All kinds of news about F1.

[Wouter]

'Both F1 race directors tested positive for coronavirus'

Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich have both tested positive for coronavirus, according to Sky Sports both tested positive for the coronavirus. As a result, the two Formula 1 race directors might not be able to travel to Miami and would have to be replaced.

The FIA themselves would not comment on what they describe as 'unsubstantiated reporting'. They will only come out with medical information if it has an impact on the upcoming race weekend and that is not the case at the moment.

Herbie Blash, who was the stand-in for Charlie Whiting for many years and supports the current race directors, may be an option.

Colin Haywood, who was listed as deputy race director for Miami, is also a serious option.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/109490/b ... virus.html

[Wouter]

.

With F1 running shortened three-day weekends [Fry-Sat-Sun] this season, with most teams no longer conducting group media events on Thursday, Verstappen believes cramming so much into a short period of time has placed too many demands on modern-day drivers.

Max Verstappen believes F1 “needs to change” to reduce the off-track pressure on drivers after claiming he has seen a dramatic increase in workload at race weekends this season.

A typical race weekend involves around six and a half hours of on-track running but the drivers also face countless team preparation meetings, sponsor events and media calls.

Effectively declaring enough is enough, he said: “Thursday is very long, which officially is not really a day anymore, but for us, it’s the same amount or even more on a Thursday and even more on a Friday when you come in early.

“Coming in early is not a problem, but your whole day is longer, so with going to more races you would like to have a shorter weekend.

"But actually now with more races, we are also having more days we are at the track and doing stuff. That definitely needs to change.”
-----------------------
“It’s something that we are discussing with FOM and FIA ,” Sainz said.

“On a standard weekend, we are going towards more number of races.

“But for some reason that maybe we didn’t expect this year, both Thursday and Friday have become a lot longer for the drivers.

“The amount of media that we are facing every day, and the amount of time that we are spending at the track in meetings and activities has increased a lot, even as we are going towards a higher number of races.

“So, we are going to need to find a way to control this in a more efficient way, let’s say.”
------------------------
Verstappen was critical of the way the sport manages driver media appearances, with each weekend now having a pre-event press conference followed by a large number of independent media interviews in the ‘pen’.

The Dutch driver feels F1 should learn from other sports where broadcast interviews are undertaken collectively. He said: “We have to speak to all the individual media but they all ask the same question.

“You are basically repeating yourself six or seven times. You try to keep it interesting, you try to word it in a different way, but you say the same thing.

"When you start it's exciting, the first two, but when you continue to the others it's boring and it's not nice for them and not nice for us. We can be much more efficient with that.

"In other sports, when they have a press conference, there are a lot of mics brought together and instead of giving the broadcasters two questions each they all have six, eight, 10 questions in one go and they can all broadcast it.

“That’s way more efficient and nicer for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you have 20 mics from all different companies, you get a lot more out of the drivers.”

[Wouter]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/f1-to-tr ... t-in-2023/

F1 to trial ‘revised qualifying format’ in 2023

At these trial events, drivers must use the hard compound in Q1, the medium compound in Q2, and the soft in Q3. If a session is declared wet, any compound may be used.

The intention is also to reduce the number of tyres used on a grand prix weekend, as the events with the revised qualifying format will cut the mandated tyre allocation from 13 sets of slick tyres to 11 sets.

Within this allocation each driver will have an extra set of hard tyres (up to three) and an extra set of medium tyres (up to four), but lose three sets of soft tyres (down to four).

[Big Tea]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/f1-to-tr ... t-in-2023/

F1 to trial ‘revised qualifying format’ in 2023

At these trial events, drivers must use the hard compound in Q1, the medium compound in Q2, and the soft in Q3. If a session is declared wet, any compound may be used.

The intention is also to reduce the number of tyres used on a grand prix weekend, as the events with the revised qualifying format will cut the mandated tyre allocation from 13 sets of slick tyres to 11 sets.

Within this allocation each driver will have an extra set of hard tyres (up to three) and an extra set of medium tyres (up to four), but lose three sets of soft tyres (down to four).

They want to reduce the number of tyres, fine. But why not let the teams chose the tyre types. The number will be the same.

[wogx]

No Corona vaccination: Nico Rosberg banned from Formula 1 paddock

Formula One ban for former world champion Nico Rosberg. According to a media report, the former Mercedes driver has not been vaccinated against the corona virus and is therefore temporarily banned from the paddock of motorsport's premier class.

