In the round-up: Lando Norris says his pre-race nerves got a lot better after his first start earlier this year.
What they say
Norris previously admitted he felt very nervous before his debut in the Australian Grand Prix.
They’re still there. Always before qualifying. Always when the lights are coming on on the grid. But I think that’s just inevitable, it’s something that’s always going to happen. But more from just walking around the paddock and everything.
It’s got a lot better since Australia. Already in Bahrain it was much better. The first few races it got big chunks better and now it’s kind of levelled off and I feel relatively more at home.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Nine years later. Just as impressive. 🤩
McLaren's 2010 @F1 World Championship contender, the eye-catching MP4-25. pic.twitter.com/m7YLUav27B
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 14, 2019
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Helmut Marko says Pierre Gasly lost his Red Bull drive because he spent too much time stuck behind other cars.
Red Bull, Honda and Verstapen beginning of a new era? (Stefan Johansson Vaxjo)
"The situation at Haas is almost comical. I can see it being justified if they are fighting for the lead or the championship, like Lewis and Nico was a few years back, but I think even those two had better discipline and race craft than the Haas guys do."
Zak Brown IndyCar Q&A (McLaren)
"Our F1 programme and its success remains an absolute priority for McLaren and therefore it is an entirely separate programme from the IndyCar partnership. McLaren is a major global racing organisation like others who compete in multiple series."
Abiteboul: Better to change tracks not tech rules (Autosport)
"What we've done is some simulations of alternative (Paul Ricard) configurations of how to make it more interesting."
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Comment of the day
Is Lance Stroll showing signs of improvement this year?
Stroll is improving, and improving fast (last year’s Stroll would probably have been consistently in the place between Williams and the rest of the field), but his points score isn’t representative of the extent of that improvement. Yes, a slower rise up the ranks would have helped him (as it would have helped Max Verstappen, let alone Daniil Kyvat and before him, Jaime Alguersuari), but he can’t change that now.
Perez is in an odd position. He’s trying to provide leadership to a team that is moving between needing it and being a bit less dependent on it, compounded by a machine which is showing its turbulent background quite clearly. I think the upgrade is going to give Perez a good chance to turn the points tables in the second half of the season, but up to this point I think Perez has been struggling with the car’s limits being so much lower than he was accustomed heretofore.
@Alianora-la-canta
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On this day in F1
- 20 years ago today Jenson Button took a win and a second place in the British F3 double-header at Pembrey in Wales. A jump-start penalty in race one dropped him from first to fourth, but he recovered to second
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th August 2019, 1:37
Cyril is the greatest incompetent in the world, he wouldn’t get past the 1st question of who wants to be a millionaire
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
15th August 2019, 5:27
Normally I’d agree with you, but in this case he has a point.
Teams get forced to spend millions on technical changes that ultimately don’t make a lot of difference. Maybe try changing some tracks to see if racing actually improves.
Wouldn’t make any difference for Renault though – they’re slow on straights and in corners, but itd be a laugh listening to Ferrari explain why some longer straights would be good while Merc and Red Bull would be looking to add a couple of slow corner chicanes.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th August 2019, 5:40
@peartree Well never mind the messenger, changing “one or two corners” at some tracks to improve the racing is a good idea imho. For a circuit to fund an alteration is pretty expensive, if F1 wants to improve its product it’s not a bad idea to help fund such improvements. It’s a small investment that could pay huge benefits to their goals of improving the races.
For example Abu Dhabi could change the chicane before the hairpin by eliminating all 3 and turn it into 1 hairpin (a bit shorter, of course, to allow for enough runoff) This would become an instant overtaking opportunity coming off the flowing T3/4 mid/high-speed downhill corners.
Another one: Extending the Melbourne track at T13 to make a hairpin there. Coming off the fast T11/12 chicane you now have a short DRS straight into the double righthander of T13 and T14 but nothing is happening there. If you go straight on there, there is a piece of public road there, that allows for a hairpin turn that brings you back to where T14 is now. That hairpin with a bit longer straight leading up to it becomes an overtaking spot and also leads to a bit longer straight into the penultimate corner where the fighting would continue.
Now, what I don’t agree with Cyril on is that the teams should have a say in this because teams will always have a double agenda.
