Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes needs to target a 1-2 finish at Formula 1’s Russian Grand Prix in order to capitalise on Max Verstappen’s penalty. Title leader Verstappen will start Sunday’s grand prix from the back row of the grid after taking on a fresh power unit. Mercedes finished at the front of the field through both practice sessions at Sochi Autodrom on Friday with Valtteri Bottas heading Hamilton. “It’s a tough year for everyone with reliability, so it’s definitely a shame for him,” said Hamilton. “But we have to try and capitalise on that naturally and try to get maximum result. A 1-2 would be spectacular for us.” Bottas, meanwhile, continued his strong form from Monza at a circuit where he has twice previously triumphed. Bottas’ maiden win came at Sochi in 2017 while last year the Finn took the most recent of his nine career victories. “I find the flow on this track and I enjoy this type of corners – I really enjoy,” he said. “And when the car works nicely here, then it is very enjoyable. “From the first run I had good confidence with the car, the balance was actually very good, so all we had to do were minor adjustments during the day. “I could really just focus on the driving and finding small gains here and there. But I’d say that both in the short and the long runs I was pretty comfortable.”

Valtteri Bottas led a Mercedes 1-2 during second practice for Formula 1’s Russian Grand Prix, with Pierre Gasly third for AlphaTauri. Bottas set a time of 1:33.593s to finish 0.044s in front of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as the duo replicated their positions from the first practice session. Mercedes has not been beaten since Formula 1’s arrival at Sochi Autodrom in 2014, with Bottas taking his maiden win at the venue in 2017, as well as his most recent victory last year. While Friday’s running took place in fine and sunny conditions, teams and drivers are also braced for potential disruption to Saturday’s track action due to forecasted heavy rain. Qualifying could be shifted to Sunday morning in the event of rain not abating, though current forecasts indicate a potential improvement towards the end of Saturday. Pierre Gasly maintained his and AlphaTauri’s recent strong one-lap form as he placed third, behind only the two Mercedes, just two-tenths behind Bottas. His position was in stark contrast to rookie team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who placed only 18th, two seconds adrift of Gasly. However it was not plain sailing for Gasly after an unusual incident at Turn 2 late in the session. Gasly went wide into the corner and ran heavily over the raised orange kerb to such an extent that the AT02’s front wing detached from the car. There were also contrasting fortunes at McLaren. Lando Norris finished the session in fourth place but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was a low-key 17th. However Ricciardo’s Soft tyre run came late in the session, and was far from a clean lap, after his entry into the session was delayed while McLaren fitted an old-spec power unit to his MCL35M. That decision came after an issue was found on Ricciardo’s original power unit which McLaren expects to repair in time for Saturday’s running. Red Bull had been tipped to equip Verstappen’s RB16B with a fresh Honda power unit and made the call after the opening practice session. As a result Verstappen will start Sunday’s grand prix from the back row of the grid, alongside Charles Leclerc, who has also taken on fresh components in the wake of Ferrari readying its new hybrid system. Verstappen previously started from the back in Russia in 2018, having taken on a fresh power unit, and from there he raced to fifth position. The decision to take a fresh power unit effectively eradicates the impact of the three-place drop Verstappen received for colliding with Hamilton in Italy. Antonio Giovinazzi is in the midst of a fight to save his Formula 1 career at Alfa Romeo but suffered an untimely crash during the session. Giovinazzi, on a qualifying simulation, skated wide exiting Turn 8 and backed the Alfa Romeo C41 into the barriers. The rear of the C41 sustained substantial damage and while Giovinazzi was able to continue driving he was swiftly told by the team to halt the car. The session was halted while repairs were undertaken to the barriers. 2021 F1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m33.593s 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m33.637s 3 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m33.845s 4 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m34.154s 5 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m34.402s 6 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m34.621s 7 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m34.678s 8 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m34.762s 9 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m34.837s 10 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m34.925s 11 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m34.938s 12 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m35.052s 13 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m35.094s 14 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m35.178s 15 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m35.334s 16 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m35.411s 17 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m35.630s 18 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m35.934s 19 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m36.099s 20 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m36.230s

