Racetrackmasters

The Formula 1 2020 season is taking place as a global pandemic, Covid-19 is affecting the world, this means that very strict mearsures are being put in place to prevent the key players in Formula 1 from contracting the deadly disease. This includes the drivers and each team member who are tested multiple times on each race weekend. If anyone, including the drivers may turn out to be positive for Covid-19, they have to leave the race immediately and self isolate as they are getting proper medical care for quick recovery. This had happened to Racing Point driver, Sergio Perez who had to miss the two races in the Silverstone after testing positive for the disease. Helmut Marko, particularly was not impressed with the number of people who were not wearing masks during the Russian Grand Prix held at Sochi as he revealed that his two Redbull drivers were very lucky not to suffer the same fate as Sergio Perez. “There was great life there [in Sochi], good-humoured fans, great weather, just a good atmosphere in the city, [but] outside of the paddock there were very few walking around wearing masks,” he told speedweek.com. “It will not be able to continue like this with the restrictive measures. We had a driver whose girlfriend was infected and he wasn’t infected. Another was at a party where three infected people were present, and he was also negative.” Marko did not specify the names but he was obviously talking about Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon, this comes as there is a lot of speculation on how it will play out for Alexander’s seat as his struggles and unstable performance would see him off the Redbull team. Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg have all been linked to the seat. Marko still insists that they prefer to be keeping Albon, he refused to rule anything out showing that all their options are still open. “If Alex Albon performs well, he stays. If not, there will be deliberation,” Marko added. “We would then see which drivers that are good are on the market. But that’s not an issue at the moment.” The 2021 driver options is not the only the only worry for the Redbull team, as Honda recently announced that they will be leaving Formula 1 at the end of 2021 season. They are the current engine suppliers for the Redbull team and they will have to look for another engine supplier. However Marko is not panicking as he and Dietrich Mateschitz had known long ago that Honda will be leaving even before Christian Horner, the Redbull boss. “We are working in all directions because we knew about Honda’s decision for a long time,” he said. “Mr Horner is a team principal, but not involved in strategic matters. Mr Mateschitz and I have known for a long time.” “There is an option to exit at the end of each year. This is not our priority. When we have the facts together, Mr Mateschitz will decide.”

Turkish grand prix event organisers have been forced to ditch their plans to hold their Formula 1 return this year with attendance of the fans due to rising Covid-19 fears. The race which will be held at the Istanbul park from November 13th to 15th will still progress without the fans, behind closed doors following a statement issued by the the local Istanbul government. This comes after a recommendation was made by the pandemic committee which was in the approval of the sanitation committee. “Within the scope of the efforts to combat the coronavirus epidemic, and in accordance with the recommendation of the Istanbul Provincial Pandemic Committee, it has been decided by the Provincial Hygiene Committee, the Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020 will be held without spectators.” the statement read. The event organisers were previously very ambitious as they had planned to host a crowd of over 100,000 fans over the three race days, as early tickets sales were rising to over 40,000 due to the low price they had stipulated at £3 per day. The overturned decision is very understandable given the circumstances but it will be a major blow to the organisers as they are welcoming back Formula 1 in their country for the first time in nine years. “Our season has been guided by a safety-first approach and that will continue to be our priority.” “In Turkey, we had hoped to welcome fans but the situation in the country means this is no longer possible and we fully understand and respect the decision.” an F1 spokesperson said in regards to the announcement. Looking back at the fan attendance in the previous races, Mugello was able to invite a limited number of fans as they were staging the Tuscan Grand Prix, while the Russian GP organisers had a plan to host 30,000 fans per day although the final numbers failed to reach their target. In the upcoming races, like this weekend’s Eifel Grand Prix which will be held at the Nurburgring , followed by the races in Portimao and Imola will be held with a limited number of fans in attendance.

