In the round-up: Franco Colapinto admits his chances of securing the final place on the Formula 1 grid for next year are remote.
In brief
Colapinto doubts he’ll get Sauber seat
The only place left on the grid for the 2025 F1 season is the second Sauber seat alongside Nico Hulkenberg. Colapinto, who has impressed since replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams earlier this year, is doubtful he will be able to take it.
“It’s my dream to stay in Formula 1, that’s what I’m working for,” he told The Fast and the Curious. “I am going race by race.
“This year I got an amazing opportunity that I took with both hands, but my goal is to stay in Formula 1. I came to stay, that’s the reality, so I am giving my best to try to show everybody what I am capable of and that I deserve a seat in Formula 1.
“I’m doing well at the moment, so that’s all going in the right direction. But of course the seat point of view, it is looking very tough for next year. I’m not thinking about 2025, not really, I’m fully focused on this year and what we have to do about the great opportunity that I have for 2024 and to finish the year on a high and then we will see what I do in 2025. There is time to think in December when the year finishes what I am going to do.”
EU to consider F1 investigation
The European Parliament has been asked to consider opening an investigation into Liberty Media’s attempts to acquire Moto GP in addition to Formula 1 and other series it owns.“Liberty Media Corporation (LMC) is the owner of the Formula One Group (FOG), which holds Formula 1’s commercial rights until the end of 2110,” wrote Pascal Arimont, a member of the European People’s Party Group, in a question. “A separation of commercial and regulatory activities in motor sport was approved by the Commission in 2001.
“Over time, FOG has added the Formula 2 and Formula 3 series to its roster, and affiliate company Liberty Global controls Formula E. Through F1TV, FOG controls global broadcasts. Commercial agreements also make it very difficult for new teams to join the Formula 1 series, possibly restricting competition in an unlawful way – a point the US Department of Justice is investigating.
“LMC has now committed to acquiring Spanish-based Dorna SL, rights holder of all MotoGP and affiliated motorcycle circuit racing events. According to LMC, approval has been granted in most major jurisdictions. In 2006, the Commission gave permission to CVC Capital Partners to proceed with a buy-out of Formula One shares, only after the firm agreed to get rid of its interests in MotoGP EU.
“In view of these developments, and the fact that Parliament has called for an investigation into competition concerns arising from the Formula 1 motor sport industry, will the Commission finally start an anti-trust investigation into regulations and commercial arrangements involving LMC, in order to protect consumers and guarantee fair competition?”
Boya quickest as F3 test ends
Mari Boya narrowly beat team mate Nikola Tsolov to the fastest time as Formula 3’s two-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya concluded yesterday. The Campos pair were separated by just 0.027 seconds, Boya producing a 1’27.209. The sole interruption to the day’s running was caused when Noel Leon’s car came to a halt.
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Vettel and Schumacher confirmed for Race Of Champions 2025 (Race of Champions)
'Two of the biggest names in world motorsports, Sebastian Vettel and his younger German compatriot Mick Schumacher, have been confirmed for the 2025 Race Of Champions at Accor Stadium in Sydney, March 7-8.'
'Tickets for American rock band Green Day’s tour rose to up to $500, and the pricing model has also been activated for Pearl Jam, the Australian Grand Prix and Australian Open tickets.'
FIA, ACO 'at the very beginning' with hydrogen tech regs (Sportscar 365)
'Fuel cell needs cleaner hydrogen, and all the EV parts, battery, motor, so it’s much more complex. You also need to cool the fuel cell, and for that you need a big radiator. But for road car applications with a small amount of power, it seems to be a good solution. The question is do we need to balance the technologies or just let the best one win.'
Strong test showing could help VeeKay land seat for 2025 (IndyCar)
'VeeKay still doesn’t have a ride for the 2025 season, but he felt he helped himself at IMS. 'I might have created an opportunity,' he said.'
'The car needed a metal structure to work, said Lego model designer Lubor Zelinka, with non-Lego axles, steering, brakes and some other 'critical elements'. These included genuine P1 wheels and tyres. Everything else, however – including the seats, wing mirrors, rear wing and even the batteries – were 'pure Lego Technic builds', held together by only the ‘clutch power’ of the pieces.'
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Comment of the day
At least one of our readers preferred the 1991 Phoenix Grand Prix to that ostrich race…
COTA layout is one of the best on the calendar. Watkins Glen is classic old school circuit located in a beautiful part of New York State.
Phoenix 1991 will always be special. I paid $40 for round-trip ticket from California to Arizona on Southwest and saw man with the yellow helmet win the race.
Nasir
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Harris and Evan!
On this day in motorsport
- 25 years ago today Eddie Irvine won the first Malaysian Grand Prix. He and team mate Michael Schumacher were then disqualified as their cars failed a technical inspection. That briefly handed the world championship to Mika Hakkinen, until the Ferraris were controversially reinstated.
Garns (@garns)
17th October 2024, 0:50
I am sure if Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant earlier when there we more seats available for 2025 someone would have signed him up. I have heard quite a few times Bottas was set to announce a new contract but the more that draws out it might mean they are giving Franco serious consideration.
notagrumpyfan
17th October 2024, 6:56
For whatever reason Colapinto was off the list for the second Sauber seat, and interestingly Schumacher back on the list together next to a 1-year Bottas offer.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th October 2024, 7:04
@garns Nothing about him. Everything simply happened too late for him, & even Bortoleto hasn’t seemingly had a concrete chance despite having been mentioned more.
Based on most recent reports, Mick is indeed the most realistic alternative to Bottas.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
17th October 2024, 11:00
That would be sad if it’s Mick. Other than a surname, he’s really shown nothing to suggest he’s worthy of a F1 seat.