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start from the back of the grid after the team elected to change the Dutchman’s powerunit. The championship leader already had a three-place grid penalty for his clash with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix. However, Red Bull has chosen to fit a raft of new power unit components to his car which will see the 23-year-old start at the back of the grid for the Russian GP. Verstappen has taken a new internal combustion engine, a new turbo, MGU-K, MGU-H, and a fresh energy store. His RBR-16B will also be fitted with a new set of control electronics and a new exhaust system. Verstappen will have exceeded his allowed allocation of each of the power unit components except the exhaust. This will put Red Bull at a significant disadvantage with Verstappen needing to fight his way through the field for Sunday’s Grand Prix in order to score points. The Dutchman will be joined by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who has also received a power unit change as the Scuderia has introduced a new-spec engine for this weekend.

Valtteri Bottas made a fast start to the Russian Grand Prix weekend by topping opening practice from Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Finn, a two-time Russian GP winner, produced a best lap of 1m34.427s to finish 0.211s clear of Hamilton in the first 60-minute practice session as Mercedes looks to maintain its unbeaten record in Sochi. Mercedes has won every single race to be staged at Sochi since the former Winter Olympics venue joined the F1 calendar in 2014, while it is also the circuit where Bottas took both his first and most recent grand prix victory. F1 Russian GP: Bottas fastest from Hamilton and Verstappen in opening practiceF1Lewis Larkam24 Sep 2021 Bottas leads Hamilton in opening Russian GP practiceValtteri Bottas made a fast start to the Russian Grand Prix weekend by topping opening practice from Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Finn, a two-time Russian GP winner, produced a best lap of 1m34.427s to finish 0.211s clear of Hamilton in the first 60-minute practice session as Mercedes looks to maintain its unbeaten record in Sochi. Mercedes has won every single race to be staged at Sochi since the former Winter Olympics venue joined the F1 calendar in 2014, while it is also the circuit where Bottas took both his first and most recent grand prix victory. Max Verstappen ended up just 0.016s behind his main rival Hamilton as the Red Bull driver wound up third-fastest. Verstappen holds a five-point advantage over Hamilton in the championship standings but is carrying a three-place grid penalty into the weekend after being penalised for causing the race-ending collision with Hamilton at Monza. Red Bull is yet to decide whether it will replace the Honda engine in Verstappen’s car in Russia, a move that would trigger an automatic grid penalty for exceeding the permitted power unit allocation for the season. Charles Leclerc was fourth and over six-tenths off the pace as he debuted Ferrari’s upgraded power unit that will consign the Monegasque driver to a back-of-the-grid start for Sunday’s race. Sebastian Vettel was fifth-fastest for Aston Martin, ahead of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri and Carlos Sainz, who is continuing to run Ferrari’s older-spec engine this weekend. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished eighth-quickest, while Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso completed the rest of the top ten order for Red Bull and Alpine respectively. After claiming a shock victory to end McLaren’s near-decade-long winning drought at the Italian Grand Prix last time out, Daniel Ricciardo was only 14th-fastest, behind the likes of Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi. Fresh from being confirmed as a Haas driver for 2022, home favourite Nikita Mazepin outpaced teammate Mick Schumacher as the rookie pairing once again rounded out the bottom of the timesheets. 2021 F1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m34.427s 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m34.638s 3 Max verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m34.654s 4 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m35.117s 5 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m35.781s 6 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m35.794s 7 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m35.811s 8 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m35.959s 9 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m36.188s 10 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m36.225s 11 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m36.236s 12 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m36.522s 13 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m36.795s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m36.877s 15 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m36.952s 16 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m37.794s 17 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1n38.013s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m38.155s 19 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m38.586s 20 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m38.977s

