Month: November 2019

Pirelli has revealed the field’s tyre choices for next week’s British Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen going for a conservative selection of rubber at Silverstone.

Formula 1’s exclusive tyre supplier has described its range for next week as “yellow, white and a bit of ice blue”, represented by Pirelli’s soft, medium and hard compounds, with the latter rubber appearing for the very first time this season.

Looking at everyone’s respective choices, Verstappen stands out, with the Dutchman selecting just seven sets of the yellow rimmed soft tyre, the least of any driver on the grid.

In a nutshell: which tyres for the Austrian GP?

Red bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo has opted for eight sets of the softs, adding three mediums and two hard sets to his allocation.

Interestingly, title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have made identical choices, with eight sets of softs, four sets of the medium tyre and just a single set of the hard compound.

Both Renault and Toro Rosso will be going all-in on the tyre front, with the teams’ drivers all opting for 10 sets of Pirelli’s soft rubber.

Silverstone is among three tracks – with Barcelona and Paul Ricard – where a new, more brasive surface has been laid down this year.

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After a disappointing outing for Haas in Monaco, Kevin Magnussen is hoping to be back up to speed in next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Magnussen and his team mate Romain Grosjean were the slowest cars in qualifying in Monaco, and ended up out of the points. It’s the third time this year that Haas has gone without scoring in a race this season.

But the Dane says that there is reason for optimism as they head to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

“There are some good places for overtaking with long straights. It usually offers up a very interesting race,” he said.

The race will see the second appearance of Pirelli’s new pink hypersoft tyre after its début in Monaco. Haas struggled with the compound last week but Magnussen believes the right lessons have now been learned.

“Of course, we learned a bit about the hypersoft tyre in Monaco. We’re going to try and work with that information and get the best out of the tyre in Canada.

“I think the hypersoft tyre is a good tyre, though in Monaco I think it was still too hard,” he said. “It was difficult to switch on.

“Hopefully, in Canada it will be a little bit easier. You’ve got longer straights to put load on the tyres at high speed to switch them on.”

Tyre temperature issues were an issue for Haas in Monaco, but that’s unlikely to be the case again next week.

“It wasn’t particularly warm in Monaco,” Magnussen said. “I think that tarmac was about 40 degrees. Sometimes it can be the same in Montreal [but] I don’t think it’s going to be too big a factor.”

• Haas VF-18 to receive first major update in Montreal

Magnussen is also looking forward to Has first major upgrade package to the VF-18 being rolled out in time for the next race.

“In FP1 we’re going to do some aero running to get numbers on the aero sensors,” he revealed. “[We’ll] get a correlation check from the real car and the CFD and wind tunnel model.

“I don’t think we’re going to do anything unusual. I think we’re just going to do the normal thing, as we always do in FP1.”

One thing that’s no longer a concern for Haas is the brakes package. The team had issues throughout 2017 with braking, but Magnussen confirmed that this was no longer the case in 2018: “Yes, no problems with brakes.”

Which is just as well, because Montreal is one place that you don’t want to be worrying about brakes – especially going into the final chicane and the infamous Wall of Champions.

“It’s a really challenging part of the track,” agreed Magnussen. “It’s probably the most difficult corner on the track, and it’s the last corner, so there’s a lot of pressure when you get to the chicane.

“You’ve done almost the whole lap, and if you’re on a good lap, there’s lots of pressure to get this part right, as well.

“It’s always a corner where if you haven’t got a perfect lap, you can try and make it up in that last chicane. [But] if you’re on a good lap, you might not want to take as much risk in that last chicane!”

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The clunking sound of Charles Leclerc’s Sauber as he pulled off to the side of the track Saturday morning was ominous, and the Swiss outfit has confirmed its driver’s car will need a gearbox change.

The failure occurred after Leclerc had just left the pitlane in the final stages of free practice. As the component had not reached its required six consecutive-race limit, the issue will mean a five-spot demotion for the Monegasque on Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix grid.

