Formula 1

Daimler, the dominant Mercedes team’s carmaker parent, intends to slash the amount of money it spends on Formula 1. It emerged recently that Mercedes spent a staggering $430 million to win last year’s championships – with a $145 budget cap coming in for 2021. Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius has rejected rumours that Mercedes could be pulled out of the sport. It was indirectly announced last week that Mercedes won’t leave Formula 1. On Wednesday, Daimler also confirmed this through Ola Kallenius. The CEO of Mercedes’ parent company states that there is currently no reason to turn their backs on the pinnacle of motorsport. “We have no more reason to retire from Formula 1 than Bayern Munich has to retire from football,” he is quoted by TV6. “But the financial burden in the next three years will be halved. In this regard, we set ourselves more aggressive goals for Formula 1 than for other areas of the company,” Kallenius was quoted by Reuters press agency during an online meeting with several journalists.

Japanese Formula 2 driver Yuki Tsunoda will be having his first test in the AlphaTauri AT01 at Imola on Wednesday 4th November. Tsunoda is a protege of Redbull and AlphaTauri’s power unit supplier Honda and is a potential candidate for a driver seat in AlphaTauri for the 2021 Formula 1 Season. The Japanese is hopeful to cover the 300KM that is a requirement that would qualify him to take part in a Friday Practice Session. If he is to undergo the test, there are only four races remaining in the 2020 F1 Season where he could take part in the Free Practice. The 20-year-old is currenly ranking third in the 2020 Formula 2 Season which has only two rounds to go and his position guarantees him the Super Licence that is required for any driver to race in Formula 1. “My main priority is to do those 300 kilometres,” Tsunoda said on Wednesday as he had a seat fitting at the Alpha Tauri factory in preparation for the test, which will come at the wheel of the 2018 Toro Rosso car. “I don’t want to crash or go off the track because the more mileage I do, the more I can understand the car, so I will take it easy. “But I am confident that I can do it and I will drive the way I normally do. I will focus on my job while enjoying my first day in a Formula 1 car. “I am sure I will be very excited when I’m sitting in the car waiting for the green light at the end of the pit lane.” The AlphaTauri team has said they are planning to run Yuki Tsunoda in the young driver test after the end of the 2020 F1 season which will be finalised in Abu Dhabi. Tsunoda was considered close to a certainty to take the AlphaTauri seat that is currently occupied by Daniil Kvyat until Honda announced that they will be quitting Formula 1 at the end of the 2021 season. The General Manager of Honda Motorsports, Masashi Yamamoto during the last weekend’s Eifel Grand Prix said that he did not believe that Honda’s decision would have any impact on whether Tsunoda would graduate from Formula 2 to Formula 1 in 2021. “Red Bull don’t just let anyone drive their cars,” Yamamoto said of Alpha Tauri’s owners. “I think they will be evaluating him strictly as a junior driver and also it depends on his Formula 2 results as well. But we’d like to back him up where we can.”

