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What a wild finish! Honda 1-2! I was certain that Hamilton would out drag Gasly to the finish line, but it didn't happen. Goes to show the huge improvements that Honda made this year. An absolute shame on Albon though.
Quite the race for sure and it wasn't even raining. Max did a helluva job, as did Sainz who started 20th and made the podium in the end. Ferrari? again
Obviously the key thing that happened in Sao Paolo was the full safety cars. From an unpredictable entertainment POV, it certainly spiked things up. Sao Paolo is also unique where the start-finish line is at the end of the straightaway, which resulted in extremely slow restarts to prevent slipstreaming. However, was the full SC really warranted? The first one with Bottas is highly questionable in my view, since he pulled way to the side next to an escape road, and there were no debris on the track.
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton was penalised by the FIA stewards for his clash with Alex Albon on the penultimate lap of the Brazilian GP after declining to take up an opportunity to defend himself.
Hamilton was summoned to the stewards after they decided to hear from both drivers, thus giving the world champion a chance to explain his views, rather than apply an instant penalty
That decision meant that Hamilton went to the podium to celebrate his third place on the road, while Carlos Sainz – who ultimately picked up the position – missed the opportunity to do so.
The situation contrasted with the recent similar late-race incidents involving Daniil Kvyat in both the Mexican and the US GPs, when the Russian was penalised minutes after the flag, without his views being heard
However, even before he was summoned, Hamilton had admitted culpability in the post-race top three TV interviews conducted on the grid by Rubens Barrichello.
Subsequently, despite being summoned, Hamilton did not appear in front of the stewards, and instead Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows passed on the message that his driver had admitted he was at fault, in effect obliging the stewards to award a five-second penalty.
“They were going to do a post-race investigation,” said Masi. “So they did summons both drivers. But the team admitted to the breach.
“They came down and said, ‘you don't need to summons us, Lewis has admitted it', apparently from what Ron said, and that was it.
“There was an investigation, but you investigate, and you’ve got the team that comes down and says ‘we made a mistake’' it becomes a very simple investigation to the other side!”
Masi agreed that the stewards were in a difficult situation in that they wanted to give Hamilton a chance to state his case, given that a top three position was at stake, yet at the same time there was some urgency to get the right man in the podium with a quick decision.
WDC & WCC wrapped up, and not at risk of losing a race win. Guessing LH decided to just roll with it. He did seem genuine in admitting fault to the incident.
Formula 1 chief Ross Brawn has suggested that the sport’s bosses will look at tweaks to the rules in the future to try to recreate the kind of spectacular restarts seen at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
A change to the regulations made for this year means that, following safety car restarts, drivers are not allowed to overtake until they have crossed the start-finish line. In the past, they were allowed a free run from Safety Car 'Line One', which was situated before the pit lane entry
The new rule meant that in Brazil the leading driver at the restart held the pack until right before the start-finish line, rather than blasting away from the final corner as had been the case in the past. This set up a spectacular dice for position on both occasions – which included Max Verstappen pulling off a brave move around the outside of Lewis Hamilton at the first restart.
Brawn, who is F1’s managing director of motor sport, says that the entertainment value of the restarts has been noted and that changes could be made to help recreate it at future events
Speaking about Verstappen’s victory in the regular post weekend debrief from F1, Brawn said: “He was particularly strong at the second re-start, when he slowed the field right down with the aim of ensuring no one would be able to slipstream past him and snatch victory.
“It was an exciting and fascinating re-start which will be analysed very carefully, as the closeness of the pack in the seconds leading up to the green flags resulted in a thrilling spectacle as drivers jockeyed for position and where the slightest advantage proved decisive. Examining the possibility of procedurally recreating those conditions in future is an interesting concept and one that will undoubtedly be explored in the coming period
Brawn was not the only one who enjoyed the frantic restarts, with Daniel Ricciardo saying he had enjoyed seeing them play out.
“It was cool,” he said, when asked by Motorsport.com about the new procedure. “I think because now they do no overtaking until the control line, or the start finish line, it allows us to basically not leave so early, and push it to the very end.
“When Lewis led the first restart, I think he went early, then saw the others were close so he slowed up again. But to be honest I love all that stuff now, so it's fine.
