April 2021

Bottas and Russell clashed at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when the Williams driver tried to take ninth off the Finn. His overtake went horribly wrong as he drew alongside the Mercedes, touched a damp spot and promptly crashed into Bottas. Both drivers went off at high speeds, their cars wrecked but thankfully neither was hurt in the incident. Russell, who has since apologised to Bottas and both Mercedes and Williams, said in the aftermath that he felt Bottas had defended more aggressively against him than he would another driver. The reason being, it was implied, is because Russell is the driver being lined up to replace Bottas at Mercedes next season. Bottas, however, insists he has no issues with Russell, in fact he barely knows him. He said, as quoted by ESPN: “I’ve never really worked that closely with him, but obviously he’s been around for some time because he’s been the reserve driver and done some testing for the team. “I know him a little bit, but there have never been any issues. “In terms of this one, obviously I was not happy with how it ended up. But I’m an easygoing guy, so there are no problems. “But I can’t say I’m friends with him, like I can’t say I’m friends with most or any of the drivers really. “From my side, no issues but today was not ideal because he made me lose a good chunk of points potentially today and it was his mistake.” As for Russell, he later said there are no problems between himself and his Finnish rival. Asked about his comment that Bottas defends more aggressively against him, the 23-year-old said: “There is no tension at all between Valtteri and I. Obviously you can take my comment as you wish. I think it was pretty clear how it was intended. “But maybe I was wrong. Maybe he’s just fighting for absolutely every position. “Valtteri and I will talk and we will clear the air. I’ve got no intention to hold any grudges or have any bad relationship with any driver on the grid.”

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, is actually billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s “lap dog”. That is the wild claim of former F1 team boss Colin Kolles, who admits he fell out with his Austrian friend Wolff some years ago. “Mr Wolff was a business partner of mine – I brought him into Formula 1, even if some people don’t want to know anything about that,” he told Sport1. Kolles, who ran the Silverstone based team that is currently called Aston Martin during its Jordan, Midland, Spyker and early Force India era, minimises the contribution Wolff made to Mercedes’ utter dominance of F1. “The structures were all established by Ross Brawn,” he insists. It is rumoured that Wolff has now bought up to EUR 42 million in shares of Aston Martin, the British carmaker that was taken over by Stroll last year. Kolles therefore warns Sebastian Vettel to tread carefully in his newly Aston Martin-branded F1 environment. “I am of the opinion that the Stroll-Wolff combination is a very dangerous one for Sebastian Vettel,” he said. “Many factors are playing a role in the background.” According to former HRT boss Kolles, Wolff is not at the same level as billionaire Stroll. “He is called the lap dog of Mr Stroll. That is a quote from Bernie Ecclestone,” he said.

George Russell has changed his view on Sunday’s crash with Valtteri Bottas at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, conceding that the Finnish driver was “probably not” to blame for their incident. The pair collided at almost 200 mph heading into the Tamburello chicane midway through a dramatic race at Imola, with Russell in particular appearing irate after they both shunted. Russell had moved to the outside of the Mercedes as he aimed to pass Bottas for P9 in the race – which in itself was a sign of the two’s varying performance levels on the day – but the Williams driver moved onto a wet part of the track, spun 90 degrees and collected the Mercedes at full speed. The Briton went and angrily confronted Bottas in the gravel and had put full blame on the Mercedes driver for the crash, making some scathing comments in his interviews after the race. Having had time to reflect, however, Russell has since changed his tune. “When you can review everything and look at it in slow motion and everything, and from certain camera angles, it all looks very, very different,” he said via RaceFans. “One camera angle makes it look one way, another camera angle, like I said, when you watch it from behind on the CCTV footage it looked quite clear, in a different opinion. “I was more frustrated because of the speed of the incident. I’ve never, ever had a crash at the end of a straight when we’re absolutely flat-out, and we’ve all seen the dangers of motorsport very recently and to be honest I would have reacted exactly the same had it been battling for the win, battling for ninth or battling for last. Because I just thought it was unnecessary and it was avoidable. “As I said, Valtteri did nothing that was outside the rules, but you have to take an element of responsibility and consideration into the fact of the conditions. “There’s certain things you can do in certain ways when everything’s stable, but when it’s a damp track, there is a kink, and you’re pushing someone towards the grass, onto the damp patches at over 200 miles an hour. There is a high risk of an incident, and that is why I was very disappointed because I just thought that was beyond a lack of respect, really, not towards me, but just a lack of respect towards these cars.” Bottas was out of position after a disappointing qualifying session, with Russell performing well in his Williams behind. The 31-year-old Finn couldn’t make his way through the train of cars in front of him, but Russell was able to close in and attempt an audacious move. The Briton added that he wouldn’t have changed his approach if he was attacking any other driver on track, but he still believes a move was possible against Bottas. “I’ve never been in a position where I’m fighting against a Mercedes,” he said. “Williams has not been fighting against Mercedes for probably five years. So it’s not even crossed my mind how I would fight against a Mercedes. “As I said, it was not a reckless move. The move was totally on. Valtteri defended hard, and he was fair to do so. But we were three quarters of the way down the so-called straight. It wasn’t like I lunged him from 20 metres back and crashed into the side of him. “It was unfortunate, the incident would not have happened if it wasn’t damp and if DRS was closed. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances. “Could it have been avoided? Yes. Was Valtteri in the wrong? Probably not. “Could he have done something slightly more? Maybe. Was I in the wrong? I caused the crash by spinning, but was I wrong to go for that overtake? Absolutely not. You would have been foolish to lift at that position.”

