Latest news with #MonacoF1GP
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New F1 wing rules are talk of pit lane in Spain but McLaren still out in front
All the talk in Spain this week has been about the potential impact of the FIA's clampdown on the flexing of front wings and the governing body's hope this might close up the pecking order on the grid. Certainly those chasing the dominant McLaren were hopeful that might be the case. The technical regulation was imposed as teams look to push the boundaries of the rules, with a flex in the wing under load affording the maximum downforce in corners. In order to maintain a level playing field, the wings must now pass a deflection test measuring the leeway of flex in the wing. This has been reduced from 15mm to 10mm. Advertisement Related: Lewis Hamilton labels talk of strained relationship with Ferrari engineer as 'BS' Such is the minutiae that engineers and regulators adore, but where it matters is in racing terms. The adjustment was brought in over concerns that McLaren were exploiting it to their advantage. The FIA decided to impose a reset but the front wing is such an integral part of the car and it allowed time to develop the new models until now, the ninth round of the season. Red Bull have intimated their doubts over McLaren's wing legality front and rear. The regulations on the rear wing were tightened for the Chinese GP and McLaren still emerged on top. Their team principal Andrea Stella had been bullish that the changes would have no effect on the strengths of their car and believed it meant their rivals were focused on the wrong things. Then there are teams such as Ferrari, who have not exploited the potential advantages as much as other squads and who may hope to make gains by their rivals losing a little. Team principal Fred Vasseur admitted they had been working 'for ages' on what he considered might be a 'game-changer'. Advertisement There is also the consideration that it may affect tyre degradation, given it is a key part of the airflow over the car. This is an area where McLaren have had their biggest advantage, able to push harder and longer on their tyres, a strength which will be particularly notable on the high temperature and high-speed Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya which puts a heavy load through the rubber. Whether this is the case will not be truly discernible until the race and the teams put in a full stint in the blazing sunshine on a circuit that offers the ideal test bed to ascertain how these changes have panned out. McLaren's Lando Norris, who won at the last round in Monaco and now trails his teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri by just three points, was convinced the changes would have no effect on McLaren and indeed the team had already debuted their new version of the wing in practice at Imola. Related: Lando Norris wins Monaco F1 GP to close gap on championship leader Piastri Advertisement Certainly in first practice they appeared to have nonchalantly shrugged off the changes. Norris was once more comfortably quickest, over three-tenths clear of Max Verstappen in second with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in third and fourth for Ferrari, with Piastri fifth. Verstappen, the defending champion, has already noted he did not expect the changes to make a major difference to the Red Bull and his team principal Christian Horner said he believed it was too early to tell if there had been any impact on other teams. 'The change is reasonably subtle, but it is reasonably significant,' he said. 'Now, whether it's a net or same effect for each of the teams is difficult to tell. Still early days but the net effect to us has been rather small.' By the end of second practice the pecking order however remained very familiar – Piastri over two-tenths clear of the Mercedes of George Russell, Verstappen third, Norris fourth and Leclerc fifth, suggesting it is very much plus ça change in Spain and leaving McLaren with a firm hold on the championship.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
‘Move with the times': F1 team principals call for Monaco track change
Formula One team principals have called for layout changes to be considered at the Monaco Grand Prix to address the inability of cars to overtake after efforts to enliven the race with mandatory pit stops fell flat on Sunday. McLaren's Lando Norris took victory in Monte Carlo and was, despite the two pit-stop rule, in control throughout, Indeed only two passes were made on track across all 78 laps and drivers including Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finished fourth, and Mercedes' George Russell, who was 11th, dismissed the pit-stop rule change as all but pointless. Advertisement The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, believed the most important change that was required was to alter the layout to create one area where overtaking was at least feasible. Related: 'We were almost doing Mario Kart': Verstappen and Russell slate Monaco F1 GP pit stops 'The fundamental problem is you cannot overtake here. The cars are so big now that you just don't have a chance to get alongside,' he said. 'It's circuit specific, we've known that, it's been on the calendar for 72 years. Everything has to move with the times ultimately. 