In the round-up: Mercedes do not have a much in the way of spare parts after Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s practice crash, says George Russell.
In brief
Mercedes low on spares after crash
After Antonelli crashed his car during Friday practice, Russell admitted that Mercedes are running low of spare parts in case any further mishaps befall him or team mate Lewis Hamilton
“Obviously we’ve lost quite a few parts,” Russell said. “Fingers crossed Lewis and I don’t do any further damage, otherwise we’ll have to revert back to some of the old parts, unless we can get some new pieces made in the interim.
“It’s not the end of the world as long as we both don’t do any further damage. As it stands, we don’t have any spares of our upgraded stuff.”
Colapinto will ‘learn how to drink’ for debut
Williams rookie Franco Colapinto says he will have to learn to get used to the onboard drinks system in his car for his grand prix debut today.Colapinto, will start 18th on the grid for his first F1 race, which is expected to take place in temperatures of over 30C, and the newcomer has had difficulty operating his drinks system so far. “It’s going to be really hot, so I will have to learn how to drink,” he said.
“It’s been a quick weekend. Everything has been going on very, very quick. I have enjoyed it a lot and taking in a lot of information. So a lot of things I’ve been learning so far. A lot of things to learn, of course, in the race and let’s see how it goes.”
Ferrari take COTA WEC pole
Ferrari’s number 51 car will start from pole position for Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans World Endurance Championship race at Circuit of the Americas.
Antonio Giovinazzi set the best time in Hyperpole with a 1’50.390, while Robert Kubica made it a Ferrari one-two in the number 83 car. The number two Cadillac will start third on the grid, just ahead of the number 35 Alpine in fourth.
The highest place Toyota, the number seven car, will start down in ninth on the grid, the only Toyota to reach the shootout session. The top nine positions in Hyperpole were covered by just under six tenths of a second.
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Pato O'Ward blasts IndyCar leadership for not landing race in Mexico ahead of NASCAR (AP)
''They beat us to the cake. I strongly believe that we’re not only late, but I strongly believe that there isn’t more room in Mexico City. Like, not only did they beat us there, but now that is not an option for IndyCar. You need to understand that these people save up their money to go to these events.''
FIA partners with UN Tourism to advance sustainable sports tourism globally (FIA)
'The collaboration between UN Tourism and the FIA will contribute to advancing the understanding of sports tourism’s potential. With an approximate value of $609 billion, and with a 17.5% annual growth rate, it is one of the fastest-growing sectors within the tourism industry, with the tourism and sports sectors closely linked via their impact both socially and culturally and their roles in economic diversification and social development.'
How an F1 team helped Marcel Hug's Paralympic dreams (Sky Sports F1 via YouTube)
'Marcel Hug, the Swiss Paralympian (nicknamed the Silver Bullet) has won four Gold Medals in the Tokyo Olympics in a racing wheelchair. His chair was designed with the help of the Sauber F1 team. Marcel will compete in four events in Paris.'
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Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Hear from @LandoNorris after taking Pole. 💪#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/9HSYrgWZll
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 31, 2024
Missing Pole by a tenth of a second is frustrating, but it shows how close tomorrow will be 👊 Bring it on!#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/QJ5m6CBtIx
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 31, 2024
🗣️ "It was a bit of a weird session where I think Q2 felt a lot better, but in Q3 we had no balance."
Read the full Qualifying report from a disappointing Saturday in Monza 🗞️#F1 || #ItalianGP 🇮🇹
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) August 31, 2024
“The best we could have done👊”
Alex reflects on qualifying here in Monza 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/X614CHDEKG
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) August 31, 2024
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Comment of the day
With it finally confirmed that Andrea Kimi Antonelli will fill Lewis Hamilton’s seat at Mercedes in 2025, Bernasaurus wonders if this is a premature promotion…
I cannot help shake the feeling that Toto Wolff, Mercedes want him to be the next Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, etc, more than he is likely to be. Of course he can only be himself, and his career will be a long road ahead and he doesn’t have to win multiple championships to be deserving of a top seat in F1. I just feel that a few drivers might wonder what they didn’t do that Kimi did to get the drive?
I wish him all the best regardless, and in an era where F1 teams seem more reluctant than ever to give young drivers a chance, it’s nice to see it when it does happen.
Bernasaurus
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Chris Sz, Meander, Glaszwiebel and Erzen!
Kribana (@krichelle)
1st September 2024, 1:59
COTD: many greats are known for terrible starts.
– Vettel has the record for the fastest penalty ever from debut into F1. > 4 time world champion
– Hamilton crashed his Mercedes on his first day of testing in 2013 with them > 7 time world champion
– Verstappen was known to be over aggressive and dangerous in his first few years > 3 time world champion.
