Racetrackmasters

Racing Point F1 driver Sergio Perez has revealed that following his Sakhir win he received congratulatory messages from a number of team bosses… including Helmut Marko. The revelation comes at a time Red Bull – to whom Marko is motor sport consultant and Lord High Executioner – is the Mexican’s only option to remain on the grid in 2021. “I had congratulations messages pretty much from most of the team bosses in F1, including Helmut, so it was nice to have that,” Perez told reporters in Abu Dhabi. While Marko and Christian Horner have consistently backed current incumbent Alex Albon, there is a growing feeling that the youngster is unable to offer the support Max Verstappen requires in the battle for the all-important Constructors’ Championship. Having admitted that it will look beyond its own driver pool, and that Perez is on the radar, the Austrian team intends making its decision once the season ends. “I think what they say publicly is correct,” said Perez. “They will make decision at some point after the weekend. So I don’t know when that decision will be. So there’s not a lot of hurry anymore. “It’s the end of the year, and it’s where we are. We waited so long that now one week or two weeks more is to know our decision, it doesn’t change that much.” However, Perez doesn’t believe last week’s win will influence any decision, instead feeling that it is his consistency that speaks for itself. “I’m a strong believer that in F1 one race doesn’t really change your life,” he said. “What I’ve shown in the last ten years, weekend after weekend, year by year, always having up and downs, but always coming to a year end with strong results. “This year, especially you’ve seen, my year has been very, very up and down,” he continued, “missing two races with COVID in such a short championship. And missing an engine, when we had the podium in the pocket. “So many missed opportunities, and still we’re lying fourth in the drivers’ championship. “So it’s been a very, very strong year, but also a lot of credit to the team, because they gave me a car this year, what I can show what, what I’m capable of, so that’s something very special.” Asked, should he not get ‘the call’, if he would walk away from F1 with his head held high, he replied: “All I can say is that I’m in big peace with myself. “I’m not fully in control of my future at the moment,” he added. “And it’s something that bothers you, obviously, I think any human being in this position, will struggle a bit. But given that it’s not in my hands, given the victory came, I felt that I made the most of my opportunities. “So if I have a seat for next year it’s great, but if not, I’m willing to come back in ’22. “I believe that I’m at the peak of my career, and the best years are ahead of me. So even missing a year, next year, I’m determined enough to come back for ’22. “So if I have to take a year out, I’ll do it. But I am more determined than ever to come back. And I think the victory gave me some peace to myself, but also a lot more hunger. I want more in the sport. “And after you do the first one, you know that you can do it again. And I want to do it many more times again.”

Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Mattia Binotto will skip this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after falling unwell with a non-COVID-19 related illness. It will mark the third race weekend that Binotto will have missed this year, adding to the Turkish and Bahrain Grands Prix. Like the previous two events, Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies will once again takeover responsibility of the trackside operations in Abu Dhabi. Binotto returned to the F1 paddock for last weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix and is understood to have become ill while he was in Bahrain. Rather than travelling out to Abu Dhabi with the rest of the Ferrari team on Monday, Binotto instead decided to fly directly back home to Italy. Binotto’s absence means he will miss Sebastian Vettel’s final race weekend with Ferrari before the four-time world champion heads to Aston Martin, with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz coming in to replace the German alongside Charles Leclerc. At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Binotto said he was going to oversee operations from Ferrari’s Maranello base at some of the remaining races of the season in order to streamline the Italian squad’s preparations for 2021. “You need always to balance your tasks at the racetrack and at the factory,” Binotto explained. “Still the factory is important where we are developing the car, preparing the cars. “I think I will not follow all the races, even in 2020 I am already considering eventually skipping some of the racing in the last part of the season starting from Turkey. “Because at the end, when you’re responsible for an entire team, certainly the race event is important, but the entire… management of the entire team is even more important.” Ferrari heads into the 17th and final race of 2020 sitting sixth in the constructors’ championship on 131 points, 41 points behind fifth-placed Renault and 28 clear of AlphaTauri. Leclerc also occupies sixth place in the drivers’ championship heading into the season finale, but faces a three-place grid penalty in Abu Dhabi after his involvement in the first-lap collision at the Sakhir GP.