Redbull said that they could consider Hulkenberg as a driver option for the team in 2021, they revealed that they even spoke to the German about driving at the Nurburgring. All this was amidst the inconclusive Corona virus test that Alex Albon had undergone before the Eifel Grand Prix, the redbull motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko said that he had a talk with Hulkenberg about a possibility to be a stand in for Albon if the Covid-19 tests turned out to be positive. In the end, Albon’s test came out negative before Hulkenberg was coincidentally called by Racing Point the following day to replace Lance Stroll who was not feeling well. As Helmut Marko was being interviewed at Sport 1, he said, “We were already in talks with Hulkenberg on Friday, because Albon, like many others, had an inconclusive test result. “It could have turned out to be positive. Right after landing I called Hulkenberg, because our suspected case was Albon. But thank god it turned out that Albon was negative after all.” The revelation about Hulkenberg comes in the wake of renewed speculation about Albon’s long-term future at Red Bull in the wake of what many felt was a disappointing outing at the Eifel Grand Prix for the Thai driver. His afternoon was derailed by a major lock-up on the first lap which prompted an early change for tyres. Later on he got a penalty for his part in an incident with Daniil Kvyat before eventually retiring after a stone pierced a radiator on his car. Red Bull is much more relaxed about Albon’s form though, and believes he has the potential to be as close to Verstappen as it wants him to be. However, Marko admits that the team needs Albon to perform at his best and, if not, then the obvious options for the team are Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. “We can call the names that are available on the market,” said Marko. “This is Hulkenberg and this is Perez. The question is how far away they would be from Max? “We have comparisons with [Daniel] Ricciardo and we can draw conclusions about where the drivers stand. I don’t think that anyone would get closer than three tenths. “On good days, Albon is also able to create this proximity to Max. Albon is young, but we are aware that if he can’t stand the pressure, we can’t afford to be standing on one leg when it comes to the world championship. That is the situation. “It is actually impossible for a world championship if you only have one car in the action. But we are not there yet. “The performance [of Albon] at the Nurburgring was satisfactory. That’s just the situation.” While Red Bull has previously been resolute that its preference is to promote drivers from within its own junior programme, Marko says the situation is different now. For while Yuki Tsunoda is impressing in F2, Marko thinks it is too early to promote him straight to Red Bull, so he would be better off at AlphaTauri. “Up to now we have always recruited our drivers from our own junior squad. But there’s nobody here at the moment,” added Marko. “We do have a Japanese who is very fast, but this would be his first year. And to put him in a top team like Red Bull Racing for the first year would risk burning him out. We are not planning to do that.” “So we would have to go the way most other teams do, to rely on proven drivers.” Marko said Red Bull wants to make a decision about its line-up by the Turkish Grand Prix in November, with the ball in Albon’s court. “We are actually already clear about three positions,” said Marko, in reference to the likelihood of Tsunoda stepping up with AlphaTauri alongside Pierre Gasly. “We want to make the fourth one by Istanbul in mid-November at the latest.” Asked what factors would drive the final decision, Marko said: “Primarily it is the performance of Albon. As long as he is in the green zone, there is simply no cockpit available.” Marko was full of praise for the job that Hulkenberg did at the Nurburgring, when the German finished eighth despite not having driven the car before qualifying. “I think the worst thing that can happen to a driver is to get into a car for qualifying,” he said. “You have to take into account that he knows the Racing Point from his previous races, but it was certainly a very difficult situation. “He gradually improved during the race, did nothing stupid and drove the car to a commanding eighth place. We followed the times. At times [Pierre] Gasly and [Daniil] Kvyat were also close to him. “Then I saw that he was gradually getting closer to Perez’s times. Hats off. A great performance.” Marko also revealed that Red Bull has been in regular contact with Hulkenberg for several months, but not about a race seat just yet. “We are in talks with Hulkenberg, for example, as a television commentator and expert for ServusTV. After all, we have the rights for Austria next year, alternating with ORF. These are the first talks.”

