18, 2024
Are @F1 now deliberately tweeting out incorrect data to get more interactions?
Anyway, @Prost_official in 1993 (7), @ayrtonsenna in 1988 and @nigelmansell in 1992 (both 6), Senna again in 1989 and @F1MikaHakkinen in 1999 (both 5) all did this.https://t.co/vViab8s2qQ#F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) April 18, 2024
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Will Mercedes be stronger in Shanghai than previous rounds? Nick T. would not be surprised to see a minor improvement from the former champions…
While it sounds like the same old same old, Mercedes’ best performances have come from figuring out how to get the best out of existing setups rather than new updates they haven’t understood fully yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were competitive with McLaren this weekend, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if Aston Martin is the only top five they’re ahead of.
Nick T.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Jiten, Lenny, The Comedian 39, The_Pope and Tommo N7!
On this day in motorsport
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2024, 6:12
How could Marko possibly know about other manufacturers’ offers as a third-party individual to them?
Even if Audi offered a higher salary than Red Bull Racing, he’d certainly still choose the latter based on the current & short-term competitive situation, & even Mercedes.
A great dragon design. Both Sauber drivers have great event-specific designs, as does Albon.
S
19th April 2024, 7:16
Because Sainz’ management has told Red Bull/Marko that a better offer was made by Audi – if Red Bull want to sign Sainz, they need to offer more.
Red Bull don’t think Sainz is worth more. “More” could mean anything – not just money.
You might think that athletes and their management would always want to sign with the team that gives them the best chance of success – but the reality isn’t always like that. Humans are complicated, and can have many (simultaneous and conflicting) motivations.
You can compare it to the desire many drivers have to race for Ferrari, even though Ferrari haven’t been particularly successful for a long time.
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th April 2024, 7:41
@jerejj – It’s a normal negotiation during contracts if there are 2 or more parties to let them know the other party is offering this X and what are you offering….
But Sainz is making his choice within a week because Austin M withdraw their offer then.
notagrumpyfan
19th April 2024, 7:46
Of course Sainz(‘s representative) shares such data. This is how you negotiate contracts.
And even when the money is the same, it might be more attractive to be team leader when setting up a new project. It’s somewhat similar to Norris’ decision last year to stick with McLaren.
Personally, I’d rather see him in RBR. Not that I think he can beat Verstappen, but more to see how close he can get.
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 9:29
Sounds like either an excuse or a negotiating tactic. Personally, I think Sainz would happily sacrifice the $ to be in a competitive car.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th April 2024, 6:43
As tempting as it might be to dismiss the gold wreath / necklace trophy thing (I personally wouldn’t want one) it’s worth remembering that a trophy can be literally anything and one of the few things that promoters have any obvious say over that is seen by the public at large.
So I say kudos to them and the other tracks that do something different. I quite liked that pot that got smashed in Budapest. It might be nice for a circuit to do something that is actually useful though, like socks and smelly candles. I’m sure EA might be able to donate a copy of its latest F1 game if we need to keep it corporate.
I just think it’s one of the few available avenues for creative thinking and before knocking it, be reminded it’s not a Heineken star thing again.
Neil (@neilosjames)
19th April 2024, 7:01
Curious about F1’s deleted tweet. I’m guessing from Keith’s reply it was something about ‘number of consecutive poles from the start of the season’?
Mayrton
19th April 2024, 7:13
Of course they can. They are just not willing. Why pay a top amount for a 2nd driver? (Oh wait, that is exactly what Ferrari has just done with Lewis, but they have overall marketing benefits of it which offset the amount.. so not quite the same)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 8:14
Though in that case, if hamilton gets back to his previous years’ form, I think he has serious chances to outperform leclerc.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
19th April 2024, 8:26
I have a sneaky suspicion that Lewis might not be second driver for long.
If this is a genuine interest in winning again and not just an “I drove for Ferrari” swansong from Lewis, then we are going to have a proven winner in the second-best car on the grid.
Red Bull might want to reconsider their offer to Sainz.
They might need a driver who can at least keep up with Max.
anon
19th April 2024, 9:16
@nullapax Marko has ruled that out in the past – he’s stated in the past that, in his opinion, if the second driver is too close in performance to their lead driver, then that second driver is also in a position to demand a more even split of the team’s resources, and both drivers might make conflicting demands from the team that result in internal squabbling that the team cannot stop. As far as he is concerned, therefore, he wants a large performance gap between his drivers, which he believes will therefore avoid that problem and make it so he can focus the majority of his resources onto that lead driver.
notagrumpyfan
19th April 2024, 10:36
You might want to share that source, and leave out your interpretation, as it’s quite different from what Dr Marko is being quoted saying now and recently.
Bill Niehoff (@justafan)
19th April 2024, 16:56
Hamilton was demoralized by the 2021 fiasco, and has never fully recovered. A change of team and a fresh perspective may be just what he needs.
kuvemar
19th April 2024, 20:54
Does anyone really think that Ferrari signed Hamilton to sell more cars? I’m pretty sure, Ferrari already sells all the cars it can produce.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 8:13
I absolutely disagree with marko here: even if they gave him half, surely competitiveness is more important than money for a good driver like sainz is nowadays, he could get a few hundreds millions in the long run, no matter the team.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
19th April 2024, 8:19
If China wanted to put something around my neck, I would want it tested for tracking devices and hidden microphones first :O
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 13:56
And lead contamination.
Craig
19th April 2024, 8:55
I’m more then confident Marko is out right lying there.
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 9:31
My COTD seems off the mark, but I totally spaced on the fact they’d have minimal opportunity to work on their setup with it being a Sprint weekend. Spectacular job by Lewis in the wet though.
M2X
19th April 2024, 12:14
It’s a question of priority for Sainz then.
Do you want to make more money and possibly not have a chance to fulfill sporting ambitions or do you want a chance to fulfill your sporting ambitions in the short term.
Sauber is currently a team that can’t even consistently get pitstops right. There will be a long way to go before Audi-Sauber has everything in place to be a contender, unless they have developed a monster of engine.
Aquila_GD
19th April 2024, 19:24
Typical Helmut BS.
Quite clear he is trying to protect his golden boy Verstappen from a real challenge
Electroball76
20th April 2024, 0:58
We offered Carlos nearly twice the original salary he was on when he joined Toro Rosso, plus a years supply of Red Bull Tropical. But it wasn’t enough. He kept talking about “7 or 8 figures”.