In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo admits he is unsure how Red Bull have closed the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari in recent races.
Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
Ricciardo bemused by half-second gain in qualifying trim (Crash)
"Because in China we were 1.3 off pole, and in Bahrain we are less than eight tenths off, so it is about half a second turnaround, and for what we don't know. We probably learned a bit more about tyres but nothing feels like it should have been half a second."
Hamilton also wants to fight with McLaren and Williams (F1i)
"What's sad for me watching Formula 1 is you see the depth of teams, Williams, McLaren, and they're not back there."
Wehrlein certain he will return to Race Of Champions (Motorsport)
"I think the racing is not the main point of this event. It's having fun with drivers from other series."
Top Gear - Series 24: Episode 7 (BBC)
Ecclestone: "It's become an engineers' championship, not a drivers' championship."
11-year-old dies in karting crash at Fernando Alonso's track (ESPN)
"The Spanish racing federation said an 11-year-old boy has died from injuries sustained in a karting crash at Fernando Alonso's track in northern Spain."
Got a tip for a link to feature in the next F1 Fanatic round-up? Send it in here:
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Despierto de madrugada en uno de los días más tristes. Destrozado. Desde aquí, un abrazo enorme a la familia de Gonzalo y a todo el Karting.
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) April 23, 2017
According to @alo_oficial on @btsport, @JensonButton is "not super-excited" to be coming back for the #MonacoGP… #BTSMotorsport #IndyCar
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) April 23, 2017
@keithcollantine @bencommentator I don't think it's what Fernando needs to learn @500 it's what he has to unlearn from F1 driving #btsport
— Mark Blundell (@markblundellf1) April 23, 2017
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
This weekend’s Caption Competition was won by @Tango:
“…And that’s how I overtake my Finn. How about yours?”
“Nah, he’s never in front…”
@Tango
Thanks to everyone who entered, especially Travis Daye, Carlos Patrao, Neil, F1Junky, Dom and Me4me who all came up with really good captions too.
From the forum
- @hunocsi poses the latest tricky teaser in F1: Only Connect edition
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Mags and Tim!
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NinjaBadger (@ninjabadger)
24th April 2017, 1:01
When was the last time F1 wasn’t an engineers’ championship?
To the point that prize money is given to the highest scoring constructors?
Richard (@rick1984)
24th April 2017, 1:15
1957!!!!
anon
24th April 2017, 6:57
@ninjabadger, it’s always been an engineers’ championship – 1958 might have been when the constructors championship was introduced, but even before then the team was a significant factor.
NinjaBadger (@ninjabadger)
24th April 2017, 13:28
Don’t worry. I understand that the Grand Prix racing has always been a competition of groups attempting to build the best cars to win races; and the eras of dominance experienced throughout history.
My question was more on the definition of the term ‘championship’.
anon
24th April 2017, 18:12
@ninjabadger, OK then, I see the angle that you are coming from. Mind you, although there was not a formalised structure before then, individual races would award prize money to the highest placed teams within a particular event – so although there was not a formal WCC, teams were in a sense still being rewarded on a race by race basis for being the highest scoring constructors.
Maciek (@maciek)
24th April 2017, 1:21
Great caption winner : )
peeppoppeng
24th April 2017, 8:29
Except it should have read “..and that’s how my fin had to move over..”
Overtaking didn’t happen there now did it?
Michael
24th April 2017, 14:12
that’s the point, it’s a sarcasm
Fukobayashi (@)
24th April 2017, 14:13
There’s always one.
Tango (@tango)
24th April 2017, 12:51
Thanks :) yeah it’s not meant to be taken litteraly. Thanks @keithcollantine too
Wesley (@)
24th April 2017, 22:07
I have to agree…props @Tango
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th April 2017, 1:26
@ninjabadger everything these days is an engineers’ championship to a certain degree as there’s always some sort of engieering analysis going on. From bobsleigh to tennis… in motorsports, because the racing is primarily about cars, it puts a lot more emphasys on engineering, obviously.
Even in spec car series, you have engineers setting up the cars. F1 will never detach itself from them. Specially since it’s the pinnacle of the sport, and technology has come a long way. But even in the 50’s, you have the Mercedes team beating the heck out of everyone, and it wasn’t just because of Fangio and Moss…
Direct injection, desmodromic valves and magnessium alloys don’t grow on trees…
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th April 2017, 1:27
I’m basically saying: Bernie’s comments are not valid arguments to anything…
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
24th April 2017, 1:53
They haven’t been for a long time. Think it’s a bit on sour grapes from Bernie
faulty (@faulty)
24th April 2017, 2:06
Given that he chose, because he had the power, to have an engineers’ championship he can’t be complaining, or can he?
NinjaBadger (@ninjabadger)
24th April 2017, 15:50
@fer-no65 I think there is some merit to his words (this time anyway).
Its been long considered that the drivers’ championship has the bigger effect with PR (as people tend to be drawn more by personalities). And, for better or worse, PR is Bernie’s thing.
