Рубрика: Autosport News

Mercedes «read race wrong» with Hamilton Singapore F1 strategy

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Toto Wolff has conceded Mercedes «read the race wrong» with Lewis Hamilton’s strategy at the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.

Hamilton pulled out a stellar effort to turn his qualifying fortunes around and take third on the grid at the Marina Bay Circuit, lining up behind championship protagonists Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

But when the tyre blankets were removed ahead of the race start, Hamilton was one of only two drivers along with Daniel Ricciardo to start on the red-walled soft tyre, with the majority of the field electing for mediums.

Singapore has had a history of small field spreads in the opening stages, given the excessive tyre management employed by the leading drivers, yet McLaren’s superior pace allowed Norris to push harder and stretch a lead out in the first stint.

This played to the detriment of Hamilton’s strategy, as he was unable to extend his stint as far as he needed and eventually finished down in sixth.

Addressing the strategy call, team principal Wolff explained: «I think we’ve read the race wrong.

«We took a decision based on historic Singapore races where it is basically a procession, Monaco-like, and that the soft tyre would give him an opportunity at the start.

«That was pretty much the only overtaking opportunity. That was the wrong decision that we all took together jointly.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, in the garage

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, in the garage

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

«It felt like a good offset but with the rear tyre deg that we had it was just one way and that was backwards.

«There was a logic behind it, but obviously it was contrary to what we should’ve decided.

«It doesn’t hide away from the fact that the car is too slow. Maybe the opposition are ahead or behind but that doesn’t change anything.»

Ricciardo’s call to go on the soft tyre from the back of the grid failed to pay dividends and the RB driver would eventually take a third stop to deny Norris an extra point by stealing the fastest lap.

That led to conspiracy theories given RB’s link to Red Bull, but Wolff suggested any accusations of foul play from the team are wide of the mark.

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«You’ve probably got to play all your strategies that you have,» he said when asked on the topic.

«I don’t think it was dirty play, not at all; it could come down to a point.

«It is within the regulations, the drivers weren’t unfair with each other. I think it is just about who scores an extra point. No big deal.»

Watch: Is Max Verstappen Ready to leave F1? — F1 Singapore GP Updates



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Red Bull head of F1 strategy Courtenay to join McLaren

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The McLaren Formula 1 team has announced it has signed Red Bull’s chief strategist Will Courtenay as its new sporting director.

Having initially joined the team as a systems engineer in 2003 under its Jaguar guise before moving to a strategy role once the team became Red Bull in 2005, he rose to become the world champions’ head of race strategy for the past 14 years. But Courtenay will join title rival McLaren in a position reporting to its long-time racing director Randeep Singh as it aims to bolster its on-track racing operations.

“We are delighted to welcome Will to McLaren, said team principal Andrea Stella. «His experience, professionalism and passion for motorsport make him the ideal candidate to lead our F1 sporting function.

«We are now entering a key phase in our journey as a team, and we are confident that he will be a great addition to our strong leadership team as we strive to continue challenging for wins and championships.”

It is not yet clear when Courtenay will make the switch, with the Briton still contracted to Red Bull until mid-2026. A spokesperson for the team confirmed Courtenay would continue working for the team until that time.

“Will has been offered the position of Sporting Director,» the spokesperson said. «After a long and successful service, being with the team since the Jaguar days, we are sad to see him go but wish him all the best in this step up. Will continues to be part of the team seeing out his contract until mid 2026.»

Courtenay is the latest senior staff member set to leave Red Bull, with design guru Adrian Newey joining Aston Martin in March 2025. Meanwhile, sporting manager Jonathan Wheatley will take up the position of team principal at Sauber from next season.



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Seven things we learned from the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix

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Proceedings in Singapore were not quite as compelling compared to those in Azerbaijan a week ago. There was no battle for the lead, nor was there a real three-team battle at the front; instead, this was a championship big-picture race.

Lando Norris put the field to the sword, but Max Verstappen gamely mitigated the damage to his championship lead — and then said little about it afterwards as he staged an almost-silent protest during the official press conferences.

PLUS: How Norris shrugged off two touches with the wall to dominate in Singapore

But wait, there’s more! Red Bull’s presence on the podium came after a Friday night turnaround in fortunes thanks to Sebastien Buemi’s stint in the simulator, while Ferrari’s early pace seemed to descend significantly after the opening pair of practice sessions.

McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’ story reached its crescendo, Mercedes struggled in the heat, and it also looked as though Daniel Ricciardo had completed his farewell tour to 18th (albeit with the fastest lap) as RB looks set to reinstate Liam Lawson to the seat.

Here are the key stories we picked up on during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.

1. Norris’ mission ‘is still on’ after Verstappen-esque rout (Jake Boxall-Legge)

Norris and McLaren

Norris and McLaren «took the piss» with their opening stint radio messages before romping to victory, according to Christian Horner

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

A 20-second gap between first and second by the 25th lap rather evokes memories of most given races in 2023, when Verstappen happily cruised into the distance and built a variety of unassailable leads. Or Lewis Hamilton in the late 2010s. Or Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s.

Norris can do it too. The McLaren MCL38 had a very distinct pace advantage in Singapore, as team principal Andrea Stella reckoned that “in this [higher-downforce] configuration, I think it has the better aerodynamic efficiency across the grid”, but Norris still needed to make the most of the tools at his disposal. And, unlike his other pole position conversions of late, Norris nailed the start and held the lead into the first corner. He then kept it on lap one, and disappeared into the aether.

Race engineer Will Joseph asked Norris to build a five-second lead by “the mid-teens», and the Briton over-delivered in managing that by the end of lap 10. Five laps later, his advantage had doubled. There was scarcely anything that Verstappen could really do to stop himself from being on the receiving end of his usual party trick.

Of course, there were two moments with the wall that could have stifled Norris’ snowball on another day, but he managed to shake them off quite quickly rather than retreat within himself at the merest hint of contact.

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To win the title, Norris “simply” needs to pull six more of those out of the bag, maximise his points advantage to Verstappen, and try to win all three sprint races. How hard can that be?

2. Ferrari promised a challenge before qualifying disaster (Jake Boxall-Legge)

Leclerc's race unravelled behind slower cars after a disappointing qualifying

Leclerc’s race unravelled behind slower cars after a disappointing qualifying

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc was quickest in FP1, and under a hundredth slower than Norris in FP2. The long-run pace in that second session suggested that Ferrari might be onto something good once more, a week after Leclerc netted pole and challenged Oscar Piastri for victory in Azerbaijan. The early indications were that Leclerc might be Norris’ greatest challenger in Singapore.

But Ferrari’s pace seemed to evaporate under the heat of FP3. The team had partly anticipated this, expecting things to progress once more in qualifying; indeed, Leclerc was at the sharp end by the close of Q2, even if Red Bull had advanced in the order overnight.

Then came the turning point: Carlos Sainz lit up the rears as he prepared to open his first attempt at a hot lap in Q3, earning a one-way ticket into the Turn 17/18 barrier. This nixed Leclerc’s opening run, and the Monegasque’s subsequent effort after the red flag had disappeared opened while his tyres were too cold and went too deep onto the Turn 1 kerb.

His final time was only good enough for seventh, 0.004s shy of Nico Hulkenberg, but it was chalked off for track limits. Thus, Leclerc and Sainz were largely out of position on the fifth row of the grid, which rather constricted their efforts throughout the rest of the grand prix.

3. Why Max went mute in FIA press conferences (Jake Boxall-Legge)

Verstappen's off-track fallout with the FIA dominated headlines

Verstappen’s off-track fallout with the FIA dominated headlines

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

Here’s a potted history of why Verstappen suddenly adopted a somewhat laconic approach to the FIA press conference on Saturday and Sunday. In the Thursday presser, Verstappen dropped an F-bomb. Per a recent directive in the FIA, swearing was going to be punished more harshly, and thus Verstappen was given the equivalent of community service.

The Dutchman believed that this was, in his words, “silly”. As such, he made a point of providing only curt answers to questions while sat on the press conference sofa. It was reminiscent of Marshawn Lynch’s 2015 Super Bowl media session, where he simply uttered the phrase “I’m just here so I don’t get fined”. “I know that I have to answer,” said Verstappen, in explanation of his malicious compliance. “But it doesn’t say how long you have to answer for.”

And Verstappen was genuinely aggrieved that the FIA had punished him so harshly for swearing, feeling that he had helped the governing body in the past voluntarily with other projects and that he was being singled out. To his credit, he was happy to field the media’s questions outside of the press conference room, where he spoke of his displeasure.

