RaceFans Round-up:

In the round-up: Mercedes technical director James Allison says the 2024 season is not one he wants to repeat.

In brief

Allison rues “lost opportunity” for Mercedes

Mercedes won four races this year – three more than the last two seasons combined – but that extra success didn’t make the championship more enjoyable for Allison. “The year is not one I would wish to repeat,” he said in a video released by the team. “It’s been emotionally tough.”

The team began the season in poor shape, won three races in the middle of the year, then took a final victory in Las Vegas last month. “It’s been a right old roller coaster of extreme disappointment at the start of the year, followed by a sense of recovery, then a bit of malaise and some more flashes,” said Allison.

“The overall sense in the team is one of lost opportunity. We have not hit the benchmarks we would have wished to. Watching other people earn and win championships while we’re spectators is no fun at all. So it’s been a tough year.

“But that is, I think, one of the best bits of F1. It is so fiercely difficult. It is so hard to get everything right. Those that do have properly earned it and you can but doff your cap to them because they deserve it. So when I saw the smiles on the McLaren guys this weekend, I thought, well, they’ve earned that and I know what it feels like and I envy them for it, but they’ve earned it. And it just fills you with the desire to experience that again yourself and for our team.”

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Links

F1’s next female driver will need time to get there, says Pulling (Reuters)

‘A 16-year-old girl wouldn’t be strong enough to drive a Formula 2 car. That’s the harsh reality. (For) a more mature, more developed female build it will be more possible to drive that car and fight for an opportunity to get to Formula 1. When, not if, we see a woman in Formula 1, it will be older – mid-20s, I would say.’

Michelin extends FIA WEC Hypercar commitment until at least 2029 (WEC)

‘Michelin will remain the exclusive tyre partner to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s headlining Hypercar class until at least 2029, underscoring the series’ current growth and stability.’

Getting to know Freddie Slater: fiercely competitive, focused and fast (Formula Scout)

‘Rosin highlights Slater’s ability to nail qualifying: ‘When he has had a difficult quali, for example for traffic or, because with 15-minute quali in F4, you can have a full course yellow or red flag, he’s always been able to bounce back in the second quali to be a protagonist.”

‘Trump has been explicit about revenge’: Asif Kapadia on his new film about the threat to democracy (The Guardian)

‘It doesn’t always turn out that well for his subjects, says Kapadia. He’s thinking of Ayrton Senna, killed in a horror crash, Amy Winehouse, destroyed by drugs and alcohol, Ghost, who’s detained and interrogated. But what he’s suggesting in 2073, is that it’s almost too late – but not quite – for the rest of us too.’

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