In the round-up: Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said his driver should not have been blamed for his collision with Daniel Ricciardo during the Safety Car period in the Chinese Grand Prix.
In brief
No blame for Safety Car crash – Krack
Lance Stroll ran into Ricciardo during the first Safety Car restart in Sunday’s race. The contact left Stroll’s car damage, ended Ricciardo’s race and also broke part of Oscar Piastri’s diffuser.
The stewards held Stroll responsible and gave him a 10-second time penalty as well as two endorsement points on his licence. However Krack said no blame should have been apportioned.
“If you have to brake in the last seconds, you know how it goes sometimes if you have someone in front of you,” he told Channel 4. “These days passenger cars are stopping for us, in Formula 1 the car does not do that.
“So I don’t think that there is anyone to blame there. It’s these things that happen when when you have a Safety Car restart. We will have a look at it and try to learn from it.”Zhou support “beautiful to see” – Norris
Lando Norris was pleased by the reception Zhou Guanyu received in Shanghai last weekend, the first time a Chinese Formula 1 driver has raced on home ground.
“The fans are always good here,” said the McLaren driver. “They’re passionate. There’s was a lot of them, obviously. The support Zhou gets here is beautiful to see.”
“Hopefully after this year I’ve got a few more [fans] and it’s only my second time here,” he added, “so again next year maybe even more.”
Ferrari admits it should have split strategies
Ferrari’s World Endurance Championship team regretted their decision not to split the strategies between its cars when rain fell during last weekend’s Six Hours of Imola. Their cars swept the top three plans on the grid but finished outside the podium places after all three cars delayed their switch to wet weather tyres when rain fell during the race.
“When the rain came, the race was affected by the mistake of not varying the strategies among our three cars that had led up to that point,” said Ferrari’s global head of endurance Antonello Coletta. “The result at the end of the Six Hours of Imola was not as expected, considering the great potential displayed by our 499Ps in the preceding days.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
‘I have nothing to hide,’ says motorsport boss Mohammed Ben Sulayem (Arab News)
'I wish it was only an accusation, but I was already convicted in the court of public opinion.'
McLaren can ‘reach Red Bull’ within 12 months, insists Andrea Stella (The Guardian)
'We lost some ground because we gained so much ground before while they were not developing.'
Early signs point to largest Long Beach crowd since unification (Racer)
'The preliminary report indicates that the weekend resulted in an attendance figure of about 194,000 which would be a record for the modern era (since the 2008 IndyCar – Champ Car series merger).'
Testing notebook: How did each team fare after three days of running in Barcelona? (F3)
'Arguably the happiest team at the end of the test, Campos were impressive in both qualifying and race trim in Barcelona, with even their team principal Adrian Campos Jnr admitting his surprise at their form.'
'Season nine (2022) marked another pivotal year for the all-electric championship, reducing its emissions per race by 41% compared to its season five (2018-19) baseline, while increasing participation of the education-based gender diversity programme FIA Girls on Track by 140%.'
Extended race highlights - Grand Prix of Long Beach (IndyCar via YouTube)
Extended highlights - 2024 Six Hours of Imola (World Endurance Championship via YouTube)
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@IndyCar is crazyyyyyyyy !!
I enjoyed it so much 😜💪🏻
— Théo Pourchaire (@TPourchaire) April 22, 2024
|@Max33Verstappen was faster than the drivers who finished second, third and fourth in the #ChineseGP – @LandoNorris, @schecoperez and @Charles_Leclerc – on every single lap of the race.
(Stat spotted by @karunchandhok.)#F1 #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/JHzSptBTzc
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Comment of the day
Does Max Verstappen actually enjoy the level of domination he currently has, asks Simon:
For the first time in a long while, I just watched the YouTube highlights from Sky. This was partly due to not being around to watch sprint race or qualifying on Saturday, but also partly due to the inevitability of Sunday’s result.