Redbull has the capacity to build their own engines for 2021 and even beyond, this is according to former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher. At Sochi, prior to Honda’s shock decision last Friday to quit Formula 1 at the end of 2021, Schumacher had declared: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Porsche in F1.” But amid speculation Red Bull could now buy Honda’s F1 operations, he tells Sky Deutschland that a better option for Red Bull might be to run its own engine program. “They certainly have the strength and the means for that,” Schumacher, who once worked very closely with Alpha Tauri boss Franz Tost, said. “Financially it wouldn’t be a problem. In Honda, they also have a partner who can help them during the transition phase.” “Perhaps Red Bull can take over the development department in Milton Keynes afterwards. Then they can finance it themselves,” the German added. However, Russian F1 commentator Alexey Popov thinks becoming an engine supplier would be a mammoth task for Red Bull. “It is unclear what they should do after Honda leaves,” he told Match TV. “If Mercedes stays in F1, it won’t give its engines to them. Ferrari too. That leaves Renault, who are obliged by the rules, but they parted with Red Bull so badly that it would be a very unpleasant collaboration.” “The last opportunity is to buy out what Honda leaves behind. But even then there is a problem with the production base, which is not in Europe like the other teams. So this would be very difficult too,” Popov added. Yet another major consideration for Red Bull is that Honda’s departure is sure to trigger a potential exit clause in Max Verstappen’s contract. “This could provoke an attempt for Verstappen to negotiate with Mercedes,” Popov said. “For Russia, it (Honda quitting) wouldn’t be bad because if Honda had stayed, they probably would have tried to put Tsunoda in Kvyat’s place and now this will most likely not happen. In any case, the coming days will be eventful.”

Christian Horner, the team boss Redbull, is very hopeful that the team can close the gap with Mercedes despite the stable regulations put across by the FIA in the concorde agreement. The major regulations change was put to a hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but will be taking effect in 2022 hopefully if everything goes back to normal. There’s an overview that the pecking order at the Formula 1 grid might remain the same in 2021, if much won’t have changed meaning that Mercedes will remain at the top as the quickest, with Redbull taking the second position but way off behind Mercedes. Horner has some hope that this won’t be the case, and believes that his team will develop the RB16 properly enough to close the gap with Mercedes. “There is a carryover of parts but that doesn’t mean to say if we can unlock more potential in the car and develop the car effectively then, of course, I think we can close that gap,” the team principal, Horner said. “This car is the basis of next year’s car. There is probably 60% of the car that is carried over so obviously, we are working very hard to understand and unlock further performance from the car between now and the end of the year. There are now three months left of hard development and the whole team is very focused on that.” Looking back at the pace of the F1 cars, Racing Point has been very close to Redbull this season as they often had a quicker car on the track. Sebastian Vettel will be joining the team as it will be rebranded Aston Martin in 2021, as the regulations will be allowing them to use this year’s Mercedes parts token free. This will make the outfit even stronger. Christian Horner agrees that with Vettel joining Racing Point, he could have a positive impact on the team. However, he continues to stress that the team’s main objective is ahead of them rather than behind. “I think they have a car that is very competitive,” he added. “The basis for their car for next year – the rules should have further clarifications in terms of what is and isn’t permitted, but [it is] a team with high aspirations and good budget behind them now and a potentially rejuvenated Sebastian in that car could be a factor. “We have got to focus on ourselves. The gap we measure ourselves to is Mercedes and that is what we have to work hard to reduce and ultimately get ahead of.”

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo on anti-racism stand – staying quiet is far much worse than facing any trolls on the social media as a consequence of his actions

