In the round-up: McLaren will remain “up there” at the front of the field following their recent upgrade breakthrough, believes George Russell.
In brief
Russell expects McLaren to remain in the fight at the front
Mercedes driver Russell does not expect that McLaren’s performance at Silverstone where they fought Max Verstappen for victory to be just a flash in the pan.
McLaren qualified second and third behind Verstappen with Lando Norris finishing second behind the Red Bull driver. Russell was unable to pass Oscar Piastri for fourth in the closing laps. Russell says he expects McLaren to be in the fight at the front going forward.
“I see no reason why they shouldn’t be up there now,” he said. “We’ve come from the Red Bull Ring, which is a very different circuit to Silverstone, and they were a small step ahead of us on both occasions.
“I don’t know how they’ve found this much performance. It’s been quite surprising. We don’t tend to focus too much on our competitors, we just need to keep focusing on ourselves. I guess it gives inspiration that it can be possible, but we need to try and turn it up and we need to find more performance and quick.”
Sargeant confident qualifying results will improve
Williams driver Logan Sargeant says he is confident that his qualifying results will improve as he continues into his rookie season.
Sargeant headed into his first year in F1 describing qualifying as his “bread and butter”, but team mate Alexander Albon has out-qualified him at all ten rounds so far and has reached the final phase of qualifying four times, while Sargeant has only got as far as Q2 on two occasions. However, Sargeant says he will get better in qualifying as he gains confidence in his driving.
“It’s becoming more natural, but it’s still forced at times and that’s never ideal,” Sargeant said in response to a question from RaceFans. “I feel like as my driving continues to get better, it’s going to come back to me.
“It’s not something I’m concerned about because I’ve done it through my whole career that, in my opinion, I’ve been really good in qualifying, so it’ll come back to me. As I start to drive the car better, it’ll all just naturally come.”
MP Motorsport returns to FREC after Van ‘t Hoff tragedy
MP Motorsport have confirmed that their Formula Regional European Championship squad will return to the series for this weekend’s round at Paul Ricard.
The Dutch team did not participate in the previous round of the FREC at Mugello, following the tragic death of driver Dilano Van ‘t Hoff in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps the previous weekend. The team have confirmed they will participate this weekend in Paul Ricard, stating in a post on social media that their FREC team would rejoin the paddock for the upcoming races.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Hunt’s F1 apathy and Prost’s cunning: the ‘different beasts’ at McLaren (Motor Sport)
‘Then-McLaren chief mechanic Gary Anderson reveals that there was more than meets the eye, suggesting that Prost deliberately flat-spotted the McLaren’s tyres during a test before handing over to Kevin Cogan in trademark calculating style; a minor act of sabotage, far from unknown in the world of Formula 1, which paved the way for Prost’s four championships.’
Interview with McLaren Applied Chairman Nick Fry (The Engineer)
‘Motorsport is still the biggest segment, with the company providing engine control units (ECUs) for Formula One and several other leading race series. In F1, the standardised ECUs monitor and control essential functions such as engine management, power delivery and telemetry, as well as things like transmission, suspension, energy recovery system (ERS) and drag reduction system (DRS). The devices have clocked more than 1 million kilometres on track without a known failure since McLaren Applied started supplying ECUs to the whole grid in 2008. That F1 deal was recently extended out to 2030.’
F2 teams react to Andretti Autosport’s desire to join F1’s support series (Formula Scout)
Trident F2 team manager Giacomo Ricci: ‘They are more than welcome and it would be nice to have a big name in the series. And I’m sure that it would be a great challenge also for them to join us.’
PHM Racing by Charouz confirms Woohyun Shin for remainder of 2023 F3 season (Formula 3)
‘Woohyun Shin will race with PHM Racing by Charouz for the rest of the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season the team has confirmed. The South Korean driver joins the German outfit replacing McKenzy Cresswell, who had driven in the Spielberg and Silverstone Rounds. Prior to his move to PHM, Shin had been competing in GB3, where his best finish of the season is P4. He also raced in the Formula Regional Middle Eastern Championship earlier in the year.’
NASCAR teams dig deep for sponsors (Sports Business Journal)
‘At the 2005 Daytona 500, approximately 60% of primary sponsors on Cup Series cars were part of the Fortune 500; by 2023, that had fallen to around 20%. Among the departures over that time: Caterpillar, Dollar General, Farmers Insurance, GoDaddy, Home Depot, Jimmy John’s, Lowe’s, Mars, Mountain Dew, Oscar Mayer and Subway.’
‘But Jones’ 24-karat faucet now seems peanuts compared to the sums Miami Mayor Francis Suarez — under investigation by the county ethics commission after the Miami Herald disclosed shady conduct — may have been inappropriately earning and accepting as undisclosed gifts. A $34,000 Formula 1 VIP weekend he now says he’ll pay for, but doesn’t show receipts.’
21 questions with Juan Manuel Correa (Juan Manuel Correa via YouTube)
F2 racer Correa answers some very frank questions from fans in a rowing boat on the middle of a pond.
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 to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Wizardofoz, Icemangrins, Bill Niehoff and Gruntr18!
On this day in motorsport
- 70 years ago today Alberto Ascari dominated the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for Ferrari, winning by a minute
