Racetrackmasters

The Renault group CEO Luca de Meo has been making some interesting changes since his arrival in F1. Their team has now been renamed as ‘Alpine F1’ and a few key personnel have also come in to help elevate the French outfit’s results. But a further step that Renault are reportedly considering is pursuing a ‘customer’ collaboration with one of the F1 teams. This, apparently, could be Williams, who could evaluate a change in their power units for 2022. A report by Motorsport.com states, “The picture seems to lead to a single solution: the offer (by Renault) of its power units to Williams, the only team that today can evaluate the possibility of an engine change.” Williams have spent much of the last few seasons finishing last on the F1 grid. Naturally, with new owners, they would want to shake things up ahead of the new technical regulations being introduced. The report continues, “In the paddock there are those who have already made a first contact between the two sides, but there are three obstacles to overcome.” One of the major hurdles is reportedly the existing ties that Williams have with Mercedes. The German manufacturer has continued to supply engines to the Grove-based outfit from 2014. Over time, the two teams have also built good relations via Mercedes academy graduate, George Russell. To add to that, there is also an apparent time constraint to conclude any possible deal. Considering the 2022 cars would already be in a ‘design phase’, Renault will have to move swiftly to convince Williams.

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team has announced that their 2021 car, the W12 will be unveiled on the 2nd of March, two weeks before the official pre-season testing gets underway at Bahrain. Mercedes is poised to stretch its winning record in 2021 after having dominated the sport’s hybrid era since the introduction of the new power units in 2014. The Brackley-based outfit has secured the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ Championship title in each season since the start of the new era with the team looking set to win its eighth successive titles in both championships this year. Teams have agreed to stick to the 2020 chassis due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, but cars will be different at various fronts. The aerodynamic development is still allowed and FIA has imposed new restrictions around the rear of the car, including the rear brake ducts and the back section of the floor in order to trim down the downforce produced by the cars. Moreover, Mercedes has also been forced to remove its controversial Dual-Axis system from its car for 2021. The Anglo-German team’s Technical Director James Allison said that the development work has been rather intense despite the unusually high amount of carry-over parts. “The rules are very, very different for 2021, the work we’ve had to do has been very wide-reaching. it’s been a really unusual, unfamiliar but intense winter development period for this new car” despite not having to work on a new chassis. “I say intense, because although bits of this car have carried over, the challenge of getting it ready for a new season has been every bit as difficult as it normally is because a lot has changed,” he stated. “Probably the most intense and difficult thing for us is reacting to the aerodynamic changes that come for 2021,” added Allison.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have reportedly had a breakthrough in contract negotiations with an ‘agreement’ already in place. Hamilton’s future in F1 has dominated headlines in the offseason on whether or not he will stay at Mercedes. Talks over a new contract were put on hold until after the final race of last season in Abu Dhabi. Both parties indicated that they wanted to move forward with one another, suggesting an agreement would be relatively straightforward. But it’s been the complete opposite with negotiations taking well over a month, leading to speculation over Hamilton’s future. With Mercedes being the only F1 team not to have both driver slots confirmed for the upcoming season, there were even suggestions that they may have to find a replacement for Hamilton. George Russell was being touted as an alternative given he could be promoted from Williams, while Nico Hulkenberg was also reportedly an option. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff though has repeatedly stated his confidence that Hamilton would sign on. And it appears as though an announcement is imminent on Hamilton’s future with Mercedes. According to AutosportWeb, the 36-year-old has agreed terms on a new contract with the Silver Arrows and an announcement is expected to take place this week. It is suggested that there were three key aspects of the deal which were holding up negotiations over the past few weeks. But Hamilton has seemingly now agreed terms on the length of the contract, the basic salary and bonuses. And his new deal also reportedly includes a veto right regarding his choice in a team-mate at Mercedes. The contract will see Hamilton sign on with Mercedes until the end of 2022, although Hamilton is said to have an option to extend it for another year. It’s thought that this will be Hamilton’s final contract in F1, but the seven-time world champion insists he’s still as hungry as ever to succeed. “You’ve got to find what you’re passionate about and what you love doing, and me personally, in my journey, there was a point where it just got too serious,” Hamilton told the Formula for Success podcast. “We only have one life. You have to enjoy what you’re doing. You’ve got to find happiness every day in what you are doing and I think that has been really important for me to be able to live in the moment. “Yes, it’s a competitive space that I’m in, but damn when I get in that car and put down the visor and the team start up the car and I leave the garage, I have the biggest smile. Even today, after all these years of racing. “If there’s ever a day that that doesn’t happen, I don’t get that smile, I know that it’s done and I need to move on to something else.”

