Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i AUTOSPORT

Who would you pick to win in a battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen? The way this year’s title fight is shaping up, this match-up – and a renewed contest between their respective teams – is going to define the first season under F1’s revolutionary new rules. We can’t completely write off Mercedes just yet, especially after its Spanish GP breakthrough (see pages 96-99), but Ferrari and Red Bull are clearly a step (or several) ahead – and it won’t be easy for Mercedes to make up ground under F1’s budget cap. It’s been a decade since Ferrari and Red Bull fought for the world championship, and the same is true for Leclerc and Verstappen – who were bitter karting rivals when Sebastian Vettel was just about beating Fernando…

@benedwardstv PICTURES ALONSO STILL HANGING IN FOR MORE GLORY Fernando Alonso is at a truly significant stage in his career. At Monaco he started his 340th grand prix and, after Baku, he will have surpassed Michael Schumacher’s 7764 days of involvement in Formula 1. That means more than two decades covering a debut with Minardi in 2001 to Alonso’s current status as a feisty points scorer for Alpine – and just like Schumacher there have been gaps in that career when F1 was not Fernando’s focus. But Alonso is stepping into a longer period than anyone, whether through time or number of races. Following the Italian Grand Prix in September, assuming he competes in each scheduled race, Fernando will have equalled Kimi Räikkönen’s record of 349 grands prix started. It’s…

CV 2018-present CEO, TeamViewer 2015 - 2017 Partner, Head of Portfolio Group Permira 2010 - 2013 CEO, Sunrise Communications AG 2009 - 2010 Partner McKinsey & Company 2006 - 2008 CEO/Chief Commercial Officer Mobilcom-Debitel GMBH 1998 - 2006 Partner McKinsey & Company 1997 - 1998 Research assistant Aachen University GP Racing: It’s clear the world of communications and connectivity is a thread running through your career. How did that journey begin? Oliver Steil: It started with studying engineering at school and then electrical engineering. At the time it was the beginning of mobile telecommunications with what we know now as 2G – the first generation after bulky analogue telephones. I went into telecoms because of that and after my degree I went to another university to do postgraduate research on…

Mick Schumacher’s helmet for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix is taken to the furnace. Having just had a double layer of clear coat applied, it will dry faster in there – as the driver needs to receive it in just a week’s time, and Mick is just one of four F1 drivers having custom helmets for the Florida race prepared right here, at the office of German designer Jens Munser. “When I was still painting helmets in the cellar at my parents’ house, I dried them during the nights in the oven in the kitchen,” Jens laughs as he reminisces on the time he crafted helmets for himself and his first clients in motocross. “The next day my mother would bake cakes inside the same oven. So I am happy…

PICTURES I NEVER THOUGHT THE day would come when I’d look at Lewis Hamilton and think, ‘Titanic’. Not ‘titanic’ in the sense of ‘monumental’ or ‘immense’ (all of which could be applied to the multiple world champion with reasonable justification); but ‘Titanic’, as in the ship that hit an iceberg and sank so famously in 1912. This bizarre connection was made while listening to Lewis’s reaction to the equally peculiar FIA edict concerning an F1 driver’s personal apparel. You know, the bulletin on the weekend of the Australian GP that mentioned drivers’ piercings and underpants and was listed just after legislation on serious matters such as yellow flags and track hazards. In summary, document five reminded drivers that the wearing of jewellery is prohibited – the race director, Niels Wittich,…

1 Ferrari has no answer to Red Bull race pace Another grand prix dictated by fine margins of top speed and tyre degradation played out in Red Bull’s favour as Max Verstappen made a decisive recovery from setbacks earlier in the weekend to beat Charles Leclerc by 3.786s. Ferrari’s F1-75 is the stronger of the two cars in cornering performance but Red Bull’s Honda power unit offers greater electrical deployment on the straights. The Red Bull is usually gentler on its tyres too. For Miami Ferrari sought to mitigate the straightline issue by bringing a low-drag rear wing (or “depowered”, as Ferrari described it). “If they are close to us [in the race] then it’s going to be very difficult,” said Leclerc after qualifying on pole position. Leclerc’s pole owed…

10-12 June 2022 Baku City Circuit THE MAIN EVENT Very much a circuit of two halves, Baku combines a technical challenge with one of the fastest straights on the F1 calendar. The layout also passes through an interesting cross-section of the Azerbaijan capital’s built environment, starting on the boulevard overlooking the Caspian Sea, passing the seat of government, then tracking a Monaco-style urban stop-start through a modern area of the city before looping around the UNESCO-listed walled old town. This track presents a high degree of difficulty for both drivers and machinery, demanding precision and resilience. The majority of race outcomes here have been defined by human error and mechanical failures, one sometimes leading to the other… 2021 RACE RECAP Charles Leclerc took another surprise pole for Ferrari ahead of…