"Monster antibodies in me"
The scandal was first reported by Sport 1. In response to an enquiry from RTL, the ex-racing driver's management said: "Nico Rosberg has overcome a corona illness well and currently has a convalescent certificate. He has his antibody levels tested regularly and, on the recommendation of his doctor, does not currently require any vaccinations. In addition, he continues to observe all the necessary hygiene and precautionary measures." Rosberg spoke of "monster antibodies" to Sport 1.

https://www.rtl.de/cms/keine-corona-imp ... 85325.html

[Wouter]

Por: Federico Faturos. Coautor: Luke Smith

https://es.motorsport.com/f1/news/formu ... /10327213/

F1 changes weekend schedule again after failed experiment

From 2022 F1 race weekends have been shortened for the teams and drivers with the FIA press conference no longer taking place on Thursdays. However, this will be reversed and the old format will be used again from this coming race.

It was supposed to be a solution to the high pressure on teams and drivers during successive race weekends. By moving the press obligations from Thursday to Friday, a full day could be gained in the F1 teams' schedules. In practice, this did not seem to be the case. The drivers were just as busy on Thursdays with all sorts of obligations and the Fridays were already jam-packed with free practice and media obligations.

The Spanish branch of Motorsport.com reports that the FIA has therefore decided to move the press time back to Thursday with effect from the forthcoming race at Silverstone in England.

On Thursdays, there will be two conferences with five drivers each taking place in front of the microphones. The other ten drivers then speak to television or have individual appointments.
Motorsport reports that the change in format still needs to be approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, but this seems to be just a formality.

Edit: I hope the FP1 will be as usual in the morning local time.

[adrianjordan]

No Corona vaccination: Nico Rosberg banned from Formula 1 paddock

Formula One ban for former world champion Nico Rosberg. According to a media report, the former Mercedes driver has not been vaccinated against the corona virus and is therefore temporarily banned from the paddock of motorsport's premier class.

"Monster antibodies in me"
The scandal was first reported by Sport 1. In response to an enquiry from RTL, the ex-racing driver's management said: "Nico Rosberg has overcome a corona illness well and currently has a convalescent certificate. He has his antibody levels tested regularly and, on the recommendation of his doctor, does not currently require any vaccinations. In addition, he continues to observe all the necessary hygiene and precautionary measures." Rosberg spoke of "monster antibodies" to Sport 1.

https://www.rtl.de/cms/keine-corona-imp ... 85325.html

When was his infection?

But at the end of the day, rules are rules. I'm required to have various vaccinations by my employer, no different for Nico.

[hollus]

Rosberg being affected by Covid rules is F1 related.

General cheering for/against covid, salmons included, is not.
And as usual it was derailing towards medical advice extremely quickly. So one page worth of posts got removed.

[adrianjordan]

Salmons? Jeez, that really did get off topic... Or was it just THAT wet on Saturday in Montreal?

[Wouter]

Bernie Ecclestone agrees with Ferrari's concerns over 'dangerous' FIA move

By Liam Llewellyn 09:19, Sun, Jun 26, 2022

Bernie Ecclestone shared the same point of view with Ferrari regarding a new FIA appointment. Shalia-Ann Rao has been made the new interim head of Formula One at the FIA, and she is a former advisor to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

She served as the FIA's legal director from mid-2016 to the end of 2018 before joining the Silver Arrows. The decision was made following the departure of Peter Bayer, who served as the FIA's F1 executive director since last year and secretary general for sport since 2017.

An explanation for the Australian's departure has yet to be explained and nothing points to Rao’s appointment relating to the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year. Therefore, Ecclestone was unhappy with the announcement, fearing there may be a conflict of interest.

“It's bloody dangerous,” he said. “Toto started all this nonsense about the cars needing to change. She told them about the new directive, obviously. She worked with Toto for two or three years.

“I wanted to get Luca di Montezemolo as chairman of the company when I was running things. But the teams went mad because he was Ferrari's man. It was seen as a conflict of interest, so how can she do this job?”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto also shared Ecclestone’s concerns on the appointment back in Baku earlier this month. ​​”Certainly it's a concern,” Binotto told reporters at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“She is a great person, she's got a lot of experience, she will certainly be capable of doing the job. It's down to them to make sure that there will be no conflicts of interest at all, to behave properly and it's down to the president to ensure it,” he added.