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas is entering a potentially career-defining season in Formula 1. The Finn’s seat at Mercedes is under serious threat for the future with George Russell seemingly a shoo-in for the Silver Arrows from 2022 onwards given his impressive form for Williams plus his stand-in heroics in Sakhir last year. So after finishing second in the standings for the second consecutive season, it appears Bottas is standing in the last chance saloon? Bottas’ recent exploits for Mercedes is a game of ‘Spot the pattern’ – win the first race of the season, have a numerical suffix added to your name – will it be Bottas 4.0 this term – fade towards the end of the year and end up closer to the cars behind than his team-mate in front. Indeed, last season he took victory in Austria, was given the name ‘Bottas 3.0’ and yet failed to build on his promising start, finishing 124 points behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and just nine ahead of Max Verstappen. But is it all his fault? Last season was one of misfortune for Bottas. He looked strong at Imola, for example, before a large piece of debris became stuck in the W11’s floor assembly. He also came unstuck with tyre issues in both Silverstone races, with the failure in the British Grand Prix the most spectacular. Bottas can at least point to his stellar qualifying performances as a lifeline, regularly on par with Hamilton, who is undeniably one of the best qualifiers in F1 history. Yet there were plenty of examples where Bottas felt the pinch, including a dismal performance in the Turkish GP in which he spun six times at a time when his title aspirations were hanging by a thread. His run of 14th, eighth, eighth in one of the greatest F1 cars ever made was unacceptable. As everybody is aware, F1 is a results business. If you cannot get the job done, you are not going to be around for long because there is always someone waiting for one of the most precious jobs in motorsport. In a dominant Mercedes team, Bottas has scored nine wins from 79 races since his switch from Williams ahead of the 2017 season. Three of those were in his first year at the team, four in 2019 and just two last year. Compared to Hamilton, the numbers make for excruciating reading. The seven-time champion has won almost five times the amount of his team-mate with 42 in their time together. Even Verstappen, who for the large part has driven a middleweight Red Bull compared to the heavyweight champion Mercedes, has secured nine race wins since the beginning of the 2017 season. Put simply, it isn’t good enough from the Finn. Alarmingly, and arguably, a certain Russell was only a pit-stop blunder and a puncture away from being one win from one outing… The young pretender to the Mercedes throne is the real issue for Bottas. Until last season, there was nothing to make him squirm over his future at the team. Russell, though, was a spin behind a safety car away from a stunning season with Williams, with the Briton aiding the team’s overall resurgence and sparkling in the limelight of qualifying. At Sakhir, despite Bottas finishing ahead of his team-mate-for-the-weekend on track, the spectacular move into the turn six-seven-eight chicane that Russell put on Bottas underlined the predicament he is in. Russell, at the moment, looks a certainty for a 2022 berth at the champions, with the signs looking ominous for Bottas. What can save his seat? Of course, the seat does not yet belong to Russell, and an impressive season for Bottas would surely ensure he stays. Mercedes has proven in the past it is not in the business of promoting junior drivers for no reason. Esteban Ocon was released despite looking promising, as was Pascal Wehrlein. Red Bull has struggled to topple Mercedes with a single-car attack given the woes of its second driver since Daniel Ricciardo’s departure, a point that must surely play on Toto Wolff’s mind given Bottas does fare well compared to the team’s rivals. Hamiton’s future could well come to Bottas’ rescue, with the Finn unlikely to be moved aside should the British driver not racee for Mercedes from 2022 onwards. Bottas has the seat for now despite suggestions Russell is ready for the big time, but oh how he needs to make the most of this chance as it must surely be his last.

Any chance we get to see the Mercedes-AMG Project ONE is a chance we’ll take and the brand has just released its latest clip. The short, 43-second-long video shows the ONE on track in its now-familiar silver and red camouflaged livery. We last saw the car looking like this when Sir Lewis Hamilton drove it in December. “I can still hardly believe that there will soon be a hypercar with a Formula 1 engine,” said Hamilton at the time. “We won the world championship with this engine in 2015, and I was involved in its development for a long time. I was able to drive the Project One during the film work for the new campaign, and I’m very proud of the extraordinary effort Mercedes-AMG has invested in this project. This car is absolutely unique.” The ONE will feature an engine that should be familiar for Sir Lewis since it’s the same 1.6-liter V6 that has powered his F1 car to six world championships. Revving up to 11,000 RPM in road-trim, the engine should produce more than 1,000 metric horsepower and a top speed of more than 217 mph. Mercedes-AMG is highlighting the electrified aspect of the car, which makes sense. As in F1, the ONE uses electric motors to achieve its ridiculous performance figures. The F1-car-for-the-road was initially supposed to debut in mid-2020 but delays have meant that an exact launch date is a little unclear at this point. Regardless, Mercedes-AMG has filled all 250 build slots, despite its $2.5 million price tag.

