In the round-up: Alexander Albon says Red Bull have continued their progress from the end of last season.
Drive to Survive season two launches today
The new season of Formula 1 documentary Drive to Survive launches today on Netflix. Read our spoiler-free review of all 10 episodes and discover all the highlights from the new series here:- ‘Drive to Survive’ season two: Spoiler-free review and guide to all 10 episodes
- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
What they say
Albon says the team is well on the way to being ready for the first race of the season:
I think the positive thing is that we know at least the direction we’re happy with. Those things we were working on during the end of last year and then coming through to this year we seem to have just got the car in the right direction.
So I think it’s a good base especially coming into the start of the year. And of course upgrades will be coming through through the year, especially during the early phase of it so everything’s quite positive. […]
There’s still work [to do]. That’s what tomorrow is, especially, that fine-tuning phase. So it’s chipping away at. I think no one’s going to be 100% ready going into Melbourne, but we can be close.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Never experienced anything like this, the #Corona virus is a big thing here in Bahrain. Had to wait 4 hours after we landed, and most Italian’s flights are cancelled 😵
I hope it doesn’t get worse, otherwise the #BahrainGP will definitely be in danger.
— Richard Verschoor (@R_Verschoor1) February 27, 2020
160 laps for Nicholas Latifi on his final day of pre-season testing. Next stop Melbourne for the only rookie of 2020. #F1 #F1testing pic.twitter.com/CGQAuGOkAt
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) February 27, 2020
Now the guests have arrived, it’s on to dinner… pic.twitter.com/mvuctNeQMG
— Royal Automobile Club Motoring (@TheMotoringNews) February 26, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
[smr2020test]
DTM pre-season test relocated to Hockenheim (DTM)
"DTM organiser ITR has relocated next month’s pre-season test due to safety concerns about the ongoing spread and development of the coronavirus in northern Italy."
Ricciardo is F1's wild card; can he handle the pressure? (Esquire Middle East)
"I don’t think it’s a boring sport at all. Sure, I wish every race was great to watch and, the truth is, you do get some boring ones. Hell, I sometimes get bored during a race! But that’s the same in any sport. How boring is a nil-nil game of football?"
"I ran my first IndyCar series race and Indy 500 with RLL in 2016 so it will be nice to return to a team with some familiar faces. "
"Nothing against Valtteri but Hamilton is one of the greats of the sport in the last 70 years. He is a headache for everyone. I don’t know who would be comfortable sitting beside him."
Lukas Dunner steps up to F3 with MP Motorsport (MP Motorsport)
"Young Austrian driver Lukas Dunner will join the FIA Formula 3 Championship for his debut season in the Formula 1 feeder series. The 17-year-old from Vienna rejoins MP Motorsport, having originally made his motorsport debut with the Dutch team back in 2017."
GTA Online: Open Wheel Racing (Rockstar Games via Twitter)
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Comment of the day
There’s another downside to current Formula 1 testing restrictions, says Peter-G:
I also really miss the days when teams had more testing because it was always easy to regularly be able to go and watch them which is what I love doing as a fan.
I remember in the nineties we used to be at Silverstone pretty regularly to watch teams testing and we also used to pop over to Estoril when they used to test there a lot and later Jerez and Valencia which were used a lot for testing in the 2000s. Sometimes you could get in for free but even when you had to get a ticket it was rarely more than £10 and you could walk around the circuit.
I feel so distant from the sport now because I hardly get to actually go and see the cars on a track in person. I don’t have the money to follow them around the world and attend multiple races, I get to go to Silverstone every few years if i’m lucky but even that is often just for the Friday because the Friday tickets are cheaper (Around £50-60 for General Admission). It’s a far cry from when I was able to go and see a car running on average at least once a month through the 1980s/1990s/2000s. So sad that we don’t have these opportunities anymore.
Peter-G
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2020, 0:12
If people are specifically concerned about flights/people arriving from Italy, that’s not just a concern for specific GPs, that’s also a concern about the presence of two F1 teams, and – more importantly – their tyre supplier.
ColdFly (@)
28th February 2020, 7:28
It smells a bit like double standards, @phylyp.
The GP in Shanghai was delayed, and most flights cancelled, but there’ve been ‘only’ been 337 cases with 3 death and 85% recovered.
In (Northern) Italy there are so far 655 cases with 16 death and more than 90% still active.
Don’t get me wrong; I propose to continue with work and sports. Just follow the instructions from your national health service, especially around personal hygiene and how to interact with others who have some symptoms.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2020, 7:38
@coldfly – oh, I’m not wading into the debate of whether the response is disproportionate or not, just pointing out that it’s not just venues that are at risk from cancellation, it is the attendance of teams/suppliers also at risk. There’s a lot more being spoken about “X” GP at risk or being cancelled, and not so much about Pirelli’s attendance (for instance) being at risk.
You’re preaching to the choir – it doesn’t need an illness to make me cautious! Seeing the journey that some people make in restrooms from the stall to the door (bypassing the sink) has made me wholeheartedly embrace my country’s Namaste as a greeting in preference to a handshake. Between that and other common sense precautions we should be fine as of now. :)
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th February 2020, 0:12
Great COTD, and even earlier on, for brits, they could for a lot less money see the big stars like Jim Clark racing in sedan and sports cars between GPs.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2020, 0:32
Ricciardo’s piece in Esquire is interesting – I expected a total fluff-piece article, but it was actually an interesting read and look at him. It was interesting to see his stated goal of going to Renault, and the interesting anecdote about “jovial incompatibility” with Kimi.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2020, 4:35
Interesting that this didn’t make the round-up:
F1 team bosses meet in Barcelona over coronavirus
Kasim
28th February 2020, 10:15
Just the other day, in the Alpha Tauri article, it was said that pirelli have not put in place any restrictions on its motorsport operations. Yet they are based in Milan, which is in the heart of northern Italy…
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2020, 10:20
I think one of their manufacturing plants for F1 tyres is in Turkey, so they might have geographical redundancy to some extent. It might not help matters for the design team and key support personnel who are likely based out of Italy, though, as you rightly mention.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th February 2020, 14:44
@phylyp Thanks for the link. Interesting stuff and times ahead. I, of course, hope that this upcoming season wouldn’t become what’d be essentially a corona-championship. A month ago, back when this corona virus-thing first properly started getting attention, I didn’t expect it would/could have a real impact on the championship, but now, it seems more severe in that regard.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2020, 14:57
@jerejj – I share that exact sentiment. I was initially of the mindset “Hmm, there goes the Chinese GP. Yay?” And now I look nervously at the fate of some of the European and other Asian rounds as well.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
28th February 2020, 10:39
I agree with COTD, testing is/was a great way of fans getting to see their favourite cars and drivers for next to no money. The last time I was lucky enough to attend a test was 2013 at Silverstone (I live about 45 minutes away) on a scorching hot July day in the middle of the week. Great day.
I also saw the pre-season Silverstone test in 2001 (the orange Arrows and day-glo ‘shark’ Jordans were there), and then there was another scorching hot July day in 2000. I have a great photo I took of Ralf Schumacher’s georgeous BMW-Williams with glowing brake-discs heading into Copse. It was also the day of Dario Franchitti’s infamous Jaguar test – also a beautiful car.