Frustrations showed as Sebastian Vettel called out the FIA’s professionalism after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday. Delays saw the stewards fail to issue the Aston Martin driver with a penalty for a pre-race rules violation until 20 minutes into the race. The German driver was awarded the mandatory 10-second stop-go penalty for not having his tyres fitted before the five minute signal prior to the start of the race. Both he and team-mate Lance Stroll suffered brake overheating problems during their reconnaissance laps, forcing their mechanics to undertake last minute repairs. Stroll was later able to take his place on the grid, whilst the substantial damage to Vettel’s brakes caused him to start from the pitlane. These repairs meant that his team then failed to fit his rear wheels in time. Regulations state that all tyres must be fitted to the car before the five minute signal is issued. Therefore, this should have been a clear-cut penalty, yet the stewards took nearly an hour to come to a decision. And Vettel was not at all happy with the FIA, feeling their delays cost him extra time in the race. The four-time world champion said: “Obviously the guys tried everything on the grid and I think they did really well, so they were really alert. “But I think we could have had a better race if the FIA was more alert.” By this point, the race had already been underway for 20 minutes and Vettel had just pitted on lap 20 to switch to medium tyres. With the rules requiring drivers to serve the penalty within three laps of it being issued, Vettel was forced to box once more on lap 22. Vettel explained: “They didn’t bother [issuing it] until way into the race so by that time the penalty cost a lot more than it would have earlier in the race.“So that’s not very professional.” Managing the challenging wet conditions at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, he was able to climb up the order to P14 before the penalty undid all his hard work. Eventually, gear selection problems forced Vettel to retire with two laps remaining. “We had plenty of issues. Not a trouble-free race that we were hoping for. Tough day,” he acknowledged. A disastrous start of the season for Vettel sees him sit 17th in the drivers’ standings on zero points. This was not the start of the season he would have hoped for as he searched for redemption with Aston Martin, following his torrid season with Ferrari last year.

FIA Race Director Michael Masi has explained why Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton wasn’t investigated for reversing back onto the track after he slid off the circuit. Hamilton had been pushing hard to catch Red Bull’s Max Verstappen midway through the Emilia Romagna GP, but slid off the track at Tosa while lapping another car. Clouting the tyre barrier with his front wing, Hamilton carefully extricated himself by selecting reverse and rejoining the circuit. With reversing onto a live racing circuit seeming to be something that warranted a penalty, fans took to social media to question why no penalty was given for the apparent infraction. However, there is no rule in the Sporting Regulations against reversing onto a live race track, only for reversing in the pitlane. However, the rules do state that drivers must rejoin the circuit in a safe and controlled manner, and Masi explained how Hamilton was able to do that despite driving in reverse. “I think, looking at the incident at the time, reversing out of the gravel trap to the edge of the circuit, listening to Lewis’s radio between he and his team, they were absolutely advising him all the way through where that was,” Masi told media, including RacingNews365. “So, in that particular circumstance, same thing again, I wouldn’t consider reporting that to the stewards.” Reversing onto a live racetrack after a mistake isn’t unique to Hamilton. McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen slid off at Mirabeau at Monaco in 1999, relinquishing second place to Ferrari’s Eddie Irvine as he reversed out of the escape area to rejoin, also without penalty. Masi confirmed that, while not against the rules, penalties can occur if it’s not done in a safe and controlled manner like what Hamilton did: “It’s a case by case basis that you need to review the complete set of circumstances that sit around it.”

