Racetrackmasters

Renault needed change at the very top as the F1 team transitioned to its new identity as Alpine for 2021. That is the explanation of Renault CEO Luca de Meo, as he responded to rumours that Cyril Abiteboul was ousted as team boss due to the team’s poor performance. However, RTL quotes de Meo as insisting that Alpine simply needed the change. “This question is a little complicated,” he said. “With this new story for us, it would have been difficult,” he added, referring to the former leadership structure under Abiteboul. “If they needed support (from Renault), they got it, but their comfort zone was to stay outside. Now Alpine is absolutely integrated into the mainstream strategy of the Renault Group. “So you need people who are part of the small, agile unit, but who also have a connection to the other side at the same time,” said de Meo. He said Abiteboul did good work for Renault, “starting in 2016 or 2017 and saying goodbye with a few podium places. But we have to look ahead”.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes Sebastian Vettel should have taken a year off from Formula 1 in 2021 instead of joining Aston Martin. After being dropped by Ferrari last year, four-time F1 world champion Vettel explored a number of options before ultimately signing with the rebranded Aston Martin squad for 2021. Vettel endured a difficult debut for Aston Martin in Bahrain. After being knocked out in Q1 and receiving a grid penalty, the German driver finished 15th after a clash with Esteban Ocon that landed him a 10-second time penalty. Aston Martin struggled to battle at the front of the midfield in Bahrain as it did throughout last year, with the team believing the updated regulations had hurt its low-rake car concept. Asked about Vettel’s struggles, Marko said he had not changed his view that the former Red Bull driver should have taken a year out before returning under the new regulations in 2022. “I was of the opinion, I told you that too, that he should take a year off, sort himself out, ask himself what he wants,” Marko said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com’s German language sister site Formel1.de. “I believe that a lot is possible within Formula 1 next year. He didn’t do that. Now he sits in the Aston Martin, which of course suffers similar to the Mercedes [with low rake]. “They are very similar cars. And this race was far from being the one that could have brought relief.”

The FIA announced last year a change in floor regulations for the 2021 season. The decision suited Red Bull Racing well, because the Formula 1 team is equally closer to competitor Mercedes this season. Otmar Szafnauer- team principal of Aston Martin- thinks this was the reason for the change. Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton conquered no less than seven world titles in recent years, which makes the dominance of Mercedes abundantly clear. According to Szafnauer the FIA wanted to reduce that dominance by making changes to the floor. “There was never a vote on the decision”, he said to Formel1.de. “There was only one trial vote with all the chief technology officers on the technical subcommittee.” If the vote did take place, Szafnauer says the decision would be most likely to have turned out differently. “You have to keep in mind that only two teams rely on the low rake concept. Only a third team would have voted against it as well. Then there wouldn’t have been the necessary super-majority.” Szafnauer therefore thinks there is more to it than that. “I am not an expert on tyres, but immediately after the changes were decided, Pirelli announced that they would also come up with a new tyre construction.” Szafnauer, however, cannot be certain of the unfairness of the decision. The team of Aston Martin this season consists of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. With these drivers, the team hopes to score high points in 2021, but it didn’t quite work out in Bahrain. Where Stroll scored a point, Vettel finished in P15.

Daniel Ricciardo has opened up about his main motivations behind his move to McLaren in 2021 after two tricky seasons at Renault. The Australian had made his move to the Enstone outfit in 2019, now known as Alpine, in the hope of building a team around him to challenge for the World Championship. Ricciardo’s move to McLaren caused ructions among the grid when it was announced following Carlos Sainz’s impending switch to Ferrari, meaning his future had already been decided before the 2020 season had got underway. While he did achieve two podiums with Renault in 2020, it showed that the return on investment of his move did not live up to his expectations when he had joined the team. Now in his 11th season in Formula 1, he explained why he has made the move to F1’s second-oldest team. “When I signed the contract, it was really just the step [McLaren] made in 2019,” he told the official Formula 1 YouTube channel. “I think they kind of turned heads in the whole paddock and it felt like they’ve gone through those few darker years of trying to sort themselves out to rebuild the team. “And it felt like in 2019 they really put everything together. It was like okay, they’ve laid everything out all the all the pieces together, it’s now just building and executing for the next few years.” After finishing P3 in the 2020 Constructors’ Championship, McLaren got the new season off to a solid start in Bahrain, earning 18 points with Lando Norris finishing P4 and Ricciardo bringing his damaged MCL35M home in a creditable P7. With the Woking team’s performances in recent years showing that their cars are arguably the most upwardly mobile on the grid, Ricciardo hopes to capitalise on their improvements by challenging for podiums, while talking of his hope to mount a title challenge as early as 2022. “Obviously, I signed at the beginning of 2020, but during 2020 they showed you a further step,” he continued. “I just think they had the most promise out of the rest. I like what I saw and felt like, yeah, everyone feels pretty comfortable at McLaren. “When I say comfortable, don’t mistake that for complacent. We’re ready to get on with it.”

