In the round-up: Toto Wolff has said that Mercedes will honour its commitment to give Romain Grosjean a test run in its 2020 car.
In brief
No date yet for Grosjean test but it will happen, says Wolff
Having promised to give Grosjean a test in one of its cars following his fiery Bahrain crash in 2020, Wolff said the team are still endeavouring to arrange a time for it.The test is going to happen, for sure,” Wolff confirmed at the Australian Grand Prix. “We’re committed to it. We haven’t got a date yet, for what he can do and what we can do, but that’s going to happen.
“When I give my word I give my word,” Wolff affirmed.
Grosjean was due to have private and public runs for the team last year, the latter during the French Grand Prix weekend. However F1’s decision to rescheduled that race scuppered Mercedes’ plans and forced a postponement.
During the off-season Grosjean revealed he had further discussions with Wolff about the test, but scheduling it in among the 23 races on the 2022 F1 calendar proved difficult.
Nissan buys EDAMS Formula E team
Nissan has bought the EDAMS Formula E team which it has partnered with since the start of the series’ ‘Gen2’ era in 2018.
It was part of the organisation team which has been extensively restructured since the death of founder Jean-Paul Driot’s in 2019. It was run for a while by Driot’s sons Olivier and Gregory, who sold it to former F1 driver Charles Pic last month.
Nissan will now make the team part of its own factory Formula E effort. It is one of seven brands confirmed for Formula E’s Gen3 era, alongside DS, Maserati, Mahindra, Jaguar, Porsche and NIO 333.
Nissan CEO Ashwani Gupta said “The acquisition of the EDAMS team not only reconfirms our long-term commitment to Formula E, but also to the exciting, high-performance world of motorsports competition as a whole.”
EDAMS, originally linked to Nissan’s alliance partner Renault, won Formula E’s first three constructors’ titles, from 2015-2017 and one drivers’ title with Sebastien Buemi in 2016. But the team has only won two races since 2018, one with Buemi and one with Oliver Rowland.
Boschung tops first day of Formula 2 Barcelona test
Veteran Formula 2 racer Ralph Boschung was fastest on the first day of Formula 2’s in-season test at Barcelona this week. He set a 1’27.929 during the afternoon session, on soft tyres, the only driver to do a lap below 1’28. Marcus Armstrong was next-fastest, with a 1’28.170.
The morning session was interrupted by three red flags including a spin for Calan Williams spun at turn two and Liam Lawson’s car stopping on-track. Cem Bolukbasi, who was returning to action after missing the last two races in Jeddah following a crash, caused the other red flag when he crashed. The afternoon session was also disrupted by stoppages, when Jüri Vips brushed the barriers at turn three and then Logan Sargeant’s car stopped on track.
IndyCar partnering with Autograph for NFT collection
IndyCar will partner with NFT collection seller Autograph to mint and trade tokens commemorating live moments in the sport. Autograph is a sports and entertainment-specific NFT seller that specialises in live events, with partnerships already in place with prominent sportspeople such as Tom Brady and Usain Bolt.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
From Long Beach to the operating room. Good news is I plan to be ready for the @IMS test in 9 days and Barber on May 1st. Thank you to all the medical staff involved. pic.twitter.com/Xt4Pm1Piz6
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 12, 2022
Mi regalo para vos papá pic.twitter.com/YSMSrKuZy3
— Cora Reutemann (@CoraReutemann) April 12, 2022
The Number 58 is on the streets of NYC! Delighted to be launching our partnership with @ICE_markets and @McLarenXE – a union driven by data and technology.
It's an exciting day at the NYSE with @Leena_Gade and @TannerFoust to kick off this great partnership 👊 pic.twitter.com/od0tWiu5e3
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) April 12, 2022
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Max Verstappen launches Verstappen.com Racing (Verstappen.com)
Starting today, Verstappen.com Racing has brought together racing teams from both the virtual and real world. From competing and winning events such as the Virtual Le Mans series, iRacing Endurance Events and many more, Verstappen.com Racing will be represented by Team Redline, made up of a multinational mix of real and virtual drivers.
Jenson Button heads to Nitro Rallycross (Dirtfish)
'There’s a real family connection with rallycross,' Button said. 'Dad used to race in the late ‘70s and ‘80s in a Volkswagen Beetle and then a Volkswagen Golf. If you go on YouTube you’ll actually find some videos of my dad racing at Lydden Hill with Murray Walker commentating.'
The F1 juniors choosing British F4 as their first car racing step (Formula Scout)
There are three Formula 1 juniors racing in British Formula 4 this year, and two of them are car racing rookies. Ugo Ugochukwu is the only driver McLaren backs below F1, and Mercedes-AMG has recently signed Daniel Guinchard.
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
After a near-miss at the Australian Grand Prix, F1 has been urged to consider changing safety car restart rules to avoid the risk of collisions. Dale asks if that might be easiest done by dictating when the restart should take place, to give drivers at the rear of the pack clarity.
For what it’s worth, would situations like this be more naturally controlled if all the restarts happened at the start/finish line?
I’m wondering if part of the problem is that nobody knows when the lead driver will take off, so everyone is on edge. If they know when the restart will happen, will that reduce some of the warm up anxiety that happens?
