In the round-up: Red Bull’s chief of car engineering Paul Monaghan says Max Verstappen drives with more confidence after his hard-fought 2021 championship campaign.
In brief
Verstappen has “mythical armour”
Monaghan sees “a phenomenal inner strength” in Verstappen, who is chasing his fourth consecutive world championship since winning the 2021 title in a season peppered with clashes between him and Lewis Hamilton.
“There’s a sort of mythical armour, if you like,” Monaghan told the official F1 channel. “Not much is going to derail him.
“His confidence has built. He’s, I think, driving with a great deal more assuredness now than, say, ’21. We got tangled up with Lewis a few times, didn’t we? Now nothing much fazes him, does it?”
Monaghan believes Verstappen’s victory that year has allowed him to rely on his strengths as a driver. “He’s gone from someone who had an expectation, a belief and a confidence to someone who has realised that expectation and is now one of the very best we’ll see, I suspect.”
Hungaroring adds track limits fixes
The Hungaroring operators have made changes at two corners to enforce track limits this year. A 2.5 metre wide strip of grass has been added at the exit of turn five and a strip of gravel measuring the same width has been installed at turn 12.Robb burned finger in 109G crash
Sting Ray Robb revealed he passed out after suffering a 109G impact when he was launched into the air after colliding with Alexander Rossi at the end of Sunday’s second IndyCar race in Iowa. However his injuries were light.
“The worst injury I got was on my finger,” he explained. “I touched the halo [in the Aeroscreen] getting out of the car.
“It turns out when you take titanium and scrape it across the ground for a few hundred feet, it gets hot. Don’t recommend. Lesson learned. You’ll get a blister from touching hot titanium there.”
Sowery returns to Coyne
Toby Sowery will make two further starts for Coyne in their number 51 car. He will drive at Toronto this weekend and Portland next month.
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Links
McLaren boss Brown: ‘Red Bull are scared of Verstappen’ (The Independent)
''When they blew through the cost cap...'' Brown begins. ''We’d have just owned it. Instead, it was a bunch of excuses, trying to downplay, almost insulting the rest of us because while you can say it was for sandwiches, I have to feed my team like everyone else.''
Foyt team living the high life again (Racer)
'Some have been quick to hail any of Foyt’s improvements with the number 14 as being due to the Penske alliance. It’s a hard situation to be in, but Foyt hopes his loyal crew will receive the recognition they deserve for improving the car’s consistency and reliability to complement the added speed they’ve had to use.'
Herend Porcelain trophy for the 2024 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix (Herend via YouTube)
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Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
|@LewisHamilton's @MercedesAMGF1 W15 was "randomly chosen" for post-race checks following his #BritishGP win, say the @FIA.
His engine air intake, plenum, charge air cooler, sensor and electronics were inspected and found to comply with the rules.#F1 pic.twitter.com/jykLqO1A4N
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 17, 2024
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Comment of the day
Take a moment to appreciate how much more competitive F1 is than it was 12 months ago:
The encouraging thing for me is that – whoever is fastest – Austria was won by Mercedes, but could also have been won by Red Bull or McLaren. Same with Silverstone. Canada was competitive too.
It’s just nice to look forward to a race which could realistically be won by any one of five (sorry, Sergio) drivers. Any of them could take pole, lead the first lap, have the best race pace. Maybe it won’t turn out that way and someone will dominate, but it’s such a good place to be on the Wednesday before a race, especially for the more neutral-leaning fans.
Neil (@Neilosjames)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Wizardofoz, Icemangrins, Bill Niehoff and Gruntr18!
On this day in motorsport
- 65 years ago today Jack Brabham won the British Grand Prix for Cooper, a round Ferrari chose to miss
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
18th July 2024, 0:46
A pic would have been nice.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
18th July 2024, 0:47
Will the link work this time?
RobinT
18th July 2024, 2:25
Hungary has a beautiful hand-made/painted trophy, while the one from my country (Canada) was made by AI, and looks like pulled taffy. Great……
Jay
18th July 2024, 2:33
Get ready for more of this from people who think AI is great. Keith, have any of the articles on this site used AI in their creation, from you or any of the authors on this site?
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th July 2024, 7:52
It was a nice experiment i found the AI just a bit lacking it could be much more. But if they would make it by hand i would not mind so much.
Aquila_GD
18th July 2024, 5:17
Hamilton’s car randomly chose on his first victory in 2 and a half years.. why do I not believe that?