Brad Binder has responded to Valentino Rossi’s words of ‘riders’ like Binder ‘not caring about their rivals in races’. The South African endured another tough day for KTM on the opening practice day ahead of Sunday’s Doha MotoGP Grand Prix. However, speaking after his day on track, one of the discussion points was centered around his race battle last weekend against Rossi, who was not happy with Binder following their second moment on track following contact in Austria last season. Rossi spoke earlier in the week about the incident saying ‘respect’ was missing from certain riders. However, Binder was quick to say that it was a non issue for him as there was no contact during the overtake. “I’ve had two moments with him. One time in Austria we both went completely off the track which is understandable so I think a second time is normal to be upset!,” said Binder. “But to be fair I didn’t touch him at all. Maybe he is a bit sensitive. I don’t feel that I did anything wrong. “I went in next to him. He released the brake and he wanted to close the line, I released the brake too, end of story.” It’s been a tough start to the 2021 season so far for KTM with the bike not suiting the Losail circuit at all. And while the overall position doesn’t look good, Binder is feeling like the bike is more competitive this weekend. The former Moto3 champion said: “It is definitely a bit more positive. All the guys did a good job this week and I feel that my bike is working better. “I feel a lot more confident with some of the changes they have made.” Binder had a few issues pop up late on which affected his attempts to get into the top ten, with debris getting stuck in one of his tyres. “Problems were out of our control in FP2 and it was like riding on ice. My other tyre had a chunk in it! It was very weird. We hope it will be better next time,” added Binder. “I really felt ready to do a good job but those issues were out of our control and that really hurt me, or at least my chances of trying to get into Q2.”

Sir Lewis Hamilton is gunning for a record-breaking eighth World Championship this year – and it has been speculated he might retire at the end of 2021. Former F1 racer Mark Webber is certain that Sir Lewis Hamilton is nearing retirement, with him expecting the seven-time World Champion to remain in Formula One for only another year or two. Hamilton inked a contract extension with Mercedes in February after his previous deal expired at the end of 2020. The fact he only signed a one-year deal raised speculation about his plans to retire at the end of the year. The Brit, for his part, has said he is yet to make up his mind about his future and insisted that whether or not he wins an eighth title this year won’t be the deciding factor. His 2021 campaign got off to a great start at the season-opener in Bahrain last weekend, with him taking victory despite Red Bull’s Max Verstappen appearing to have the edge over Mercedes. Webber said he believes Hamilton still has a few more years left in him, but admitted it would be “brave” to suggest that he will race in Formula One for another three seasons. “He’s definitely on the home straight, there’s no question about that,” Webber said. “You’d be a brave man to say he’s going to race for three more years. Two, maybe. One, yes, and then there’s a high chance, it makes a lot of sense. There’s new rules in 2022. “[I’d say] go long, even Lewis at eight and a half out of 10 is still dangerous. Go a bit longer, you don’t have a great deal to lose in my opinion, when you’re that amazing. “I still think he’s got more in him,” the former Red Bull driver added.