There are some decent battles that go on during any given race throughout the field, but the near-certainty of the winner just makes it feel dull and uninspiring. Red Bull has created a perfect storm around Max that means on most weekends he has no competition whatsoever, especially from his team mate. In previous eras, even in periods of great domination, there were always quite a few races where the winner might come from either of the dominant cars or a rival suited to that track.
I do wonder how Max really feels about it all. The guy loves to race, real or virtual, and surely he can’t be happy with needing to do little more than show up to win week after week? He is undoubtedly one of the best of all time, but the complete lack of competition takes the sheen off it slightly, particularly when compared to 2021 (which was epic).
Simon (@Simon999)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Wonderduck, Hydro, Rylan Ziegler, Kadir Issa and Benh!
On this day in motorsport
- On this day in 1989 Gerhard Berger survived a shocking, fiery crash at Tamburello which stopped the San Marino Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna won the restarted race but fell out with McLaren team mate Alain Prost
Applebook
23rd April 2024, 0:25
Of course Stroll wasn’t at fault. He never is.
No driver will ever improve if he is never held accountable. Stroll has gone backwards since since about his second or third season. He now makes more unacceptable mistakes than he ever did at a teenager!
Simple
23rd April 2024, 0:52
I don’t think admitting Lance needs driver aids for inattentive drivers is the defence Krack thinks it is
ludewig
23rd April 2024, 7:59
Indeed, I thought the same thing.
Mark (@mrcento)
24th April 2024, 3:50
I actually thought he was being quite clever there saying that, pretty much went out and ‘defended’ Lance by saying it wouldn’t have happened if the car had Tesla autopilot, which you can probably read as ‘Yeah he’s a dummy, but his dad pays the cheques, including mine, so read between the lines, the guy needs driver aids’.
Chris Horton
23rd April 2024, 1:12
Pull the other one, Mike.
David B
23rd April 2024, 1:18
Well he would say that, wouldn’t he.
Riker (@corsair)
23rd April 2024, 1:41
So Krack just confirming that STR is a spoilt brat? He’s like that parent that’ll always say their kid didn’t, and doesn’t, do anything wrong. Sigh.
Yaru (@yaru)
23rd April 2024, 10:40
I don’t really blame him. He’s gotta say that to keep his job.
Chris P
23rd April 2024, 1:52
For transparent journalism it should have been noted that STRs dad signs Krack’s paycheck. Don’t blame the guy for knowing which side his bread is buttered.
Edvaldo
23rd April 2024, 1:52
When he underperforms with an obviously competitive car, it’s not his fault, when he causes collisions that are obviously his fault, it’s not his fault.
Can this guy make mistakes? Because if he can’t he shouldn’t be this bad.
Nick T.
23rd April 2024, 2:44
Krack’s defense of Stroll is getting embarrassing. The funny thing is this Ricciardo was one of the main guests at the wedding of Lance’s sister.
Riker (@corsair)
23rd April 2024, 3:11
That’s because Ricciardo is good friends with Scotty James (Australian snowboarder).
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2024, 5:41
Nick T. Although I assume the wedding happened at least a little while ago or long before this most recent incident between him & Lance.
notagrumpyfan
23rd April 2024, 6:59
Why is that ‘funny’?
or even remotely related to Krack’s comment.
Of course Krack’s comments are ridiculous; blaming Stroll’s accident on the lack of driver aids.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 13:44
I guess he’s referring to the fact stroll hit ricciardo in the last race, ruining ricciardo’s race.
David BR (@david-br)
23rd April 2024, 3:10
Re. COTD. Honestly? Verstappen doesn’t seem bothered at all that he has no competition for the wins or any real racing to do. He’s been in another operating mode since Spa 2022, confident that the car he’s driving is good enough to win almost every single race. The choice for him is whether he’d prefer the constant buzz of winning every race and ‘knowing’ he is indeed the best driver on the grid (which most of the drivers probably think) or the hectic emotions of a 2021-style season where the racing may be exhilarating but winning isn’t assured and defeat is a possibility? I suspect every driver including Verstappen would ultimately pick the former.
