Racetrackmasters

Stoffel Vandoorne had hoped that he would be allowed to drive the W11 this weekend during the second Grand Prix in Bahrain. Toto Wolff chose George Russell to replace Lewis Hamilton, who was infected with the coronavirus. The team boss of Mercedes explains that there were no firm agreements why with Vandoorne. “Stoffel is doing great in Formula E and has done a perfect job this year as our reserve driver”, Wolff is quoted by Racefans.net. The 48-year-old chief can understand very well that Vandoorne is disappointed that he is not allowed to take action this weekend. “We understand and respect that. He’s a racer and we don’t expect him to be jumping for joy.” According to the top man of the German race team, Vandoorne has reacted neatly internally to the fact that the choice fell on George Russell. “He’s also pragmatic and understands the reasons for our decision. As reserve driver, you go into the season knowing that you could be called on to race, but that it’s not a guarantee and also that you have a role to play away from the track in the simulator and doing development work,” Wolff explains. Finally, all the Austrian has left is praise for Vandoorne. “Stoffel has done a great job with that, as well as his main role in Formula E, where they have just completed pre-season testing. He’s an important part of the motorsport family at Mercedes and a top team player.”

Gunther Steiner has hit back at Haas reserve driver Louis Deletraz, who is upset that he was overlooked to replace Romain Grosjean this weekend in Bahrain. The small American team has instead selected F1 legend Emerson Fittipaldi’s 24-year-old grandson Pietro – the second official Haas reserve. But Deletraz, a 23-year-old Swiss driver who is seventh in the Formula 2 standings, hinted on social media that Haas should have had more “respect” for him. “Congrats Jack, Williams and Mercedes,” he said after Jack Aitken was selected to replace the Mercedes-bound George Russell ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain round. “A choice based on pure performance. It’s nice to see a team with respect to its drivers.” When asked about that comment, Haas boss Steiner reacted with frustration. “I haven’t spoken with him recently, but I saw that he is angry – and he’s not the only one who is angry because they wanted that seat,” he said. “He is just one of them, so get in line. Pietro deserves it,” Steiner added. “I asked him to be here because I was worried about coronavirus, and so he came to be away from home for three weeks without any assurance of being able to race. “There is no debate about this,” he continued. “It was the plan that was on the table and we followed it. Besides, I don’t have to ask anyone else who I should put in the car.” Steiner also played down speculation that Mick Schumacher might be a candidate to race next weekend in Abu Dhabi, as a limping Grosjean with heavily bandaged hands returned to the Bahrain paddock on Thursday. Steiner insisted: “I want Romain to come back so I’m not thinking of anything else. “I think he can end his time with us at that race, that’s what I’ve talked about with him and I want him to end on a high note. “We won’t decide otherwise until someone tells us that he cannot race,” he added.

UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou will drive for Renault at the Young Driver Test at Abu Dhabi in December. The Renault junior will partner two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, who is set to return to the team in 2021. The one-day post-season test will be held at the Yas Marina Circuit on Tuesday, December 15, with both Zhou and Alonso taking to the wheel of the R.S.20. Zhou is currently eighth in the Drivers’ Championship with one win and give podiums. The Chinese driver already has experience in F1 machinery, testing the R.S.18 Budapest, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. “We would like to thank the FIA and F1 for their acceptance of our test plans, made in recognition of our commitment to young drivers throughout junior motorsport and to Fernando’s own dedication to furthering the careers of young talents,” explained Renault Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul. “Zhou has experienced the benefit of the Renault Sport Academy, having joined its ranks last year. He has worked hard and made a genuine contribution to the performance of the team through his work in the simulator and test programme. I am delighted he can drive the R.S.20 to complement his journey so far.”