Williams F1 driver George Russell expresses confidence that Alexander Albon will be making a return to Formula 1 on a full time basis. Albon, who was driving for Red Bull back in 2020 was under pressure throughout the season as rumours constantly went round regarding his future with the Formula 1 team. As the 2020 season came to an end Albon lost his seat as Red Bull opted to replace him with Sergio Perez for the 2021 season as he remained to be the reserve driver for the team instead. At the age of 25 though, with a number of seats set to become free next year, he has plenty of time to find a way back into the sport permanently, and Russell is sure that he will do so. “I’m in contact with Alex all the time, he is one of my closest mates,” the Williams driver told inews.co.uk. “Alex is a great driver who had a very tough time at Red Bull for a number of reasons. But he’ll be back in F1 I’m sure in the near future.” Alongside being Red Bull’s test and reserve driver, Albon will also be driving in DTM in 2021, partnering Liam Lawson at Italian outfit AF Corse. ADVERTISEMENT Russell thinks that competing in the category will be a huge challenge for him given how different it is to single-seater racing and F1 in particular. That being said, he thinks his friend is good enough to do well in it. “DTM is an incredibly tough championship,” Russell added. “It is very different to Formula One. And those guys are top of their game in what they do so he’s actually got quite a tough challenge on his hands because he’s having to learn a new discipline. “It’s almost like asking Roger Federer to go play badminton or squash. It’s still a racket and a ball, but it’s completely different. I’m sure he’ll do well but he’s got very tough challenge on his hands.” Albon has previously stated that while his first choice is to return to F1 with a seat at Red Bull, he’d also take one at AlphaTauri or even outside the Red Bull family. With Russell in with a chance of joining Mercedes, his seat at Williams could become free and be an option for him.

Haas Formula 1 team picked Mick Schumacher as one of their drivers for 2021 lineup due to his strong performance in Formula 2 and not to secure backing from a sponsor, Haas team boss Guenther Steiner said in a statement. Steiner admitted last year the team was in a difficult financial situation following the disruption caused by the pandemic. Its new drivers for the 2021 F1 season have links to sources of income the team has obtained for the new season. Nikita Mazepin’ father runs Uralkali, the team’s new title sponsor.Negotiations between Haas and another new sponsor, German internet services firm 1&1, were shown in the recent Netflix Drive to Survive documentary. The company was depicted as being keen to position their brand alongside a German driver. However Steiner said Schumacher was chosen for his ability, rather than the income he attracted. “The 1&1 sponsorship is a Haas team sponsorship, it’s not a Mick sponsorship, just to clarify that,” he said. “There is no direct connection between 1&1 and Mick. Obviously 1&1 embraces Mick being at Haas, but this was a parallel development, not a combined development.” Schumacher won the F2 championship last year and is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy which eased his path into one of the Scuderia’s customer teams, Steiner explained. “For sure it helped us with 1&1 and 1&1 is very happy about having Mick at Haas. But that, it was more like a decision from Ferrari where to send the drivers and we asked if we can have him because he won Formula 2. But it is not a direct negotiation going on between the company and Mick.”

Sebastian Vettel’s debut for the Aston Martin Formula One team didn’t go as planned, but the German driver seems to be having loads of fun with the British outfit. While preparing for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel took the DBX for a snowy spin somewhere in Scandinavia. The two-minute video shows Vettel driving the DBX while talking about his new career at Aston Martin, but it’s also a marketing stunt for the SUV. A skilled driver, Vettel does plenty of sliding and drifting in the snow, likely to showcase that the DBX is not your regular family hauler. The scenery is downright epic. The driving takes place somewhere in Scandinavia. There’s snow, forests, frozen lakes, and northern lights across the night sky. One thing becomes obvious after this video. Even if things don’t go well in Formula One this year, Aston Martin now has a great ambassador for its cars. The DBX is Aston Martin’s first-ever SUV. In production since July 2020, the DBX draws juice from the same twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V8 that also motivates the DB11 and the Vantage. The AMG-sourced engine cranks out 550 PS and 700 Nm of torque (542 horsepower and 516 pound-feet), enabling the SUV to hit 62 mph (100 kph) in 4.5 seconds. The Aston Martin DBX is the official Formula One medical car for the 2021 season, alongside a Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Estate. Vettel joined Aston Martin from Ferrari, where he spent no fewer than six seasons. Before that, Vettel raced for Red Bull Racing for six years, winning four championships in the process. At Ferrari, Vettel didn’t manage to win titles, but he scored second-place finishes in the drivers’ standings in 2017 and 2018. The German driver debuted for Aston Martin F1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28. Vettel qualified 18th but started last following a five-place penalty for failing to respect yellow flags. He finished the race 15th for his most disappointing debut for a new team in a very long time. Lance Stroll, his team-mate, finished 10th.