“I mean, these kinds of things definitely decide my future as well,” he admitted. “When you can’t be yourself, you have to deal with these kinds of silly things…I think now, I’m at a stage of my career that I don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring.”

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In other Red Bull news, the team enjoyed a significant turnaround after a difficult Friday; overnight set-up work on the simulator got the team into a much better window with the tyres and Verstappen reported much better balance through the plethora of lower-speed corners at the track. It didn’t entirely work out on Sergio Perez’s side of the garage, but it’s been known for some time that the Mexican is much more sensitive to the RB20’s flaws.

4. McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’ gets shut down (Jake Boxall-Legge)

McLaren's innovative rear-wing solution was modified after a request by the FIA, despite passing tests

McLaren’s innovative rear-wing solution was modified after a request by the FIA, despite passing tests

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The upper rear wing element on the McLaren MCL38 had tongues wagging after the Baku race, as onboard footage of Oscar Piastri’s car showed the bottom corners of the wing creaking open very slightly on the 2.2-kilometre (1.37 mile) stretch along Neftchilar Avenue.

A little insight into how this works: the upper and lower elements are separated by what is known as a “slot gap”, which has a defined size. The slot gap breaks the wing up into two elements, allowing airflow to stay attached to a greater curvature and minimises the interruption to the amount of downforce created.

But on a long straight, you really don’t need that downforce. And, relative to the size of the long seafront stretch of road, the DRS zone is comparatively small. If the slot gap is opened slightly more, then the wing starts to stall; it no longer stays attached to the underside of the upper element, cutting the downforce and by association, the drag. It passed all static flex tests, but McLaren developed it to open at a given speed to dump more drag and push the acceleration up. This certainly helped Piastri keep ahead of Leclerc during the Azerbaijan race.

There were no formal protests against the wing design, but McLaren was told by the FIA to modify it so that it did not open up without DRS applied. This was not a feature of the higher-downforce Singapore wing, but it may prompt a change for races like Las Vegas – which features a comparatively long straight.

5. Mercedes’ «painful evening» with a hot Singapore circuit (James Newbold)

Neither Hamilton nor Russell attended post-race media duties after suffering from

Neither Hamilton nor Russell attended post-race media duties after suffering from «overheating»

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar

The chirpy comments from Mercedes drivers on Saturday night about «night and day» set-up improvements that allowed Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to annex row two cut a sharp contrast to Sunday. Neither of the drivers were in a fit state to conduct usual post-race media engagements due to heat exhaustion after slipping to fourth and sixth place finishes.

After being usurped by Oscar Piastri, Russell complained over the radio of suffering from understeer and oversteer, but did at least keep Charles Leclerc at bay. Hamilton was forced into an early stop for hard tyres to ditch the softs he’d started with and couldn’t repel the Ferrari on his much older rubber, the four-time Singapore winner’s early predictions that «you’re killing me with this offset» proving well-founded.

Team boss Toto Wolff accepted that picking softs, which did not allow Hamilton to vault ahead of Max Verstappen off the line as had been hoped, «was the wrong decision» but was frank in his assessment that it proved academic.

«It doesn’t hide away from the fact that the car is too slow,» he said, having labelled Sunday «a really painful evening».

«We struggle at the moment at tracks that are hot and are tough on traction; here and Baku,» Wolff explained. «But this is no excuse. It is just at the moment not what we expect from ourselves, because if your quickest car is a minute behind the leader it is just difficult to accept.»

6. Ricciardo’s time looks over as he admits «this could be it» (Ewan Gale)

Has Ricciardo packed his bags and closed his career on F1?

Has Ricciardo packed his bags and closed his career on F1?

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Rumours swirled ahead of the weekend that Daniel Ricciardo would be entering his final event as an F1 driver, with RB set to promote Liam Lawson for the United States Grand Prix onwards.

The Australian failed to make it through Q1 despite promising practice pace and, after struggling to make headway having started on softs in the grand prix, his team pitted him at the end of the race to set a fastest lap.

Speaking afterward, he told media that it wasn’t a «fairytale ending», the closest he came to confirming he would be bowing out of the championship. But in truth, other than the 2021 Italian Grand Prix victory with McLaren, there has been nothing fairytale-like about his time on the grid since switching from Red Bull to Renault for 2019.

His second chance having initially been dropped for 2023 was almost squandered before it began when he broke a bone in his hand at Zandvoort last year and despite glimpses of a return to form, he hasn’t kicked on sufficiently to warrant a continuation. No doubt his personality will be missed but, if this is the end of the road, there can’t be much to argue about.

