RaceFans Round-up: Qatar sprint race victory “not really a win”
In the round-up: Oscar Piastri admitted he did not consider his sprint race victory in Qatar last year as a real win.
In brief
Piastri pleased to have “no question marks” over winner status
Piastri was the only driver on the grid to have won a sprint race but not a grand prix until his maiden triumph last weekend. Afterwards he admitted his grand prix victory felt very different to his sprint race win.
“The sprint win was always a bit awkward,” he said. “In my opinion it’s a win, but not really a win. This is much more of a proud moment for me than winning the sprint.
“Of course, it was a special moment at the time, but now to have no questions, no question marks over whether I’m a race winner or not is a very nice feeling to have. The emotion is definitely different.”
His team mate Lando Norris said Piastri deserved his breakthrough triumph. “That’s a very special feeling winning your first race – and I say first race because I think you’ll agree that it’s his first race win and not a sprint race.”
Hadjar “still speechless” over gaffe
Formula 2 points leader Isack Hadjar was still reeling over his blunder in Sunday’s feature race a day later. Hadjar qualified third but had to start from the pit lane after failing to join the track in time ahead of the start.
“I’m still speechless about that one,” he admitted. “Missed out on taking part to the start on the grid because of human mistake.”
Hadjar finished the race in 18th. “Starting last from the pits, we still went with normal strategy and we were in the points until the second [Safety Car] killed us,” he said. “Some pitted for option [tyres] and I was easy to overtake. That’s it. Wasted race.”
Aston Martin reveals Valkyrie hypercar
Aston Martin has revealed the hypercar based on its Valkyrie road car which will compete in the World Endurance Championship next year. The Valkyrie AMR-LMH was shaken down at Donington Park by Darren Turner, Mario Farnbacher and Harry Tincknell.
Tsuboi ends Super Formula win drought
Sho Tsuboi scored his first Super Formula victory for four years at Fuji Speedway on Sunday. Having delayed his pit stop until lap 28 of 41, he passed Tadasuke Makino, Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu to win. The win leaves him 9.5 points behind championship leader Nojiri.
Red Bull junior driver Ayumu Iwasa missed pole position by 17 thousandths of a second but stalled his engine at the start. “I have no words about that,” he said afterwards. “We decide the set-up and plan for the start. So in the car at the start, I cannot do anything from the driver’s side. It was a big frustration, also for the team.
“We had a good race performance but the start was everything. We need to check and see what happened.”
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Links
Formula E buys W Series’ IP rights, undecided on how to use them (Formula Scout)
‘It didn’t work out for them. They got some great footage, some great IP, some great name recognition, some great awareness. So we wanted to acquire that on the off-chance that we could use that in the future, in some way, shape or form, in order to promote women in motorsports.’
Drivers left wondering ‘Where was the yellow?’ after Toronto melee (Racer)
‘IndyCar’s race control’s activation of the caution system coincided with Ericsson’s impact into O’Ward, and prior to the back-to-back hits from Fittipaldi and Ferrucci, but those on their way into the corner behind Ericsson who became involved were either unable to see or react to the yellow in time to avoid O’Ward.’
Fornaroli confident heading to Spa after ‘positive’ Budapest weekend (Formula 3)
‘We watched the replay, maybe there was more space on the left, but in that moment, you have half a second to decide, so I decided to go on the inside, but it was the wrong way.’
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I have set up meetings with relevant people already, my term will be a failure if I don’t bring one of the biggest sporting tourist events to South Africa which is F1. Our first meeting is end of August in Monaco. https://t.co/qzw2RnRYue
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) July 21, 2024
An Update:
Yesterday morning’s surgery on my thumb was successful. I am so thankful to everyone at Indycar medical and IU Methodist for the quick timeline. Feeling good and will share more news when able. Also, typing with my left hand is hard.
— Alexander Rossi (@AlexanderRossi) July 22, 2024
We had a good race going and a shot at a top 10 finish. Lucky we all walked out of that late race incident in one piece. There was no warning and no where to go for any of us. Thank you to the team for the great effort in the race, we keep pushing forward. pic.twitter.com/QdvEHHrZ5X
— Pietro Fittipaldi (@PiFitti) July 22, 2024
If this @FIApresident wants to leave a worthwhile legacy he could do worse than ban team orders again for the sake of the sport, the fans but most of all, the drivers. #F1 #Hungary #LandoNorris
— Byron Young (@byronf1) July 22, 2024
@McLarenF1‘s last one-two also involved a collision between @LewisHamilton and @Max33Verstappen…#F1 #HungarianGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/ejQfO1zapQ
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 22, 2024
Yesterday @Max33Verstappen should have minimised his points loss to @LandoNorris to just three.
Instead it was eight.
And, had Norris been more selfish, it would have been fifteen.
These differences are going to matter a lot if the gap keeps narrowing.#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/5du4LFJo6J
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) July 22, 2024
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Happy birthday to Matt and Lalit Palaparthy!
On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Andrea Chiesa won the Formula 3000 round on the super-fast Enna circuit, though a string of crashes meant that out of the 26 starters only he, Claudio Langes, Eddie Irvine, Marco Apicella and Gary Evans finished