In the F1 headlines this week, two more teams have confirmed their car launch dates as the new season creeps closer, Russian F1 drivers will not be able to race under their country’s flag, Grosjean will be moving to IndyCar and more.
This week, the car launch dates of Mercedes and Williams were confirmed. Mercedes will launch their 2021 championship challenger the W12 E Performance on March 2. Williams will launch their 2021 contender, the FW43B, a few days later on March 5.
Now that the Sao Paulo GP has been extended with a new contract, plans to build an F1 circuit on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro have officially been abandoned. This is Liberty Media’s third failed attempt to a new venue in the sport, after plans for the Vietnamese GP and Miami GP fell through.
Haas’ new rookie, Nikita Mazepin, will be racing under a neutral flag, following a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport related to a state-sponsored doping cover-up in the 2014 Winter Olympics. The court has banned Russian athletes from competing in world sporting events. The Russian Automobile Federation has confirmed that this will effect any drivers racing in a world series. For the next two years, Mazepin and other Russian drivers will be prohibited from using national emblems, flags or symbols and the the word “Russia” or “Russian”.
F1 management may start the season with a double-header in Bahrain if the yet to be confirmed race in Portugal cannot take place. The season is currently set to start on March 28 in Bahrain. The third round will be in Portugal (although the venue has not yet been confirmed) on May 2, after the Imola race on April 18. Cancelling Portugal would see a second race in Bahrain and the Imola race would be delayed a week.
A summit will be held in Bahrain ahead of the start of the season to discuss the drivers’ roles and responsibilities as ambassadors for F1. The summit will make drivers aware of their roles as public figures in F1 and give them the responsibility to promote F1’s stance on social issues.
Romain Grosjean will still be racing, despite his horrific accident at the end of the 2020 season. Grosjean will be participating in the IndyCar series, although he will be skipping superspeedway races at Texas and the Indy 500 because “they present a risk which is significant”.
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