7. Rookie race looks set to be on (Ewan Gale)

Will the rookies be lining up for a sprint post-season?

Will the rookies be lining up for a sprint post-season?

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

One of the most complained about issues in F1 at the moment is how to provide rookies and young drivers with experience in current cars, given the lack of testing compared to yesteryear.

To its credit, the championship has been proactive in trying to open doors for such opportunities — TPCs [Testing of Previous Cars] and the FP1 rookie sessions allowing F1 teams to put new blood behind the wheel for vital run time.

Other ideas have come and gone, such as wildcard entries — which are employed by the F1 Academy series with the same goal in mind — but the idea of giving rookies a race to compete in at the Abu Dhabi post-season test, rather than ambling around for kilometre after kilometre was floated by team bosses earlier this year and Autosport understands that the proposal will be green lit for the end of the year.

While Pirelli’s tyre testing will still take up much of the day’s focus, it is understood that the plan would be to hold a short qualifying session before the sprint — though finer details are yet to be finalised.

How much help this will give young drivers will only be seen when it actually happens, but the thought process, at least, is sound.

F1 has a month break before heading Stateside for the US GP

F1 has a month break before heading Stateside for the US GP

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images



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Is Daniel Ricciardo’s time in F1 up? Our writers have their say

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His demeanour at the end of the Singapore GP — not to mention the rumours linking Liam Lawson with his seat — left F1 media in little doubt that the Marina Bay event could be Daniel Ricciardo’s final race.

But if that’s the case, is it fair or is Red Bull making the wrong decision?

Our writers offer their views.

His time in F1 is up — Ben Hunt

Sadly, despite being one for characters in Formula 1, I feel that it is time for Daniel Ricciardo to be demoted from RB in place of Liam Lawson and with immediate effect.

However, I will pick my words carefully, as while it looks as though this could be the end of his F1 career, it might not necessarily be as black and white as this being the end, for Sergio Perez is still in a precarious position.

I remember back to 2012 when I was in my first year covering F1 and it was a flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur and Ricciardo was sitting in economy class a few rows back from my seat. He was the same back then as he is now, a brilliant personality. Great fun. Always smiling.

Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

But I cannot help but think his career took a turn for the worse the moment he decided to quit Red Bull and join Renault for the 2019 season.

It was an altogether baffling decision. Having been burned by Renault, he had further poor form at McLaren and despite that win in Monza in 2021, has never really looked like ever recapturing the same form he had at Red Bull or indeed living up to his massive potential.

The smile has now gone, and with it too the passion and maybe the commitment needed to seriously compete in F1.

He left F1 off the back of being let go by McLaren in place of Oscar Piastri, citing that he needed some time on the sidelines to assess his future.

He returned to the championship at the expense of Nyck de Vries but in truth, I never really believed it would spark much success for I am pushed to think of any truly great comeback from someone who once turned their back on F1.

I remember that season he left McLaren in 2022, as he assessed his future he rode into the paddock at the US GP in Austin on the back of a horse. To me, he had fully checked out from F1.

That was on his terms. Now the decision is not his to make.

It makes sense to bring in Lawson — Ewan Gale

If this is Ricciardo’s exit from F1, then the sport will for sure be a poorer place in terms of personality. His effervescent persona has lit up the paddock for well over a decade now.

But F1 is a results business and it is fair to say that other than his victory for McLaren at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, we haven’t seen the best of Ricciardo since his move to Renault for the 2019 season.

The struggles that dogged his time with the Woking-based outfit which has now sprung to the top of F1 have never been overcome, even since returning to Red Bull — first as third driver and then with AlphaTauri/RB.

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Team-mate Tsunoda has outperformed him more regularly than not this term and Ricciardo has not been able to adequately improve, leaving him in his current position.

Lawson is rumoured to be taking over for the United States Grand Prix and if Ricciardo’s demeanour and interview answers on Sunday are anything to go by, that may well be a confirmed switch in the near future.

It’s a swap that makes perfect sense for Red Bull’s F1 operation. The pool of drivers it has at its disposal is arguably the weakest it has had — underlined by the fact no driver has been able to budge Sergio Perez from the parent team despite his struggles.

