It wasn’t looking that great for Mercedes on Friday and Saturday in F1 Mexico GP, but they came alive on Sunday especially on the side of Hamilton. The Brit made a good start and passed one Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in the pits amid chances of one stop.

The red flag played in the hands of Hamilton when Mercedes decided to put the medium compound for the final stint. Ferrari were in the hope of a drop off on those tyres against the hard that Leclerc was on, but that never happened.

Hamilton hustled Leclerc and got through him crucially where the Monegasque made it as tight as possible to force him on the grass. But the Brit made it stick and kept his tyres alive until the end where he set the fastest lap as well.

He was cautious though and tried pushing to catch Max Verstappen but when he saw the Dutchman’s pace, he gave up. “I could have pushed a little bit harder but I did at one time try to see, okay, I think I’ve saved enough, let me see if I can try and close this gap to Max,” said Hamilton. “I think it was like 10 laps to go, and I did a 22.0 and Max did a 21.9. I was like, ah, I’ll leave it.

“He was just cruising at 21.9. So yeah, so I thought I’d leave it there. And also, I had to be cautious, just careful because obviously my tyres… if I really pushed them for the last 10 laps, they probably would have opened up, and who knows, maybe Charles would have caught me up. So, I just had to be cautious with that.

“Honestly, this weekend, we’ve been very, very slow on the straight. In general, we’ve were quite draggy on the straights more often than not but this weekend, you know, like yesterday, we were losing like two-and-a-half tenths just into Turn 1 before we even start braking.

“So, these guys were very slippery on the straights so, trying to follow closely through Turns 16 and 17 was, was really the only way that I could get close enough and have an opportunity to make the DRS impactful. And yeah, finally, I pressed every button on the steering wheel, maximum power.

“And I didn’t know how far across he was going to go. But split second decision, I decided to go to the right. There’s just enough space there but Charles was really fair. But yeah, great racing,” summed up Hamilton, who noted that the team did not change much in the car from practice to race as he expanded on the meaning behind Jenson Button’s finesse.

“We didn’t change anything obviously since qualifying,” said Hamilton. “I think the car is just quite peaky in qualifying on light fuel. But when you put a load of fuel in it, the car just handles nicer. Just nice to drive and I think we struck a really nice set-up this weekend and particularly today for the race.

“Then, other than that, it’s just really good tyre management. And so yeah, I generally enjoyed it. It’s not the most physical of races, being that you can’t push all the way, you’re saving. You’re doing 200, 300 metres of lift and coast to keep the car cool and stop it from failing.

“So, yeah, but I was I was definitely hoping maybe there’ll be an opportunity to get closer to Max. As for the finesse, it’s about how much you’re sliding the tyre, it’s about the balance that you have. If you have too much wing in… too much front end in the car, then the car is like… imagine it a bit like a seesaw.

“You want to start a long stint – or a stint – with the car understeering, because as the rears go off, the seesaw tips, and then it goes to oversteer. And when it goes to oversteer, that’s when you’re lost most often. Unless it’s the other way around, where the front tyres are the issue, for example. And, just finding that balance is very, very difficult.

“And it’s… you go out and do your laps of the grid, for example, on a Soft tyre, it requires a different setting for the Medium tyre. And I think just really then, just focusing on all of the three sections and figuring out how to… where you can and can’t push. And I think today was just a really great balance of lift and coast and tyre saving. And it’s a technique. I mean, all the drivers know about it,” summed up Hamilton.

Leclerc, meanwhile, noted that the pace of Ferrari didn’t work on the hard compound which is why he couldn’t catch Hamilton. “I think it still confirms the weaknesses of our car, where it’s a very peaky car,” he said. “And whenever we get out of the optimal window of the car, we are losing too much time. And that’s exactly what happened on the Hard.

“At first, I thought I could do quite a good job once we stopped. But then there was a red flag, the tyres cooled down, we went back out and the feeling was just not the same and I couldn’t find the feeling again with the tyres. So it’s a bit of a shame because before that it was really good, especially on the Medium.

“But we’ll look into it, again, on the Hard to try and understand what went wrong there, in order to improve that in the future. But I think short term, there’s no big fixes. I think every time we are, as I said, a bit out of the optimal window, we lose too much time.”

Here’s Charles Leclerc on Turn 1 hit

Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out

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L'entrada Hamilton was cautious in final stint, felt Leclerc to be fair in pass ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was a mighty run from McLaren’s Norris in F1 Mexico GP to finish fifth after starting from 17th in the grand prix. He opted to start on the soft compound which he thinks was the correct choice as they wanted to get a clean and clear start on the softest tyre.

Even though he gained limited amount of places, it was fine as the idea was to switch to hard and go as long as possible to switch to either medium and or soft towards the end. The safety car period hampered the plans to use the soft compound.

They pitted to switch to mediums in an early call but the race was red-flagged. The re-start actually did not work for Norris who dropped down to 14th. But the way he fought back to pass nine cars in a mighty show – which included a team helped pass on Oscar Piastri.

He ended up fifth eventually after a messy qualifying in a solid recovery drive. At the end of it, the mindset was if only they were in Q3 but even a drive like in Mexico showed his capabilities which surprised himself whether it was the passes or preserving tyres.

He felt good passing George Russell and Daniel Ricciardo, as team boss Stella recalled the 2012 race in Valencia where Fernando Alonso started outside the Top 10 with Ferrari and ended up to win the grand prix when the Italian was part of that team.

Soft tyre start but a fun race –

Norris: “Absolutely, the soft start was good choice. It just helped me a bit in the start, off the line and things like that. It’s always tough in Turn 1, it can go your way, it can not go your way. But I think we played everything smart. I think we played it well. Maybe the safety car and a couple things weren’t perfect times for us. The VSC and so forth. But otherwise, I think everything pretty much went our way, and we maximised. The soft included. I enjoyed the whole thing, apart from my restart. I don’t know if you saw it. But I probably had to avoid a very big crash, just people coming across, not probably realising that people can be three abreast. So, I avoided two extremely big crashes, which would have been very nasty. So, a bit more self-awareness of some drivers would be great.”

Re-start trouble –

Norris: “You can see it from on board. It’s not why I lost out, I lost out because of a bad start. But I lost out even more because of these things. The pace was amazing: From already lap 1, there was a lot of management involved. On the radio when I came over line, the first time I got told to cool the engine. So, we maybe weren’t perfectly set up for these things. And I couldn’t maybe push as much as I wanted to at times. But in the times I could, which was a lot of the second stint. The pace was excellent, to go from 14th/15th to fifth, to have better pace than almost everyone bar Hamilton and Max was very encouraging for us. So yeah, as perfect of a day as I could probably ask for.”

Team work with Piastri and passing Russell, Ricciardo –

Norris: “I didn’t ask to go past or anything. I was happy to race against him. It was clear just from pace and points that I eventually went on to get that it was the correct thing to do from a team perspective. Thanks to Oscar. And yes, George didn’t make it easier but neither did Daniel! Deep down, because I know those guys, not really well. I know Daniel, he’s not going to want to give it up easily. Two tough ones, but enjoyable, all the racing up after the restart was fair, tough and hard. And that’s when it’s good fun.”

What could have been –

Norris: “Of course, of course. I think that’s why right, I know people complain at why I’m so disappointed at times. And it’s because of days like today. Of course, I’m going to be disappointed, right? Like there’s a chance to finish on the podium and get another trophy, score more points. Why would I ever be happy about a day like yesterday? I moved on very quickly, I moved on better than I did in Qatar. And we put a lot of focus on today. That was evident, and then it paid off. I’m never going to be happy after a day like yesterday, right? Because I know what we’re capable of doing. And when you have a day like today, then you think of the ‘what could have been’? There’s too many ‘what could have been’ at the minute. I just need to tidy some things up, and then things can start to roll.”

Summing up Norris’ fight –

Stella: “This race made me think of Valencia 2012. At the time we started 11th and then we won the race. We were having exactly this conversation on the pitwall. Will Joseph, his race engineer, turned to me and he said: ‘That’s one of Lando’s best!’ And I said: ‘Will, that’s one of the best of all!’. So many overtakes in Mexico, when yesterday if you read the quotes everyone was saying it’s so difficult to overtake, while managing power unit temperatures, and having to do lift and coast. I’m just impressed. One of the best days for a driver that I have been part of. On one side, we are excited having seen this kind of masterpiece. On the other side, like Lando said on the in-lap, let’s do a good job on Saturday and we can fight for podiums. The pace was there to fight for podiums.”

Frustration of qualifying –

Stella: “There is a little element of frustration, but at the same time, if you asked me yesterday, nowhere near would I have thought we could have overtake so many cars. I’d rather take the positive out of this race and I hope that the entire team at the factory and all the fans receive the same sort of message. We are there. We don’t give up. We are competitive. But we need to do a better job overall over a race weekend.”

Strategy, pace of the car –

Stella: “We were in a position to be the second best car, possibly shared with Hamilton. But even the stint that Lando did when he went on hard, because we wanted to elect a strategy that would give us as much free air as possible. So after the 10 laps on soft, we went on hard and that pace was even strong. It was a controlled pace because we wanted to go very-very long and then have a final stint on the medium or even soft depending on how long we would have gone. We were nervous going on the medium tyres in red flag.”

Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out

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L'entrada Norris had moments but felt good with P5; Stella recalls Valencia ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was going relatively smooth for Haas’ Magnussen in F1 Mexico GP until a wide moment coming out of the final corner onto the main straight after 35 laps. Moments later, the Dane suffered a heavy shunt at Turn 7-8 where he went straight onto the tyre barrier.

He immediately jumped off the car onto the fence as the car caught a bit of fire in the heat when marshals rushed in to douse the flames. Magnussen was taken to the medical center but was cleared of any injuries even though he noted about hurting his hands.

Haas is looking at the cause of the incident but slow-mo replays showed the rear-left suspension going broke which led to the crash. It could be related to him going off in the final corner further straining the suspension which broke due to heat.

“It was the rear-left, I suddenly lost a lot of grip, we saw it a couple of laps before that and then it gave up,” said Magnussen to media. “At the beginning of the race it was better with tyre wear. Then suddenly I fell off more than the others and then the suspension gave up, so I don’t know if it’s related.

“Maybe there’s something there but I need to go and talk to the team. The crash happened in a bad place and I hit the wall, so I got a knock on my hands and they hurt a little bit, but they’re fine. We have to investigate a bit more what exactly happened as it just gave up,” summed up Magnussen, whose teammate Nico Hulkenberg was running in points until the final moments where his tyres gave up.

His fight included Alfa Romeo’s Bottas and Aston Martin’s Stroll, who made contact in the final stages where the Canadian was spun around and forced to retire in the pits. While the duo took it as a racing incident at Turn 13-14, the FIA blamed it on the Finn.

Having started inside the Top 10, Bottas lost the gear sync at the start to drop outside of the points. He was suffering from overheating brakes too. “In Turn 14, there was no space for two cars,” he said. “Obviously, he did keep it pretty tight but like I couldn’t just really disappear.