Formula One’s governing body opened an investigation into Romain Grosjean’s Bahrain Grand Prix crash on Thursday as the French driver hailed those who helped him escape the fireball. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) also made changes for this weekend’s race at Sakhir, adding two rows of tyres and a conveyor belt at the turn three scene of Grosjean’s accident. A kerb between turns eight and nine was removed to reduce the risk of a car becoming airborne and the depth of the barrier on the right side of turn nine was increased to four rows of tyres. Grosjean suffered burns to his hands after his Haas car split in two, penetrating a metal barrier and erupting in flames, in Sunday’s race. The Frenchman left hospital on Wednesday and in an Instagram post accompanying video footage pointed to “the moment I realized I was going to live”. He highlighted the professionalism of the marshal with the extinguisher and FIA doctor Ian Roberts. “I told him he was a hero, he went into the fire as much as he could to save me,” he said of Roberts. “I felt Ian’s hands pulling me over the barrier and knew I was safe. I remember every second of it and life will never be the same again, but I’m sure for the best,” added the driver. “I met with death and that is the worst feeling I ever had. But I’m alive and will enjoy every second of life and every small win in a much better way from now on.” The FIA expected its investigation to take six to eight weeks. It will look at all safety devices, how the safety barrier performed and the role of track marshals and medical intervention team. The body said it would work with Formula One, Haas and the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), who had already been contacted for input. Grosjean is one of the three GPDA directors. Researchers also have data from a driver-facing high speed camera, the in-car Accident Data Recorder and in-ear accelerometers that measure head movement. The FIA said immediately after Sunday’s accident that the impact measured more than 50G, while Haas said the car’s last recorded speed was 221kph. “With so much data available in Formula One, it allows us to accurately determine every element of what occurred and this work has already begun,” said FIA safety director Adam Baker. “We take this research very seriously and will follow a rigorous process to find out exactly what happened before proposing potential improvements.”

Two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso is re-joining the grid next year after two seasons away, taking up the Alpine F1 Team seat vacated by Daniel Ricciardo at the end of this season. The Spaniard is wasting no time getting back into the swing of things, as he has already run a slew of test sessions with the Renault team (which will be renamed Alpine next year) in their 2018 car, as well as 1,000 kilometers of “filming day” allowance in the current car. Because of this lack of experience with the current spec, the team was recently given clearance to run Fred in the young driver test at the Abu Dhabi circuit later this month on the Tuesday following the season-ending Grand Prix. Alonso left his role in the McLaren team at the end of the 2018 season and has spent that time pretty much just being a lazy bum. All he’s done since then is win the Daytona 24, win Le Mans twice, score an FIA WEC World Championship victory, participate in (and finish) his first Dakar rally, and make two efforts at the Indianapolis 500. Obviously he’s been racing a hell of a lot since leaving F1, but there’s nothing quite like an F1 car to prepare you to drive an F1 car. That’s why he and the team need as much testing time as possible to get back up to speed. When Alonso starts the 2021 season, it will mark twenty years since his first race with the Minardi team. Technically he’ll be re-joining the sport with a team that he’s raced with on three separate occasions, as the Enstone-based Renault has hired Alonso initially from 2001 as a test driver through his two World Championship seasons in 2005 and 2006. He left for one ahem tumultuous season at McLaren before returning in 2008 and 2009. After five seasons with Ferrari and three more with McLaren, plus two on sabbatical driving whatever he damn well pleases, Alonso is back with the French manufacturer. The post-Abu Dhabi test was originally planned to be a run-in with the new 18-inch wheel and tire package from Pirelli, but because that rule change has been pushed back to the 2022 season, the test was swapped out for a new young driver event. Each team is allowed up to two cars to test with their young driver academy participants. The sporting regulations specifically state that the test is “an optional one-day test, for the sole purpose of providing young drivers with the opportunity to test a current Formula 1 car ,” and goes on to say that nobody with more than two Grands Prix of experience would be allowed to participate. Clearly Alonso is not either of those things. Despite pushback from McLaren, Racing Point, and Ferrari, the FIA has decided that Alonso and Renault/Alpine would be allowed special dispensation to take part. Allegedly the decision came down from on high, as Jean Todt himself made the choice. Interestingly, Fernando will also be driving his old 2005 Renault R25 chassis during the Abu Dhabi weekend, which won the teams and drivers championship that year. Obviously this doesn’t gain him or the team anything in terms of setup data for the 2021 car, but it’s a nice warm up for the test the following week, and it’s a nice goodbye to the Renault name, and a nice bridge for the gap between Fernando’s old life and his new one in the sport.

