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Edoardo Mortara scooped Venturi’s first ever win in the team’s history at the Hong Kong ePrix this weekend. The Swiss driver benefited from a late post-race penalty imposed on Envision Racing’s Sam Bird who won the race, but was given a five second time penalty after contact with Andre Lotterer which forced the Techeetah driver out of the race.
Qualifying was blighted by the everchanging conditions of the Hong Kong climate, with Mahindra miscalculating the correct window in which to set a lap which left both Jerome D’Ambrosio and Pascal languishing at the bottom of the timing screens. Audi’s Lucas di Grassi was the first driver to make an impact, snatching P1 from under Sam Bird and Antonio Felix da Costa’s noses in the worsening weather.
Mortara showcased his experience on street circuits by claiming P1, followed closely by Lotterer who made a mistake in his final sector. Jean Eric Vergne’s misery continued as he repeated history by sliding over the final line backwards, but could only manage P6 and suffered cosmetic damage to his Techeetah. His lap was later cancelled due to the incident.
Times soon began to tumble as the session approached the halfway stage with Oliver Rowland and Felipe Massa slotting themselves into the top six. However, it was HWA that impressed in the storm with Stoffel Vandoorne taking provisional pole by over half a second from teammate Gary Paffett who managed to snatch his debut in superpole. They were joined in superpole by Rowland, Mortara, Lotterer and di Grassi.
The weather continued to wreck havoc on superpole as di Grassi set a time of 1.14.177, only to be displaced by Lotterer a few moments later by a difference of 1.3 seconds. Mortara thrived in the difficult conditions, claiming P1 with a time of 1.12.310, half a second up on Lotterer. However, after the session ended, he was hit with a three place grid penalty for ignoring red flag conditions and dropped out of contention. Times continued to tumble as the track conditions became more favourable with Rowland disposing of Mortara by two tenths of a second. The two HWAs remained and Paffett locked up into turn one, forcing him into P4 behind Lotterer, but Vandoorne impressed once again, claiming his first ever pole position for HWA with a 1.11.580.
Rowland wasted no time at the start of the race, snatching P1 away from Vandoorne in the opening lap who was then passed by Bird, dropping the HWA rookie down to P3. Mahindra’s terrible luck continued as Felipe Nasr tagged the wall into turn two, collecting both Wehrlein and D’Ambrosio along the way, sending both cars out of the race with suspension damage. The race was red flagged in order to collect all three cars stranded in a precarious position with Rowland still leading the race.
As the race got underway once more, most of the drivers armed themselves with their first attack mode as Lotterer pounced on Vandoorne immediately for P3. Out of turn one, Rowland slowed and dropped down the order, losing the lead at the expense of Bird. Lotterer began to press Bird for the top spot, finally forcing the Brit into a mistake to snatch the race lead away. However, Bird continued to fight back and kept the pressure on the German who began to struggle with energy consumption in the latter stages trying to keep Bird behind. Whilst one Techeetah dominated, reigning champion Vergne’s bad luck continued as he cut the chicane at turn one, earning a penalty.
Rowland continued to carve his way back through the field muscling his way past Daniel Abt for P9, whilst Alex Sims tagged the wall, forcing him out of the race. Bird continued to press Lotterer, and attempted a move into turn two, passing the German for a moment, before Lotterer reclaimed the lead. The battle at the front as Vandoorne’s car stopped on track, whilst Buemi was forced out of the race with damage.
As the race restarted with over ten minutes left on the clock, Bird continued to pile the pressure on Lotterer for the lead with Mortara holding di Grassi for P3 as Rowland’s hard work on climbing up the order was undone when he made contact with the wall, and stopped on track, bringing out a third safety car. With two minutes remaining, the race was restarted and the battle at the front came to a head as Bird made contact with the back of Lotterer’s car, causing a puncture which subsequently ended the German’s race. A subdued Bird claimed P1 but celebrations were muted after the announcement that there was an investigation of the incident between himself and Lotterer. After the race, Bird was handed a five second time penalty which dropped the Brit down to P6 and Mortara inherited the win, his and Venturi’s first win in the series. Di Grassi moved up to P2 and Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns inherited third.
Formula E will continue in Sanya on March 23rd.
Renault’s managing director Cyril Abiteboul has said he believes the team’s 2019 line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo to be ‘perhaps the strongest on the grid’.
