June 2021

Christian Horner says Red Bull will not rush into a decision about Sergio Perez’s future following his first victory for the team. Despite an up-and-down start with the squad he joined for this season, especially with his qualifying results, Perez has taken only six races to get a win on the board. It came in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where the Mexican was in the perfect position to capitalise and still provide Red Bull with a third success of the campaign after Max Verstappen had suffered a tyre blowout while comfortably out in front. Perez is only on a one-year deal having been given the nod ahead of Alex Albon, who raced for Red Bull last season. It was hoped he would more consistently give Red Bull a double-pronged challenge to Mercedes in their challenge for both World Championships. The 31-year-old has taken a little while to get there, but is now starting to deliver more regularly. However, Red Bull team principal Horner is not prepared to fast-track the process of nailing down Perez’s services for 2022 just yet. Asked specifically if Perez has now done enough to keep his seat for next year, Horner told reporters: “We still have plenty of time to answer that question. But Sergio is doing a great job. He should just keep doing that.” Having started sixth on the grid in Baku, Perez quickly made his way up to third position and jumped Lewis Hamilton at the one scheduled pit-stop – despite a slow change by Red Bull’s high standards when he slightly overshot his marks – to run second until Verstappen’s crash. “We knew he was good around here but we didn’t know he was that good,” said Horner. “He was quick all weekend. He was bang on the pace and the only mistake he made was in Q3 run one. His race pace was phenomenal. “Had he not been longer at the pit-stop, he would have been right on top of Max with the overcut such was his pace in clean air. Phenomenal for him. The way he was defending from Lewis and controlling that was a class act. “To see him get that victory will be great for his confidence. It puts him up to third in the Drivers’ Championship now. He’s ahead of expectations.” Horner added: “I think it’s an added string to our bow on a day that you lose your lead car that Checo’s right there to deliver the win. That’s exactly what we’ve been looking for. “I’m delighted for him and pleased for the team with all the amount of effort that’s been going on behind the scenes. For all our partners as well. I think it’s everyone doing their bit and Checo being a part of that.”

Williams team principal Simon Roberts has left the outfit, 12 months since joining it in the wake of its sale to Dorilton. Roberts’ departure has come about due to a restructuring of the team’s staff. Jost Capito, who took over as CEO at Williams earlier this year, will take over as team principal.Capito’s plans to restructure the team involve merging its separate race and factory-based engineering programmes into one. This is intended to produce a simpler structure and approve accountability. Francois-Xavier ‘FX’ Demaison, who joined Williams from Volkswagen in March, will have responsibility for the combined engineering effort as technical director. Dave Redding will remain as team manager. The team intend to confirm the identity of its new head of race engineering prior to the French Grand Prix. Roberts was named as team principal in December last year, having taken up the role on an interim basis the previous June following the team’s sale to Dorilton.Capito praised Roberts’ role in overseeing the team during the takeover. “Simon has played an integral role in managing the transition over the last 12 months and I would like to thank him for his great contribution during that time,” he said. Roberts, who spent most of the previous 17 years with McLaren before joining Williams, said: “It has been a pleasure to take on the role of team principal following the departure of the Williams family from the sport. However, with the transition well underway I am looking forward to a new challenge and wish everyone in the team well for the future.”