Sebastian Vettel was furious with Charles Leclerc at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but after talking to his team-mate, says it’s no big deal. At the race restart following Romain Grosjean’s horror crash, Leclerc dived down the inside at Turn 1, taking Vettel by surprise and causing him to drop back. “Not again! He can’t just do that as if I wasn’t there. It’s the same as Austria, seriously,” he said on the team radio. “I should’ve crashed, maybe it was the better option. All morning we talk about giving room.” In the paddock immediately after the race, he remained unhappy, and said that he’d talk to his team-mate about the incident. “I lost ground at the start because I have been very considerate of Charles,” he told Sky Germany. “I don’t think that angle is normally possible unless I open the door so much to make it possible. I got a little annoyed because it was unnecessary. But okay. I lost a lot of positions after that and then you saw we had our difficulties.” “I will talk to him. In the end, it is the same as in Austria and if I don’t look, we’d crash again.” The pair did discuss what happened, and after doing so, Vettel somewhat changed his tune, feeling that the incident wasn’t that big a deal. “We don’t need to make a big deal out of it,” the German said. “It was tight. I believe if you have three cars in the first corner at times it works, but most of the time it doesn’t.” “We spoke about it, we move on, no big deal.” Leclerc meanwhile denied Vettel’s claims that it was a repeat of what happened in Austria earlier in the year when the pair came together, although he did concede the gap he left was perhaps too small. “On my side, the only thing I can say is that surely it was extremely tight,” the Monegasque stated. “But on the other hand, unlike in the Styrian Grand Prix where I didn’t put myself in a visible place, this time I tried for him to see me.” “There was a very little gap, I went for it and I made sure that he saw me. You could argue there was probably not enough gap between our cars, being in the same team.”

Mick Schumacher will get his hands on his 2021 HAAS Formula 1 machine a little early, with the American team announcing that the German will debut for them in Free Practice 1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The outing will be Schumacher’s first official session in F1 machinery. He had previously been scheduled to drive for Alfa Romeo at the Eifel Grand Prix before the session was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Instead, Schumacher will now take to the VF-20 in FP1 at Abu Dhabi on Friday, December 11, before participating in the end of season young driver test at Yas Marina Circuit, Tuesday 15 December. Schumacher was officially announced as a HAAS F1 driver for 2021 on Wednesday morning, signing a multi-year with the team. The Championship leader will partner his Formula 2 rival, Nikita Mazepin, at HAAS, after the Russian was announced at the team on on Tuesday.

Mick Schumacher is following in the footsteps of his father who is the seven-time Formula One world champion and signed up for a team for the 2021 season. The 21-year-old will line-up for Haas, starting with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 21, 30 years after his father made his F1 debut with Jordan. The German, who is part of the Formula Two championship in Bahrain this weekend, has signed a multi-year deal to race with the American team. “The prospect of being on the Formula One grid next year makes me incredibly happy and I’m simply speechless,” said Schumacher, who is also a member of the Ferrari young driver programme. “I also want to acknowledge and extend my love to my parents – I know that I owe them everything. I have always believed that I would realise my dream of Formula One. “A huge thank you must also go to all the great motorsport fans out there who have supported me throughout my career. I will give it my all, as I always do, and I look forward to going on this journey together with Haas F1 and them.” Schumacher will be handed his grand prix debut in opening practice for Haas at the season-concluding race in Abu Dhabi a week on Friday. His father, Michael, won 91 races and seven world championships during a glittering career. Lewis Hamilton surpassed Schumacher’s win record in Portugal before drawing level with him on seven titles at the Turkish Grand Prix last month. But little is known of the 51-year-old’s medical condition following his skiing accident in the French Alps almost seven years ago. His son was skiing alongside him at the time. Schumacher will head into this weekend’s F2 season-deciding race in Bahrain with a 14-point title advantage over his British rival Calum Ilott. The championship acts as a feeder series to Formula One. Haas team principal Guenther Steiner added: “I’m very pleased that we’re able to confirm Mick Schumacher in our driver line-up for next season and I look forward to welcoming him into the team. “The Formula Two championship has long served as a proving ground for talent to showcase their credentials and this year’s field has undoubtedly been one of the most competitive in recent seasons. Mick has won races, collected podiums and excelled against some pretty exceptional talent in 2020. “I firmly believe he’s earned the opportunity to graduate into Formula One based on his performances.”