The New Zealander is certain to be on the grid next season anyway, with Ricciardo the most likely to give way, so why not give him time in the car? In an era where testing is limited to three days pre-season, limited filming days and the occasional Pirelli tyre test, a run at the end of the season would only be beneficial for Lawson to bed himself in with the team.

RB saw just what he could do when he stepped into the seat for five races last term when Ricciardo was sidelined, but further experience can only be a good thing for the man who is most likely to take over from Perez alongside Verstappen — whenever that is.

Where the car is at right now means that this isn’t a swap which will be with points in mind. It’s a necessity for Red Bull’s F1 operation and its future at a time when most of its stability has already been lost.

Ricciardo doesn’t deserve mid-season exit — Sam Hall

Formula 1 is a sport and a business which we are often told has no room for sentiment, and the decision to axe Ricciardo mid-season is proof of this beyond doubt.

An unquestionable fan favourite and one of the most likeable personalities within the paddock, the Australian has done more than most to be deserving of a fitting send-off.

Yes, his results this season have done little to stake his case for a seat in 2025, but have they been tragically poor enough to warrant the ignominy of a mid-season ejection? No.

Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Although 10 points shy of Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo’s form since the Canadian Grand Prix has in fact trended higher than his team-mate, so the harsh nature of a results-based industry cannot be to blame.

It must be conceded that there is some logic in looking towards the future and evaluating the talent that you have within the pool, but is this not something that could be achieved – as every other team manages – by testing older machinery and using the simulator?

To Ricciardo, and while I agree that this season should be his last – something which genuinely hurts to say – there is no reason why he should be kicked into touch with only the fanfare given to him by the media.

If the Singapore Grand Prix transpires to have been his last outing, then RB and Red Bull should have rolled out the red carpet and made a big thing about Ricciardo, showcased his achievements, and shown publicly how much he has been a valued member of both teams.

More than this, it would have given the fans the opportunity to properly say goodbye, rather than scrolling social media indefinitely, just waiting for the final nail to be hammered off the stage into the coffin of his F1 career.

With a poor car and a grasp on strategy that appears to have come straight from the Ferrari pitwall of old, there is a limit to what can be achieved at RB this year. And with Haas just three points behind in the constructors’, this change could come at a hefty cost.

Red Bull’s Ricciardo gamble hasn’t paid off, but it is cutting its losses – Haydn Cobb

When Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 return was announced last year to replace the flat-lining Nyck de Vries, he was put in to get his mojo back, to try to discover the Daniel of old. It was a gamble but Red Bull was hedging its bets.

And when he was retained for 2024, picked over Liam Lawson, to continue that mojo-recapturing journey and be an option to replace Sergio Perez if the Mexican failed to deliver, there was a clear plan.

But after the opening eight rounds of this season and just five points to his name – a commendable fourth place in the Miami sprint – he was being thoroughly outperformed by Tsunoda, the writing was on the wall.

Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

When Red Bull decided to stick with Perez over the summer break and not twist on an alternative, there was no denying project Ricciardo was aborted.

If Red Bull is true to its cutthroat approach, particularly those in the RB/AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso squad, the Australian could have considered himself lucky to return from his summer holidays with his name still at the top of the team’s garage.

Since then, four races with no points and no sign of the Ricciardo of old, those performances have seemingly made up the minds of the Red Bull bosses. Adding to the fact Red Bull hasn’t been able to find a temporary alternative home for Lawson, and risked losing its best junior at the end of the year due to contract clauses, it means cutting its losses with Ricciardo and putting it all on red with Lawson is set to be the right decision.

Sure, as my colleagues have eloquently summed up, F1 without Ricciardo is a poorer place and the paddock will miss its smiling joker, while he deserved a better send-off than what he looks set to have been given in Singapore. Thoughts and prayers with Drive to Survive’s production team at this time too; first Guenther Steiner, now this.

As much as it’ll hurt all involved, Ricciardo’s body language and words over the weekend showed both he and Red Bull know when it is time to cut your losses and walk away from the table.



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McLaren was “taking the p**s” in Singapore GP, says Horner

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Norris was lapping comfortably a couple of seconds ahead of title rival Max Verstappen early on before there was a short team radio discussion where he explained that he was running at ‘pace six’.

His pit wall came back and said: “Ok, in which case we’d like to use a bit of that pace to try and get a five-second gap to Max, if possible, by the mid-teens.”