“I don’t know if it was a racing incident but I lost I don’t know a chance of points but I lost at least a chance to fight,” summed up Bottas, as Stroll was equally fine. “Not much to say, it is just racing,” he said. “It is a tricky corner, a bit tight exit leading onto the next, so just one of those racing incidents where I went for a dive and we basically touched.”

Here’s the crash of Kevin Magnussen: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-mexico-city-grand-prix-race-red-flagged-after-big-crash-for-magnussen.1781125674302254057.html

Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out

Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact

L'entrada Magnussen hurt his hands as Bottas/Stroll play down their collision ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It wasn’t a sight that the Mexican fans wanted to see at the start of F1 Mexico GP and something that Red Bull boss Horner feared for as well. A good launch from fifth helped Perez to go on the outside of Ferrari’s Leclerc and Verstappen.

But while turning into the corner, Perez and Leclerc made contact which sent the Mexican flying onto the tarmac run-off. It was enough to damage his underside of the floor and rear suspension as his day ended at Turn 1 itself, much to everyone’s disappointment.

Perez had the killer push to win the grand prix which is why he wasn’t too regretful for going all in but he paid the price for the risk. He accepted it as well even though he was naturally disappointed to go out in that manner while fighting for second in the standings.

Perez was surprised by Leclerc’s late brake but didn’t blame him for the incident as in those split seconds things can happen. Verstappen too understood the Mexican’s intention to go for it and same was for Horner, even though he had fears of a crash.

But the blip isn’t putting them down as they will be pushing in the next three races to help Perez keep second from Hamilton, who is now only 20 points behind. Even for the 2024 season, there is no clause to let him go if he doesn’t end up second in the standings.

Perez (how was it): “It’s certainly pretty high up there. I’ve had some really sad moments in my career, but certainly this is, as a race, the saddest one, because of the end result. But at the end of the day, this is just racing. I go home very sad, but I also go very proud of my team, of myself. We gave it all. I knew that today a was not enough for me. I really wanted to go for the win, and when I saw the gap, I went for it. I was not expecting Charles to brake that late. I was already ahead of him, he was in the middle, so there was a lot less room for manoeuvre. Once you are committed to the braking zone at those speeds, it’s just too late, but he was obviously there, and with these wide cars, three cars into Turn 1 is not going to end up well. But you decide to take a risk, I decided to take it and I paid the price.”

Perez (bounce back and letting fans down): “Not difficult at all [to bounce back]. It’s a weekend where I risked it all to go for the win, the pace was there, but it just didn’t happen. This is just how racing is. I’ve been here long enough to understand that you have days like this. But what makes me feel proud is that I gave it my all and that’s it. Yes, it is really sad, the last thing you want to see happen is this situation but it is how it is sometimes but we look forward. To be honest, I feel I would have let them down more if I didn’t go for it. I saw the gap, I went for it. I decided to take a risk, I knew it was going to be very risky, and I ended up paying the price. It was a pretty high risk to take, but it was worth taking it. And yes, I would [take the risk again and do same if need be].”

Leclerc: “A lot of booing… A lot of booing. Guys. I mean, honestly, I had nowhere to go. So I was a bit in between the two Red Bulls and unfortunately I touched Checo, but I had nowhere to go. It’s life. It damaged my car and unfortunately it ended the race of Checo. But yeah, on our end, we maximised our race. It’s life and of course I’m disappointed to end the race of Checo like that, but I really didn’t do it on purpose and I had nowhere to go. I tried to stay on the right as much as possible, as close as I could to Max. But unfortunately, there was no space anymore for me to be any more to the right. I think Checo was probably not aware that I had Max on my rights and started to turn in. And when I saw that, I knew that we will collide at one point, which we did. And after that, I was extremely surprised that I could the finish the race anyway.

Verstappen: “No, not nervous at all at the start. I mean, it’s not the first time that I’ve been two-wide or three-wide into Turn 1 here. But also, I mean, we all trust each other. And of course, we’re all on the limit, braking into the corner, but it was all fine, I think. But then yeah, of course, I saw on my outside that something happened. But yeah, luckily, on the inside, we could stay out of trouble. I understand [Checo’s push] because it’s his home Grand Prix. You want to be on the podium, I fully understand that he went around the outside and he tried.  Looking, of course, at the footage, I think he could have left a little bit more space but on the other hand if it would have worked, you look amazing. I think it’s just more that excitement of wanting to be on the podium and this time it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”

Horner (thoughts on crash and if there was no crash): “I’m absolutely gutted to see Checo go out on the first corner. He had probably his best start of the season, got the draft and the tow from the three cars ahead, so arrived with massive over-speed. And you can’t blame him, at his home race, going to try to take the lead of the grand prix. I think you’d have to call it a racing incident, because three into one doesn’t go, and Charles, obviously, couldn’t get out of it and he braked late. So, yeah frustrating for Checo, and really disappointing for his fans to lose him at the first corner. The guys did their best to get him back out but there was just too much damage to the floor and underbody of the car. You could see on the replay that Charles was in a bit of a Red Bull sandwich. The radio was okay, it was just the underside of the car which was damaged. Had he not crashed, it would have been a straight fight between the two of them. So it could have been an interesting afternoon. Checo had good pace this weekend, it’s just frustrating that it was a first corner incident. That was my fear going into the race.”

Horner (what said after): “It’s a tough moment for him. It’s in front of his home crowd, and he was very emotional, and I just said to him, ‘The next race is next week. You’re going for the lead in your home race, you wouldn’t be a racing driver if you weren’t going for it’. I think he would have been on the podium for sure without a shadow of a doubt. It’s a big loss for him here with a car that was capable of being on the podium.”

Horner (P2 in standings and 2024): “He’s got three races now to convert that second place, it is 20 points between him and Lewis. He’s had some misfortune, he’s had some issues but we still believe he can do it between now and the end of the year. It is not as binary as that (if he loses to Lewis for second). You have to got to look at the circumstances and so on, Checo has an agreement with us for next year and that’s our intention to for him to be in the car in 2024 but we will give all the support to ensure he finishes second but there is no pre-requisite that if he doesn’t finish second, you are out. He’s a tough operator, and that’s why he’s in the car, because mentally, he’s always been able to bounce back. He’ll brush himself down and he’ll turn it into motivation. A sprint race in Brazil. Las Vegas, a street circuit, he’s always run well at street circuits. Abu Dhabi, he’s always been competitive there as well. He’ll have the full support of the team to try and achieve something that we’ve not done before.”

Here’s the crash involving Sergio Perez: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-mexico-city-grand-prix-drama-on-the-race-start-as-perez-collides-with-leclerc-and-verstappen-takes-the-lead.1781122202817478487.html

Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out

Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact

L'entrada Perez would risk again if need be as Horner, Leclerc add on ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was a busy start in F1 Mexico GP as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the lead from third after taking the inside line into Turn 1 from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who collided with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. The Mexican tried the outside line which didn’t work.

He turned right into Turn 1 and their wheels touched which sent Perez onto the run-off as Leclerc damaged his endplate which shed away later on. The Mexican pitted as Red Bull tried to fix the damage but it was too much for him to get back out in his home event.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third as AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo maintained fourth from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. His teammate George Russell lost to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at Turn 12 for sixth, with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg gaining four places to eighth.

He brought Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in ninth with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in 10th as teammate Valtteri Bottas dropped to 12th after a wide moment behind Williams’ Alexander Albon. McLaren’s soft gamble with Lando Norris didn’t yield great results at the start.

He was only 15th from 17th and stuck behind AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. It was clean for the next couple of laps but Leclerc’s endplate needed VSC to be cleared off, as the Monegasque still managed to keep his teammate off from second.

Hamilton, meanwhile, tried a couple of times to pass Ricciardo for fourth which he finally managed to. His teammate Russell was hustling Piastri, as Gasly tried to push Hulkenberg. Just behind them, Albon made a move on Guanyu to be 10th in the points.

There was a brief yellow flag for AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda when he went off at Turn 1 after locking-up while trying to pass Haas.Kevin Magnussen outside the Top 10. The Japanese driver pitted early as did Norris after his soft tyre gamble didn’t work.

At the front, Verstappen led well but pitted early on Lap 19 as others around him continued on. Leclerc assumed the lead of F1 Mexico GP as the FIA put him under investigation for driving a car which was running in unsafe condition at the start of the F1 grand prix.

Once both the Ferrari drivers pitted, it was Verstappen in the lead of F1 Mexico GP again with Leclerc in second from Hamilton who managed to pass Sainz. Ricciardo was fifth from Piastri and Russell as Norris climbed up to eighth ahead of Albon.

There was a moment for Haas’ Kevin Magnussen on the straight which seemingly damaged the left-rear suspension. It failed at the exit of Turn 7 as he went straight onto the barrier at high speed. The safety car was out but it converted into a red flag.

Verstappen, Norris and Albon pitted from the Top 10 but the Dutchman retained the F1 Mexico GP lead with the Brit dropping to 10th and the Thai in 12th. Leclerc was second from Hamilton, Sainz, Ricciardo, Piastri, Russell, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg and Norris in the Top 10.

Post red flag –

The re-start worked well for Verstappen who led from Leclerc and Hamilton as Sainz was fourth from Russell. The Brit managed to pass Ricciardo while Piastri was seventh from Tsunoda, Albon and Hulkenberg in the Top 10 where the Thai made up four places.

Norris dropped out in 14th from 10th where the Alpine pair gained places. At the front, Verstappen started to stretch out as Hamilton tried a couple of times before making his move on Leclerc to take second at Turn 1 after electing to use the medium tyre.

Russell tried to pass Sainz but he couldn’t. It was same from Tsunoda who kind of made it stick on Piastri but the Australian was back ahead. Hulkenberg was chasing Albon for ninth, as Norris started to make inroads after clearing couple of cars.

It was getting tasty at the fag end of the Top 10. Tsunoda tried hard to pass Piastri for seventh. The two made small contact at Turn 2 initially but the Australian stayed in front. The Japanese came back on the next lap but turned in early to make contact.

He went off to rejoin in 16th with Piastri continuing in seventh with the collision under investigation. His teammate Norris passed Ocon, Hulkenberg and Albon to move up to eighth. It was a brave move on the Frenchman at Turn 1 with the German just ahead.

Albon was ninth from Hulkenberg, with Ocon, Gasly and Bottas close behind. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, was asked to retire from the race. With Verstappen stretching a big lead to Hamilton, the Brit was comfortably ahead of Leclerc.

His teammate Sainz held off Russell well as Norris passed Ricciardo for sixth after team orders was played around against Piastri. The Australian was well ahead of Albon in eighth, while Hulkenberg in 10th had Ocon and Gasly on him for a good number of laps.

Finally, Ocon and Gasly both cleared Hulkenberg with the former in the points in 10th. There was contact at the back of field when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll tried to pass Bottas. The Finn left room but there was contact still which has been put under investigation.

