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Mugello Masterclass

Qualifying:

What a difference two weekends make! Not very far away from the LeMans track there wasn’t a rain cloud in sight this weekend at the Mugello circuit.

Mugello circuit. Courtesy of: Honda Racing Corporation website

During the qualifying session, the top 5 riders were so close, each within a shout of taking first place but it was Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) who took his fourth consecutive pole of the season from Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Johann Zarco (Ducati), Aleix Espagaro (Aprilia) and Jack Miller (Ducati) in fifth place. Upon being interviewed Fabio said that it was “…the best lap I have ever done…”.

Meanwhile Marc Marquez (Honda), who was struggling, used the qualifying session as a tester and only managed to gain eleventh on the grid.

Race:

The magic of Mugello was subdued this weekend with a very sombre cloud, following on from the news of Moto 3 rider Jason Dupasquier, who sadly passed away from injuries sustained during the qualifying session on Saturday. Every rider and fan was saddened to hear of his passing and it was another reminder of just how dangerous this sport, that we love, can be.

A minutes silence was held in his honour prior to the race.

From the very start drama reigned, as the riders were finishing their warm-up lap and lining up on the grid Enea Bastianini (Ducati) ran into the back of Zarco, who was slowing down ready to get into position. After this freak accident, Bastianini was unhurt but was unable to start the race, with no start delay announced. Zarco had minor damage to the back of his Ducati and was able to continue.

Bastianini at the start of the race. Courtesy of: BT Sport – MotoGP

For the first time as well this year, Quartararo’s Yamaha had the holeshot device installed, which Ducati first demonstrated in 2019. It is designed to mechanically lower the rear of the bike to reduce wheelieing off the line and improve acceleration at the start of a race. It seemed to do the trick as Quartararo got a great start with 23 laps to go, however it was Bagnaia that took the lead, at his home Grand Prix, from Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira (KTM).

A. Espargaro, starting in fourth place had a terrible start and managed to drop down five places.

Lap two saw the weekend go from bad to worse for Marc Marquez as he crashed out on turn three, after trying to overtake Brad Binder (KTM), causing Brad’s airbag to deploy which meant he had to race the next couple of laps with it inflated. It also caused Franko Morbidelli (Yamaha) to have to take evasive action to miss Marquez’s Honda, seeing him travel into the gravel, luckily both he and Binder were able to carry on racing.

Moments later on turn nine, Bagnaia, one of the home heroes, also crashed from the lead, after touching the white line at the edge of the track. (The white lines are notorious for being painted slippery edges that can cause riders to slip out of a race). This mistake granted Fabio the lead.

First place wasn’t Quartararo’s for long as the Ducati power of Zarco quickly took the lead on the straight and gained him the fastest lap.

A mini battle broke out between the two Frenchmen and soon on lap three El Diablo regained first.

Quartararo leading the way. Courtesy of: MotoGP

They weren’t the only pair vying for positions though as Takaaki Nakagami (Honda) and Michele Pirro (Ducati) fought for 9th place and the two Suzuki’s (Joan Mir and Alex Rins) tussled for 5th.

The Suzuki riders were also hot-on-the-heels, and gaining on last weekend’s winner, Miller – who had managed to make-up one place since the start in 4th.

The battle at the front fought on between the Yamaha and the Ducati, neither one of the racers wanting to give in. All too quickly though Quartararo managed to gain a slight lead on lap 4, which was just enough for Zarco not to be able to fight back.

Gapping started to appear on lap 5, with Quartararo and Zarco in the first group, Oliveira on his own and Miller, Rins and Mir in a battling group.

With the first rule of Motorsport – beat your teammate – ringing in their ears, the reigning World Champion – Mir and his teammate Rins continued to fight for fifth and sixth. With Miller holding and defending his position but a small mistake which took him slightly wide, on the last corner of lap 8, saw Rins go past. The straight was the Ducati’s time to shine and regained the place back with ease. Rins was still hanging on though and passed Miller again, later on the same lap Mir went through on Miller and Binder followed, leaving Jack back in 7th.

Courtesy of: suzuki-motogp.com/press

All the excitement happening behind him – Quartararo extended his lead – 1.792 seconds from Zarco then became 2.201 seconds by lap 10. Arm pump no longer an issue for the young Frenchman and the pressure he admitted he felt last year now in the past, he began to show just how metronomic his laps could be.

Oliveira had condensed the gap between himself and Zarco and had managed to pass him on lap 16. A 4.128 second gap between him and Quartararo however seemed more of an impossible catch. The Ducati power wasn’t enough and the KTM soon pulled away. Leaving Zarco in the clutches of Mir, who soon was able to pass him too.