“You see cars are locking up brakes, and it can be a bit chaotic, but obviously that gives you so much adrenaline. And when the race is a little bit follow the leader at times, a restart ignites a bit more adrenaline in you.”
The other factor is also the decision for full SC rather than VSC for even a minor incidents. This made things more like IndyCar, where there are a lot of full course cautions, resulting in somewhat random benefits from pit stops timed at the right moment. I always felt that the one key different between F1 and IndyCar from a sporting regulation was the use of full course cautions to make things more random. I could see F1 maybe going this route, which might be a bit hard to stomach for the F1 purists.
Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has explained why drivers, including podium finisher Carlos Sainz, escaped any potential sanction for opening DRS under yellow flags.
Sainz was one of eight drivers whose DRS usage was looked at by the stewards after the race, although in the end no formal investigations were opened, and no penalties followed
That incident triggered a lengthy debate in the drivers’ briefing in Interlagos, where the consensus was that opening the DRS under waved yellows did indicate that a driver wasn’t slowing and thus could trigger a penalty.
However, there is no specific mention of DRS in connection with yellow flags in the current sporting regulations.
In the Brazilian race, Sainz opened his DRS when flags were out after Valtteri Bottas stopped on lap 53. At the time he was being followed by Kimi Raikkonen, who reported what he’d seen to the team. Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder subsequently alerted the stewards.
After the race, the stewards looked at the data of Sainz and seven other drivers who may have opened their DRS or not slowed sufficiently. However, they decreed that all had in fact complied with the requirement to slow.
“I think it was eight, all in that area,” said race director Michael Masi when asked by Motorsport.com.
“We looked at it, and the overriding factor with double[-waved] yellow flags is the requirement to slow and significantly slow. And that's what we looked at with all of them. And all of them complied with that. Yes, a couple of them did activate DRS for a relatively short period of time, but I'll call it muscle memory!
“So the stewards looked at that and determined that no investigation was necessary, and that the overriding factor of slowing for double yellows was absolutely complied with.”
Masi acknowledged that drivers had been warned in the drivers’ briefing.
"The discussion on Friday was that the expectation is that DRS isn't used in a double yellow flag, but the overriding factor is to comply with the double yellow requirements. Because I think if you look at it, having DRS open is against the philosophy of slowing.”
Asked if the FIA might review the sporting regulations, possibly incorporating a reference to DRS, he said that it was already under discussion.
“It's something that we've already started discussing, you know, collectively, of that component of it, how we do it. I think the way that double yellows and so forth, and they required to effectively give up the lap in qualifying works well, in the race, obviously a little bit more difficult to do that. But it's something that certainly needs more refinement.
“It's one of those things, you can't make a rule to suit every situation is the reason why we have stewards to make a determination on things and the overriding factor is that they slow which they all did.”
The FIA system switches off the DRS for all drivers under a safety car situation, but it is not able to do it for a single DRS zone under waved yellows.
“There isn't the ability – and it's probably the other way - of isolating single DRS zones to turn them off. It's either they all get turned off or not. The technical reasons for it? If it was easy to have been done, it would have been done.”
Formula 1 race director Michael Masi says the safety car deployed when Valtteri Bottas retired his Mercedes in Brazil was a standard reaction to the use of a recovery crane.
Bottas pulled off with an engine failure and in response to a message from his engineer coasted to a gap in the barrier where he thought his car could easily be pulled out of harm’s way
Onboard TV footage showed that after vacating the cockpit he struggled to re-fit the steering wheel, before leaving it in the car and climbing over the barrier.
Two marshals subsequently picked it up and eventually managed to re-fit it, and then appeared to be trying to put the car in neutral. However, as they couldn’t move the car, a crane was required
Since Jules Bianchi’s crash at Suzuka any deployment of a crane obliges race control to deploy a full safety car, in order to properly slow the field – even when the car is on the inside of a corner and the crane only briefly appears outside the protection of the barriers, as was the case on this occasion.
“Valtteri did a fantastic job where he stopped,” said Masi. “They were trying to push the car back into the gap, which is why we went double yellow, as we had the marshals there.
“It was off track, they were trying to push the car, but the car got stuck on the bump. So we actually had to deploy the crane to move it out, so for me as soon as a crane is deployed, that's it, straight safety car.”
