Inhaltsverzeichnis für April 2023 in AUTOSPORT

A man with a mullet and a moustache on the cover of GP Racing? You may be wondering, dear reader, if the editorial team has taken leave of its collective senses. Perhaps it has. But as Polonius said, albeit slightly less equivocally – though this may be madness, yet there is method in it. For several Formula 1 seasons it became a trope in the sporting media to seize upon some aspect of Valtteri Bottas’s appearance – be it a beard or merely some ‘designer stubble’ – as evidence of a winter transformation. This, reported the paddock sages, was a new Bottas, one who was now ready to get his elbows out at Mercedes and compete hard with his team-mate rather than merely being a dutiful number two. Lewis Hamilton himself…

A large Ferris wheel has been one of the Bahrain International Circuit’s visitor attractions since 2019 and, as with pretty much every aspect of this track’s operations, it’s been cleverly thought through to provide a spectacle at night as well as by day. After dark it lights up and the glow makes for a great opportunity in panning shots. For this image I positioned myself in one of the many wadis dotted around the circuit. There was a mound of earth which just allowed me to see the cars on track. By using a very slow shutter speed I blurred both the foreground and the background, and the circuit’s array of illuminations did the rest, with the wheel in the background. Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 6:47pm, Friday 3 March 2023…

01 TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL AlphaTauri rumours reveal Red Bull discontent 02 QUALIFIED SUCCESS Mixed response to format change 03 McLAREN-FORD? ALPHATAURI: GO HARD OR GO HOME 01 The AlphaTauri Formula 1 team has responded to speculation that it may be sold. These claims appeared in the German press ahead of the start of the new season, but have now been formally debunked – albeit in a way which revealed disquiet behind the scenes. The original report in the respected Auto Motor und Sport asserted that Red Bull’s management was considering selling the team or moving it to England in order to improve synergies between Red Bull Racing and its sister team, given AlphaTauri’s poor results. Red Bull’s new sporting chief Oliver Mintzlaff, according to Michael Schmidt, a…

UNPICKING THE NEW PECKING ORDER Writing this during the last stages of 2023 pre-season testing, one might hope to make a clear prediction for the coming season – but, as happens every year, the picture only really becomes apparent a few races into the season. That doesn’t prevent us, as competitive people, from analysing every bit of data, scrutinising every comment, and applying judgement to visual clues to try and establish the pecking order. Restricting the pre-season test to just three days means there’s a lot of work for the teams to get through. The new-car sign-off lists have to be worked through laboriously and yet precisely. The sheer volume of work requires perfect reliability in order to get everything covered and yet that very testing is there to try and…

CV 2022 Technical director, Alpine F1 2019 Engineering director, Renault F1/Alpine F1 2018 Chief designer, Renault F1 2011 Head of powertrain integration and transmission design, Mercedes F1 2000 Engineering team leader, Mercedes AMG HPP 1995 Project engineer, Ricardo Engineering We’ve seen a lot of convergence in designs a year into the new rules package. Are you still seeing other teams bringing developments that surprise you? I wouldn’t say ‘surprising’ as such. But you can see people’s different evolutions, what they’re targeting and why. It’s been very good to see some of those solutions. It’s also been quite confidence-building for us, because some directions we’ve been taking we’ve seen on other cars, and it gives you a good feeling – that you’re taking good directions which may unlock performance for later. I…

FINISHING STRAIGHT F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 THE MAIN EVENT Home of the Australian Grand Prix since 1996, Melbourne was formerly the preferred choice as season opener, and not just because (now former) F1 commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone and the late Australian GP Corporation boss Ron Walker were best buddies. The state capital of Victoria has a pleasingly laid-back and cosmopolitan vibe and plenty of ardent F1 fans, making for a great atmosphere. Logistics have dictated a shimmy down the order but the GP remains hotly anticipated thanks to the F1 debut of local boy Oscar Piastri. He’ll be hoping for better luck at Albert Park than F1’s last Australian, Daniel Ricciardo… 2022 RACE RECAP After two pre-race furores – one a pointless intervention from the race director regarding drivers’…

FINISHING STRAIGHT @mattkewF1 facebook.com/gpracingonline THERE’S NO STOPPING THE BULL RUN It’s now plain to see there are only two ways to be successful in this ground-effect era of Formula 1. The first option is to build a Red Bull. Failing that, build a car that looks like a Red Bull. There have been plenty of jibes about Aston Martin having merely reached for a piece of tracing paper when designing the AMR23. But this shouldn’t be treated as a taboo subject because the technical team has publicly admitted, in effect, to doing this. It accepted the need to swallow its pride last year and has taken heavy inspiration from the RB18 of 2022. Why wouldn’t it replicate a car which won 17 grands prix and both titles? Frankly, to attempt…