Formula 1 qualifying at the Russian Grand Prix could shift to Sunday morning due to fears over heavy rain threatening Sochi and already shaking the schedule. After the Belgian Grand Prix washout, F1 is keen to avoid a repeat of fans sitting in the grandstands waiting for track action that is unlikely to arrive. With 27,000-weekend tickets sold for the Russian event, feeder series F3 has already pulled forward its first race of the weekend from Saturday morning to Friday evening. “The FIA Formula 3 Race 1 at Sochi Autodrom has been re-scheduled to today, Friday 24th September 2021, at 17.25 local time,” read a brief press release. “It was originally planned for tomorrow, Saturday 25th September, at 08.35, but due to the uncertain weather forecast, the decision was made to bring it forward by one day.” Weather reports suggest heavy rain will fall throughout Saturday, with the uncertainty over any running compounded by a flat track surface that is unlikely to drain quickly. Speaking on Friday morning, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl explained conversations had already taken place to ensure a Belgian GP scenario is avoided “I think for Sunday it doesn’t look too bad at the moment with what I have seen so I think there is actually a chance to have some dry running on Sunday,” he said. “There was good dialogue yesterday already just in order to be prepared for different scenarios for this weekend. “So I think everyone is prepared to react depending on how the weather forecast keeps developing.”

Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One team’s new factory in Northamptonshire has started construction in a ceremonial breaking-ground event. Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll and JCB chairman Lord Bamford both attended the ceremony, which marks the official start of an 18-month construction and installation phase for a new headquarters for race team. The 37,000m2 buildings will become the new home of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One team, which has outgrown its existing facilities and will rapidly grow its current headcount by the expected completion date of late 2022 or early 2023. The new three-unit factory will be constructed on land across the road from the historic Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit. One building will house the team’s design, manufacturing and marketing resource; a second will be occupied by the brand-new windtunnel; and the third will redevelop and repurpose the existing factory premises as a central hub featuring staff amenities and a logistics centre. The construction marks the first all-new factory in F1 in the UK for 17 years, the most recent being the McLaren Technology Centre, in Woking, which was officially opened in 2004. The team’s executive chairman Lawrence Stroll says he plans to develop, expand and upgrading every facet of the organisation in a quest for World Championship-winning performance. For the first time, the new factory will house every manufacturing resource within a single campus – the team currently operates from several discrete buildings, with additional work outsourced externally. In addition to the upgrade and expansion of facilities and machinery, the new factory will be complemented by a brand-new windtunnel and a brand-new Formula One simulator. The new tunnel will use the latest steel-belt rolling-road system, and a state-of-the-art flow-imaging section area. For the first time in the team’s history, the site will incorporate the windtunnel, model support and production facilities – a move that will bring significant development-rate benefits. The commissioning of the windtunnel is due to start in Q3 2023. Mr Stroll commented: “It is inspiring to look at where we are now in the context of the architectural and organisational challenges and ambitions that lie ahead. “Our new buildings reflect not only the scope of our determination to become a World Championship-winning force, but also the scale of our growth and development as an organisation. “I feel strongly that any building is a powerful representation of the people who work within it, and I am thrilled that we are creating a new home in which people can work, collaborate, create and win together. “It is exciting to think that the entire team will be in its new home by the end of 2022 or the start of 2023, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners who are working on the project, especially JCB and Cognizant.” Lord Bamford, chairman of JCB, added: “This ambitious project firmly positions the new team headquarters on the Formula One landscape and provides a fantastic home and working environment for a group of extraordinarily talented and motivated men and women. “I am inspired by Lawrence’s compelling vision for the team. It is an ambition we wholeheartedly share: to build a better industrial future for our country.”

