RaceFans Round-up: Fixing car problems ‘will benefit me more’

In the round-up: Sergio Perez believes it he stands to benefit more than his team mate if Red Bull are able to solve the handling problems which have plagued their RB20.

In brief

Car fix will work better for me – Perez

Perez says Max Verstappen has been less affected by the problems with Red Bull’s car than he has. “I think it’s a thing with the side of Max that he’s less sensitive to the issues we have – just by nature,” Perez told the official F1 channel.

“Some people don’t understand – especially from the media side – that the different driver styles can come to different conclusions. The good thing was that Max was a lot less sensitive to it than I was. Races ago I was complaining about these issues, but now it seems that they’re so big that even Max is feeling them.

“So I think the solution will benefit me even more with my style. Now it’s very clear in the data, the team is fully aware of it and hopefully we can fix the issue soon going forwards because then we can unlock a lot of performance on the car.”

MPs criticise F1’s Baku race in letter

Ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, a group of human rights campaigners, including multiple members of the UK’s House of Commons and House of Lords, have written to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Liberty Media president Greg Maffei to criticise F1’s race in the nation.

“Ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Baku, we write on behalf of six Armenian political prisoners – former leaders of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region – who are being unlawfully held hostage by Azerbaijani authorities,” the letter reads.

“As the grand prix approaches, Formula 1’s presence risks distracting from Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses. Formula 1 cannot claim to have a positive impact in Azerbaijan while these Armenian hostages remain imprisoned. Profits must not come at the expense of human rights. Formula 1 must stop enabling regimes like Azerbaijan to sportswash their crimes. By speaking out against this injustice and calling for the release of the Armenian political prisoners in Azerbaijan, Formula 1 can demonstrate its commitment to human rights in the countries it visits.”

F1 needs “very similar driving style” to F3 – Bearman

Haas driver Oliver Bearman, who is cubstituting for the banned Kevin Magnussen this weekend, says that F1 cars require a driving style more akin to that in Formula 3 than F2.

“For me, it’s just the downforce level of F1,” he said. “It allows you to do so much more.

“The way you drive the car is a bit different [to F2]. I would relate it a bit more to F3. F3 is a very similar driving style to F1. You can just play with the limit a bit more in F1.

“It’s optimised. When the car is on point, it’s really perfect. And it’s more of a confidence thing, whether you extract the lap time or not whereas it’s a bit less once you really know the car enough, it’s more you know you drive to what is possible from the car other than yourself.”

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Links

The Ultimate Challenge with Lando Norris (Lego)

‘We wondered if it was possible to drive a 1:1-size LEGO Technic McLaren P1 around Silverstone. People said it couldn’t be done. So then we asked 23 design, engineering and building specialists from across the Lego Group and McLaren Automotive to spend 8,344 hours building it. People still were like ”No way…”. Then we got Lando Norris to be our driver. You know, just to be safe.’

Red Bull Junior Driver Arvid Lindblad Joins Campos Racing for 2025 FIA F2 Debut (Campos)

‘Over the past two years, he has competed in various championships and categories, from the aforementioned F4 to Formula Regional and, more recently, FIA Formula 3. In all these categories, he has proven to be a winning driver, achieving fifteen victories and twenty-five podiums in this short period. Therefore, despite his youth, his credentials precede him as he prepares for his FIA Formula 2 debut.’

The BEST year for racing games… Ever (TraxionGG via YouTube)

A look back at all the major racing game releases from 2004 – a huge year for the genre.

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