It could be said that, PR-wise, F1 is seen as more corporate driven than personality driven.
With drivers tending to be corporate friendly in front of the media.
Like it or not, it’s why it grabs our attention when drivers speak out. Be it Alonso at Honda, Hamilton at the media, or Vettel at Charlie.
It shows more about the people behind the wheel; whether that be aggression, desire, talent, manipulation, stress, resentment, passion, arrogance, competitiveness, nonchalance. And that helps people become invested in a driver.
Without it the racing may as well be autonomous to some.
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
24th April 2017, 11:52
@fer-no65 I think this isn’t quite accurate. Perhaps true of bobsled, but tennis? I think it’s a bit of a stretch to think that tennis tournaments are won purely by the person who has access to the best racquet. For sure, getting the racquet right for the athelete is a major part of creating that success, but in the end it’s the quality of the player that determines the winner. The same can’t really be said for F1. In F1, as it is and as it has been for as long as I can remember, it’s not the best driver who wins the championhip, it’s the best driver out of those who have access to the best cars. Any tennis player can pay for a pro racquet setup – it’s available to anyone who wants it and the costs aren’t prohibitive. Same for swimming suits, track spikes, golf clubs, and most other forms of sports equipment. Anyone who wants it can get the best. The same certainly isn’t true of F1 – access to the best equipment is restricted to a very small number of competitors, and the difference between the best and worst F1 machinery is far greater than the performance difference between the best and worst F1 driver. The slowest driver on the grid could win races in the right car. Partly because the level of driving across the board is very high, but mostly because the margins are that fine.
I’m not saying there is aything inherently wrong with this – this is how motorsport works outside of spec series. And even in spec series the ability to set the car up for the track is often the biggest deciding factor.
Basically what I’m saying is that this notion of F1 being a pure competition between drivers is a fantasy – it never has been and it never will be. The reality has always been that the designers make a far bigger difference than the drivers.
Robbie (@robbie)
24th April 2017, 13:03
Drivers are coloured by their cars. Then it is up to drivers to either try to take a car beyond where it belongs, or take advantage and not squander the equipment when it is indeed worthy of wins. History has shown overwhelmingly that you pretty much need the WCC car with which to win the WDC. But there still remains lots of room to discern the better drivers from the lesser ones. If they can engineer less aero dependence and get rid of DRS, which is the tone coming from Brawn, then perhaps we’ll see more of the driver effect and less of the car effect. The degree of negative effect in dirty air is too handcuffing for drivers to show everything they can in this decades long addiction to aero downforce that works great in clean air and damages close racing in reality.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th April 2017, 13:28
Tennis is indeed almost certainly not won by the greatest racquet @mazdachris!
On the other hand, I think a team of engineers carfully studying movement, analysing training procedures, metodically formulating an optimal approach might be what does the trick, combined with keenly developed shoes, and the optimal racquet. Especially for a guy like Federer getting back to the top.
So if we take the engineering only as (too big a) focus on the equipment it would probably count for sports where we use vehicles (motorsport, sailing, rowing, bobsled, cycling, but also skying, …), although even then, remember what high-tech training paired with specially engineered suits did for swimmers a couple of years back. Or just look at the engineering that goes into building the track athletes run on (or skate on for example).
If we take it as a wider view, looking at using science and engineering to find the best package of everything to support the athlete, then the statement from @fer-no65 would probably be spot on. I guess it is a question of your point of view.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th April 2017, 14:07
@mazdachris i wasn’t only talking about the racquet, there’s also big investments in engineering in shoes, clothes, balls, surfaces, the hawkeye technology and so on. Modern technologies changed the game since the day of wooden racquets. Sure technology has less influence over the result than say motorsport, but it’s still very tied with the sport nowadays.
The conclusion is the same anyway. To a certain degree there’s always engineering. Motorsport, because the car dictates how far a driver can go, will always be the extreme example of the influence of technology in the end result.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th April 2017, 2:14
The younger the kids the move vulnerable they are in racing.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th April 2017, 2:19
The reason why RB and everyone was closer together at the Sakhir circuit is because there’s fewer long corners, the lap is shorter and the tyres were within temperature for everyone, at least the super softs were.
socksolid (@socksolid)
24th April 2017, 2:55
Also to me it looked like hamilton could have gone quicker but made a mistake on his last attempt. I doubt it would have been any more than couple of tenths faster than bottas though.
sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans)
24th April 2017, 4:47
Maybe Red Bull drivers are making mistakes in Australia and China but didn’t in Bahrain. (And Mercedes drivers did make mistakes in Bahrain)
MacLeod (@macleod)
24th April 2017, 8:00
Not an mistake of the drivers but their setup was not the same as RB thought it was behind the computer. And the rain disrupted the normal race day. But as you see RB is good on the supersoft while the rest race good on the softs. That means the downforce isn’t switching the soft on (not good enough)
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
24th April 2017, 10:45
I don’t think ther were actually closer in real terms. It was one of those tracks where the “new” spec cars weren’t all that much faster than they were last year.