Former world champion Fernando Alonso had his first test outing with the Renault team as he will be racing for them in 2021 after making a Formula 1 return with the team on Tuesday. This outing was the first for him in F1 since the Mclaren outing in Bahrain back in April 2019. After the test Fernando Alonso went ahead to say that the R.S20 was outperforming at the moment. This was after he drove for 100 Kilometres with the R.S20 model in what was classed as a promotional event. He also conceded that it will take time to adjust to the car’s braking and cornering performance levels after racing in other categories. “It has been a very good day in Barcelona, our filming day,” he said in a video interview. “Only 100kms, but for me they were very special, getting back to an F1 car and to the team. “The feeling was good. I think the car is obviously outperforming me at the moment, because I cannot extract the maximum from the car. “Getting back to the F1 speed is not so easy. I was improving lap after lap, and trying to give feedback to the engineers. Also we had some filming to do, so there were cameras, there were drones following on track. S o it was hard pressure, hard work today. “I think the car has potential, as we see every weekend. But still some room to improve, as we know, and we’ll try to do it in the shorter term.” Alonso said he had no concerns about dialling himself in. “The last three cars I drove were the Dakar in January, Indycar in August, and now the F1, so they cannot be more separated, each of the three! “With the F1 it’s a little bit easier, because it’s the thing that I’ve been driving all my life, and after 18 years in F1 and now getting back, it’s true you are missing a little bit the braking points, how quick all the corners arrive, braking performance, cornering speed performance, so there are many things that I need to get used to again. “But it will take a shorter period of time than getting used to a completely new thing, for example Dakar and Indy.” Alonso also admitted that he had to work on his physical condition as he prepares for 2021. “There are many things to get ready. First will be the fitness – you have to be back in shape, you have to train for F1 standards, the neck, especially all this part of the body, the upper part, will need to be reinforced and worked on in the next couple of months. “The neck is OK after 100kms, but I will tell you tomorrow! Maybe a little bit of pain. So far it has been good, but I know that I need to keep working. “Then preparations in terms of comfort, seat fitting, the steering wheel, pedal positions, there are many things we need to go through. And also the engineers, trying to have a good relationship, a good connection, that we understand each other even just looking at each other. “All those kinds of things, we will need a bit of time. We are using this part of 2020 and also the winter of next year to build the momentum.” Alonso is already embedded in the Renault team on race weekends, albeit in virtual form. “Of course I watch all the races from home. I have also a nice set-up, I have a computer that the team gave to me a couple of weeks ago, so I can follow Esteban’s on-board camera, Daniel’s on-board camera as well, I can follow the radio communications from the team, the debriefs, the strategy meetings. “So I know what is happening every weekend. The results are getting better. The podium in the last race was I think a very deserved podium finally, for the hard work.” Asked about prospects for next year he repeated his earlier assertion that, he doesn’t expect a big change in the status quo, and that his real ambitions lie with 2022, and the new regulations. “We all have high hopes inside the team, looking at the team’s progress in the championship, and the positions on the weekends. At the same time we also have to have the feet on the ground, knowing the regulations will be more or less the same until 2022. “We know that the deficit the midfield teams have this year will carry on next year. With the feet on the ground and a lot of positive energy and optimism for next year I think we have a great team, talented people in the team, great sponsors, a lot of fans around the world. I think we have all the ingredients to do a good 2021.”

Lando Norris’ race retirement due to engine failure was an exact copy of the same problem that saw his teammate Carlos Sainz retire in Belgium before the start of the Spa race. Norris had been contending for a podium finish at the Nurburgring in the Sunday’s race but he encountered problem as his MCL35 suffered a power loss. The team tried countless efforts to help Norris over the team radio to override the system shutdowns to counter the issue but it was of no help as the British driver’s pace began to fade away as he came to a halt eventually. His Mclaren was spotted with a smoking bodywork as the extent of internal damage became very obvious. Mclaren boss, Andreas Seidl said that the problem was the same as the ignition fault that Carlos Sainz encountered before the beginning of the Belgian Grand Prix which saw him retire from the race. “It looks like the same issue that we experienced in Spa on Carlos’s side,” Seidl said. “So what happens here in the end is that there’s an issue on the ignition side, which is causing unburned fuel going into the exhaust. And then it goes ‘kaput’. Seidl insisted that the Renault engineers had tried to assist Norris to override the problem, but in the end there is nothing more they could do. “We tried to get out of this, let’s say, protection mode the engine goes in when having such an issue. But unfortunately, it wasn’t possible because the problem was constantly there then.” “Obviously it was very disappointing because we were with Lando in a very good position in the race. He was running with P4 on a different strategy compared to Daniel [Ricciardo], and he was actually catching him.” “So it would have been interesting how that would have played out with the different tyre life towards the end of the race. So very disappointed by that, because it was good to see that he had good pace in the race to fight with our main competitors.” Renault team principal, Cyril Abiteboul said he would prioritise the efforts to see that they got to the bottom of the issue that Mclaren suffered, as the works team are in a close competition with Mclaren for the third place in the Constructors Championship. “Given the situation with McLaren at the end of our contract, the very tight championship position, we need to be beyond any reasonable doubt in relation to that,” Abiteboul said. “So from Monday, the team in Viry will be on that. And the team in Enstone equally needs to be on the hydraulic problems that we had on Esteban Ocon’s car, because that reliability is what’s going to determine the championship order on the evening of Abu Dhabi.”

