GP Racing UK

man still triumphs over machine in f1

I watched Monza qualifying with a friend of mine, who is a casual fan of Formula 1 and MotoGP. While Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were smashing their ‘opposition’ to pieces, despite no ‘party’ engine modes, my friend began debating with me the influence of the rider in MotoGP versus the importance of the driver in F1. My contention was that people consistently underestimate the impact the driver has in F1, because the cars are so complicated, but yet it’s still apparent that drivers with similar machinery often achieve wildly differing levels of performance. The events of Monza’s race showed how drivers can still make the difference. Hamilton dropped way off the back after a stop-go penalty, but finished less than 11 seconds behind Bottas, who struggled to fifth after a terrible…

contributors

ANDREW BENSON Why Max Verstappen's miracles aren't likely to bring him the title he so craves, is the focus of BBC Sport's chief F1 writer (p36) RICHARD WILLIAMS Richard's illuminating feature on the 70 most influential people in 70 years of Formula 1 has reached the 1990s (p56) ALEX KALINAUCKAS Alex analyses why the relationship between a Formula 1 driver and his race engineer is so crucial to success (p32) STUART CODLING 'Codders' aims his keyboard at the thorny question of customer cars (p50), and also has a chat with McLaren's Lando Norris (p44)…

f1 parade

Alpha Tauri’s sunny afternoon Ordinarily there would be a genuine bunfight among the photographers and TV cameramen to get this shot. But circumstances are different at the moment: there are only eight photographers in the pits at rush hour, and this was pretty late in the day. By the time Pierre Gasly came back from his various post-race duties it was quiet in the pitlane, with the exception of the AlphaTauri garage. It’s been 12 years since this team last won a race and the joy was palpable. I just happened to be in the pitlane because we shoot on behalf of both Racing Point and Honda, so I got in there – from an appropriate social distance! Where Monza, Italy When 6.47pm, Sunday 6 September 2020 Details Canon EOS-1DX MKII 12-24mm lens, 1/640 @ F4 Fish eye…

f1 insider

01 WILLIAMS FAMILY CASHES OUT F1’s last original team owner sells to investors 02 RACING POINT SAVIOUR DITCHED Pérez out as team recruits Vettel for ’21 03 NEW F1 ENTRANTS MUST PAY $200MILLION 01 NEW DAWN FOR WILLIAMS AS TEAM IS SOLD “THE WRITING HAS BEEN ON THE WALL SINCE 2017, WHEN IT UNDERTOOK A FRESH ROUND OF REFINANCING” Sir Frank Williams has been a fixture in Formula 1 since 1969, and the team that bears his name remains the second most successful of all time in terms of constructors’ championships won. The name will remain but the Williams family has taken its leave, stepping away from management duties after selling the team to Dorilton Capital, an investment fund acting on behalf of a high-net-worth European family. While Sir Frank had remained nominally in charge of…

f1 mastermind

Q1 How many world championship F1 races did Chris Amon lead: seven, 12 or 14? Q2 Who is the only driver to have won the Turkish Grand Prix more than once? Q3 How many times has Kimi Räikkönen finished second in the world championship? Q4 When was the last Portuguese Grand Prix and who won it? Q5 In which race did Sebastian Vettel acheive his final victory with Red Bull? Q6 Who won more races driving for Williams: Ralf Schumacher or Keke Rosberg? Q7 Derek Warwick finished second twice in his F1 career, in Belgium and Britain in 1984, but he also led two other races. Which were they? Q8 Which three teams did Anthony Davidson start at least one world championship F1 race for? Q9 Indianapolis, Silverstone, Spa, Monza and which other circuit held races in each…

the f1 analyst

PANDEMIC F1 IS TAKING A HUGE TOLL ON PEOPLE Triplets are exhausting, and Formula 1 has nurtured a bunch of them this year. Three weekends in a row create a huge demand; back in 2018 there was a backlash against the first triple-header organised by Liberty, and a hope that it wouldn’t happen again. Coronavirus reactivated the plan – an entirely logical decision, yet the consequences are still to be fully felt. According to insiders, even the first sequence of three revealed some tricky moments. Martin Poole is Human Performance Coach at Racing Point and saw the strains developing as early as the initial run of two races in Austria followed by the trip to Budapest. “Even by Hungary it was tough,” Poole says. “For our crew, I think it was fortunate that…