In the round-up: Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto isn’t concerned by disagreements between their drivers and strategists during races.
In brief
Ferrari happy with strategy procedure
After Carlos Sainz Jnr queried one of Ferrari’s strategy calls during the Hungarian Grand Prix, Binotto said he is happy for the team’s drivers to raise doubts over their tactics mid-race.“I think these are not misjudgements, these are good conclusions that we are reaching together,” he said. “So it’s our way of approaching having an open discussion on the radio and making sure that in certain conditions we are reaching the right conclusion.
“Overall I think this year we have always good strategies which have been applied. And that’s not only thanks to the strategists but thanks to the contribution of the drivers which are the ones driving the car and knowing perfectly the conditions around the track.
“So I don’t think it’s a misjudgement because the final call has been done by the strategists. The driver has suggested what was his impression being there, we reviewed our simulation or our evaluations and we concluded that was the right choice. So overall I’m happy with the way that this communication is working.”
Bourdais fumes after being hit by Ericsson
Sebastien Bourdais was unimpressed with Marcus Ericsson after being taken out of a race for the third time this year. Ericsson launched off the back of Bourdais’ car when the pair made contact at the first restart in yesterday’s race.
“There was a massive acceleration, everybody trying to pack up,” Bourdais explained. “I don’t know why, it seems like always acceleration leading to starts and restarts. Which, obviously, if you just get your eyes off or if you’re not focused or something you can get caught out real easy.
“That’s exactly what happened again. Everybody was trying to catch up, we caught the tail of the pack and then all of a sudden it goes like fist, second gear speed and Marcus just flew right over our car. It stopped, the cars were stopped in front of me.”
Told Ericsson complained he had slowed down, Bourdais said: “I won’t go even there because I don’t want to be a douche but if that’s his answer then he needs to fricking get a real good, hard look at it.”
Ericsson was given a stop-go penalty for the collision. He is still running in the race, which was approaching half-distance as the round-up was published.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Grandstand 6 at @MusicCityGP will be open & available for fans who have reserved seats there for race day today.
80 workers stayed overnight (through a torrential downpour) to finish building.
It seats more than 4,000 fans, or more than 5% of today’s expected fan base. pic.twitter.com/2HiHvPROQv
— Nathan Brown (@By_NathanBrown) August 8, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
FIA Motorsport Games to reschedule second edition for 2022 (FIA)
"In light of the ongoing challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure the safety of competitors, staff and the wider community, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), in conjunction with SRO Motorsports Group, have decided that the second edition of the FIA Motorsport Games should be rescheduled for 2022."
GB3 round 14: Snetterton (British F3 via YouTube)
GB3 round 15: Snetterton (British F3 via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
Adrian Newey’s claim Red Bull’s flexing rear wing brought no performance benefit doesn’t wash with Philip:
How little respect does Newey have for us that he can claim there wasn’t benefit to a flexible wing?
I don’t think you need to be a genius aerodynamicist to call nonsense on that one.
Philip (@philipgb)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Bustertje!
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On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Ayrton Senna claimed pole position for the first event world championship Hungarian Grand Prix at the recently-completed Hungaroring
jff
9th August 2021, 8:55
Even in journalism you can crash and get airborne but clean it all up during a red flag and end up victorious;)
Sham (@sham)
9th August 2021, 9:00
If this isn’t comment of the day, it should be :D
Balue (@balue)
9th August 2021, 12:06
It says a lot about the strategy department at Ferrari when even their drivers think their calls are BS.
Also pleasant to read RaceFans with just motorsport related stuff. Haven’t been a political or woke story for a while now. Long may it continue.
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
9th August 2021, 12:19
I agree. While I applaud drivers that use their platform to bring about change, F1 is a sport and I follow it as a form of escapism. To read all about society’s dramas through Lewis Hamilton’s lens just gets tiring and seems to stir up the same arguments on here.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th August 2021, 18:09
Cotd, maybe they found out banning the flexi wings was a good thing, moveable aero can be tricky. Obviously the new wing is heavier. In the end of the day it changed nothing if anything RB has shown more since the ban.