A prominent Russian motor racing official has defended 2021 Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin amid a scandal accusing the 21-year-old driver of ‘groping’ a friend. The brief social media footage, depicting the Russian as reaching out and touching the young woman as they travelled in a car, was slammed as “abhorrent” by Haas. Mazepin responded by issuing a written apology, while the woman involved said she is “good friends” with the Formula 2 driver “and nothing from that video was serious at all”. “I can give you my word he’s a really good person and he would never do anything to hurt or humiliate me,” she added. Many social media users, however, slammed the behaviour, launching a petition calling on Haas – who according to Corriere dello Sport is being paid EUR 20 million next year by Mazepin’s father’s company – to oust him. Mazepin is regularly the subject of criticism, including of his overly defensive driving last time out in Bahrain. In 2016, he was banned from a F3 race for attacking rival Callum Ilott. After the latest incident, however, Mazepin was defended by Igor Ermilin – the former presidential advisor to the Russian auto racing federation. “Today, Formula 1 drivers are emasculated, because of their communication with the media, with corporations, with sponsors. There are very few individuals left now,” he told Sport-Express. “Social media is an evil that unfortunately gives everyone the opportunity to interfere with others’ privacy. A Formula 1 driver is a normal person who faces consequences for every sneeze,” Yermilin added. “Everyone knows that similar things happen in the personal lives of everyone else. We must give those involved with sport the opportunity to remain human.” Mazepin was also defended by Oksana Kosachenko, who was best known in the Formula 1 paddock for being former Russian driver Vitaly Petrov’s manager. “Everything that had to be done, Nikita did,” she said. “He apologised and I think that’s enough. “Because of a second and a half of footage, it became the biggest nightmare story of all time and everything must be taken away from him now? “His words made absolutely clear that he has drawn all the conclusions – namely, that as a Formula 1 driver you are under closer scrutiny by both the media and enemies in the paddock,” Kosachenko added. “Everyone else that he needs to do, he will do,” she continued. “He has the brains, the competent management and parents who will tell him how to behave in this situation.”

Mercedes are set to honour staff at their Brixworth and Brackley facilities by running a special livery on their cars at the Abu Dhabi season finale featuring every team member’s name. However, according to Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, the jury is still out on whether seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton will be available to race for the team at the Yas Marina Circuit. Having wrapped up their seventh consecutive double championship already this season, Mercedes boss Wolff said ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that he’d been keen to honour the hard work put in by Mercedes’ staff at the conclusion of this unconventional, fast-paced season, which has seen 17 races run in the space of just five and half months. We have a very special surprise this weekend in Abu Dhabi for our team members,” said Wolff. “We’ll be running a slightly different livery on Saturday and Sunday featuring everyone’s name on the car to honour the huge commitment and determination from everybody in Brixworth and Brackley. “Everyone has pushed hard this year, raising the bar through this massively intense season, and we hope this gesture goes some way in showing the appreciation we have for everyone involved.”

Red Bull has denied that it will rush to snap up Sergio Perez after the out-of-work Mexican secured his first Formula 1 race win in Bahrain last Sunday. Like Nico Hulkenberg, Perez has been linked with the struggling Alex Albon’s race seat for 2021. The team has said consistently that it will make its decision about Max Verstappen’s teammate after Abu Dhabi this weekend. “Sergio Perez’s victory in Bahrain has no influence on our decision,” Dr Helmut Marko, the boss of Red Bull’s notorious driver program, told f1-insider.com. “We already knew the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates for the cockpit before that. After the last race in Abu Dhabi we will sit down and make the best possible decision.” Marko also ruled out speculation that Red Bull might now make a move for George Russell, after the regular Williams driver almost won in Bahrain last Sunday at the wheel of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. “Russell is not an issue for us,” Marko insisted. “He certainly did a great job last Sunday, but quite a few drivers in the Mercedes would have done that too.” Marko suggested that the biggest problem with Russell is his links to Mercedes. “Firstly, he is a Mercedes driver, and secondly he is managed by Toto Wolff,” said the Austrian. “In any case, he has told us on the side that he has a ten-year contract with Wolff. “That is out of the question for us. We have young drivers who also have great talent who we want to develop for ourselves, like Yuki Tsunoda.” The FIA has listed Russell as a Mercedes driver for Thursday’s official press conference in Abu Dhabi, with Wolff admitting “some question marks” hang over whether Hamilton will be able to return. “Lewis’s condition is improving, but we won’t know until closer to the time if he will be driving,” Wolff said. As for the rumours suggesting Mercedes may put Russell next to Hamilton full-time from 2021, the Austrian said: “To be honest, I haven’t made up my mind what that (the Bahrain performance) means for us.”

