In the round-up: Zhou Guanyu believes the progress he has made in his first season as a Formula 1 driver has been disguised by Alfa Romeo’s fading form.
In brief
Zhou confident he’s made “huge step” during rookie season
Alfa Romeo’s rookie driver Zhou says he’s made a “huge step” as a driver throughout his first 16 races in Formula 1.Zhou is currently 17th in the drivers’ championship having taken the team’s first point in seven races at Monza. He feels he is driving better than at the start of the season, but that Alfa Romeo have fallen behind their rivals in the development race, preventing him from demonstrating his improvement behind the wheel.
“It’s a little bit of a shame just because I did a huge step during the season, I think from Montreal onwards,” Zhou said. “But then the other teams did a bigger step in terms of upgrades, so we were a little bit behind in terms of performance and couldn’t show it.
“If I had [done] maybe earlier in the season that we could have even more points for the team. Now I just have to give everything every weekend.”
Electric junior series offers free seat for 2023
ERA, the first international electric-powered junior single-seater series, has announced a ‘Next Gen Racer’ competition that will reward one driver with a free seat in the series’ 2023 season.
The championship, which was launched this year after several delays but has only held one race at Zolder, will host several test days in November at France’s Pau-Arnos circuit. Drivers have to pay to enter, and after being assessed on their on and off-track qualities a winner will be selected who will get a 2023 deal that covers the full season and pre-season testing.
Runners-up in the competition will have the chance to be named reserve drivers for the series. ERA is yet to announce its 2023 calendar.
F3 champion Victor Martins wants to stay with Art GP for F2 step
Formula 3 champion Victor Martins has his sights on graduation to Formula 2 in 2023 with the same Art Grand Prix team he won his title with this year.
“I did what I had to do this year,” said Martins. “It’s true that I have done mistakes, but I believe that I am the kind of driver who will improve after that straight away, who realises that sometimes you are not doing a good job,” he said.
“I feel that I’m fully prepared for F2. I believe in myself, I believe in Art this year. I will hope to be in F2, and I know I will have the chance to do great things there.”
The Alpine junior drivers says it was partly the French team’s decision that he spend a second year in F3. “They put me every time in the right category, in the right team with the right people,” he said. Martins believes he is now “in a good position” for Alpine to send him to F2 with a top team, with his personal preference being Art GP.
“If I have the right mindset and I do a good job in the winter break, and I go into F2, I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t get the [Alpine F1] seat in the future,” he added.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Alonso will be 'challenging' for Aston Martin, says team boss Mike Krack (BBC)
'Fernando Alonso will be 'challenging' for Aston Martin when he joins them next year, says team boss Mike Krack. The two-time champion is joining Aston Martin from Alpine, who would not offer him the terms he wanted to stay on.'
Spa 24 Hours race prompted into date change due to F1 calendar (SRO)
'SRO Motorsports Group has reorganised its European calendars for the 2023 season following the decision to stage next year's F1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on 29-30 July, the date most commonly used by the 24 Hours of Spa since 1953.'
Marcos Flack adds sixth racing programme of year with British F4 return (Formula Scout)
'Fortec Motorsports will make its return to British Formula 4 this weekend with two cars, as it adds active GB3, ADAC F4, Italian F4, Spanish F4 and Indy Pro 2000 racer Marcos Flack to its line-up.'
S5000 rookies complete successful open test at The Bend (S5000)
'A successful S5000 open test had 15 drivers complete more than 350 laps of The Bend Motorsport Park’s West Circuit on Tuesday. Drivers from Super2, Super3, TCR Australia, Radical Cup, Toyota 86, Fo3, Formula Ford and direct from Karting participated in the day, designed to introduce new drivers to the category and allow them to experience the performance of the vehicles first-hand.'
Thrilling 2022 season propels upward trajectory for Indycar (IndyCar)
'Half of the season’s 16 races on television delivered more than 1 million viewers, the highest mark since 2008. A record 14 of 17 races were on NBC network television in 2022, and selected series races also were televised by Telemundo Deportes on Universo. This also was the most streamed IndyCar season on record, with exponential growth compared to 2021.'
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Add all 24 Formula 1 race dates for 2023 to your calendar with one tap here:https://t.co/qDEVw9EEhM#F1
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) September 20, 2022
The third round of the Chinese Formula 4 championship on the new Pingtan street circuit has been postponed from this weekend to November 4-6 as the inaugural Pingtan International Racing Festival did not gather all the permissions required to run on its planned date. pic.twitter.com/0RJUUbUzK0
— Formula Scout (@FormulaScout) September 20, 2022
It’s been an honor to work for Arrow McLaren SP for more than a decade. As I step away, I am most proud of growing this team into a powerhouse able to fight for championships and wins each week. I now look forward to spending time with my own growing family and whatever’s next! pic.twitter.com/CeJAsCY0Mo
— Taylor Kiel (@taylorkiel) September 20, 2022
Out on track 🤩
Putting the guys through their paces at Fiorano on day two 👌#FDA @ACI_Italia pic.twitter.com/TCxSbVOPAy
— FerrariDriverAcademy (@insideFDA) September 20, 2022
I've thought that a set number of fixed and rotating calendar dates would be a good way to alleviate F1's calendar bloat, but then people pointed out, good luck getting some of these circuits and promoters to miss their biggest pay day every other year
— RJオコンネル (@rjoconnell) September 20, 2022
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
The 2023 F1 calendar, presented yesterday, sees the world championship expand from 22 to 24 events. There will be added pressure on costs and the lifespan of parts from the record-length season, and Tyler believes one rule change is needed to make racing a little easier – and faster – for F1 teams.
If this change finally tips the domino that increases the engine allocation from three to four, the teams will be able to run each engine measurably harder throughout the year. Instead of each engine needing to last 7.67 races, now they’d have to last just 6.0. That’s a healthy over-20% mileage reduction for each engine to handle.
Tyler S
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Nick!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
21st September 2022, 1:26
97 cars still look right, can’t look at anything post 08 till 22.
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st September 2022, 5:26
Can’t disagree with that…
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
21st September 2022, 5:54
In reality, they are only half the cars we have today ……
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
21st September 2022, 11:08
Yes I love the look of the cars between ’95 – ’00.
Sham (@sham)
21st September 2022, 7:33
When F1 cars looked alive, nimble and the drivers looked like they were fighting the car – and each other even when saving fuel or tyres.
F1 has become too clever for its own good.
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st September 2022, 7:47
Fighting the car ? did you watch the Williams with active suspension those were the same as the cars of today.
Sham (@sham)
21st September 2022, 8:36
I did, yes – and did you see how utterly destroyed the drivers were after racing it?
Jere (@jerejj)
21st September 2022, 7:55
I already responded to COTD in the relevant article, but one more would only make a marginal difference in how hard teams could push engines & or PU components, if at all.
Increasing the upper limits would only contradict the sustainability approach, & teams would keep on gaming the system & by using more elements.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
21st September 2022, 11:11
I think I agree with COTD. Anything to reduce the ridiculous number of penalties there are now. Or maybe it’s just the penalty rules that need to be adjusted. Six races seems like a good number for an engine and other parts to last before penalties are applied.