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
18th July 2024, 5:48
It clearly raises some questions, however, as the odds are only 20 to 1 (assuming only one car was chosen) a random choice remains possible.
That said, has anyone actually established what sort of ‘randomizer’ they use. If it is the case that one or more individuals are tasked with making a random choice of the top off their heads, then the notion of randomness is out of the window from the outset.
SteveP
18th July 2024, 8:15
Wasn’t there an explanation given after last year’s USA GP ?? Where the plank wear was tested on a “random selection” which was the front three plus sixth, but no testing on any of the cars further back that were promoted after excess wear was noted on two cars tested?
Teammates of failing cars were not tested.
I can see validity for testing all the podium positions and others further back that might benefit from a podium DQ, but I do think the label of “random” attached to their testing is rather inaccurate.
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th July 2024, 7:54
It happens quit often we as fans don’t see that unless you are the ones staying around the pit after the race then you see which cars are selected allways the top 3 positions and some random.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th July 2024, 8:54
Always only one car per event & 100% randomly regardless of team, driver, or finishing position.
notagrumpyfan
18th July 2024, 15:41
Although after Canada 2024 they picked 2 cars (Ocon & Tsunoda).
But interestingly this time they didn’t refer to it as ‘random’.
Coventry Climax
18th July 2024, 12:19
Why is it a big deal in the first place that it’s random?
As far as I’m concerned, it shouldn’t be random at all – ever.
Instead they should have the first X cars to cross the line to always be scrutinised – no exceptions, and X a fixed number of at least 3, better even 10 and preferably as big as the number of contestants. Automate the procedure as far as you can to allow for it.
That’s to make sure no one wins a trophy or wins championship points by means of cheating.
In my eyes, it’s ridiculous that, in an environment where so much money goes around and is at stake, it’s all still done random and mostly by hand.
Mayrton
19th July 2024, 10:42
I agree. Top 3 should be a mandatory check.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
18th July 2024, 6:30
Red Bull still living rent-free in Brown’s head. I wonder if his Saudi bosses have started asking questions about his continued lack of actual success and that’s why he continues to be so hyper focused on his envy of them?
notagrumpyfan
18th July 2024, 7:11
It would be good though if he charged some rent which causes Red Bull to break the budget cap again.
Maybe done B&B deal to include the sandwiches.
tielemst
18th July 2024, 10:08
Don’t give their accountants any more ideas. They’ll say it’s deductable and those 2,000,000 shouldn’t count to the cap.
Mayrton
19th July 2024, 10:48
It does certainly seem there is a bit of Brown – Newey tension on who has the biggest ….
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
18th July 2024, 8:05
Regarding Comment of the day, I think you could say 7 drivers may fight for wins if Ferrari gets their new floor to work as intended. It is supposedly producing the expected downforce, but it comes at a cost of bouncing meaning the drivers lose confidence. If they can sort out the bouncing, they will be right back where they expect to be. Monaco was not long ago, and Leclerc was absolutely untouchable all weekend.
stefano (@alfa145)
18th July 2024, 11:16
everybody in every racing position is untouchable at Monaco
Jere (@jerejj)
18th July 2024, 8:53
Weirdly nothing at T4 or 11 exits.
MichaelN
18th July 2024, 11:24
It would be good to describe who this person singing Verstappen’s praises is. Especially when he’s working at Red Bull.
As for his claims. Well… we saw start happened last time Verstappen was challenged for a win. He resorted to his old tricks and was penalised for causing an incident. So much for mythical powers…
Coventry Climax
18th July 2024, 12:34
Talking about living in a head rent free ..
As the article clearly states:
Red Bull’s chief of car engineering Paul Monaghan
I’m sure you can find a magazine, physical or online, dedicated fully to the greatness of your hero alone, if that’s the all the reading material you actually like.
Won’t be long now and you’ll have your Action man / Maverick -type hero worshipping movie about him, where the caricature bad guy looses, and that you can buy and watch over and over and over again.
FrankT
18th July 2024, 12:48
Ohnoo! Don’t compliment Verstappen, how dare he?! MichaelIn cannot handle that. Talking about pettiness yeezzzzz.
Craig
18th July 2024, 15:33
There seems to be a lot of silly things said to try and build Verstappen’s “legend”, most of which simply isn’t true. I do actually rate him as a driver but he’s got a lot of glaring flaws people are desperate to ignore.
Robbie1
18th July 2024, 17:17
“ He resorted to his old tricks and was penalised for causing an incident.”
Lando Norris:
“It was hard, on the limit, but fair racing.”