Norris duly pushed harder and, from being 2.6 seconds ahead at the end of lap eight, he had opened up the five-second advantage within three laps. His advantage over Verstappen in that critical stint was around one second per lap.

Red Bull could offer nothing in return and, by the time Verstappen pitted on lap 29, the Dutchman was 24.7 seconds adrift of the lead car.

That stunning form from Norris was an eye-opener from Horner in revealing the scale of McLaren’s advantage.

“Yeah, that was taking a piss…although I shouldn’t say that in any official capacity,” he said, making a joke about the swearing controversy that erupted over the Singapore weekend.

“The pace he had in hand on that tyre at that point in time was…at that point, we’ve conceded the race on pace.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, 1st position, takes the chequered flag

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, 1st position, takes the chequered flag

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

“Obviously, he [Norris] touched the wall for the first time, then he touched it for the second time. But, obviously, they’ve got away with it.

“I actually think Max drove a very strong race. That was what we had, which when you consider where we were a couple of weeks ago, I think we have made some real progress. But obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do before Austin.”

While the first stint was demoralising for Red Bull, Horner says that the team takes away some encouragement from how similar the pace of his car and the McLaren were on the hard tyres that teams switched to for the run to the flag.

“On the first stint they were very quick,” he said. “I think on the hard tyre we looked in better shape, but of course, the gap is way too big by then, at a track that anyway is very hard to overtake.”

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has revealed, however, that the gaps between the cars on the hard may not be truly representative because his squad had instructed Norris to back off and bring the car home.

“In fairness, in the second part of the second stint, our attention was drawn on the fact that as soon as you got behind the backmarkers, the car started to feel tricky,” he explained.

“So, it was all about no issues, no mistakes, no lock-ups. We had seen already in practice that as soon as you are behind a slow car, things look like there’s something wrong with the car: it’s just the effect of the dirty air.

“The focus was entirely on bringing the car home. We suggested to Lando to have an attempt at the fastest lap, which he achieved. But after that, we didn’t want to talk about fastest lap anymore.”



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Ricciardo in “much happier place” over uncertain F1 future than 2022 McLaren exit

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Daniel Ricciardo admits there is a real chance he will not drive in Formula 1 again – but is more “at peace” with a potential exit than he was two years ago.

Reports leading into the Singapore Grand Prix suggested the Australian’s position at RB was in the balance depending on his performance at the Marina Bay Circuit, with reserve driver Liam Lawson waiting in the wings.

A disappointing display after a failed gamble to start on the soft tyre left Ricciardo to finish 18th, lamenting that “the fairytale ending didn’t happen”, although his fastest lap sparked controversy after it took a point away from race winner Lando Norris in the McLaren driver’s title fight with Max Verstappen.

An emotional Ricciardo insisted after the race that he departs Singapore feeling better than he did following his exit from McLaren at the end of the 2022 season, when he lost his seat to rookie compatriot Oscar Piastri.

Ricciardo was left without a drive until his return with RB during its previous guise as AlphaTauri to replace the struggling Nyck de Vries for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, ostensibly to gauge his viability for a return to Red Bull alongside Verstappen.

“I tried to obviously enjoy it [the Singapore Grand Prix weekend], a little bit like the end of ’22 with McLaren,” reflected Ricciardo.

“Obviously I was aware maybe that was my last race, so I tried to enjoy that.

“I think I’m in a much happier place now in the sport than I was then. So if this is it, let’s say I have a little bit more peace and I’m proud of the career.”

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

These remarks followed Ricciardo’s admission that “there is a realistic chance that it’s not going to happen” when asked if he would be at the United States Grand Prix next time out.

Ricciardo said he was “prepared for it” to be the end of his F1 career, which began with the now-defunct HRT team in 2011.

The eight-time grands prix winner became the 10th most experienced driver in F1 history in Singapore, his 257th start surpassing the tally of Riccardo Patrese.

“It’s been a very race-by-race situation with Red Bull I think for all of us in a way, obviously Checo [Sergio Perez] as well,” reflected Ricciardo. “And at times it feels like it’s going one way, then it goes the other.

“Obviously there was a lot of emphasis on this weekend, and I would have loved a better weekend — who knows if that would have changed anything, or if the decision’s been made already, even prior to the weekend.

“I’m obviously prepared for it and that’s why I think over the weekend just tried to acknowledge a few things as well with myself. And I think acknowledged also why I came back into the sport.