Asked if there was an issue with the car not being in neutral, Masi said: “The marshal said it was stuck on the bump and left it at that. And obviously as soon as I have to use a crane, it completely changes it. Being off-track was why I covered it under a double[-waved] yellow flag originally.”
Although Bottas’s car and the crane were behind the barrier very quickly, the safety car period dragged out to several laps in part because so many lapped cars were required to pass the leaders, in order to get their laps back.
“Basically I think it was only the top five cars were the only unlapped cars,” said Masi. “Probably the first part of it was actually getting the leader behind the safety car, which took a little bit longer purely because of car positioning, and then getting the list from timing of all the cars.
“So the first focus is obviously to clear the incident. And then the unlapping of cars is a secondary scenario.”
The Mercedes Formula 1 team doesn’t yet know if Valtteri Bottas will need to take a grid penalty in Abu Dhabi after his retirement from the Brazilian GP with an engine issue.
The engine that he used in Interlagos will be returned to the HPP facility in Brixworth on Tuesday evening, and will stripped and analysed. A final decision on the plan for Abu Dhabi will be made early next week
Bottas had to park up on lap 53 in Brazil after smoke was seen coming from the rear of the car over the previous lap.
“I think there was a bit of smoke,” he said. “I didn’t actually see the smoke myself, but they reported to me, but I couldn't feel any loss of power, just the engine switched off after Turn 3
Asked if he has any mileage left on his earlier engines should the Brazil unit be unusable, Bottas said: “To be confirmed. I doubt there's any miles left, but we’ll see.”
After the race Mercedes technical director James Allison said it was too early to know if the engine was salvageable.
“We don't know any more about it,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “We know that we had elevated oil consumption during the race that ran away very sharply - very sharply - about half a lap before we saw it expire. The engine stopped itself rather than expired in a heap.”
Both of Bottas' previous engines for the season have completed their planned schedule in terms of races – in effect they do seven race weekends each. Bottas has completed a lot of miles this year, and his only retirement before Brazil was due to his crash in Germany.
A Mercedes spokesman said of the used engines: “It doesn’t necessarily mean that they couldn’t do another [event], but that wouldn’t necessarily be preferred
Bottas had endured a difficult race in Brazil. Having planned on a one-stop strategy – and taken hard tyres in order to facilitate that – he was called in for a second time later in the race. He admitted that he was “a bit confused” at the change of strategy,
“At the start I didn't gain any positions,” he explained. “And it seemed like overtaking would be difficult, and to go long in the first stint I tried to save the tyres a bit. But still I think I was lacking a bit of pace in the first stint due to quite a bit of understeer, especially middle sector, and so I was dropping back behind further away than than ideal.
“So then I wanted to go on the hard tyre because I thought that's going to be maybe the only chance to go with a one-stop. I felt still that it could be possible, but we stopped to cover [Alex] Albon, I think.
“And from my side I was a bit confused when I questioned the stop. It's still a question mark if I could have made it to the end or not, in theory not. But I thought that would be the only chance really, so a bit tricky.”
Bottas spent part of the race behind Charles Leclerc, but was unable to find a way past the Ferrari. “They're quick on the straight so makes it tricky, but I think he was starting to struggle more and more. I still felt good with the tyre so it actually when I just had the engine failure, I was charging my battery again. It was pretty flat and there was not much left to do anything.
“So plan was to charge it for a bit, get it full and then attack again. It's not easy to get them for sure with their straightline speed, and he was defending well, he was always covering the inside.”
A major hurdle for the planned Miami GP for 2021 was overcome today when the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners backed the mayor’s veto of its original decision to prohibit the use of public roads for a race.
Mayor Carlos A Gimenez stressed that instead of “killing this idea outright” the authorities should take time to work towards a solution, having bought “three to six months” to get a deal agreed
However, on November 8, Gimenez promising that he would broker a solution that would satisfy residents, and vetoed that decision. The board in turn had the chance to back their original decision and override his veto today, but instead they voted 7:5 in his support
In a series of Tweets, Gimenez told his constituents that extra time was required to address the issues around the race and satisfy residents and the promoters.
“We need more time to work out a compromise with the Miami Dolphins, the Miami Gardens community and racing fans that’s a win-win for everyone to bring Formula 1 to our county,” he wrote. “That’s why I’m happy that the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners sustained my veto. This allows us to work toward a solution.
