Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, Silverstone, 2022

Vettel eager to reunite with Krack in Aston Martin’s “big reshuffle”

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel says he is “very much” looking forward to being reunited with his former engineer Mike Krack, who has joined Aston Martin as its new team principal.

In brief

Krack a “strong addition” – Vettel

Aston Martin has announced a series of major hirings over the past 12 months, the latest of which is the arrival of Krack, whom Vettel worked with at BMW Sauber when he made his Formula 1 debut in 2007.

“He’s highly rated by everyone who’s shared the way with him,” said Vettel. “It’s been some years, but I think he is a great guy and has a great spirit, so hopefully it’s a strong addition to the team.”

Krack arrives in place of Otmar Szafnauer, who spent over a decade at the team, which was previously known as Racing Point and Force India.

“I always liked Otmar and got along with Otmar,” said Vettel. He definitely had a very central role in the team, a lot of guys knew him because he has been there for so long. And for sure, it’s a big reshuffle.

“But looking forward I think Mike is great and I’m very much looking forward to work with him again.”

Alpine’s Collet and Martins stay in F3

Alpine junior team members Caio Collet and Victor Martins will return for a second season in FIA Formula 3 this year. Martins has moved to ART while Collet remains at MP.

2022 Formula 3 line-up so far

TeamDriverDriverDriver
PremaOliver BearmanArthur LeclercJak Crawford
TridentJonny EdgarZane MaloneyRoman Stanek
ARTGregoire SaucyJuan Manuel CorreaVictor Martins
HitechIsack HadjarKaylen FrederickTBA
Van AmersfoortReece UshijimaRafael VillagomezFranco Colapinto
MPAlexander SmolyarCaio ColletTBA
CamposPepe MartiHunter YeanyTBA
CarlinZak O’SullivanTBATBA
JenzerIdo CohenWilliam AlataloTBA
CharouzLaszlo TothFrancesco PizziTBA

Formula 1 to launch simracing hubs

A new officially licensed Formula 1 simracing hub will be launched in London this year, it has been announced.

The new social space allowing groups of people to partake in communal multiplayer races using the rFactor2 platform will be launched in London near the end of this year. Up to 60 bespoke simulator rigs are being designs to allow patrons to race against each other individually or in teams, with special events during actual grands prix weekends.

It will be the first of around 30 planned hubs that will be created around the world over the next five years, with locations planned for the rest of the UK, the United States, major cities in western Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Mercedes junior Aron returns to Formula Regional Euro with Prema

Mercedes junior driver Paul Aron will race in the Formula Regional European Championship for Prema for a second year, the team announced.

The Estonian competed in the series last season with the Prema team, finishing third overall with two race wins and seven podium finishes.

Aron is currently racing in the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema. He sits in fifth place in the drivers’ standings with two second places to his name with one round remaining.

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Comment of the day

AlphaTauri kept their launch build-up mercifully brief, says @Ciaran:

The most interesting thing about this reveal is how the entire livestream viewership were shocked – shocked! – to be shown the car after a single short video rather than 30 minutes of corporate claptrap!

The car looks good as well.
@Ciaran

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to East Londoner, Ives F1, Mouse_Nightshirt, Tim P, Tom and Enigma!

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George Russell
New Mercedes driver George Russell is 24 today

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35 comments on “Vettel eager to reunite with Krack in Aston Martin’s “big reshuffle””

  1. The Guardian has just reported that the FIA will not, after all, make the results of their inquiry into last season’s Abu Dhabi GP public. If this is correct, the obvious question arises: what are they trying to hide? Such a lack of transparency will inevitably attract a lot of criticism, not to mention suspicion of the new FIA chief, Mohammed Ahmed bin Sulayem (MAS).

    One dubious speculation is that Lewis Hamilton has made his continued participation in F1 contingent on certain changes, and this move from the FIA (it is widely rumored that MAS is not a fan of Hamilton) deliberately scuppers that.

    1. One dubious speculation is that Lewis Hamilton has made his continued participation in F1 contingent on certain changes

      Made up by those who like to sow seeds hatred.
      I see it from journalists everyday. They think up something then suggest it is what someone else wants. Then little by little, it becomes made up fact.

    2. Rumours and innuendo, transparent lies designed to rile up weak minded people.

    3. (it is widely rumored that MAS is not a fan of Hamilton)

      @rsp123 Are any of these rumours credible? I only ask because I’m not on social media and only read articles posted by reliable, accredited journalists which means I haven’t heard this before. It would be odd that the head of the FIA would be openly acting against the biggest name in the sport and the only true “crossover” personality motorsport has at its disposal in its aim to attract new fans.

