In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton if hopeful Mercedes will fix its bouncing problems before it affects his desire to continue racing in Formula 1.
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In brief
Hamilton doubts porpoising will affect his F1 future
Hamilton does not expect Mercedes’ current problems with violent bouncing to be a factor in whether he wants to continue driving.Speaking at the Canadian Grand Prix Hamilton, whose current Mercedes contract expires after the 2023 season, said “I imagine we’re going to get this fixed. We’re going to get this fixed by the end of next year at least.
“So, hopefully that’s not going to be something to stop me racing for longer, but time will tell.”
Alpine have taken “two or three steps backwards” – Alonso
Fernando Alonso feels Alpine have gone down the order in recent races, compared to early form.
“I think right now we are struggling a little bit more than at the beginning of the year, when I think we were top five or six initially,” said Alonso. “Then as Mercedes fixed some of their problems, I think we were in the fight with them and now we seem two or three steps backwards compared to Australia or Jeddah.”
Speaking before practice began, Alonso said he was optimistic about Alpine’s form in Montreal. “There are some new parts again this weekend to fine-tune the car for this track because we were very fast on the straight in Baku, the car seems to like the medium-speed circuits and Canada is one of those.”
Ferrari unreliability “a bump in the road” says Sainz
Carlos Sainz has said Ferrari’s reliability problems do not worry him compared to the team’s progress, after both the team’s cars retired from the last race.
“We are still motivated, we are united,” he said. “We are going through a bump in the road, which I think after this step that we’ve done in the end of this year, I would much rather take this step and then take a bump in the road and have a powerful engine that is reliable.
“As a team we’ve done a great job with this year’s engine and it’s just we’re just going through some issues that are going to be solved, I’m sure.”
Vancouver Formula E race cancelled, promoter expected to refund tickets
The Vancouver EPrix, which was postponed from 2022 to 2023 last month, will not go ahead after promoters failed to secure licenses and file paperwork with the city.
Ticketholders were initially told their bookings would be honoured for the 2023 event. However Formula E has now distanced itself from the promoter, placing responsibility for refunding 2022 ticketholders on the local organisation, and removed Vancouver from the provisional 2023 calendar.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
The Victorian government and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation have confirmed Melbourne will host at least five season-opening races in the next 13 years under new terms with F1.
Lewis Hamilton in a video game shop as soon as he arrived in Montreal (Salut Bonjour (French))
The arrival of Lewis Hamilton did not go unnoticed. He was seen in a retro and modern video game store on Hochelaga Street in Montreal.
Stefano Domenicali puts an option on a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Nice (L'Equipe)
He renewed his attachment to one of the historic countries of the discipline and even revealed that if F1 had to leave Paul Ricard, Nice which is working on the possibility of a GP, could prove to be an interesting option.
Negotiations for SA's F1 race confirmed, as prices set to be 'well within reach' (News 24)
'MSA can confirm that negotiations are under way between several key role players (including Kyalami) to enable the return of F1 to South Africa,' Scholtz said. 'I am sure you will appreciate that these negotiations are sensitive and involve a number of stakeholders.'
Record number of fans arrived for F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2022 in Baku - official (Azer News)
Rahimov: 'People are already buying tickets to watch the race itself, and there is no need to involve them by organizing concerts. It is also worth noting that a record number of foreign fans visited Baku this year. '
Ferrari says going electric means 'even more unique' cars (Reuters)
'Everything we do will always focus on being distinctively Ferrari,' chairman John Elkann said as the company unveiled its new business plan. Electrification 'will allow us to make even more unique cars.'
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Busy for a Friday. 👏🏻 I’ve been up in this grandstand other years for FP1 and it’s near empty. Not this year #f1 #canadiangp pic.twitter.com/i4sy1fra8F
— Jamey Price (@jameypricephoto) June 17, 2022
Brave little fella! 🇨🇦 #CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1H7BS9b0BB
— Clive Rose (@cliverose) June 17, 2022
George 🤝 Poutine ❤️🤍 Trying an iconic local dish for the first time 😂 pic.twitter.com/D5hJbeJZDn
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 17, 2022
No Albon Pets were harmed in the making of FP1…
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) June 17, 2022
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
After the FIA’s technical directive to teams regarding the effect of porpoising and bottoming on drivers, John H suggests it is an inevitability in such a heavily restricted era:
There are other ways to keep the cars fast without further compromising the drivers safety. This is not just a performance issue it’s become a safety issue.
The ground effects design is a good idea but obviously not yet developed to a mature enough state to be used. The lack of development time and the reduction is resources is in my opinion a large part of the problem. If the rules had not been changed to such a degree, if the teams had been allowed to continue developing their existing chassis we would be seeing closer and faster racing without the damage. This is not 20:20 hindsight me and others said this on the announcement of the new regulations.
