In the round-up: Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko was encouraged by Daniel Ricciardo’s performance in his first race weekend since changing chassis.
In brief
Marko praises Ricciardo’s Shanghai drive
Ricciardo failed to score his first points of the season in China last week after being taken out by Lance Stroll. But Marko was encouraged by his performance up to that point.
“Daniel Ricciardo had a new chassis available in China and the whole thing was planned from the start because it is our third chassis that we wanted to bring to the track,” Marko told Speed Week. “But of course this change also played into psychology after Daniel’s disappointing performances on the previous weekends.
“Things went much better for Ricciardo in China. I find it unbelievable that Lance Stroll called him an ‘idiot after’ the chequered flag fell. And that he also had to receive a penalty for Miami. This really wasn’t his weekend.”
Marti leads F2 test
Pepe Marti headed the second day of Formula 2’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya with a best time of 1’23.681, almost a second and a half faster than Gabriele Bortoleto managed in yesterday’s rain-affected running.The three-day test concludes today.
Four two-driver entries at Spa
Peugeot will slim down to a two-driver squad for both its cars at the Six Hours of Spa as Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne have a clashing commitment in the Formula E double-header in Berlin.
Two other teams have also confirmed two-driver line-ups. Sebastien Buemi will be absent again at Cadillac as he is racing in IMSA again at LagunaSeca, while Jota Porsche will be without Norman Nato who is also racing in Formula E.
Garcia handed FE test chance
Formula 1 Academy champion Marta Garcia will take part in the Formula E rookie test for ERT at the Berlin round.
“Marta’s exceptional talent and achievements in F1 Academy are undeniable,” said team principal Alex Hui. “This test serves as a fantastic platform to showcase her skills within the dynamic environment of Formula E. We are confident that Marta will quickly adapt to the unique demands of electric racing and provide valuable insights for the team.”
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Motor racing links of interest:
'The unnamed woman, who has been suspended from her job at the team’s UK headquarters, has challenged the independent report into her claims. The new KC-led internal probe is expected to last until mid-May, sources said.'
McLaren leads pack of F1 teams hunting major Mastercard deal (Sport Business)
'MasterCard is preparing for a sponsorship showdown at the Miami F1 Grand Prix, with four top teams in the hunt for a huge cash injection from the payment services giant.'
After flipping his car, F1’s Webber called Stewart (The Age)
'The night of that crash, I spoke to Sir Jackie on the phone, thanking him for what he did. I never did end up racing for him but, in many ways, he’s been like another grandfather to me, giving me advice during my career.'
Alpine uncertain on Habsburg’s Spa status (Sportscar 365)
'Alpine is currently not yet sure if Habsburg will be able to rejoin the team for the six-hour race on May 11.'
First Vietnamese to race at Formula 3 (level) (VN Express)
'I'm also looking forward to progressing from the F4 Indian Championship, which has done a lot to support drivers like myself on the FIA Global Pathway.'
Hitech have ‘taken a step forward’ in Barcelona testing says Stenshorne (Formula 3)
'I think I learned a lot, that's a positive, and I think we improved; I think we brought the car towards my driving style a bit which is positive, and I think we took a step forward.'
The Euroformula ready to take the track for another season of exciting racing (Euroformula Open)
Nine drivers have been named on the entry list for the first round of the new Euroformula Open season.
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Knowing how furious Roger Penske was over Logano’s webbed glove, I imagine he’s a bit hot today.
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Comment of the day
F1’s planned points system change is a step in the right direction, says Keith:
Strongly in favour of this change given how F1 has evolved over the years and how it has become increasingly difficult to score even a single point. This should lead to fiercer and fairer competition in the already tightly packed midfield, which currently is too heavily weighted in favour of the one-off strong result, where putting in consistent performances can often reward nothing.
You just need to look at the points swings from the examples in the article to see this. You can hardly brand this a ‘participation trophy’ as some are calling it, when the stats show that drivers will almost always have to beat at least five other rivals to score any points even under the revised system.
Keith Campbell (@Keithedin)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Andrewf1, Christopher and Christopher Rehn!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th April 2024, 0:04
Yes, I also thought this was a better performance for ricciardo, and it’s good to see that red bull look at performance, not just at results, since those can be skewed by lucky\unlucky circumstances, an example would be russell’s first race at mercedes in bahrain outer track 2020, where in my view he drove better than most of the races after he got a long term mercedes seat but only had a 9th place in the end.
However ricciardo certainly needs to keep this level of performance he had in china if he wants to keep his seat.
Tristan
25th April 2024, 1:28
They say Ricciardo had a new chassis, but I want to know if it was a straight swap.
Tsunoda’s radio comments after qually were that something was “not right” with his car and he felt he did a faster lap. If Tsunoda had Ricciardo’s chassis that would explain everything. Otherwise it’s still curious that one side of the garage couldn’t get the car in the qually window.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th April 2024, 4:50
Tristan I doubt they simply swapped.
notagrumpyfan
25th April 2024, 9:49
It’s the third chassis, thus almost certainly a replacement.
