F1

FORMULA ONE bosses have unveiled their record-breaking 23-race calendar.The schedule for 2022 will run from March until November and contains a new race in Miami.
The 2022 F1 season will have 23 races including one in Miami
However, the Qatar GP, which will make its debut in November this year, will have a year off so as not to clash with the World Cup.
There are however question marks over the Singapore and French GPs.
And it remains to be seen if Australia will relax their border controls before the race in April.
Some F1 insiders have expressed concerns about the gruelling schedule, particularly Merc boss Toto Wolff who says F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali should encourage teams to rotate staff.
However, his opposite number at Red Bull, Christian Horner has given the 23-race calendar the thumbs up.
Franz Tost, boss of Red Bull’s B-team AlphaTauri, last week said that staff should embrace the races – or find somewhere else to work.

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He said: “We know now that we have 23 races. It’s fantastic, a good job from FOM, and I am looking forward to it.
“Regarding the people at the track. First of all, we are a race team.
“They all should be happy that we have as many races as possible and, of course, we take care of the people.
“For example the mechanics after a race weekend they have three days, four days off where they can stay at home.”
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen look set to battle it out for the world title again next yearCredit: Reuters
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LEWIS HAMILTON would have finished EIGHTH in the Turkish GP had he stuck to his guns and NOT made a pitstop.The Mercedes ace blasted his team for calling him for a late pitstop in last Sunday’s race, which dropped him down to finish in fifth.
Mercedes’ CTO claims Lewis Hamilton would have finished even lower without a late pitstopCredit: AP
Hamilton felt that had he stayed out, he would have been in with a shot of making the podium.
However, after crunching the numbers, Merc say he would have been looking at languishing down in eighth if he did as the tyres eventually failed.
Mercedes’ Chief Technical Officer James Allison said: “As ever with strategy, at the end of the race it’s always obvious what would have been the perfect lap [to pit on].
“However, if we look at it overall, the best time to have stopped would have been around the [Lap] 36, 37 mark, that was when Valtteri [Bottas, who eventually won the race] and Verstappen stopped.
“Had Lewis done the same and then treated his tyres nice and gently, then in all likelihood he would have come in a strong fourth, maybe be able to pressurise [Sergio] Perez for third and perhaps overtake him.
“When we eventually did call Lewis in, it was because the lap time chart that we use to make our predictions was telling us that it was not looking good.

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“We were looking at something that was somewhere in the region of seventh, eighth place, based on the way in which the tyres were progressively degrading.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton defended his outburst over the radio, saying: “I’ve seen some of the press this morning which has made a bit too much of the incident in yesterday’s race of when to pit.
“It isn’t true to say I’m furious with my team.As a team we work hard to build the best strategy possible but as the race progresses you have to make split decisions there are so many factors constantly changing.

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“Yesterday we took the risk to stay out hoping it would dry, it didn’t. I wanted to risk it and try and go to the end, but it was my call to stay out and it didn’t work. In the end we did pit and it was the safest thing to do.
“We live and we learn. We win and we lose as a team. Don’t ever expect me to be all polite and calm on the radio when I’m racing, we are all very passionate and in the heat of the moment that passion can come out, as it does for all drivers.
“My heart and spirit are out there on the track, it’s the fire in me that’s got me this far but any angst is quickly forgotten and we talked it through, already looking ahead to the next race. Today’s another day to rise and as a team (sic). Still we Rise.”
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SEBASTIAN VETTEL says Formula One will ‘rightfully disappear’ if the sport keeps making environmental ‘mistakes’.The German is an eco-advocate and says the clock is ticking on F1 if it doesn’t change its approach.
Sebastian Vettel says F1 may die out if the sport doesn’t change its environmental approachCredit: AFP
The four-time world champ races for Aston Martin and thinks the pressure is on chiefs to make changes surrounding green engines and their sustainability.
Asked if he thinks the sport could die out, Vettel told Motorsport Total: “Sure, and I think it’s valid because Formula One is not green.
“I think we live in a time where we have innovations and possibilities to arguably make Formula One green as well, and not lose any of the spectacle, of the excitement, of the speed, of the challenge, of the passion.
“If anything, we have so many clever people and engineering power here, we could come up with solutions.
“But the current regulations, I think they’re very exciting, the (hybrid) engine is super efficient, but it’s useless.
“It’s not going to be an engine formula that you will buy on the road in two years when you decide to buy a new car, for example.

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“Therefore, you can argue, what is the relevance?
“I think there are certain things that people are talking about for the future of the sport in terms of regulations, that could shift the change and shift into more relevant changes.
“And I feel if they come, that’s a good thing for Formula One, and it’s also a vital thing.
“But if they don’t come, I think I’m not so optimistic. If they don’t come, I think that Formula One will disappear. And probably rightly so.
“We are at the stage where we know we’ve done mistakes, and we have no time to keep doing mistakes.”
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Vettel is a vocal supporter of environmental schemes in the paddock.
He was the inspiration for a Bahrain GP flypast powered by sustainable fuels.
And he stayed behind at Silverstone to help clear up the mess and litter left by 140,000 fans at the British GP.

