In the round-up: Red Bull junior and reserve driver Liam Lawson demonstrated a 2011 Red Bull RB7 F1 car around the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst ahead of the Bathurst 12 Hours
In brief
Lawson demos 2011 RB7 at Mount Panorama
Red Bull junior and reserve driver Liam Lawson demonstrated a 2011 Red Bull RB7 F1 car around the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst ahead of the Bathurst 12 Hours event.
Lawson, who came third in last year’s Formula 2 championship and drove in three Friday practice runs for Red Bull and AlphaTauri, drove the car that took Sebastian Vettel to his second world championship title and Red Bull’s second consecutive constructors’ championship. Lawson completed multiple laps in the V8-powered car prior to the pole position shootout for the race.
Ericsson quickest as IndyCar test concludes
Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Marcus Ericsson ended the second and final day quickest in IndyCar’s sole pre-season test at The Thermal Club circuit in California.Ericsson set the overall fastest time of the test with a 1’38.422, a tenth of a second quicker than Christian Lundgaard with Kyle Kirkwood third-fastest.
Marcus Armstrong was again the fastest rookie in the field, going fifth-fastest ahead of reigning champion Will Power. The season will begin in St. Petersburg on Sunday 5th March.
Ngatoa wins on FROC return
Kaleb Ngatoa took victory in the first of three races at Hampton Park in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship leading up to the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Ngatoa, who came second in the series formerly known as the Toyota Racing Series in 2021, took the lead from pole sitter Laurens van Hoepen at the start, leading all 20 laps to win the race. Van Hoepen finished second, while Callum Hedge claimed the final podium place to take the lead of the championship from Charlie Wurz, who finished eighth.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Searching for... Oscar's First Day (McLaren)
"Join our new driver Oscar Piastri as he experiences his first-ever day at McLaren."
Daniel Ricciardo's hilarious late-night interview (SMH)
"Daniel Ricciardo has hilariously attributed the explosion in popularity of Formula 1 in the USA to his 'good looks' in an interview with late-night TV host Stephen Colbert."
60 Years of Ford in Formula 1 (Jalopnik)
"The Blue Oval is back in F1 with a new deal with Red Bull, but this isn’t the iconic automaker's first time in the Formula 1 circus."
No reduction in sight for Formula Ford’s minimum age in UK (Formula Scout)
"Formula Ford is set to continue having a minimum age for entry in the United Kingdom of 16 years old, which keeps it above Formula 4. While other countries such as New Zealand enable drivers as young as 14 to race in the wingless entry-level FF1600 cars, and first-generation F4 cars built from 2014 to 2021 can also be raced by 14-year-olds in many areas of the world, the UK maintains higher age requirements for safety reasons."
Jimmy, Jim Farley and Sergio Pérez Race Go-Karts in Partnership with Ford (Tonight Show via YouTube)
"Jimmy and Ford President and CEO Jim Farley go head-to-head against Formula 1 driver Sergio 'Checo' Pérez in an epic go-kart race. "
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Building solid foundations. 🤝@alo_oficial | @lance_stroll pic.twitter.com/pq4BToDwTG
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) February 4, 2023
🔵🔴 merci @PSG_inside pic.twitter.com/mNROVA2Cu0
— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) February 4, 2023
Me & my taxi 🚕 driver @valtteribottas pic.twitter.com/QVc029a3Ca
— 周冠宇 | Zhou Guanyu 🇨🇳 (@ZhouGuanyu24) February 4, 2023
Best race car launch I ever saw, 09.30 wheel car into Silverstone pitlane for photography/speak with journos. 9.59 waiting at end of pitlane for Silverstone Syd to ok the green light at 10am. Stowe corner glorious and inviting in the sun at the end of Hangar straight. Thrash car
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) February 4, 2023
Ran through the checklist. ✅
More to be done before St. Pete. 🧡 pic.twitter.com/L5orWL044F— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) February 4, 2023
Loved working in this series. So many good drivers and engineers/mechanics/PRs came through it . So many great friends still https://t.co/bAaf7Mch0u
— Lee McKenzie (@LeeMcKenzieTV) February 4, 2023
TV direction is fire today #B12hr pic.twitter.com/cfcenimQzO
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) February 4, 2023
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Comment of the day
With Ferrari hiring Frederic Vasseur as new team principal, MichaelN is confident the team have got the right person for the job…
I think people discount Vasseur because his last couple of years at Sauber have been fairly low key. But he has a strong record in motorsport and, perhaps crucially, has business savvy that should serve him well when it comes to managing a big operation like the Scuderia.
Whether or not Vasseur can put the right people in the right place to make Ferrari win a title remains to be seen, but one thing has become certain since 2018: the gamble on giving Binotto the full control he so vocally desired did not produce the promised results.
MichaelN
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Tom Watson and Ian Hayward!
SteveR (@stever)
5th February 2023, 0:39
The sound of that engine at Mt. Panorama sends shivers up my spine. I remember the first F1 race I attended, a street race, and the sound of the NA engines echoing off the buildings as I neared the track made me start running to get there sooner. We’re missing a big part of F1 now, IMHO, the thrill of hearing those engines doing impossible revs and wondering how it was even possible they could run like that. I certainly wouldn’t mind having V10’s revving to 18,000 rpm again…….
dot_com (@dot_com)
5th February 2023, 1:48
Agreed. Just the sound of the those engines is/was such a huge part of F1. Hearing them screaming round a track in person is just something else.
Alesici
5th February 2023, 8:46
Also, great F1 commentary by Chad Neylon and Garth Tander there. Maybe Crofty could take a leaf out of their book?
S
5th February 2023, 11:35
These older V8 cars get a better reception doing a short demo on their own than the current ones do in a race with 20 cars.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th February 2023, 9:32
Much better way to launch a livery than whatever Red Bull were doing in New York.
S
5th February 2023, 11:37
Is there a livery difference between this car and the new one?
Maybe this was the reveal, and they just had the media party in New York…
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th February 2023, 17:41
Someone in an anorak can answer that. But I’m not sure what Bybit were up to in 2011, and that year’s car didn’t have Oracle down the side.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th February 2023, 6:40
Zhou’s tweet image seems familiar, so it must be from about or nearly a year ago.
Mr Squiggle
5th February 2023, 11:05
On conrad straight. the sound that RB11 makes heading towards the camera vs the sound just when it reaches level with the camera’s position is an amazing contrast.
Alan Dove
5th February 2023, 13:59
That Formula Ford story sounds more about protecting drivers who compete in it ‘year-in-and-year-out’ from young big spending hotshots with no long-term aspirations to to hang about in FF than anything to do with ‘safety’. Not necessarily a bad thing. For long-term sustainability the further you can be from the F1 ladder the better.