It was quickly Rins’s turn to go past Zarco with 6 laps to go, taking fourth place. However, whilst trail-breaking into a corner on worn tyres, Rins had his fourth DNF in a row and crashed out, letting Zarco re-gain the position.

On lap 21, it was unfortunately, Honda’s top rider – Nakagami’s turn to also crash out of the race.

But, it was Fabio Quartararo who took the chequered flag for the third time this year and he dedicated his win to the young Dupasquier.

There was controversy with who was second and third on the podium though. Oliveira crossed the line in second and Mir in third. But, Oliveira was given a penalty and had to give a place away for exceeding track limits meaning Mir got second. Minutes later, it became apparent that Mir had the exact same penalty. The decision was made to let them both keep their original results.

Top 10 race results:

First

Quartararo

Second

Oliveira

Third

Mir

Fourth

Zarco

Fifth

Binder

Sixth

Miller

Seventh

A. Espargaro

Eigth

Vinales

Ninth

Petrucci

Tenth

Rossi

It is worth noting that this is Valentino Rossi’s (Yamaha) first top 10 finish in 2021.

Top 5 championship standings:

First

Quartararo

105 points

Second

Zarco

81 points

Third

Bagnaia

79 points

Fourth

Miller

74 points

Fifth

Mir

65 points

Who will be victorious next round in Spain? We haven’t got long to find out.

 

 

 

Thoughts and prayers go out to Jason Dupasquier’s family and friends.

Taken too young – too soon.

Ride on Ja50n Dupasquier.

2001 – 2021 Courtesy of: MotoGP

 

 

(Featured image: Courtesy of MotoGP)

 

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F2 Mugello: Lundgaard dominates sprint race

Renault junior Christian Lundgaard took his second win of the F2 season with a dominant performance in the Mugello sprint race, ahead of Louis Deletraz and maiden podium finisher Juri Vips.

Starting from third, Lundgaard got a rapid launch to get ahead of polesitter Artem Markelov and second-placed Vips into Turn 1. Deletraz also made up several places at the start to go from sixth to third ahead of Vips, Mick Schumacher and Felipe Drugovich.

Lundgaard started breaking away from Markelov and the chasing pack almost immediately. By the end of lap 4 he was already over three seconds ahead of Markelov, which only kept increasing as Markelov struggled to keep pace.

Markelov’s difficulties saw him lose second place to Deletraz on lap 6, then third to Vips a lap later. But despite Deletraz finding clear air ahead of the HWA, he was unable to make up any more ground to Lundgaard than Markelov was. By the halfway stage of the race Lundgaard had increased his gap to almost seven seconds, which swelled to 14.5s by the chequered flag.

As Lundgaard flew clear, Deletraz came under pressure from Vips later on in the race. In the final laps the gap was just a few tenths and Vips made several attempts to get by into Turn 1. But ultimately Deletraz was able to keep ahead and take second place, while Vips finished third for his first podium in F2.

Juri Vips, DAMS (Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)

Mick Schumacher finished just off the podium in fourth, taking valuable points to extend his new championship lead over Callum Ilott. Guanyu Zhou took fifth place after a superb charge through the field from near the back after his retirement in yesterday’s feature race. After making steady progress through the backmarkers early on, Zhou found his way into the points on lap 17 and continued moving forwards with a late burst of pace.

Ilott finished behind his UNI-Virtuosi teammate in sixth ahead of Jehan Daruvala, while Trident’s Marino Sato picked up his first point of the season in eighth. Markelov continued to struggle for pace throughout the race and eventually finished in last place, while Drugovich also slipped back out of the points and down to 15th by the flag.

After taking a 1-2 finish in yesterday’s feature race, Hitech had a complete reversal of fortunes in the sprint race. By the halfway stage Nikita Mazepin and Luca Ghiotto were running fifth and sixth, but on lap 15 they collided at Turn 1 as Mazepin locked up while Ghiotto tried to pass him on the outside.

The crash saw Ghiotto retire on the spot. Mazepin was able to continue in fifth initially, but shortly after was given a ten-second penalty and then forced into a pit stop by damage concerns, which saw him finish in 18th.

Luca Ghiotto, Hitech (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

After Mugello, Schumacher leads the championship by eight points from Ilott, while Lundgaard moves into third place ahead of Shwartzman by five points. In the teams’ standings, Prema now has a 40-point lead over UNI-Virtuosi.

Formula 2 returns in two weeks’ time at Sochi in support of the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix.