OLEG KARPOV Oleg’s been getting around this month, with a trip to AlphaTauri (p50), plus a visit to see helmet design guru Jens Munser in action (p56) MAURICE HAMILTON Maurice has been contributing to this magazine for years but now has his own column. His 'Alternative View' on F1 matters is on page 80 STUART CODLING Codders has analysed 2022’s head-to-head of Ferrari vs Red Bull (p32), as well as giving you his own take on the inaugural Miami GP (p44) CARL BINGHAM Carl joined LAT Images as a digital technician in 2018 but is now on the F1 beat. Carl snapped the pictures for our AlphaTauri tour (p50) Thanks to Matt Bishop, Lyndsey Fairburn, Silke Guthrie, Will Hings, Tyler Jones, Sabine Kehm, Sven Krieter, James Mann, Will Ponissi, Katharina…

It’s nice to see Ferrari back in regular contention for race wins. But it’s more than just the car that’s improved. As a team Ferrari has taken a step towards recreating the glory of the Schumacher years – the garage is better-organised, the pitwork much tighter. In fact, Ferrari recorded the two fastest pitstops during the Spanish GP weekend. I stood in the entrance of the McLaren garage to get this shot at a slow shutter speed and emphasise the sense of motion. Back when races started at 2pm the pitlane wasn’t in shadow for the first stops but now you just have to work with it throughout: the whited-out background draws your eye towards the driver’s head. Where Barcelona, Spain When 4:08pm, Sunday 22 May 2022 Details Canon EOS-1DX…

01 THE LEGACY OF ABU DHABI: DOES F1 REALLY NEED THE FIA? 02 SINGAPORE SLUNG: RUSSIA WON’T BE REPLACED AFTER ALL PICTURES HOW JEWELLERY ROW BECAME A PROXY FOR F1’S NEW WAR WITH THE FIA 01 Lewis Hamilton arrived at the pre-event FIA press conference in Miami wearing three watches, four necklaces, eight rings, earrings in both his ears and a nose piercing. The seven-time world champion wanted to ensure his dissatisfaction with the FIA’s position regarding drivers wearing jewellery while driving F1 cars was clearly visible. A rule forbidding it has existed for quite a while now, but the sport’s regulatory body – in the form of new race director Niels Wittich – has only really been seeking to enforce it since the beginning of this season. Sebastian Vettel…

PICTURES SPARKING OFF AN IGNITION REVOLUITION In late 2015 stories emerged of an engineer from Mercedes High Performance Powertrains leaving the organisation to join Ferrari and taking knowledge with him that would benefit the Scuderia. At the time much was made of secret spark plug technology that Mercedes had exploited. It was said this had not only been the largest contributor to the phenomenal performance of the Mercedes engine in 2014 and 2015, now it had also been leaked to Ferrari. Perhaps the first thing to say to put the record straight is that it is highly unlikely this was the case. Of course, when engineers transfer from one competitor to another – be they chassis or engine specialists – an amount of intellectual property is transferred with them, but…

PICTURES “WE WERE YOUNG, CRAZY – AND, YEAH, WE HATED EACH OTHER AT THAT MOMENT…” Charles Leclerc is reflecting on one of many historic karting battles with Max Verstappen – one which has surfaced again as their intertwined careers have brought them back to face each other at the pinnacle of motorsport. Max’s fast-track trajectory to Formula 1 took him out of sync with Charles on the junior single-seater ladder, and Ferrari’s wayward form has restricted the opportunities for them to lay claim to the same stretch of track again since Leclerc joined the F1 grid. But historic rancour has a habit of bobbing back to the surface in an age when nothing can be forgotten, merely consigned to some distant cloud-based server waiting to be rediscovered. When Verstappen ushered…

Fred, are you happier than last year? Yes. I think we had two good seasons in 2018 and 2019. Then it became a bit more messy. 2020 was a very strange season with COVID, also some of the components of the package didn’t perform. And in 2021 we took the decision very early to switch on the 2022 project. Psychologically it was quite difficult, but I think we made a good use of this period, focusing on the operational side. And there was a huge investment in terms of resources and time on 2022. For sure, so far it’s going pretty well and yes, I’m quite happy. You’ve got a new Finn in the team, Valtteri Bottas, instead of Kimi Räikkönen. How do these two compare? You can’t [compare them]!…

Somehow, it’s rather appropriate that the crowd enjoying the bank-holiday sunshine at the Brooklands Museum should be oblivious to a truly outstanding grand prix driver heading towards our lunch in the clubhouse. Tony Brooks has been described by his great rival and friend, Sir Stirling Moss, as “The greatest ‘little-known’ driver of all time.” How else could you sum up a driver who has won at Spa, the Nürburgring Nordschleife and Monza; a man with a start-to-win ratio of 26 per cent while racing for Connaught, Vanwall and Ferrari, yet who is so rarely mentioned? Modesty has been a hallmark of Tony Brooks since he drove a Connaught to victory in Sicily to produce the first win for a British car and driver abroad in 31 years. Imagine if it…