How Red Bull was able to get it right I don’t know.
@johnrkh
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Chris P and Jh1806!
On this day in motorsport
- 55 years ago today Dan Gurney took his last win, and the only one for the stylish Eagle-Weslake, at Spa-Francorchamps
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th June 2022, 1:03
He was just five laps short of his fairytale ending, probably already checked out from Formula 1.
Then he went full Donald for a couple of months, only to be lured back by Mercedes’ wind-tunnel-Championship-winning design.
And now he’s stuck in a car that isn’t dominant, in a team that apparently can’t get on top of it, and with his own patience running out.
This could turn pretty ugly before his final lap in an F1 car.
Michael A.
18th June 2022, 8:08
@proesterchen ,
I have a strange feeling that, somehow Sir Lewis Hamilton will win the British Grand Prix, ans celebrate with a super-‘crowd-surf’ session. After that, he may go on to win another drivers’ championship. I think that M-B have something up their sleeve.
I could be wrong too!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2022, 11:51
Think a hamilton win would be pretty special this year.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
18th June 2022, 1:54
Oh dear, Mercedes mucked it up and now it’s everybody else who needs to change.
The FIA is doing the correct thing by enforcing rules on wear of the plank – teams facing a DSQ will have to make things better for their drivers.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
18th June 2022, 17:36
You make it sound like up until now they haven’t been enforcing one of the most basic of technical rules!
petebaldwin (@)
18th June 2022, 2:49
Domenicali wants a race in Nice huh? 20km away from Monaco… And we’re supposed to believe this isn’t being done to put pressure on Monaco in order to negotiate a more favourable contract with them?
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
18th June 2022, 6:17
Sure seems like it. If Liberty can’t have the visuals of Monaco, they’ll make it themselves, only on this side of the pond they’ll need less faking (see: Fauxnaco, Miami GP )and Nice, must admit, does have a similar feel
Red Andy (@red-andy)
18th June 2022, 6:43
The main problem with a GP on the streets of Nice is that all that dog excrement will ruin the tyres within a few laps.
Steveetienne
18th June 2022, 7:38
Marginally more appealing than a race in the human excrement lined streets of San Francisco.
Qeki (@qeki)
18th June 2022, 9:01
Nice is great city but if if you have a city like Monte Carlo next to it it doesn’t look quite as cool as let’s say if it would be next to Stevenage
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
18th June 2022, 13:46
If they want a race in Nice be sure to remind the population that the race is going on on the streets, we don’t see people get mowed over do we?
Chris Horton
18th June 2022, 9:45
Another nudge to the FIA to change the regulations to suit Mercedes or else their star 7 time World Champion might quit.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th June 2022, 10:34
I already knew about the Melbourne arrangement, but still, an interesting but slightly weird one, that at least (more is, of course, possible since this is a minimum thing) a given number of seasons will have to begin in Melbourne & five specifically.
Understandably partly given Ramadan will cover most of March in 2024 & 2025. Bahrain & Saudi Arabian GPs could get placed before Ramadan begins, but placing them after ending is probably easier as this way more flexibility with weekend choices for Melbourne, Kyalami(?), etc.
Interesting, if the French GP location changes, albeit somewhat unsurprising as Nice’s location is more favorable access-wise than the Le Castellet area.
LV, Qatar, China, & Kyalami, all four, simultaneously feature on next season’s schedule, at least two present tracks have to get axed or start rotating with other present ones to avoid exceeding the upper limit.
Interesting that he said rotation could also happen outside Europe, which is slightly weird as quite a few non-European events are lucrative ones, which certainly will remain annual, in any case.
Lastly, Chinese GP back (at least temporarily) in the late-season flyaway phase would be unsurprising & wise as this would give the event more lead time COVID restriction-wise & thus a greater chance of avoiding a 4th consecutive-season cancellation.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th June 2022, 12:56
Nice-Matin local newspaper asked its readers for what would be the best circuit layout:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gENPWEnaEo
https://www.nicematin.com/auto/on-vous-devoile-en-video-le-circuit-du-grand-prix-de-f1-de-nice-selon-les-lecteurs-de-nice-matin-774964
Some parts a bit like Baku while other parts of it are quite unseen on the F1 calendar, like that nice part on the waterfront.
It looks fast although it has a bit too much 90° turns, looks like 5 or 6
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th June 2022, 12:57
There is a rough estimation of this layout, based on the video:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=13XjOvX91Db-7wOFHtSL-ptIcOIpn7tM&usp=sharing
Electroball76
18th June 2022, 16:11
that “brave little fella!” must be the new FIA ride height inspector