My prediction for this year was that MV wins every single race bar those where mechanical failure or some racing incident stops him. Still seems by far the most likely outcome. We’ll see by the end of the year where that leaves Formula 1. Completely demoralised with fans draining away, I imagine.
notagrumpyfan
23rd April 2024, 7:07
https://www.racefans.net/2023/06/22/i-understand-if-people-get-bored-i-want-good-competition-too-verstappen/
“It’s nice sometimes to have good competition”
“So for sure I hope that more teams can get together”
And on the comparison between 2021 and a dominating car:
“Honestly, I enjoyed of course ’21 but I also enjoyed the way ’22 went”
But of course that’s all just the horse’s mouth ;)
S
23rd April 2024, 7:23
The same as Hamilton saying all those things in previous dominant years, but still continuing to sign with the dominant team…
They’re just words.
Talby (@maichael)
23rd April 2024, 11:23
Putting yourself in the best possible position to win the title and wanting to face decent competition are not mutually exclusive.
Isn’t it in the nature of a competitor to not only want to win but wish to do so having had to fight for it?
That doesn’t mean they’re going to undermine their chances of winning by signing with a less competitive team. That would be silly.
S
23rd April 2024, 12:47
Being in a dominant position provides the option to choose, however, and to prioritise one over the other.
Either the success is more important, or the competition is.
In modern F1, only Schumacher has actually made the move from a dominant position as current champion to a lower team, back in the competition that drivers crave.
Hamilton and Verstappen have stopped at just talking about it…
David BR (@david-br)
24th April 2024, 2:37
I take Verstappen’s comments about ‘liking’ competition with the same pinch of salt as Hamilton’s in the past too. But that was my point. As for Schumacher, it’s a bit of a tenuous argument given he didn’t really ‘move’ from a dominant team to a less dominant one: he left Formula 1 altogether for 3 years after losing the title 2-years running at Ferrari. When he returned in 2010, did he have the option of returning to a better team than Mercedes? (It’s not a rhetorical question).
S
24th April 2024, 3:28
I was actually referring to Schumacher’s move from Benetton to Ferrari…
But as for his comeback from retirement – I’m sure he could have found a seat just about anywhere if he’d really wanted it and been patient enough for the right opening to appear. Much like Hamilton now – even if he wasn’t delivering perfect results, he was still a marketing money magnet.
Schumacher + Brawn was an extremely strong pairing considering all they’d achieved together already. It was a fair bet that, together with Merc’s money, the team would do well sooner rather than later. Only a year after Schumacher left, they really did….
Mayrton
23rd April 2024, 7:55
While I understand Max’s wins are a bit more in the face than with his predecessors, basically nothing has changed vs Lewis or Vettel. Surely there was the impression of some competition but no one would doubt that at the end of the year Mercedes would win it and no one would doubt that Vettel would get another one from pole. All streaks of the best man in the best car.
If you then get a Schumacher or Max from time to time, they take it up a notch given they are the category that would also win in the second or third best car because of their consistency, determination and just that bit more talent vs earlier greats. The thing with Schumacher and Max (vs for instance Vettel and Lewis) is that we have seen them doing extraordinary thing before they got the right material and total package. That makes their -later on- domination feel more fair.
With Vettel it was always clear he wouldn’t have won anything without RedBulls domination which is demonstrated by his wins from the front row (90-95%) vs his wins not on the front row (hardly any). He is a partly gifted driver that is horrible in traffic. Lewis is clearly up a notch from Vettel and a deserving WDC, but his total number of titles is exaggerated and due to the Mercedes engine dominance. He didn’t distract that much more from the car as a Rosberg. Mind you if Alonso would have gone to Mercedes back then instead of Lewis, he would be at 8 to 9 WDC by now and Lewis stuck on 1. But that’s F1.
If people are tuning in mainly/mostly to see who wins, F1 hasn’t been the sport for you for over decades.
ludewig
23rd April 2024, 8:05
The biggest difference is all the salty Brits, who got spoiled with Lewis and now have a hard time accepting that they are no longer on top. And because the Brits are dominant in F1 reporting and the like, their saltiness is very visible.