Sometimes the people who commit the most serious mistakes are the ones to acheive great things
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st September 2024, 5:34
Vettel being a couple of kmh off the pit lane speed is nothing compared to crashing a car, man. As bad starts go that’s not a good example.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
1st September 2024, 6:05
By that metric Maldonado would have surpassed Hamilton, sad he was sacked before his greatest time…
With purple font off, a bit like COTD I’m split about the move. I also criticise the lack of rotation in the drivers in F1, but it would probably have been best for him to be in a Williams couple of years and Sainz in that Mercedes. Learning in a top team is often learning under pressure which can go either ways. Wish him the best anyway and hope we continue to have a fight between 4 teams at the top next year.
Boomerang
1st September 2024, 6:39
Greatest crashpion of all time! Maybe de Cesaris was better.
AlanD
2nd September 2024, 13:41
“Hamilton crashed his Mercedes on his first day of testing in 2013 with them”
Yes, Hamilton crashed, but it was due to a hydraulic failure in the car, and it would have happened whoever was driving it. It wasn’t a result of Hamilton going faster than the car was capable of. Rosberg later had a problem with the car setting on fire during testing, and no, he wasn’t having a sneaky Woodbine when it happened.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st September 2024, 5:50
Ironically, Red Bull used to be the organization most willing to hand opportunities for up-&-coming drivers, but less & less over time relative to Mercedes, Alpine, McLaren.
notagrumpyfan
1st September 2024, 8:52
A bit of an open door, as they are the only organisation with two teams.
The major team giving most chances to rookie drivers is of course McLaren.
All young Red Bull drivers have to start in the junior team, whereas McLaren (without a junior team and less connections – PU deals – to smaller teams) contracts promising drivers straight into one of their seats: either successfully like Hamilton, Piastri, and (tough a bit longer) Norris, or unsuccessfully like Vandoorne.
Nick T.
1st September 2024, 9:08
Magnussen and Perez during that time too. So, by a wide margin, they’ve given the most rookies a shot in the main team. HRT was another proxy that allowed multiple drivers to get their start this is no longer around and now, with Sauber owned by Audi and Williams financially stabilized and ambitious, only Haas and RB will remain as teams whose model will be rookie friendly. And, as the field continues to tighten up under the new regs, you’ll see less and less willingness to take a punt on new drivers. So, yet another reason Andretti not only should have been allowed in, but an 11th team is desperately needed.
Nick T.
1st September 2024, 9:10
less and less willingness even from Haas and RB*
Nick T.
1st September 2024, 8:59
I find this recurring sentiment odd considering they literally just gave DeVries a shot last season, have announced Lawson will be driving next season and the fact their junior teams haven’t really had any clear standouts to give seats to. Had they, you would have seen other teams pick them up. Finally, they’ve given exponentially more drivers shots than any other team on the grid by a large margin since joining F1 and even over the course of the last two seasons, no team will have given more drivers a shot than them even w/the task of keeping Max happy complicating matters.
anon
1st September 2024, 9:39
Nick T., in the case of de Vries, people don’t think that counts because Red Bull were forced to recruit a new driver – they wanted to keep the same Gasly-Tsunoda line up for 2023, and only changed because Gasly wanted to move to Alpine.
Red Bull did not have any plans at the time to hire a new driver at the time, and de Vries got the job because Red Bull needed somebody to replace Gasly, they didn’t have anyone within their own junior team that could do the job and de Vries was one of a limited number of drivers on the market with a superlicence available at relatively short notice. As was made clear not long afterwards, if Ricciardo had been available earlier, they’d have hired him, not de Vries.
As for Lawson, whilst Marko was saying that Lawson would drive for them earlier this year, Horner has been more ambivalent and suggested that Lawson might be loaned to another team instead, indicating he would prefer to maintain the current line ups at both teams.
notagrumpyfan
1st September 2024, 12:36
Those statements are weird, anon.
A rookie hire doesn’t count, because the team had a (late) vacancy. Seriously?
And if Red Bull preferred Ricciardo in that seat at the start of the season, then they would have given it to him.
It’s more that both weren’t convinced that this was the right move: Ricciardo wanted (to wait for) a seat at a bigger team, and Red Bull wasn’t sure about his worth as a driver (rather than marketing opportunity) at that time.
Nick T.
1st September 2024, 8:24
Amazed people are making so much out of an FP1 crash. Anyway, it’s never explained why Fordapinto will have to learn to use his drinks bottle. Was he having some trouble with it in practice or something?
SteveP
1st September 2024, 13:24
Which would probably put Saudi in conflict with the FIA and the UN, unless the chair of the human rights commission happened to be from Saudi – oh, they are.
Stand clear, sports washing in progress.