Romain Grosjean left hospital in Bahrain on Wednesday after the French Formula One driver was treated for burns to his hands suffered when his Haas car was engulfed in fire during Sunday’s Grand Prix. Grosjean, 34, had an astonishing escape after the vehicle penetrated the metal crash barriers in the race at the Sakhir circuit, splitting in two and erupting in flames. The same circuit hosts another race this weekend but Grosjean will not take part, replaced by the team’s Brazilian reserve Pietro Fittipaldi. Haas said Grosjean will remain in Bahrain to continue private treatment. The driver said on Tuesday that he still wanted to drive in next week’s season-ending Etihad Airways Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “Even though it is complicated for those close to me, it is a need for me to get back into a Formula One car, to see where I am, if I can continue to drive,” he said. If Grosjean recovers in time to race in Abu Dhabi, it will be the Frenchman’s final grand prix for Haas after the team this week announced an all-new driver lineup for the 2021 season. Nikita Mazepin, the 21-year-old Russian currently racing in Formula Two, was confirmed on Tuesday before the team added Mick Schumacher on Wednesday. The son of the great Michael Schumacher is also stepping up from F2, where he leads this season’s standings.

Russell will step in for Hamilton following the seven-time world champion’s positive test for COVID-19, with a deal being struck between Mercedes and Williams overnight. Russell has been part of Mercedes’ junior programme since the end of 2016, but required allowance from Williams to make the move up to his parent team and deputise for Hamilton. The agreement is in place for this weekend’s race at the Bahrain International Circuit, but could end up being extended to cover the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as well should Hamilton be unable to return. It will give Russell – who won the Autosport BRDC Award back in 2014 – the opportunity to break his F1 points duck dating back to his debut with Williams at the start of the 2019 season, sampling the fastest car in the series’ 70-year history. “First and foremost, I wish to thank our loyal partners at Williams for their collaboration and open-mindedness in making it possible for George to race for Mercedes this weekend,” said Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff. The conversations with the team at Williams were positive and pragmatic, and those were the key factors in reaching an agreement. “It will not be a straightforward task for George to make the transition from the Williams to the W11, but he is race-ready and has detailed understanding of the 2020 tyres and how they perform on this generation of cars. “We have a job to do this weekend, and the full focus of our sporting efforts will be behind Valtteri and George in order to maximise our points score as a team.” Russell has impressed throughout his F1 career to date despite the limitations of the Williams car, with Hamilton recently praising his displays and calling him a potential future world champion. Russell has long been linked with a possible move up to Mercedes, but is contracted at Williams until the end of the 2021 season. This weekend’s race will give Mercedes the opportunity to see how Russell fares against full-time driver Valtteri Bottas, although his first run in the 2020-spec W11 car will only come on Friday in practice. “Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to everybody at Williams for giving me this opportunity,” said Russell. “I might be wearing a different race suit this weekend, but I’m a Williams driver and I’ll be cheering my team on every step of the way. “I see this as a great chance to learn from the best outfit on the grid right now and to come back as an improved driver, with even more energy and experience to help push Williams further up the grid. A big thank you also to Mercedes for putting their faith in me.” Russell’s seat at Williams has been taken by the team’s reserve driver, Jack Aitken, who was due to race in Formula 2 this weekend with Campos. Aitken has previously tested F1 machinery for both Renault and Williams, and made an appearance in practice for the Styrian Grand Prix earlier this year. Aitken holds a full F1 super licence thanks to his junior record, and will become the first driver of Korean heritage to make a grand prix start. Aitken finished fifth in last year’s F2 championship, scoring three wins, and currently lies 14th in the standings with one round remaining this season. “I’m absolutely over the moon to have the opportunity to make my debut with Williams this coming weekend and I am extremely happy for George to have his chance too,” Aitken said. “I really mean it when I say I’ve felt very much at home here since I joined Williams earlier this year, so to get my chance to help the team try to achieve that elusive points finish is an extremely satisfying occasion to say the least. “I’ll be doing all I can to prepare in the coming days, but truthfully, I feel like I have been ready since Melbourne.” It will mark the first time since the 2001 Italian Grand Prix where two drivers have made their mid-season debut at the same race.

Haas Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean recalls his escape from the crash during the Bahrain GP revealing that he felt the 28 seconds in the car that was up in flames were much longer. He also states that he told himself to get out of the wreckage for his children. The 34-year-old crashed out his Haas on the opening lap of the Bahrain GP after coming into contact with AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat. The VF-20 crashed to the barrier at the exit of turn 3. The impact was at 137mph and recorded a force of more than 50g. The car tore in half and burst into flames leaving Grosjean to escape from his cockpit which had gone through the barrier. The Frenchman was able to escape quickly through the flames, only suffering burns to his hands and no fractures. He will be remaining in the hospital up to Wednesday and will miss in this weekend’s Sakhir GP but he is very hopeful that he will be making a comeback in the Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi. Grosjean joked that he had ‘Mickey Mouse’s hands’ due to the bandages on his hands as he talked in his first extended interview since the Sunday incident. He had no other issues other than the burns in his hands and he has no issue moving. Grosjean recalled his immediate thoughts in the accident, conceding that it felt longer than the 28-second period from impact to him getting out of the car. “I don’t know if the word miracle exists or if it can be used, but in any case I would say it wasn’t my time [to die],” Grosjean told TF1. “It felt much longer than 28 seconds. I see my visor turning all orange, I see the flames on the left side of the car. I thought about a lot of things, including Niki Lauda, and I thought that it wasn’t possible to end up like that, not now. I couldn’t finish my story in Formula 1 like that. “And then, for my children, I told myself that I had to get out. I put my hands in the fire, so I clearly felt it burning on the chassis. I got out, then I felt someone pulling on the suit, so I knew I was out.” Grosjean revealed that his five-year-old son, Simon, believes he has “magical powers” and that he has a “magical love shield” that protected him. “These are very strong words from the children,” Grosjean said. “My eldest, Sacha, who is seven years old, is more rational, he tries to understand. “And my little one has drawn a picture, ‘for daddy’s sores on his hands’.” Grosjean acknowledged he would likely need to discuss the trauma of such a dramatic accident as he feared he would be killed. “I was more afraid for my family and friends, obviously my children who are my greatest source of pride and energy, than for myself in the end,” Grosjean said. “I think there’s going to be some psychological work to be done, because I really saw death coming. “Even in Hollywood, we’re not able to do images like that. It’s the biggest crash I’ve ever seen in my life. The car catching fire, exploding, and the battery that burst into flames too, so it added a lot of energy to the impact.” Grosjean gave thanks for the messages he had received, but said again that he was eager to be back in the car in time for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “I would say that there is a feeling of being happy to be alive, of seeing things differently,” Grosjean said. “But also there is the need to get back in the car, if possible in Abu Dhabi, to finish my story with Formula One in a different way. “It was almost like a second birth. To come out of the flames that day is something that will mark my life forever. “I have a lot of people who have shown me love and it has touched me a lot, and at times I get a bit teary-eyed.”