Vettel drives ‘Mario Kart’ in soapbox race

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel joined in a soapbox race in Germany on Sunday dressed as Super Mario.

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Super Seb! (Red Bull)

“55,000 enthusiastic spectators witnessed Sebastian and 67 teams compete in a spectacular Soapbox Race in Landschaftspark Hoheward, Germany on Sunday.”

Mercedes to receive Pirelli test data (Autosport)

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery: “We give all the teams the same feedback. We look at the same data, so they have all the same information.”

Jody Scheckter to be reunited with Tyrrell six-wheeler (The Telegraph)

“The Tyrrell fascinates a lot of people – it is legendary. Although it did not perform as well as the engineers expected, I came third in the world championships that year, so it really was part of my journey to the top of F1. The last time I drove it was in 1976, so it will certainly bring back some wonderful memories when I drive it at CarFest.”

To Russia with love (Marussia)

“While the race team conduct the Young Driver Test at Silverstone, the demonstration team are heading ‘home’ to Russia for our second year of participation in ‘Moscow City Racing’.”

Sergey Sirotkin’s fast-track to F1 risks damaging a promising career (Duncan Stephen)

“What worries me is that Sergey Sirotkin’s pathway to F1 more closely resembles Jaime Alguersuari’s career than Kimi Raikkonen’s. Like Sirotkin, Alguersuari showed great potential in junior formulae. But his talent needed to be nurtured. Instead, Red Bull fast-tracked him to F1 before he was truly ready.”

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Comment of the day

Williams are replacing Mike Coughlan -a a central figure in ‘Spygate’ – with Pay Symonds – a central figure in ‘Crashgate’. But should people who’ve been found guilty of serious acts of cheating be allowed to remain in F1?

With drug cheats we often see them lie and lie again and deny and deny, and in the case of a certain cyclist still keep denying he ever did anything wrong. What we’ve got in Symonds is someone who put his hand up and said “yep, I stuffed up, I’ll take my punishment.” Compare that to Flavio Briatore or Nelson Piquet Jnr who have shown the drug cheat attitude – I did nothing wrong and any punishment is unfair.

If we were never given a second chance when we’ve shown we deserved one, well we wouldn’t get anywhere would we?

I feel strongly about the Singapore incident too, and I never want to see Piquet or Briatore again. But don’t lump Symonds with the other two, sure all three of them were involved in the incident, but only one of them has actually shown any signs of reform, and for that reason, only one of them deserves a second chance.
ThatScienceGuy

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On this day in F1

Five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio passed away on this day in 1995 at the age of 84.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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31 comments on “Vettel drives ‘Mario Kart’ in soapbox race”

  1. So Mercedes punishment consists of them saving money by not running a car at the YDT but still getting the data? What are the FIA thinking?!

    1. Not giving them the data could be seen as dangerous, because they would not know anything about the tyres before putting them on during FP1.

      1. I agree with @bascb but even you must agree It makes the punishment Mercedes got look silly.

        1. Well, given that after the change of the YDT it was more or less Mercedes themselves who agreed not to take part, the penalty was pretty much non existant anyway.

          But they still won’t have had to opportunity to improve their car during this running, and while they do get the aggregated data like all other teams, those other teams still have more information as well as Feedback from their drivers on the tyres @force-maikel

      2. are you joking? Wouldn’t it be equally dangerous for these guys at this test then? What a poor excuse and using danger as an argument is just appauling amount of disrespect for the word.

    2. They’ll get data on the new tyres, but they won’t get to test any of their own upgrades or any young drivers.

      1. Yeah I agree. If Mercedes were not to at least be given data on the tires that would leave them the sole team at a disadvantage because they do not get to try these tires on a 2013 car until Hungary as it is, and as has been mentioned already don’t get to run young drivers or try new components on their car. So I think that this now levels the playing field with all the teams quite well when all is said and done.

    3. Pirelli gives anonymous data to all the teams from other teams all the time. The data Merc receives will be the same as everyone else, however everyone else will also have their own data to compare it to. Moreover, the development factor with young drivers will also play a role.

    4. You seemed to have missed a significant point of difference between the Private Barcelona test and the “all teams but Mercedes” Young Driver Test plus Pirelli test.

      The Private Barcelona test was to blind test experimental 2014 tyres in which Pirelli paid for, ran and dictated what Merc and its drivers could do. If you can recall, The car remained in the same spec as run in the Barcelona Grand Prix during the Private test apart from worn or damaged parts being replaced.
      Data collected from testing experimental prototype tyres and used to determine the design of the actual 2014 tyres will be given to all teams.

      The All teams but Mercedes Young Driver Test Pirelli test is to test the actual tyres Pirelli will run in Hungary, the very next race and for the rest of the season. The teams in this case can make balance changes in preparation directly for the next race and subsequent races.
      Data collected from the test of these actual race tyres for the next 2013 races will be given to the teams.

