Weekend news roundup from the World of F1
Ricciardo and his future, FIA holds ground against "flex floors", Horner's concerns and the fight against racism.
“I am committed to McLaren until the end of next year and am not waking away from the sport”, says Ricciardo over McLaren exit speculation. Norris “understands” his teammate’s situation.
Ricciardo has not been at the top of his form for quite some time now, save the race win at Monza last year, and has been under harsh critique in the past few weeks, particularly sparked by McLaren team principal Zak Brown’s comments that the partnership “had not met expectations”. Following this statement, as a matter of “compliment” McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo scored double points at the Austrian GP. However, the Honey Badger further took to social media to issue a statement to thwart away all the rumours.
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) July 13, 2022
Lando Norris had more or less positive remarks for his teammate. After the race at the RedBull Ring, upon being questioned, he said that he understood that the car was difficult to drive and every driver with his own characteristics and driving styles, would have to adapt quite a bit. He also reasoned that Ricciardo preferred a more “stable” front-end. He said quote, “Some of my feelings are not translated to his feelings. And how we drive the cars is slightly different as well; I prefer a car with – I don’t mind as much instability from the car and kind of can push on the fronts more, and he prefers a car that is a bit more stable and made with a little more understeer”. Both drivers gear up for their next race in France, primarily competing with Alpine who are on same points as them in the Constructors.
FIA Will Not Backdown on “Flex Floors”
In the interest of reducing porpoising and potentially sustaining long term injury to drivers, and as a means of levelling the playing field, FIA had taken steps to address the issues. In Montreal, they measured vertical oscillations of every car and took action against any car which exceeded the Aerodynamic Oscillation Metric (AOM). They also mentioned that with the cars developing more downforce, the issue would continue to persist, or rather worsen. Teams were instructed to make several set-up changes as a result. Title contenders, Ferrari and RedBull objected to the attempts of the FIA. However, in a technical advisory committee meeting on Thursday, it was confirmed that the FIA would not budge from its decisions, and would enforce a series of rule changes to limit the bouncing. These included raising the edges of the floor and the diffuser at the back, rigorous deflection tests and a more accurate metric to measure the oscillation.
Horner concerned about Track Limits at Paul Ricard
The new race directors at the FIA made sure that track limits infringement was punished severely at the RedBull Ring last week. As much as 43 lap times were deleted in the course of the race, with multiple drivers being punished with time-penalties as well. With the French Grand Prix round the corner, Christian Horner, expressed his concern with the fact that the circuit has large run-off areas, thereby “inviting” drivers to go off. Several drivers like Mick Schumacher and Max Verstappen also asserted along the same lines regarding the race directors’ actions in Austria. Grand Prix Association director George Russell also pointed out the “need for consistency” and that multiple people interpret the rules differently, so sticking to one race director was important.
Bernie Ecclestone faces charges of a fraud of more than £400m
Former F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone has been reportedly accused of not declaring foreign assets believed to be worth more than £400m. The charge was brought forward by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after an investigation was conducted by Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Simon York from the HMRC said that the investigation had been “complex and worldwide” and could confirm that the accused had failed to declare overseas assets to the HMRC. The CPS authorized a criminal charge against Bernard Ecclestone on the account of fraud by false representation relating to tax liabilities believed to amount more than £400m of offshore assets, which were concealed from the HMRC. The case will be first heard at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 22.
91-year-old Bernie Ecclestone was connected to F1 for the last 40 years holding various positions, and was the CEO of the company before the takeover by Liberty Media in 2017. He has hence been infamous for being arrested in May for illegally carrying a gun while boarding a plane. Last month he stated that he would “take a bullet” for Russia president Vladimir Putin.
The F1 community continues to fight against racism and to promote more inclusivity in the sport
All the drivers, teams and representatives have been vocal for their support for social causes, most notably for bringing about more and more people together around the sport. Despite their best efforts certain incidents continue to bring bad light. For example, recently, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was racially abused by F1 veteran Nelson Piquet. A lot of hue and cry ensued, with all teams expressing their support for Hamilton. Both Hamilton and Verstappen faced animosity from their respective fans at each others home Grand Prixs. Few more incidents remind us of the hindrances which have to be addressed to keep the sport on good terms:
F1 commentator fired over Lance Stroll remarks during the Austrian GP
A French Formula 1 commentator, Lionel Froissart, working for Belgian broadcaster RTBF has been suspended off his duties until further notice, after he labelled Lance Stroll as “autistic” during the race last Sunday. His colleague, Gaetan Vigneron immediately retorted to the comment pointing out that they were “too strong” and that he was going “too far”. However, Froissart ascertained his remark by stating, “It’s the truth.” Following the incident, RTBF released a statement confirming their values and their strong condemnation of the words used by Froissart and that they would thoroughly investigate the incident.
Aston Martin Employee speaks of Racism at workplace
Aidan Louw, who currently holds a British and South African passport has come out as a victim of racial and homophobic remarks at the Silverstone based team. He worked as a laminator for parts of Sebastian Vettel’s car, as a temporary employee. However, right from the beginning he was called out by various derogatory slurs. In his interview with Sky News, he said, quote, “Before I even walked into my working environment that’s when I was told, ‘look if you’ve got a problem with how we speak here, it’s just how we speak’. It went from brownie to darkie – I wasn’t referred to as Aidy…or anything like that. I was called n** n** and brownie – that is what I was referred to. It was towards the end of the duration that I had finally processed what was happening.”
Louw’s contract was terminated because of his “poor performance” and “poor timekeeping” to which he pointed out was a effect of the poor working conditions. Aston Martin acknowledged his statement and promised to impose sanctions after an exhaustive investigation on the claims.
Alpine promotes more women racers with Race(H)er programme
Alpine Racing team has recently announced the launch of a new Race(H)er programme, dedicated to increase female representation in various aspects of its company. Its goals are to spread awareness of their prospects and to resource the skills and experience of the female workforce. At present, the female employees at the constitute a meagre 12%. Alpine aspires to progressively increase the numbers to reach an ambitious quota of 30%. Alpine wishes to establish their support for all female aspiring racers, and encourage women to enter technical and scientific fields as well. The programme also looks to strengthen equal opportunites in the automotive industry.