Ricciardo will be making his Renault race debut at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix alongside Hulkenberg, who starts his third year with the team, and Abiteboul is optimistic about what the pairing can deliver.
“The first race of the year, the Australian Grand Prix, is a high point of the season,” Abiteboul said, “but even more so this year as Daniel Ricciardo makes his race debut for the team. We head there united and with strong determination.
“We have a new car that has shown potential in Barcelona. The power unit has made progress and or driver line-up of Daniel and Nico is perhaps the strongest on the grid. We’re looking forward to seeing them showcasing their experience and talent on track. There is a lot of expectation for the first race, especially with Daniel’s debut for the team coming at his home Grand Prix.”
Ricciardo announced his shock move from Red Bull – where he had been since 2014 and with whom he had won seven Grand Prix – at the Belgian Grand Prix of last year. The Australian, too, is positive about the prospect of racing for his new team, even if it is unlikely they will be at the same performance level as Red Bull immediately.
“My first impressions, on a whole, have been positive,” Ricciardo said, “and we’ll continue to learn more throughout these early races. It’s going to take some time to get used to everything, but that’s not unexpected.
“We’re realistic in our approach and we have work to do. We have a decent platform to build on now and we always strive for better. We’ve found some things during testing which we’ll dissect and see what we want to take forward, but our bigger steps will come during the next few months.”
[Featured image – Renault Sport F1 Team]
Josef Newgarden took the first win of the 2019 season at St Petersburg, a win that marks his first around the demanding track and Penske’s first there since 2016. He held off a late challenge from defending champion Scott Dixon in what as an action-packed season opener.
After being shuffled back at the start, Newgarden didn’t come to the lead until the second round of pit stops, but there he out-foxed the rest of the leading group and emerged from the pits with a near five-second lead over Marco Andretti, who was doing a good job of holding up the rest of the field. With the help of Andretti once more in the closing stages of the race, Newgarden came under threat from Dixon with the lead dropping to as low as 1.2 seconds but, once Andretti was out of the picture, Newgarden rebuilt his lead to take the win.
Dixon was forced to settle for second-place having not led a single lap of the race. He managed to pass Will Power during the first Andretti hold up, taking second place and allowing him to have a chance at fighting Newgarden for the win. However, the lead Newgarden had built up was big enough to act as an effective buffer, even when Andretti came back into the mix. It wasn’t quite the perfect start to Dixon’s title defence, but it was good enough.
For a while, it looked like the other Chip Ganassi of Felix Rosenqvist would be going for the win, but he got caught out and dropped back by the second round of stops. Rosenqvist passed Newgarden going into Turn 1 on the first lap, putting him in second and in a position to fight Power for the lead. The Swede took the lead after the first restart and went onto lead 31 laps in his debut race, the most bar race winner Newgarden. He came home in a respectable fourth place and showed that he’s ready to take it to teammate Dixon this season.
After starting on pole, Power had to settle for a podium in third with his nemesis, like so many others, being the second stops and Andretti’s rather wide car. He couldn’t clear Andretti after the stops and was passed by Dixon who then disappeared up the road, meaning Power was unable to improve his position in the final stages of the race, but he was still happy with his result, given how badly St Pete has treated him over the past two years.
Alexander Rossi was another driver who was forced to settle for a position probably lower than he was hoping for, especially after he came so close to the victory last year. Like last year, a rookie got the better of him, though this time it was Rosenqvist and not Robert Wickens, meaning Rossi couldn’t do much better than fifth having led two laps during the pit stop sequences.
Wickens attended the race with his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team to support their drivers and celebrate his thirtieth birthday with his fellow drivers. Attending St Pete was one of Wickens’ many goals on his road to recovery after his enormous crash at Pocono last season, with the Canadian a welcome figure in the paddock once more.
On track, SPM didn’t have such a good weekend with James Hinchcliffe finishing in sixth after getting the better of Penske’s Simon Pagenaud in what was a race-long battle. On the other side of the garage, Marcus Ericsson didn’t even see the chequered flag with a water pressure issue cutting his IndyCar debut short. Their sort-of-teammate Jack Harvey finished tenth in the #60 Meyer Shank supported SPM entry, in his first of ten races this season.
Rosenqvist may have taken the title of top rookie but fellow rookies Colton Herta and Santino Ferrucci were not to be forgotten in the first race of the season, finishing eighth and ninth respectively. Herta’s the only Harding driver after they failed to get an engine lease for their second car and Ferrucci lost teammate Bourdais 11 laps into the race, meaning the two rookies had to go it solo, but still delivered more than respectable performances.