Red Bull have strongly denied any suggestion Max Verstappen deliberately collided with Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix. The two championship contenders touched for the second time this season at Monza, but unlike at Silverstone where only the Dutchman retired, this time both were eliminated as the Red Bull went over the top of the Mercedes at the first chicane. Unsurprisingly, offering their reaction, Verstappen and Hamilton blamed each other, drawing comparison to a similar incident on Lap 1, when Lewis bailed across the kerbs at the Roggia chicane. “I don’t think you can judge them exactly the same because he just kept squeezing and squeezing while I was really alongside,” said Max. “You need two people to work together to make the corner. If one guy is not willing to work, it’s not going to happen. “We are fighting for position and unfortunately we touched. It’s very unfortunate what happened today, nobody likes to see that.” Lewis said: “I was in exactly the same position, but I gave way, and that’s racing. “He didn’t want to give way today. He knew that when he was going into Turn 2 what was going to happen. He knew he was going over the kerbs, but he still did it. “We’ll speak to the stewards and see. But I don’t really know what else to say.” Verstappen was given a three-place grid penalty for the Russian GP after the race, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hinted that there was a decision by Max to touch. “The stewards are going to decide who is to blame, or predominantly to blame. We’ve seen that in the past,” he told Sky Sports. “[Verstappen] doesn’t look like [he’s] alongside, then you go over the sausage kerb. But if you compare it to what Lewis said at Turn 4 in Lap 1, there was no space left and he was pushed off the track actually. “But let the stewards make the judgement. I don’t want to be a panther, like some of my colleagues do. “I think at that stage, [Hamilton] was on the inside and [Verstappen] just went straight off at the sausage kerb and jumped into him.” Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko quickly shot down Wolff and 1996 world champion Damon Hill, who also suggested Verstappen decided to “take Hamilton out”. “It’s clear the two of them will not be friends,” he was quoted by grandpx.news as saying. “It’s our fault with the pit stop that Max was near Hamilton, but I would declare it a racing incident. “Hamilton could have left more space, but assuming Max did it intentionally is nonsense. It’s not like [Alain] Prost and [Ayrton] Senna either. The difference is huge. “The result may be the same, but that was on purpose. This time neither of them had any such intention. You cannot plan for both of you to be out.” The Mercedes boss did conclude with a call for the race officials to ensure the situation between Verstappen and Hamilton didn’t escalate further. “If we don’t manage that in the right way – I’m sure the stewards will look at it in the right way – this is going to continue,” he said. “We had a high-speed crash at Silverstone, we had one car landing on top of the other one on Lewis’ head, so how far can it go? Maybe next time we’ll have a high-speed crash and land on each other. “If you see the car, the whole thing is damaged over the Halo and the wheel was on Lewis’ head.”

The FIA are set to take a closer look at the crash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix, due to the potentially serious outcome the accident could have had. While innocuous at first glance, the Verstappen/Hamilton clash on Lap 26 of the Monza race could have had very serious consequences as Verstappen’s car came to rest on Hamilton’s Halo cockpit protection system and made contact with his helmet. It’s this potential outcome that has led the FIA to decide that their Safety Department will investigate the accident. “Incidents that are different, so it’s not necessarily high G impacts or anything like that, but are unusual, we do look at,” said FIA Race Director Michael Masi to media. The FIA’s Safety Department was set up to analyse serious accidents in order to generate relevant learnings and applicable solutions to safety concerns. “Our Safety Department does look at them in detail, investigate, and see what we can learn and what we can improve for the future,” Masi said. “That’s how we have a whole lot of the safety features that we have today, and will continue to evolve into the future. “We are already collecting all of the data, so we have all of the information, and that will all go to our Safety Department, together with any photographs and anything else we have along the way.” Despite it being Verstappen and Hamilton’s second collision in five races, Masi said there was nothing untoward about the Italian GP incident that warranted special treatment or intervention from him or the stewards. “They’re in a very tight championship fight, two fantastic drivers and they’re extremely close,” he said. “Once you are in that situation, both drivers will take more risks one way or the other. “There wasn’t anything, in our perspective, silly – the stewards looked at it in exactly the same manner as they would any other incident and decided that one driver was predominantly to blame.”

Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo have revealed special liveries they will be using for the Italian GP which will be held this weekend at Monza. Aston Martin have added the iconic James Bond film logo 007 on the AMR21 to celebrate the release of the newest James Bond Film, No Time To Die. However, the green colour scheme will remain the same. The Aston Martin brand has been associated with the James Bond franchise for long with the starring character being well known for driving Aston Martin cars, and will be driving the same in the upcoming film which will be released on 30th September. This is not the first time a Formula 1 car will feature the 007 logo as Red Bull ran a special James Bond livery back in 2019 to celebrate Formula 1’s 1007th race. Alfa Romeo on the other hand has also created a special livery for their home race this weekend. They have replaced the white colour on the engine cover with green creating the Italian flag and also acting as a replica of their logo. The change will not only be on their F1 cars as the team also revealed their drivers will be in race suits that will be matching the cars, meaning the suits will be having shades of green. The team has been renowned for using special liveries, such as the Valentine’s Day livery they sported during pre-season testing last year.

The organisers of the Formula 1 event held at Zandvoort reveal they made a loss of over 10 million euros due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to Dutch Grand Prix Sporting Director Jan Lammers. The Dutch GP which was held last weekend at Zandvoort hosted 70,000 spectators each day for the three days the Formula 1 event was held. This was two thirds of the capacity and having no financial backing from the government of Netherlands, the organisers only relied on the sale of tickets. Lammers tries to explain how the event made such a huge loss even before calculations are made. The organisers had already encountered losses before the Dutch Grand Prix was held. “We have not yet carried out all the calculations, but a few weeks ago, we had to to say goodbye to more than 10 million euros.” “At that point you have already incurred 100 percent of your costs and then you cannot accommodate a third of the people. Moreover, we do this without a single euro of financial support from the government. We’re proud of that, but at the time we weren’t happy. “However, when we see how other industries have been affected by coronavirus, we say that the glass is half full. So that’s still good. We don’t want to complain and whine too much, we just have to deal with it.” “Like I said, we haven’t done the calculations yet, so we don’t know yet how big the blow is going to be.” “However, there is a solid business structure behind the event, so we can take a hit. But this cannot go on for another two or three years, but there is no risk or danger. It’s all going fine.” The fans were very happy and praised the event, the teams and drivers were also excited with the Dutch Grand Prix returning to the Formula 1 calendar after 36 years. The event received even much more excitement as Max Verstappen took pole position and eventually won the race in his home ground giving the orange army a reason to celebrate. Lewis Hamilton amid defeat by Verstappen also lauded the event because of the good atmosphere and the vintage nature of the Zandvoort track. Jan Lammers admits although the Dutch GP faced many challenges, the fans were happy. “It was a beautiful weekend,” said Lammers. “People came in and left with a smile on their faces. “Getting to this point, the past year and a half has been a big challenge. “Here and there people have resisted our event and sometimes that’s not what you want to focus on. We’ve been in court multiple times, but we’ve won all the lawsuits and got all the permits we need. “In that respect, those challenges have only made everything better. I hope they continue to challenge us like that, because that only ensures that we continue to grow. “If you want to put on an event like this in 2021, then you have to comply with a lot of new rules. We’ve found out about that over the past two years, but so far it’s all gone well.”