MacLeod (@macleod)
25th April 2024, 7:59
@jerejj Tristan has a point as Yuki was saying he has a good fast lap but still was 19th you could hear his voice over the onboard radio being wondered.
So if this also going to happen in the next few races we can think they just swapped the chassis. Does have RB really a new chassis because several teams doesn’t have a spare yet.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
26th April 2024, 0:33
Yeah among friends we wondered the same. Or whether Tsunoda received RIC’s chassis and RIC got the new one.
Nick T.
25th April 2024, 3:04
I really think it’s way too early to have any opinion on Ricardo but right now I see this as part of Red Bulls negotiating tactic to minimize the salary for Perez next year. Personally, I’d like to see anyone but Perez, but obviously Perez makes the most sense for team harmony, and probably team financials as well.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th April 2024, 4:50
Red Bull financials have always been great, so this aspect from drivers is irrelevant to them.
MacLeod (@macleod)
25th April 2024, 8:04
I must agree with @jerejj Red Bull have money enough (Perez has a lot of financial backing and i mean serious money) So giving Perez less money is silly and is a no point in negotiating a contract.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th April 2024, 4:53
If Ricciardo is also outright faster over the next two rounds, the monocoque change could be a decisive contributor.
COTD makes a valid point for the revised points system.
SteveP
25th April 2024, 7:15
More likely the Pixie dust factor
lynn-m
25th April 2024, 5:38
Couldn’t disagree with COTD more.
More than half the field scoring points basically guarantees that over the course of a season everyone will score and that that point scoring a point becomes less special.
But then it’s like most other aspects of the show over sport era. Taking things that used to feel special & that used to be major accomplishments and dumbing them down to the point they start to feel irrelevant. DRS has done it with overtaking & this is doing the same with points.
I know F1 is not extending them all the way through the field but you look at Indycar where everyone does score & you never hear anybody talk about points because there’s no achievement to scoring them. And then you also have nascar who’s points system is a complete joke that I don’t believe anybody really understands or could explain. It’s the series where it’s harder and therefore a bigger accomplishment to score a point where you hear people talk about scoring because it’s then a bigger deal to score so becomes more special and memorable.
S
25th April 2024, 8:33
People don’t talk about points a lot in the other series you mention because the racing is actually worth talking about instead.
Honestly, points aren’t worth talking about in F1 either until the championship is about to be mathematically decided – and the further through the season that is, the better (the points system should encourage this).
What wouldn’t change with the points system is the actual results that are rewarded by those points. And I, for one, am far more interested in the position someone is in/finishes in than how many points they get for it.
IMO, the points system should accurately reflect all results – not just those for ~half of the competitors. Points are not the prize – the points system exists purely to reflect results.
And right now, it is incredibly bad at doing that.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
25th April 2024, 10:42
I still disagree (obviously). My main line of thinking is that due to the reliability of the cars these days, and despite complaints to the contrary, the overall standard of the drivers and the teams compared to those of old, it has become increasingly difficult to finish in the higher places. I would say currently it is probably harder in performance terms for a backmarker team to finish a race in P10, than it was for a backmarker to finish P6 in say the 60s and 70s. Back then, you had a fair chance of scoring points just by finishing the race, even if you were several laps behind the winner. Nowadays, you can finish on the lead lap and be P18 – nowhere near the points. So, I fundamentally disagree that awarding points to P12 makes the awarding of points any less special, because it still requires a high level of performance from team and driver, and arguably higher than it did decades ago.
In addition, we are currently 5 races and 1 sprint race into the season, and we have 3 teams who have scored zero points. Trying to establish the performance of those teams by looking at the points table is meaningless, because the actual order is determined by this ‘hidden’ stat of highest finish, which you would then have to research to even find out the justification for this order. I just don’t think it’s fair or a good reflection of overall performance that those teams and drivers are heavily reliant on their performance in the one or two ‘freak’ races a season with lots of retirements where they can potentially score a few points, rather than awarding at least something for consistent performances throughout the year.
bosyber (@bosyber)
25th April 2024, 12:19
Solid comeback @keithdin, I find myself nodding along to a lot of what you are saying. The combination of reliability and so many races does skew the equation I’d say.
lynn-m
25th April 2024, 13:40
So what?
If they aren’t fast enough to be able to score points then they should work to improve the car performance rather than simply have the way to score points made easier for them.
It’s just getting harder and harder to care about anything in this show because everything is been dumbed down, made easier with the challenge & specialness of everything taken away to the point where there’s nothing to fondly look back on as been a special moment anymore.
It’s no wonder so many of the longer term, truly passionate & dedicated fans are turning off. It’s just no longer a sport anymore.
Retired (@jeff1s)
25th April 2024, 7:11
At this rate F1 is going to be an IndyCar copy in 5 years. P2P, points to the last, 2026 cars…
An Sionnach
25th April 2024, 7:54
VCAMCRB
notagrumpyfan
25th April 2024, 10:02
I quite enjoy the fights between the lower teams as well, and prefer a points system which bases the final order on (relative) performance throughout the year, rather than the chance of lucking into an odd 9th or 10th places when a top team DNF.
PS In the comments of the ‘race result and championship points’ article I include a mock-up points table including only the second tier teams.