In the round-up: George Russell left himself unable to drink throughout the Mexico City Grand Prix after accidentally removing his drink tube on the first lap of the race.
In brief
Russell caused drinks system failure
Russell drove the majority of the Mexico City Grand Prix without a drink after accidentally disconnecting his fluids system on the first lap. The Williams driver said he was trying to inspect his car for damage at the time.“I made it a little bit more tricky because under the Safety Car, I peered over the cockpit to check the front wing and in doing so, pulled my drinks tube out,” Russell said. “So I lost the drinks tube on the first lap, so I was a bit thirsty.”
Air temperatures reached 23C during the race and conditions in Russell’s cockpit would have been much hotter, as the asphalt hit over 48C.
Sergio Perez was also unable to drink during the previous race at the Circuit of the Americas. “I think Checo was making a big deal out of in Austin,” Russell joked.
Steiner: Schumacher retirement a “pure racing incident”
Haas team principal Günther Steiner said Mick Schumacher‘s lap one retirement from the Mexico City Grand Prix was no particular driver’s fault.
“This was a pure racing accident, it was pretty simple,” said Steiner. “I think it was at turn one, an Alpine was squeezed into the middle on both sides, and Mick went over the wheel and broke the suspension.
“These things happen,” he continued, describing the retirement as Schumacher’s “first one in these circumstances.”
Ocon: “three cars in the same corner never works”
Esteban Ocon said his collisions with Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda, which ended both drivers’ races, was probably “triggered by Bottas” as the Mercedes driver was spun around on track.
Ocon described the chaos which unfolded as Bottas spun ahead of him. “There was Fernando [Alonso] closing on the right side, so that pushed Mick towards me. And then you had Yuki there with not much space, so there’s not much more I could have done on my side.
He said he was “sorry that we’ve collided like that” but there “was nothing that I could have done – and three cars in the same corner never works, really.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
If Larson does do the #Indy500 next year, hypothetically you could have a 9-driver rookie class that includes:
Larson-Cup champ
Johnson-7x champ
Grosjean-F1 vetKirkwood, Malukas, DeFrancesco, Ilott, Lundgaard-projected ‘22 ROTY field
Enerson-second attempt to qualify
— Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) November 8, 2021
The @fia Disability & Accessibility Commission made a video last year about @a_seguii & his role as scrutineer at the Mexican @F1. The video has inspired a new disabled marshal to join our sport. Juan Manuel is working alongside Andres this weekend in 🇲🇽#motorsportforeveryone pic.twitter.com/CjcTlp6QQR
— Nathalie McGloin (@nathaliemcgloin) November 7, 2021
Here it is, as we did in the Italian F4 Championship; Full house in the 🇩🇪 German F4 Championship as well!
‘21 German F4 Driver✅, Rookie✅ and Team Champion✅! An incredible, historic result as never before did a team manage to collect six F4 titles in one year! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/JMi9GdpLxW
— VanAmersfoortRacing (@VARmotorsport) November 7, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
"'I can understand why his family and friends are protecting him because we should leave him in peace,' he says. 'Michael is fighting, he is fighting, and we can only hope that he will improve.'"
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Comment of the day
After Daniel Ricciardo’s candid description of his difficult start to the year, Tristan muses on Red Bull’s tumultuous time since his 2018 departure.
Everything happens for a reason. If Daniel never left Red Bull we never would have seen Gasly and Albon in a top car and how it compares to Max, let alone Perez. The whole field would be different now without his Renault and McLaren switches. I don’t think anyone has any regrets or bad feelings about it now, it’s been win-win-win really (with the exception of Abiteboul?).
The only thing maybe missed was seeing Daniel and Max pushing each other further and learning from each other with racecraft, but even if they did for years there would be so much bad blood due to hard decisions like Baku and in a year like this; they probably would have taken more points of each other to ruin their chances more than help it.
By the end of it Daniel would have probably left being beaten by Max on average, possibly seen by other teams as not good enough anyway, and burnt out after years of intense rivalry (think Hamilton Rosberg). Instead here he is now having learnt more, proven more, and on an upwards trajectory with big regulation changes and a more competitive F1 on the horizon.
I also can’t imagine many drivers have had to endure the isolation of Covid as hard as Daniel has, with regards to the Australian situation. We’ve basically had closed borders for the better part of two years, at least not without 14-day isolation that isn’t compatible with the F1 calendar. Not being able to see family freely for that long has an effect on everyone, let alone a top athlete in one of the most high pressure circuses. Very different to the Euro-based drivers that can zip back and forward to home whenever they want.
Hopefully with things returning to normal thanks to the vaccine rate, he can enjoy a much more relaxing off season and build up to next year. Really can’t wait to see if they’ll have a competitive car.
Tristan
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Soundscape and Laura Brewer!
On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Damon Hill won the Brands Hatch Rallysprint against rivals including F1 drivers Martin Brundle, Derek Warwick and Johnny Dumfries plus Stig Blomqvist, Jimmy McRae.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th November 2021, 1:55
I saw the marshalls, didn’t think much of it. Why not? Good to see after all, F1 is not a climate summit.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
8th November 2021, 3:18
RE: CoTD
On Beyond The Grid, Dan said he has been missing home due to not being able to return to WA, I can only guess how much it affects his emotional balance, especially at the start of the year when he was struggling.
I think Dan’s management made the right decision to leave RB. As you say, staying would have reduced his stock. Not being at Max’s level is nothing to be ashamed of, he is on another level. Dan is World Championship material, he has proved that he can race at the front and win, the stars just have to align now.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th November 2021, 9:15
So another drink-related issue, this time caused by the relevant driver himself.
A lengthy, but good COTD.