Nikita Mazepin’s father Dmitry, has revealed that his son’s place on the Formula 1 grid is under threat due to mandatory military service. Mazepin made his Formula 1 debut in 2021 with Haas, and it is safe to say that the rookie has made quite the impact since arriving. The 22-year-old did already carry a reputation with him into Formula 1, and there has been a few further controversies in the opening rounds, with Mazepin’s team-mate Mick Schumacher the latest to take issue at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. That being said, Mazepin has begun to show signs of settling in at Haas, producing a decent performance at the Monaco Grand Prix, while Baku, generally, was also a step in the right direction. This momentum though could be cut short, since mandatory military service back in his native Russia could be in his near future. “Nikita has 23 races, and they tell him that he needs to join the army,” Mazepin’s father Dmitry told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “They told him he had to be present at the training camp regularly. There would be no exceptions. “He has a race every two weeks. How does he do it? Who do I ask this question to? “And I’m not talking about Nikita Mazepin alone but about everyone: athletes and professionals in the same situation. The issue of education and sports is relevant.” Explaining the situation in Baku, Mazepin revealed that he has been studying at the military department for two years, and would like to become a reserve officer after his third year. “In Russia, military service is compulsory for everyone who is fit for it,” he explained. “There are two options. The first is that you graduate from university and serve for one year, and the second is the military department, if your physical training and academic results are good enough. “In the case of the military department, you study one day a week to be a reserve officer. The training period is three years, but everything happens in the classroom. “I have been studying at the military department for two years now, so there is another year ahead. After that, I would like to believe that I will become a reserve officer.”

Nicholas Latifi says the 30-second time penalty added to his race time in Baku was the result of a “miscommunication” from the Williams pitwall. Latifi had failed to follow the field and drive through the pits during the caution period that followed Max Verstappen’s heavy crash on Baku’s main straight in the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But the Canadian wasn’t responsible for the oversight, having been wrongly ordered by his team to stay out on the track. On the radio, Latifi was told “Stay out, stay out, stay out, stay out, stay out!”, before his engineer added “Through the pit lane but no pit stop”. Unfortunately, despite the mitigating circumstances, race control had no other choice but to hand the Williams charger a ten-second stop and go penalty that was eventually concerted into a 30-second penalty added to his race time. “Yeah, nothing I could have done there, I got the message to stay out so it was just a miscommunication,” Latifi said. “That’s how it goes, in the end we were not fighting for points but it’s still nice to not get a penalty!” Latifi said the mistake denoted a lack preciseness and a few issues to clean up on the operational side at Williams. “It was a fairly lonely race before the red flag,” said the 25-year-old who was classified P16 at the end of the day. “We were committing to the one-stop – which was always going to be tricky with our car but that’s what we were committing to – so I think I was doing what I needed to do. “The plan for George [Russell] was to do the two-stop so I was just trying to manage the tyres and not try to chase him along and just do my own race. In the end it wasn’t to be. “It’s a shame, I felt I was driving really well this weekend all throughout, but I think on the operational side just a few too many misjudgments, miscommunications and things that didn’t go well so that compromised our weekend I think.”

Mercedes delivered new engines this weekend, but Honda postponed the decision for another round. This means that for the French Grand Prix we can expect more reliability and thus more power from the Japanese. Before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Mercedes announced that new engines were being delivered to all teams. Not much can be changed to the engines during the season, but the extra reliability of the new engine will indirectly deliver more power. That is what Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri missed last weekend. According to Auto, Motor und Sport Honda will supply a new engine for AlphaTauri and Red Bull. With improved reliability that will mean that the engine can also be upgraded. For Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez that comes in handy, because in France they can use every bit of extra power in the attack on Mercedes.

Sergio Perez has praised the driver he replaced at Red Bull after winning a dramatic and enthralling F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend. The Mexican driver thanked Alexander Albon, who was previously Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull in 2020 and 2019. Following Albon posting his congratulations to Perez on Instagram, the former Force India man responded via his own story. “Let’s keep pushing mate, you’re a very important part of all this!” the 31-year-old posted to his Instagram story after Sunday’s race around the Baku street circuit. “Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication.” Albon’s initial post recognised the importance of Perez’s race win to the Constructor World Championship, which Red Bull now leads. While Albon no longer drives for Red Bull in Formula 1, he is still involved with the team as a test and reserve driver, having been spotted at several Grand Prix weekends this season. “Fully deserved @RedBullRacing. Congrats to @schechoperez on the win – mega drive!” Albon put on his social media. The young Thai-British driver lost his F1 seat in 2020, but will most certainly have an eye trained on the progress of the current Alpha Tauri duo, as a return to Red Bull’s sister team for the 2022 season might well be on the cards. Last week, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was also full of praise for Albon, crediting the DTM star with playing a significant role in Max Verstappen’s Monaco Grand Prix win.