Full race result:

Pos. Driver Team Points
1 Christian Lundgaard (FL) ART Grand Prix 17
2 Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System 12
3 Juri Vips DAMS 10
4 Mick Schumacher Prema Racing 8
5 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi Racing 6
6 Callum Ilott UNI-Virtuosi Racing 4
7 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 2
8 Marino Sato Trident 1
9 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing
10 Roy Nissany Trident
11 Marcus Armstrong ART Grand Prix
12 Pedro Piquet Charouz Racing System
13 Jack Aitken Campos Racing
14 Nobuharu Matsushita MP Motorsport
15 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport
16 Guilherme Samaia Campos Racing
17 Dan Ticktum DAMS
18 Nikita Mazepin Hitech Grand Prix
19 Yuki Tsunoda Carlin
20 Artem Markelov BWT HWA Racelab
Ret. Luca Ghiotto Hitech Grand Prix
Ret. Giuliano Alesi BWT HWA Racelab

 

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F3 Mugello: Piastri beats Pourchaire to title after Sargeant crash

Oscar Piastri was crowned the 2020 Formula 3 champion after the Mugello sprint race finale, overcoming a late charge from outside contender Theo Pourchaire after main rival Logan Sargeant retired from a first lap collision.

Sargeant started the race as the highest title contender in fifth on the reverse grid, while Pourchaire started in eighth and Piastri outside the points in 11th. But Sargeant’s title challenge was ended at the second corner of the race when he was squeezed by Sebastian Fernandez into Lirim Zendelli. Sargeant and Zendelli both went off into the gravel, and despite Sargeant’s efforts he couldn’t make it back to the track and was out of the race.

As the safety car came out to recover Sargeant and Zendelli’s cars, Piastri looked set to take the title as he ran seventh with his only remaining rival Pourchaire behind in eighth. But at the restart on lap 4 Pourchaire immediately leapt past Piastri and then Jake Hughes for sixth as he tried to turn his nine-point deficit into an unlikely championship steal.

Theo Pourchaire, ART (Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)

As the opening phase of the race unfolded, everything seemed to fall into place for Pourchaire’s title hopes. As he passed his ART teammate Aleksandr Smolyar for fifth and targeted the podium positions he needed to become champion, Piastri struggled for pace and was shuffled down to tenth by his own teammate Frederik Vesti.

But after Pourchaire passed Enzo Fittipaldi and Sebastian Fernandez to reach third place in the second half of the race, Piastri’s pace started to recover. The Australian took ninth from the struggling Smolyar at the same time as Pourchaire passed Fernandez, meaning that Piastri would still have enough points to win the championship if Pourchaire couldn’t improve to second.

With 1.5s between Pourchaire and second-placed David Beckmann on lap 17, it looked far from unlikely that Pourchaire would be able to take the position. But while Piastri’s pace was improving, Pourchaire’s earlier charge took its toll on his tyres and he was unable to make up much of the gap between him and Beckmann.

Meanwhile, Piastri continued picking off the lower top ten to make Pourchaire’s job even more difficult. On lap 18 Piastri passed Vesti for eighth place, then caught Fernandez as the ART dropped back through the field and took seventh place in a drag race to the line on the final lap.

Finishing seventh with Pourchaire third, Piastri won the championship by three points, while Pourchaire took the runner-up position from Sargeant by one point.

Liam Lawson, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

The sprint race was won by Liam Lawson, who put in a commanding performance from pole to win by almost seven seconds from Beckmann. The win gave Lawson fifth place in the championship ahead of Beckmann, although both were kept out of the top four by Vesti.

Fittipaldi took his best result of the season just behind the podium in fourth, ahead of Richard Verschoor and Hughes. Behind Piastri and Fernandez, the final points were taken by Vesti and Smolyar, with Vesti also earning the bonus two points for the fastest lap.

Full race result:

Pos. Driver Team Points
1 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 15
2 David Beckmann Trident 12
3 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 10
4 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 8
5 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 6
6 Jake Hughes HWA Racelab 5
7 Oscar Piastri Prema Racing 4
8 Sebastian Fernandez ART Grand Prix 3
9 Frederik Vesti (FL) Prema Racing 4
10 Aleksandr Smolyar ART Grand Prix 1
11 Jack Doohan HWA Racelab
12 Dennis Hauger Hitech Grand Prix
13 Alex Peroni Campos Racing
14 Clement Novalak Carlin Buzz Racing
15 Matteo Nannini Jenzer Motorsport
16 Olli Caldwell Trident
17 Lukas Dunner MP Motorsport
18 Roman Stanek Charouz Racing System
19 David Schumacher Carlin Buzz Racing
20 Bent Viscaal MP Motorsport
21 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport
22 Federico Malvestiti Jenzer Motorsport
23 Michael Belov Charouz Racing System
24 Sophia Floersch Campos Racing
25 Cameron Das Carlin Buzz Racing
26 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing
Ret. Logan Sargeant Prema Racing
Ret. Lirim Zendelli Trident
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F3 Mugello: Vesti wins feature race as Sargeant levels championship

Frederik Vesti beat Jake Hughes and Lirim Zendelli to victory in the Mugello feature race, as Logan Sargeant drew level with Oscar Piastri in the title standings.