Stroll retired eventually as in the points Norris passed Russell smartly at Turn 5 on switch back to get himself in fifth from 14th on re-start. At the front, Verstappen eased in to win F1 Mexico GP by 13.875s from Hamilton who took the fastest lap on the final lap.

Leclerc was third from Sainz with Norris in fifth ahead of Russell who just resisted Ricciardo for sixth, as Piastri was eighth from Albon and Ocon in the Top 10. Teammate Gasly was 11th from Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Bottas and Guany, with Sargeant classified in 16th despite pitting to retire on final lap due to fuel pump issue.

UPDATE: The FIA cleared both Piastri and Tsunoda of their double contacts at two occasions, while they also cleared Leclerc for driving in unsafe car. The stewards put him under investigation as data suggested a scenario of waving the black and orange flag.

But since the endplate detached, the situation was under control and warranted no penalty. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%2016%20-%20Alleged%20driving%20a%20car%20in%20an%20unsafe%20condition.pdf

Bottas, meanwhile, has been handed a 5s time penalty and two penalty points for colliding with Stroll. The stewards reckon that while returning to racing line, the Finn made contact with the Canadian who had passed him at Turn 13 and so he is predominantly to be blamed. This drops him behind teammate Guanyu in 16th.

Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2077%20-%20Causing%20a%20collision.pdf

L'entrada Mexico GP: Verstappen dominates from Hamilton after red flag ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

Round 9 of the 2023 Japanese Super Formula Championship was held on Sunday, October 29th at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, and Katsunoshin Ohta took his first win in the final round of his rookie year. Also, Rio Miyata won the Drivers’ Championship in his fourth year racing with Super Formula.

The Suzuka Final was held over two days, Saturday and Sunday, with two races. Due to the crash in the Round 8, held on the previous day, Ukyo Sasahara (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) and Hiroki Otsu (TCS NAKAJIMA RACING) were unable to participate in the race, leaving 20 entries at the 22nd JAF Suzuka Grand Prix. The knockout style qualifying for Round 9 kicked off at 8:50am.

In Qualifying A, Tomoki Nojiri (TEAM MUGEN), who is aiming for his 3rd consecutive Drivers’ title, went through Q1 with the top time. In Qualifying B, top ranked Ritomo Miyata (VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S) was 2nd, and 3rd in the Championshipʼs ranking Liam Lawson (TEAM MUGEN) passed Q1 with the top time in B group.

In Q2, where the top 6 drivers in each group, 12 drivers in total, were to compete, Lawson showed a determined time attack and took pole position, Ohta came in 2nd and Nojiri in 3rd, and Miyata, the seasonʼs top ranked driver, finishing 4th in the Qualifying session. The starting grid for the seasonʼs final race, which will decide the Championship, was lined up with the top three ranked drivers from the bottom to the top, promising a very exciting and a fierce final race.

At 2:30 p.m., under the temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and track surface temperature of 29 degrees Celsius, after one lap of formation lap, the 31 lap Round 9 race kicked off at the 5.8 km Suzuka Circuit. Nojiri, who started 3rd, was passed by Miyata and dropped to 4th as he was blocked by Lawson, who got off to a slow start. In the early laps of the race, the top four cars were evenly spaced, but after 10 laps were completed when tires could be changed, Miyata went for the mandatory pit stop at the end of lap 12. The team made quick work to get him back on the course.

At the end of lap 13, Lawson came into the pits. He, too, made no mistake and returned to the course, but was locked in a fierce battle for position with Miyata, who was right behind him. However, Lawson was able to hold off Miyata on the inside at each corner to prevent Miyata from making a comeback. Meanwhile, the leader, Ohta, pits and successfully returns to the course still in the lead.

Nojiri stayed on the course without changing tires until the end, but his pace did not improve and he finally made the pit stop on the 23rd lap. On the out lap after the tire change, he allowed Nobuharu Matsushita (B-MAX RACING TEAM) to pass him, but on the 26th lap, Nojiri was able to regain the lead at the chicane, and moved back up to 4th position. However, he could not reach Miyata, who was running in front, and finished the race in 4th position.

The gap between Ohta and Lawson, who was defending the lead, remained close, but Ohta held on until the end to take his first win in the final round of his rookie year. As a result, Ohta won the 9th round, Lawson came in 2nd, and Miyata came in 3rd. With the result of Round 9, Miyata, in his fourth year in the series, was crowned the long-sought Driver’s
Champion.

“I think it’s been a really great, amazing year. It’s been a very tough season too,” said Lawson after finishing second in the drivers’ standings. “Nick Cassidy, who raced in Super Formula in the past I’m good friends with him, and I’ve heard the same thing from him, and he always told me. It takes time to see results.

“But, do your best! I thought it was a big challenge for me (participating in Super Formula), so I wanted to get as much help as possible from everyone and make it all my own.Season Looking back, I think it was a really good season. It’s a shame that we didn’t win the championship, but I think Miyata ran a great and stable race throughout the year.

“He was always on the podium. I am truly honored to have been able to compete with TEAM MUGEN for one year. I learned a lot in preparation for F1, and it had a big influence on me. The growth I was able to do with TEAM MUGEN in Super Formula also helped me in F1 as well. I think we connected. I’m very grateful,” summed up Lawson.

Here’s full standings and results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Super_Formula_Championship

[Note: The story is as per press release]

L'entrada Lawson says Super Formula a big influence despite losing title ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

The result at the end of Saturday in F1 Mexico GP wasn’t an expected one where Ferrari ended up 1-2 with Charles Leclerc taking another pole from Carlos Sainz. The duo’s first quick laps were enough for a front-row finish and beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman did improve but it was still not enough as almost everyone struggled to get a quick lap in. But front-row in Mexico is something no one likes considering the long run to Turn 1 and the slipstream that the drivers behind will get to ease past at Turn 1.

Even on race pace side, Ferrari are a bit cautious against Red Bull but they are ahead of the likes of Mercedes and McLaren which is a win. While the former saw both the cars make it in Q3 even though they struggled to get a good lap, the latter had a mixed result.

Lando Norris exited in Q1 after a tyre gamble and a mistake didn’t work for him where his teammate Oscar Piastri made in Q3 but could only manage fifth. The Australian was ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as the trio of the F1 teams will be in a tight battle.

They will have Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who was surprised by Ferrari’s result as he expected a Top 3 finish. The Mexican got pipped by even AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, who surprised everyone with a fourth place finish on his own after tow from Yuki Tsunoda in Q1 and Q2.

Leclerc: “It’s again a really big surprise. But we keep saying that every time we do a pole position, so people will stop believing in what we say. But I did not expect it. And this time until really late in the session. I think in most of the other sessions from Q1 we were on it and then we saw that there was a potential for pole position. There, until Q3, we had no idea that it was inside the car. And yeah, for some reason in Q3 I managed to put more or less everything together apart from the last sector. And straight away the lap time came straight away. So that was a good surprise. But I think it still shows us that our car is still a bit peaky. And we need to work in that direction for it to make it better in all conditions. Just having a cleaner lap. In Q2, it was a bit messy with the traffic exiting the pit lane. The warm-up is super important and it’s very, very difficult to put the tyres in the right window here. So everything makes a difference. It was a very bad on the out lap and then I had a bit of traffic also in my lap, and all of that made a huge difference.

“But it made a much bigger difference than what I thought, because even though I knew there was a bit more time coming, I did not expect to gain eight tenths. It’s a very difficult race here. Everything can happen, especially with the cooling. Whichever car is behind will do a bit more management, so that can play in our favour. But for that we need to do a good start. And starting first here, it’s always tricky to keep that position into the first corner, but we’ve had pretty good starts this year. So I’m confident we can keep that first place into Turn 1 and then we’ll try and do our best race. Like in karting! Well, to be honest, we haven’t discussed yet and we’ll discuss about it but at the same time, it’s very difficult to predict what’s going to happen at Turn 1. It’s basically a result of how good a start one will have. And then we’ll adapt. I think, obviously, we won’t take too many risks in between cars. But apart from that, it’s difficult to plan what’s happening at the start. It depends if I have a good start, if I have a bad start, so difficult to plan that.”

Sainz: “Honestly, it’s been a tricky weekend again. Putting laps together has been extremely difficult for me on the Soft tyre. And yeah, up until Q3, run one I hadn’t done a good lap all weekend. And then suddenly that lap, even though it had a snap in Turn 8/9, that I nearly lost the car, it was a pretty good lap. But when I saw 17.2 on the dash, I was like, ‘yeah, I don’t know where this is coming from right now’. But it just shows, like Charles said, that there’s still something that we need to understand, something that we need to look at – why our car suddenly, when it comes to low fuel and Soft tyres and Q3, high grip, it comes alive and then suddenly, in some sessions, or on higher fuel, more worn tyres, then it’s a trickier car. It’s something that we’re working on and something that sometimes gives us some very good surprises and sometimes some other not so good ones, so we’ll work on it. As for the race, I don’t know.

“I think it’s impossible to tell around Mexico. Obviously if we do laps like we do today we can aim for the podium or the win but to do that for 71 laps in our car is a bit trickier. Also, with our tyre management, it’s trickier and 71 laps, I think, normally that is where Red Bull makes a difference but together with Charles, we will try and do everything we can do to keep him behind and try to challenge that win. I think it’s impossible to predict these kind of things. Only thing I can say is I’m starting, maybe, on the dirty side, which here is quite a big difference. I was almost kind of expecting Max to beat me a bit and maybe put me on P3 to have a better launch tomorrow. But even like that, I think it’s impossible to say. I think it will be a fun start, a fun run down to Turn One. I think Max will be on the attack. We will all be trying to get slipstream, so it’s always a good run down to Turn 1 here.”

Verstappen: “I mean, it’s always difficult to tell, you know? I’m not part of their team, so I don’t know what’s going on. But yeah, I personally just expected it to be a little bit better in evolution through Qualifying from our side. And I think that’s what we were lacking a little bit. I think Q1 was okay, Q2 wasn’t too bad but then it just seemed to like, fall away from us, like the improvements were not big enough, coming into Q3. But this track is also extremely difficult in qualifying, to basically almost, let’s say, hit the perfect lap. Because it’s so low grip, if you tried to push a little bit more, you might overheat the tyres, or you have a little slide. And that’s, I think, what happened to me today, where I tried to find a little bit more time, but then the balance wasn’t exactly there. And then you’re sliding, you overheat your tyres, and then in the last sector, you have no tyres left. And that’s basically a bit I think what happened. Yeah, it’s just this track is very, very difficult to put a perfect lap together. My race pace? Good. Yep. I also have two Hard tyres. So, nobody else has them, really around me. So that’s also maybe an advantage for tomorrow. But yeah, again, I mean, a lot can happen into Turn 1 already.”