'It's an iconic and historic circuit but if you look at how Monaco has changed, how much land they've reclaimed into the sea, I don't think you'd need to do too much. There just needs to be one area where you can have an overtake and everybody knows that coming here the race was pretty much done on Saturday. We've introduced another dynamic with the pit stop which ultimately for the top 10, other than the retirement, nobody really changed position.' Advertisement The race was marked by the leading teams matching each other through the pit stops and the absence of a safety car or red flag to bring an element of chance into proceedings. While in the midfield, teams applied teamwork between drivers to create pit window gaps that involved deliberately driving slowly to the infuriation of others who, with an inability to overtake, were left impotent in a train on track. Very few were satisfied with the outcome. Norris said it had created jeopardy by the risk of mere fortune deciding the result rather than in the form of actual racing. 'There's not been any more overtaking here. I thought that was what was wanted,' he said. 'Now you just give people opportunity by luck, by waiting for a red flag, waiting for a safety car. You aren't getting a more deserved winner in the end of things.' The race organisers, the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), believe that changing the track layout is all but impossible but Norris's team principal, Andrea Stella, suggested it was worth bringing into the equation. 'We should praise the fact that Formula One and the FIA made an attempt to improve racing in Monaco,' he said. 'The main limitation remains the fact that you cannot overtake and this is quite structural as a limitation and I am not sure exactly how this can be modified just simply by imposing a certain number of pit stops. Advertisement 'I'm not sure there's anything that can be done from a track layout point of view, to be honest I've never thought of this aspect but maybe there's something that we should consider.' In what might be considered an unusual show of solidarity that may make F1 take notice, the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff concurred with his rivals. He suggested that imposing a minimum lap time might be feasible to prevent driving unnecessarily slowly and discussing altering the layout with the organisers. 'What we can look at is to create some more specific regulations that there's only a maximum of back-off that you can have,' he said. 'Does it improve the overtaking? I don't think that's feasible. We need to talk also with maybe ACM here. Is there anything we can change on the layout, if you could in a city limited by mountains and the sea.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
‘We were almost doing Mario Kart': Verstappen and Russell slate Monaco F1 GP pit stops
Max Verstappen and George Russell both issued a blunt disapproval of Formula One's attempts to enliven the Monaco Grand Prix by imposing mandatory pit stops. Verstappen compared it unfavourably to Mario Kart, and Russell dismissed the policy as having failed and the race an irrelevance to an audience that were 'sipping champagne on a yacht'. F1 had hoped enforcing two pit stops would make for some jeopardy and create at least strategic interest in the 78-lap race through the narrow streets of Monte Carlo but it failed to do so. Nor did it address the fundamental problem which was once more painfully clear in the race on Sunday that modern F1 cars are too big and too heavy to pass one another in Monaco. No overtakes on track were achieved in the entire race. Advertisement Related: Lando Norris wins Monaco F1 GP to close gap on championship leader Piastri Verstappen was leading for the final third but only because he had yet to take his final pit stop and when he did so Lando Norris, who had largely been in front from pole, claimed the victory. 'I get it, but I don't think it has worked,' Verstappen said. 'You can't race here anyway so it doesn't matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops. Even at the end I was in the lead, but my tyres were completely gone, and you still can't pass. Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'. If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you're on the most recent version. In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications. Turn on sport notifications. 'We were almost doing Mario Kart. Then we have to install bits on the car – maybe you can throw bananas around? I don't know, slippery surface?' Advertisement Russell, who had qualified out of position in 14th place after an electrical problem was equally dismissive as he trawled round, stuck behind the slow moving Williams cars who were on a different strategy but which he was powerless to pass and was reduced to doing so illegally and taking a penalty. He suggested the entire format of the meeting should be changed to a qualifying weekend, given the contest over a single lap usually presents a gripping contest. 'The two-stop clearly did not work at all,' he said. 'For all of the drivers, qualifying is the most exhilarating moment of the weekend. Do we accept that there should be no race and it's a qualifying race? 'You do one on Saturday, one on Sunday and the guy who qualifies on pole gets some points and gets a little trophy. The one on Sunday gets some more points, because that's what we love most. I think that's what you guys enjoy watching the most. 'And 99% of the other people in Monaco are here sipping champagne on a yacht, so they don't really care.'