Redbull Racing driver, Alexander Albon had run-ins with the AlphaTauri drivers, Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat during the Eifel Grand Prix. Albon did not get a good race experience at the Nurburgring on Sunday. This was after he dropped to the seventh place in the opening stages of the race despite starting at the fifth position. The Thai also pitted very early and came back through the field but was stuck behind his former teammates Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat. At first he damaged the tyres of his RB16 when he locked up trying to pass Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri AT01 while they were approaching the first corner forcing the Italian Grand Prix winner off the track. Albon later tried to overtake Kvyat in the other AlphaTauri and it seemed like he had accomplished the move when Kvyat ran deep in the final chicane, only for Albon to pull up along his line ripping off his front wing. This move earned Albon a five-second penalty which was implemented when he pit to change his flat-spotted tyres sustained after the contact with Gasly. The puncture was not as simple as it seemed, because it was later found out by his team that his side pods had collected debris from the contact with Kvyat and had punctured his radiator in the process. This saw him retire from the race and had to watch his teammate, Verstappen as he took another podium finish after he finished the race second. “The pace in the car was good today so it’s a shame to have a result like this and not see where we could have finished the race. I had a lock-up avoiding contact on the first lap which meant I had to pit really early because I had severe vibrations from a flat spot on the tyre,” Albon said. “I don’t really know what happened with Daniil and I need to watch it back. I think he may have run a little wide into the chicane when we did the re-start and I guess it was a bit of misjudgment from my side.” “After that, the team saw the temperatures rising and I was asked to box and then retire the car. It initially looked like a power unit issue from the data but the team investigated and found that some debris had pierced the radiator system which led to the rising temperatures,” the Thai added. “It is definitely not the way I wanted to end the weekend as the car felt good, but onwards and upwards and I’m looking forward to Portimao in a few weeks’ time.”

Fernando Alonso is set to make his first run in Formula 1 since his return to Renault Formula 1 team when he will be testin in Barcelona on Tuesday. The former Formula one champion will be driving the current Renault R.S in the test that will be classified as a promotional filming day, and 100 Kilometres of driving will be allowed. The team has however not officialy announced the test. Cyril Abiteboul, the team principal was asked on the matter after the Eifel Grand Prix and he said that he couldn’t confirm or deny the test on Alonso was happening. A spokesperson for the Barcelona circuit had confirmed that on Tuesday they will have activity on their track and that their client was confidential. It’s not known whether the team will also take an older 2018 car, which will not be subject to any mileage restrictions, following the strategy used by AlphaTauri at Imola earlier this year. Renault has such a car ready to go, as it ran Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon in a two-day test in Austria before the start of the season. Although he wouldn’t confirm the test, Abiteboul said that Alonso has been following the progress of the team closely, and sent messages during the Nurburgring weekend, suggesting it was a sign of the Spaniard’s commitment to the project. Alonso has been getting up to speed in recent weeks by spending time at the Renault factory in Enstone, working with the engineers. “We received a message before, during and after the race,” said Abiteboul. “You would be impressed to measure his level of interest. And I think that when he initially joined the team, and in his communication when we announced him, it was very much about 2022. “And the more the season is going and with the team’s progression, the car progression, the more he starts to be interested in 2021. I think Fernando is like a big shark. And as soon as he starts to feel the blood he wants to attack. That’s what I see – I see a shark very hungry.”