Maverick Viñales has gone fastest in a factory Yamaha one-two at the Catalunya post-race MotoGP test, while Jack Miller ended up 14th. Viñales’ late 1:39.400s saw him come out on top by 0.137s over championship-leading team-mate Fabio Quartararo, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami third at 0.302s off the pace. Nakagami was the early pace-setter on a 1:40.648s on a Honda, before SRT’s Franco Morbidelli clocked a 1:40.022s on his Yamaha during the second hour. Suzuki’s Joan Mir then set a 1:39.816s in the third hour, which remained fastest until the sixth hour, when Quartararo went to a 1:39.537s which would be his best of the day. Viñales, who was testing a carbon swingarm, lowered the benchmark twice in the final hour, initially to a 1:39.516s before finding another tenth-and-a-bit. There were four manufacturers represented in the top five, with Honda rider Nakagami followed on the timesheet by Suzuki’s Mir and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. Mir had made no improvement on that third-hour time while Bagnaia went as fast as a 1:39.866s, with both working mostly on set-up. The rest of the top 10 was Pol Espargaro (Honda), Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), Morbidelli, previous-day race winner Miguel Oliveira (KTM), and Valentino Rossi (SRT Yamaha). Encouragingly for Marc Marquez, his 87 laps was the biggest haul of anyone, and the 1:40.054s on the 52nd of those was good enough for 11th. Miller, fresh off a podium on the day prior, went as fast as a 1:40.242s to be 14th-fastest. The Australian was one of a handful to crash during the day and, like factory Ducati team-mate Bagnaia, that was at Turn 5. “The track was not in the best condition with the rain that we had last night, but all in all, it was a good test,” said Miller. “We went through a few items, and I was able to double-check a couple of things that we’d tried over the weekend. We’re ready to go on to Sachsenring [next round].” Pol Espargaro went down at Turn 6 while Avintia’s Luca Marini triggered a red flag when he went down on his Ducati during the first hour, but was not hurt. Morbidelli finished his day in the early afternoon while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro sat it out altogether due to a problem for the arm that was operated on recently. Taking his place alongside Lorenzo Savadori was Matteo Baiocco, and they ended up 19th and 23rd respectively. Results: Catalunya Official Test Pos Num Rider Nat Team Bike Fastest lap Gap 1st/Prev 1 12 Maverick VIÑALES ESP Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1:39.400 78/85   2 20 Fabio QUARTARARO FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1:39.537 69/79 0.137/0.137 3 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 1:39.702 47/67 0.302/0.165 4 36 Joan MIR ESP Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1:39.816 25/65 0.416/0.114 5 63 Francesco BAGNAIA ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1:39.866 44/48 0.466/0.050 6 44 Pol ESPARGARO ESP Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:39.877 71/72 0.477/0.011 7 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 1:39.979 46/61 0.579/0.102 8 21 Franco MORBIDELLI ITA Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1:40.022 11/29 0.622/0.043 9 88 Miguel OLIVEIRA POR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1:40.036 23/44 0.636/0.014 10 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1:40.050 62/72 0.650/0.014 11 93 Marc MARQUEZ ESP Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:40.054 52/87 0.654/0.004 12 33 Brad BINDER RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1:40.141 44/55 0.741/0.087 13 10 Luca MARINI ITA SKY VR46 Avintia Ducati 1:40.226 48/49 0.826/0.085 14 43 Jack MILLER AUS Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1:40.242 19/49 0.842/0.016 15 73 Alex MARQUEZ ESP LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 1:40.483 58/70 1.083/0.241 16 82 T KTM Test 1   KTM Test Team KTM 1:40.912 13/25 1.512/0.429 17 23 Enea BASTIANINI ITA Avintia Esponsorama Ducati 1:40.923 15/36 1.523/0.011 18 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 1:40.937 53/61 1.537/0.014 19 32 Lorenzo SAVADORI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1:40.963 76/78 1.563/0.026 20 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1:40.994 71/72 1.594/0.031 21 81 T KTM Test 2   KTM Test Team KTM 1:41.053 5/7 1.653/0.059 22 27 Iker LECUONA ESP Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 1:41.205 22/71 1.805/0.152 23 15 Matteo BAIOCCO ITA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1:46.571 55/66 7.171/5.366