Norris: “I locked up, I went off on my one lap. We had one problem on the first run, and then the yellow flag from Fernando’s spin on the final runs, so it was a shame, but my one opportunity that I needed to put a lap in I locked up and I went off. I mean, it’s difficult to go backwards, I’ll be worried if I go backwards tomorrow. The pace is good, Oscar’s doing a good job. I probably should have gone P1 if I put my lap in before, but there’s a lot of ‘shoulda woulda coulda’ for me at the minute. Yeah, a shame, but points will be our target so we’ll see what we can do.”

Ricciardo: “There’s lots of good energy right now. I just want to rip my shirt off! Look, I’m very happy with P4, it’s an amazing result for us as a team. So on the one hand, I think the result is crazy – but already from yesterday, even from the first lap, I just had a lot of good feeling in the car. A few things that didn’t go our way last weekend – I certainly carried a little bit of a chip on my shoulder this week coming into the weekend; I couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait to get back in the car, I was as excited and hungry as I’ve felt in a very long time. Obviously today is half the job. We’ll focus on tomorrow in an hour or so, but in the next hour, we’ll enjoy this and it feels very, very nice.

“On one hand, I say that would be awesome and crazy, but I don’t know if I should use the word ‘crazy’, because I think today wasn’t a fluke. I think Q1 and Q2, Yuki was great and gave us a slipstream, so that definitely gave us that extra little tenth or two to get in. But Q3, we were out there on our own and we had raw pace, so I think from that point of view: no fluke, we’ve got the pace to do it. You would expect the top teams to maybe show a little bit more on long runs. But personally, I feel great in the car, I feel confident, so I’ll put up a fight and if we’re here, P4 or somewhere around there tomorrow, I think we’ll be pretty happy. As I said, half the job’s done. I’m still keeping that fire in the belly for tomorrow.”

Hamilton: “I had been struggling all weekend with this car. The car has been a bit of a nightmare to drive, and to be able to piece it all. It just doesn’t like this track. We made some good changes going into qualifying, was much happier with the car. I wish we had done it in the morning, but then Q1 and Q2 weren’t looking too bad. Q2 second lap was great but the car is just really peaky, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and I just wasn’t able to extract much more from it in the end. In a perfect world, maybe I could have been fifth but that’s about it. It’s going to be a real challenge with that car tomorrow. We are overheating, brakes are overheating, it’s going to be very hard for us to battle. So, I don’t know what kind of race we are going to have but it’s going to be on the knife edge.”

The Top 10 also had the Alfa Romeo pair of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, where the former made it in after lap deletion for Williams’ Alexander Albon. The Thai had a disappointing qualifying after showing solid pace all-through practice.

As the team were baffled to see the strong pace, they were equally confused to see the dip in pace in qualifying. His teammate Logan Sargeant not only had his laps deleted but was handed a penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

It wasn’t a good run for Aston Martin either as Fernando Alonso admitted of struggle to be knocked out in Q2, with teammate Lance Stroll unable to make it out Q1 which was the case for Haas and also Alpine pairs in a mixed situation.

Bottas: “It’s great to have both cars in Q3, especially considering where we were just a week ago. I am really proud of the team for the work done: everything ran smoothly today. The track definitely suits our car quite well, so it’s been good fun out there: I think I got the most out of our car today, despite a lock-up in the last sector on my final lap. Looking ahead to tomorrow, with the pace we’ve shown so far, as well as what we have learnt in practice, I reckon we have a concrete chance to bring home some good points, so I am looking forward to getting in the mix.”

Albon: “I don’t think it was track limits, however, I might be wrong. Based on the external view of the shot, it looked to me that my rear tyres were still on the white line, however, it is what it is. It’s really frustrating but what’s more frustrating is the lack of pace in Qualifying; I was four or five-tenths slower than I was in FP3, losing a lot of grip, so I almost had to do tyre management to keep the tyres alive into sector 3. It was the same from FP1 to FP2 and now FP3 to Quali, so we really need to look into it. We’ll look to tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Alonso: “It was a very tricky Qualifying session today and we’ve not been performing at our best so far this weekend. We’ve tried a few different things with the set-up, but we seem to be losing pace everywhere over the lap. The race will be tough for everyone with the high temperatures and usually there is a lot of traffic around this circuit. However, we remain hopeful of scoring points tomorrow. After all, we were running in the top 10 in Austin despite having started from the pitlane. It’s a long race tomorrow and we will keep pushing.”

Hulkenberg: “You’re always hoping for more. With the weekend that we’ve had, it’s been a real struggle and we’ve played a lot with the set up, but I’m happy with the changes made going into qualifying again. It felt good, positive, and to be honest, if you told me P12 before the session, I would’ve definitely taken that. It’s tough, we’re not quick enough on merit so we’ll need outside circumstances to help us get a result, but we’ll hang in there and hopefully get something from it.”

Ocon: “It’s been a tough Saturday and an unfortunate day for us. After a positive Friday, and with the target of reaching Q3, it’s certainly a tough one to take to exit in Q1. We tried to be aggressive in Q1 on two sets of tyres and, in the end, it did not pay off with some traffic and incidents on my second push lap. It’s certainly frustrating as we were not able to show our true potential and I know there was more on the table today, especially given the close margins throughout the field. Points are scored on Sundays and I remain optimistic for tomorrow’s race. I have had some good starts this year and another one tomorrow will be important. We have to put ourselves in a position to take any opportunities and scoring points remains my goal.”

Here’s how F1 Mexico GP qualifying panned out

Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact

L'entrada F1 Mexico GP, Sat: Surprise from Ferrari; up/down results & more ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

Friday:

Kalle Rovanperä appeared to be oblivious to Friday’s punishing conditions at Central European Rally as he stormed to a commanding 36.4-second lead over Thierry Neuville. Heavy rain and perilous mud greeted the FIA World Rally Championship crews as they tackled the rally’s first full day, which featured six asphalt stages in the Czech Republic.

Opening the road, points leader Rovanperä took full advantage of the less polluted surface offered by his starting position. He reached the mid-leg tyre fitting zone 29.2sec clear of the field after winning all three of the morning’s super-slippery speed tests. And the Toyota GR Yaris prodigy’s morning performance was no fluke, either.

His domination continued into the repeated afternoon loop when, in conditions more consistent for drivers throughout the field, he widened the gap further. As it stands, Rovanperä is poised to claim his second-consecutive WRC title at this penultimate round of the season unless team-mate Elfyn Evans – who languishes 47.2sec behind him in third overall – can stage a remarkable comeback.

Neuville initially led after Thursday’s pair of super special stages but fell to third on Friday morning after struggling with his car’s set-up. The Belgian felt his i20 N Rally1 would have benefitted from softer suspension springs but, with no opportunity for service between loops, changes were not possible. Nevertheless, he maintained the pressure on Evans and, after overtaking the Welshman to claim the runner-up spot in the final stage, ended 10.8sec in front.

Also feeling at odds with his car’s handling was M-Sport Ford Puma man Ott Tänak, who ended a lonely fourth overall – 43.2sec adrift of Evans but with 56.4sec in hand over fifth-placed Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta. Sébastien Ogier’s hopes of winning his ‘home’ rally disintegrated early in the day when the Munich-based Frenchman limped through the opening stage with tyre damage caused by a broken wheel. He fought back to claim sixth, just 3.2sec ahead of Teemu Suninen.

Aside from Neuville, Suninen was the only other Hyundai driver remaining after his compatriot Esapekka Lappi crashed heavily from third overall on SS5. The Finn, starting his first asphalt rally in the car, placed seventh overall ahead of Puma youngster Grégoire Munster. Also having his patience tested was Pierre-Louis Loubet, who dropped more than five minutes on SS8 when he went off the road and picked up wheel damage.

Saturday:

Just four stages stand between Kalle Rovanperä and back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship crowns after his only remaining title rival Elfyn Evans crashed out of Central European Rally on Saturday. Having dominated Thursday’s treacherous tests in the Czech Republic to build a commanding rally lead, 23-year-old Rovanperä was already doing more than enough to successfully defend his 2022 WRC drivers’ crown.

A spin on Saturday’s second stage allowed Thierry Neuville to slash the Finn’s advantage by more than half, but the dynamic completely changed later in the morning when Rovanperä’s Toyota GR Yaris team-mate Evans, who had been sitting third overall, crashed out of contention. Evans needed to outscore his colleague by at least one point at this penultimate round to keep the fight going, but he came unstuck on a slippery right-hand bend and slid into a barn.

The Welshman will restart on Sunday in a desperate bid to salvage bonus points from the Wolf Power Stage. Sacrificing his chances of the outright rally win to focus on his championship prospects, Rovanperä dialled back his speed. Neuville, as a result, was left to build a 26.2-second overnight lead in his Hyundai i20 N.

Ott Tänak ensured that all three top-line manufacturers ended the day on the podium, bringing his Ford Puma to the end in a lonely third overall. A non-functioning handbrake caused the M-Sport man some frustrations in SS14, and he trailed Rovanperä by over one minute with Sébastien Ogier 31.1sec behind.

The battle for fifth place was raging between Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen. Katsuta struggled to feel confident on the greasy asphalt roads in the morning but upped his pace in the afternoon to claim the position by 10.9sec. Puma hotshot Grégoire Munster was seventh overall ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet. Adrien Fourmaux and Emil Lindholm, leader of the WRC2 category in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, completed the leaderboard.

Sunday:

Kalle Rovanperä has become a two-time WRC champion, clinching the title on Sunday by finishing second overall at Central European Rally. By finishing runner-up to Thierry Neuville at this penultimate round, the 23-year-old ensured he can no longer be caught in the 2023 season. Just one year ago, Rovanperä made history when he became the youngest WRC champion ever.

Today he stands alongside legendary names like Carlos Sainz, Walter Röhrl and Miki Biasion as a double winner. Entering Central European Rally with a 31-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans, Rovanperä simply needed to maintain his advantage to claim the crown. When Evans suffered a dramatic crash on Saturday morning, the path to victory was all but assured.

Following a steady start to the season, Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen hit their straps in May by winning Vodafone Rally de Portugal. From that moment on, the pair have only finished outside of the podium twice.

Here’s WRC Central European Rally: https://www.wrc.com/live-timing?liveTimingMenu=overall_livetiming&stage=FINAL&eligibility=Eligibility

[Note: The story is as per press release]

L'entrada WRC: Neuville wins Central European Rally; Rovanpera is champ ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was a tight start in MotoGP race in Thai GP as Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin kept the lead after starting from pole as Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro passed VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini for second, with KTM’s Brad Binder up to fourth by end of Lap 1.

It was Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in fourth but by the end of the lap Binder and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez passed him for fourth and fifth. Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was seventh from Honda’s Marc Marquez in the Top 8 places.

The Top 10 saw Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi rounding it out ahead of RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, Pramac’s Johann Zarco, Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio, Honda’s Joan Mir and KTM’s Jack Miller.

While Martin continued to lead, it was battles behind him as Binder passed Marini and Espargaro to get himself into second. Espargaro dropped behind Marini along with Marquez and came under pressure from Bagnaia and M Marquez soon.

Behind this pack, Quartararo was running eighth from Bezzecchi and Fernandez, as ENF’s Miguel Oliveira retired due to problem. As Martin and Binder settled in the Top 2 places, Marquez was up to third from Bagnaia who cleared both Espargaro and Marini.

But Bagnaia did not have it easy as he went back and forth with M Marquez before getting through Espargaro and Marini to be back in fourth. Marini was fifth as Espargaro and M Marquez went for back and forth duel for couple of laps in the fight for sixth.

Espargaro won that duel as M Marquez then lost out to Bezzecchi as well who cleared Quartararo for eighth. A crash for A Marquez helped Bagnaia to be third from Marini as Bezzecchi passed Espargaro for fifth with M Marquez in seventh from Quartararo.

Vinales was ninth from di Giannantonio in the Top 10, with Fernandez, Mir, Zarco, Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and Miller in the Top 15 points places. The fight for the win started to get tasty as Binder hustled Martin to take the MotoGP Thai GP lead.

But Binder went wide both the times to lose out. Third time was the charm as he eventually took the lead and stayed at it from Martin, with Bagnaia close to them in third. Bezzecchi was up to fourth after passing his teammate Marini, who lost to Espargaro as well.

He then dropped behind Quartararo in seventh after the Frenchman cleared M Marquez. In fact, M Marquez also passed Marini for seventh, as di Giannantonio was up to ninth along with Zarco in the Top 10, with Mir in 11th from Morbidelli.

It was a recovery ride from Ducati’s Enea Bastianini who climbed from the back to 13th from Fernandez and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in the Top 15. At the front, the Top 3 stayed together as Martin came back on Binder in the final laps.

He got through him to retake the MotoGP lead in Thai GP as Bagnaia tried to pass both in the final corner in an opportunistic move. But Martin held onto to win the race ahead of Binder who lost second after the race for track limits at Turn 4.

It helped Bagnaia to be second with Binder in third as the points gap between Bagnaia and Martin stands at 13 points. Bezzecchi was fourth from Espargaro, Quartararo, Marquez, Marini, di Giannantonio and Zarco in the Top 10 places.

A late pass from Morbidelli helped him to be 11th from Mir and Bastianini, as Nakagami cleared Fernandez on final lap to be 14th in the points places. Vinales was a late retirement, as Miller was 16th from GASGAS Tech 3 pair of Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro.

Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1718555048907571472?s=20

L'entrada MotoGP: Martin resists Bagnaia, Binder pressure to win Thai GP ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

Q1:

It was a hectic first part of F1 Mexico GP qualifying as traffic and strategy played a key role in the order to be decided. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the way with a 1m18.099s lap to lead McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo in the Top 10.

McLaren opted for a single run on the soft tyre after starting out on the medium along with Mercedes and Ferrari pair. But the gamble for McLaren didn’t work as Lando Norris was knocked out after he made a mistake on his soft tyre which left him only 19th.

He set a 1m21.554s lap as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m19.080s) was also knocked out in 16th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m19.163s) and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m19.227s), as Williams’ Logan Sargeant had all of fast laps deleted due to track limits.

There was a late spin for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso which brought out the yellow flag and resulted in multiple drivers being put under investigation for failing to slow under the yellow flag which had Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Sargeant.

Mercedes’ George Russell, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Norris were put under investigation for failing to follow the maximum delta time. Russell is also under investigation for impeding at pit exit along with Alonso and Verstappen.

Q2:

It was still hectic in second part of F1 Mexico GP qualifying as a late lap from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton put him on top with a 1m17.571s to displace Verstappen with the other Mercedes of Russell slotting in third in the Top 3 places.

AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda did not set a time but helped teammate Daniel Ricciardo with a tow. A late push from Williams’ Alexander Albon helped him into the Top 10 but post-session, his lap was deleted due to cutting the corner by riding over the kerb at Turn 2.

It helped Guanyu to be inside the Top 10 to make it a double with Valtteri Bottas already in. Williams were also put under investigation for putting an equipment in the pitlane which was knocked over by Tsunoda while he exited his garage for qualifying.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was first to be knocked out in 11th after his 1m18.521s lap with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg (1m18.524s) in 12th from Alonso (1m18.738s) and Albon (1m19.147s) to make it 14 drivers with a classified time.

Q3:

The third part in F1 Mexico GP started with a bang as Ferrari were 1-2 in the provisional pole situation with Charles Leclerc (1m17.166s) ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz (1m17.233s) to drop Verstappen to third after replays showed the Dutchman going aggressive at Turn 8.

AlphaTauri’s Ricciardo was fourth from Mercedes’ Russell in the Top 5 before their final run. The Top 2 didn’t improve but still held onto a 1-2 finish with a gap of 0.067s as Leclerc took F1 Mexico GP pole, with Verstappen (1m17.263s) in third where he was 0.097s off Leclerc.

Ricciardo (1m17.382s) was fourth from Perez (1m17.423s) in the Top 5 as Hamilton (1m17.454s) couldn’t get well on his final attempt to be sixth from Piastri (1m17.623s), Russell (1m17.674s), Bottas (1m18.032s) and Guanyu (1m18.050s) in the Top 10.

UPDATE: The FIA cleared Russell, Norris and Guanyu who were investigated for going beyond the maximum time between the two safety car lines. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Qualifying%20SC2-SC1%20Times.pdf

The FIA also cleared Russell, Verstappen and Alonso of the pitlane impeding case where the Dutchman drove slowly while the other two stopped at the pit exit. The stewards state the drivers create gaps while exiting the pitlane to maintain the safety car line time, which they feel is a better way to manage the time rather than driving slowly on the track.

Details (same explanation for all three): https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%2063%20-%20Alleged%20impeding%20at%20Pit%20Exit.pdf

The FIA cleared Hamilton of failing slow down for the yellow flag as the light box showcased green followed by yellow light. The Brit was slower in the mini sector than his previous lap as well. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Mexico%20City%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%2044%20-%20Alleged%20failure%20to%20slow%20under%20yellow%20flags.pdf

Sargeant, meanwhile, was handed a 10 place grid drop for overtaking Tsunoda under yellow flag. His light board also showed green in patches but the FIA reckons overtaking under yellow is still enough to penalise the American who did not set a time after his laps were deleted but is allowed to start.

Here: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1718508634957549589?s=20

Also, Williams were handed a fine of €20,000 for having a jack placed in the pitlane which was run over by Tsunoda. Of this, €10,000 is suspended for a period of 12 months provided a similar offence is not repeated by the F1 team.

Here: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1718507842020184342?s=20

L'entrada Mexico GP: Leclerc takes surprise pole in Ferrari 1-2 finish ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was mostly smooth running in FP3 of F1 Mexico GP but the sliding continued for majority of the drivers. It was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen making it three in a row to top the session with a 1m17.887s lap but he was just ahead by 0.070s over a Williams.

Like FP1 where he was just 0.095s ahead, Alexander Albon was closer this time in second, with a repeat of the results where Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was third. Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth in a better run despite a moment he had in the session.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fifth on his second quick lap after his first lap was slightly hampered due to a moment at Turn 12, with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas continuing his fine show in sixth from AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda after his late improvement.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was down in eighth from the other AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in 10th who also had a moment at Turn 12 on his fast lap. The other Williams of Logan Sargeant did well in 11th despite the gap to Albon.

Even Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu did well in 12th from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who went around the second time after his final run was disrupted by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 14th from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

The Canadian had his own moment on his quick lap as he was noted for impeding Sainz but cleared. The Spaniard had a spin behind him on his fast lap which left him only 15th ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and the other Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard too had a low-key run amid a difficult time, with Alpine going downwards where Pierre Gasly was 18th and Esteban Ocon 20th. Both had moments with the former doing so early in the session and the latter having late in the session.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was 19th after his run was hampered due to rear-left wheel damage on his first stint. Considering he only had one set left, the team could only do one stint to undertake on the soft compound.

Here’s what was said after Friday in F1 Mexico GP

L'entrada Mexico GP: Verstappen fastest in FP3 but only 0.070s from Albon ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

The excitement is building for the inaugural FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship, slated to commence in 2024. This ground-breaking event promises to be a thrilling addition to the world of motorcycling, featuring women riders competing on a global stage.

Key details about the new series were revealed in a press conference held during the Prometeon Spanish Round at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto with FIM President Jorge Viegas, FIM Women in Motorcycling Commission Director Janika Judeika, WorldSBK Executive Director Gregorio Lavilla and Yamaha Motor Europe President and CEO Eric de Seynes. Also in attendance was 2023 Women’s European Champion Beatriz Neila, who shared her views on the opportunities offered by the new competition.

The 2024 FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship will comprise six Rounds and one pre-season test, all integrated within the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

1. Emilia Romagna Round, Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” – June 14th-16th
2. UK Round, Donington Park Circuit – July 12th-14th
3. Portuguese Round, Autodromo Internacional do Algarve – August 9th-11th
4. Hungarian Round, Balaton Park Circuit – August 23rd-25th
5. Italian Round, Cremona Circuit – September 20th-22nd
6. Spanish Round, Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto – October 11th-13th

During each Round, the action will unfold as follows: Superpoles on Friday, Race 1 on Saturday, and Race 2 on Sunday, offering fans a full weekend of adrenaline-pumping racing. Yamaha, with their Yamaha YZF-R7 model, will serve as the single manufacturer for the Championship. Additionally, a single technical and logistic partner will oversee all technical aspects, ensuring a level playing field for all riders.

Prospective riders can apply during the pre-application process, which runs from November 13th, 2023, to January 31st, 2024. Confirmation of participation from DWO is expected no later than February 15th, 2024. Riders must be a minimum of 18 years old and can opt to race under a team name, adding a personalised touch to the Championship.

The entry fee for permanent riders is set at €25,000, including a comprehensive package, such as the use of Yamaha YZF R7 MY 2023, a GYTR Racing Kit, Pirelli tyres, fuel, racing service and access to the Paddock Village. Amongst the benefits of running under the umbrella of WorldSBK, the new series will enjoy global broadcast coverage, Pirelli prize money and PR opportunities ensuring the rider sponsors’ visibility on a global scale.

Jorge Viegas, FIM President: “In the FIM, we have been working very hard to include more and more women in racing in the last 20 years, since we created the Women Commission. We already have Women’s Championships in Motocross, Enduro, and Trial, and we are going to have Speedway very soon. When we started to think about a Circuit Racing Championship, Dorna embraced this project and we’ve been working together since April, and I think Gregorio (Lavilla) did a very good job. There is a lot of demand from women to join this Championship. There will be women coming from Japan, from the United States, from Latin America, and from Europe, of course. I think it will be a big success.”

Gregorio Lavilla, WorldSBK Executive Director: “When we started with this project, we thought about many types of formats, many conditions, and we ended up with a solution that we think is feasible. This is a growing project that will develop depending on the feedback from the spectators, from the riders, from manufacturers. Since 2020, we started doing two races in all our categories, and this Championship will have the same format, qualifying, and two races. The schedule of next year’s weekends is going to be tight because we will have a lot of races. But I think that’s good for the motorcycling fans. I would also like to mention all the partners, like Yamaha, who had a positive response when we knocked on their doors. Today is a great day to start a new project.”

Janika Judeika, FIM Women in Motorcycling Commission Director: “Today is a special day as we present the first-ever FIM World Championship for Women in Circuit Racing. The FIM launched a project dedicated to women in Circuit Racing ten years ago with the first-ever training camp on the circuit in Albacete, Spain. Four other camps then followed between 2013 and 2015 in the Czech Republic and Qatar with an average number of twenty-four participants from four continents and twelve countries. In 2014, as part of this project and thanks to the support of Midori Moriwaki, an all-female team took part in the Suzuka 4 Hours that included Shelina Moreda and Melissa Paris also in 2015 with Shelina and Avalon Biddle. Already at that time, it was clear that there were fast women who were also clamoring to have their own championship. I am pretty sure that among the women who will now participate in this new FIM World Championship will be some of those who have previously participated in the FIM circuit racing training camps where the aim was to bring together fast women and to understand when the time would be right to create their own championship. This is now a reality!”

Eric de Seynes, President and CEO, Yamaha Motor Europe: “Yamaha likes to win, but Yamaha also wants to support the sport from all different aspects, and we think that as a manufacturer, we have to take our responsibility. We cannot be proud to win, supervise, and ignore all the rest of the pyramid. If we want to be champions, we have to take care of the young champions of all the different classes and help them progress year after year. Also, in motocross, we have always supported the women riders in the Women Championships. We have won many times, and when this idea was raised, we were absolutely motivated to support it because you have to understand that in many cases, there is a difficulty for the riders coming from national championships to get the label at the World Championship level. And it’s exactly the same for women. 30% of our customers are women, and they want to race. With this Championship, we will give the correct step for women to demonstrate their talent.”

Beatriz Neila, 2023 Women’s European Champion : “In my opinion, there has always been women competing against men. But it’s true that in that period of time, no one has reached the top of the category, MotoGP or Superbike. Why? It’s like this because women and men are different, are physically different. And for that the present of this Championship allows women to fight for a world title, to have the ranking, to see who is the fastest woman in the world, season by season, to be recognised, to take advantage of our status as a woman in the world of motorbikes, and to show the world what women can do on a bike. All of this can be achieved by creating a women’s World Championship in which we can compete women against women. It is a reference for a new generation, and I know that this Championship will be really interesting and a new opportunity for women. And today is the start of something amazing.”

[Note: The story is as per press release]

L'entrada FIM details on Women’s Motorcycling Championship for 2024 ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was mostly a smooth run on Friday in F1 Mexico GP where the grip levels played a role with drivers sliding but it wasn’t too harmful. The one lap pace showed a tight grid but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the way comfortably in the front of the pack.

The Dutchman felt good but is wary of the degradation on the long run. His teammate was off him but not too far away. Considering the tight field, he is behind few cars with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the mix.

The Monegasque reckons McLaren to be ahead of them so far which will be the aim to beat. Their teammates did not have a superb run where Oscar Piastri spent time learning the circuit, while Carlos Sainz had his soft tyres overheating quickly.

In the mix, Mercedes seemed a bit off pace with the car sliding a lot in the high speed section. This made it tougher to extract much on one lap and they will have to improve their one lap pace with Lewis Hamilton facing clear difference from Austin.

The two sessions saw surprise entrants too as Williams’ Alexander Albon was second in FP1. He was outside Top 10 in FP2 but completed his one lap run way early than others. Also, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was fourth in FP2 despite missing FP1.

Verstappen: “I mean of course we look competitive so that’s good, but there are always a few things to still improve. But overall, I think it was a positive start to the weekend, probably a little bit better than I expected. But you can see the track is very slippery, tyres are very difficult to manage as well in the long run, so there are still a few things that I think we can work on. I mean McLaren have been close already for a few races now, so for me there is no surprise there. Tomorrow is going to be incredibly competitive over one lap. The race pace again is different story.”

Norris: “Is that the challenge, within one and a half tenths? Many drivers were within three tenths! I think it was a good Friday. A good start to the weekend anyway. It’s close, so it seems it could swing very quickly either way. I did a very good lap, maybe too good for this early in the weekend! We’ll continue to try to improve, but it’s a good start. Not a lot [we could change]. We started the weekend off well. I think we generally always start weekends off well. I think we always have a good idea of where to put the car to begin with, and it’s not far off normally where we end the weekend. There’s not a lot to gain through the weekends. There’s always little things and those little things add up. There’s still stuff to improve, also from my driving, little things here and there, but to challenge the Red Bull I think is going to be tough around here.”

Leclerc: “Yeah, we still have a lot of work to do as the McLaren seems to be extremely strong, obviously the Red Bull and Max seem to be very strong. The Mercedes seem to be a bit difficult to read into now, but focusing on ourselves, we know the areas we need to work on and hopefully that will help us to do a step forward for tomorrow. It will be a huge surprise if we do pole position tomorrow but never say never. It’s a tricky track, it’s difficult to put the lap together but I feel this weekend we are a bit too far away.”

Hamilton: “Not that great. Dodgy, not dodgy, but not the greatest. A bit of a struggle in the car today. I mean the car is night and day different compared to last week. And yeah, I don’t know what to say, you just never know what you’re going to get with this one. Some days she’s great and some days she’s not. I think it’s hard to extract the lap, I think there is definitely performance there. It’s just hard to extract it and it’s quite peaky this weekend with the aero map or whatever it might be. So, we are going to work on it overnight but definitely it wasn’t a fun day compared to FP1 in Austin. We are a bit off but hopefully overnight we can find something and tomorrow the car will be better to drive. I’m not sure. Again, we never know what to expect with this car, maybe we make the changes, and we’ll pick that pace up. I think there was definitely some performance in there to be closer, maybe in the top three. But we’ve got to figure out how to make it easier for us to extract that performance, so that’s what we’ll be working on tonight.”

Albon: “I don’t think we were slow in the FP2, but we obviously had a good run in the first session. We were better than expected but I think we just hit the ground running and optimised the window from the first lap, whereas other teams potentially took a bit longer to get up to speed. We were quick on the Test tyre but my lap on the Softs wasn’t very good. This is a circuit that doesn’t feel great for anyone with the low downforce; you feel like you’re sliding around a lot, however comparing year on year, it’s a big step, so let’s see how we go tomorrow. I don’t think we’re top five or top 10 but I do think we’ll be in a position to fight for Q3 tomorrow.”

Bottas: “I am pleased with how today went: thankfully, we found the issue that affected our car during FP1, and we were able to address it and quickly solve it between the sessions; I would like to thank our mechanics for the hard work put in to get the car back on track. Of course, it was a shame for Théo to miss such an important outing, but I am positive he’ll be back in the car soon. Overall, FP2 has been a clean session, which is important as it was the only practice of the day for me. I got a good number of laps under my belt, and the feeling with the car was generally pretty good. Still, it is only Friday: now our focus will go onto further improving both the setup and my confidence with the track, to fine-tune our car and place ourselves in comfortable positions ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Much like Albon and Bottas, the Top 10 got AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo too who showed good pace and seems confident to make it in Q3. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda will start last after taking power unit elements which is why he focused on long run pace.

Also, Alpine looked to be a good shape especially for Esteban Ocon who was also inside the Top 10 and felt good in the car. Aston Martin, meanwhile, were behind again but they did not do a soft tyre run after a half spin for Fernando Alonso.

They were forced to undertake long run plan while Lance Stroll had a wheel stuck which hampered his session. Haas got more time with their new package but one lap time side, they were a bit behind amid the pack of F1 rookies.

While Theo Pourchaire was unlucky to not get a proper run in the Alfa Romeo, the likes of Haas’ Oliver Bearman, AlphaTauri’s Isack Hadjar, Mercedes’ Frederik Vesti and Alpine’s Jack Doohan got plenty of laps in a trouble-free run.

Ricciardo: “Since the race in Austin, I’ve been hungry to keep going and get back in the car. After last week’s race, we discovered some things that made me want to prove that we have pace. Today was a very good day. I enjoy this place, and the car was solid. From the get-go, I was certainly comfortable, and because it isn’t a Sprint weekend, we have more time to try some things. We continued to chip away and made good progress with our setup, and we look like we’re in a good place, so I’m confident we can carry this performance into tomorrow. The field is close, and you never know what other teams are doing exactly, but I know what I felt in the car today was good, and I believe it’s a top 10 car tomorrow.”

Ocon: “It was a very good Friday for us here at the Autódromo. We got through a very busy programme without issues and made good progress between the sessions. We are, of course, keeping our heads down, debriefing as a team, and focusing on how to best approach Qualifying tomorrow. We’ll be working hard overnight to be in the best position to try and reach Q3 and put ourselves in a strong position ahead of Sunday’s race. I feel good in the car, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Alonso: “Today we focused a lot on race pace and high fuel running. It’s difficult to read too much into the times, but the set up felt good and we will continue to optimise the AMR23 in Free Practice 3 tomorrow.”

Hulkenberg: “It was a challenging day. Obviously, coming to Mexico each year we have the same challenge with the thin air, it has some pretty significant side effects. It didn’t feel too good today and the timesheets also don’t look too good so there’s some homework for us to do to find some performance overnight. We’ve had two solid sessions of work, progress, and exploring things, so that was definitely a positive.”

Vesti: “This is a very special weekend for me, it’s a dream come true and I’m very grateful to the team for the opportunity. Since I’ve joined the team’s junior programme, there’s been a lot of work going into getting the right results and lots of preparations in the simulator to prepare me for today. It was a good session for us overall, we managed to get some useful information from the long run stints and understand the prototype tyres and degradation at this track. I’ve never raced here before and it’s definitely a difficult track with low grip, which you can also really feel in the car. So, lots of learnings for me and the team today in this one-hour long practice session and hopefully good preparations for decent results on Sunday. And I can’t wait to be back in Abu Dhabi and sit in the car for the team again.”

Doohan: “It was a really good session and I felt very comfortable in the car right from my first lap. I was glad to contribute to the team’s programme, which, on my side, focused on a couple of future test items. It was important to get through the session without any issues and tick all the boxes on our run list, which we were able to achieve trouble-free. I’ve been testing throughout the year in the 2021 car, so I definitely felt ready for today and it meant we could be right on it from the start. I’m very grateful to the team for the opportunity and for their trust and support both in the build-up ahead of the day and during the session itself. I’m now looking forward to seeing how the rest of the weekend unfolds for the team and offering my support where I can.”

Hadjar: “It’s the best day of my life! My first ever time in an F1 car was incredible, so I’m happy. There was so much going on with the procedures and traffic that it was overwhelming at first. It was tough, but I got into a rhythm quite quickly, and my confidence grew. During my first runs, I was struggling to get a lap without traffic, but in the last run, the race pace was quite good and consistent, and I could manage the soft compound for a few laps. It was a really good experience, and now I can’t wait to be back in the car.”