      1. @geemac how credible the reports may be is questionable, but the idea itself that personal feelings might result in the head of the FIA acting against the interests of a high profile driver is credible enough that it results in such ideas gaining traction.

        If you look back to the days of Balestre and Senna, the former did admit in later life that some of his actions against the latter were driven by his personal grudges and opinions of the latter. Did they make sense from a commercial point of view? Not really, but that didn’t stop him from doing that.

        1. the idea itself that personal feelings might result in the head of the FIA acting against the interests of a high profile driver is credible enough that it results in such ideas gaining traction.

          But gaining traction with whom? People who actually matter (like those within the FIA or FOM) or people who don’t (like us fans). Tweets and Reddit posts do not equal the sort of traction that matters.

        2. but the idea itself that personal feelings might result in the head of the FIA acting against the interests of a high profile driver is credible enough

          You must love those gossip sites.
          And that for somebody who used to post insightful technical and historical comments.
          I now wonder if you made all those ’insights’ up as well to reflect your feelings.

        3. @rsp123 @geemac anon Personally I don’t believe for a second that Masi is swayed either way by some alleged preference to a certain driver or away from a certain one, and I think it is insulting towards him to suggest so. Anyone who thinks there is credibility to that and thus traction to that thinking is ignorant imho.

          On the other hand, yes when it comes to heads of FISA or FIA, yeah we have seen Balestre favour fellow Frenchman Prost, and we have seen Max Mosley and BE set up MS at Ferrari to create a new chapter post-Senna and end the WDC drought there.

    4. @rsp123 Nothing formal has come from the relevant party, i.e., FIA, so merely speculation.

    5. petebaldwin (@)
      15th February 2022, 10:08

      If I’ve read that article right, they’ve already given the report to the teams (“The sport’s governing body presented its report to the teams on Monday”) so this is just a case of making the report public?

      It’s not a clever idea in my opinion if that is the decision they take as it kind of confirms there are major failings that would damage the sport if they were made public. I’m sure they’d be desperate to get the report out there in the open if it looked good….

      If I have understood that article right though and the teams have already been given the report, that means Lewis and Mercedes will know what it says so the last part of your comment can’t be right.

      1. It’s not a clever idea in my opinion if that is the decision they take as it kind of confirms there are major failings that would damage the sport if they were made public. I’m sure they’d be desperate to get the report out there in the open if it looked good….

        Exactly.

        1. @petebaldwin @drmouse I don’t think you’ve read the article(s) right. They have said the analysis is ongoing. The teams have not received a final report that only remains to be brought forth in public. I think the article cited by @rsp123 is taking license by saying FIA ‘will not’ when if fact it is just that for now they ‘have not’ yet made their findings available to the teams, as the discussions are still ongoing.

          1. @robbie
            You are, of course, correct that the FIA have not said that they will not be making the report public. My own comment was based on “if that is the decision they take” (i.e. if they decide not to release the report to the public).

            Also, just the fact there is a delay and no findings have been made public yet (2 months on) is enough to raise eyebrows as, with the eyes of the world upon them, “they’d be desperate to get the report out there in the open if it looked good”.

            It may be, of course, that they are just doing their due diligence, or they really haven’t managed to finish it yet, but it doesn’t look good for them (in my eyes, at any rate).

          2. @drmouse I think for now it suffices to just say “It may be, of course, that they are just doing their due diligence, or they really haven’t managed to finish it yet.”

            I would like to think that is your hope…that they are doing their due diligence…for your continuation as a fan hinges on it. So I’m not sure why it doesn’t look good for them to not be rushing into a full report and pending changes.

          3. @robbie

            So I’m not sure why it doesn’t look good for them

            Because, when taken with the other statement today, the delay may indicate that they are having to change the report to make sure “the integrity of the FIA will always be intact”. It also doesn’t help that almost everything which has come out so far has indicated that they are concentrating on reorganising and restructuring, not the actual rules or their interpretation.

            I strongly hope you are right, that they are just making sure that the report is done correctly, but I can’t blindly trust them right now. The report will play a strong role in whether I decide I can trust them going forward, and little I have heard so far inspires me with confidence.

          4. @drmouse Fair comment, I mean you gotta do you, right? Personally I don’t see the connection that ‘reorganizing and restructuring’ if that is indeed ‘all’ they are doing, has to exclude attention to the actual rules or their interpretation. I have a feeling they understand very well that many many within F1 and without want to rest assured that come a repeat of the unique circumstances of AD there will be a set plan in place for that so that any uncertainties can be laid to rest well ahead of time. Surely they understand that just saying ok we’ve replaced Masi, or ok we’ve given Masi an assistant will suffice.