One recurring feature of the race was Honda engine failures, of which there were four with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato, Ericsson and Bourdais all suffering issues that led to their retirements. While Honda had four failures, their rival Chevrolet had none, meaning the former really needs to step up on the reliability side of things, otherwise the Chevy teams could be leaving them well behind.
That concludes the season opener at St Petersburg with IndyCar back in action on March 24 at the Circuit of the Americas.
Full Race Results:
DNF – Takuma Sato (gearbox), Marcus Ericsson (R) (water pressure), Ed Jones (collision), Matheus Leist (collision), Ryan Hunter-Reay (engine), Sebastien Bourdais (engine)
(Featured Image Credit: Karl Zemlin/IndyCar)
The Silverstone race track is to be resurfaced in June ahead of both the F1 and MotoGP races.
The news comes as bosses of both Silverstone and F1 desperately scrap to come to an agreement to keep the F1 race alive at Silverstone, and try to avoid the British GP moving to a different and perhaps less favourable home.
Situated on the site of what used to be a military airbase converted into a race track in the 1940s, Silverstone has been the sole home of the British Grand Prix since 1987, having alternated with Brands Hatch and Aintree prior to that.
Last year saw a resurfacing job completed on the track ahead of the start of the F1 season. Now, another resurfacing will be completed just a month before the Formula One race towards the end of June, and two months before the MotoGP race in August.
So, why the same job twice in as many years? You may remember the MotoGP race that was supposed to take place in August last year, but never did. Race day brought with it typically British weather, and alleged drainage problems meant the rainwater could not be cleared. As such, the race could not be contested or even rescheduled, and travelling fans had to be reimbursed after what turned out to be a disaster of a weekend for them. The track is thus being resurfaced again to avoid the same problems from occurring this year.
The source of the funding for this year’s job is as yet, according to Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle, uncertain. There is still an ongoing investigation as to whether Aggregate Industries – the company who surfaced the track last year – were at fault for the cancellation of the 2018 MotoGP race, and therefore should have to compensate for this year’s job, or whether the Silverstone circuit will have to fund it themselves.
If Silverstone has to pay for the job itself, it will be a huge dent in its plans to host the race beyond its current deal which expires this year. Last year’s MotoGP cancellation cost Silverstone a huge amount of money, and having to pay for a job they feel should be paid for by the company whose alleged poor drainage cost them will result in struggles to pay the F1 race hosting fees beyond this year.
The Silverstone management is not the only disgruntled party. Lewis Hamilton described the 2018 resurfacing as ‘the worst job ever,’ so all was not well even before the MotoGP disaster of August.
In terms of the racing, the change in surface will mean that the track will not be rubbered in and there will be no racing line, resulting in less grip. Therefore, the lap times over the course of the weekend will take longer to fall as the drivers try to find traction.
There is, however, another potential plot twist. Stuart Pringle was quoted as saying that he ‘hopes’ the job will be complete ahead of the F1 Grand Prix. Missing the race would be another big hit in terms of revenue, and it would mean that F1 would have to search for a new home for the race. British GT will be the last event run before the F1 race, and several club meetings have already been cancelled to accommodate the job. They will be hoping and praying the track will be ready for F1’s British Grand Prix weekend between the 12-14 July.
The race is an extremely popular one for the fans, drivers, and teams alike. The campsites along with by the ample grassland allow for fans to enjoy barbecues over the course of the weekend. The track is vastly expansive and the Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel complex is truly a sight to behold.
Because of the popularity of the track, it would be nice for F1’s British Grand Prix to stick around in Northamptonshire for a few years yet, but the resurfacing job really is just the surface of the many issues the Silverstone track faces in 2019.
[Featured image – Andrew Hone]
The 2019 MotoGP World Championship enjoyed its first qualifying session of the new season in Qatar, with impressive-looking rookies and a tight field meaning it was to be a fantastic session.
Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took his second pole in successive grands prix after his wet weather pole in Valencia last November. Vinales reeked of confidence, lapping on his own in what were treacherous conditions – and his aggression on the brakes into the final corner was spectacular, the weight catapulting onto the front tyre. Despite being just under two tenths shy of Marc Marquez’ (Repsol Honda Team) outright lap record from Friday night, Vinales took pole by nearly two tenths, and consistently fast times posted in FP4 suggest he could be in the frame for the victory tomorrow.