Daniel Ricciardo says that his boss, Cyril Abiteboul will get aGerman themed tattoo after getting a podium finish at the Eifel Grand Prix which was held at the Nurburgring. The Australian had a wager with Abiteboul, the Renault team boss earlier this year that if Ricciardo got a podium finish they would have matching tattoos. After his third place finish on the Nurburgring race on Sunday, he said he would do something linked to where they got their first podium finish together. “It’s real. It’s going to happen, we’ll have to do some thinking now, but probably it will be something to do with me, but I think with a German flavour,” said Ricciardo. “This is obviously the place we did it. A little tip of the hat to something traditional in Germany as well.” Daniel Ricciardo’s podium finish is also the first podium for Renault since they returned back to Formula 1 in 2016 as a works team. The finish is also the first after a long wait since his win in 2018 at the Monaco Grand Prix. He shared his win afterwards with his team in Parc Freme as he described the top three finish felt like a brand new experience. “Yes, it’s been a while,” he said. “And actually, to be honest, it feels like the first podium all over again. I think it’s been two and a half years or something, and yeah the feeling, it’s really nice, it’s fresh.” “I’m so, so happy and obviously to see everyone as well: we’ve all waited a long time for this. So, yeah, I think everyone’s going to soak it up.” Daniel Ricciardo’s podium finish has closed up the highly contested fight for the third place between Mclaren and Racing point. Following a tough afternoon for McLaren, Racing Point is now third on 120 points, with McLaren on 116 and Renault just two points further adrift.

Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s all time Formula 1 win record by taking victory in the Eifel Grand Prix as Verstappen closely followed in the second place. Valterri Bottas retired from the race after suffering a mechanical problem. Daniel Ricciardo finished third, recording his first podium with the Renault Formula 1 team since he joined them back in 2019. Racing point’s Sergio Perez closely followed Ricciardo and eventually got the fifth position as the pair had a very close battle over the final laps but the fun was later spoilt by the deployment of a safety car. At the beginning Lewis Hamilton pulled close to his teammate, Bottas as they approached the first corner as the two Mercedes Silver Arrows went deep into the right hander, going very wide to the runoff at the exit as Bottas hung around the outside. This gave him the chance to be in the inside line at Turn 2 left and was able to hold back onto the lead. He was clear of Hamilton in the opening stages of the race as he immediately got out of the DRS range and this made him extend his lead over the next few laps. Bottas lead however did not extend more than two seconds as he, Hamilton and Redbull’s Verstappen moved clear of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari which was holding off Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen’s teammate Alex Albon. The three leading drivers were the only ones able to achieve 1m32s on the opening stages of the race as they were riding on soft tyres as Leclerc was about 20s off the lead by the time Ricciardo passed him on the outside at Turn 2 on lap 9. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand, begun narrowing down the gap on Bottas and had already gained 0.3s by lap 12, but Bottas locked heavily at the beginning of the next lap making him go deep at Turn 1. This made Hamilton to take the advantage and overtake Bottas from the outside of the turn and take the lead. Verstappen was also over the rear of Valtteri’s W11 but he pitted at the end of lap 13, to replace his ruined soft tyres with mediums. Things did not go well for Bottas moments later as the virtual safety car was called in for George Russel to pull off his damaged car, in an incident which was caused when Kimi Raikkonen tipped on to the Williams FW43 on its right hand wheels when he lost his rear end after a close battle with Sebastian Vettel. The deployment of the safety car meant that Hamilton’s lead would be cut down by Verstappen who had even had a pit stop and would even gain on Hamilton more than Bottas despite Hamilton’s efforts to record lap times on 1m 31s. Things were going from bad to worse for Valtteri Bottas as he fell behind Lando Norris and Sergio perez who were yet to pit as they were running behind Ricciardo who pitted after the deployment of the virtual safety car reporting a power loss on his car. Bottas later retired on the next lap despite Mercedes issuing a set of reset instructions as his car suffered a suspected MGU-H problem. Verstappen was gaining on Hamilton by two seconds, thanks to the faster pit stops as the two drivers recorded laps on the early 1m 30s but the world champion was able to get a clear lead over Max. He gradually extended his lead taking it to 10s at the end of lap 42 and the attention turned to the fight for 3rd. Ricciardo pit stop during the deployment of the safety car meant that he would not have to stop up to the end of the race. Perez was putting up a tight