Albon is set to share the AF Corse-prepared AlphaTauri car with New Zealander Nick Cassidy for the 2021 DTM season, dovetailing outings with his Formula 1 commitments with Red Bull – while alongside the pair, another New Zealander, former F3 competitor Liam Lawson, will drive a second 488, in Red Bull colours, as the Austrian company returns to DTM after two years out of the series. Having spent his whole career racing karts and single-seaters, meanwhile, Albon said he was looking forward to the challenge of getting up to speed with ‘tin tops’ – having only experienced closed cockpit machinery once before, when he drove Mercedes DTM and McLaren GT cars while competing for the 2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. “DTM is a great series with highly talented drivers in the field and exciting racing,” said Albon. “I’ve only driven a ‘tin top’ once… and they’re really different to single seaters. There’s a lot less downforce and the tyres are very different, so it requires a different kind of driving style. “It will take a bit of time to get used to, but I’m looking forward to a new racing challenge when I’m available outside of my existing F1 commitments.” The eight-weekend DTM season will be kicking off on Monza on June 18-20 – although it’s yet to be confirmed which rounds Albon will contest.

Haas is currently unable to fire up its Formula 1 engines in preparation for the 2021 season that begins with testing and the opening race in Bahrain next month. Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the small American team, which will field rookie Mick Schumacher this year, has received its customer engines for the new season from supplier and partner Ferrari. “The engine is allowed into Britain, but not the engineers you need to start it,” revealed correspondent Michael Schmidt. “As things stand at the moment, the earliest possible moment to bring the engine to life is the test in Bahrain.” Normally, Haas’ cars are assembled at the Dallara facility, which like Ferrari’s Maranello factory is based in Italy. But for the first time, Haas is assembling the 2021 car at its own Banbury (UK) base. “This year, that is easier in terms of logistics than to send our parts to Italy for assembly,” confirmed team boss Gunther Steiner. The problem is that Britain is requiring all Italian travellers to quarantine for 14 days, meaning that even Steiner himself is unable to travel to the Haas factory from the US at present. “If I wanted to fly to England, I would have to be in quarantine for two weeks,” Steiner said. “There are only exceptions for athletes.” Haas has made aerodynamic tweaks to its 2020 car in preparation for this season, but the team has decided against using any of the development ‘tokens’.

Sebastian Vettel should be back to his “usual longer hair” by the start of the season in Bahrain. That is the news from the German newspaper Bild, referring to the F1 world’s shock and amusement at recent footage of the quadruple world champion’s newly half-bald head. Correspondents Jens Nagler and Silja Rulle claim that when Aston Martin filmed footage of him getting a seat fitting at Silverstone, 33-year-old Vettel “did not know that a camera was being pointed at him”. “During the winter break, Vettel decided to have a short cut because he normally makes no public appearances during this time,” they explained. “The plan was for the German to be seen with his usual longer hair at the first test and the start of the season in Bahrain.”

Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali has revealed the sport is in talks with a new manufacturer interested in joining the grid. Former Ferrari team principal Domenicali took over at the helm of F1 from Chase Carey at the turn of the year after the American stepped aside following four years in charge. With Honda leaving at the end of the upcoming season, F1 will be left with just three manufacturers from 2022 in Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, although there is hope another could join at some point in the near future. “What I can say is that we are in discussion with other manufacturers,” he told Sky Sports F1. “For the moment, they prefer to stay quiet still. But the good news is that there are other companies who are really keen to understand what the value is they can bring home in using the F1 platform.” “Not only in terms of technology, but the value F1 can bring to automotive manufacturing. I think one of the biggest challenges automotive manufacturing has today is to feel younger.” With sustainability and a push for carbon-neutrality a hot topic in the automotive industry as of late, F1 has turned to search for a new form of propulsion for the future. But with manufacturers setting their own goals – which was one of the factors leading Honda to withdraw – Domenicali has reiterated the sport will keep sight of its own objectives before bending to meet the prospective needs of an OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer]. “There is this kind of fight between the old school of OEM and the new OEMs that are coming in on the mobility side,” he explained. “We are not part of the mobility side in terms of what we want to achieve as a sport, but I think the OEM can use that platform to change the fresh image they maybe need for the future for them.” “For the moment, they prefer to stay quiet still. But the good news is that there are other companies who are really keen to understand what the value is they can bring home in using the F1 platform.

Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly has confirmed he has tested positive for COVID-19, after being on a training camp in Dubai. Pierre Gasly has confirmed he has contracted COVID-19. The French driver has recently returned home from a training camp in Dubai, where pictures posted on social media showed Gasly meeting guests and hotel staff while not wearing a mask.