But it will a difficult race for Vinales. Despite having a pace as strong as anybody, he will have to fight against bikes which are between 15kph and 20kph faster than him in the front straight.
One of those bikes is the Ducati Desmosedici GP19, and in particular the one ridden by Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati). The Italian has been almost invisible throughout the weekend, but in the long runs he has perhaps the best pace, and when it mattered, he showed he had the one-lap speed to give him a good grid position, finally taking second place.
In the past, the equal pace with his rivals would have been enough for Dovi, thanks to the straight-line speed of the Ducati. However, in Q2 Marc Marquez displayed the new engine in the Honda in its full potential, drafting past Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) on his way to the back of the front row.
Marquez had looked uncomfortable throughout the session, and in the end it was the tow provided by Petrucci that fired him onto the front row. Marquez also suffered two crashes on Saturday, in FP3 and FP4. The suggestion of a slightly weaker front end on the 2019 Honda compared to its predecessor means that its pilots could be some of those most at risk if the temperature is low tomorrow, and that seems to be what caught both Marquez and his Repsol Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo out in Saturday night’s sessions.
Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) took the fourth fastest time despite a crash late on in Q2. In this, Miller scored the first point in the sub-championship going on this season with himself, Danilo Petrucci and Miller’s Alma Pramac teammate Pecco Bagnaia, who are all fighting for the second spot in the factory Ducati team for 2020 alongside Dovizioso.
The middle of the second row sees the surprise of the weekend so far, with Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) qualifying fifth on his MotoGP debut. Quartararo has been fast all weekend, especially over one lap, and he put that into perfect practice in Q2. Like Vinales he will have his work cut out tomorrow against bikes which are so much faster than his, but already this weekend has been a big success for the Frenchman, beating both his teammate, Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Yamaha stablemate Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) in in his first ever premier class qualifying, and supposedly all with five-hundred revs taken off the top of his M1’s motor.
The second row for tomorrow’s MotoGP race will be rounded out by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL), who made a stunning return after an injury from which he is still recovering to qualify sixth on a motorcycle with which he does not feel completely comfortable. Crutchlow is worried for the race, just to finish, if it starts at the planned 8pm, so it will be interesting to see what he can achieve tomorrow.
Danilo Petrucci has some outstanding-looking race pace, but he will be hoping Ducati’s holeshot device will propel him past some of the riders in front of him tomorrow, so that he can use that pace, after qualifying only seventh, in front of Franco Morbidelli and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU on row three.
As disappointed as Petrucci will be, the feeling will be similar for Alex Rins (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) after the Spaniard only managed tenth place on the grid for the opening race after such an impressive preseason. Rins will be joined by his teammate, Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) on the fourth row tomorrow.
Francesco Bagnaia was the fastest of those riders who did not make it through to Q2, and will start thirteenth tomorrow. On the face of it, especially with fellow rookies Quartararo and Mir in fifth and eleventh respectively, thirteenth doesn’t seem so fantastic for the reigning Moto2 World Champion, but the Italian will share the fifth row of his first GP with some hefty names: Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi’s problems started on Friday evening, when an out-of-balance front tyre destroyed itself in five laps and left the Italian out of Q2 overnight. FP3 was too hot, too windy and too dusty for The Doctor to make an improvement and get into the top ten, and then a difficult Q1 saw him end his Saturday early, qualifying only fourteenth for the opening round of the championship. Unfortunately for Rossi, he has become only too accustomed to failing to make it out of Q1, and now tomorrow he faces another big fight back – one which, on paper, he seems entirely incapable of achieving. Rossi needs something big overnight if he is to make a good result tomorrow night.
Lorenzo’s problems also started when he failed to make the top ten on Friday night. The Spaniard then suffered a nasty high side on the exit of turn six early on in FP3, meaning he had to miss the rest of the session. After starting Q1 quite strong, the Repsol Honda rider looked good to advance to Q2, but a crash at the start of his second run ended those hopes, and he will start fifteenth tomorrow.
Seventeenth on his debut MotoGP grid is what faces Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira tomorrow, as the Portuguese starts between the Spanish duo of his KTM stablemate Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in sixteenth and 2014 Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) in eighteenth.
Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) will head up row seven tomorrow for his debut on the RSGP. Iannone had a bike problem at the end of Q1, although it didn’t seem as though he had the speed to make it to Q2 regardless. The Italian will be joined on row seven by Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Johann Zarco who will make his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing debut from twenty-first.
Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) still looks to be struggling to adapt to the RC16, and the Malaysian will start twenty-second tomorrow, in front only of Aprilia wildcard Bradley Smith (Aprilia Factory Racing).
Featured Image courtesy of Yamaha corporation
For the first time in the history of the intermediate class of grand prix motorcycle racing, the qualifying session in Qatar for the opening round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship was split into two parts. In the same way as Moto3, the fastest fourteen riders from the combined free practice times would be joined in the pole position shoot-out of Q2 by the four fastest riders in Q1.
The four advancing riders from Q1 were: the Sky Racing Team VR46 duo of Luca Marini and class rookie Nicolo Bulega; Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM), the Spaniard the beneficiary of Fabio Di Giannantonio (+Ego Speed Up) having his fastest lap cancelled.
As in the preceding Moto3 Q2, there was some bunching out on track as riders looked to get a tow. However, the rider who took pole made his lap time on his own, and he did it over and over. Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) took his first Moto2 pole position as a result of a 1’58.585, which followed a series of laps from the German which would have been good enough or pole.
In the end, Schrotter’s advantage over second place was 0.146 seconds, and it was over Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who put himself in almost the perfect position for his debut with his new squad tomorrow.
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) ensured it was three different nationalities on the front row of the first Moto2 round of the 2019 season, but also that it was a Kalex front row lockout for the first GP of the Triumph-powered era of the Moto2 World Championship. Baldassarri finished second in Qatar last season, and will hope that this good grid position will allow him to go one better this time round.
Fourth place went to Luca Marini after he made it through from Q1. The Italian could have been on the front row but a crash at turn two in the closing stages of the session put him out of contention.
Marini will be joined on the front row tomorrow by the two riders who arguably came into this season as the favourites for the race win: Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) in fifth and Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) in sixth. Whilst both Lowes and Gardner would have perhaps hoped for more, the second row gives them a good position from which they can fight for the top positions.
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was the top non-Kalex rider as he put his KTM eighth place, between the two Kalex’s of Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) – seventh on his Moto2 return – and Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who begins his fifth season in Moto2 from ninth on the grid.
Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) will start tomorrow’s GP from tenth, ahead of Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in eleventh. Martin had a crash midway through Q2, which limited his chances. Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) completed the fourth row.
Enea Bastianini has looked to have top ten pace all weekend, but could only manage thirteenth on his debut for the Italtrans squad. He will be joined by Tetsuta Nagashima and fellow rookie Nicolo Bulega on row five tomorrow.
After passing through Q1, Iker Lecuona qualified sixteenth, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) – who like his teammate has shown better than his qualifying result throughout the weekend – and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP).
Saturday in Losail for the first round of the Moto3 World Championship saw for the first time a segmented qualifying for the lightweight class. It would see the top fourteen riders from the combined free practice times compete in Q2 along with the four fastest riders from Q1.
The four fastest riders from Q1 were Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46), John McPhee (Petronas SRT), Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team). These would therefore fight it out for pole position in the second fifteen minute qualifying session, along with the fourteen fastest riders from the combined free practice times.
Although the new qualifying format for Moto3 was intended to reduce the amount of bunching on track, and to stop as many people waiting for a tow, the majority of the field – in both sessions – found themselves occupying the same 200 metres of track.
In the melee, Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) managed to put together a strong lap, at the end of which he found a useful tow from Vicente Perez (Arizona Reale Avintia) with which he managed to set a time good enough for pole position. It was the perfect start to his partnership with Max Biaggi’s collaborative effort with Peter Oettl, and moreover the perfect way to start what he will hope to be a championship challenge.
Second fastest was Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing), just under two tenths shy of Canet’s time. The Italian has been largely under the radar for most of preseason and throughout the winter. However, let’s not forget that he took the first podium of his career in Qatar twelve months ago.
Completing the front row was Kaito Toba (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), for his first ever front row start in grand prix racing, and has had a good weekend so will be hoping to fight for the podium tomorrow.
John McPhee took fourth place from Q2 to start from the head of the second row, after a difficult start to the weekend (hence he went through Q1) the Scot seems to have turned it around, and has a good shot at making a good result tomorrow.
Niccolo Antonelli (Sic58 Squadra Corse) has been fast this weekend, despite falling twice (the first crash being the first of any grand prix rider this year). Fifth place gives him a good starting position for tomorrow, and he will hope to capitalise on that on a track at which he won in 2016.