If you are paying attention, the people who complain about F1 now being boring due to Max winning and everyone running away are typically British, like Norris.
David BR (@david-br)
24th April 2024, 2:29
Perhaps its saltiness for some, but for me the same applied when Hamilton was up against Bottas; it was another no contest and left me wanting another driver in the other Mercedes. I’d be happy seeing a top driver in the other Red Bull or a battle between Ferrari/Leclerc and Verstappen – which it briefly seemed like we might get at the start of 2022. Sure, ideally 3+ drivers from 3+ different team competing for the championship would be the ideal. But almost never happens.
Mog
24th April 2024, 8:12
No, disagree.
The issue with dominance, or dissatisfaction with dominance, is universal. Ever listen to other drivers talking about Red Bull and Max? Ferrari drivers for instance make a point of it every race weekend.
You could argue your point of view is unnecessarily biassed against Brits
David (@nvherman)
24th April 2024, 14:29
@ludewig you do realise that this is a British site, don’t you? It may have a .net TLD these days, but it started life as f1fanatic.co.uk.
Emma
23rd April 2024, 10:46
What did you see Max doing before he got the right material that you didn’t see Lewis doing?
Edvaldo
23rd April 2024, 15:54
yeah, that’s curious. In one and a half seasons with Toro Rosso Vettel provided some of the best performances that team ever had, won a race, beat the main team drivers, went to Red Bull and was immediately more competitive than Red Bull had ever been, gave them their fist pole and win and the rest is history.
And Hamilton was also competitive from the go, his Silverstone 2008 win is one of the most dominating wins of the century still, years and years before he sat on a dominant car.
I guess when people want to make a point they just ignore the facts and only consider what fits their narrative.
David (@nvherman)
24th April 2024, 14:39
Are you forgetting that from Hamilton’s very first season in F1, he was in a McLaren that took 8 out of 17 victories, and McLaren would have won the Constructors’ Championhip that year had they not been excluded due to Spygate?
Hamilton has never won a championship in a non-front running car.
For the record, I’m British, and I rate Verstappen far higher than Hamilton.
Edvaldo
24th April 2024, 14:58
And did Max won a championship in a non-front running car?
Even better : did someone ever?
David (@nvherman)
24th April 2024, 14:34
Winning the first race he took part in for Red Bull, the 2016 Spanish GP. When team other than Mercedes had won that season.
cdfemke (@cdfemke)
24th April 2024, 8:04
Agreeing on everything you wrote, except for the fear it might hurt F1 too much. Remember we had Lewis driving a dominant car for 7 years and still the f1 fans stayed
S
24th April 2024, 10:28
Not all fans stayed.
But a lot came back or became newly attracted to F1 for the first time in 2021, once the competition finally became decent.
Now, however, viewers are deserting again. The quality and entertainment value has dropped as a direct result of dominance settling in again.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2024, 5:46
Of course, Krack would defend him at all costs, but this still doesn’t change the fact he was solely to blame due to being inattentive to the road ahead at the wrong moment, without which the ample distance & time would’ve allowed him to easily avoid rear-ending at crawling speeds.
In response to the following part: ”It’s these things that happen when you have a Safety Car restart.”
– Rear-ending behind the SC is far from being a common thing, though.
I hope Stella is right to be optimistic that Mclaren could reach Red Bull Racing within 12 months.
I’d certainly like to be as optimistic as him.
Yellow Baron
23rd April 2024, 13:09
Didn’t the stewards say predominantly? I’d have to agree. When this happens, wether it’s on a race track or on public roads on the highway the further back you are often the less chance you have to avoid it. Ofc ourselves not the same but also similar to stalled cars on the grid normally if the stalled car gets clattered it’s after a few swerves and it’s a car further back. Daniel himself almost hit the back of the car ahead himself, and possibly even gave it a little nudge before stroll hit him. Similar also to Patos incident at long beach too. Even the car behind him, which was not that close, managed to hit him. Infact judging by that, If pato had stopped earlier/in time he would have been hit harder by the car behind.
