In the round-up: Fernando Alonso has spoken out over the upcoming hearing which will decide whether his seventh place finish in the United States Grand Prix is restored.
In brief
Thursday will show if F1 is going in right direction – Alonso
In a post on social media, Alonso thanked his fans for their messages of the support after the post-race penalty which demoted him from seventh place to 15th in Sunday’s race. Following Alpine’s announcement they will protest the decision, the FIA confirmed a hearing will take place on Thursday to decide whether it is admissible.“It’s one of those rare times in sport, that I feel we are all on the same page and share the same opinion towards rules and regulations,” said Alonso. “Therefore, Thursday is an important day for the sport that we love so much, as this decision will dictate if we are going in the right direction for the future.”
Ricciardo says last season looks better in light of dire 2022
After a poor run to 16th place in Austin, Daniel Ricciardo admitted his disappointing first season at McLaren looks better in light of his difficulties this year.
“Last year was a struggle but now I look back at last year like ‘oh that was actually pretty good compared to this one’. I’m choosing to laugh because I don’t really want to cry.”
He has three races left as a McLaren driver before leaving the team a year earlier than planned. “I’m going to do what I can the last three, but I’m at a point now where I’m not going to hope or think or expect that it’s going to be an amazing last three races,” he said. “I’ll do what I can, but days like today kind of leave you feeling leave you feeling a bit helpless.”
Williams still more sensitive to wind – Albon
The windy conditions at the Circuit of the Americas were particularly difficult for Williams, said Alexander Albon.
“It was really tricky, I think, for everyone. More so maybe for us just with our sensitivities to it.
“It’s not totally fun to drive when the wind’s like this. The degradation increases massively because of the amount more sliding you do with weather like this. So it is tricky and I think a lot of mistakes were happening just because of that.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Part-Broncos owner Hamilton helping to increase diversity in Formula One racing (CBS)
'Correspondent Kristine Johnson asked British driver Sir Lewis Hamilton, 'What is the draw?' 'We're all fighting for glory, or fighting for chasing time and perfection,' he replied. 'There's crashes, there's carnage, there's crazy emotions.''
'The doctors said it would take six to nine months to be back close to normal, so it improved a lot quicker than I thought. It was very early to come back, so especially the first few weekends were difficult physically because I was quite far away from being 100%.'
'I'm talking about Lance Stroll. He should be suspended from one race for the Fernando Alonso incident.'
Toro Rosso Formula 1 car around TT Circuit Assen (Rock van Barneveld)
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Ooft. That'll take some mending. 😉🤕
Lando drove the final 33 laps with this damage to his car today. 👏#USGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/lhshp2l42q
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) October 23, 2022
After going airborne, damaging the car, falling to last, dragging that car back up into the points…you can’t help but be gutted for @alo_oficial to get that penalty and lose the points. The rule is black and white, but that’s a dumb rule. Robbed the team of an earned result.
— James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown) October 24, 2022
That’s simply untrue Will. Don’t make things up to suit your narrative. https://t.co/vJsGyc3y82
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) October 24, 2022
I’ve never had one!
— Jennie Gow (@JennieGow) October 24, 2022
She is Ludo, she’s 9 years old and she saw me for the first time in Monza, together with her dad, where she was completely amazed when she saw a driver take off her helmet to find out that women can race, she couldn’t believe it! pic.twitter.com/HGFM2BmCCK
— Vicky Piria (@VickyPiria) October 24, 2022
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
The collision between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in Austin could easily have turned out much worse, says RandomMallard:
I think all involved are very lucky. I was thinking after the race how many different ways that incident could have been so much worse. Any one of the drivers behind them could have collected Stroll or Alonso at very high speed, that debris could have rained down on someone and hit them very hard, Alonso’s car could have been caught by the air underneath and ended up like a Mark Webber in Valencia or Scott Dixon at Indy kind of crash, Alonso could have hit the wall much harder, at a sharper angle or hit the end of the fence (as Brundle briefly mentioned), just to name a few. And of course you could identify how an incident could be worse for many crashes in F1, but this one just seemed to be a remarkably lucky escape considering everything that did, and possibly more importantly didn’t, happen.
But at the end of the day I think it was predominantly Stroll’s fault. I don’t think he did it deliberately, or was deliberately blocking him off that late, I just think his situational awareness was somewhat lacking.
RandomMallard
Happy birthday!
No RaceFans birthdays today
On this day in motorsport
- 30 years ago today Riccardo Patrese scored his final win at Suzuka, ahead of Gerhard Berger and Martin Brundle
Leroy (@g-funk)
25th October 2022, 0:49
I’ve lost a bit of respect for Will Buxton since he became a paid spokesperson for F1. There’s been a few times now where I just don’t believer (or maybe don’t want to believe) he actually believes the things he tweets. Maybe coincidentally the other recent example I can recall was the Miami Grand Prix and the faux marina.
Markus (@aesto)
25th October 2022, 1:45
If it’s Brundle’s word vs Buxton’s, I’d believe Brundle, no question. But this would be a weirdly specific thing to make up. More likely someone at Sky got the list but didn’t pass it on to Brundle – maybe they forgot, or they’re not even aware that list is among the – I’m sure many – things they’re getting from Liberty each race. And while I generally wouldn’t attribute anything to malice that can’t also be explained by negligence, I suppose it’s also possible that now that F1TV has gotten off the ground and is working well, Liberty doesn’t need broadcasters like Sky any more so they’re withholding some things from them. If that were the case, Buxton probably wouldn’t be in the know.
Leroy (@g-funk)
25th October 2022, 2:31
Jennie Gow and Ben Hunt replied to the tweet that they’ve never seen what Will is talking about either. Maybe it only goes to Will but he said it goes to all press on the grid, which just doesn’t seem to be true. All Will has succeeded in doing is extending the conversation about Brad Pitt blowing off Brundle, which is ironically exactly what F1 doesn’t want to talk about.
Nick T.
26th October 2022, 4:10
What happened? Brundle tried to ask Pitt a question and he walked by without responding?
I wish they didn’t cut to celebrities in pits. It’s so cringe and they always let the shot linger uncomfortably long (this applies to not just the celebs, but when they cut to a TP’s face, a family member visiting, etc.).
S
25th October 2022, 2:32
Or maybe they deliberately don’t let their presenters know, as uncomfortable and awkward moment make great media and draw further attention.
Celebrity culture is all about gossip and scandal, after all.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
25th October 2022, 2:54
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this were the case.
jff
25th October 2022, 7:26
And this site, and we commenters, happily participate.
How else to fill the ‘silly days’ between back to back races :P
Rich
25th October 2022, 8:43
Will Buxton has posted a follow-up and apologises.
https://twitter.com/wbuxtonofficial/status/1584679811850510336
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
25th October 2022, 11:28
Message to all so-called ‘celebrities’:
If you don’t want to be interviewed, get off the grid.
Drivers/Teams have an excuse: They are preparing for the race. You don’t. You’re attending the event at the expense of one of the teams and, let’s be honest, most of you are just there to try and look cool.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
25th October 2022, 11:31
At least Martin didn’t ask him to rap.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th October 2022, 14:22
talking about that Hinchcliff started poorly.
McLaren dsq, broken deflector and when Max overtook Ham the turbulence broke max’s deflector as well. I’m going to call the retroactive unsafe release.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
26th October 2022, 12:15
Oh no, media meta drama. 🤦♂️
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
25th October 2022, 2:02
Will Eddy get a shiny new racing series for Christmas?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
25th October 2022, 2:57
The Part-Broncos are my new favourite team.
WesselV1
25th October 2022, 6:51
The Dutch link is actually a translation of a column that was originally written by Jacques Villeneuve in English, which can be found at the same website: https://www.formule1.nl/nieuws/stroll-should-be-suspended-what-he-did-was-deliberate-and-could-have-been-life-threatening/
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
25th October 2022, 10:41
Jacques has been calling out drivers pulling out late moves on the straights and in the braking zones for while. He was critical of both the drivers and especially the lenient behaviour of the FIA who tolerate such actions. He said if something wasn’t done, it could end up in tears which almost happened in Austin…
Jacques might sound controversial with his strong opinions though his IQ with regard to everything surrounding racing is top notch. I remember RaceFans publishing an old statement he made before the new generation of cars were introduced in 1998 and the direction the sport had followed with the introduction of the grooved tyres. He was prophetic !
Craig
25th October 2022, 11:25
Seeing as Jacques came from Indycar I can understand such a stance as such late moves can cause far worse crashes in the confines of an oval. It’s right they’re outright banned from moving in reaction to a following car.
AlanD
25th October 2022, 14:52
Craig, I’m not sure why the confines of an oval would make these sorts of crashes worse? Is it because of the higher speeds, less braking zones, more crowded tracks with more cars going side by side, the banking, or the safety fence design? Have you ever seen the video of the Sophia Floersch crash in F3 at Macau. This was similar in that Floersch hit the rear wheel of Tsuboi and after that she was just a passenger in a ridiculously high-speed crash. Incredibly she survived it, thanks in great part due to the angle of the car when it hit the fence. The main TV cameras missed it but it was captured on some other cameras and fan cameras. What I find remarkable is that as the car smashes into the fencing, the grandstand rises as one, cell phones out, taking pictures of the crash. A bit ghoulsih really.
SHR Modding
25th October 2022, 21:05
‘craig, I’m not sure why the confines of an oval would make these sorts of crashes worse? Is it because of the higher speeds, less braking zones, more crowded tracks with more cars going side by side, the banking, or the safety fence design?’
All of the above. What Craig said doesn’t mean that serious crashes don’t or can’t happen on road courses. Just that they’re less likely and also less common
AlanD
26th October 2022, 3:57
SHR, the only thing I left out of my list of possible reasons was that oval drivers are less skilled. Please note, I am not putting that forward as a reason, only suggesting that someone might have claimed that.
