July 2021

Daniel Ricciardo has switched teams twice in recent years. After 2018 he left Red Bull Racing to hunt for success at Renault, but after two seasons he left to take a seat at McLaren. He’s now driving his first season there and doesn’t seem entirely comfortable yet. In conversation with Auto, Motor und Sport the Australian explains why. “At Renault I immediately felt that I could keep my old driving style, but that I just had a bit less grip than with the Red Bull car. Compared to McLaren, the differences with the car are a bit bigger.” “It has its strengths and weaknesses, but somehow my normal driving style doesn’t quite match the car. It could be to the braking or acceleration, but the car doesn’t react like I’m used to”. Ricciardo has therefore had more trouble than usual getting up to speed, he himself acknowledges. “That’s why my move to McLaren has been a little more challenging than the move to Renault. The first step was to find out what made my driving style not work in all the corners and only then could I start working on new techniques to master,” Ricciardo concludes.

Jos Verstappen says he knew his son Max “had something special” about him as a driver when he was only seven years old. A decade later, of course, Verstappen junior was making his Formula 1 debut aged 17 years and 166 days for Toro Rosso at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. Another six years on, the Dutchman is now driving for Red Bull and is 32 points clear in the Drivers’ World Championship, although he can no longer beat Sebastian Vettel’s record for being the youngest racer ever to secure the individual title. With Jos having raced in Formula 1 himself between 1994 and 2003, and twice finished on the podium while Michael Schumacher’s team-mate at Benetton, racing is very much in Max’s genes – and also because his mother, Sophie, competed in karting herself. It soon became apparent that Max was a prodigious talent. Jos, quoted by Speedweek, said: “When he was seven years old, I saw he had something special. “He was always incredibly fast on the first lap on cold tyres. And when overtaking. You can see where someone can overtake, how he prepares it – Max was always very good at that.” Therefore it was no surprise that Verstappen invested all the time he could into ensuring his son fulfilled his limitless potential. “For me, it was between 80,000 and 100,000 kilometres with the bus every year,” added the 49-year-old. “I also prepared the engines, was a mechanic and a stay-at-home dad. That cost me a lot of time and money and I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t seen his talent.” Verstappen admitted he had been a hard taskmaster. “I do think it was tough for Max,” he added. “We didn’t go to the track to chase the others. We went there to win, and that’s what I taught Max. I always just wanted to win, win, win. That’s what I asked him to do.” After becoming settled in at Toro Rosso, that was the time when Jos started taking a step back and allowing Red Bull to guide Max’s career. Of that first season, 2015, Jos said: “I was fully involved, also to show Max how to work with the team. “The nice thing is we still talk to each other every day Max drives. We call each other and talk about how things went and what’s going on. “I also tell him my thoughts on it. I’m just telling him, he doesn’t need to answer, but I know he’s thinking about it. That’s the only thing I want.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revealed what he believes his driver Sergio Perez has which the previous drivers at the team didn’t, and how it has played a major part in the teams performance this year. The Mexican is currently third in the drivers standings, just three points clear of McLaren driver Lando Norris, and has helped the team gain a lead in the constructors championship over rivals Mercedes for the first time in the hybrid era, something that previous drivers such as Pierre Gasly, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon have failed to do. But there is one thing that Perez has that the others didn’t. “I think he just gives us that experience,” said Horner, speaking to the Beyond the Grid podcast. “He’s got 10 years worth of experience. He’s got an ability to manage the tyres within a race that is second to none. It just brings a different dynamic into the line-up,” The revolving door policy at Red Bull has been a frustrating one. They have a junior programme which has brought in many young drivers to the sport and to the team, but they have not been able to get the driver combination at the team right to challenge their rivals. When Daniel Ricciardo left the team at the end of the 2018 season in a move to Renault, he was replaced by Frenchman Pierre Gasly. But half way through the 2019 season, Gasly was dropped in favour of Alex Albon, with Gasly demoted back to Red Bull’s sister team Alpha Tauri. The team decided to monitor the performance of both drivers to assess who would be the better driver to partner star driver Max Verstappen and take the fight to Mercedes. It turns out Albon didn’t fair much better, despite him gaining the full time seat for the 2020 season. Albon was dropped after just one year, and Red Bull decided to look outside of their driver programme for the first time since 2007, when Mark Webber took a seat. “Both Pierre and Alex are tremendously gifted drivers, but timing just wasn’t right,” continued Horner. “Then the pressured environment that we have, and the expectation, it was very tough for them. It was a bold move to step out of the scheme this year with Sergio. For the first time since Mark Webber, we’ve taken a non-Red Bull junior driver.” Perez was signed from Racing Point, who have now re-branded to Aston Martin. The team sensationally dropped him at the end of 2020, despite finishing ahead of his team mate Lance Stroll in the driver standings, in favour of ex Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. He was available, and it was clear that Red Bull needed a serious shake up in order to have a chance at winning the championship. “But the way he settled in and the way he’s delivering, particularly after that victory in Bahrain last year, it would have been very tough for him not to be in Formula 1. I think he brings the dynamic in the fight that we have with Mercedes. That’s starting to pay dividends. You saw that in the French Grand Prix, and also Azerbaijan getting his first victory. The way he fended off Lewis, Lewis probably would have won that race had it not been for Sergio so he’s absolutely delivering.”

