In the round-up: Angel Sticchi Damiani, president of the Automobile Club d’Italia, which runs the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, says the club will look to resurface Monza in a bid to retain the race beyond 2025
In brief
ACI plans improvements to Monza to keep Italian GP beyond 2025
The Italian Grand Prix will hold its place on the F1 calendar until 2025, but Sticchi Damiani admits that it is currently difficult to be optimistic about the viability of the race beyond that without changes to the circuit, especially with two races in Italy.
Sticchi Damiani claimed that the 2022 race failed to make a profit as a result of high maintenance costs. Among potential modifications outlined include a potential relaying of the track surface and major upgrades to access paths and underpasses for spectators.
There is already a second race in Italy on the F1 calendar, with Imola hosting the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix since returning to the calendar during the pandemic affected 2020 season.
Hamilton has no doubts he will win again
Lewis Hamilton has no doubts he “will win again” despite Mercedes’ slump in performance extending to a second season.
Mercedes have endured a second successive disappointing start to the season, finishing well behind Red Bull in the opening two rounds of the season and appearing to be overtaken by power unit customers Aston Martin. Despite the relative lack of performance, Hamilton is sure he will eventually increase his own record of 103 grand prix victories.
“Yeah, I will win again,” Hamilton said. “It’s just going to take some time.
“There will be things that happen in our in all of our lives that we least expect. But it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get up. It’s how you deal with it. It’s how you show up. It’s how you continue to remain positive and tackle the issues that you’re faced with. And so that’s where my energy is going into. And that’s where the everybody every single person in the team is focused on.”
Dennis frustrated after Ticktum clash ends race
Jake Dennis says his Formula E rivals “need to start looking forward instead of in their mirrors” after he was hit out of the Sao Paulo Eprix on Saturday by Dan Ticktum.
Dennis was struck by Ticktum in the first chicane, putting him out of the race, with Ticktum handed a post-race drive-through penalty, converted into a 15-second time penalty, by the stewards for the contact.
“[It’s like] a target on my back,” said Dennis. “It’s two races now. Just driving my own race and then some plonker, 100 metres behind me, just forgets to brake and just smashes into me.
“It happened in Hyderabad with [Rene] Rast, happened here with Ticktum. They need to start looking forward instead of in their mirrors the whole time.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Bottas slides in entertaining Supercar debut (Australian Supercars)
“The 33-year-old Finnish driver took to the wheel of the 2016 Bathurst 1000-winning Tekno VF Commodore on Sunday. Bottas, who won 10 Grands Prix, also drove an Alfa Romeo GTV Group A touring car.”
Why did F1 stop South African Grand Prix return? (The South African)
Jody Scheckter: “My nephew had been working on it for six years, nearly full time. Because going (through the) government and getting (their support) and for them all to agree to put some budget in and then to secure the money. It takes a massive amount (of effort). All of a sudden, it was over, and he was left with nothing.”
Former F1 champs Raikkonen and Button race NASCAR at COTA (Associated Press)
Raikkonen: “In F1, open wheels if you touch somebody you usually lose a part or lose a wheel, you can’t really take that risk … In NASCAR, you can have a bit more closer racing. It makes it exciting I guess at the end of the races when people can be quite aggressive.”
Live Formula 1? You’re better off watching it on the telly (Times)
Jeremy Clarkson laments that he decided to spend the majority of attending the Bahrain Grand Prix watching it on television with Bernie Ecclestone in hospitality.
How two F2 rookies lost out on a feature race win, and their rivals’ reaction (Formula Scout)
Jack Doohan: “With that extra experience, me and Fredrik are second year, so it’s not like we’re veterans in the championship, but it just shows that little bit of more level-headedness that we have to make sure that we can week-in, week-out, race-in, race-out, stay on track and fight for those big points.”
Kush Maini: My greatest influences (Formula 2)
“Just watching clips of Senna on YouTube, seeing how hard-working he was, whether it was training or on the track, the level he reached was as one of the greatest athletes of all time. He went through a lot of politics in the early days with Alain Prost at McLaren, seeing how he came out stronger – he never gave up and always kept fighting.”
The Esports GOAT? Jarno Opmeer Q&A (Mercedes via YouTube)
Two-time F1 esports world champion Jarno Opmeer discusses a variety of topics, including how to improve performance in F1 22.
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Justin!