Craig didn’t say serious crashes couldn’t happen on race circuits or road tracks, but did say the crashes on ovals made the crashes worse, and I don’t think that is true. You are saying crashes are more common on ovals, and I’m not convinced that is true either.
There are more cars in an Indycar race than an F1, and the shorter track means the cars are more densely packed together and you are more likely to have the leaders passing backmarkers, the races are generally longer than an F1 race, and the top speed of the cars is a little higher than F1, so that may lead to a perception that crashes are more common in Indycar, but that is not because of racing on ovals.
I suppose ovals don’t have slow corners, so crashes in the corners tend to be high speed ones, wheras F1 seems to have most of its collisions in low speed corners where drivers try to dive inside someone else. On the other hand, ovals don’t have drivers following a racing line and squeezing out other cars as they switch from left hander to right hander. Drivers going side by side through a corner gets the F1 commentator very excited, so it is clerly a rarity.
jff
25th October 2022, 7:19
I hope for McLaren that Haas doesn’t see that tweet with photos of a damaged car.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
25th October 2022, 11:28
Haha!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th October 2022, 20:55
Indeed, very dangerous to make such a tweet with haas lurking around!
Bob C.
25th October 2022, 7:50
Maybe it’s just me being dumb (I am said to have form on this), but just what is he actually saying here? That all agree on which opinion? Is he agreeing with Haas, or with his own team? iSuggesting that Haas and his own team in reality are of one opinion? Suggesting that all teams are united against Haas, so “all” is “all other nine” ?
Yours most befuddled.
oweng (@oweng)
25th October 2022, 9:12
What a lovely image and thread that is about the young girl. And shows exactly why visible representation at the top levels is so important.
slowmo (@slowmo)
25th October 2022, 9:27
It’s hard not to support Haas after Steiner did make claims earlier in the year that they seemed to be the only team being pulled up for debris and you then have 2 examples in one race where they were not even looked at by the stewards. It’s unfortunate for Alonso but I don’t see overturning the penalty as the correct course of action, you should change the rule of you don’t think the interpretation is right so it doesn’t happen in future. I didn’t see Alonso or Alpine campaigning against the black and orange flags Haas were given so clearly they had no problem with the rules in this area previously.
MichaelN
25th October 2022, 11:18
Agreed, if this had been the stewards’ own doing it’d be fair to call it petty, but Haas has a huge point here.
If anyone still doubted that the FIA treats big teams different from small teams, it was demonstrated beyond doubt in Austin. This double standard was even admitted by the FIA in their bogus attempt to explain away Pérez’ similar issue.
Hopefully someone asks the FIA race director about this unsporting double standard. In particular about Red Bull, seeing as how in Japan they were able to instantly penalize Leclerc the second it could benefit Red Bull. Why wait 10 laps to penalize Pérez in Austin?
John T
25th October 2022, 14:00
I also agree. I believe Haas was forced to pit in Canada, Hungary and Singapore. Forcing them to loose points. The protest is about equality to the rules for everybody.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th October 2022, 14:25
Onl Ferrari RB and Merc can run cars with bits dangling off, just look at Perez running a disintegrating wing.
Masi come back please, Wittich is easily worse than you.
Sviat
25th October 2022, 10:22
The only mistake Alonso made in his statement is that F1 is a sport. It’s not. F1 is a show.
PMP
26th October 2022, 13:12
That can be argued about any popular sport.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th October 2022, 11:19
Important how? Clear-cut case, justified sanction, pointless appeal.
Not a dumb, but a necessary rule, so an entirely justified penalty.
More than five years after the 2017 Malaysian GP cooldown lap collision with his future teammate Seb, Lance still fails to notice drivers directly around or behind him occasionally.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
25th October 2022, 17:20
The car was judged to be unsafe with only one mirror in the race. That would warrant a black flag but it didn’t happen.
The flapping mirror and the flapping endplate both deserved a black and orange flag in the race, it didn’t happen.
To retrospectively give a penalty to one car and not the other is a bias IMO or if penalise one penalise both or neither.
What Alonso is appealing though is the appeal by Haas was made passed the time it should of to be valid.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
25th October 2022, 17:22
What Alonso is appealing though is the protest by Haas was made passed the time it should of to be valid.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
25th October 2022, 12:49
sorry Alonso – most of us are waiting to find out if there is still a sport called Formula 1. Apparently, the FIA and Red Bull will make an announcement to inform everyone if that’s still the case. After that, points won’t matter – it’ll be a communist sport where everyone will share the same points and victories.
Tyler
26th October 2022, 15:26
With all due respect to Fernando… where was this protest and statements when a championship was stolen last year. Didn’t he just say… sometimes you get unlucky or something like that?
If a penalty for a 7th place finish bugs him this much that he is judging the whole sport saying it’s an important judgement day and all that… feels a bit hypocritical.
PMP
27th October 2022, 12:30
“It’s one of those rare times in sport, that I feel we are all on the same page and share the same opinion towards rules and regulations”
Alonso is in a bubble. I’ve read a lot of comments by writers who considered the penalty to be fair, even though they would have loved Alonso get a prize for his amazing race.