1 Ferrari gifts victory to Red Bull – but makes strides with its car Ferrari no doubt left Spain with mixed feelings. On the one hand, a worrying engine failure handed a near-certain victory for Charles Leclerc to Max Verstappen, and with it the Scuderia conceded the lead of both championships to Red Bull. Carlos Sainz also had another difficult race – spinning off the track and failing to finish on the podium. On the other hand, Leclerc qualified fastest for the fourth race out of six and he led commandingly until his engine stopped working. A revised floor and rear wing package appeared to close Ferrari’s recent deficit to Red Bull on tyre management. The baking Barcelona heat was an acid test that Ferrari feels it passed. So, although…

17-19 June 2022 Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve THE MAIN EVENT Three-hundred-and-seventy miles long, the St Lawrence Seaway connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes via the St Lawrence river itself and a number of locks and canals. Later in the 20th century this feat of engineering was augmented by another artificial addition where the river passes through the city of Montréal, the Île Notre-Dame. Built from spoil excavated during construction of the Metro in the 1960s, this artificial island hosted Expo 67 and rowing and canoeing events in the 1976 Summer Olympics. It’s now best known for its casino and the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, which returns to the F1 calendar after a two-year COVID hiatus. Hard on tyres and brakes, it’s often described as a street circuit without…

RESERVOIR KANISTER SILVER Price €4,200 reservoir-watch.com The latest addition to Reservoir’s range of timepieces inspired by the dashboard instrumentation of the legendary Porsche 356 Speedster, the Kanister Silver, incorporates a silver-finish dial within a 41.5mm grade 5 titanium case, along with two different quick-change strap options. Within, the watch features Reservoir’s new RSV-240 self-winding mechanical movement, which has a 56-hour power reserve. As with other watches in the Kanister range, the presentation of time is slightly unusual, in keeping with the Porsche tachometer theme: a single polished hand counts the seconds around the radius of the dial, while a jumping counter denotes the hours. Another sweeping indicator resembling a fuel gauge denotes the state of charge. The Kanister Silver is supplied with a pair of 20mm leather straps in black…

FULL THROTTLE MUSINGS WITH STUART CODLING PICTURES @CoddersF1 facebook.com/gpracingonline DOES PHYSICAL TOLL NEED TO BE ADDRESSED? Last month our cover feature on Mercedes’ various woes made it very clear that the porpoising phenomenon was well-known in the previous era of ground-effect aerodynamics. Another troubling historic consequence of generating downforce through underbody airflow is now coming into focus: its effect on driver health. In 1982, the peak of the last ground-effect era, teams ran their cars as low and stiff as possible in order to attain peak downforce and reduce pitch sensitivity. Williams even went so far as testing an FW08 at Paul Ricard with no suspension movement (rumours abounded that the Lotus 91 would feature no suspension at all, though this didn’t come to pass). Alan Jones, the world champion,…

@_markgallagher REMOTE ACCESS WON’T GIVE THE WHOLE STORY Watching Formula 1’s return to Melbourne was fun. What with two years of cancellations and postponements it had been three years since Aussie fans had been able to cheer Daniel Ricciardo on his way and luxuriate amid the spectacle of grand prix motor racing. They returned in their droves – 420,000 over the full race weekend – and the buzz was infectious. There was a sense of celebration, of the world returning to normal – or rather the ‘new normal’ – for Formula 1, which has been permanently changed by the pandemic. Remote working is not entirely new to F1 – teams have been running strategy rooms back at their factories for years – but the pandemic has created a new reality,…

PICTURES “You’re here for the Formula 1, huh?” Angel, GP Racing’s Uber driver, doesn’t miss a trick as he threads his Honda CR-V along the I-95 Expressway, deftly avoiding the polarised extremes of Miami traffic: bovine doziness at one end, throttle-blipping, lane-swapping perma-frenzy at the other. “I looked at tickets on resale, they’re going at $1000 minimum – for Saturday…” Miami sprawls for miles in all directions like a Sim City game gone rogue, a predominantly low-rise horizon bounded by the sea to the east and petering out into the Everglades National Park to the west and south, where the wetlands stand as an obstinate impasse to the further pouring of concrete. Little wonder the denizens of the city’s highways are seemingly in either no hurry at all to reach…

PICTURES Bernie Ecclestone claims Ron Tauranac advised him to sack a young Gordon Murray and keep the rest when he took over Brabham – but instead he (Bernie) chose to do the opposite. It’s an exaggeration, but the quip at least reflects Bernie’s ‘my-way’ approach as he swept a new broom through Jack Brabham’s New Haw factory in the early 1970s. Murray reckons Tauranac hired him on a misunderstanding when the South African engineering graduate walked in off the street. Born in Durban in 1946, racing-obsessed Murray travelled to England in December 1969 without a clear plan of how to land a break. Lotus knocked him back, but when he turned up at Brabham by fluke there were design office vacancies. Tauranac might have thought Gordon had formally applied for…