battle to overtake him as Lando Norris experienced a power problem that Mclaren could not rectify as they advised over the team radio on settings change instructions. Sergio Perez was running on the softs for the first 30 laps caught on Leclerc who had pitted after being passed by Daniel Ricciardo and it was his turn to lose time behind the slow Ferrari. By the time he got to the chicane on lap 35, he was 17.5 seconds behind Daniel Ricciardo and quickly started to narrow down the gap. Perez was able to chop off 4 seconds on the Renault over the next five laps but the race was interuppted again in the final quarter of the race when Norris pulled out of the track at Turn 6 after his car started smoking out, a safety car was deployed. The top 3 cars, Mercedes, Redbull and Renault were called into the pits as Perez initially stayed on the track but later too pitted to change into soft tyres as the others had done. The safety car stayed up to the 50th lap as Hamilton and Verstappen complained on its speed as their tyres were getting cold in the track that was located in the Eifel mountains. As the race resumed Hamilton had dropped Verstappen at the last chicane as Ricciardo was trying to attack Verstappen at Turn 1 but Verstappen proved unbeatable. The race leaders made laps strong of 1m 28s as Hamilton made stronger laps and was again able to build up his lead. The top positions remained stable as Hamilton finished first making it his record-equalling victory as Verstappen came in second after setting the fastest last lap. Daniel Ricciardo finished third making this his first podium since winning the 2018 Monaco GP. Sergio prez came in fourth 1.4 seconds later. Carlos Sainz finished fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who passed Leclerc after the safety car as he had to run behind them by not stopping after the safety car was deployed. Nico Hulkenberg rose from last to finish eighth in place of the unwell Lance Stroll – his cause aided by the safety car, which also helped Romain Grosjean take his first points of 2020…

Mclaren’s driver, Lando Norris will start the Eifel Grand Prix with a new engine in the back of his Mclaren MCL35. After the Saturday qualifying round the team decided that he will be starting the race on a brand new power unit. Norris will start the race at the Nürburgring with a brand new Renault engine. This engine is still within the limits of the season and therefore Norris will not receive a grid penalty. He had a great qualifying session and beat his team mate Carlos Sainz for the fifth time this season. On Sunday he will fight for a good number of points to maintain his fourth position in the championship. In the build up to the race the team revealed they had found a problem with the unit he used for qualifying on Saturday. The team said: “We detected an issue with Lando’s power unit yesterday after qualifying, which Renault is investigating. As a consequence, we had to change his PU this morning (new elements: ICE, MGUH, MGUK and TC).” Norris will not receive a penalty for taking the new engine as this is the third use of each component and therefore within the allocation.The Briton was happy with making Q3 on Saturday and grabbing P8 on the grid with an older McLaren package than his team mate Carlos Sainz, who will start the race behind him in 10th.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Botta beat his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the qualifying round of the Eifel Grand Prix which was held at the Nurburgring. Nico Hulkenberg finished 20th after replacing Lance Stroll who is unwell. Mercedes has been maintaining its win in the qualifying round so far in the 2020 Formula 1 season, but it was facing very stiff competition from Redbull’s Max Verstappen who was top on Q1 but later came in just a fraction of a second later than Lewis Hamilton in Q2. Verstappen had even led the way through the first turns of Q3 but Bottas and Hamilton proved to be unbeatable on their second runs. Bottas led the middle sector of the final round recording 1m 25.269s which put him 0.265s ahead of Lewis Hamilton who later proved to be the fastest in the final sector of the last lap. Verstappen on the other hand was the quickest in the first sector of the lap but later in the other sectors of the lap was slower than the Mercedes duo coming in 0.293s adrift of Bottas. Charles Leclerc took the fourth fastest lap time for Ferrari after taking on Alexander Albon in his RB16 who later finished fifth after recording an improvement in the last moments. All the leading cars will be starting tomorrow’s race on soft tyres despite the Mercedes and Ferrari and also Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who was testing the medium tyres on Q2. Ricciardo was the sixth fastest in Q3 as his teammate Esteban Ocon came in after him on seventh. Mclaren’s Lando Norris qualified in eighth position ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz rounding out the top ten. As Leclerc was trying to improve and set his fifth best lap time in Q1, he knocked out his teammate Sebastian Vettel who later set his personal best on the mid section of the final lap but ended up taking the 11th position. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat also did their personal best runs in Q2, but luck was not on their side as they ended up placing p12 and p13, while Antonio Giovinazzi made a faster last lap giving him P14 for Alfa Romeo. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen came in a few seconds later from Giovinazzi taking P15. Nico Hulkenberg was out early on the track early in the Racing Point’s RP20, although he was due to travel to the Nurburgring on Saturday to work for the German broadcaster, RTL but he received a late call to replace Lance Stroll who was not feeling well ahead of the qualifying round. He made several runs on the soft tyres as the session was underway and found himself being among the slowest of the lap times but was eventually able to move up to P19 ahead of the final runs in Q1. The German had deep moments in the final run at the first corner and brief lock ups on the right front and left front respectively at Turn 6 – the right-hander that runs down towards the hairpin – and on the approach to the final chicane. He however lost time in the last sectors and finished 0.204s slower than Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean missed the cut after having his best lap of the session (1m27.118s ) deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4 in the shadow of the Mercedes grandstand that overlooks the corner and Turn 1. The Haas driver was able to set another time in the closing moments but was shuffled down and out ahead of the Williams pair George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, as they finished P17 and P18.

Mercedes will not supply engines to Red Bull and AlphaTauri once Honda pull out of Formula 1 at the end of next year, motorsport head Toto Wolff said on Friday. Red Bull may have an unexpected option of Ferrari to consider as an engine supplier from 2022, based on comments made on Friday. A week has passed since their current partner Honda confirmed their exit from Formula 1 at the end of next year, leaving Red Bull and sister team AlphaTauri looking for alternatives. The possibility of taking over Honda’s engine project and developing their own units is one outcome being discussed, as is the last resort of returning to Renault power, but when it came to the other two manufacturers on the grid, certainly in the case of main rivals Mercedes, their position was clear. “[We can’t] for various reasons, but the main thing is we are supplying four teams, including us,” team boss Toto Wolff said at the Nurburgring. “We are almost in a state that we can’t make power units for all of us so there is no capacity. “But I have no doubt [Red Bull advisor] Helmut [Marko] will have a Plan B, as he said, and probably doesn’t need to rely on any of the power unit suppliers.” The Austrian’s last comment certainly hints that he feels Red Bull may simply take Honda’s engine project in-house. But if not, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto certainly didn’t rule out recreating a partnership which, with Toro Rosso, lasted until 2013. “We are not considering it, [but it is] something we need to start considering now,” he said. “I think we have not decided as first I think it will be down to Red Bull to eventually look at us and ask for supply, they’re a great team, no doubt. “I think supplying them is a lot of energy somehow which is required, but something on which we need to consider and have no position yet, on which we need certainly to take our time to think that and have a decision. “It was sudden news from Honda and I think now we need to consider something that was not being considered a few days ago.”

The Formula 1 governing body, FIA on Friday approved a ban on the sort of ‘reverse engineering’ that allowed the Racing Point RP 20 to compete in the 2020 Formula 1 season with a car resembling last year’s Mercedes W1O which won the World championship. The FIA stated that its World Motor Sport Council(WMSC) approved the changes to the 2021 technical regulations that will prevent the teams from the extensive use of reverse engineering of rivalling teams’ car parts for the design of the car’s aerodynamic surfaces. This happened with the Canadian team, Racing Point whose car sparked a lot of controversy after unveiling the RP20. This led to a protest by rival teams, like Renault and Ferrari, with Racing Point fined 400,000 euros by race stewards and later docked 15 points for copying the 2019 Mercedes W10’s brake ducts. The team was however allowed to continue competing without having to get rid of offending parts. There was an appeal by the teams who wanted a tougher form of punishment to be imposed on the Canadian outfit as they were against the appeal. The rival teams later dropped the appeal after FIA issued a clarification on the matter. “The collaboration between FIA, Formula One and the teams has produced a series of acts… which clarify the responsibilities of each championship participant in the design of the components of a single-seater,” Ferrari said at the time. The WMSC also gave final approval to the sport’s new Concorde Agreement governing the sport for the next five years. All 10 teams had agreed it already with commercial rights holders Liberty Media.

