In the round-up: Valtteri Bottas sees no cause for concern in the rivalry between championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
In brief
“They’re both adults” – Bottas
Hamilton and Verstappen have clashed on-track twice already this year. However Bottas says that despite what either might say in the heat of the moment, there was no bitter rivalry between them.
“If I look at Turkey, I saw them having a chat and felt like everything is normal,” the Mercedes driver said about his team mate and Verstappen. “It is competition and when you’re competing hard on track, you’re not trying to make friends.“But Lewis and Max, they’re both adults so they also know that that is the name of the game. And I don’t think it’s anything personal. That’s my view.
“If you’re on the podium after a race that you’ve been wheel-to-wheel with someone, you still have adrenaline and you might feel tension, but that’s completely normal in the sport. So for me, it’s all normal.”
Formula 2 and 3 revise points system for 2022
Formula 2 and 3 have revised their points allocations for 2022, reducing the value of their sprint races. The feature race in both series will continue to award points in the same way as an F1 grand prix – with 25 for the winner and so on.
From next year both series will award 10 points to the winner of the sprint race. F1 will award to top eight finishers with 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively. Formula 3, which has a larger field of drivers, will award points to the top 10: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively.
The number of points awarded for taking pole position and setting fastest lap will be halved. Pole will be worth two points, fastest lap one.
Both series have previously announced they will cut the number of races per weekend from three to two next year, removing one sprint race.
Norris hopes he can inspire more girls into motorsport
Lando Norris says he hopes his popularity with female motorsport fans encourages more women to get involved in motorsport. The McLaren driver was named F1’s most popular competitor among females yesterday.
“I think it’s a good thing that I can influence them and have an effect on them in a way – girls and not just guys – because a lot of people see racing as something that guys are into more than anything,” said Norris. “But the fact that I can put on a good show and maybe bring that audience into Formula 1 a little bit more, I think is a cool thing and we can have, then, more women drivers coming through, if that’s something I’m able to kind of push towards.
“So I guess it’s a cool stat, it doesn’t change anything, but if I can influence them and that attracts maybe more women drivers coming into racing and Formula 1 then that’s a cool thing.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Bobby Rahal brings his 1986 Indy 500 winning car back home!
The Budweiser March 86C Cosworth is the newest addition to the IMS Museum Winners Collection. #indy500 #indycar #isitMayyet pic.twitter.com/ydMhJfssHm
— IMS Museum 🚀 (@IMSMuseum) October 21, 2021
15 years ago today: BMW ran 'Thanks Michael' and 'Danke Michael' on their rear wings during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race before Michael Schumacher's first retirement.#F1 pic.twitter.com/f3N5mKt0d5
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) October 21, 2021
From seeing all the fans in the pit lane walk, I can’t shake a impression that the audience has gotten a lot younger this year. The “Drive To Survive” effect in the USA appears to be genuine #USGP
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) October 21, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Insider: How and why Andretti is building an unmatched racing empire (Indy Star)
"I think an American (driver) will never be treated fairly over there unless it’s with someone like us."
Max Verstappen loves watching IndyCar’s drivers, teams but will pass on racing its ovals (NBC)
"Verstappen: 'It’s of course a little bit different to F1, but I think that’s also nice and makes it very interesting to watch. And from my side, I’m of course happy to be in Formula One, because I’m not personally a big fan of ovals.'"
Stefano Domenicali: ‘What Mandela said is understandable but it was a different time’ (The Guardian)
"Domenicali: 'Today the approach is of making sure that through F1 we can be the big lens on the fact that each country really wants to prove to the world they want to change. There will be no excuses, no filter.'"
Lawrence Stroll interview: Aston Martin, bonds and becoming F1 world champions (City AM)
"Stroll: 'We’ve owned this team a couple of years now. We’re a couple of years behind. This factory should have been finished today and would have been if not for Covid. Sadly that made us pause. It’s far from project finished. I’d say we’re somewhere in the middle.'"
"Russell: 'The sponsor events are a huge part of it because ultimately we can’t go racing without sponsors and partners. But I was brought up to be a racing driver, not a public speaker. In a way you’re born to be in a racing car, not to be in front of the camera, but you get to this level when you’re almost expected to do both.'"