Half an hour into the Bahrain Grand Prix and, while the field was stretched out up front, the battle for 14th between Nyck de Vries and Zhou Guanyu was shaping up nicely. This spot at the end of the track’s main straight is a favourite among photographers because the cars’ titanium skid plates throw up so many sparks. The effect was more pronounced this year because the track surface has been damaged a bit by cars repeatedly bottoming out. There’s a small bump, more like an identation, which sets them bouncing. Word in the paddock is that the circuit’s owner is going to do some resurfacing soon… Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 6:31pm, Sunday 5 March 2023 Details Canon EOS-R3 70-200mm lens, 1/8th @F16…

I’ve been working with McLaren for many years now and it’s always interesting when new people join to see how they integrate themselves. On the face of it, Oscar Piastri hasn’t had the best start to the season with an early DNF in race one. But actually it’s no bad thing to go about your business out of the spotlight in these circumstances. I was impressed with how he just quietly got on with the job of learning to be a Formula 1 driver. I quite liked the way the early afternoon sunlight works in this shot, as Oscar gets in the car ahead of FP3. Most shots from this race are with artifical light so it’s nice to make use of the sun in these earlier sessions. Where Sakhir,…

Q1 Which two drivers recorded a fastest race lap in 2022 but didn’t score the point for it? Q2 What is Nico Hülkenberg’s best ever finish in the world championship and in what year? Q3 When did Fernando Alonso last start the season with a podium in the opening race? Q4 Before Max Verstappen and Nyck de Vries in 2022 and 2023, who were the previous two Dutch drivers who raced in F1 at the same time? Q5 How many starts did it take Jenson Button to achieve his first F1 podium: 58, 63 or 68? Q6 Who am I? I started 180 GPs from 1997 to 2007 for Jordan, Williams and Toyota, claiming six wins and six pole positions. Q7 Which engine manufacturer is fourth in the all-time list…

@_markgallagher SPONSORS? PARTNERS? CALL THEM WHAT YOU WANT… It was McLaren’s Ron Dennis and Ekrem Sami who decided, back in the 1980s, that sponsors were no longer sponsors. Instead they were partners. Commercial partners, technical partners or, bottom of the rung, official suppliers. Being a sponsor suggested something altogether different. A charitable donation or a cash contribution towards a worthy cause, such as winning the world championship. Going into this season, Formula 1’s ten teams sported no fewer than 301 ‘partners’, although the nomenclature differs from team to team. Scuderia Ferrari has 36 equitably named ‘official partners’. Whether you’re Shell, Santander or Virtual Gaming Worlds, you have the same billing as Brembo brakes, Garrett turbochargers or Technogym sports equipment. Oracle Red Bull Racing has that much-sought after beast, a title sponsor.…

WHEN IT COMES TO FERRARI THERE ARE NO HALF MEASURES. When the Scuderia wins we speak of triumphs, when it loses we’re faced with a Greek tragedy: even if only figuratively, the final act concludes with blood on the floor. In Maranello everything is extreme, the spotlights are on the team 24/7, throwing every action into stark relief – everything makes the news when there are millions of fans in red eager to comment on the smallest of happenings. Changes of team principals aren’t a rarity in Maranello. Those who covet the seat of management – or merely agree to sit on it awhile – know well what they are getting into, and shouldn’t be too surprised if their head is called to the chopping block in the event of…

When Alex Albon claimed a point for Williams in the opening race of the season in Bahrain it raised many a smile, whether among its hard-pressed staff, patient fans, or those of us who have followed the great British team’s trials and tribulations. For new team boss James Vowles, less than two weeks into the job, it showed the potential which lies within the FW45, which in testing lapped 2.4s quicker than its predecessor almost straight out of the box. Meanwhile former team boss Jost Capito posted a congratulatory note on LinkedIn, somewhat pointedly thanking former technical director FX Demaison and the departing aerodynamics director David Wheater for all their hard work on the new car during 2022. It is 20 years since Williams last mounted a championship challenge worthy…

As Aston Martin’s team photographer I’ve become very aware of how excited everyone is about the arrival of Fernando Alonso at the team. When he got into third place in the closing stages of the Bahrain GP I knew the mechanics would be ecstatic, so I left my spot out on track early to get back to the pits. Expecting them to hang out of whatever openings they could find on the pitwall and cheer him across the finishing line, I found a window of my own a bit further down so I could lean through and capture the moment. This was Fernando’s 99th time on a Formula 1 podium, 32 of which have been for wins. Quite a ratio! Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 7:38pm, Sunday 5 March 2023 Details…