[Just_a_fan]

Bernie Ecclestone agrees with Ferrari's concerns over 'dangerous' FIA move

By Liam Llewellyn 09:19, Sun, Jun 26, 2022

Bernie Ecclestone shared the same point of view with Ferrari regarding a new FIA appointment. Shalia-Ann Rao has been made the new interim head of Formula One at the FIA, and she is a former advisor to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

She served as the FIA's legal director from mid-2016 to the end of 2018 before joining the Silver Arrows. The decision was made following the departure of Peter Bayer, who served as the FIA's F1 executive director since last year and secretary general for sport since 2017.

An explanation for the Australian's departure has yet to be explained and nothing points to Rao’s appointment relating to the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year. Therefore, Ecclestone was unhappy with the announcement, fearing there may be a conflict of interest.

“It's bloody dangerous,” he said. “Toto started all this nonsense about the cars needing to change. She told them about the new directive, obviously. She worked with Toto for two or three years.

“I wanted to get Luca di Montezemolo as chairman of the company when I was running things. But the teams went mad because he was Ferrari's man. It was seen as a conflict of interest, so how can she do this job?”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto also shared Ecclestone’s concerns on the appointment back in Baku earlier this month. ​​”Certainly it's a concern,” Binotto told reporters at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“She is a great person, she's got a lot of experience, she will certainly be capable of doing the job. It's down to them to make sure that there will be no conflicts of interest at all, to behave properly and it's down to the president to ensure it,” he added.

I hope Bernie has a good lawyer. Going around publicly accusing people of things can get you in trouble.

But as Bernie is no longer involved with F1, his opinion on things is as important as any random other person's opinion.

[chrisc90]

AUDI HAS BOUGHT A SAUBER!
Audi already has a 25% stake in Sauber and a 50% stake, i.e. it would have 75% of the team waiting for the FIA to approve the new 2026 engine regulation.
It's said to be a lot of money as the teams have revalued themselves for the fee to be paid upon entering as a new 200 million team.
Via - Roger Benoit.
(The 200 million fee only applies to new seats, not to teams that absorb another)

Anyone know how true this is?

Audi entering F1 with the Alfa?

Porsche entering in 2026 with the RB power train?

Audi/Porsche part of the same group so I imagine could all run the RB power unit?

[Wouter]

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/f1-budget-cap-k ompromiss-in-sicht/
.

Proposal: Extra money for all F1 teams

A compromise is emerging in the dispute over an inflation allowance. Formula 1 is to pay out extra money to all teams, which would then not count towards the budget cap. However, the support would then be deducted from the distribution pie.

Michael Schmidt 27.06.2022

For a long time the fronts were hardened. Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Alpha Tauri and Aston Martin have been begging the FIA for months for an extraordinary inflationary adjustment as part of the budget cap. The FIA's financial regulations provide for such a thing only if the average inflation rate of the G7 countries in September of the previous year is above three per cent. In September 2021, it was 2.9 per cent. Thanks to Japan's low inflation rate.

Since Russia went to war with Ukraine, price inflation has worsened dramatically. The US, Canada, Japan, the UK, France, Italy and Germany are currently averaging 6.2 per cent. This means that the budget cap will definitely be raised in 2023. But six of the ten teams already want an increase and plead "force majeure".

Formula One boss Stefano Domenicali is still putting on the brakes.
Three million or three per cent?

Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Williams and most recently Haas were against it and blocked the adjustment of the financial rules by vetoing it. An increase in the cost cap is of no use to them because they don't even reach the limit. "My budget limit is my budget," says Alfa-Sauber team boss Frédéric Vasseur. The FIA now wants to have found the golden compromise that brings all parties to the table. However, the F1 management has not yet received the details.

The following leaked out: Rights holder Liberty is to pay all teams a certain amount in cash. Some are talking about three million dollars, others about three per cent of the current cost limit of 140 million. That would be 4.2 million dollars. This money can then be spent without counting towards the budget cap. This means that the teams that are under the cap would also get something out of it.
Support comes off the overall cake

The support, however, is not to be given for free. Liberty would subtract the inflation surcharge from the overall cake. This hits the rich teams harder than the poor ones. The world champion participates with 14.5 per cent of the total payout, the tenth only with seven per cent.

Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer can live with this compromise: "If everyone benefits equally, we're in." Haas colleague Guenther Steiner says: "That would be a decent compromise, because the teams that don't reach the budget limit also benefit.

The FIA's plan is not yet on Stefano Domenicali's desk. The Formula 1 management is therefore putting the brakes on excessive optimism: "We are looking at the proposal. After all, it is our money that is to be distributed.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

[Stu]

They love to add greyness where clarity would be of benefit!!

[johnny comelately]

Dont know where to put this
Track contracts at the 9 minute mark
Ferrari MGUK reposition, turbo splitting and config
etc