In the round-up: Valtteri Bottas admits that there has been a lack of ‘stability’ within Sauber due to its focus on preparing for Audi’s takeover in 2026.
In brief
Sauber not “stable” over recent years – Bottas
After Sauber announced that CEO Andreas Seidl was leaving the team, and former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto will take the reins next month, Bottas admitted that the team has not been the most “stable” since he joined them in 2022.
“Definitely the last year or two, it’s not been really stable,” Bottas said. “There’s been lots of people leaving, lots of people joining, now another change in the leadership, so for sure that doesn’t help the ‘here and now’ moment.
“Even the previous shake-up, it was made for the future and more like for long-term. But with the change again, I think if we’ve had the same leadership and so on for the last few years and that stability, then maybe there’s more time to focus on the issues and solving them. But it’s been pretty clear that all the decisions in the last year or two have been made to be competitive from 2026.
“I know it’s not ideal in some cases, and unfortunately, many times fighting towards the back end, but my job is still to do the very best I can and at the same time push the team and contribute the best I can. That’s all I can do at the moment.”
Ferrari lacking “three or four tenths” – Sainz
Carlos Sainz Jnr believes Ferrari are lacking “three or four tenths” a lap to their rivals Red Bull and McLaren ahead.Ferrari finished fourth and sixth last weekend with Charles Leclerc and Sainz, respectively, in Hungary – around 20 seconds behind the race winning McLarens. Sainz says he expects Ferrari will have a more difficult time this weekend in Spa.
“I think now Spa is going back a bit more towards a Silverstone kind of track,” said Sainz. “And last time we were in Silverstone, we struggled as a team.
“So I was encouraged to see the progress in Hungary, or we were a little bit quicker in Hungary, especially in the race. But let’s see how we are in Spa and if we can keep trying to get closer to the – I would call them now – top two teams. Because it’s clear that McLaren and Red Bull, when they switch it on, they have three or four tenths advantage over us.”
Taponen replaces banned Tsolov
Ferrari academy driver Tuukka Taponen will make his debut in Formula 3 at Spa this weekend, stepping in for Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov, who is banned from competing.
Tsolov has been forced to miss this weekend’s round after falling foul of a rule barring F3 drivers from racing in similar championships without permission. Tsolov was deemed to have raced in the Eurocup 3 round at Spa in April in violation of the rules and was prohibited from taking part in this weekend’s races. McLaren junior Martinius Stenshorne was also banned from racing at Silverstone for a similar infraction.
Taponen will step into Tsolov’s seat at ART this weekend. Taponen won this year’s Formula Regional Middle East championship and currently lies second in the Formula Regional European series.
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Links
'Formula 1 team bosses were told to inform their drivers to be mindful of their language this week after Max Verstappen was criticised for his expletive-filled communications during the Hungarian Grand Prix.'
''(At Haas) there really is one person who decides and that counts in lots of technical choices. There aren't 36,000 people upstairs to ask for validation.''
Antonelli hails co-operation with Bearman as Prema’s F2 form improves (Formula Scout)
''My team-mate, he’s a really good driver, really strong. It was really helpful to have such a team-mate because you can learn a lot from him. Actually jumping Formula 3 (in the single-seater ladder) I can learn a lot in terms of tyre management and warm-up, which is key in F2. So obviously it’s great to have him.''
F1 veteran Angela Cullen gets introduced to life in America — and IndyCar (IndyCar via YouTube)
Hamilton's former trainer Angela Cullen adapts to working in IndyCar with Ericsson.
