Autosport 6/23/2022

Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and now Max Verstappen. Carlos Sainz has finished as runner-up to those three drivers by 1.2 seconds or less in his career. And, with 11 podiums, he has now matched the late, great Chris Amon in terms of top-three finishes in the world championship without a win, with only Nick Heidfeld and Stefan Johansson ‘ahead’. Surely it won’t be long before the Spaniard breaks his duck and most would be happy to see him do it. As Alex Kalinauckas points out on page 11, Sainz seems to have made a breakthrough with the Ferrari F1-75, so hopefully he can join the battle at the front more often. There were other reasons for Formula 1 neutrals to be happy after the first grand prix in Montreal since 2019. For…

FORMULA 1 The row surrounding porpoising in Formula 1 grew in Montreal last weekend when team bosses clashed following the FIA’s first steps towards intervening on the matter. Under the new F1 regulations for 2022 that reintroduced ground-effects, a number of teams have struggled with porpoising on their cars this season, with Mercedes being one of the worst-hit. Following complaints from a number of drivers over the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix event about the safety issues involved, the FIA took action ahead of last weekend’s Canadian GP by issuing a technical directive. The FIA felt it was “necessary to intervene in the interests of safety”, informing teams ahead of the weekend that they would be undertaking a data-gathering exercise by defining “a metric, based on the car’s vertical acceleration, that will give a…

FORMULA 1 Alpine is confident of securing its protege Oscar Piastri a Formula 1 drive for 2023 amid continued links with Williams. With Fernando Alonso poised to extend his F1 stay at Alpine alongside the contracted Esteban Ocon, Williams has become the most likely destination for reigning Formula 2 champion Piastri, to replace the struggling Nicholas Latifi. Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer said Alpine would “take our time and at the right moment within the silly season we’ll have a look around and make those types of decisions”. Asked if he thought Piastri would be racing in F1 next year, Szafnauer replied: “Yes.” Williams boss Jost Capito acknowledged that Piastri would be “on the list” for a seat next season, but dismissed suggestions that he could replace Latifi before the current campaign is out. “We…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has floated the idea that the French Grand Prix could be run on a street circuit in Nice amid negotiations over the event’s future. Along with Belgium, France is one of the races that could be rotated as F1 struggles to fit all the new events into the calendar while retaining a foothold in its European heartland. Domenicali referenced the Nice bid in an interview with France’s L’Equipe newspaper. “Historically, France has been an important nation in motorsport,” he said. “You might not know this, but there is an amazing project with Nice, who want a grand prix. It’s great, as it proves that other destinations in your country are interested in F1.” The news not only puts the prospects of Paul Ricard retaining the French GP…

FORMULA 2/3 The FIA Formula 2 and 3 championships will both race at the Australian Grand Prix from 2023, and join the Albert Park line-up from next season as part of the circuit’s new Formula 1 deal. The addition of F2 and F3 to what is traditionally one of the busier undercards is likely to impact the pool of local categories vying for a support slot, but it is thought that the popular Supercars series will remain on the bill. F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel said he had “very positive” reactions from most of his teams since the announcement. “I think there are more and more promoters who are keen to have us around, because we add quite an interesting event to the Formula 1 weekend,” he said. “And even Australia, I…

BTCC Four-time British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington has been forced into his 2019 title-winning BMW 3 Series for this weekend’s round at Croft after its new owner gave West Surrey Racing permission to press it into service following his enormous accident at Oulton Park (right). The damage to Turkington’s 330e M Sport chassis 6, which was new for this year, is too great to be repaired in time for Croft after the Oulton incident, in which he rammed Dan Lloyd’s stricken Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N after the Yorkshireman had bounced back onto the circuit following contact with the barriers. The impact has been measured as 40G. While Lloyd’s Hyundai has been repaired at BTCC chassis specialist Willie Poole Motorsport, Turkington’s old chassis 1, in which he finished runner-up in the BTCC…