Jere (@jerejj)
15th August 2019, 8:04
@jeffreyj But the run-off area of the hairpin is insufficient for the approach-speeds that would be achieved going into that corner without the chicane, and it isn’t really possible to create a more spacious run-off area there either because of the grandstand, which is something that should’ve been taken into account back when the Yas Marina circuit was in the building-process. If the part of the stand facing directly towards the apex of the hairpin would have a big hole similar to the one built-in to the grandstand after the long straight following the hairpin, then it could work, but that’s something that should’ve been included there at the time of the construction.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th August 2019, 11:08
I know you can’t move that grandstand, but you can move the corner… That’s what I meant to say at least. Basically, if you take out the chicane and move the hairpin back away from the grandstand by say 50 meters, there is ample run-off and the grandstand can stay in place.
The overall point I’m really making is that if Liberty want to improve their core product, helping circuits pay for track alterations that would help improve that product seems like a sensible thing to do in addition to the other things they are doing (ground-effect, etc. etc.)
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th August 2019, 1:40
Lando could have been driving for rb by now.
Exediron (@exediron)
15th August 2019, 2:04
As a McLaren fan, I’m happy he’s not.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th August 2019, 11:11
@exediron @peartree
McLaren didn’t want to let him go at the time and it seemed wise of them not to do so. It’s looking even better now.
Also, Norris and Verstappen seem to be friends (playing I-Racing together for 24hrs straight and playing FIFA etc.). I’m not sure how much of that friendship would be left over if they were to become teammates.
faulty (@faulty)
15th August 2019, 1:42
Could someone please pay attention to Abiteboul?
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th August 2019, 11:13
@faulty He makes a good point as I said above. However, I don’t think the teams should have a hand in this because they have individual agenda’s. That’s exactly the same problem why people think teams shouldn’t have a say in the technical and sporting regulations.
Cranberry
15th August 2019, 13:30
Changing tracks to facilitate “racing” and make overtakes easier regardless of car design has already been done before:
Ovals.
The natural end-result of Abiteboul’s (make tracks accomodate the cars) thinking is Ovals.
Robbie (@robbie)
15th August 2019, 21:57
At this point I wouldn’t be changing too many tracks too soon, because we are about to have completely new cars that will be able to follow and race each other much more closely. Let’s see what the next gen brings and perhaps we will find out that no changes to tracks were needed after all. Teams are always going to evolve their cars year to year even with rules stability so it is not like changing some turns at some tracks will mean cars will be left alone one year to the next even when the regs don’t change.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
15th August 2019, 3:39
Who is JT in SJ blog? How come blog owner became the interviewee?
Can RaceFans make an article of me interviewing Keith?
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
15th August 2019, 4:46
@ruliemaulana: I’d pay for that. Possibly… we would all pay for it
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
15th August 2019, 6:16
@jimmi-cynic I’d pay myself too…
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
15th August 2019, 6:20
There’s another quite interesting story Marko tells in that Autobild article, imo (my translation):
Phylyp (@phylyp)
15th August 2019, 6:45
@hanswesterbeek – thank you for the translation, that is indeed an interesting point.
That probably explains Marko’s comment earlier in the season when he said there is more development due on the car.
MacLeod (@macleod)
15th August 2019, 7:41
That makes the start of the season more sense, that will make that chassis in Mexico almost impossible to beat.
cyril a
15th August 2019, 10:27
It was the Renault at high altitude that was working so well at Mexico.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
15th August 2019, 8:27
Very interesting. Thanks for the translation.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
15th August 2019, 6:23
I’d like to hear more about those Renault simulations. Did they remove the chicane at Mistral straight? Or used the faster combination of the first left-right? And what effect did they have?
Jere (@jerejj)
15th August 2019, 8:16
Does he mean like forever?
The Mclaren MP4-25, one of my all-time favorite Mclaren F1-cars along with the MP4-20, and MP4-26, although I like MP4-24 as well.
That’s a bit demotivating towards Gasly to say things like that in public from Dr. Marko, although he’s got the point there. Gasly indeed got stuck behind slower cars a bit too often given the machinery available. Not only in the last race (which eventually proved to be his last in the energy drinks company’s leading team for now), but the race before in Germany, as well as, in France, Austria, and the first two rounds of the season in Australia and Bahrain respectively. The one in Austria was perhaps the biggest flop out of them as he finished a full-lap down on his teammate despite having been briefly running ahead of him at the beginning.
Regarding the Autosport-article: Most of the tracks don’t really need changes to begin with, though.
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
15th August 2019, 9:17
Marko’s right on this. Gasly isn’t a second a lap slower than Max on Sundays on pace but because he’s starting behind slower cars and not clearing them quickly he’s always losing time in comparison with his teammate which is how he ends up getting lapped etc.