Lewis Hamilton made a mistake halfway through the race that cost him a lot of time. With the red flag raised by the crash of George Russell and Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton suddenly had a chance of a podium again. A race to catch up followed and the world champion enjoyed it. Hamilton is honest and tells the FIA press conference press directly that his start was far from perfect. He also congratulated Max Verstappen and Lando Norris with the nice race they had done. “I had a nice battle with Lando at the end. I didn’t expect to be here after I was up against the wall.” It’s not often that Hamilton has to fight his way back to the podium from midfield, but that’s what made the race so special for the Mercedes driver. He reminisced about his younger years when he was still driving karts and often had to start from behind. “I loved it! That’s actually how my career started when I was younger. When I was little we had an old kart, so I always started from the back. It brought me back to my roots,” Hamilton revealed. After the red flag Hamilton was ninth, but managed to climb back into second place.

Plans to introduce ‘Sprint Qualifying’ races this year are to go ahead after an agreement was reached to allow teams to exceed the budget cap to pay for crash damage. Formula 1 teams are limited to a maximum expenditure of $145 million on their programmes this year under the sport’s new Financial Regulations. This limit excludes certain items but includes crash damage.Top teams, which have already had to restructure their operations to bring their budgets beneath the new limit, raised concerns the extra Saturday races could increase their costs and cause them to exceed the cap. Formula 1 has been pushing to introduce sprint races in one form or another for the past two years. In order to ensure teams’ support for the latest Sprint Qualifying proposal, a financial package has been agreed to cover their costs. RaceFans understands each team will receive a $75,000 payment from Formula 1 Management per Sprint Qualifying race to cover the cost of participation. On top of that, any team which suffers significant damage in one of the extra races will be permitted to spent up to $200,000 more over their budget cap limit per round. To qualify for the budget cap break, teams will have to demonstrate a car had to pit for repairs or retired from the race due to the damage sustained. F1 intends to hold Sprint Qualifying races at three rounds on this years calendar, bringing the total possible allowance per team to $600,000. On response to a question from RaceFans, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto confirmed teams will receive an “extra” budget cap allowance if they suffer damage in Sprint Qualifying races. “I’m expecting that what we discussed and agreed in Bahrain are the final [regulations], so yes, happy with that,” he said.Although full details of the Super Qualifying races have not been announced, the format’s approval is expected to be a formality. It will go before the F1 Commission next week, and is likely to pass unanimously, before being rubber-stamped by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. The British, Italian and Brazilian grands prix have been earmarked for the first Sprint Qualifying races. At those rounds, a regular qualifying session will be held on Friday in place of second practice, and decide the starting grid for a short race on Saturday. This will in turn set the grid for Sunday’s race, and award points for the top three finishers.

A furious George Russell asked Valtteri Bottas if he was trying to kill them both following their high-speed collision in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. But the Mercedes driver rejected Russell’s criticism of his driving, insisting the collision was “completely his fault”.The pair collided on the approach to Tamburello, the fastest point on the circuit, causing a huge crash which put both out of the race and caused it to be red-flagged. Both drivers walked away from the collision. Russell accused Bottas of violating a so-called gentlemen’s agreement between the drivers not to make sudden moves while being overtaken. “I was coming up on Valtteri massively fast,” Russell explained. “I had the slipstream, I had the DRS and just as I pulled out he jolted very slightly to the right. “Which is a tactical defence that drivers in the past used to do. There was a Verstappen manouevre in 2015 which there is a gentlemen’s agreement that that is not what you do, because it’s incredibly dangerous. “In completely dry conditions I would have been fine but he just put me onto the wet patch and I lost it. So an unfortunate incident but we’re going at 200 miles an hour, you need to respect the speed and the conditions. One of those things.” Russell was seen confronting Bottas immediately after the crash. “I asked him if he was trying to kill us both,” he said. “We’re going incredibly fast. We know the conditions. “In his eyes he’s not really fighting for anything. A P9 for him is nothing but for us it’s everything. I’m going for the move. The move would have been absolutely easy. There’s absolutely no reason to jolt like that. “There’s a gentlemen’s agreement between the drivers. We’ve always said it’s going to cause a massive collision one day and here we are.” Russell was Bottas’ team mate for a single race last year and has been linked to his seat at Mercedes. He suggested Bottas would have behaved differently had another driver been trying to overtake him. “We’re both grown men. We’ll have a conversation and talk about it obviously let the heat’s died down a bit. I’m sure he’s upset and frustrated with me as I am with him. The faintest of movements when you’re travelling at 200 miles an hour is actually quite a massive thing. “More so it’s not just the speed, it’s the speed difference. I was probably going 30 miles an hour quicker than him and about to overtake him and perhaps if it was another driver he wouldn’t have done that.” However Bottas insisted he bore responsibility for causing the violent collision, insisting that he left the required space for the Williams at all times. “It was quite a big one,” said Bottas. “It was quite high speed, but obviously could’ve been a lot worse. I’m okay. “I think that lap, or just before the DRS was activated for people, I was still struggling with the warm-up of the dry tyres. George got close and he obviously went for an overtake in a place where there’s pretty much only one dry line. “I’ve seen the replay and there was definitely space for two cars at all times, so I don’t know what he was going on about after – he was trying to say something but it was completely his fault. So quite disappointing.” After a miserable weekend plagued by tyre warm-up problems, Bottas says he isn’t sure if he would have been able to make progress during the second half of the race had the pair not collided. “It was very disappointing. It was a struggle, even until the crash. But obviously no one knows what could’ve still been possible. We need to take learnings from this week and move on.”

Max Verstappen took an ultimately commanding victory in a wild Emilia Romagna Grand Prix interrupted by a massive crash between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell, and in which Lewis Hamilton had to recover from ninth to second after a mistake. Verstappen had burst through from third on the grid to lead at the start, with Hamilton trying to hang on around the outside of him at Tamburello only to end up bouncing heavily over the kerbs. The Mercedes lost a small part of its front wing, and Hamilton expressed some frustration towards Verstappen over team radio. A lengthy safety car period – caused by Nicholas Latifi firing himself into the wall out of Acque Minerali by moving across on Nikita Mazepin as he rejoined after a spin – paused the race, before Verstappen scorched away once it began in earnest. Hamilton stabilised the Red Bull’s lead at around five seconds, as they left the rest of the field trailing far behind. When the track finally began to dry the Mercedes started closing in, with Hamilton getting the gap down to 2.6s. Verstappen was the first of the pair to make the jump for slick tyres just before half-distance, releasing Hamilton into the lead. An ultra-rapid first sector suggested he’d keep it, but the loss of a couple of seconds with a slow tyre change combined with a superb final sector from Verstappen meant the Mercedes rejoined still behind the Red Bull. Again Verstappen immediately pulled clear and rebuilt his 5s lead, only for heavy traffic to allow Hamilton to snatch three of those seconds straight back. But when Hamilton got into the same queue, he slid off at Tosa while trying to lap Russell’s Williams, nudged into the barrier and smashed his front wing, then struggled to reverse out of the gravel. While Hamilton headed back to the pits for repairs, a huge crash unfolded when Russell tried to pass Bottas – who had made no progress after his poor qualifying run – for ninth. Though the contact occurred when the Williams veered left into the side of the Mercedes at high speed, having appeared to touch the grass on the kink approaching Tamburello, Russell’s furious reaction suggested he felt Bottas’s driving had put him in that position. A long red flag period followed to clear up the wreckage. Hamilton was down in ninth for the restart, at which Verstappen nearly threw away the lead by half-spinning out of Rivazza as he prepared for the green on the still-damp track. Remarkably he was able to gather it up still in first place and then pulled off a smooth restart before rapidly pulling away from the pack to establish a 20s advantage on the way to his 11th F1 race victory. Charles Leclerc was in second at that point, having driven brilliantly in the first half of the event – quickly overcoming front row starter Sergio Perez to settle into third and then lapping at a pace beyond everyone bar Verstappen and Hamilton in the wet. But the Ferrari was jumped by Lando Norris at the restart, the McLaren driver charging forward once allowed past his slower team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in the opening stages. Hamilton had actually gone a lap down by the time he rejoined with his new front wing following his crash, but the red flag brought him back onto the lead lap and set up his recovery drive. He made rapid progress, with Norris proved perhaps the toughest opponent before finally being overtaken for second into Tamburello with three laps left. Hamilton then managed to grab the race’s fastest lap, which means he clings onto the world championship lead by one point over Verstappen. Hamilton’s progress meant Ferrari didn’t get a home podium. Leclerc finished fourth and his team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr showing great pace in the wet in particular as he came through from 11th on the grid to fifth. Perez’s race quickly fell apart after his brilliant qualifying. He went off at Piratella under the early safety car, then earned a 10s penalty by overtaking Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly to regain his position. He was back to fourth for the restart after the Bottas/Russell crash, only to spin at Villeneuve and fall to the back. He could only recover to 12th. Ricciardo fell back to sixth, holding off Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Fifth-place starter Gasly’s choice of wet tyres for the start led to him going backwards down the order as the track improved, and he also had multiple trips off the road before salvaging eighth. His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was in contention for strong points despite starting last, but spun at Tamburello at the restart and finished 13th. Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine – another car to lose ground by starting on wets – completed the scorers, with Fernando Alonso and Perez on their tails. Sebastian Vettel had a miserable race that began from the pitlane after Aston Martin ran out of time for pre-race work on his brakes. That also earned him a 10s stop/go penalty as his car’s wheels weren’t fitted at the five-minute signal before the start. He finally retired late on with a gearbox problem.