Max Verstappen has pointed the finger at Pirelli for his “life-threatening” 190mph crash caused by a tyre blowout in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Dutchman escaped unharmed from an accident in which his Red Bull RB16B careered into the right-hand wall along the pits straight in Baku due to a left rear tyre failure. At the time, the 23-year-old looked all set for a third win of the season that would have extended his World Championship lead over Lewis Hamilton. Instead, he left the Azeri capital still four points ahead, following a Hamilton mistake after the race had been stopped and restarted due to the crash and which left the reigning World Champion finishing 15th. Although Pirelli have promised a full investigation into the incidents involving Verstappen and Lance Stroll, which were nearly identical, their F1 boss Mario Isola initially suspected the tyres had been cut by debris on track rather than suffered construction failures. However, in the aftermath of the race Verstappen did not agree, for Red Bull had seen nothing on their telemetry that told them the tyre was at risk – and he believed he had been lucky to walk away from the accident. That was partly due to the location of the crash, which happened after the pit-lane entry on the left which is separated from the track by a barrier that slants towards the circuit as the drivers approach it. “It is certainly life-threatening,” Verstappen told reporters after the race, thankful that his car had spun to the right. “I can also suddenly go left and then of course you end up in the wall at a completely different angle. “And a little further on, the speed is even higher. I was going about 305 kph (190mph) so nice and easy,” he added sardonically. Regarding the tyres, the 23-year-old added: “Pirelli will probably say it has to do with debris. You will never get the full answer to that.” He also rejected suggestions that he should have taken a different line along the straight to avoid any debris that may have caused Stroll’s crash. “You can say that, but everyone has already done that for a few laps before that,” added Verstappen. “So at some point the debris has to be gone. I don’t think it’s that, although Pirelli will of course give a different answer.” Verstappen’s father, ex-F1 racer Jos, was also immediately scathing about Pirelli after the incident, with a series of tweets that included comments of “no Pirelli for me” and “what a joke”.

Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola believes the spectacular left rear tyre failures suffered by Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix were caused by debris on the track. Verstappen and Stroll were both running on the C3 hard compound when a sudden blow-out pitched them at high speed into the wall. The Canadian’s failure occurred on lap 29 while the Red Bull driver’s tyre blew off its rim on lap 46, just five laps from the checkered flag. The similarity of the incidents led to speculation that the failures were rooted in a structural issue, but Isola said that a deep cut found in the left rear tyre of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes after the race was red-flagged suggested that debris may have caused the incidents. But Isola said that only a thorough forensic investigation will allow the manufacturer to identify the cause of the successive failures. “We found a cut on the inside shoulder of the rear left tyre used by Lewis Hamilton in the same stint, the cut was quite deep and bigger, probably six, seven centimetres, but not cutting the construction,” Isola told the media. “So the tyre was still in one piece. So just the tread is cut. And when there was the red flag and Lewis came to the pit lane and changed his set of tyres, we have been able to find the cut in the tyre. “The cut on Lewis’ tyre is clearly coming from debris. It is clear because the tyre is still in one piece and you can see that the cut is not following any the action, is a cut that is coming from outside. “Obviously we need to make an investigation, that is clear. What I have collected so far are just preliminary indications. It was sudden deflation both for Lance and for Max, without any warning. “It was on the rear left tyre, that is not the most stressed here, because it’s the rear right. And the other point if we talk about wear, the most worn tyre is the front right. So it is not a matter of wear.” An unhappy Verstappen made clear after Sunday’s event that he felt that a structural issue had caused his tyre failure, but that Pirelli would likely invoke “debris”. Isola insisted that all eventualities will be investigated. “It is almost impossible to design a tyre that is able to resist to any type of debris, if it is debris,” he said. “If it is not debris, we have to consider our counter actions. “But I fully understand that drivers crashing at that speed are worried, that is clear. I’m worried aware as well. “I believe it was debris, because they didn’t have any warning that there was something strange on the car, on the suspension, on the tyre, on the brake, nothing was giving any sign of failure. And it was a sudden failure. “So considering the rear left is not the most stressed tyre, the cut we found on Lewis’s tyre and so on, these are indications that are taking us in that direction. “But we don’t want to exclude anything because as Max said, these things shouldn’t happen.”

Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix were dashed during a standing restart, after he locked-up and went straight on at Turn 1. The Mercedes driver looked set to move back into the lead of the Formula 1 Championship after title rival Max Verstappen crashed out with a tyre failure. That prompted a red flag and a restart. Hamilton started from second, behind Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate, Sergio Perez. Despite a good start to get ahead of the Mexican, Hamilton locked-up and went straight on, taking to the Turn 1 run-off before rejoining at the back of the pack. Hamilton apologised over team radio before mentioning the “magic”, referring to a button or switch Mercedes uses to warm its tyres and brakes more effectively during race starts. “Did I leave the magic on? I could have sworn I turned that off,” the Briton said. After the race, Hamilton explained that he had in fact turned it off, but knocked the switch, re-activating it, when he moved left to counter Perez’s defence at the restart, which moved the brake bias forwards, causing him to go off. “I’m not entirely sure, but I hit some sort of switch that caused only the front brakes to work,” he told media after the race. “There’s a button we have to help keep the front brakes up and, as Perez pulled over, I reacted and accidentally latched on the switch. It just locked up and I went straight on.” Hamilton would go on to finish outside of the points, meaning Verstappen retains his slim four-point championship lead, whilst Red Bull extended their Constructors’ lead thanks to Perez’s win.

Charles Leclerc led the opening stages of the Azerbaijan on Sunday, however the Ferrari driver revealed that a tree branch on track at Turn 15 opened the door for Lewis Hamilton to make his way past. The Monegasque driver started from pole, though unlike in Monaco he was able to make the grid this time out. Leclerc led for two laps before Hamilton found a way past down the main straight, with the Ferrari driver explaining how his attempts to avoid the fallen branch prompted him to cut the track and then back off. “It was starting to be quite ok in the first few laps,” Leclerc told the media. “Then there was something that I think hasn’t been seen on TV. There was part of a tree in the middle of Turn 15, and I actually lost quite a bit of time because I cut the track and I was a bit worried to gain time on Lewis behind that hadn’t cut the track. So I slowed down and then he overtook me. “From then on, it was quite difficult, because I was behind Lewis in dirty air, which I struggled a little bit. As soon as I lost the DRS, Max overtook me and then you are just in a vicious circle that is very difficult, because I had cars all around me that had a bit more pace than I did.” Leclerc finished just outside the podium after a late battle with Pierre Gasly, though he stated his race went as expected. “I really enjoyed the last part, but the first part wasn’t great,” Leclerc added. “Let’s say it was expected. “It wasn’t a huge disappointment. We knew that Max [Verstappen, the Red Bulls and Mercedes had quite a bit more pace than us on the long run. I tried not to fight them too much and focus on my race. “The two big surprises from today were the two Aston Martins that were flying and we need to understand that because they definitely did something right.”