Unfortunately there seems little hope that the grid will expand to 11 or 12 teams, so a young driver demonstrating that he does have the talent has little or no chance in the near future.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th October 2024, 14:30
@dbradock I agree & he already seemed to have become a lost cause until recently, but we’ll see.
At least if he received a second chance & blew up, his F1 career would be over for good.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th October 2024, 21:24
He is worthy of a f1 seat, he was treated unfairly by steiner, who look at the case is no longer in f1 now, he deserves a 3rd season in a not-hopeless car (not like haas the first season), it’s just that there’s not many seats, bottas also did more than enough to deserve to stay, and so did colapinto.
Coventry Climax
17th October 2024, 2:06
Really? That is the question? In a sports?
You guys need to do some real introspection if you genuinely believe that.
MichaelN
17th October 2024, 9:50
It’s long been the case that the governing bodies keep manufacturers on board by tilting the rules certain ways.
Diesel didn’t suddenly become a great way to go racing; the rules made it great because that’s what VW wanted to promote. And since they were the only big manufacturer, the regulations were tailored to that end. Same with the heavy hybrids ten years later.
S
17th October 2024, 12:31
The answer is indeed obvious – but it’s not the one you want it to be.
Motorsports (especially the top levels) have been driven more by commercial interests than outright performance since, well, the beginning.
Jon (@johns23)
17th October 2024, 3:00
There are at least 4 names in F1 that Colapinto could take their seat. I hope he gets a full time drive, but I think his career in F1 is over as quick as it started unfortunately
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th October 2024, 21:27
If colapinto doesn’t get another seat later on, much like lawson, it’s a complete joke, he’s better.
Dex
17th October 2024, 22:06
Bleh… We saw him race in F1. We didn’t get to see many other F2-F3 drivers, current or past ones, with similar or better results. I have a positive feeling about him, but I don’t like getting carried away. Many young drivers would do a decent job in F1, and every single one that gets the chance does so in fact. When was the last time we had a poor replacement?
They are all at least decent, most are better than decent, some are, perhaps, even really good. But we only get to see a random few, rarely the most successful ones. Some, like Bearman, pretty much failed in F2.
Nick T.
17th October 2024, 5:04
It’s these types of hard hitting insights I come to RF for. Up next: Norris Admits Overcoming Points Deficit to Verstappen Will Be Very Tough
notagrumpyfan
17th October 2024, 7:02
The round-up has taken a serious step backwards when it moved away from leading with references to articles in other publications to creating its own mini (non) stories.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
17th October 2024, 5:55
I don’t think going to Sauber is a good idea anyway, considering how woeful they probably are going to be next year.
notagrumpyfan
17th October 2024, 7:05
You can also see it as another year of experience, being in the (spot)light, and learning from (plus being compared to) a respected F1 driver.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
17th October 2024, 8:14
Hulkenberg is good in bad cars, so the chances of looking “good” against him aren’t that big. And whatever good race you have, you might end 12th and not (from the outside) set the world on fire.
notagrumpyfan
17th October 2024, 9:51
Luckily it’s not the ‘outside’ determining who is/isn’t performing well ;)
Nick T.
18th October 2024, 6:56
He got spanked by Ricciardo. So, not sure he’s any better in bad cars than your average good driver. He’s doing great at Haas, but like Albon with Logan, K-Mag’s mediocrity is making him look like he’s doing even better than he is.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th October 2024, 7:05
Still milking something that isn’t going to happen anyway (& never was a concrete thing) is pointless.
Simply too little too late.
Simon
17th October 2024, 22:16
So not as you expected then???
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
17th October 2024, 13:57
I sometimes wonder why that doesn’t get brought up given how hands on Liberty/FOM have been in shaping the regulations over the past few years.
Maybe i’m just misunderstanding what the terms of the agreement was but I was always under the assumption that FOM weren’t supposed to be allowed to be directly involved in the regulatory side of things and were supposed to only handle the commercial side.
Yet there were people working for Liberty/FOM that have been directly involved in shaping the regulations & several of the things that have been introduced into the regulations as of late have been things that came directly from them (Point for fastest lap & sprint races for example).
Maybe that should be investigated?
anon
17th October 2024, 16:27
@roger-ayles the answer is that, when the European Commission conducted their investigation, they were mainly concerned with the conduct of the FIA and whether, in it’s role as a regulatory body, it was abusing it’s licencing powers to force track owners, manufacturers, national motorsport bodies and drivers to only compete in FIA licenced events.
They then proceeded to cite an example from the world of GT racing where they ruled that the FIA had abused it’s licencing powers to prevent a non-FIA organiser from setting up an independent GT racing series by blocking tracks and teams from competing with that series, which meant that they had to sign up to the FIA’s GT championship instead.
There were other areas in which the FIA was deemed to be abusing it’s powers – for example, using it’s authority as the sole licencing body to compel organisations to give broadcasting and commercial rights to the FIA, and compelling parties involved in their different series to have to give commercial rights to the FIA under the implied threat of having licences withdrawn and preventing those parties from participating in any form of international motorsport.
In the current case of Liberty Media/FOM getting involved in helping to shape the regulations, those actions are centred around the technical regulations of Formula 1. Those actions are sufficiently limited in scope that they do not fall under the sorts of actions that the FIA was being investigated for in the past.
Alonslow
17th October 2024, 15:28
While I like Colapinto I feel Bortoleto is the better talent so I hope he gets in that seat, Colapinto has a pretty much guaranteed seat if Sainz dominates Albon next year.