Rounding out the second row for the first round of the season is Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team).
Seventh fastest in Q2 was Tony Arbolino (Snipers Team), and he will be joined on the front row by Celestino Vietti in his first race as a full time grand prix rider and Vicente Perez – who is in a similar situation to Vietti.
The top ten was rounded out by reigning Moto3 Junior World Champion Raul Fernandez after he passed through Q1. He will be joined on the fourth row of the grid tomorrow by Romano Fenati (Snipers Team) – who should have been on the front two rows at least, but for a miscalculation in sending him out for the final run meant he didn’t get a flying lap in at the end – and the injured Gabriel Rodrigo (Gresini Racing).
Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) took thirteenth place, ahead (provisionally) of Jakub Kornfeil (PruestelGP) who was seen blocking Kaito Toba mid-session. Ai Ogura impressively rounded out the fifth row on his debut as a full-time grand prix rider.
Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) will be disappointed with sixteenth place in the opening qualifying session of the season, as will Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) who was up inside the top ten before his lap was deleted. 2018 Valencia GP winner Can Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounded out the sixth row.
Featured image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Formula One’s hybrid era is known for a lot of things: the vanquishing of the V8 banshee scream, abundant engine penalties and, most importantly, the ever-widening chasm between the series’ Goliaths and Davids.
The Davids are now so hamstrung that some previously balanced stats now read as though they were handed to us as a death note. Since Williams’ brief giant-killing stage subsided in 2016, only five podiums have featured a non-top three driver – Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez (twice) in 2016, Lance Stroll in 2017 and Perez again last season.
Wins? You have to reach as far back as the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, when Kimi Raikkonen prevailed with Lotus-Renault. Even then, Lotus was arguably only slower than the Red Bull and Mercedes, making it a loose inclusion.
Teams now race in an era where clinging to within a second of sixth is the podium result itself, and the elite dangle their cash reserves in front of prospective B-teams like a carrot laced with the poison of compliance.
Liberty Media understands this is an issue. Not enough to actually re-shape F1’s tainted foundations, but enough to feel a cosy rug can hide the living room mess for the time being. Their latest idea to give a helping hand to the midfield is a point for fastest lap.
If passed, the rule can only be described as compromised and pretty exploitable.The picture that sprung to mind was of a Williams or a Toro Rosso giving up a futile chase for 16th and deciding, “to hell with it, softest tyres and a low fuel load – this point is ours”.
In an extreme case, you’d get a real two-tier series. The ones that are able to keep their noses in the standard ‘overtake to get points’ race do as planned, while the no-hopers battle it out among themselves to nab that extra point.
As a result of the alarms that started blaring in the heads of the rule-makers, it was decided that it would take a top ten finish to secure the point for fastest lap. But what might sound like an intriguing plan likely won’t pan out as hoped.
Only four races since the turn of the hybrid era have had a non-top three car take fastest lap within the top ten. Even then, only three are truly valid—Bottas’ fastest lap in Russia 2014 was in, what was at that stage of the season, arguably the second fastest car. Perez’s in Austria 2014, Daniil Kvyat’s in Spain 2016 and Fernando Alonso’s at Britain 2017 are the only fair examples. Would they have affected their championship standings? No. The last time a fastest lap would’ve changed the midfield championship order was in 2009, when Adrian Sutil’s Italian GP fastest lap would have placed him ahead of 16th place Sebastien Buemi.
History suggests points for fastest lap are a blue moon level of useful for the midfield drivers. But let’s talk the other extreme—title fights. Of the seven showdowns decided by a solitary point or less, the one that had the potential to decide the title by way of a point for fastest lap was 2008.
Felipe Massa nailed the all-important lap of laps in the title-decider, which would have put him and Lewis Hamilton equal on points—and with six wins to Hamilton’s five, Massa would have been crowned champion on countback. So let’s take a trip through time and ask ourselves: would it have enhanced the fight?
Fans hold Brazil 2008 as one of the finest races of all time. No lap has ever threatened to break rib cages and set hearts free from the body than that final lap at Interlagos, as Hamilton chased the fifth place he needed to deny Massa the title. But if fastest lap points were on offer, they would have nullified that excitement—Massa set his fastest lap early in the race, and as the last laps were rained out there was no chance of that changing. Massa and Hamilton were fighting just to keep their chariots on the island, rather than go purple on the timing screens.