            I truly hope you end up finding peace with the decisions they come to because I think we are in for a better product in F1 going forward than we have had for years.

  2. I’m sure Krack is going to get AMR higher up the field.

  3. I read Mike once wore a Nun’s outfit to a fancy dress party. However his wife made him get rid of it.

    He had to give up his Krack Habit.

    #nowords

  4. They spend 12 months studying a new format for a sprint race… so “amazing” that they have to use it only there where overtaking is feasible.

    They present the 2021 system. It doesn’t work (UK and specially IT were boredom fests; BR was “average” thanks to Lewis’ penalty).

    They spend now several months trying to improve the format. They don’t wanna give more points because “people don’t want two races”… but they do give more points and erases “Qualifying” from the title.

    They want action in the Sprint… and now we got one in Enzo e Dino Ferrari, narrow and where overtaking is difficult.

    This is one of the most-studied formats in F1 (much more studied that that knock-out qualifying back in 2016…), and yet they have to make zillions of tweaks. All but the most obvious…

    Getting rid of it.

    We all want better Fridays. You made a proposal. We gave it a try. But if you have to spend months reshaping it and braking some of the rules you self-imposed for it… it means it just doesn’t work. You threw a crap last year. And now you think it’s time to change its shape, put purpurin on it… exploring all options in a way nobody is thinking of getting rid of the crap from the very first minute. And keep looking for another system for improving Fridays, if you want (I think it’s necessary and desirable).

    This, combined with the delirious points system for shortened races, shows me that Liberty and FIA never heard of KISS Principle…

    1. someone or something
      15th February 2022, 8:13

      They spend 12 months studying a new format for a sprint race… so “amazing” that they have to use it only there where overtaking is feasible.

      Such as Imola? We must not have been watching the same sport.

    2. We all want better Fridays.

      This isn’t about Fridays. This is about getting rid of the awful qualifying format on Saturday. Now there’s a reason to actually look forward to Saturday instead of trying not to fall asleep for 59 minutes. For all I care, they could reschedule qualifying to wednesday.

    3. I’m willing to give them another shot.

      I loved the weekends they were in last year, not for the sprints themselves but for the effect they had on the rest of the weekend. Practice, especially FP1, was much more important and Qualifying was a little less predictable. The only real let down, for me, was the dull sprints themselves.

      Part of the reason they were dull last year was down to the fact that, with no significant tyre deltas and no pit stops, processions were nearly guaranteed unless someone was out of position (or, possibly, if the drivers were willing to take some risks). This year, however, the cars should be much more able to follow, and so they could work out much more exciting, and there are more points on offer to more drivers. I can see a decent possibility of them being much better this year if the new regs do what they were aiming for.

      1. (This is assuming, of course, that I am still watching this year, which will completely depend on the FIA’s response to the AD investigation…)

  5. When you’ve got a strong Krack
    And your Aston Martin on the Track
    You’ve got the Competition seeing nothin’ but your Back

  6. Has anybody seen Mike Krack lately? Sorry, I couldn’t hold myself from using this opportunity.

    1. No, but Mike Krack is highly rated by everyone, according to Vettel…

      1. @drmouse True, although I intended my post as a sarcastic reference to a prank call in Simpsons (S2E22).

        1. Yeah, I was trying to continue the joke.

          1. I can state unequivocally that Mike Krack has been seen at some of the finest race tracks on the planet

    2. Like “Vettel eager to reunite with Krack” didn’t already say it all;)

  7. The fact that everything coming from the FIA seems to be about reorganisation rather than fixing the broken interpretation of the rules which allowed AD is not encouraging…

    1. @drmouse I agree to an extent. But reorganisation is still a very important part of this process. I think most people, including drivers and teams, have realised that the Race Director’s role encompassed so much that it opened the door to mistakes being possible because they’re so busy. I too really do hope they fix the rules and their interpretations (maybe I’m too optimistic), but I suppose some change – which would appear to be positive – is probably better than no change at all.

      1. I suppose some change – which would appear to be positive – is probably better than no change at all

        I guess that’s probably true for some people, but as it wouldn’t be enough for me to continue following, it wouldn’t be any better for me.

  8. I really like the idea of sim racing hubs. I think it could bring new fans to the sport, or even new competitors by giving kids an entry into sim racing, which I think will become as important as karting as a way of finding drivers of the future. I’ve always fancied the idea of trying sim racing out, but the barriers seem too high for me (not just in terms of the expensive of a decent rig, but also the space to put it in my flat). However, having the sim racing equivalent of a bowling alley in my city could allow me to give it a go, whether that’s by myself, socially with some mates, or seriously in competition. It will make motorsport in general so much more accessible.

    1. +1 Agree 100%

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