Neither Mercedes or Ferrari were that magic 3 – 5 seconds a lap faster for the reasons @peartree stated so the rest of the field (including RBR) just seemed closer.
I’d love to be wrong but Inthink RBR still have an awfully long way to go.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
24th April 2017, 11:41
I think it could be that Merc and Ferrari have realised the importance of race pace over quali time. The cars might be slower in Quali but faster in the race.
This would also explain why Hamilton was uncharacteristically slower in quali and had good pace throughout the race.
Just a theory..
Mallesh Magdum (@malleshmagdum)
24th April 2017, 6:21
What’s wrong in F1 being an engineer’s championship. I believe it should primarily be an engineer’s championship. It’s these advances in technology that’s taking the world forward
anon
24th April 2017, 7:08
@malleshmagdum, I think that the problem comes because there is an inherent tension in the fan base about what they want – on the one hand, people want to see greater diversity in the appearance and performance of the cars, but on the other they want the cars to be closely matched because they want to believe that their favoured driver is the one who is making the difference in performance and to see the drivers battling on track.
Gabriel (@rethla)
24th April 2017, 8:09
@malleshmagdum
I agree. There are so many one make series out there so why not switch channel instead of complaining about one of the few engineering focused series.
Robbie (@robbie)
24th April 2017, 13:09
For me the magic bullet is obvious and is something I have a lot of faith in Brawn to start to fix, since he’s already talked this way. They need to ween themselves off of so much aero dependence and the resultant ‘need’ for DRS. The engineering, designing aspects will always be there, but we have now seen over too many variables over too many years with good tires and bad that the real harm to the product comes from aero dependence.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
24th April 2017, 6:23
Someone should tell Ham that Toto doesn’t have any interests (at) in WIlliams anymore and Macca are not being supplied by Merc. The privateer teams in F1 are no more, and Renault+Honda, never going to amount to anything as long as Merc is allowed to dominate through the rules. Merc are happy to let Ferrari look like they are close, HAM is happy to do what ever Toto wants him to do.
Ambrogio
24th April 2017, 11:23
Sure, Toto is the One that decides everything, the puppet master! It’s so difficult to understand that Ferrari and Vettel at the moment are stronger during the race?
Armchair Expert (@foreverred)
24th April 2017, 11:30
Yes Merc are so happy to make Ferrari look so so close, i guess they’re happy to give em to win also.
1 thing You and Marko have in common is that your paranoia is off the charts.
anon
24th April 2017, 18:26
@foreverred, ignore him – he’s admitted in the past that he makes things up because he is an attention seeker.
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
24th April 2017, 20:30
Toto Schillaci?
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
24th April 2017, 8:15
First mcLaren puzzled at reliable day… Now Red Bull puzzled to be only 8 tenths off pace? What is next? Mercedes puzzled by another victory?
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
24th April 2017, 8:52
I’m devastated – next you’ll tell me football is a team championship :p
JIckx
24th April 2017, 9:26
Wasn’t there some kind of strategic meeting last Friday where the future existence of the T-Wing was on the agenda ?
I may have missed it, but anyone who knows what the outcome was ?
Joao (@johnmilk)
24th April 2017, 10:00
Alonso’s tweet reads:
“Woken up in the morning in one of the saddest days. Devastated. From here, an enormous hug (In Spanish is common to send hugs as a sign of comfort, a bit like in English people say “my thoughts are with…”) for Gonzalo’s family and all the Karting “community”.”
The twee is in reference to the last article on the round-up
It has been very bad news for Motorsport these couple of weeks.
Joao (@johnmilk)
24th April 2017, 10:13
I don’t remember the last time I saw Button excited to race in that McLaren to be honest
Todfod (@todfod)
24th April 2017, 13:19
You can’t blame him though. He’s going to be stepping in to the most rubbish car at the most challenging track on the calendar without having driven the 2017 machines yet. He would hate to leave the sport getting lapped multiple times by the front runners and finishing dead last (if he doesn’t DNF).
Markp
24th April 2017, 21:46
He could always prwtend the cars broken and park it. Nice pay day.
Armchair Expert (@foreverred)
24th April 2017, 11:41
And Renault were 0.3 behind the Red Bullies after being 0.5s behind in china. If we’re going by Ricciardo’s Logic Mercedes and Ferrari will not find any gains.
Knight
24th April 2017, 12:08
Naaa he should have made the telephone sign with he’s right hand because that’s really how.
dbHenry
24th April 2017, 16:27
It just dawned on me after seeing Ecclestone, does the Liberty take over also mean that Tilke is out as well?
MrF1GuyV12POWAHHH (@)
25th April 2017, 2:25
Likely not.
That being said while Tilke is a great architect, I wish the newer track’s layouts themselves would be designed by different people for the sake of variety.