“Sometimes you’ve got to see a big picture and I always said, ‘I don’t just want to be a guy that’s here on the grid and fighting for a point every now and then’, which has kind of been how this year’s gone.”



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McLaren wants review of Red Bull/RB relationship after «peculiar» Ricciardo fastest lap

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McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has called for the relationship between Red Bull and RB to be “addressed” after Daniel Ricciardo’s “peculiar” fastest lap at the Singapore Grand Prix stole a point away from race winner Lando Norris.

With McLaren dominant around Marina Bay, Norris was looking at taking eight points out of Max Verstappen’s lead at the top of the drivers’ championship, having set the fastest time on lap 48.

However, that extra point was lost as Ricciardo, running at the back of the field in what increasingly appears to be his last race in Formula 1, came into the pits for a fresh set of soft tyres and went almost half a second quicker than Norris’ best effort on his final lap.

Ricciardo does not get a point as he finished outside the top 10 but, with the McLaren now clearly the fastest car on the grid, everything could count as Norris aims to close a 52-point gap to Red Bull’s Verstappen in the final six rounds of the season.

While Stella did not outright accuse Red Bull and its sister team of collusion in Singapore, he said a more long-term discussion might be required about the closeness of the two squads.

“This is a big matter. You know, as soon as you invoke the sportsmanship, I think you need to approach this with a sense of responsibility, that I want to have,” he said when asked about the call.

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“I don’t know the facts. I just saw that RB went for the fastest lap, and they achieved it. But for me, here, talk about sportsmanship and so on, I think… it would be out of place. So I think we have to take it at face value.

“They scored the fastest lap, and potentially as part of a longer-term conversation, we need to put the sport in a position in which, at any stage — being it trackside or being it factory-side — teams behave in a totally autonomous manner, because this is a constructors’ championship.

“This needs to be definitely addressed. But at no point I have elements now to say RB went for the fastest lap to support the Red Bull. I just find it a little… how to say… peculiar. I did not see it coming.

“I was a little surprised that the highest priority of RB racing in Singapore was to go and score the fastest lap of the race. I think we just have to work harder to make sure that this [championship] doesn’t come down to a point.

“At the same time, I have so much sympathy, support and friendship with Daniel that I’m just happy that he may add this fastest lap to his track record.”

Norris said the two teams made a “smart play” in securing the fastest lap for former McLaren team-mate Ricciardo, admitting it was the “logical thing” to do.

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner would not be drawn on the situation and said it was up to RB to explain their reasoning, although Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez revealed the team had considered pitting him to aim for the fastest time.

“I don’t know what happened there. I think the team was discussing it…so I think in the end we decided to stay as it was decided anyway. I think the team was thinking about it but in the end it didn’t happen,” he concluded.

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble and Ronald Vording

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Why McLaren sees only «good news» from its flexi rear wing controversy

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


McLaren team boss Andrea Stella thinks it is a good thing rival teams are complaining about its car – because this shows they are distracted from their own efforts.

The Woking-based team has found itself the centre of attention since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix over what has become known as its ‘mini-DRS’.

The team appeared to have designed its low-drag rear wing in such a way that the upper element cleverly flexed back to help open up the slot gap – delivering a drag reduction and therefore straightline speed boost.

While the rear wing fully complied with the FIA’s static load tests, its behaviour upset competitors who felt it was pushing the boundaries of the regulations too much.

Following discussions with the FIA, McLaren agreed to make modifications to reduce the flexibility which was seen to be present on its cars in the Belgian, Italian and Azerbaijan grands prix.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

And while the tweak will mean McLaren losing whatever advantage it got from its design when that specific low-drag wing returns at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Stella is far from disheartened about what has happened.

In fact, he says he actually takes heart from competitors paying so much attention to what his own squad is up to.

Asked for his thoughts on the matter, Stella said: “I find that so much attention on our rear wing is just good news, because it means that opponents are not focusing on themselves.

“Formula 1 is such a marginal game. It’s so complicated. I keep repeating to my team: ‘Focus on yourself’.

“So for me, when I see that there’s so much attention from other teams, it means that they will be doing work, they will be doing analysis, they will be talking to the FIA.

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“They’re using this time and energy to chase something that I think is a red herring. So for me, as McLaren, that’s just good news.

“We try to stay focused on ourselves. We want to come with technical solutions that may be challenging but totally sound from a legality point of view. If others want to get destructive, keep doing that. Because for us, it’s just good news.”