With plenty of championship positions on the line, the race began with a relatively cautious start. Zendelli, Hughes and Vesti, starting from the top three, held their positions into the first corner, while most of the top ten behind them followed through more or less in order. However, Enzo Fittipaldi was shuffled down from his starting position of fourth off the line by Sargeant and Theo Pourchaire.

Zendelli and Hughes, battling for seventh in the standings, began to pull away from the rest of the pack in the opening phase of the race as both set fastest laps early on. While Zendelli initially held a one-second gap over Hughes, a mistake on lap 4 gave the HWA driver a chance into Turn 1 at the start of lap 5.

Zendelli held the position around the outside, but was unable to keep Hughes behind for long. After trying another move on lap 6, Hughes finally got by for first a lap later, hanging on around the outside to take Zendelli into the chicane after Turn 1.

This began a game of cat and mouse between the Trident and the HWA, as Zendelli came back at Hughes on lap 7 to retake the lead before being passed by Hughes again on lap 13.

Jake Hughes, HWA (Clive Mason / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

This close fighting for the lead allowed Vesti to draw up enough to join the battle in the second half of the race. On lap 14 Zendelli went deep into Turn 1 trying to repass Hughes, and this put Vesti within a few tenths of the Trident. A lap later, Vesti moved around the outside into Turn 1 and moved ahead of Zendelli into second.

Vesti wasted little time in going after Hughes, and he tried to take the lead at the start of the next lap. Hughes held the inside into Turn 1 to see Vesti off, but a mistake from Hughes later in the lap gave Vesti the opportunity to take first place on lap 17.

Hughes briefly retook the lead on the penultimate lap with another overtake around the outside of Turn 1, but Vesti came back at him at the same corner on the final lap and got back ahead. With few overtaking opportunities later in the lap, Vesti was able to hold on and beat Hughes to his third win of the year.

Zendelli had held on to third for most of the race after dropping behind Vesti. But the consequences of his hard battle with Hughes earlier on meant that he ran out of tyre life in the later stages, and ended up losing third place to Pourchaire on the final lap.

Logan Sargeant, Prema (Clive Mason / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

While Vesti battled for the race win, his Prema teammates Sargeant and Piastri were fighting hard to better their respective championship positions going into tomorrow’s title-deciding sprint race.

After getting up to fourth at the start, Sargeant was unable to keep pace with the top three and ended up fifth behind Pourchaire by the end of the second lap. As Pourchaire then set off in pursuit of the podium, Sargeant’s race settled into one with Fittipaldi to hold fifth place.

Sargeant stayed ahead for most of the race, but Fittipaldi got ahead on lap 17 as Sargeant struggled with oversteer from his fading tyres. Sargeant retook fifth on lap 19, but was unable to hold on to the place and Fittipaldi got back through on the final lap for his best finish of the season so far.

Finishing in sixth wasn’t such a loss to Sargeant, however, as his main rival Piastri failed to score at all. Relegated to 16th on the grid due to a penalty from the Monza sprint race, Piastri’s job was to make as many moves as possible and try to salvage reverse grid pole for tomorrow.

But despite making early progress, picking off the likes of Matteo Nannini, Alex Peroni and Dennis Hauger in the early phase of the race, Piastri’s pace slowed after passing Richard Verschoor for 12th on lap 13. It took Piastri another five laps to take 11th place from Jack Doohan, by which point tenth-placed Liam Lawson was too far ahead for Piastri to reel in by the chequered flag.

Jack Doohan, HWA (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

With Sargeant scoring eight points for sixth, the two Premas are level on 160 points in the championship. Piastri is still ahead on results countback, but he will start tomorrow’s crucial reverse grid race just outside the points, while Sargeant will start from fifth place.

As for the other outside title contenders, only Pourchaire is still able to win the championship tomorrow. His podium has in fact bettered his chances, as the ART driver is now only nine points behind Piastri and Sargeant on 151.

