It was the Turkish Grand Prix this week, but there was also some news about a potential team ownership change. In addition to that, there was some news about the 2022 regulations and more.
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According to reports, Andretti Autosport is preparing a deal to takeover the Alfa Romeo F1 team. The US-based company is owned by Michael Andretti, who is the son of F1 World Champion Mario Andretti and a former F1 driver himself with McLaren for most of the 1993 season. The team has been most successful in the IndyCar Series, but also has a team in Formula E and other motorsports. Insiders suggest that the deal could be approved in the next few weeks, although the deal is still under negotiation.
The FIA and F1 are planning to discuss flexibility of the weekend schedule when poor weather conditions are expected. This comes as a result of the rain-cancelled Belgian Grand Prix, during which some sessions (including the race) were cancelled. Allowing for a more flexible weekend timetable when poor weather is forecast could allow sessions to be moved to prevent them being cancelled by rain.
The FIA will not introduce a new set of sporting regulations for the 2022 season, as was originally the plan. The current sporting regulations have been written and amended over the most recent decades. Because of this, some of the regulations are not in a logical order. With the technical regulations postponed to 2022, the FIA decided to rewrite the sporting regulations with the goal of formatting them in the same style as the technical regulations. The work was started in 2019, but it has been decided that it’s best to stick with the current format, as teams are more familiar with that style.
F1 was forced to temporarily replace the crew of the medical car after both members tested positive for COVID-19. Medical car driver Alan van der Merwe and doctor Ian Roberts tested positive for the virus in a test prior to travelling to Turkey. The medical car was driven by Formula E safety car driver Bruno Correia alongside Dr. Bruno Franceschini. It’s unclear whether the regular medical car crew will be ready in time for the United States Grand Prix, although it is possible if they recover quickly.
Lando Norris opened up about the stress and mental struggles that impacted him when he first entered in Formula One. “I guess people, from when they just watch TV, don’t realise many things that a driver goes through,” the young McLaren driver said while on ITV’s This Morning. “Especially at my age, coming into Formula 1 at 19, there’s a lot of eyes on you. So, dealing with all these kinds of things, took its toll on me.” With the help of the McLaren team and the mental health charity Mind, the 21 year old British driver has been able to get to a much better place now.
The Red Bull car featured a special white livery at the Turkish Grand Prix to honour Honda. The team’s Japanese engine manufacturer is set to exit Formula One at the end of the season. The Turkish Grand Prix weekend was originally set to be the Japanese Grand Prix prior to the event’s cancellation earlier in the year. Red Bull’s special one-off is to pay tribute to Honda on what would have been the company’s final home race.
Some of the F1 drivers tried out some experimental racing gloves at the Turkish Grand Prix. The new gloves aim to introduce a safety improvement in the aftermath of Romain Grosjean’s crash at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which left the Frenchman’s hands with burns. The goal is to create gloves that offer more fire resistance without impacting driver comfort or performance. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz tested some gloves developed by Puma, while Daniel Ricciardo had a pair from Sparco, Sebastian Vettel from Alpinestars and George Russell was demoing gloves from OMP.
The race weekend started with a few engine change announcements on Friday before the first practice session. Ferrari opted to swap out Carlos Sainz’s power unit, dropping him to the rear of the grid. Mercedes decided to replace Lewis Hamilton’s internal combustion engine (ICE). The championship challenging team determined that change only the ICE was the best option, as it meant the Brit would only drop 10 places on the grid and changing the other components likely won’t be worth the punishment.
Hamilton led the first practice session of the weekend ahead of Max Verstappen by 0.4 seconds, beating the lap record set by Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2005 event. Both Ferrari drivers were in the top 5, sandwiching Valtteri Bottas in P4. The session was relatively calm. Drivers struggled with grip at last year’s race because of some resurfacing work that was done prior to the race, but the circuit management had the track wet blasted before this year’s race, improving grip levels.
The second session of running was also topped my Lewis Hamilton ahead of Charles Leclerc. Valtteri Bottas set a time that was third fastest, as both Red Bull drivers rounded out the top 5. There were a few spins in the session, but nothing too dramatic. Kimi Raikkonen had a leaky drinks bottle that was making the cockpit wet, causing him to lose time in the session as the team investigated the issue. After the session ended, Esteban Ocon’s car could not shift into gear during his practice session and the Alpine needed to be recovered from the grid by the marshals.
Early morning rain left the circuit damp for the start of the final practice session on Saturday. Drivers started the session on full wet tyres, with Lando Norris being the first driver to venture out on intermediates. The rest of the teams followed, but the session was briefly red flagged, as a spin for George Russell left the Williams beached in the gravel. A number of drivers had spins as they pushed the limits in the damp conditions. In the closing half of the session, many drivers struggled to improve their times as the tyres began to overheat, but the conditions were still too wet to change to slicks. Pierre Gasly was atop the FP3 timing sheets, ahead of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Both Ferrari drivers concluded the top 5, with Sainz proving to be the quickest of the pair.
In qualifying, Hamilton set the fastest time but he grid drop left Valtteri Bottas to inherit pole position. The session was threatened by rain, with some falling in Q1, but it wasn’t enough for the drivers to change to intermediate tyres. Max Verstappen earned a spot on the front row, with Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso making up the top 5. Alonso was at risk of losing his P5 starting position, having been called to the stewards after the session for ignoring yellow flags in the first corner, but he was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. Daniel Ricciardo was knocked out of Q1 by Carlos Sainz, who did not set a time in Q2 because of his grid-penalty. McLaren decided to make the best of Ricciardo’s poor qualifying showing by replacing his power unit, dropping him to the rear of the grid for Sunday.
Drivers were on intermediate tyres for the race on Sunday. Bottas got away well off the line, marching into the lead. Fernando Alonso was spun by Pierre Gasly in the first corner, who was the meat in a first corner sandwich. The incident earned Gasly a controversial five-second time penalty. Alonso went on to earn a five-second penalty of his own after spinning Mick Schumacher. Carlos Sainz made a good charge from the rear of the field, reaching the top 10 in only 15 laps. Hamilton, on the other hand, was making relatively slow progression through the field from his P11 start. Sebastian Vettel was the only driver to try and make the dry tyres work, grabbing a new set of medium compound tyres when everyone else was pitting for new intermediate. The Aston Martin driver immediately regretted his decision, crawling his way around the slippery circuit to fit the proper tyres a lap later. Having worked his way up to P3, Mercedes called Hamilton into the pits with just 10 laps remaining for a new set of intermediate tyres. It was a strategy call that Hamilton was not happy with, losing 2 places in the process, but the team did not believe the tyres would last the entire duration of the race. Esteban Ocon was the only driver to achieve that and his pace suffered significantly at the end of the race. It was Valtteri Bottas who took the race victory ahead of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Verstappen took the lead in the World Drivers’ Championship battle by just 6 points over rival Lewis Hamilton. Click here to read a full report of the race.
The Weekly F1 Recap on Racing Clothesline is a series published every Monday. Each article breaks down the previous week's Formula One headlines into bite-sized pieces, perfect for casual fans to keep themselves in the loop.