Formula E world champion Nyck de Vries has been in the rumour mill as he is linked for a Formula 1 move next year. But his hopes could be frustrated because of his link to Mercedes. The 26-year-old has been driving for Mercedes Formula E team since 2019 and won the 2020-21 Formula E championship with the team. In Formula 1, the Dutch is currently one of the Mercedes reserve drivers. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has been finding a place for De Vries on the Formula 1 grid in 2022. This comes after George Russell’s move to the world champion’s team replacing Valtteri Bottas. There was speculation that De Vries could join Williams team in 2022, but the team confirmed on Wednesday that former Red Bull driver Alex Albon will be taking George Russell’s seat for 2022 beside Nicholas Latifi. This Means De Vries has only one option left to join the F1 grid in 2022, with Alfa Romeo. The team has signed Valtteri Bottas who is currently driving for Mercedes to occupy one of the seats next year. Alfa Romeo team boss Fred Vasseur in an interview said there were complications with his team, which is Ferrari backed, hiring a Mercedes-backed driver. “De Vries looks complicated for me because he is strongly linked to Mercedes,” said Vasseur. “It’s much easier for us to deal with someone who is under contract with Ferrari than with someone who is under contract with Mercedes.” Vasseur also said the team still remains in consideration of Antonio Giovinazzi continuing with them for the fourth season. Giovinazzi was previously a junior Ferrari driver. “He was part of the deal in the past and he will be part of the discussion with Ferrari,” Vasseur said. “We have a very strong link and very open discussions and it will never be an issue to deal with Antonio and Ferrari.” Vasseur also admits the team is considering one of the front running Formula 2 drivers such as Guanyu Zhou who is a junior Alpine driver. Sauber, which runs Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team is also keen on one of their highly rated junior drivers, Theo Pouchaire joining Formula 1. With all these options, Vasseur intends to wait and watch how the Monza and Sochi Formula 2 rounds will play out before making any decision. “By the end of September we’ll have a good picture of the junior series,” he said. “Antonio is part of the family, he did some good steps. I think we are not in a rush to take a decision if you have a look on the global picture. “I want to be focused on what we are doing, to give them time to show what they can do, all of them, and we will take a decision probably in the beginning of October.”

Corinna Schumacher, wife to seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has opened up on her husband’s condition for the first time since 2013 when the champ suffered a serious head injury after a skiing accident in the French Alps. Since then, the seven-time world champion has been out of the public eye and his family has kept the recovery of his progress private with little or no comments. However, Corinna has shed some light into the progress of the 52-year-old after speaking in an upcoming Netflix documentary called Schumacher which shows the life and career of one of the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time. “Michael is here. Different, but he’s here,” she said. “That gives us strength, I find. He still shows me how strong he is every day. “We live together at home, we do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he’s comfortable, and to simply make him feel our family, our bond. “And no matter what, I will do everything I can. We all will. We’re trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives.” Corinna Schumacher says she prefers to keep her husband’s condition and health private as a replication of how Schumacher prefered to keep his family life private and out of the media despite being a superstar in his F1 career. “‘Private is private’, as he always said. It’s very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible. Michael always protected us, and now we are protecting Michael.” “I never blamed God for why this happened now. It was just really bad luck, all the bad luck anyone could ever have in their life.”

Alfa Romeo reserve driver Robert Kubica will continue standing in for Kimi Raikkonen this weekend at Monza. This comes after Kimi Raikkonen tested positive for Covid-19 last week and has not yet been cleared to race. Kimi’s PCR test came in positive on Saturday morning despite running both Friday’s practice sessions at Zandvoort. This led to Kubica being called in a short notice to replace the Finn. Last weekend was the Pole’s first race in F1 since Abu Dhabi GP back in 2019 racing for Williams. However, it was not the first time for Kubica to drive the Alfa Romeo C41 as he has been taking part in several free practice sessions with the car this season. Zandvoort’s twisty layout presented a challenge for the 36-year-old but despite the circumstances he was able to finish last Sunday’s race ranking P15. “First of all, I want to share my best wishes for Kimi: I hope he makes a full recovery and returns to the cockpit soon,” said Kubica. “I am looking forward to racing in Monza, an incredible track in which I claimed my first podium, in 2006. “Unlike Zandvoort, it is a track I know well and this will help, particularly since the Sprint Qualifying weekend format means we will be one practice session short. “I am happy with what I did in Holland and I can’t wait to help the team out one more time in Monza.” Alfa Romeo announced that Raikkonen is still isolating at home and will be back on the grid at Sochi for his final races in F1 as he awaits retirement at the end of the season.