Full race result:

Pos. Driver Team Points
1 Frederik Vesti Prema Racing 25
2 Jake Hughes HWA Racelab 18
3 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 15
4 Lirim Zendelli (FL) Trident 14
5 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 10
6 Logan Sargeant Prema Racing 8
7 Aleksandr Smolyar ART Grand Prix 6
8 David Beckmann Trident 4
9 Sebastian Fernandez ART Grand Prix 2
10 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1
11 Oscar Piastri Prema Racing
12 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport
13 Jack Doohan HWA Racelab
14 Dennis Hauger Hitech Grand Prix
15 David Schumacher Carlin Buzz Racing
16 Matteo Nannini Jenzer Motorsport
17 Olli Caldwell Trident
18 Federico Malvestiti Jenzer Motorsport
19 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport
20 Alex Peroni Campos Racing
21 Lukas Dunner MP Motorsport
22 Sophia Floersch Campos Racing
23 Cameron Das Carlin Buzz Racing
24 Clement Novalak Carlin Buzz Racing
25 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing
26 Roman Stanek Charouz Racing System
27 Michael Belov Charouz Racing System
28 Bent Viscaal MP Motorsport
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F3 Mugello preview: advantage Piastri in title decider

Formula 3 takes to Mugello in Italy this weekend for the final round of a sensational 2020 season, and the conclusion of the title fight between Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant.

Mathematically there are six drivers capable of becoming champion this weekend, with Theo Pourchaire, Liam Lawson, David Beckmann and Frederik Vesti all still close enough that a near-perfect weekend could earn them the crown.

But realistically, Piastri and Sargeant have been the only drivers with any real claim to the championship this season, and it would take something remarkable to deny either of them now.

Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant, Prema (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

It’s Piastri who has the upper hand coming to Mugello. After Sargeant failed to score in both races at Monza, Piastri has an eight-point lead over his teammate. It’s not the largest buffer, but it does mean that if Piastri can outscore Sargeant by nine points in the feature race, the title will be his.

This means that if Sargeant misses out on points again in race one, Piastri could finish fifth (providing he doesn’t take any extra points for pole or the fastest lap) and become champion. Alternatively, if Piastri wins the feature race, Sargeant would have to be second just to keep the fight alive into the final race.

Therefore, with overtaking expected to be difficult at Mugello, Sargeant’s best hope will be to qualify ahead of Piastri and hope to create some space between them while also chasing the bonus two points for fastest lap.

But there will be extra drama in the title battle this weekend, as both drivers come to Mugello with grid penalties hanging over them from incidents in the Monza sprint race. Piastri has a five-place penalty for causing Beckmann’s retirement with a Turn 5 collision, while Sargeant will drop three places for cutting across Vesti’s front wing and putting them both out of the race.

This could have huge ramifications for the championship, as Piastri and Sargeant will likely be starting in the thick of the midfield and therefore at much greater risk of a first lap incident.

Theo Pourchaire, ART (Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

While the rest of the top six will be hoping for problems for Piastri and Sargeant to give them a last-gasp shot at the title, their focus coming to Mugello will be mostly on the tight battle for third in the standings.

Pourchaire heads the group after his double podium at Monza, with nine points over Lawson. Both drivers have been revelations this season, and will be targeting the “best of the rest” spot as a springboard for a title challenge in 2021.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are eight drivers heading to the final round still in search of their first points: Cameron Das, Lukas Dunner, David Schumacher, Jack Doohan, Sophia Floersch, Federico Malvestiti, Calan Williams, and Alessio Deledda. Each of these will be desperate to make some moves this weekend and not end the season still with a zero next to their name.

Of those, Schumacher will perhaps be the most frustrated if he’s unable to reach the points in Mugello. His mid-season switch from Charouz to Carlin has so far not yielded the step up the order he was hoping for. And to make matters worse, since his move Charouz has gone on to score with all three drivers, including Schumacher’s rookie replacement Michael Belov.

Schumacher seemed to have a turnaround in Monza as he set the fastest time in practice, only to start from the back of the grid after a messy qualifying. But if he can bring that practice pace to Mugello and maintain it across the whole weekend—no mean feat in a field as competitive as Formula 3—then he’s got every chance of being rewarded with his first points and confidence boost for next season.

David Schumacher, Carlin (Photo by Mark Thompson / Getty Images)
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F2 Mugello preview: Ferrari juniors on top in Ferrari’s backyard

Formula 2 returns this weekend for round nine of the championship, in support of the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello.

Mugello is set to be a special weekend for F1, being Ferrari’s record 1,000th Grand Prix and taking place at a circuit they own. But while the Scuderia is currently suffering through one of its worst seasons in F1 to date, its academy drivers Callum Ilott, Mick Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman will give them plenty to be proud of as they enter the weekend first, second and third in the F2 championship respectively.

Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Photo by Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Monza proved a particularly happy hunting ground for the Ferrari academy, with Schumacher taking his first win and eighth podium of the season in the two races. But it was Ilott who came away with a seven-point lead in the standings, having taken pole for the feature race and inheriting the sprint race win from the disqualified Dan Ticktum.

