Welcome to Thursday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Carlos Sainz Jnr was unfortunate to lose his Ferrari drive in the year he produced his best performance for the team, says Deerhunter:
Leclerc and Sainz is probably one of the more interesting match-ups, in the sense that it did not go the way I thought it would.
Given his time at McLaren, I genuinely thought that Sainz would be the more reliable, consistent driver compared to the more peaky Leclerc, but it ends up being the complete opposite.
Sainz’s highs (Silverstone and Brazil in 2022, Monza and Singapore last year, Melbourne and Mexico this year) are extremely high, but the many, many amateurish driver errors are also impossible to overlook. It is then extremely disappointing that the one year he was starting to sand out those rough edges also ends up being his last year with Ferrari.
Still, I find Sainz in the Williams to be a hugely likable pairing, so fingers crossed that this project turns out well for all parties involved. It’s absurd for Maldonado’s admittedly brilliant win in 2012 to remain Williams’s last
Deerhunter
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to sridhar gopalkrishnan!
On this day in motorsport
- Born on this day in 1917: Paul Frere, who went on to win the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours and finished second in his final grand prix appearance at Spa in 1956. He died in 2008.
- 70 years ago today Juan Manuel Fangio won the non-championship Buenos Aires Grand Prix, held over two heats, in his Mercedes
- 10 years ago today Ferrari launched the SF-15T, the first of their cars to be driven by Sebastian Vettel
- Five years ago today Formula 1 confirmed it was monitoring the potential impact of the spread of Covid-19 from China. It grew into a pandemic which caused massive loss of life and disruption worldwide.
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David BR (@david-br)
30th January 2025, 11:57
Is it just me or are these round ups now coming out early in the day rather than late? (Could be time zone confusion on my part.)
sato113 (@sato113)
30th January 2025, 18:50
It’s the off season, so things seem to be published at a slower rate and seemingly on a different schedule.