Red Bull Racing has named Juri Vips and Sebastien Buemi as its line-up for next week’s Formula 1 post season test in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull’s long-time test and reserve driver Buemi and 20-year-old Vips will each drive a 2020 RB16 for the entire one-day test. Vip recently joined the Swiss veteran as one of the team’s reserve drivers after completing the required 300km during a private test for the team with an older F1 car. The Abu Dhabi test will be the Estonian’s first official F1 outing in the team’s current car. Last month Red Bull named Vips as its official reserve driver for the Turkish Grand Prix when Buemi was unavailable due to his FIA World Endurance Championship duties with Toyota. Vips was due to contest the full 2020 Super Formula season, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Japan’s travel restrictions his 2020 campaign became a mix of outings in the Formula Regional championship and eight races in Formula 2, where he replaced the injured Sean Gelael at DAMS. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity that Aston Martin Red Bull Racing have given me to drive the RB16 at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi,” Vips said. “This will be the first time I get to drive a current Formula 1 car as I did my 300km in an RB8. “There will be a lot to learn but I will make sure I prepare as much as I can and it has been good for me to be with the team as reserve driver for the last few races.” Buemi, who finished fourth in the 2019-20 Formula E championship with Nissan e.dams before winning a third straight Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota, will get his first F1 mileage since July 2019, when he suffered a high-speed crash during a Silverstone Pirelli test. “I haven’t driven the car since the Pirelli test last year in Silverstone, so the test in Abu Dhabi is very important to me,” the 32-year-old added. “I spend a lot of time working in the simulator and if you get the opportunity to drive the real car it’s much better for the correlation. “So, I can give feedback on how the simulator behaves compared to the real car. It also gives opportunity for an extra driver to provide feedback to the team. “It’s a great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it.” Alfa Romeo has confirmed its regular reserve driver Robert Kubica will take part in the test for the Swiss team. Kubica will join Formula 2 runner-up Callum Ilott, who was confirmed for the test by Alfa Romeo last month. The 36-year-old Pole will also take over Antonio Giovinazzi’s car in FP1 for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, making his fifth FP1 appearance of 2020 after Friday outings in Styria, Hungary, Britain and Bahrain.

Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz will not be able to drive for their new Formula 1 teams at the season-ending Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, despite the inclusion of 39-year-old Fernando Alonso. Following the news that the FIA will allow two-time F1 world champion Alonso a special dispensation to drive for Renault ahead of his return next year after a two-year absence, Ferrari and Racing Point lobbied for similar allowances on behalf of Sainz and Vettel respectively. Under FIA regulations, the Young Driver Test is usually not open only to drivers who “have competed in more than two F1 world championship races during their career… Unless otherwise approved by the FIA”, and while neither Ferrari nor Racing Point originally intended to run their incoming drivers, the inclusion of Alonso led them to try their luck. However, in an email revealed by RaceFans, F1 race director Michael Masi explained that the FIA would not extend the same courtesy to Vettel and Sainz on account of their participation in the 2020 championship. “For drivers who have participated in more than two F1 races in their career, the FIA’s approval, under Article 10.5 b) ii), will be subject to the condition that they have not competed in any Formula 1 races during the 2020 season,” Masi wrote. As a result, Vettel and Sainz will have to wait until preseason testing in March for their first drives with their new teams. At the same time, it is expected other F1 veterans such as Sebastian Buemi at Red Bull and Robert Kubica at Alfa Romeo could be joining Alonso for the test at Yas Marina Circuit on December 15.