So in no case in history have we had a true fight for the title where the fastest lap rule can be used to enhance the show. We’ve also seen that for ten years now, no midfield runner has benefitted from a fastest lap in meaningful fashion. All we’re likely to be left with is low hanging fruit for sixth place, the usual 40 seconds ahead of the midfield pack.
While Liberty’s attempt to spice things up is admirable, the gatekeeping only serves to give free reign to whatever Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull finds itself in the barren wasteland between the podium fight and the midfield. History spells out irrelevance at best for this latest experiment, insult-to-injury annoyance at worst. Oh how I want it to succeed, but the results of the past only suggests it’s bound for the future’s scrap heap, along with the other well-meant distractions from F1’s real issues.
Ask any motorsport fan to name a successful woman within the sport, and usually, Susie Wolff will be amongst the names they provide. The first woman to take part in an F1 weekend in 22 years, Susie is now the team principal of the Venturi Formula E who scored their first podium of the seasion in the Mexican ePrix a few weeks ago, as well as the co-founder of the Dare to Be Different initiative, a non-profit organisation committed to change viewpoints and inspiring young girls and women to participate within the motorsport industry.
Sarah Jarvis: You’ve had time to become much more comfortable within your new role as team principal. Was the transition period as challenging as you thought it would be?
Susie Wolff: Yes, it’s definitely been challenging with plenty of changes and improvements to make, but to be honest I’ve relished the opportunity to get stuck in. We’ve made really great progress after a difficult start to the season. In motorsport, ultimately all that matters is performance and, with our first podium of the season in Mexico, I think we’ve demonstrated that we’re on the right track.
SJ: The FE in-season test featured nine female drivers competing in cars as part of the FIA Women into Motorsports Initiative. Did that feel like a significant step forward in promoting the movement of women into motorsport?
SW: Yes, I do feel like it was a significant step forward. I also think it clearly demonstrated Formula E’s commitments both to the promotion of women in the sport and also their desire for diversity within the series. The all female in-season test also served as a fantastic reminder of the female talent out there – that’s an incredibly positive thing in my book.
SJ: With your increased involvement in Formula E, there is an intensity of D2BD initiatives at these events. How important are these events to display at such a vastly popular sport? Are they changing the opinions and viewpoints of young girls?
SW: The D2BD events are really important and now that we have the official collaboration with the FIA’s Girls On Track initiative, we’re widening our reach even further to a bigger, global audience. Having our launch event in Mexico at the ePrix was a major milestone for the initiative, it also clearly demonstrated Formula E’s commitment to the promotion of grassroots activity for young women. The launch was met with great enthusiasm, not just from the motorsport community but also the local fans who came and participated in the activity, there’s simply no substitute for hands on experience. One of the major additional benefits of teaming up with Formula E in this way is that we have the benefit of some incredible city centre race locations, this goes a long way towards helping raise awareness and generate interest in the activity.
SJ: Is it imperative to gradually add more racing events to the D2BD calendar for exposure? Are there certain avenues such as F1 and MotoGP that you want to pursue further?
SW: Now that we are a joint venture with the FIA, we’re not focused on volume of events or trying to be the biggest. What we want to do is foster strong and lasting relationships with the ASNs (the local motorsport authorities) to ensure that the activation is strategic, meaningful and leaves a lasting impression on the young ladies who participate. The impact we have from an inspiration and education perspective is the most important thing to me.
SJ: With the introduction of the W Series aimed strictly at a female demographic, do you feel it is a positive step towards better representation of women in motorsport?
SW: Any championship that gives the opportunity to young women to compete is a positive thing. In my view though to become a truly world class professional driver and earn a living in motorsport, you need to compete with the best in the world regardless of gender. Ultimately, motorsport isn’t segregated so I think in the long term, we need to really focus our efforts on bringing more female talent in to the sport across the board so that the best can rise to the top.
SJ: What advice would you give any young girls or women wanting to break into motorsport, whether it be driving or engineering?
SW: My advice would be the same whichever field they were looking at: believe in yourself. Find out what it is that you feel passionate about and go for it. Don’t be scared to stand up for yourself and be seen and heard. Work hard, push yourself and never, ever lose the belief in your abilities. Use initiatives like Dare to be Different to connect and widen your network. We have an incredible line-up of ambassadors who provide mentoring and education to the next generation. But above all else, don’t wait for doors to open for you, knock them down.
For more information on the Dare to be Different initiative: https://www.daretobedifferent.org/