“F1 is a huge international event. Like the Super Bowl, it puts Miami-Dade on the world stage. We need to continue to study the issues raised and get the correct information, instead of just killing this idea outright. Let me be clear, if the veto had been overridden today then the resolution that says street racing is prohibited as currently configured in Miami Gardens would’ve been upheld. I support all parties coming to a solution that brings F1 racing to Miami-Dade.
“The F1 race isn’t until 2021. Sustaining my veto buys three to six months so that the parties involved can continue to work toward a solution for Miami Gardens, [promoter] Stephen Ross and the Miami Dolphins, as well as racing fans. I’ve had three meetings so far with Miami Gardens residents about F1. I’ve met with Commissioner Jordan, as well as Miami Dolphins and racing executives. It was productive. The Dolphins agreed to respond within two weeks on community concerns and how to mitigate potential issues
Hard Rock Stadium CEO and vice chairman Tom Garfinkel responded to the decision with a promise that the needs of residents will be addressed.
“Along with F1 we are encouraged [that] the County Commission sustained the mayor’s veto,” he said. “As we have done for all our events at Hard Rock Stadium, and has F1 has done in every city that hosts a race, we will continue to work with the mayor and the community to make an F1 Miami Grand Prix a huge success for Miami-Dade County; including the residents of Miami Gardens.
“We will work very hard to address community concerns in a meaningful way, mitigate any inconveniences or disruptions to local residents, and create an event we can all be proud of.”
The Ferrari engine controversy is refusing to die down with the FIA reportedly seizing “parts of the fuel system” from the SF90 as well as a customer.
Following a string of pole positions after the summer break, Ferrari’s rivals wrote to the FIA asking for clarification regarding the power units.
Red Bull set out three scenarios for the FIA, all of which were declared illegal.
The FIA then issued a Technical Directive on the matter, highlighting Article 5.10.5 which states that “any device, system or procedure the purpose and/or effect of which is to increase the flow rate or to store and recycle fuel after the measurement point is prohibited.”
Questions about their power unit, though, are not dying down.
According to Auto Motor und Sport journalist Tobi Grüner, following the Brazilian Grand Prix the FIA seized parts of the SF90’s fuel system as well as “one Ferrari customer and one Non-Ferrari”.
“A thorough investigation of the parts will be conducted in the FIA laboratories.”
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff says it would amount to cheating if any team is found playing around with the fuel flow.
“If somebody was doing what the technical directive clarified, it would have been foul play,” he told Autosport.
“And the way the technical directive was formulated it was a severe breach of regulations, so there is not even any talk about any grey areas.”
Formula 1 teams will be required to run a second fuel-flow sensor next season as the FIA escalates its efforts to prevent the rules being exploited for performance gains.
The governing body investigated a trio of fuel systems after the Brazilian Grand Prix, one believed to be from a Ferrari, another from a Ferrari customer team and a third from a non-Ferrari powered car.
On Wednesday, the FIA issued its latest technical directive – a third in four weeks – instructing teams they will be required to add a second FIA-controlled sensor in 2020.
Though it is not known if this was an explicit response to the checks the FIA conducted after the race at Interlagos, the new sensor will further strengthen the FIA's ability to police engine rules next year.
Presently, all cars must be fitted with a single FIA fuel-flow sensor, located within the fuel tank, which may only be used as specified by the FIA.
This ensures the maximum fuel flow rate is restricted to 100kg/h, and the rules state that "any device, system or procedure the purpose and/or effect of which is to increase the flow rate or to store and recycle fuel after the measurement point is prohibited".
The command for an additional sensor next year completes a trio of recent technical directives from the FIA that have related to the potential exploitation of the rules for performance gains, and been issued amid major scrutiny over Ferrari's engine
The first of those directives, issued ahead of the United States Grand Prix, related specifically to the fuel-flow rules.
Red Bull had contacted the FIA to raise three specific scenarios relating to the exploitation of fuel-flow restrictions by briefly exceeding the 100kg/h limit between the FIA's measuring points.
The FIA then told all teams that these efforts to subvert the regulations would be in breach of the rules.
Both Red Bull and Mercedes added any team who had been carrying out the processes would have been outright cheating, not just exploiting a grey area.
