September 2020

Lewis Hamilton announced that he will launch his own Extreme Racing team that will be participating Extreme E off-road series. The Formula 1 champion’s team will be branded x44, containing the number 44 which is currently his race number for the Mercedes Formula 1 team. The new team is set to make its debut early next year for the next Extreme E off-road season but however the superstar will not be directly participating in the series due to his current Formula 1 racing career. Extreme E is a race series featuring electric monster trucks racing through regions at risk from climate change. These massive vehicles will be driving around glaziers, through rainforests and over deserts, helping preserve their fragile ecosystems for future generations. The vehicle itself is built by Spark Racing Technology, the French company that built Formula E’s first and second-generation cars. “Extreme E really appealed to me because of its environmental focus,” said Hamilton, and it means so much to me that I can use my love of racing, together with my love for our planet, to have a positive impact.” Hamilton said.The 35-year-old also announced that X44 would be built around the values of “sustainability and equality,” and will commit to Formula E’s existing plan to have one woman and one man driver tackling half of each race.

Mike O’Driscoll who was the CEO Williams racing announced his intentions to departure from the team following its sale to the Dorilton Capital company. Mike O’Driscoll joined the Formula 1 team in 2011 and later in 2013 he was handed the role of CEO for the Williams team, since then he has been the CEO but the role was coming to an end with the team announcing the 64 year old is bound to retire. His biggest role was to oversee the team’s long term strategy and also supporting sir Frank Williams and Claire Williams. O’Driscoll had also been among the board of directors for the team but it announced on Tuesday the new composition of directors who include Matthew Savage and Darren Fultz who are the co-founders of the Dorilton capital. James Matthews who is a former racing driver was also mentioned among the new board of directors. “It has been and remains a huge privilege to be part of this great team. I am proud to have played my part in securing the long-term future of Williams and look forward to working closely with Matthew and his team, to ensure a smooth transition and the best possible trajectory for the team’s future success,” the former CEO commented on his retirement from the Williams team. Williams new chairman Matthew Savage also went ahead to commend and congratulate O’Driscoll on his departure from the team. “Mike has made a huge contribution as CEO, working alongside theWilliams family since the IPO in 2011, he has steered the corporate side of the group admirably through challenging timesand has been invaluable in preparing Williams for the next exciting phase.” Matthew Savage said. This marks a major development in the Williams team following the exit of Sir Frank Williams who was the team founder and his deputy Claire Williams. It appears a major reorganisation in the team is underway.

A turn of events took place at Monza when AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly emerged the first in the Sunday afternoon’s race. This is after a fierce battle on the track with Carlos Sainz(Mclaren) and Lance Stroll(Racing Point) who were also eyeing for the win. This comes after Lewis Hamilton who was the polesitter was penalised for a safety car infraction. The Sunday afternoon’s race was turned around after a safety car was brought out after Charles Leclerc(Ferrari) had a crash at the Parabolica,Leclerc was able to get out his car and head to the medical centre for precautionary checks.This comes as Kevin Magnussen’s Haas had to be recovered after grounding to a halt as it was approaching the pitlane,the race marshals had to push it to the pit. Lewis Hamilton was handed the penalty after driving into the pitlane while it was closed, AlfaRomeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was also penalised for doing the same. Pierre Gasly remained in the lead as he had pitted before the safety car came out and held on to the top position. This comes as Carloz Sainz closely followed and Lance Stroll came in third to complete the podium. Lando Norris came fourth in the sister Mclaren as Valtteri Bottas ranked 5th being the first Mercedes. This comes after the Mercedes’ driver had a poor start which saw him dropping to the 6th position at the end of lap 1. Daniel Ricciardo took the 6th position as Hamilton came in 7th after getting the penalty, Esteban Ocon came in as the second renault at the 8th position as Daniil Kvyat(AlphaTauri) and Racing point’s Sergio Perez came in 9th and 10th rounding out the points for the Sunday afternoon’s event. Both Ferraris retired from the race in their homeground, Charles Leclerc crashed at the Parabolica as Sebastian Vettel suffered a brake failure on lap 6. Redbull’s Max Verstappen also retired on lap 31 as he did not have a great race which had seen him drop from among the top to p15. Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon came in 15th despite nearly clashing with Pierre Gasly at the initial first corner in an incident that was never investigated.