      So in both cases all teams will receive the relevant tyre data for the actual tyres they will be using for Hungary and beyond and then for 2014. The difference is all the other team get to play with setup on the actual 2013 tyres used for the next races except for Mercedes. Mercedes didn’t get to change anything for the test on unknown prototype tyres that may or may not have anything to do with 2014s tyres.

  2. I knew it. Take away the Newey chassis and he’s just a normal driver – look at him flounder in the gravel trap! :P

    I jest of course, that Sebastian-kart is quite funny. Great to see the fun RedBull back again! :)

    1. Indeed, I hope we can see this kind of thing more often. Currently Red Bull does not act like a fun team but serious business like everyone else on the top end of the paddock

    2. Lotus rumoured to be working on a ‘blue-shell’ device for Hungary :)

    3. RBR also entered a team at the London soapbox race. Christian Horner piloted a replica F1 car with oversized helmet and cardboard Pirelli tyres that fell off after the first set of jumps and he grabbed the opportunity to get in a few digs during his post-run interview!

      http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/driving/blog.html?b=life.nationalpost.com/2013/07/17/midday-matinee-red-bull-will-take-you-into-the-world-of-soapbox-racing

  3. Rarely do you see someone manage to look so young, and so old, all at the same time as Vettel does in that pic

  4. “What worries me is that Sergey Sirotkin’s pathway to F1 more closely resembles Jaime Alguersuari’s career than Kimi Raikkonen’s. Like Sirotkin, Alguersuari showed great potential in junior formulae. But his talent needed to be nurtured. Instead, Red Bull fast-tracked him to F1 before he was truly ready.”

    If Kimi Raikkonen was a young driver looking to break into Formula 1 the way he did, people would be comparing him to Jaime Alguersuari.

    1. Think so too. Though I also think what he wanted to say is that there is a 50/50 chance. Either it goes well or it doesn’t and the better a driver prepares himself the better his odds are to establish himself.

    2. Yes, its an opinion piece where the author presents his view, that Sirotkin is not ready yet (even though he is very talented).

      1. I’m aware of that, but everyone is claiming that Sirotkin is going the same way as Alguersuari rather than Raikkonen, as if there is a clear fork in the road where he could follow one or the other. That fork, however, doesn’t exist. If Sirotkin succeeds, it won’t be because he did everything that Raikkonen did. If Sirotkin fails, it won’t be because he did everything that Alguersuari did. Whatever the outcome, it will be because of Sergey Sirotkin.

    3. I disagree, as Raikkonen was 1999 European Super A runner-up, then proceeded to dominate Formula Renault UK in late 99/2000, winning at least 13 of his first 23 car races. It’s a bit like if Nyck de Vries now dominated FR 2.0 at his first time out, people would be saying it’s a foregone conclusion that he should be in F1 after a season or two of dominating FR 3.5/GP2. But even Hamilton took time to mature his driving from karts to cars, before storming to consecutive F3/GP2 titles. Raikkonen was already 20/21 and had matured, simply doing this in Karts and then just had to transition successfully to formula cars, which he showed in the FR 2.0 domination.

      Alguersuari showed this as he was maturing in 2011, after being thrown literally into the deep end, the 2009 Hungarian GP after a straight line test. Toro Rosso could easily have put Sato in for that last half of the year, or whole season. Sirotkin and even 2 time World Karting Champion de Vries are all still in transition, as they are around 17 years of age. Give Sirotkin at least one more year in FR 3.5 (a year to aim for a top 5 championship finish), and then start FP1s and some GP2 outings for Pirelli tyre adaptation before replacing Gutierrez with him in 2015 at the earliest! He’ll still be one of the youngest F1 drivers ever! I wonder if they want to jump ship and start with the blank 2014 rule changes like everyone else will have to…

  5. Caption for Seb Photo:

    After hearing Mark Webber no longer has anything to lose, Seb trains with Red Shells and Green Shells for his title defence

  6. Seb drops his biggest hint yet of his desires to drive for Ferrari..

  7. We could all do with these soapbox races as non-championship events, especially during the 3-week breaks!

  8. Seb to pits: “Sorry, but this latest aero package doesn’t seem to be working, guys…”

  9. The Blade Runner (@)
    17th July 2013, 11:32

    “Multiplayer 21 Seb, multiplayer 21…”

  10. Lol…Keith MUST use this pic for a caption contest…it’s already started with some great ones above.

    Mine…’SV has been spied doing a secret test with a nondescript helmet on the 2014 tires’

    1. The Blade Runner (@)
      17th July 2013, 15:03

      How about “Vettel asked to remove Super Mario moustache after flexible nose found underneath”

    2. “Red Bull spotted doing illegal in-season testing”

  11. Another silly Red Bull PR exercise. I bet Kimi can’t wait :)

    1. Maybe it was Marko’s idea?

  12. Such a great picture of Vettel! You’ve got to hand it to him and Red Bull, they are head and shoulders above the other teams in terms of fun PR events. An honourable mention to Lotus as well who have shown a great sense of humour with all of the ice cream jokes for Raikkonen.

  13. check out that spine compressor of a finish line! what are they thinking?

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