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Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and other #F1 drivers have taken part in the Run for Anthoine in memory of Anthoine Hubert, who died in a #F2 race at Spa-Francorchamps five years ago, and Dilano van 't Hoff, who lost his life in a Formula Regional European championship race last year. pic.twitter.com/AjAEdvLt3V
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 25, 2024
Did I mention I like Spa? https://t.co/VZqJ8D2J8u
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) July 25, 2024
Ahead of the #Paris2024 @olympics we put our duo to the test at completing the rings in the correct colour order! 🤣🎨 pic.twitter.com/LvAhfLk7f4
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 25, 2024
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Comment of the day
Two different perspectives on Haas announcing they have signed Esteban Ocon to partner Oliver Bearman for 2025…
Really good line up for Haas despite not being a fan of Ocon like many. Haas doesn’t attract the top talent because of their recent results. Ocon brings some experience. He isn’t too old so he still has some ambition. Plus a decent metric for Bearman to sharpen his skills against. I personally don’t think we will see Ocon around much after a couple years in Haas.
Alberto
People keep saying Ocon is really quick, but in all of his F1 years since 2017, he’s only outscored a teammate once. And while he’s sometimes been paired with tough teammates like Fernando Alonso, I wouldn’t exactly call Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly or Daniel Ricciardo impossible to beat (if you are the talent like people say you are).
GechiChan
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Unitedkingdomracing, Oscar Jean Diaz Bustamante and Paolo!
On this day in motorsport
PeterG
26th July 2024, 3:02
I hate it when series try to muzzle drivers on the radio because i like hearing that raw emotion.
And besides the team radio is primarily for team & driver and should be seen as that rather than something thats there for fans because it was never meant for anyone other than the team.
If Liberty don’t like the swearing then don’t broadcast those clips.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th July 2024, 5:40
Not swearing at all on radio comms is easier said than done or achieved.
Terrion (@terrion)
26th July 2024, 5:43
Looking forward to see what Tuukka can do this weekend!
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
26th July 2024, 10:45
At this point in time (6 weekends in) in their respective rookie championship(s) in FRECA, Tuukka has more wins than wunderkind Antonelli had. Tuukka needs 1 more by the end and he ties.
Rafa Camara is already tied with 5, but is in his second season
Nick T.
26th July 2024, 5:52
Their failure to improve this season and the time it took to fix the wheel change heat issue at Sauber was a huge factor in Audi getting rid of Seidl. So, I do think they’ve been trying to improve the current car, but not enough. Normally, I’d say that’s fair enough based on where they’re coming from, but as we’ve seen it basically that a team rarely goes from crap to conquerors just because of a rule change. Incremental improvement is more reliable and should have been their objective given how much time they originally had.
An Sionnach
26th July 2024, 11:36
Interesting. I hadn’t thought about that. You’re probably right. Change can be destabilising, but sometimes this is necessary.
Nick T.
26th July 2024, 22:30
Indeed. It’ll be interesting to see how their project evolves.
Nick T.
26th July 2024, 5:56
Also, RE: COTD, I think it’s exactly their most recent results that have seen Haas have seemingly more pull in the driver market than Audi/Sauber. Had the signing occurred before the season started, I would have agreed. Maybe more accurate to say that their owner’s seeming lack of ambition makes them a non-serious consideration for drivers like Sainz, unlike Williams, Audi-Sauber and even Alpine who are taking a great leap switching to Mercedes with Flavio recognizing Renault is never going to commit the necessary money to build a competitive PU.
jodrell (@jodrell)
26th July 2024, 7:11
Presumably the FIA and F1 want drivers to stop swearing on the radio so that they’re free to broadcast more comments…I can only assume that this will encourage more drivers to swear on the radion during any potentially sensitive radio messages that they don’t want broadcast.
That radio is for the teams, not entertainment. I wonder if the teams can refuse to allow their commas to be monitored and broadcast. I assume not given some of the messages we’ve heard in the past
An Sionnach
26th July 2024, 9:55
I don’t like the language, but I agree with you about broadcasting the messages. You may be right and it may encourage more swearing! I’m not sure, though, as when you’re driving what you say night be instinctive when you’re under pressure.
SteveP
26th July 2024, 11:19
I thought the problem was the exclamation marks rather than the commas :)
An Sionnach
26th July 2024, 11:35
!