But can’t expect anyone to come to any of these conclusions it takes too much thought, doesn’t give opportunity to hate on stroll and requires just a slight but deeper thinking :)
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
23rd April 2024, 6:39
someones smoking something.
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd April 2024, 7:43
Lance should go to Daniel to apologize he was in the wrong because no one drives into the back of a driver who stops for a other driver during safetycar.
If not he should get 6 point on his license untill he does ….
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
23rd April 2024, 8:00
Great to see Rossi and DeVries doing well in WEC. Has Ferrari moved their F1 strategists to WEC?
ludewig
23rd April 2024, 9:00
The COTD ignores that Max is not like other drivers, who are merely motivated by winning. Max drove 56 fastest laps during the race, which shows that he is internally motivated and finds satisfaction in getting close to perfection, not just beating the competition.
This is why he is such a phenomenom in the first place.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 13:53
56 fastest laps? I’m not sure what you mean, if you mean he set a fastest lap and then over time improved it 56 times that can’t be, if you see here, this is a great site that shows all laps of all drivers and gaps and such:
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2024/gp/s9218/lap_times/842-821/
And it clearly is way less than 56 lap time improvements.
tielemst
23rd April 2024, 21:07
Not sure, but I think he’s referring to the fact that every one of his laps was faster than that of the other top four drivers.
MichaelN
23rd April 2024, 11:04
So Krack is saying the stewards were wrong? You’d think their embarrassing attempt to out-steward the stewards a day earlier would have made them a bit more hesitant to second guess the stewards again.
It’s tragic to see how so many accomplished men will demean themselves to massage the ego of the Strolls.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
23rd April 2024, 11:45
I suppose “no-one’s to blame” is an improvement on “someone else is to blame” – a step in the right direction towards the blindingly obvious.
NoelyNoel (@noelynoel)
23rd April 2024, 12:52
Re COTD, I’ve been thinking similarly recently too. Showing up every weekend and putting quali lap after quali lap together in the race must lose its shine after a while. There’s nothing boring about driving an F1 car of course, and Max has his fair share of overtakes, but to quote Martin Brundle these are mostly “slam-dunk” passes that nobody has an answer for. He rarely has to battle for positions or the lead, and although I’m sure the constant wins and results are a boost for the ego, I do wonder how one maintains motivation for this weekend after weekend.
Philip (@philipgb)
23rd April 2024, 13:01
I honestly don’t think the bubble Lance Stroll lives in is doing him any favours. I know he’s the bosses son and all, but the complete and utter lack of criticism he gets from the team is never going to help him improve in his areas of weakness if all he has heard all his life is that you’re good, not your fault, you’re doing a great job etc
It’s like The Emperor’s New Clothes. The kids probably been coddled his entire life, he shows brief glimmers of talent in F1 where maybe just maybe if he’d been used to a bit more adversity could have developed into real promise
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 13:56
Yes, agree with this, how does he know when it’s his fault or not and what he has to work on if everything he does is a “good job”?
Tommy Scragend
23rd April 2024, 14:21
Mike’s talking out of his Krack.
CarWars (@maxv)
23rd April 2024, 15:28
if not he can Stroll out of there
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
23rd April 2024, 15:30
Krack needs to get rid off that crack pipe :)
Pete
23rd April 2024, 16:56
“These days passenger cars are stopping for us, in Formula 1 the car does not do that.”
Mine doesn’t but that probably explains why every single time the traffic lights are red I slam into the car in front of me….
bull mello (@bullmello)
23rd April 2024, 21:16
Well said Pete. Krack makes no sense there.
Gimi
23rd April 2024, 21:13
Mike Crack securing another year
Seppo (@helava)
23rd April 2024, 22:29
We’re all just trying to figure out who crashed this hot dog shaped car into the back of Ricciardo.
Craig S
24th April 2024, 13:06
Are you on Krack, Mike?
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
25th April 2024, 13:42
If only Stroll could have his father buy him a place at the head of the line, he would only have to worry about hitting the safety car itself.