Leclerc gets big bucks for 2-year Ferrari deal!

The Sauber crew was hard an hour before qualifying at work to replace the gearbox in time for the all-important afternoon session.

Team boss Fred Vasseur was confident however that Leclerc’s C37 would be up and running in time for the start of quali.

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Max Verstappen is hoping to get his 2018 season back on track this weekend, after a string of disappointments in the first six races.

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A collision with his team mate in Baku, and a costly accident in practice in Monaco have been among the setbacks for the Red Bull Racing driver.

The 20-year-old has been told he needs to change his approach and cut out the mistakes and accidents if he’s to succeed in Formula 1.

While Verstappen doesn’t seem to agree with that analysis, he acknowledged that the season hasn’t being going to plan.

“I would not call my start to the season frustrating, but rather unlucky,” he told Le Journal de Montreal this week ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

“It’s heartbreaking what happened in the first part of the calendar. Now we need to try to regroup to deliver performances similar to the past two seasons.

“Consistency is one of the keys, but for the moment we don’t have that,” he added.

While the RB14 has proved itself adept on tight and twisting street circuits like Monaco, it could find itself off the pace in the more power-intensive circuits such as Montreal.

• Verstappen looking to make up for past misfortunes in Canada

However Verstappen will head into this weekend’s race knowing it can rely on an upgraded Renault engine.

“I’m sure I can expect a bit more performance,” he said. “We’ll have to wait for practice to see how the car will react to the changes.

“But I trust our car. If we can narrow the gap to the leading group, we can compete with the others.”

A key part of that will be having a clean weekend with no mistakes. But other drivers around the paddock don’t believe that Verstappen has to make alterations in his driving style to achieve that.

“Max does not have to change,” insisted compatriot Jan Lammers, himself a former F1 driver. “And even if he wanted to, which is not the case, then it would not work.

“Racing is in his blood,” Lammers added.

However another former F1 driver Timo Glock told Speed Week that Verstappen’s slump “could keep going for the rest of the year.”

“The question for him is how he will handle this negative phase,” Glock added. “And how fast can he get out of the hole?”

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Daniel Ricciardo is keeping his fingers crossed he’ll be spared a painful grid penalty for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix despite Adrian Newey’s view to the contrary.

Earlier this week, it emerged that Renault could possibly salvage the MGU-K component that failed on the Aussie in the Principality, almost wreaking havoc on his victorious run to the checkered flag.

But Red Bull tech boss Adrian Newey later insisted the part was a “burnt out, charred wreck” after the race and would thus need to be replaced.

Newey convinced a grid drop awaits Ricciardo in Montreal

Ricciardo is hopeful however that Renault will be able to substitute the part with the one previously used this season as drivers are allowed just two MGU-Ks for the entire season before a 10-place grid penalty kicks in.

“We’re hoping that what we start with tomorrow will run all weekend and if that’s the case, then no penalties,” said Ricciardo.

“I guess there was a little bit of miscommunication (earlier in the week). I would much rather take the penalties elsewhere.

“We’ve got good momentum right now and it’s a circuit where it’s tricky to overtake so you don’t want to be starting 10th or 15th, or somewhere down there. We’ll try and survive this weekend.”

Given a choice, Ricciardo would rather take a grid drop at the championship’s next round, at the Circuit de Castellet in France.

“It could come as soon as Paul Ricard,” he said.

“When I heard whispers about a potential penalty here, at that point I was like ‘I’ll take it in Paul Ricard but not here’.”

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Lewis Hamilton has already delivered some potentially sinister news to his rivals, the Mercedes driver warning that 2019 “can be even better” than last year.

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Hamilton conquered his fifth world title last season, leaving arch-rival Sebastian Vettel in his dust after the summer to rake in a total of eleven race wins.

And Formula 1’s biggest star is hoping he’s on the eve of another banner year.

Launch Gallery: Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 in action

“2018 was a great year, but I feel like 2019 can be even better,” he said before shaking down his new W10 Mercedes Silver Arrow.

“I want to achieve more, I want to continue to keep pushing. I feel energised and I am ready to attack.

“I’m really looking forward to the next step of our journey together with Mercedes and embarking on what’s not been done before,” he added.

“This is my seventh year with the team and the energy and the determination within the team are really inspiring.”

Hamilton enjoyed a lengthy period of down time over the winter, spending time with family and friends and indulging in multiple sporting activities.

“I had a great Christmas with my family and then I went snowmobiling, I went skiing, I went surfing with Kelly Slater, which was amazing,” he said.

“I completely switched off from racing for a while, trying to focus and re-centre myself and training hard for the new season.”

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Daniel Ricciardo is optimistic that he won’t go into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix compromised by more starting grid penalties.

The Australian started from the back row in Germany after opting to take on several new power unit components which put him over his permitted quota for the 2018 season.

Even so, he fought his way back to sixth place during the early laps of race only to be forced to retire on lap 27. That raised fears that more new components would be needed at the Hungaroring – meaning more penalties.

But a Red Bull spokesman told BBC Sport that the team did not expect that to be the case.

He said that the part that failed at Hockenheim would be “replaced with one of our quota”. He declined to specify which part had failed on Sunday.

The news will be a boost to Ricciardo, who has targeted Hungary as his best chance to claim what would be his third Grand Prix win of the season.

The tight and twisty track suits the Red Bull better than power-hungry circuits like Silverstone. But the circuit’s nature also makes it difficult to overtake, meaning grid penalties would be especially damaging to his hopes.

• Frustrated Ricciardo decides to just ‘roll with the punches’

“I like the Hungarian Grand Prix,” said Ricciardo. “Everyone always says it’s Monaco without walls, but it’s not, it’s Hungary!

“It’s fast, it’s normally really hot,” he continued. “Even though it’s a tight track there’s still quite a lot of overtaking and always a bit going on.

“The middle sector is one of the best of the whole year,” he added. “It’s pretty fast with really quick changes in direction.

“The track used to be pretty bumpy but it’s improved a lot recently.”

Ricciardo also rated Budapest itself, saying it’s a good venue for Formula 1 to mark the start of its summer shutdown and month-long break.

“I’ve always liked the circuit but the city is also really cool,” he said.

“Because it’s just before the summer break there’s also always a good feeling in the paddock before everyone takes a well-earned holiday.

“Budapest is amazing; it’s very pretty, there’s really good food and I always enjoy spending time in the city centre.”

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Haas boss Guenther Steiner and team founder Gene Haas are still mulling over whether to include Romain Grosjean or Nico Hulkenberg in the US outfit’s 2020 driver line-up.

Kevin Magnussen’s future with Haas was signed and sealed previously, but the choice of the man who will be racing alongside the Dane next year has boiled down to incumbent Grosjean and Renault’s outgoing Hulkenberg.

Esteban Ocon had also been on the team’s shortlist before signing for Renault, while Formula E refugee Pascal Wehrlein who, according to Steiner, spontaneously offered his services to Haas, was discarded on the basis of his time out of F1.

While it’s a straight choice for Haas between Grosjean and the Hulk, reaching a consensus is proving difficult for Steiner and his boss.

Haas’ Steiner open to pairing Hulkenberg with Magnussen

“If it was a clear decision it would be easy to make, we would agree immediately,” said the Italian, quoted by Autosport.

“We’re not sure what is the best, he is not, and I’m not. He can always tell me what to do, he’s got that privilege because he finances the team.

“He values my opinion, so we discuss it just to make the best decision for the team, not for us.

“What we’ve got now is not bad, but can we make it better? How big is the risk that we want to make it better and it doesn’t go in the right direction?

“It’s a lot back and forward, but at some stage we need to come to a conclusion.”

©Haas