FIA response

Although McLaren remains convinced its wing design is fully legal, the team says it agreed with the FIA to make changes because it did not want the controversy to blow up – and it also hoped this would prompt the governing body to look at what other teams were up to.

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“For us, making changes is pretty much transparent, so we may as well do it, as it won’t be a big consequence from a performance point of view,” said Stella.

“This also gave us the opportunity to [remind] the FIA that, you know, we also do some due diligence in terms of studying other people.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

“We don’t want to spend so much energy and time with journalists and trying to create big stories. We just told the FIA what we think is happening.

“We trust, and we are confident, that they will talk to the other teams and make sure that they fix their own issues, which may be less visible, but definitely they do exist.”

While Stella did not want to get drawn into what aspect of rival cars he felt the FIA should be looking at, he suggested the issue revolved around manipulation of the rear wing slot gaps.

Pushed on what he was seeing in other teams, Stella said: “I will not be precise, because I would be disclosing information that I think fits within a confidentiality range.

“For some reasons, this slot gap seems to have become something that dominates F1. There’s many ways in which other cars are exploiting aerodynamic pressure on surfaces — actually, based on our analysis, some of them are just quite a lot more effective.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“But we do trust the FIA. They are very competent people from a technical point of view.

“To be honest, when we have conversations with them, not only do we see that they understand mechanisms, but they also understand what is going on with our competitors.

“They always seem to be pretty equipped in terms of understanding whether some of the tests are suitable — to limit some mechanisms or ways of aerodynamic pressure.

“I think we are in good hands from a policy point of view, with the FIA, and I think we should have all parties — teams, journalists, everyone — [give] a little bit more respect for the FIA and their technical department, because they do a very good job.

“It’s not a simple job. Sometimes we should praise what they do. And I don’t see this being done very much.”

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Sainz fined for crossing track after Singapore Q3 crash

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Carlos Sainz has been given a €25,000 fine with half of it suspended for crossing a live Formula 1 track after his crash in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver slammed into the barriers at the final corner of the Marina Bay track with just over eight minutes of Q3 remaining.

Sainz was unhurt in the accident, climbed from his stricken car and, with the session red-flagged, walked across the track to reach the pitlane entrance.

Following an FIA stewards investigation, the Spaniard was given a €25,000 fine, €12,500 of which has been suspended for the rest of the season on the condition there is no similar incident.

Speaking about the incident, which means he is set to start tenth for tomorrow’s Grand Prix, Sainz admitted it had been his mistake.

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«I had a bit of a strange exit in there,» he said. «Had to let a lot of cars through opening my lap and my tyres were just a lot colder than I thought they would be.

«I misjudged the grip going on the bump on [Turn] 17, and it completely snapped on me. Driver mistake.

«I underestimated the grip I would get launching the lap — I was already under pressure with another car coming, and I knew that launching the lap I was already going to be slower because of approaching the last corner so slow.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, climbs out of his damaged car after a crash in Qualifying

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, climbs out of his damaged car after a crash in Qualifying

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

«So it meant that I tried to do something that was not enough grip to do.»

It was a similar incident to the Qatar Grand Prix last year when Lewis Hamilton was fined €50,000 — half of which was suspended for the rest of the year — and served with a reprimand.

Hamilton had tangled with George Russell into Turn 1 at the start of the Losail race, the contact breaking his right-rear wheel and ending his race.

While the race was placed under the safety car, Hamilton crossed the live circuit from the outside of Turn 1 to the pitlane, just seconds before Russell emerged from the pits.

On that occasion, the FIA stewards summoned Hamilton, who apologised before the governing body issued their verdict, saying: «During the hearing the driver of Car 44 was very apologetic and realised that the situation could have been very dangerous for him as well as the drivers approaching.

«The Stewards reinforced the fact that crossing a live track can cause extremely dangerous situations and the drivers have to be very cautious about it.»

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However, a week after the race, the FIA reopened its investigation because it felt the incident was much more serious than perhaps originally thought.

There was a feeling that penalties for drivers crossing a live track should be much greater for it felt that it was sending the wrong impression on younger drivers.

The FIA stewards explained Sainz’s penalty was half of Hamilton’s from last year because the Spaniard’s offence was during a red flag while the British driver’s was during a safety car period in a race.

Sainz also argued he was beyond pit entry, which was taken as mitigating circumstances.



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