Williams driver Nicholas Latifi is out of the Emilia Romagna GP after a tangle with Nikita Mazepin. The Canadian driver spun at turn 12, re-joined the track and went side by side up the hill towards the turn 14/15 chicane alongside Mazepin. The pair tangled which caused Latifi to spin and crash into the wall at high-speed. A safety car was called and the incident is under investigation.

The weather seems to be an important factor in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that is about to start. Dutch reporter Olav Mol explains to Ziggo Sport that there are showers over the circuit, but so far the rain has failed to materialise. The situation is being closely monitored by the F1 teams. “I think it’s again the way we are in it with the game. It could go either way. There’s a shower over the track and some drops. There’s enough hanging around the circuit. I don’t expect rain tyres to be used, but if one of those clouds releases some water, then it will really rain,” Mol explained as he looked to see if there were any dark clouds hanging over the circuit. The blue sky of the morning has been exchanged for clouds and on the radar we can also see some clouds. With a lot of rain Mol estimates that the rain tyres will be brought out of the cupboard.”Then there’s a chance that we’ll end up on intermediates. If it stays like this they won’t be bothered. It’s exciting to see whether it will happen and it will add an extra dimension to the race”, says Mol.

Miami will hold its first Grand Prix in 2022 after Formula 1 secured a 10-year deal for a race in the Florida city. The move is the culmination of years of work by F1’s owners Liberty Media, who wanted a race in a US “destination city” as they seek to grow the sport. The event will be held on a 3.36-mile track around the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team. Miami becomes the second race in the US, joining the popular United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. A date for the Miami event has not yet been announced, but F1 president and chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali said it would be “in the second quarter of next year”. Domenicali said Miami would be “kept separate” from the Austin event “to keep the right space for both”. This suggests Miami could be twinned with the Canadian Grand Prix in June. He added: “The US is a key growth market for us, and we are greatly encouraged by our growing reach in the US which will be further supported by this exciting second race.” Miami Dolphins chairman Tom Garfinkel, the managing partner of the Miami Grand Prix, said: “The Hard Rock stadium entertainment campus in Miami Gardens exists to host the biggest global events to benefit the entire greater Miami region, and Formula 1 racing is as big as it gets. “We have worked with specialist designers to create a racetrack that we, Formula 1 and the FIA believe will provide great racing and we hope to create best-in-class unique fan experiences that are reflective of the diverse and dynamic nature of Miami. “I want to thank Formula 1 and the Miami Gardens and Miami Dade County elected officials for working to bring this hugely impactful event here for years to come.” His remarks are a reference to the long-winded process that has led to the event finally being secured. F1’s original plan for a Miami race included a track that crossed a bridge over the city’s bay, but it did not get the go ahead amid objections from local politicians and residents. The latest plan was finally approved by Miami’s city council last week and involves a series of measures to lessen the impact on the local population and environment. Domenicali said: “It is not a compromise, when you look for different solutions, you need to consider all the elements that make everyone happy. “I am sure the track you are going to see will be fantastic.” Garfinkel added: “In some ways it is going to be a lot better. When we originally looked at the city design, you have a lot of constraints around the race track. “The first priory was to create a great race track, and with the Hard Rock site we have a blank sheet of paper to put together a race track that is demanding in a lot of ways and to put on great experiences that are uniquely reflective of the diversity of Miami. Having an existing infrastructure in place, we feel we are in a better place to do that.” Domenicali added that there were no plans to add a third race in the US in the immediate future. “We felt the right approach after one grand prix is to have two,” he said. “There could be other opportunities in the future, but hat is what we are going to do in the short term.” Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton said: “America is such a big place that it always felt like we needed at least two races there to integrate with the audience. “The race can bring 4,000 jobs to communities in Miami. Montreal has always been my favourite to go to but Miami I think that’s going to be the favourite spot to go to.”