The all-female W Series announced its provisional calendar for the 2021 season on Tuesday, consisting of eight Formula One support races starting at the French Grand Prix. The first race will take place at Le Castellet on June 26, a day before the Grand Prix. There will also be races in Austria, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States and Mexico, with the season ending there on October 30. The W Series was launched in 2019, with drivers using identical 1.8-litre Formula 3 cars, but the 2020 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. 26 June – Le Castellet, France 3 July – Spielberg, Austria 17 July – Silverstone, UK 31 July – Budapest, Hungary 28 August – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium 4 September – Zandvoort, Netherlands 23 October – Austin, USA 30 October – Mexico City, Mexico “The eight races will allow our fast and fearless female racing drivers to showcase their skills on some of the world´s most iconic racing circuits, in Europe and the Americas, and literally follow in the tyre tracks of the greatest racing drivers in the world today,” said W Series chief executive Catherine Bond Muir. F1´s managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn said: “There is a really exciting mix of circuits that will showcase the exceptional talent of the drivers in the series.

Haas has condemned the actions of 2021 driver Nikita Mazepin after the Russian posted a video on social media. On Wednesday morning a video appeared on the Instagram account of Haas driver Nikita Mazepin which showed three people, two men and one woman, driving in a Porsche. The camera operator, who is not seen, reaches out and touches the woman’s chest. The woman reacts by showing her middle finger to the camera before covering the lens. The video has since been deleted with a statement from Haas following some hours later confirming the team will deal with the matter internally. The statement reads: “Haas F1 Team does not condone the behaviour of Nikita Mazepin in the video recently posted on his social media. “Additionally, the very fact the video was posted on social media is also abhorrent to Haas F1 Team. “The matter is being dealt with internally and no further comment shall be made at this time.” Mazepin has since apologised for the incident on Twitter, writing: “I would like to apologise for my recent actions both in terms of my own inappropriate heavier and the fact that it was posted onto social media. “I am sorry for the offence I have rightly caused and to the embarrassment I Have brought to Haas F1 Team. “I have to hold myself to a higher standard as a Formula 1 driver and I acknowledge I have let myself and many people down. I promise I will learn from this.”

Racing Point has revealed it faced a Formula 1 spares shortage before its victorious Sakhir Grand Prix, and needed to fly parts over on a private jet. The Silverstone-based outfit delivered the best F1 result under its current owners in Bahrain last weekend, with Sergio Perez taking a maiden victory and Lance Stroll finishing third. But despite a spectacular result in the race, Racing Point faced some headaches in the build-up to the event after a bruising outing in the Bahrain GP a week before. In that race Stroll had been tipped upside down after a first-lap crash at the restart with Daniil Kvyat, while Perez retired late on after a fiery failure of his MGU-K. Damage to both cars left Racing Point facing some troubles, and team principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed the length the team had to go to ensure it was in a solid state for the Sakhir race. It included Racing Point flying team owner Lawrence Stroll’s private plane back to the United Kingdom, so it could pick up extra parts and fly them out to Bahrain in time. Without them, the team would have been unable to build up two cars. “We had a big shunt last week and we also had one car on fire, so leaving last Sunday with only a week to go, we had a scant amount of spares and parts,” Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1. “We couldn’t put two cars together. But everybody worked really hard back at the factory, night and day. “We flew Lawrence’s aeroplane back. It waited until Thursday to fly the car parts out, so we could build two race cars. That’s what it is about: it [the win] is not about any one individual.” Szafnauer said the joys of the win for Racing Point felt even better because of the fact that the team had seen a podium slip through its fingers just a week before due to Perez’s MGU-K failure. “The really, real lows that we experienced last week make the highs even sweeter,” he said. The first and third for the team at the Sakhir GP has left Racing Point 10 points ahead of McLaren in the fight for third place in the constructors’ championship, with just one race in Abu Dhabi to go.