The Italian Grand Prix in Monza is scheduled for this weekend, this includes the second sprint race of the season. The pairs for the press conferences on Thursday have been announced. Max Verstappen doesn’t know yet, a day before the press conference, with whom he will sit in the press area. The Alfa Romeo driver should be Kimi Raikkonen, but because of his positive coronatest last weekend it is uncertain if he will sit next to the Dutchman. If the Finn is not seated there then Robert Kubica will accompany the Red Bull driver. With the announcement of Valtteri Bottas’ move to Alfa Romeo as George Russell replaces him at Mercedes and Alex Albon replacing Russell at Williams, expect more questions about the 2022 season to be asked. This comes as AlphaTauri announced it will be retaining Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda for 2022. It is expected more teams will announce their 2022 driver line-ups as Antonio Giovinazzi is not sure of his seat for next year, so this will be an interesting press conference.

Williams F1 team has announced that Alex Albon will take George Russell’s seat as Nicholas Latifi remains for 2022 season. This marks an F1 return for Albon who has been Red Bull’s test and reserve driver for 2021. The 25-year-old made F1 debut in 2019 racing for Toro Rosso and later upgraded to Red Bull for 2020 taking two podiums. However, Red Bull replaced him with Sergio Perez for 2021. Nicholas Latifi on the other hand will be remaining at Williams for the third season. He scored his maiden points in Hungary after finishing seventh and scored more in the Belgian GP after finishing ninth in the rain shortened race. Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were previously teammates back in 2018 at DAMS in Formula 2. “I am really excited and looking forward to returning to a Formula 1 race seat in 2022,” said Albon. “When you take a year out of F1 it’s never certain you will make a return so I’m extremely thankful to Red Bull and Williams for believing in me and helping me on my journey back to the grid. “It’s also been great to see all the progress Williams have been making as a team this year and I look forward to helping them continue that journey in 2022. “My focus now returns to my test and reserve driver role at Red Bull and helping the team fight for this year’s world championship.” Latifi joined Williams back in 2019 as a test driver and in 2020 upgraded to race driver for the team. “I’m excited to be continuing with Williams for another year; partly because of F1’s new technical regulations, but also because the team is moving in a more competitive direction with new owners, management and people on the technical side,” he said. “I’ve felt at home here since the day I arrived, and I think I’m in the right place to continue with my positive trajectory. The aim is to continue making little improvements so we can all take advantage of the opportunity we have next year. “I’m super excited to work with next year’s car and it’s like a fresh start for everybody. I feel privileged to be part of that change.”

Alfa Romeo has revealed its desire to retain Kimi Raikkonen for 2022 by offering him an advisory role if by any chance the former world champion is interested. The 41-year-old announced his retirement last week ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix despite missing the Zandvoort race weekend after testing positive for Covid-19. Although he has not yet made any plans in regards to his future apart from spending more time with his family, Alfa Romeo has expressed its interest in retaining him for 2022 as an advisor as he holds experience in the F1 sport. Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur said he would like to talk with Raikkonen to see if he wishes to continue working together with the team. Vasseur signed Raikkonen at the end of 2018 after Ferrari let him go. However, Vasseur says it is wrong to try to rush Raikkonen into making 2022 plans with his retirement news having just only come out. “I think I saw that already he had some proposal for other series or something like this, so I think it’s much better to let things calm down,” explained Vasseur. “Then we’ll have time to discuss about what we could do in the future. I would be more than keen to have Kimi on board somewhere, but I think he has to take time. “I think it would be a mistake [for him] to take another option today, and say: ‘Okay I will do this, and I will do this.’ He has to calm down to realise what the decision means and then it will be time to decide about the future.” “He was able to bring to the team huge experience,” said Vasseur. “He drove the last 20 years, in a winning team, always fighting for the championship. “This was a huge support to the development of the team. I’m not speaking about results on the day-by-day basis, but midterm development on the project. He knows perfectly where the performance is coming from. “And also in parallel, in terms of image for the team, it was a huge push. I would have loved to have better results and to do more, but that’s also the purpose of racing, that you always want to do more and to get more. But it is like it is and the support from Kimi was an impressive one.”