Lewis Hamilton lead Mercedes’ one-two ahead of Valtteri Bottas closely followed by Lando Norris who ended up P3 in the second qualifying session at Monza. This comes as Daniel Ricciardo lost the third position due to track violations. Under cloudless skies and temperatures exceeding 28 degrees, Lewis Hamilton finished with a time of 1m 20.192s beating Leclerc’s time set last year in the same session with a 0.786s gap. Hamilton also lead his teammate Bottas with 0.262s making him top in the practice session. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo lost his third position after running too wide at the exit of the Parabolica meaning Mclaren’s Lando Norris came in third despite missing in on the middle part of the practice session due to a power unit problem, but it was solved after changing to the soft slicks giving the british racer P3 just 0.897s behind Hamilton. Pierre Gasly(AlphaTauri) took P4 being the fastest Honda runner just a tenth of a second quicker than Max Verstappen(Redbull Racing) who came in 5th despite spinning into the wall during first practice at Ascari after driving wide at the exit of Lesmo 1. Carlos Sainz came in 6th with a time of 1m 21.313s being in the second Ferrari as the sister AlphaTauri driven by Daniil Kvyat came in 7th. Lance Stroll(Racing Point) came in 8th as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was able to get to the top ten after finishing 9th, this was good news for Ferrari who had been struggling this season despite Sebastian Vettel finishing out of the top ten, being 12th but this was an improvement compared to Spa although he too experienced a spin at the exit of Lesmo 1. 10th position was taken by Sergio Perez(Racing Point) bringing into question why the likes of Alex and Ricciardo were missing from the top ten. This is because their laps were deleted(same case happened to Vettel too) due to track infringements at the Parabolica. Alexander albon(Redbull) and Daniel Ricciardo ended up ranking 14th and 15th respectively. Antonio Giovinazzi finished 13th in his AlfaRomeo C39 as his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who is a polesitter at Monza came in 17th, as Kevin Magnussen(Haas) came before him in 16th. Romain Grosjean came in 18th being the second Haas. The 19th and 20th positions were taken by Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and George Russel respectively.

The Turkish Grand Prix will be returning to the Formula 1 calender this year and the event organisers hope to open the race to 100,000 spectators to experience the race. The F1 race will be held in Istanbul Park circuit on November 15th as Liberty Media put the event back to the calendar for the 2020 F1 season. The Turkish GP was last held in 2011 but it was listed to feature the 2020 F1 calendar’s 17 rounds with the event being round 14. The organisers were initially not certain on opening the event to spectators. The chairman Intercity Promoters, Vural Ak on Tuesday confirmed that spectators will be allowed in the Istanbul Park circuit even as covid-19 pandemic still continues to affect globally. “We are prepared for anything, if the disease becomes worse than now, then the race can be run without spectators,” Viral Ak said, being open to the possibility that there might be a spike in covid 19 cases forcing an alternate plan. “At the moment for safety reasons, if we close some sections, about 100,000 spectators will be able to watch the race by following social distancing rules.” Viral added. Normally the Istanbul circuit can hold over 220,000 spectators in the grandstand and open areas meaning holding 100,000 spectators the park circuit will just be half full. The chairman also revealed the ticket prices will be very low as the promoters are not looking to make profits but just interested in running a successful race event which will be backed by the government. “Formula 1 normally has certain standards and ticket prices are at a certain level, however, as Intercity, we do not seek to gain financial advantage from this and the government has encouraged us.” “The ticket prices will be 30 TL(£3) per day. It will be 90 TL(£9) in total for three days. Tickets will be on sale next week and we think the tickets will sell very quickly.” the chairman added. There are also plans to allow a limited number of fans at the Tuscan GP which will be held in Russia mid September and the Portuguese GP which will be held end-October. The rest of the race rounds have not yet permitted spectators.