The question of whether Sergio Perez can be a welcome second driver with the Red Bull team is still in the air. Whether the driver, as the darling of a huge and growing Mexican Formula 1 audience at Liberty Media, can leave the sport, now appears to be a matter for discussion. Also in 2021 the GP of Mexico is on the program again, a race weekend that in 2019 managed to attract some 345,000 visitors. It is therefore logical that Sergio Perez’ exodus from Formula 1 Liberty Media will hurt his wallet. Roberto Chinchero speculates on Motorsport.com that the team of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko may have had a call from Liberty about the possible contracting of the Mexican. “It is difficult to think that this question has not also been asked in the offices of Liberty Media, and it is therefore not impossible to think that a phone call was made to Milton Keynes, although it will only be to be informed of the decision of Red Bull”. “Not only the career of Checo is at stake, but also the relationship of Formula 1 with a nation that has shown a growing interest in Formula 1 in recent years”, said Chinchero.

Charles Leclerc’s results in 2020 have fallen well short of expectations, and yet the Ferrari driver insists he’s “extremely happy” with his campaign. Last year, in just his second season of Grand Prix racing and his first with the Scuderia, Leclerc clinched his first two career wins in F1, an achievement that elevated him to the rank of genuine contender for the title in 2020. Alas, a Ferrari engine stripped of its 2019 muscle by the FIA and an aerodynamic weakness imbedded in its SF1000 foretold a season of struggles for the Scuderia as early as pre-season testing. A lucky second-place finish behind Valtteri Bottas at the opening round in Austria is as good as it has been for the Italian outfit and its star driver who have been confined to scraps in the midfield for most of the current season. “At the beginning of the season it was difficult to accept the situation we were in,” Leclerc told BBC Sport. “I’ve always had a dream of being in Ferrari to win races and then I did a first year that was very good. “I won my first ever F1 race, which was a dream since I was a child, but I was still at the end of the season a bit disappointed with myself because I did mistakes at some very important moments last year where I would have hoped not to.” “It’s part of the learning curve, so I gave myself a target this year to try and do it in a better way with less mistakes, which I think I achieved.” Despite his equipment’s limitations, Leclerc reckons he’s made a step forward in 2020. “Looking back at the season, I am extremely happy with it,” he added. “But on the other hand the car was not as good as last year so unfortunately I couldn’t achieve and show as much results-wise how good my season was. “But thankfully somehow people have still managed to see I was doing a better job than last year even though the results were not as good. “It kept me very motivated that people were seeing what I was doing in the car.” But Leclerc’s natural resilience and an ability to spur himself on during difficult times have also been important allies during Ferrari’s troubled season. “I actually have so much motivation when it is going badly,” he said. “I am not the kind of person that feels bad because it is going badly. When it is going badly, I just think: ‘In which way can I impress people?’ “That has been my mentality whenever we have had a difficult race, trying to prove people wrong.” But alongside Leclerc’s ability to lift himself above the difficulties resides an equally strong sense of self-criticism, a trait that triggered his very vocal flare-up in Turkey, when a mistake on the final lap of the race deprived him of a spot on the podium after a solid performance around Istanbul Park. “That’s probably one of my best performances this year in a race and I’m aware of it and I was aware of it after the race when I calmed down,” he said. “But on the other hand, I was so disappointed. “I am always very hard with myself. And this won’t change. But now it’s more constructive than destructive as it was in the past probably. “When I was younger, every time I did a mistake I was putting myself down. But it was not constructive. I was losing a lot of confidence in myself and that was not great. “But year after year I managed to change that into how to learn from my mistakes and this seems to work pretty well for me.”