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Bottas celebrates on the podium after winning Turkish Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen More

LEWIS HAMILTON almost caused a ‘disaster’ by resisting Mercedes’ instruction to pit in the Turkish Grand Prix, according to Ross Brawn. F1 managing director Brawn, 66, has claimed that Hamilton was running a huge risk by ignoring his Mercedes team’s advice to change tyres in Istanbul on Sunday.
Hamilton is battling neck and neck with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship this seasonCredit: PA
Hamilton, 36, was already up against it after receiving a ten-place grid penalty as punishment for his fourth engine change of the season, when drivers are only permitted three.
This meant the seven-time world champion started the race in 11th, despite qualifying on pole, way behind championship rival Max Verstappen in second.
The Brit worked incredibly hard to climb from eleventh to fourth and could see Verstappen ahead of him when he was advised to box in order to change tyres.
Hamilton had completed more than two-thirds of the race with the same set of tyres and made it clear that he felt completing the race without pitting was the best strategy.
Brawn, however, suggests in his F1.com column that this could have been catastrophic for Hamilton and Mercedes. He said: “The driver is in a bubble. They need to give you information, but what they can’t see is all the data being fed to the pit wall.
“In Lewis’ case if he didn’t box and the tyres had gone away or there had been a light rain shower, he would have tumbled down the order and that would have been a disaster.”

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The same thing happened to Lando Norris at the Russian Grand Prix, who was on course to win his first F1 race when rain began to fall and most other drivers, including Hamilton, pitted for intermediate tyres.
Norris, who decided to stay out on the track, lost all traction and aquaplaned badly on lap 51 and then again trying as he entered the pit lane to change tyres.
This error of judgement meant he was overtaken by Hamilton, who went on to win the race, with Norris ultimately finishing seventh.
Hamilton and Mercedes got it spot on in Sochi, but his resistance to his team’s advice in Istanbul almost cost him dearly and could have allowed Verstappen to extend his championship lead by even more than the six point advantage he now has.
Regarding these tough calls, Brawn added: “Once again teams were faced with a very difficult strategic decision.
“In these scenarios, you’re trusting your judgment, experience and feel. As we saw with Lewis, there was a fair bit of initial resistance from within the car about pitting.
“When these situations are not clear-cut and you get a push back from the driver, it’s easy for a team to back off what they feel was the right decision.”
Hamilton has since admitted he got it wrong in Turkey, but blamed the heat of the moment for his outburst over the radio. He raged: “Why did you give up that place? We shouldn’t have come in. I told you.”

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In his post-race interview, Hamilton cooled down and said: “I wasn’t really that fast at the end there. I was struggling, had low grip, not really sure why, but then all of a sudden I’d have not such bad pace. But I was losing performance to the guys behind.
“I think probably in hindsight I should have stayed out or come in much earlier because when you come in with eight laps to go you don’t have time to go through the graining phase of that medium (intermediate) tyre on a drying track, so then I went through this whole sliding phase where I nearly lost more positions.”
The world champion cannot afford to slip up again in the final six races of the season if he hopes to beat close rival Verstappen to win a record breaking eighth F1 title.
Hamilton has won the F1 Drivers’ Championship in six of his eight seasons with MercedesCredit: Splash
Bottas celebrates on the podium after winning Turkish Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen More

LEWIS HAMILTON didn’t know his pit stop at the Turkish Grand Prix would cost him two places, reckons Jenson Button.The Mercedes driver blasted his team for pitting him with eight laps to go in Sunday’s race which saw him miss out on a potential podium finish after dropping from third to fifth.
Lewis Hamilton currently trails Max Verstappen by six points in the Formula One World ChampionshipCredit: AFP
Jenson Button has had his say on Mercedes’ decision to pit Hamilton late on at the Turkish Grand PrixCredit: PA
More crucially, the 36-year-old lost out on five points in his championship fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Dutch driver has retaken the lead in the title race after he came home in second place behind Valtteri Bottas.
After learning his pit stop saw him drop back two places, Hamilton fumed over the radio: “F*** man! Why did we give up that space?
“We should not have come in man. I told you!”
He later defended his angry outburst, though he conceded that changing tyres was the ‘safest thing to do’.
Commenting on Mercedes’ decision, 2009 F1 world champion Button – who was team-mates with Hamilton at McLaren – told Sky Sports: “It’s a really tricky one and I’m sure Lewis was quite frustrated after the race.

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“They’ve talked him through the process of when he should have pitted and he pitted right in the middle of when he shouldn’t have pitted.
“If he pitted earlier, it would have been a good call or if he didn’t pit at all and the tyres lasted until the end, it would have been a good call.
“But it was right in the middle and that’s the area you don’t want to be in really.”
Before adding: “I think the bigger thing for me is the information. And I don’t think Lewis understood that he was going to lose two positions with the pit-stop.
“He seemed quite happy when they said pit. It just didn’t seem like he knew he was going to lose a couple of places because afterwards he got quite frustrated, knowing that he was back in fifth place behind two cars he didn’t expect to be.”

Hamilton currently trails Verstappen by six points in the standings with just six races to go.
Next up is the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
The British star has won six times in America – more than any other driver in history.
Bottas celebrates on the podium after winning Turkish Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen More