In the round-up: Liam Lawson said he skirted disaster on his way to his second ninth-place finish in three grands prix.
In brief
Lawson survived many near-misses
The RB driver said he “nearly crashed probably 10 times” during the rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix. “It was very sketchy,” he told the official F1 channel.
“Even coming into the pit lane, we made the call to stop and I came into the pit lane and I wasn’t stopping and I was aiming straight for the tyre wall, the barrier at the pit entrance. And it just gripped before then.”
Lawson, who was knocked into a spin by Oscar Piastri at one stage, said he spent much of the race under attack from behind.
“We were strong at the start of the stint, after the red flag, but everyone was in a train and we couldn’t really use it, and then it sort of faded away for us,” he said. “So partly because of the pressure from behind we spent a lot of time defending, but it was a lot of concentration.”
Shwartzman to make IndyCar debut
Robert Shwartzman will move into IndyCar racing next year with new team Prema. He will partner another of the team’s former Formula 2 drivers, Callum Ilott.Last month Shwartzman made his latest appearance in a Formula 1 car, driving for Sauber in the first practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix. He was given a five-place grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement.
“I’m definitely very, very excited to be back at Prema to start a new adventure in IndyCar,” he said. “Everything will be new to us and there will be many challenges, but it will also be a lot of fun and a lot of work at the same time.
“I think a very successful future lies ahead for us. IndyCar is a very competitive series, with so many strong drivers, and I’m looking forward to the racing, as it looks really cool. I have never driven on ovals and to master them, it will be a completely new challenge.”
Blinkski gets final Rodin seat
Rodin has completed its driver line-up for the 2025 season by naming Roman Bilinski as team mate to Louis Sharp and Callum Voisin. Bilinski won the Formula Regional Oceania championship this year and finished 14th in the European series.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
'Better than Schumacher and Senna' – Marques on what makes Alonso so special (Aston Martin)
'I think he was better than Schumacher when they raced against each other and, Brazilians will get upset, I would say he's better than Senna too. Senna was amazing, a natural talent, but the truth is that he used to make more mistakes than Fernando.'
Ericsson finds positives in tough first season with Andretti (IndyCar)
'We’ve built a really good foundation for next year. Especially the second half, I feel like we've been in the mix every track we've been to. We can build on that and have the off-season to analyse and work on things. Then, we should be really, really strong next year.'
We always endeavour to credit original sources. Got a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport? Please send it to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
…There was no Dutch media in the post race press conference either…
By my count there was one French journalist. Four Brazilian journalists, Tom Clarkson (host) , the tv camera operator……..and me 😂 https://t.co/WOUchWb60v
— jameypricephoto (@jameypricephoto) November 5, 2024
Sometimes there’s more to a story than just a sound bite or a chance to attack people for perception of British bias. For my part, as it’s a press conference for written media only, I never attend the post race conference, no matter who’s won. Thursday press conferences are… https://t.co/kgJqL87TEo
— David Croft (@CroftyF1) November 5, 2024
|@lance_stroll should have become Canada's most experienced #F1 driver in yesterday's #BrazilianGP.
However he spun off on the formation lap, then drove into a gravel trap and got stuck, and failed to start.
He therefore remains tied on 163 starts with @27villeneuve.#RaceFans pic.twitter.com/lBK3DfhCbO
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) November 4, 2024
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Are Pirelli’s tyres really the problem when it comes to racing in heavily wet conditions?
The full wets are actually good wet weather tyres as seen a few years ago in Japan. The problem is that there is a big gap between them and the intermediates, which have even fewer grooves than a track day tyre for road legal sportscars would have. They’re beefed-up slicks more than anything.
The teams generally don’t want to use full wet tyres even when they should, even apparently when their own drivers are scared to drive, because the intermediates will generally be faster – until the car spins out or the race is (inevitably) neutralised. That’s not a Pirelli or a race control issue, that’s a team issue.
MichaelN
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to A.S. Mahesh, Claudio Sampaio, Flowerdew and Hawksfan!
S
6th November 2024, 0:35
Hurray for a sensible CotD.
So many people fail to realise that the Full Wet tyres are designed for actual wet conditions – not for intermediate conditions. The problem is that the modern cars produce too far much spray in heavily wet conditions to actually make best use of these (actually very impressive) tyres.
The tyres are fine – but the cars are wrong.
frood19 (@frood19)
6th November 2024, 22:07
How do we know? I can’t recall a race in the pirelli era where the full wets were used for a considerable length of time. Turkey 2020 maybe? I think that was largely on inters actually.
schooner (@schooner)
6th November 2024, 1:36
I found it inexplicable that Stroll would get himself well stuck, driving voluntarily straight into a gravel trap after spinning on the formation lap. Talk about turning an embarrassing mistake into a world class head scratcher. I know nothing of his mental acuity, but whatever he’s got must have deserted him at that moment.
S
6th November 2024, 2:14
Except that wet gravel traps are often capable of being driven across. Usually, actually.
This particular gravel didn’t exhibit the expected behaviour, that’s all.
Perhaps Stroll should have taken note of that during his track walk earlier in the week – but I’m willing to bet none of the other drivers did either.
