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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Formula 1 should look to American sport for guidance on capping driver salaries as debate about expanding the cost cap heats up.
Drivers are opposed to moves to cap their earnings as part of a broader push to keep team spending in check. A driver salary cap would be separate from the general cost cap, which currently excludes each team’s three biggest earners.
On Friday in Azerbaijan several drivers spoke out against the idea, claiming it would be unfair to limit their earnings when the sport is bringing in more money than ever before on the back of a popularity boom. Sebastian Vettel described it as a strategy to boost team bottom lines.
Continue reading on RACERGeorge Russell is calling for talks with Formula 1 to find a way to reduce the propensity for porpoising with the current generation of cars after a painful afternoon at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Mercedes in particular has struggled with aerodynamic bouncing for most of the year, and although upgrades brought to the Spanish Grand Prix facilitated a strong weekend for the reigning constructors’ champion in Barcelona, the porpoising has returned with a vengeance in Baku.
The problem is particularly bad in Azerbaijan, where the cars are flat out for more than 1.3 miles down the front straight, the longest single blast in the sport. The faster the cars go, the more energized the ground-effect floor becomes, sucking the cars closer to the ground until they bottom out, which causes the bouncing.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc took top spot in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Sergio Perez. The Monegasque trailed the Mexican in the first hour but snatched top spot in the late afternoon with a 0.248s margin.
Leclerc’s Ferrari was running with a much skinnier wing compared to FP1, and it showed in the sector times. Whereas earlier on Friday he was dominated in the first sector, by the end of the day he was quickest of all in that split — and without sacrificing performance in the slow and twisty middle sector, where his advantage was at its largest. In fact he was quicker than Perez’s Red Bull through all three splits by the end of the afternoon as well as at the speed trap.
But the day wasn’t flawless for Leclerc, who in the final five minutes complained this his engine was losing power, though the team radioed back that it was nothing to be worried about.
Continue reading on RACERSergio Perez topped a blustery first practice hour at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc. Perez, who won in Baku last season, set a best lap of 1m45.476s to beat Leclerc by 0.127s.
The Red Bull Racing and Ferrari cars were generating lap time in dramatically different ways. Perez was fastest of all in the straightforward first sector, but Leclerc made is all back with a purple time in the second split, which comprises 11 of the track’s 20 turns.
The last sector, comprising the flat-out run from Turn 16 to the first corner, went Perez’s way by 0.2s, setting the classification in his favor.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton has welcomed FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem walking back his comments stating that drivers shouldn’t be using their F1 platform to advocate social and environmental causes.
Ben Sulayem singled out Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Lando Norris for using Formula 1 to “impose [their] beliefs” on the audience in an interview published last week, but in a tweet on Thursday he clarified that he believed the sport could be a force for positive change.
“As a driver, I have always believed in sport as a catalyst of progress in society,” he wrote. “That is why promoting sustainability, diversity and inclusion is a key priority of my mandate. In the same way, I value the commitment of all drivers and champions for a better future.”
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