Trying to predict whether they’ll have the same form at Mugello is tricky. Shwartzman and Schumacher both have competitive experience of the track, but nothing more recent than their last Italian F4 campaigns in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

However, the Prema team they drive for has spent many a race weekend at the circuit over the years. They’ll have plenty of knowledge to draw on, and arguably have the best chance of giving their drivers a winning car.

And speaking of winning cars, Schumacher will have an opportunity this weekend to drive one of the very best, as he will take his father’s Ferrari F2004 around the track in a very special demonstration run.

Mick Schumacher driving the Ferrari F2004 at Hockenheim in 2019 (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)

As well as Schumacher and Shwartzman, five other drivers on the current F2 grid have experience of Mugello: Guanyu Zhou, Luca Ghiotto, Marcus Armstrong, Marino Sato, and DAMS stand-in Juri Vips.

Armstrong and Vips have the most recent experience, having raced there in the 2017 Italian F4 championship. Both had strong results that year: across the two rounds raced at Mugello, the two drivers collected five poles, three wins and five further podiums between them.

Of course, results in 2017 Italian F4 don’t guarantee results in 2020 F2. But Armstrong and Vips will both be hoping their prior knowledge of the trick will give them some edge at least over their rivals.

After a strong start to the year with two podiums at the Red Bull Ring, Armstrong has yet to finish in the points again since. As another one of Ferrari’s juniors, he needs to get back to the kind of form he showed in F3 last year if he wants the FDA’s focus for a 2021 F2 title campaign. Armstrong still has four rounds of the season left to recover from his 14th position in the standings, and there’s no better place for him to start than on Ferrari’s home turf.

Marcus Armstrong, ART (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)

As for Vips, Mugello may mark his final opportunity to score points in F2 this year as Sean Gelael is currently marked to return to DAMS from Sochi onwards.

Vips has enjoyed an impressive debut so far, having challenged for points in each of the four races he’s contested despite being parachuted into the series with little to no preparation.

However, the Estonian must be frustrated that for all his efforts, he’s finished just on the wrong side of the top ten each time. In fact, his average finishing position from the last two rounds is 10.5, so it’s not as if Vips needs a gargantuan upshift in form to break into the points.

It’s not yet been announced whether Vips is targeting a full-time F2 campaign next year, or if he will try to contest Super Formula again instead. But whichever route Red Bull chose for him, capping off his first run in F2 with a couple of points will be an excellent way to make the most of what’s been a challenging year for him.

Juri Vips, DAMS (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
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Ferrari’s 1000th race – but hardly a celebration: Tuscan Grand Prix Preview

We did get an Italian team on the top step of the podium in Monza, and I would love to say it was not the Italian team we expected.

But in reality, no one was anticipating that there would be a Ferrari – or an Alpha Tauri –  winning in front of the Tifosi like they did last year, and no one would predict that this weekend either at Mugello.

But as the F1 circus rolls in towards the 5.2 kilometre Tuscan race track, Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly enters the weekend as the 109th different winner in F1 history following his tremendous and shock victory last Sunday at the temple of speed.

Pierre Gasly celebrates his momentous victory in Monza – Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

For Ferrari, their 1000th race will be played out in front of the 10,000 spectators that will be permitted to enter the grandstands, but following the presence of the Netflix during what was a disastrous weekend for the Scuderia, they will probably be wishing they were not in attendance.

A brake failure for Sebastian Vettel and an enormous crash for Charles Leclerc followed on from a horrible qualifying performance for them in Monza. However, the slightly more downforce-orientated nature of the Mugello circuit compared to Monza may soften the blow to the Ferrari team that have been battered and bruised thus far by the car’s terrible lack of performance.

The Italian Grand Prix was a home race to forget for Ferrari – Courtesy of Ferrari Press Office

Mercedes, meanwhile, were dealt their first real blow of the 2020 season, as a polemic pitstop penalty for Lewis Hamilton cost him any chance of a victory, while team mate Valtteri Bottas continued his frustrating run of form by finishing fifth and failing to capitalise on the red flag and penalty drama. A win at what is a very technical and tricky race track would do his confidence a world of good, even if his world championship hopes seem to have dissipated.

Racing point and McLaren enter the weekend on almost as big a high as Alpha Tauri, following magnificent podium finishes for Lance Stroll in third and Carlos Sainz in second, but the Spaniard did not hide his disappointment at not being able to snatch the win from Gasly at the end. The higher-downforce nature at Mugello will suit McLaren slightly better than Alpha Tauri and Racing Point, but it would probably need a race equally as eventful as Monza to earn them a podium.

Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll join Gasly on the podium in Monza – Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

But having said that, Stroll and Lando Norris are tied for points for fourth place in the drivers’ championship. They find themselves both ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon, who failed to score last weekend and is under pressure from the driver he replaced at the senior team last year – Pierre Gasly.

The Frenchman will be fully aware he is back in with a shout of being promoted once again for next season, and there will now be much anticipation as F1 heads to the first of the new tracks hurriedly introduced in the wake of the pandemic-affected 2020 season.

Following the second win for Alpha Tauri in the Italian Grand Prix, a second Italian chance beckons as Ferrari prepare for their 1000th race.

 

Feature Image Courtesy of Red Bull content Pool

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F1 completes 2020 schedule as Istanbul returns

Yes, you heard that correct! With its heavily revised schedule that stemmed from F1 having to suspend its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we now know for a fact that F1 will have a season containing 17 Grands Prix from July to December.

Along the way, we have unfortunately lost fan favourite events such as Baku, Suzuka and Interlagos, and the two new additions to the schedule Hanoi and Zandvoort. But in their place we’ve had some incredible tracks added in to more than make up for it. These being new circuits such as Mugello and Algarve, and returning beloved circuits such as Nürburgring and Imola. Well another much beloved circuit is making an unexpected return and that’s Istanbul Park – the home of the Turkish Grand Prix between 2005 and 2011.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – MAY 08: Mark Webber of Australia and Red Bull Racing holds off Fernando Alonso of Spain and Ferrari during the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix at the Istanbul Park circuit on May 8, 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Mark Webber; Fernando Alonso // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI201412160311 // Usage for editorial use only //

With the announcement of the return to Turkey which will be on November 15th, also came the completion of the entire schedule. F1 will finish off the season with a triple header in the Middle East: two Grands Prix on the Bahrain International Circuit on November 29th and December 6th, then the ever beloved (I say with sarcasm) Yas Marina circuit will host the final GP on December 13th.

The second race in Bahrain however, does have an added variable. With the other two circuits to host two GP’s this year (Red Bull Ring and Silverstone), neither circuit was held on an alternative layout, but the two Bahrain races will not be on the same layout. For those of you who were watching F1 back in 2010, you’ll remember that Bahrain held the season opener and used a longer variant of the usual layout with a section between the typical turns four and five that extended out and fed back into the regular GP circuit.

2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, Sunday – Wolfgang Wilhelm

It wasn’t a beloved layout and they reverted back to the regular layout from 2012 onwards after the 2011 race had to be called off due to civil unrest. Rest assured, this second race in Bahrain isn’t going to be on what is dubbed the ‘Endurance’ layout, nor is it on the ‘Paddock’ layout that players of the most recent F1 games have grown accustomed to when racing the alternate Bahrain GP layout.

2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, Sunday

The second Bahrain race will take place on the ‘Outer circuit’, which breaks away from the traditional Grand Prix circuit at turn four like the Endurance layout, but then takes a detour to what is normally turn 13, so it misses the entirety of the infield. Ross Brawn has gone on record stating that it’s perhaps the closest F1 will get to an oval, so expect the teams to be running a radically different downforce package to the race on the traditional GP loop.

Alright now that’s over with, let us wax lyrical about how amazing Istanbul Park is! F1 hasn’t been to the Turkish GP venue since 2011 but it still holds a special place in F1 fans’ hearts. The circuit has not got one bad corner, the peak of which comes at the quadruple apex turn eight which a lot of F1 fans are excited about considering the cornering speeds of the current era cars.

ISTANBUL (TURCHIA) 06/05/2011
© FOTO ERCOLE COLOMBO

Istanbul has always had a lack of attendees, the result of the organisers not seeing value in it after their stunt in 2006. They attempted to get the world to recognise a breakaway of the island of Cyprus as the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” of which only Turkey recognises. This resulted in Cyprus filing a complaint and the FIA fined the organisers five million dollars.

Since losing the Grand Prix, the organisers have turned the circuit into an over-glorified car showroom, which just hurts to hear. it’s like using the Mona Lisa as a coaster for a hot drink mug. It had even lost its FIA Grade-1 rating which is why I wasn’t expecting it to be in the conversation to be hosting a Grand Prix on the revised schedule. But it has, and it is! Savour it everyone, potentially we may never see this circuit again.

Hopefully Codemasters can find a way to get all the new tracks into the next F1 game, even if it is later on as downloadable content.

That’s it, the 2020 Formula One World Championship will conclude on December 13th with the Abu Dhabi GP after 17 races. If only we could pick Istanbul up and drop it in France so the French could have a decent circuit to host their Grand Prix, but we don’t live in an ideal world. Nevertheless, I’m sure a lot of you out there are looking forward to seeing the return of this beloved circuit.