He was simply trying not to lose grid position by losing extra time turning around or reversing (he would have had to start from the back of the grid if he was overtaken on that lap).
As always in regard to Stroll, if this sequence of events had happened to someone else the commentary would almost certainly have been totally different.
Craig
6th November 2024, 12:58
Stroll, sadly, has history of doing silly things even if he has put some good performances in in the past.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
8th November 2024, 20:16
@schooner It made sense considering that he’d got cold tyres, the Aston Martins had crashed twice in qualifying (when their tyres were warm) and that gravel traps that are waterlogged don’t allow skating across, the way gravel traps which are allowing flows of water through them do.
GeeMac (@geemac)
6th November 2024, 4:21
30 years since Damon’s finest hour…I remember that race like it was yesterday. I remember getting up at 4am in South Africa to watch the race and it was just epic from start to finish:The Schumacher chop was employed to make sure he retained the lead into turn 1, the terrifying accident involving Brundle, Morbidelli and the marshals, the incredible battle between Mansell and Alesi, the masterclass Damon and Michael put on as they just drove away from the field, the tense final laps as Michael tried in Damon and of course Murray Walker shouting “three point three six seconds!” as Schumacher crossed the finish line.
Curse the relentless march of time!
Red Andy (@red-andy)
6th November 2024, 6:42
If that race took place today, Schumacher would have been on the radio every lap, saying the conditions were undriveable and begging for a red flag. He knew how to play the game.
Jonathan Parkin
6th November 2024, 13:04
And of course let’s not forget it was the last occasion aggregate time was used to decide a race
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
8th November 2024, 20:16
@red-andy There already was a red flag, hence the aggregate time situation.
Ideals (@ideals)
6th November 2024, 5:27
Turns out the Brits really couldn’t take a good joke huh.
Maybe it hit a bit too close to home.
Constantijn Blondel
6th November 2024, 7:14
My thoughts exactly :D
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
6th November 2024, 9:42
Turns out the Brits really couldn’t take a good joke huh.
I don’t find this amusing :-)
anon
6th November 2024, 10:06
But if somebody who was British dared to make a similar joke about the Dutch press, you’d be screaming for their head.
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
6th November 2024, 12:26
Lol, you all took it seriously and ran with it… and boy how you did run with it…. :)
Craig
6th November 2024, 13:24
I did ignore that to start with as I’m sick of seeing such things in comments, but if barely anyone was there the situation sounds quite funny, like the three of them were pushed into an empty room with a camera crew and just left there, baffled (that being said I don’t know how exactly they handle that particular interview)
Jonathan Parkin
6th November 2024, 5:47
Re: COTD
Just to confirm, the teams don’t use the wet tyres because they are slower not because they are rubbish
S
6th November 2024, 6:11
Confirmation denied.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
8th November 2024, 20:17
For teams, a tyre’s speed is part of its quality ;)
Jere (@jerejj)
6th November 2024, 6:27
That rhetorical press conference question was savage, but warranted, & ultimately everyone found it funny, even the Alpine duo.
Oh well, Lance will reach that feat in Vegas or within the final triple-header anyway.
MacLeod (@macleod)
6th November 2024, 8:04
Lawson if you have nearly crashes 10 times then you pushed too hard for the conditions you were in. With Experience you will learn to keep it on the right side of the limit….
Defending the absense of the British press on the press conference is silly as normal there is allways British press after races (like racefans.net for example) and less Dutch press as they do more TV coverage. So if they are not there sudenly you know you get targeted. (like crofty said he does TV coverage but where were the others)
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
8th November 2024, 20:19
@macleod Catching a plane, most likely, due to the logistics of the Brazillian Grand Prix. It would have to be a pretty potent reason for a written British journalist to stay in the official press conference for a non-exclusive story when it’s just about possible to sleep in one’s own bed if one beats the post-race traffic.
Mayrton
6th November 2024, 8:20
I feel we need to discuss the FIAs penalties this weekend as they clearly showed their hand once again at 2021 level. This weekend was incredible rigged and scripted.
Next to that Max’ remark during the post race press conference about the British press (not being there) would certainly deserve some further exploration and analysis.
Mog
6th November 2024, 8:25
Agree. And it’s been all season long mind you.
Mayrton
7th November 2024, 7:54
Still, it looks like it’s not going to happen. The writers prefer to be as quiet as possible when their man takes advantage of inconsistency from the FIA. But soon I’m sure another situation will come up where they feel Max was underpunished and then we can be off again with 15 articles. A cup of bias anyone?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
8th November 2024, 20:22
If the FIA had really wanted to give Norris the title, they’d have followed the regulations and cancelled Sunday’s race (having established that qualifying could not be completed in a timely fashion). A quick check outside the window would have told them that this would not be Norris’ race.
Dale
6th November 2024, 13:53
Lawson has also nearly crashed 10 drivers out of F1 races since he’s been back … but that’s just Lawson being Lawson. He’s done that his whole career in every series he’s participated in.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th November 2024, 17:57
So soon the demolition derby term will be replaced by lawson derby!
Patrick (@paeschli)
7th November 2024, 5:51
Yet “crazy” Lawson has not picked up a single penalty since coming back…