Dale
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Kester!
On this day in motorsport
- 25 years ago today Alex Zanardi won the CART IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach for Ganassi
Don
13th April 2022, 0:11
Having Romain test a Mercedes is a complete waste of time for both parties. Romain has a new career with a chance to actually win now, and Mercedes is struggling somewhat in F1. Pointless, other can keeping a promise which would now be understandable if they broke it.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
13th April 2022, 7:40
Well, well, well, how the turn tables…
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
13th April 2022, 10:12
Well it’s still gonna be their old good car. It’d be a bit harsh to take the opportunity away now, and there’s still clearly some positive media attention about this that makes it worthwhile. Especially if it’s gonna be in front of fans.
However I do agree that as we get further into Grosjeans blossoming IndyCar career, it does slightly devalue the point of giving him F1 closure.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th April 2022, 1:21
Yeaaaah, words, great stuff. My word is my bond sounds cooler. We do know Toto means business
And he was gone.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
13th April 2022, 2:15
I don’t think having a designated restart zone would make any difference to the near miss we saw Sunday as that happened a few laps before the restart did it not.
Indycar have had a restart marker for a while now yet there has still be contact or even accidents on start/restarts (Or even before the green is waved) even with that system in place.
Although I think in Indycar’s case its there more to prevent the leader jumping the start/restart than anything else as before they had the start/restart marker it wasn’t uncommon to see the leader get a big jump on the field by surprising everyone & going early. Sometimes the starter would wave it off but they were never consistent with it so just took when to go out of the leaders hands for the most part.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
13th April 2022, 10:09
Agree. I think the biggest thing really is the SC / race control giving enough notice that this is the last lap before racing resumes, so that folk aren’t having to go crazy for all of 4+ laps afraid of dropping too far back / staying too close whilst managing the tyres. There seems to be a thing lately where the lights only go out as we enter S3.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th April 2022, 6:11
The saga continues, perhaps in 10 years grosjean will be able to have a merc test.
Qeki (@qeki)
13th April 2022, 6:51
Grosjean still haven’t driven that Merc? It’s like Hulkenberg and podium. If it hasn’t happened yet it will never happen
Just kiddin
I hope he will get that chance
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
13th April 2022, 7:46
It’s such a big advantage for drivers born in April (like Ugochukwu) to be able to get into car racing just a few days after turning 15, while someone born in June has to spend an extra year doing karting, and lose out precious months of their career. (Unless you enter mid-season, but only the most loaded/backed drivers can be assured of a seat remaining open for them when they’re of age).
I think we need a soft age limit. Like if you are not yet 15, you can drive but only if you pass some parameters, maybe combining a physical test and a driving one. The further away you are from your 15th birthday, the more number of tests you have to pass. How about this for an idea?
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2022, 8:38
@wsrgo Does such a thing exist in racing?
I never knew & immediately thought about NHL’s (possibly also for some other North American sports series’) entry draft age limit. 15.9 is the deadline by which/before a player has to turn 18 to be eligible for that year’s draft.
I could’ve never thought of an age limit for when one can move from karting to single-seaters/car racing.
The best idea would’ve to merely allow everyone this move in the year they turn 15, regardless of how early or late into that year, so no one would be disadvantaged just because their birthday is in December, for example.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
13th April 2022, 9:50
@jerejj Yes, the FIA rules changed a few years ago. You need to be 15 before the start of the season for F4 and 16 for F3. For F1 it’s 18. I dunno if F2 has an age restriction, but on this logic it would be 17 I suppose.
Also, the idea you floated also gives an unfair hard boundary, wherein it’s 31st December instead of the start of the season, so someone who was born on 31st December 2007 will be able to drive in F4 this year, while someone born on 1st Jan 2008 will be cursing their misfortune.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2022, 10:43
@wsrgo OK, explains. I was only aware of 18 for F1 that came in 2016 with the SL requirement changes.
I see what you mean regarding my suggestion, but the same unfair hard boundary occurs with all possible specific date deadlines, so quite indifferent.
jff
13th April 2022, 9:02
Plus an IQ test on using your right arm during podium celebrations.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2022, 8:28
Lead driver mostly takes off at the last corner or last two corners depending on track configuration, so a non-issue for the most part.
Among regulars, Baku & Interlagos have been exceptions where a leading driver has waited until the timing line to avoid getting slipstreamed into T1.
If anything, the SC1 line should become the reference point from when overtaking is permitted, alternatively, the last (proper for some like the above two) corner on tracks where even that line is far into the S/F straight.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
13th April 2022, 10:15
I want to care about it, as I have interest in moat racing series, but I’ve no engagement with ExtremeE. Never been so distanced from a series since A1GP or Superleague Formula.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
13th April 2022, 10:31
Oh dear. Rich Energy are back via the BTCC. You’d think Jason Plato of all people would know to avoid!
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
13th April 2022, 10:32
link here
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
13th April 2022, 11:52
Oh for the love of god……. why do people keep thinking this Storey guy has changed? I have no sympathy for anyone who accepts an I.O.U from him. I’m still yet to have seen a can anywhere.