Bearman: “My first goal was to have a clean session and we did that, so that was the main thing. Secondly, I got up to speed quite fast, I had confidence in the car – it was my first time on the soft tyres, my first time doing a long run – and I’ll do better the second time, but for my first FP1 I’m happy. The thing that surprised me was how much quicker you arrive at Turn 1 on a quali sim, compared to the race. The guys have given me pointers throughout, especially because the track is so unique due to the altitude. It was over so fast, but I’m going to be back on the sim preparing for Abu Dhabi.”

Pourchaire: “I’m grateful to the team for this opportunity, even though we didn’t get much in terms of laps today. Unfortunately, I suffered an issue on the braking system at the beginning of the session, which prevented me to get any running throughout FP1 – the priority was, rightly, to promptly investigate the problem. Of course, it is a bit frustrating, as I was really looking forward to driving the C43 out on track; still, it’s all part of motorsport, and something like this can happen at any time – and, at least, it was during practice. On a positive note, the team was able to quickly address the issue and solve it between the sessions, so that Valtteri could get some proper track time this afternoon. I am hopeful I will get some more time in the car, but now, I will resume my reserve driver duties, while putting my focus on the Formula 2 finale which will take place in a little less than a month. There’s a job to be done and I want to give 100% towards my objective.”

Pirelli: “After two weekends run to the Sprint format, Mexico City marks a return to the usual one, with Friday given over mainly to an evaluation of the various compounds we have chosen for this event. In addition, we also had a test programme for a new version of the C4, with each driver having two sets available to use as they saw fit. We would like to thank all the teams for their support in this important phase of development, because it’s not easy squeezing something extra in what is always a very busy programme. I think we have gathered a lot of useful data – with significant results from some of the comparative tests between the current Medium and the prototype – which will see us make a decision in the coming days over its eventual inclusion in the 2024 range.”

Here’s how FP1 of F1 Mexico GP panned out

Here’s how FP2 of F1 Mexico GP panned out

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L'entrada F1 Mexico GP, Fri: Close pack on one lap; rookies run & more ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was a bit of slow start for pole-sitter Jorge Martin in his Pramac Ducati in the MotoGP sprint in Thai GP but he maintained his lead from VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini, who went back and forth against Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro in the battle for second.

KTM’s Brad Binder was fourth from Honda’s Marc Marquez, VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez in the Top 7 as Pramac’s Johann Zarco made a bold move on Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia to sneak past the points leader for eighth.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales dropped last after a moment against Bagnaia, as Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo also tried a move on the Ducati rider but to no avail. The fight for third kicked in when Binder jumped to third from Marquez which dropped Espargaro to fifth.

But Espargaro retook fourth to drop Marquez to fifth. Meanwhile, A Marquez passed Bezzecchi for sixth but he retook the place as he then passed M Marquez for fifth. As the battles continued, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami crashed out in the final corner.

Having lost sixth to Bezzecchi, A Marquez was fending off Zarco which allowed Bagnaia to close in the clear both in the final corner and lead-up to Turn 1. KTM’s Jack Miller was on the move too, where he passed Quartararo for 10th.

Up front, Martin had a good lead as Binder finally got past Marini after trying for several laps. Espargaro was a steady fourth but Bezzecchi lost fifth to M Marquez with Bagnaia joining the fight at the back of his VR46 stablemate.

Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio was the second retirement from the MotoGP sprint due to a clutch issue, as Vinales was handed Long Gap Penalty for track limits. At the front, it was dominance from Martin to register fifth consecutive MotoGP sprint win in Thai GP.

Binder was second from Marini as Marquez passed Espargaro for fourth after a wide moment for the latter. Bezzecchi was sixth keeping Bagnaia behind as A Marquez and Zarco rounded the Top 9 points positions.

Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1718184858051088544?s=20

L'entrada MotoGP: Martin dominant in fifth straight sprint win in Thai GP ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) has won the first battle of the OR Thailand Grand Prix as his 1:29.287 saw him top the pile in qualifying to take the new all-time lap record. With points to be scored and Championship positions to fight for, it will be Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) who will line up alongside the Spaniard on the 2nd spot on the front row. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) snatched the final front-row spot and is looking like a contender ahead of the racing action following a positive weekend so far for the Catalan.  

A family affair in Q1 

The gloves were off in Q1 as some of MotoGP‘s finest engaged in an intense time-attack battle. Red sectors came flying in as the chequered flag beckoned, hot laps came in from Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team), and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) with the Marquez brothers also looking strong.

It was set to be Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and Di Giannantonio who were going to go through until a last-minute stunner from Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) saw him top the session, demoting his brother to P2 and his teammate out of a Q2 spot. 

Relentless Martin piles on the pressure

Jorge Martin came out of the blocks guns blazing as he made his intentions known setting the first benchmark and beating the all-time lap record. As they came back into pitlane it was the Spaniard that led the way with Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) his closest challengers. The battle was nowhere near over however as there was still plenty of life left in the Thai Q2 session. 

With the 2nd stint underway it was Bezzecchi who struck first as he bettered Martin’s time by just 0.008s. Bagnaia then decided it was time to join the party as he joined his title rivals in the top three. The red sectors came flying in once again and surprise, surprise it was Jorge Martin who was lighting up the timing screens one again. The Spaniard had the bit firmly between his teeth as he pulled out a stunner to smash the lap record, move the goalposts by two tenths, and take the Thai GP pole position. 

With Bezzecchi and Bagnaia failing to go any quicker and hot laps coming in from all directions, naturally the order reshuffled in the final moments. Luca Marini and Aleix Espargaro put in their flyers right at the end as they went 2nd and 3rd respectively, demoting Bezzechhi to P4. 

Brad Binder was another who improved in the closing stages as the South African slotted in just behind Bezzecchi to demote the Championship leader Bagnaia down another spot to P6, with the trio set to line up on row two. 

Row three and beyond

The third row of the grid will feature the two Marquez brothers who were locked together on the timing screens in both Q1 and Q2. Alex will line up on the 7th spot on the grid with his brother Marc getting a good view of his 2024 steed in 8th. It wasn’t meant to be for Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), who despite looking strong all through practice wasn’t able to put a lap together in Q2, and will start from the edge of row three. 

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) still isn’t’ quite where he’d like to be but is enjoying one his more positive weekends of 2023. The Frenchman bagged P10 in qualifying and will be joined on row four by Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) and Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3).

Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1718126383736537319?s=20

[Note: The story is as per press release]

L'entrada MotoGP: Martin breaks lap record to Thai GP pole ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

It was a smooth running in FP2 of F1 Mexico GP where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued to set the pace with a 1m18.686s lap ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to make it three different teams in the Top 3.

In fact, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas made it four different teams in fourth after the Finn returned to drive having given up the car to Theo Pourchaire. The problems faced by the Frenchman was solved in between the sessions with the car on pace in FP2.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was fifth after his initial soft run was hampered by double yellow flag and he had to do a couple of cool down laps. He led AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, who did well in sixth from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

The Brit made it inside the Top 10 but still had to fight the car with teammate George Russell in 10th behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. There were several drivers using the kerbs heavily at certain section of the track and having some moments too.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was 11th and outside the Top 10 with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in 12th from Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Williams’ Alexander Albon, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly – as the Top 16 ended up within a second of Verstappen’s time.

Williams’ Logan Sargeant was 17th from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who didn’t get a proper soft tyre run to have his best time on the medium compound. He lost time after the team had to use hammer to get the front left tyre off the Canadian’s car which got stuck.

His teammate Fernando Alonso was 20th on the medium compound behind Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, as the Spaniard’s soft tyre run was ruined due to half spin. The start of the session saw light drizzle and the end of it too saw light rain falling.

Here’s how FP1 of F1 Mexico GP panned out

L'entrada Mexico GP: Verstappen stays on top in FP2 from Norris, Leclerc ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

Half of the F1 field ran FP1 drivers in Mexico GP in a normal weekend as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace with a 1m19.718s lap which was only 0.095s quicker than Williams’ Alexander Albon, who put in a surprise second place lap.

Verstappen had minor issues with his pedal but it didn’t hamper him much with teammate Sergio Perez ending up in third from McLaren’s Lando Norris. The Brit also complained of rev issue early on but it was a trouble-free run all-through the session.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth after missing early part due to a suspected engine issue. The other Ferrari also had hydraulic issue with Carlos Sainz in seventh behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who set his best time on the C4 prototype compound.

AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo was eighth from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounding off the Top 10 whereby the first of Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton was 11th. Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was 12th after a late improvement on his final lap.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 13th from the other Williams of Logan Sargeant, who was more than a second away from Albon. The first of F1 rookies was Oliver Bearman in 15th, having taken over the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was only 16th but he spent a lot of time in the pits with the mechanics working on the car. He led rookies Isack Hadjar, Jack Doohan and Frederik Vesti in the AlphaTauri, Alpine and Mercedes cars respectively.

They filled in for Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and George Russell, with Alfa Romeo’s Theo Pourchaire unable to set a time due to brake system issue which the team tired to fix but they couldn’t despite changing the steering wheel. He replaced Valtteri Bottas.

The session was smooth all along but there were several drivers going over the kerbs and sliding over them, while some also had off moments too. Even though Tsunoda did not run, he has taken up a new ICE, TC, MGU-H, MGU-K, ES and CE where he is set for a grid penalty as all of the new components are beyond the set number.

L'entrada Mexico GP: Verstappen only 0.095s quicker than Albon in FP1 ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver set a 1m24.617s to go quickest of all on Friday at Circuit Ricardo Tormo – and 1.5 seconds faster than the best time we saw at testing ahead of Season 9, the inaugural GEN3 campaign.

His late lap saw him pip longstanding timesheet-topping teammate Mitch Evans to the post, thrwarting his countryman’s pitch to seal a clean sweep in Valencia, having set the pace in both of the prior sessions’ running. Evans would end up third on the day.

Cassidy’s time wasn’t the best we’d seen this week, though, with Evans managing better in the opening session by a couple of tenths of a second. Maximilian Guenther had been quickest in three of the last four tests in the Spanish city and the Maserati MSG Racing driver had set the pace last year.

This time, he rounded out the third and final session in second spot between the Jaguars – 0.041 seconds back from Cassidy’s pace. Reigning champion Jake Dennis stuck the #1 Andretti into ninth spot come the chequered flag.

Robin Frijns on his Envision Racing return finished fourth, Pascal Wehrlein in the TAG Heuer Porsche fifth and Norman Nato, on debut for Andretti this week, rounded out the top six. Incredibly, all 21 runners on the day were split by just 0.7 seconds and a little over half a second separated the top 19 runners.

Here’s what happened on Day 1

Here’s what happened on Day 2

[Note: The story is as per press release]

L'entrada Cassidy keeps Jaguar on top on final day of Formula E test ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

Ahead of the F1 Mexico GP weekend, Helmut Marko talked about hiring extra security for Red Bull’s Verstappen. It was just done to not disrupt any potential dangers for the Dutchman who could have faced troubles from the local fans.