Alfa Romeo is a very strong team besides lagging at the back in the Formula 1 championship, but they remain a very attractive option to drivers in the market who are looking for a drive in the 2021 F1 season and even beyond. There are very many viable driver options for the team’s only two cockpits. Who are the most likely drivers to get the seats? One of the seats depends on Kimi Raikkonen’s plans to extend his tenure at Alfa Romeo to 2021, when his deal will be expiring. The finn has being going back and forth on whether to call it quits at the end of the 2020 season or decide to stick around. If Kimi would decide to call it quits then Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg would be very suited for the Alfa Romeo seat. They have been highly linked to the team over the recent weeks as Perez is believed to have gotten in touch with the team after Racing Point let him go. Fred Vasseur, the Alfa Romeo team principal on the other hand is known to rate Hulkenberg highly. Kimi Raikkonen will most probably remain with Alfa Romeo as the sources say, and it is something that the team is understood to want as the finn is proving time to time as he proves to be very critical to car development as the Red and white cars are showing a good form in the recent races with successful updates. It appears that Kimi Raikkonen’s teammate will be a Ferrari backed driver, as Antonio Giovinazzi’s seat is up for grabs as Mick Schumacher who is the current Formula 2 championship leader and his Fellow Ferrari juniors Callum Illot and Robert Shwartzman who rank 2nd and 5th respectively in the F2 championship, being the potential drivers for the 2021 Alfa Romeo ride. Vasseur says that he is very interested in the young drivers and so as Antonio Giovinazzi. “also Antonio is on the list. We have to discuss with Antonio to see what we want to do, what also Ferrari wants to do on their side.” Vasseur said. “We are not in a rush to make a decision, I think it’s important for the young kids also to perhaps finish the season, even if the last two races are quite late this season, but it’s important to have the final picture and not start the discussion in the middle of the season. “[Ferrari] have three very good ones. Shwartzman as a rookie is doing a very strong job. Schumacher and Illot are performing. It’s much better feeling to be in this situation to have the choice between good ones than no choice.” Alfa Romeo will have another opportunity to evaluate Schumacher, having already run him in the Bahrain in-season test in 2019, when he runs in a Grand Prix weekend session for the first time, taking the wheel of Giovinazzi’s car in FP1 at the upcoming Eifel Grand Prix. Sources say Schumacher is the favourite to get the second seat, however, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari are keeping their options open with two races still to go in the F2 championship. Shwartzman is set for a test in FP1 in Abu Dhabi, with Alfa Romeo expected to run him. It may be we won’t get a final decision, then, until just before Christmas at the earliest. What of Callum Illot? Well he is running for Romain Grosjean in FP1 in Germany for Haas, with the Briton in strong contention to get a race seat at the American team next season.

Daniel Ricciardo has now accepted that his move to Mclaren is ‘bittersweet’ in the view of his current very impressive performance with Renault, but he is very resolute that he has no regrets. Ricciardo has been able to finish in the midfield, garnering very strong points adding up to 43 points in the last 4 races leaving him just 2 points shy to catch up with Mclaren’s Lando Norris who will be his teammate for the 2021 F1 season and is currently in the fourth place in the championship rankings. The Aussie is feeling the strength and the peak performance of his Renault R.S.20 as the 2020 season is progressing, and it apppears that he might have switched teams very soon, signing the Mclaren deal even before the 2020 Formula 1 season had started. But a confident Ricciardo stated that,”It’s obviously no disrespect to Renault and where I currently am, but no, I don’t regret it…am I happy to see us progress? Absolutely. All well and good, if it means we’ve got Renault as a competitor next year to push McLaren further then I think it’s good for everyone.” “So I’m not regretting it, but I’m also not unhappy with the progress. I want to be racing at the front.” “Every race in F1 is so important. Every chance I get to do it, the sooner the better. I am glad we’re making progress, and I feel a part of it, which is important as well to me and I guess my growth as a driver.” On the other hand, Fernando Alonso is set to join Renault in 2021, which has seen him trying to integrate with the team over the last couple of weeks but Ricciardo maintains that the team is is holding him firmly in a bid to take the third position in the constructors championship, as the team lies just seven points behind Mclaren team which is in the third position. “The team haven’t shut me out on anything. I’ve been doing simulator and all of it. It’s been really good to work with them. I know, for sure, bittersweet, especially for some guys in this team to know I can’t continue after this year, but I’m going to give it a red hot crack until the last day,” said Ricciardo.