There was something of a kerfuffle immediately after the first race of the season as parc fermé was plunged into darkness. I’m sure it made for great TV with this giant screen in the background, but stills photographers who paint with light were left cursing whoever had come up with the idea. In these circumstances you improvise and, when Max climbed on his car, it made for quite a nice semi-silhouetted image with just a little bit of the light from the screen playing across him so you can tell who it is. Unfortunately, when third-placed Fernando Alonso pulled up, the lights were still off but that’s another story… Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 7:41pm, Sunday 5 March 2023 Details Canon EOS-R3 100-500mm lens, 1/500th @F7.1…

@benedwardstv MELBOURNE IS WHERE OSCAR’S HEART IS A kid who grows up with a Formula 1 event happening once a year just down the road falls in love with motor racing and begins karting at a young age. Within a few years the climb up the ladder has begun and the talented youngster soars to the top at every level. Suddenly he wakes up in his local community in his early twenties ready to take on one of the biggest races of his life. All of this happened to Charles Leclerc, who was born in Monaco and raced F1 there for the first time in 2018. It is a pattern about to be repeated by Melbourne’s Oscar Piastri and the level of support he is going to receive from one…

ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT, compiled under the auspices of the United Nations, Finland is the happiest country in the world. The land of reindeer and lakes has topped the rankings since 2018. And although Valtteri Bottas hasn’t lived in his homeland for quite some time, he’s perfectly suited to the role of its ambassador. Because he is one happy Finn. A trip to the North is one of his wintertime traditions. A couple of years ago Valtteri finished building a small house not far off the Arctic Circle, in one of those places where the sun remains below the horizon throughout December. “It’s a place called Kilpisjärvi,” he tells GP Racing. “It’s [a village] at the border of Finland, Sweden and Norway. So basically, as north as you…

CHARLES LECLERC SUMMED UP FERRARI’S SITUATION heading into the new world championship campaign in a couple of sentences in one answer at the launch of its new car this year. “2022 was a good step forward compared with the two difficult years of 2020 and 2021,” Leclerc said, “but we finished second in both championships. “I think we’ve done a great job on the new car trying to address the weaknesses of last year’s car. The goal is to win, clearly. It’s what motivates me and all the team. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car and trying to win that championship.” In one way, Leclerc’s remarks reflect his character, which has always been open and straightforward. In another, perhaps they are also indicative of a new…

“FERRARI PLOTS TO REPLACE ITS engines’ roar with speakers… Green engineers have found a way to replicate its distinctive growl… through an external speaker positioned above the rear axle.” The Times, 25 January 2023 From GP Racing’s Arts and Reproductive Organs Correspondent Maranello, 3 February 2023 The unusual sound of Ferrari’s 2023 car, the SF-23, was heard for the first time this morning in the Braying Horse Studio, a new structure attached to the team’s Racing Assembly Area. A carbon sound system, fitted to the SF-23, was turned up in the presence of team principal Frédéric Vasseur and Seb Belius, the FIA’s newly appointed delegate for transparency, democracy and decent digital interface. Previously known as ‘The Initial Fire-up’, Ferrari say this so-called ‘Racing Album Release’ is a very special moment…

FINISHING STRAIGHT F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 1 Red Bull dominant as reliability sidelines Ferrari For those hoping Red Bull’s dominance might slip as a consequence of cost-cap penalties and other teams making competitive leaps over the winter, the Bahrain GP served as an abrupt reality check. “Red Bull has got this championship sewn up,” lamented Mercedes’ George Russell. “I don’t think anyone is going to be fighting with them this year. I expect they should win every single race this season. That is my bet.” Is this an unduly pessimistic verdict? Certainly Max Verstappen had nobody to trouble him for vast swathes of the race and was able to focus on hitting his target laptimes to maintain optimal tyre performance, finishing just under 12s clear of teammate Sergio Pérez.…

FINISHING STRAIGHT WHENEVER I HEAR THAT SONG Author Sir Martin Broughton Price £20 nineelmsbooks.co.uk Sir Martin Broughton is a relatively tangential figure in Formula 1 history; younger fans may chiefly associate him with Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams as part of a consortium bidding to buy Chelsea FC last year. But this captain of industry did play a significant behind-the-scenes role in a transformative event: as CEO of British American Tobacco he oversaw the company’s transition from sponsor to team owner, acquiring Tyrrell and relaunching it as British American Racing. This entity remains on the grid in the form of Mercedes. This is but one chapter in Broughton’s memoir, through which run intertwining threads of music, business and sport. Broughton is also venerated by fans of Liverpool FC as the…