Lewis Hamilton commits to Mercedes until 2025
There is no Formula 1 race this weekend but that has not stopped the sport from being its typical entertaining self, with huge news and controversial moments between last week’s Italian Grand Prix and next week’s Singapore GP. Max Verstappen continues to dominate the standings but one of Red Bull’s chiefs has been forced to apologise for their comments towards his team-mate.
The team’s advisor Helmut Marko has since apologised for insisting that there was a cultural reason for Sergio Perez continuing to finish behind Verstappen. “Let’s remember that he is South American and so his head is not as focused as Max Verstappen or as Sebastian Vettel was,” Marko told ServusTV last weekend. “But racing is his forte and he had a very good race.”
Marko received immense backlash online and was forced to apologise to Perez, who is from Mexico. In a statement he said: “Concerning my remark about Sergio Perez, ServusTV Sport and Talk, Monday September 4: I would like to apologise for my offensive remark.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I do not believe that we can generalise about the people from any country, any race, any ethnicity. I was trying to make a point that Checo has fluctuated in his performance this year, but it was wrong to attribute this to his cultural heritage.”
While Lewis Hamilton will hope that a week’s break can help Mercedes work on their car enough that it can compete with Verstappen at the top of the grid. The Brit clearly has faith in the Silver Arrows, having recently signed a new contract with the team.
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Russell makes Schumacher claim
George Russell has brought up F1 legend Michael Schumacher when discussing his need for patience to be successful in the sport.
The Brit is into his second season at Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton and appears to understand that drivers need to put the time and work in before challenging at the top of the grid.
“Max spent four years at Red Bull before he got his chance of truly fighting for a championship,” Russell told Autoweek.
“And the same with Schumacher, when he went to Ferrari it was four years before he won a championship.
“Whereas we all look at him as the guy who was at Ferrari, dominant, won everything, you know, it took four or five years before he got that success there.”
Brundle demands rule change
Former F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle has called for a change to be made to the FIA rules.
He has urged the governing body to “stick to” their regulations surrounding changing tyres after another outing of the Alternative Tyre Allocation (ATA) trial at the Italian GP.
“This was the second trial for the Alternative Tyre Allocation (ATA) where drivers would be limited to 11 sets of dry tyres comprising of three hard compounds, four medium and four soft,” he wrote in his Sky Sports column.
“This is two overall sets fewer than usual and also means just four sets of soft tyres instead of eight.
“It would be a dry weekend and so a true test, which went well enough. It does make the Friday practice running even more difficult to decipher, especially as those not expecting to get through Q1 or even Q2 to take a completely different approach to the practice sessions tyre-wise. And it will surely always promote fewer practice laps rather than more.
“I don’t mind which way we go as long as a decision is made and we stick to it. We simply have too many tyre combinations for the various qualifying and race formats and many of us in the paddock struggle to remember them without reading up each time, and I suspect the fans really can’t be bothered with it all either.”
Daniel Ricciardo scar
Daniel Ricciardo has shown off his scar on social media as he continues to recover from a crash during free practice at the Dutch Grand Prix.
He had been spotted around the paddock in Monza with his arm in a sling after undergoing surgery on his hand, with Liam Lawson taking his place at AlphaTauri.
Ricciardo was sent into the barriers at Zandvoort after running wide, with the driver now showing the extent of his injuries on Instagram.
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