After the Hungarian grand prix, the Formula 1 summer break has started, so this week in the premier class of motorsport, it was mainly about next season. It silly season, as the English call the cucumber season, kicked off with the announcement that former world champion Fernando Alonso will succeed former world champion Sebastian Vettel in 2023 with the Aston Martin team. Vettel is retiring.
That set a musical chair in motion. Alonso’s current team Alpine has racing talent Oscar Piastri under contract, and soon announced the team that he would make his debut in Formula 1 next year.
But that hadn’t been counted for Piastri.
Two hours later, the young Australian driver denied on Twitter everything. “This press release was distributed without my permission,” he wrote. “I will not ride for Alpine next year.”
Piastri’s message sparked new speculation. Because if the talent speaks out so clearly against a seat at Alpine, in a sport where only twenty drivers are allowed to race each year, then he must be sure of a place with another team. Which team is that? And who should leave there?
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Calm down
It’s quintessentially Formula 1: a world where the rumor mill is always spinning and a sport so big that fans enjoy every bit of news. And the fact that it is already about next season, will also be because the tension already seems to be almost over this season. Because crazy things have to happen if Max Verstappen doesn’t become world champion.
In the first half of the world championship, things initially went up and down in the classification battle between world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and his main rival Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
Last weekend was exemplary. On Saturday, Verstappen strode through the paddock in the opposite direction of the mixed zone. He kept his helmet on. Verstappen had to calm down after engine problems prevented him from finishing tenth in qualifying. Only fifteen minutes later did he report – dressed in jeans, polo and white sneakers – for his obligatory visit to the press.
Verstappen already saw the storm hanging on the winding Hungaroring, the circuit that is also called the ‘Monaco without walls’. Catching up is difficult. And so the race for Verstappen would become a matter of damage control.
A day later, Verstappen stood with a big grin on the top step of the podium, and he received the big prize from Hungary. A good start, smart tire strategy and timely pit stops brought Verstappen back into the race. His catching up skills and wrong choices at Ferrari did the rest.
After Ferrari’s good start, with two wins in the first three races, things have been going wrong for the Italian team in recent months. It is true that Ferrari has built the fastest car this year, but the engine is unreliable and too often the team makes strategic decisions that wipe out any investment.
Take the Monaco GP in May, where Monegask Leclerc was overjoyed with the pole position. Starting at the front usually means finishing at the front because overtaking is almost impossible on the street circuit, but after a disastrously timed pit stop saw Red Bull’s Leclerc Sergio Perez win the race. He himself finished fourth, still behind Verstappen. He walked through the paddock afterwards, dead white.
The Hungarian GP was the eighth Grand Prix that Verstappen won this year
Test case for new rules
The first half of the season was also a test case for the new rules that teams in Formula 1 must comply with this year. There was a budget cap and aerodynamic parts of the cars had to be simplified, with the aim of reducing the differences between the teams and making it easier for drivers to follow and overtake each other. Teams were forced to design their cars from scratch as a result.
Not every team was equally successful. The previously dominant Mercedes came up with a revolutionary design that has a lot of potential, but has not yet been perfected. The British team is still catching up in speed to Red Bull and Ferrari.
The rules have an effect, the first thirteen grand prix showed. The best example came at the British GP, when cars from five different teams dueled at the Silverstone circuit. The Lewis Hamilton overtake (Mercedes), who passed both Leclerc and Perez in a smiling third as they tried to overtake each other, is already one of the most spectacular of the year. And also in Hungary the cars proved to be able to follow each other well, allowing Verstappen to overtake Leclerc twice.
The Hungarian GP was already the eighth major prize that Verstappen won this year. Afterwards, he was asked whether he thought breaking the record of thirteen wins in a season, now in the name of the Germans Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, was realistic. “I don’t know,” sighed Verstappen. “The most important thing is that we maintain and secure the lead in the world championship standings.”
Big lead
In that respect, the Dutchman is in good shape. Despite a bad start to the season, in which he retired twice, Verstappen has now built up a large lead over Leclerc. The 80-point gap between the two drivers means that Verstappen could miss three of the remaining nine races and Leclerc would have to win all three, and the two rivals would still be pretty much even in points.
Verstappen owes his lead to his own consistency. The Dutchman always manages to get the most out of his fast car and can hardly be caught making mistakes. He seems to be racing a little more calmly and patiently this year, staying out of trouble and avoiding crashes. The interaction with his team is also optimal – at Red Bull they always make the right decisions.
Verstappen did not want to talk about a possible second world title after the GP in Hungary. “We have a great lead, but we shouldn’t have many more days like Saturday,” he referred to the engine problems Red Bull had during qualifying. “We have to keep working to improve ourselves.”
However, Verstappen will also know that there is little chance of a repeat of last year’s climax, when the battle for the world championship was only decided in the last lap of the last race. It is more likely that Formula 1 will soon be relieved of tension.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 4, 2022
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