 

Feature Image Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

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F1 adds Nürburgring, Imola and Algarve to 2020 schedule

Going into the 2020 F1 season, we were set to have the most Grands Prix in the entire 70-year history of the sport. However, the COVID-19 pandemic heavily compromised the F1 schedule and a revised calendar of eight races was published with two Grands Prix held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and Silverstone in Britain, with the rest also taking place within Europe. They were joined later on by a circuit that had never hosted a Grand Prix before: Mugello.

Scuderia Ferrari Media

Well now we have some more welcome additions to the newly revised Corona edition of the 2020 schedule. The Nürburgring will host the Eifel Grand Prix on 11 October, Algarve will hold the Portuguese Grand Prix on 25 October, and Imola will host the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on November 1st. For the first time in F1’s history, Imola will be a two-day Grand Prix event as opposed to the traditional three-day format.

Mark Thompson, Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

The first and last circuits will sound familiar as they are former Grand Prix venues, with the Nürburgring GP circuit having last hosted a Grand Prix back in 2013. This was part of an alternating arrangement with Hockenheim every other year since 2007, before the Nürburgring dropped off the schedule ahead of the 2014 season.

Hockenheim had become a fan favourite over the years and hosted Grands Prix in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019 before being left off the initial 2020 calendar, and it had been in the running to host a race this year on the revised schedule before the circuit boss ruled out that possibility. I may be in the minority but I much prefer the Nürburgring, so I’m absolutely elated to hear that F1 is finally returning to what I would consider the rightful home of the German Grand Prix.

Next up is Imola, which was previously the home of the San Marino Grand Prix and F1 last raced there in 2006. Since then, it has had a minor change to its layout, with the old last chicane Variante Bassa section being moved over and used for the motorcycle layout. However, car racing now completely skips past it so when F1 goes back there, they’ll be running from Ravazza to Tamburello completely flat out on the not-so-straight start/finish straight.

Imola and Nürburgring are very old school and have a lot of long corners with plenty of elevation change, and are of course both known quantities to the F1 world, however the third track in question is not.

The Algarve circuit is located in Portugal, which last held a Grand Prix in 1996 at Estoril. Algarve hosts World Superbikes and even held a round of the GP2 2009 Championship, as well as being a test venue for Formula One. Therefore it has a lot in common with Mugello. A lot of you may recognise it as the circuit from in the first episode of The Grand Tour, in which Clarkson, Hammond and May went there to see which was quickest between the McLaren P1, the Porsche 918 and the Ferrari LaFerrari.

Like in my Mugello article, I have a video of an onboard lap I recorded in advance on Project CARS 2 in a Formula Renault 3.5. Again, as in my Mugello article, please excuse my terrible driving and usage of driving line because I am not David Tonizza.

Starting the lap you have a huge drop before running into a very fast right-hander called Primeira, which will definitely separate the men from the boys in qualifying. Then a quick right-handed flick before the Lagos hairpin which takes you onto a very fast and steep left hander, and a long run towards the Torre Vip hairpin.

Run through the flat out turn seven into turn eight which is rather deceptive and I reckon a lot of drivers may be compelled to commit to it being flat out but it does tighten up before it opens back out again. You don’t have time to think about that as you’re already entering Samsung corner, which looks tighter than it is as you come out of it and enter a huge dip.

The Craig Jones corner is next, and I would be very surprised if it wasn’t flat for the F1 drivers, as it sits on a steep incline and Portimão corner follows, which is also very blind. I can imagine a few drivers will lock their brakes here as they are turning more and more trying to open the corner.

A rollercoaster-esque downward turn 12 then meets turn 13, a slow speed yet still very open hairpin which will be undoubtedly tricky to get the optimal exit speed needed for the last two corners. Sagres starts out tight but opens up on exit and that leads to the iconic Galp corner, a downhill flatout right hander that many drivers will love, before a small incline that leads to the end of the lap.

Algarve like Mugello is high speed, undulating and will no doubt be a favourite of all these drivers. Whether or not it will produce good racing with these cars is another matter, but at least the worst case scenario is a boring race on an amazing set of circuits as opposed to boring racing at Sochi.

The Nürburgring, Algarve and Imola circuits join the already confirmed Red Bull Ring, Hungaroring, Silverstone, Barcelona, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Mugello and Sochi on the revised 2020 schedule. With the FIA having ruled out the Americas to host any racing this year and very little chance of any happening in far east Asia, the most we can perhaps expect is two more Grand Prix in the Middle East, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

13 Grand Prix have been confirmed, and the most we will get is 15. I do not feel envious of Codemasters, but I do hope they add in Mugello, Nürburgring, Algarve and Imola in next year’s game.

Feature Image Courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari Media