Nuff said.
Oh, and so far in his career he has not send a fellow driver to the hospital by carefully planting his front left against his opponents rear right in one of the fastest corners on the calendar!
Jazz (@jazz)
18th July 2024, 22:58
Love how you’re so keen to point out the Copse incident to serve your argument where you neglect to consider the occasion of parking a car on top of Hamilton’s head at Monza. This completely avoidable incident had significant potential to cause cervical myelopathy, cervical spinal fracture, and/or severe head trauma likely resulting in life changing/ending injuries which had the halo not been present would have occurred. But hey, Max’s vision got a bit blurry, so there’s that.
Coventry Climax
19th July 2024, 11:00
That incident was avoidable indeed. Verstappen took the outside line in the first part, made the corner without problems and was ahead of Hamilton, who then closed the door for Verstappen in the second corner without leaving Verstappen the mandatory car’s width of space. Even on top of the Mercedes, the Red Bull was still ahead.
Verstappen may have chosen to not be bullied aside, but frankly, at this level, I’d much rather see that than drivers pulling over the very moment they see someone in their mirrors approaching, on arguments of it’s not their race, they’re on another strategy and whatnot that shouldn’t be part of motorracing.
Mind you, I’m no fan of Verstappen, or any driver for that matter. Sure I like some more than others, but I’m a fan of motorracing, an art sadly going downhill thanks to all sorst of silly rules and the subsequent inconsistent following up on them.
Mayrton
19th July 2024, 11:04
What a bad example to pick. Hamilton himself was caught napping in that sequence of two corners. In the right hander he left the door open for Max to come alongside, only to not leave a car width in the left hander subsequently. That’s just clumsy and also against the regulation. That the one ended on top of the other was bad circumstance because of the sausage kerb. Totally avoidable by Hamilton once again as in the same race multiple time two cars went perfectly fine together to that sequence of corners. You just have to leave some space and then this doesn’t happen.
Mayrton
19th July 2024, 10:56
Amazing to see people grasping at a straw to find something on a man who has redefined the sport and hasn’t made a single mistake in maybe over 2,5 seasons. Yet as soon as something minor happens some immediately jump on the bandwagon talking about ‘old tricks’ and all, while all they just do is give a testament of their lack of racing rules and reveal they are coloured by a personal dislike of a person.
Mayrton
19th July 2024, 11:00
apologies, no edit button still… I meant ‘their lack of racing rules knowledge’
Jazz (@jazz)
19th July 2024, 18:51
No apology needed, regardless of the technicalities of the attempted overtake into a pinch point, I always assumed Hamilton’s eyes would have been on the approaching apex at the end of the braking zone to turn one, not in the mirrors looking at some pudding chancing an overtake on a huge gamble. I mean, what did Verstappen expect to happen? He’d had his elbows out all season up to that point. He knew precisely what he was doing and was qualified enough at that point to understand the risk of a possible collision, he’s either naive, a bully, or reckless.
José Lopes da Silva
18th July 2024, 14:14
Monaghan perspective is among the most fascinating in this sport. Decade after decade, this view endures, seeing drivers as gladiator warriors mastering their own destinies regardless of the car they are driving. I suppose this is part of the magic around car racing.
The reason why Verstappen got tangled with Hamilton a few times in 2021 was not because he was driving with less assurednesss then. It was because they were very close on track. In Imola, it was because Verstappen was able to reach turn 1 side by side, in spite having started from third place.
Verstappen has a sort of mythical armour, indeed; he shows the highest level of assuredness and confidence a driver can show, with the sport greats of all time. But he hasn’t achieved in 2023 or something. He has shown it since he arrived in F1. To the point, once again, that when he decided to take a step back and a little less risk after Monaco 18, he just did.
Nothing fazes him in the way nothing fazed him when he was promoted to Red Bull and won right away, calmly defending against Raikkonen.
Recently he got tangled with Norris, not because assuredness went out of the roof, but because they were very close on track.
Roy Beedrill
18th July 2024, 14:55
But other teams don’t cut their food expences for employees to the point of feeding them with Freddos, Zak. ;)
baasbas
19th July 2024, 9:47
So about these track limit fixes.. Will this mean they will not monitor those corners anymore?
Otherwise it’s not really a fix
Kurt
19th July 2024, 11:56
This introduction sort of forget that he hasn’t been in trouble for so long because of the sheer difference of pace, once the wheel to wheels is back the same old ways is also back can really go wrong 45 second up the field