Lewis Hamilton is hoping to recover from COVID-19 in time to race at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after posting his first video message on Instagram since he started his isolation. The seven-time world champion tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday last week and missed last weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix while he isolated in Bahrain. In an update to his fans on Tuesday, he spoke about his fight against the coronavirus and revealed that he had completed his first workout since developing symptoms. He is hoping to return to the cockpit of his Mercedes this weekend in Abu Dhabi for the last Formula One race of the season. “Hi everyone, I hope you’re all well,” he said in the message. “I know I’ve not been in touch this past week, but it’s definitely been one of the hardest weeks that I’ve had for some time. “I’ve just been focusing on recovering and trying to get back in shape so I can get back in the car and race in the final race in Abu Dhabi. “I woke up today feeling great and got my first workout in, so I just wanted to send you guys a message of positivity and let you know that I’m OK. I want to thank every single one of you for sending the amazing messages and videos. “I really, really appreciate it and I hope that wherever you are you are staying positive and fighting through whatever it is that you are facing. I hope that I can get back in the car soon and, yeah, I’m sending you guys love.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CIilcmSlEu-/ Hamilton was replaced by Williams driver George Russell at the Sakhir Grand Prix, who remains on standby in case Hamilton is unable to race in Abu Dhabi. “If Lewis recovers and he’s getting better every day and he’s considered COVID-free, negative [test result], then he will be in the car,” Wolff confirmed on Sunday. In order to be declared fit to return to the F1 paddock, Hamilton will have to return a negative test result for COVID-19 in line with the FIA’s testing procedures. He will also have to comply with government guidelines in both Bahrain and Abu Dhabi in order to travel from Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates and arrive at the track. The main part with all of this has always been complying with the respective governments’ laws and regulations,” FIA race director Michael Masi said. “So it’s very much a decision for a the Bahraini health authorities to determine if Lewis is fit and complies with their regulations and then further for the Abu Dhabi authorities to determine their criteria. So it’s effectively two government entities that determine entry criteria. “If he meets the entry criterias of the respective governments and then further complies with the testing protocol from an FIA perspective — to test negative prior to entering the paddock — then there’s no problems from our perspective.” In order to enter Sunday’s race, he must also take part in either Saturday’s qualifying session or one of the three practice sessions on Saturday and Friday.

The Express are reporting that “last month, Bottas’ Instagram bio had a tag to Mercedes’ F1 account – but that has since been deleted. https://www.instagram.com/valtteribottas/?hl=en “Meanwhile, Russell has also removed all mention of Williams from his bio, which now just reads ‘Formula 1 Driver’.” https://www.instagram.com/georgerussell63/?hl=en This is the sort of thing that occurs when a footballer might be on the brink of a transfer, so does it suggest that Russell may be about to displace Bottas at Mercedes for 2021? Well, it will certainly appeal to those who like to buy into the F1 rumour mill and the conspiracy theorists that think something may be afoot. Certainly there was plenty of evidence from the Sakhir Grand Prix that Russell, who was standing in for Lewis Hamilton following the seven-time World Champion’s positive COVID-19 test, is ready to make a permanent step up from Williams. The 22-year-old Briton narrowly missed out to Bottas for pole position, but beat him off the start line to take a lead which he held until a botched double-stack pit-stop under the Safety Car dropped the duo out of the top three. Even then, Russell overtook Bottas – admittedly with the Finn on the same set of old hard tyres as before his failed pit-stop – and still had a chance to catch Sergio Perez for the race win until he suffered a puncture. For Bottas, who ended up finishing eighth, it was not the end he wanted to a weekend in which he had the ideal chance to stamp his authority and show Mercedes have made the right decision in retaining his services for 2021. Of course, with one race of the season left to go, the constructors’ World Champions are only going to stick to the party line at this stage and publicly confirm their faith in Bottas. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted Bottas “did not shine” in the second of the two Bahrain races, and the 31-year-old driver has finished no higher than eighth in any of the last three grands prix. But Wolff also said of a potential all-British line-up of Lewis Hamilton and Russell: “George is a Williams driver, he is signed up to Williams and our driver line-up is Valtteri and Lewis, so I don’t see this as a realistic situation at that moment of time [2021]. “But I can understand it would be an interesting situation, both in the team and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us. Maybe we’ll have that in the future.”