Red Bull didn’t want any potential problems and wanted to keep the flow of his weekend at a smooth level. Verstappen was fine to have two extra people around him and noted about having no troubles in the marketing events prior to Thursday.

“I mean, why not,” said Verstappen when asked about extra security. “I mean I have, of course, a bit more security here, but there are always a few countries around the world where it is very busy in the paddock. For example, last year here, it was really, really busy to get from your hospitality to the garage and it just helps to make things smoother on-track, off-track, from your hotel and stuff like that.

“We will do it whenever we think it’s helping with the general flow of the weekend. I feel very safe, on [Wednesday], I had a full day of marketing and honestly, it’s been a great reception here like I have always had, so it is good to be back,” summed up Verstappen, who felt the ‘Racepect’ campaign from Mexico GP organisers is a good measure.

He feels it is more in general scenario and is a good awareness tool. But he played down any troubles or rivalry between him and Sergio Perez as has been played about in the lead-up to the weekend in Mexican press. He feels the Racepect is more towards the fans.

He brought about the boos from F1 US GP which didn’t gel well as he felt, even if you don’t like someone, there should be respect at the very least. “That’s made up, Checo and I, we get on really well,” said Verstappen. “For us, I don’t think there is any rivalry. Of course, as a driver on track you always try to be first or be faster, but I think we have a lot of respect for each other, and we appreciate each other’s performances.

“I think it’s a good thing that it maybe starts here now, but it’s not only here. I think in general, the behaviour of the crowd in some places, I think can be a bit better.  For example, in Austin, maybe it was a bit towards me, but in general. I think the behaviour of supporting your favourite driver is fine. But then you also have to respect the competition.

“But this is not only in our sport. It is a general problem in a lot of sports that needs to be looked at and needs to be improved. Luckily, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media, because it’s quite a toxic place. People who don’t need to show their face or whatever, they can say whatever they want. And again, this is not only in our sport.

“In a lot of different sports it’s the same problem So I think it needs to be much better regulated, what can be said and done and written to people in general,” summed up Verstappen, as Perez also feels that there is no rivalry with the Dutchman as such.

“I think obviously, we are all rivals but at the same time we are all sports athletes, and we all want to do the best for ourselves,” said Perez. “Max and myself, we are in the same team so we both want to win and we are all giving our best so I don’t think that there should be any rivalry.

“For example, if I’m fighting in the race with Fernando, he’s not my rival out of the track, it’s just that we are just fighting on track. But like I say, the media likes to create this rivalry out of the track which I don’t think is right and it’s important for the fans to understand that.

“And I think it’s important that we give this message, because I think media likes to create this sort of rivalry outside the track and I think we are a great sport. We are a great example for a lot of young generations and we should just be focused on the sport side. And whatever happens on track should always stay there and that’s the best message we, as a country, want to give to the rest of the world. And yeah, there is nothing else going on. The most important thing is that everything stays on track.”

Here’s F1 drivers on post-race checks

Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact

L'entrada Verstappen talks having security in Mexico GP, fan behaviour ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.

The post-race random checks came in question after the US GP disqualification of both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, while Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were safe. Only four cars were checked as is the case at several events with such checks.

Considering the back-to-back weekends and also the general lack of time to check all the 20 cars for everything, the FIA selects cars randomly and perform those extensive analysis. All the 10 F1 teams know about this and have agreed to the regulations too.

But considering the track surface in US GP and it being a sprint weekend, the F1 drivers are certain that there were more cars whose plank would have been deemed illegal. And no one has one clear solution to this problem as it can be anyone in the next grand prix.

Here’s what the F1 drivers feel regarding the situation –

Lewis Hamilton: “I just came out of the press conference, got back, and I was about to get in the ice tub. And then Toto came running down and told me. Obviously, I was devastated as it had been such a great day and great race. But yeah, and then I didn’t find out fully until I was back home. Yeah, just a bit deflated after the day, but there were lots of positives to take from it. Firstly I’ve heard from several different sources that there were a lot of other cars that were also illegal. But they weren’t tested, so they got away with it. I’ve been racing here 16 years, there’s been times where there’s been many other scenarios like this where some people got away with certain things, and some people have just been unlucky they got tested. So I think ultimately there probably needs to be some sort of better structure in terms of making sure it’s fair and even across the board. We’ve never had that problem in Austin before. It was just because we had the sprint race as well, so an easy solution, an easy fix for that one, for example, is that we are able to change the floors after the… Well, just approach the weekend differently, where the car is not set already from Friday morning.

“Especially at the bumpiest track that we’ve been on, because that’s really the only reason that there are failures, it’s just because it’s so bumpy, and some cars have better ride quality than others. Look at the Ferrari, look at Charles’ head and my head. We have pretty bad ride, and our heads are bumping around quite a lot because the car is hitting the deck. It’s not because we generally are just pushing the car too low. I think firstly we need to just address the point that last year, our car was best when it was low, super low. So we were low and stiff. Our car works better at high ride heights now. So it’s not that we’re just pushing the car too low. It was just an unfortunate scenario. 0.05 [mm] failure on the rear skid, it’s not going to make the difference between winning and losing. So that error wasn’t the reason that we were as fast as were. So that’s why it’s just been painful for us. Because, you know, if we had changed our rear springs, for example, perhaps we would have had better ride. But anyways, we’re hopeful that the performance will continue this weekend. And yeah, just making sure that guys don’t overreact. I think we’ll be fine.”

Charles Leclerc: “It was a complete surprise. Because on Friday, when we could change the car, there was zero wear – it’s not like we were touching anywhere. Then you get to the race and obviously things had changed, but we were illegal. Rules are rules and they need to be respected whatever, so it’s no excuse to say that Friday we were fine. We need to look into it to try and better anticipate what’s going to be the wear on Sunday. There are so many more things. There’s also kerb riding, there’s different things, but kerb riding also is a thing. But at the end, yes, we should’ve anticipated better and we’ll look into it for the future. I was surprised because, again, also on the Saturday night, we could see more or less where we were touching and we thought there was still plenty of margin. Then we finished on Sunday and it was a big surprise, so we are still in the analysing part of where exactly did we wear the plank more than what we expected – because it wasn’t expected.”

Max Verstappen: “I don’t think anyone does it on purpose. It’s just even more because of this sprint format that you only have one practice session where you try to nail everything and once you are in the wrong, there’s nothing you can do. I think we should just get rid of the sprint weekend and then everyone can just set up their cars normally, because it wouldn’t have happened on a normal race weekend. These things only happen when you have a sprint weekend where everything is so rushed in between FP1 and qualifying and you think: ‘Hmm, we might be okay’. On our side, we were a bit too conservative but that is still better than the other way. The only thing you can do is pump up the tyre pressures, but then you’re driving around on balloon tyres. So it’s of course not what you want to see, I guess also for them, as a team.

“Of course we know that dropping the car, it gives you performance, but I think it’s also just because of that whole format that you put yourself in this position, because normally I don’t think anyone in a normal weekend would run like that. Then you only get the race result on Tuesday if you check every car. The problem is that it’s just impossible to check everything. But the thought process from every team is no one wants to be illegal, so no one sets up their car to be illegal. Then, of course, you have these random checks that get carried out and sometimes it’s the top four, sometimes it’s in the middle of the field, the back, that’s just how it goes, you can’t check every car for every single part of the car, otherwise we need 100 more people to do this kind of thing. I think when you check one car of the team and it’s illegal, then I think you should check the other one as well. That’s for me, the only thing. Because otherwise you DQ one, then the other one moves up one position where normally you always run quite similar set-ups.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “Or I might have been illegal myself! You never know. Obviously these cars are incredibly sensitive to the ride height. The lower you get, the more downforce you get, that’s the constant fight we have, and we need to find the right balance. I think Austin is a bit specific with the bumpiness and also with a lot of apex and exit kerbs where you can run them quite aggressively – but you do use the plank and wear down those shims a lot, so maybe there is something to be to be looked at in a different way. Yeah.

Pierre Gasly: “I think there’s a couple of things which we could do to improve what’s happened in Austin. I think starting with the Sprint weekend when we’ve got only the FP1 session on such a track. You’re doing 15 laps with quite a low amount of fuel in the car. So, to get a gauge of what you’re going to get for the next 70 laps, with two Qualifyings, a Sprint race, a complete Grand Prix of 59 laps, with a lot of fuel. You’re going pretty much blind after FP1 with very few informations on where to base yourself. So, I think it’s a tricky thing. Probably we can improve that process giving us more time to readjust if needed. I just remember my karting days, where you know, all top three cars were always checked. Whenever you finish on the podium, you should be checked every single time, and then on top of that, there could be random checks as well, running down the order. But yeah, I think it’s been always from the past, only in F1, where it’s not a standard to check all top three cars. But it was tricky, and I think the Sprint format made it even more even more tricky, considering we have a very short amount of time to set the car up.

Alexander Albon: “Same as Pierre and Nico. I don’t think there’s too much to add. I think, as Pierre touched on, what the teams have in terms of data and information to set the ride heights for the weekend is very marginal, there’s not even really enough time to fill the cars up in FP1, just to get a feel for where they need to be. But on the same side, I do think, maybe you don’t need to check every car, every race all the time. But, you know, if there’s one, one driver in one team illegal, there’s a very, very high chance that the other car, the teammate of that driver, is going to be illegal as well. So I don’t know how much it would take to check a couple more cars, but I don’t think that would be such an issue. But I don’t know, I’m not a scrutineer.”

Esteban Ocon: “Yeah, I’m rejoining these guys. I think it is an extremely difficult exercise. Just to be guessing, you know, what your ride height has to be. There is a risk and reward, obviously, in that, sort of, exercise – that if you get the car lower you get more performance, but you know, it’s at the risk of are you going to be illegal with your plank. Yeah, I mean, we’ve seen cars changing set-up throughout the weekends because of those things. And yeah, it is just too short in FP1 really to set your car up. So yeah, I’m sure it’s not the first time that there were cars illegal like that on such weekends or such a Sprint weekend. I think on normal format, it’s a lot less likely to happen. But yeah, I’m sure on the other races there was as well.”

Yuki Tsynoda: “Yeah, pretty much aligned to everyone. But we got a prize from the previous race. So, so far, I don’t have to change I think.”

George Russell: “I think it’s a very different layout here. Obviously, with the one session in Austin, we did all of the standard checks after FP1 and the plank looked absolutely fine. So there was no reason after the practice session to make any changes, but obviously we got that very wrong. I expect the nature of this circuit to be naturally more conservative and with the three practice sessions, I don’t foresee any issues there.”

Here’s more from Mercedes on the findings

Here’s Mercedes, Ferrari reacting to DQ

Here’s what the FIA said about the DQ

Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact

L'entrada F1 drivers in a fix about post-race random checks and its handling ha aparegut primer a FormulaRapida.net.