The Mercedes Formula One team on Friday confirmed that they have isolated six more staff, including a second person who returned a confirmed positive Covid-19 test. The team had announced on Thursday that one person from their travelling race team had record a positive test ahead of this weekend’s Eifel Grand Prix. As a result, the team re-tested everyone at the Nurburgring circuit, an exercise that resulted in another positive test and one that was inconclusive. Both of those team members were immediately put into isolation along with four others. The results came through on Friday morning, with one further team member having been confirmed as having contracted the virus, and one test coming back inconclusive. A retest for that case is now underway. As part of the FIA protocols put in place to minimise the chance of a virus outbreak spreading, Mercedes has identified the team members who were in close proximity of the affected individuals. That means four further team members, who have all tested negative, have been removed from the bubble at the Nurburgring and will take no further part in the weekend. Mercedes has flown out six replacement staff members to fill roles at the team and try to minimise the impact of losing its regulars. The team flew six reserve staff to Germany on Thursday, a decision that maintained the numbers at the track, but has thrown the champions’ race preparations into difficulty. Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton who is making a second attempt to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 Grand Prix victories, described the events as “a concern”. Speaking on Thursday, he said: “It’s sad to hear, for the guys that work so hard. We obviously had this week in between [races] and those guys work so hard to stay safe and be here on the weekends.” Mercedes said they are following strictly all of the protocols laid down by the sport’s ruling body the International Motoring Federation (FIA), adding that they are not releasing any further information

The second Formula 1 practice session for the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix has been cancelled due to poor weather conditions at the Nurburgring.After the event’s opening practice session was called off on Friday morning, with the track’s medical helicopter unable to fly safely to its destination hospital if there was an emergency, conditions did not improve during the two-and-a-half hour gap between FP1 and FP2. As rain fell steadily and temperatures remained rooted to 10 degrees air and 13 degrees track, the FIA communicated a repeat message that the medical helicopter was still restricted 15 minutes before FP2 was set to start at 1500 local time. The helicopter restrictions means no track action can take place in such circumstances, as the nearest hospital is over 20 minutes away – the FIA’s maximum allowance by road. FP2’s 90-minute time remaining countdown started as scheduled at 15:00, with the FIA immediately announcing the next update would be given at 15:30. When that point was reached, race control stated another update would be provided at 16:00 and at that stage the session was cancelled. Speaking during FP1, FIA race director Michael Masi said: “With the fog that’s come in, the medical helicopter is not able to take off and fly to the hospital. The distance by road is too far, should something occur. “With the region that we’re in, it’s probably not dissimilar to Austria earlier in the year when we had a similar situation. It’s just the nature of the area and the location. “The fog’s come in, and it’s all been going up slightly but coming down more dramatically, so we’ll just judge at the time [if it is safe to start]. “From an FIA perspective, the safety of all the participants and the drivers hopefully going out is paramount, and that’s not something we will compromise.” After FP2 was cancelled, the teams will be left with just a single scheduled practice session the one hour of running in FP3 before qualifying. Next month’s Emilia-Romagna GP at Imola will have a single 90-minute practice session before qualifying at the Italian track as part of an experiment with a condescend schedule to be run over two days of track action. The FIA has been contacted to clarify if the Eifel GP schedule can be altered given the lack of support events on the schedule compared to normal F1 races. The Eifel GP features support category action from “Touring Car Legends”, which was set to have one practice session, qualifying and two races whereas F1 is generally supported at European events by F2, F3, and the Porsche Supercup series.