Formula One’s single tyre manufacturer Pirelli has brought its latest 2022 18-inch tyre test to an end, racking up high mileage with AlphaTauri’s race drivers, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda. Beside the revolutionary new aerodynamic configuration, Formula One is set to introduce a brand-new tyre specification next year with the 18-inch tyres due to make their debut in 2022. With the world still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, the introduction of the new tyres was postponed to 2022. The postponement meant that Pirelli cancelled its preparation and on-track runs that were scheduled for 2020 and is instead working on the new tyres this year. After requesting a permission from the FIA to increase the number of test days, the Milan-based was granted a 30-day test programme that began on February 23 with Ferrari completing test runs at Jerez. Pirelli and AlphaTauri stayed for a two-day tyre test programme at the Red Bull Ring while the rest of the field left the track which hosted the Styrian and the Austrian Grands Prix over the last two weekends. Tuesday saw Pierre Gasly get behind the wheel of his modified AlphaTauri car that was fitted with the prototype 2022 18-inch slick tyres. The Frenchman completed 69 laps in the morning and performed a busy afternoon to rack up 164 laps in total. The second day of the tyre development programme continued with his team mate, Yuki Tsunoda, who tried out a number of different options on Wednesday. The Kanagawa-born driver completed 59 laps in the morning and a further 72 laps in the afternoon to finish Pirelli’s experiment with its all-new product for Formula One’s 73th season. Pirelli is set to continue its excessive tyre testing at Silverstone after next weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Lando Norris was not happy after the Austrian Grand Prix. He finished third, but saw his second place disappear because of a penalty. To make matters worse he also got penalty points on his license. Norris received a five second penalty in Austria for pushing Sergio Perez into the gravel. There are already questions marks over this penalty, but after the race Norris also received penalty points on his license. The Briton was not happy with this, as he took aim at Formula 1’s ‘stupid system’. ‘Why should I deserve penalty points today for someone going into the gravel? Yes, nothing I’ve done is dangerous and… maybe in some cases you deserve an on-track penalty, because you’ve done something bad in terms of racing and you just made a mistake, but then you have things that people do every now and then which are purely dangerous,” Norris said according to Formula1.com. ‘If you do genuinely overtake under a yellow-flag and do something else that’s clearly a rule that will put people in danger then I understand penalty points for a driver, and if that adds up you get a driver ban or race ban, but for little things like this, it’s stupid in my opinion. It’s not what Formula 1 should be,”, the Briton concludes.