The fight for the title between Masson and Capietto shaken up after a recount (Auto Hebdo - French)
"In the fight for the French F4 title, drivers' worst results are discounted. A request from a driver for rules clarification has meant that that has to be the worst weekend a driver participated in all three races of - putting Masson and Capietto on exactly equal points, going into the final round."
Winning the world's biggest race without any gas in the tank (Road & Track)
"'As a race-car driver, you never hear or know, really, that the crowd is there,' Rossi said. 'But because the engine was off, I heard 300,000 people erupt either in confusion, happiness, or horror.'"
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
Max Verstappen‘s declaration that he won’t play ball with Drive to Survive has struck a chord with David Hunter, who says producers should listen to someone who should be one of the show’s biggest stars.
I don’t blame him, and I really like what Drive to Survive generally does. However it does overstep the mark and needlessly so as well. I hope maybe his comments (from potentially this season’s champion) cause them to stick closer to the actual facts and less of the manipulative editing.
There’s really little need for it, the sport has great personalities and actual rivalries (and friendly ones) that would be great to watch as is.
@Davidhunter13
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Kribana (@krichelle)
22nd October 2021, 1:37
COTD: I hope that Season 4 of Driver to Survive has less created entertainment, and I also hope that this championship is not scripted in a way that it is this close at the moment, nor does it have any involvement with the series. I absolutely loathe scripted outcomes in sports. The series is good if it gives us some of interesting events happening behind doors, like the meeting Steiner had with German sponsors, or the discussions in the briefing with Mercedes after the 2019 German GP, or even the PR meeting in Ferrari just before the 2020 Tuscan GP. The series needs to set a balance between entertainment and facts.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd October 2021, 7:45
@krichelle Agreed.
Qeki (@qeki)
22nd October 2021, 10:24
@krichelle I doubt it will happen. Netflix isn’t the one that can be connected with the word fact. Drive to survive sounds more like some B-class horror movie title than a season review. Well from the S1E1 it was meant to be more like a show than a document. They should do both of them but I think netflix wouldn’t be happy if someone else would come to the pits with them to do a DVD season review.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
25th October 2021, 4:43
@qeki DTS was never intended as a season review.
Balue (@balue)
22nd October 2021, 6:18
So because Norris is popular with the women, that’s supposed to mean they now want to be F1 drivers? Who comes up with this stuff?
Did for example Justin Bieber’s popularity with women make them want to take up singing? Come on..
This PC fakery stuff is so grating.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd October 2021, 11:24
@balue let’s hope he doesn’t decide to grow a beard.
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
22nd October 2021, 14:48
@balue I would imagine that if more women get into F1 more of them will want to be F1 drivers, yes. Most fans have that fantasy at some point or other. Not really sure what’s supposed to be offensively politically correct about that.
Illusive (@illusive)
22nd October 2021, 16:08
If only “getting into F1” was that easy.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd October 2021, 7:44
Certainly nothing personal, but weird to read these words from Bottas rather than either relevant individual.
Same view as COTD.
erikje
22nd October 2021, 12:48
If there really was any tension off track, you can be assured his teammate would know.
jff
22nd October 2021, 8:21
Similar to the CotD I feel that the round-up often ‘oversteps the mark’ of being a round-up of what other media reported over the past 24 hours.
The lead article is a non-story, which most glossy magazines wouldn’t even run.
There is nothing wrong if leading with ‘links’ to to competing websites. Actually, by doing so you make racefans.net the go-to site for most; we know we won’t miss anything.
I wish RF would ‘stick closer to the actual facts and less of the manipulative editing’.
Markp
22nd October 2021, 11:33
Americans need an American team to flourish in F1? Yeah good job there were Brazilian teams or Senna, Piquet, Fittipaldi would never have won 8 titles between themselves. Good that Finland had F1 teams as well so Raikkonen, K. Rosberg & Hakkinen could flourish. What American teams were there for Mario Andretti & Phil Hill to win titles with?
Trayambak Chakravarty (@major-dev)
22nd October 2021, 15:44
It would seem the 2021 season needs little manipulation to create an exciting script as is, so I agree with COTD.
Davey
23rd October 2021, 22:56
Yeah, there’s nothing personal in the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry because both Silverstone and Monza were Racing Incidents. Good thing I stood up and said it along Sonny and every other one who still thinks to this day that they are both RACING INCIDENTS by 100%.