Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Red Bull Ring, 2021

Ferrari hasn’t solved Paul Ricard problem despite better race – Sainz

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr expects Ferrari’s race pace will remain strongly influenced by track to track variations.

In brief

Ferrari’s tyre wear issues track-specific

Carlos Sainz Jnr says that as Ferrari still don’t fully understand their issues at the French Grand Prix, their relatively good pace on the same tyres around Spielberg can only be put down to the circuit’s characteristics and not a change the team have made, yet.

“It is unfortunately, at the moment, track specific. The car is very similar to [at] Paul Ricard, and we haven’t really found a solution or reason for our Paul Ricard struggles.

“So we expect our race pace to swing up and down, depending on the circuit. Then we’ll really find the reason why that happened in Paul Ricard.”

Stroll: Fix track limits at Spielberg with gravel

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Red Bull Ring, 2021
Stroll says tracks need physical deterrents
After having lap times deleted for running wide during qualifying at the last two races, Lance Stroll says that gravel provides the ideal, physical solution to drivers exceeding limits.

“Even if they just put a strip of gravel behind the (kerb)… I’m not saying every circuit has to redo the whole gravel trap, but if [there’s] a three-metre strip of gravel behind each kerb instead of a double kerb, I think that could make tracks more interesting.

“Instead of messing around with these track limits by one millimetre, you’re off and you can’t really see it from the cockpit and all that stuff, which is silly.”

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Ferrari and McLaren out of reach for Alpine this season

Esteban Ocon says it’s clear Alpine are not contenders for third place in the constructors championship as the former Renault team was last year.

“I was fighting with Charles [Leclerc] in some part of the race and he was much too fast compared to us, for sure.

“We are going to be fighting with AlphaTauri and Aston Martin all the way through the season. They seem to have a little bit more pace than us overall.

“So little by little we need to be scoring points and do the best we can.”

Giovinazzi: undercut and early-race gains failed to compensate for spin

Antonio Giovinazzi Styrian Grand Prix was ruined before the end of lap one, when he was spun at turn four following contact with Pierre Gasly. The collision was neither drivers’ fault but Giovinazzi said it effectively ended his chances in the grand prix.

“It was bad luck because I think after that, my race was quite compromised,” said Giovinazzi. “I pushed quite a lot in the beginning to catch the group, to overtake the two Haas and then we did the undercut on the hard.

“Maybe we pitted a little bit too early but we tried to undercut. But then in the end of the race, my tyres were in a good shape, and yeah we were too slow in the end. But I think my race, to be honest, was compromised from lap one.”

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Comment of the day

After Verstappen’s dominant victory makes it three Red Bull wins in a row, Gechi Chan says Mercedes’ helplessness seems like tables genuinely turned, now.

The past few years, most of the races Red Bull won were super tight or steals (down to some bad luck for Mercedes or strategy errors).

But this race was proper dominance, like Mercedes used to do so often.

I don’t recall ever hearing Lewis ask “what should we do” and getting no real answer from Bono in regards to having a chance to win a straight-fought grand prix.
@gechichan

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On this day in F1

  • 40 years ago today Rick Mears won a pair of 83-lap CART IndyCar races held at Atlanta Motor Speed. In race one Johnny Rutherford took second ahead of Mario Andretti; the pair swapped positions in race two

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6 comments on “Ferrari hasn’t solved Paul Ricard problem despite better race – Sainz”

  1. Re: CotD isn’t it great? No team should have the answer on how to win every race. We have a championship in our hands!

    Re: Stroll and gravel strips. Gravel will still go everywhere when people go through it meaning time lost sweeping it or potentially having dangerous marbles in the run offs, and it’s more expense for the circuit owners to implement/change for other motorsports where it might not be suitable.

    I don’t even think the safety implication of a gravel strip has been considered either. Surely if a car starts to slide or sink into gravel then comes back into contact with tarmac with a potentially hard edge too boot, there’d be some physical interaction there.

    It just seems like a non starter. If not having any feel for when they are close to the track limit is an issue, surely a ripple strip on all track limits would be an easy and obvious solution.

  2. Re: Strolls comment on track limits. The thing is, they have given drivers more than 1mm. The track limits are still defined as the white line. What Massi has done is say they will not be punished if they exceed track limits by a certain amount in certain places. In the picture above they look to be given 2m of grace before they are declared to have violated track limits. As usual, if you give drivers a millimeter, they will take 2 meters and ask for more.

    1. That’s not entirely true – the ruling changes from circuit to circuit. In the guidelines, it is defined as the white line. However, on some tracks and more confusingly, some corners, it is defined as the kerb edge.

      I had been pushing for a 3m gravel strip for some time, so it’s interesting to hear a driver ask for the very same. It’s a case of balancing FIA/FIM/day to day requirements which is the trickiest part.

  3. Wow at the Guardian’s ‘sporting events virus spread experiment’ -conspiracy theory

  4. Re Ferrari: Well, both cars home in the points, but not enough to rebuild them.
    Re Martins: Now there’s F3 this week!

  5. Stroll’s suggestion is something I’ve been suggesting, although not gravel. The surface material used at some Bahrain corner exits. I’ve only mentioned slow-speed corners, though, and Red Bull Ring’s last two are the opposite, so I’m okay without any physical deterrent besides curbing.

    COTD: I agree 100%.

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