F1 legend Carlos Reutemann has died at 79 has announced the great Argentine driver’s family. The twelve-time Grand Prix winner and former Governor of Santa Fe passed away “in peace and dignity” according to his daughter Cora who announced her father’s passing on Twitter. “Dad left in peace and dignity after fighting like a champion with a strong and noble heart that accompanied him to the end,” wrote Cora Reutemann. “I am proud and blessed for the father I had. I know that he will accompany me every day of my life until we meet again in the house of the Lord.” In May, Reutemann was admitted to a hospital in Sante Fe after suffering from anemia and internal bleeding. He was later transferred to a clinic in Rosario where his condition improved and allowed for a discharge on May 21. But complications due to dehydration forced a new hospitalization on the former driver and his transfer once again into intensive care on June 21. Unfortunately, Reutemann suffered another case of gastrointestinal bleeding this week, and his condition worsened over the last 24 hours until his passing on Wednesday. In 2017, the former governor of Santa Fe underwent surgery in New York due to liver cancer, and it is believed that Reutemann’s health affliction may have had its origins in that past illness. Reutemann’s distinguished career in F1 saw the popular Argentinian take part in 146 Grands Prix from 1972 to 1982, winning races with Brabham, Ferrari and Williams and scoring a total of 12 wins and 46 podiums. He burst onto the scene with a sensational pole-taking F1 debut with Brabham at his home race in Buenos Aires in 1972, and never looked back thereafter. A tremendously gifted and superb stylist, ‘Lole’ – as he was affectionately named by his countrymen – often exuded sheer brilliance on one day only to appear uninspired or daunted by pressure on another as mood swings set in. But Reutemann’s efforts at the highest level also suffered from poor career decisions or unfortunate timing. In 1981, Reutemann head into the final round of the F1 world championship at Las Vegas with a one-point lead over Brabham’s Nelson Piquet. But the chips fell the wrong way for the Williams driver undermined by the pressure around the Caesar’s Palace parking lot makeshift street circuit where he failed to score, handing the laurels to Piquet and allowing the Brazilian to secure the first of his three world crowns in F1. After retiring from motorsport, Reutemann embarked on a political career in his home country, becoming the governor of his native province of Santa Fe, and later a federal senator. As a popular politician, Reutemann was considered by many to be a worthy candidate for President of Argentina, and although he considered running in his country’s 2011 general election, he ultimately declined to do so. Racetrackmasters extends to the Reutemann family, to Carlos’ wife Veronica and to daughters Cora and Mariana our heartfelt condolences.

New engine regulations in Formula 1 could be postponed for a year. In Austria, top carmaker officials – including Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz and also the CEOs of Audi and Porsche – met to discuss the new rules that are scheduled to debut in 2025. Formula 1 described the talks as “very positive”, declaring that “further news” would be forthcoming in the coming weeks. But ahead of the meeting, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the best way to create “a truly efficient, environmentally friendly, biofuel-powered engine from scratch” that is also cost-effective would be to delay until 2026. Curiously, title rival Mercedes agrees. “Perhaps we can find a compromise and extend the current regulations for another year,” said Toto Wolff. “Everyone wants to be 100 percent ready for the transition to the new regulations, but perhaps that is 2026. Formula 1 really needs to lead by example and meet the standards. “I don’t know what the solution will be,” the Mercedes boss added, “but we need an engine that is in the area of electrification whilst at the same time the cost of developing it should be lower than it is now.” Wolff said another key feature of the new engine will be biofuels. “Unfortunately, e-fuels are ten years late to Formula 1, which is very negative,” former Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug told Auto Bild. “What is extremely positive, however, is that you can still feed the engines of tomorrow and get a sound from yesterday.”

Esteban Ocon has urged Alpine to make major changes on his car after a poor run of form which saw the Frenchman consistently off the pace compared to teammate Fernando Alonso. Ocon failed to finish higher than 14th at F1’s first triple-header and qualified down in 17th at the Styrian and Austrian Grand Prix and has called it a forgetful two weekends. “The balance [of the car] felt actually fine,” Ocon told RacingNews365.com and other select members of the press. “Once I finished a lap, I felt like it was a good lap on that second of Q1 and I was pretty pleased with how it went. “Maybe half a tenth I could have gained, but that’s all about it, to be fair. Ocon did not rule out a complete change of chassis for the British GP and admits his performances have not been good enough. “The maximum possible would be very welcome,” added Ocon. “I will have a chat with the team and see what’s possible to do. But the more things we can change, the better it would be. Then it’s one doubt less. “It’s hard to place the finger on exactly what the problem is. We will change as many parts as possible on the car. That’s where it starts to be difficult when you don’t spot exactly what the issue is and then the lap time deficit is so big on such a small track. We need to keep digging in and keep staying together to go through this period as quickly as possible.”