Ferrari has consistently denied any wrongdoing, emphatically dismissing suggestions its drop in performance in the United States and Brazil were related to the FIA directives.
In Brazil, Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky F1 that nothing had changed in the way it runs its engine since the start of the season.
Zandvoort hasn’t hosted a Formula One race since 1985, but it will next year as F1 seeks to piggyback on the popularity of Max Verstappen. There were immediately a couple of problems: Some pretty serious environmental concerns and a track drivers said could be bad for racing. Zandvoort is hoping some big banked turns might help fix the latter.
The final turn will be banked twice as much as those at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, angled at 18 degrees versus Indy’s nine. Turn three will have a 32 percent bank, per ESPN, which means the top part of the track will be around five yards higher than the lowest part. Here’s Zandvoort CEO Robert van Overdijk:
“We are in fact making an American corner on an otherwise European circuit. That is absolutely unique.
“The third corner of the track will be banked as well for the F1 race. It will be made parabolic, so that two cars can get through the corner next to each other and more importantly at the same speed.
This is all in an attempt to ensure there might be more passing at the race, since drivers had previously said that, while they love the track and all, overtaking could be a problem with modern F1 cars. Here’s what Daniel Ricciardo has said on the matter, per Motorsport:
“Full honesty here, the track to drive on is pretty awesome,” said [Ricciardo]. “It’s high speed, it’s old school, big balls. From a driving point of view, it’s fine. But how fast it is and how narrow some places are, I don’t think it would be that exciting for overtaking – just my initial feeling.
“With the speeds we go now, following another car will be very difficult. That’s my reservation with it. I think it’ll be a very processional race, otherwise the track’s cool. [...]”
The Dutch Grand Prix is next May, so they have a fair amount of time to figure things out, but that is also assuming they can get over the environmental hurdles threatening the circuit’s redevelopment and this thing happens at all.
Y'know, in retrospect, West and I were in the E'Pingle hairpin at the Canadian GP when Kubica hit Trulli and had that horrendous crash. The next year in the same grandstand, we witnessed him win his one and only GP. I've always been a fan and admire his talents, however, who let him rally when a contracted driver is out of their god damn mind.
McLaren has always been one of my perennial favorite teams and I hated to see it languishing like it has the last bunch of years. This however, is a much welcomed bit of news to me
Construction of the new banking at Zandvoort’s final turn – Arie Luyendykbocht – is well under way as can be seen from this video.
In May 2020, Formula 1 will return to Circuit Zandvoort for the first time since 1985. But perhaps the most eagerly awaited aspect of the event will be the 18-degree banking at the final corner, which is aimed at improving overtaking opportunities at the track.
As this fly-by from architectural firm Dromo shows, it promises to be quite a spectacle
Dutch Grand Prix organisers say the late Charlie Whiting played an important role in the idea of adding a banked corner at the Zandvoort circuit.
The Dutch track will return to the Formula 1 calendar next year, and a banking will be created for the final corner in an attempt to boost the chances of overtaking at the end of the straight.
The Arie Luyendyk corner will be angled at 32 percent - the equivalent of 18 degrees - which is steeper than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway banking.
Erik Weijers, the Dutch GP's head of operations, revealed on Monday that suggestions from F1 race director Whiting - who died in March ahead of the start of the season inspired the idea of the baking when he visited the circuit in September last year.
"He [Whiting] was also very enthusiastic about the shape of the circuit, the gravel traps and the short pitlane," said Weijers. "At the Luyendijk corner, he suggested putting a crash barrier directly next to the track.
"That reduces the impact when you shoot off the course: the farther from the course, the greater the angle and the impact.
"A day after the visit we returned to the office and we said: why don't we do banking? That also fits nicely with name giver Arie, given his roots in America. We put that idea in front of FOM.
"They were also enthusiastic and that's how the ball started rolling."
Weijers added: "We realised that specialists were needed for that. That's how we came in contact with Dromo. They started off with our idea and our briefing to keep Zandvoort an old school circuit and it worked very well
Weijers said that other ideas to improve overtaking chances were considered before deciding on the banking.
"We are actually going back to January 2017, when people from Formula One Management (FOM) came to see the facilities and the circuit for the first time. They were very charmed by the 'old school' circuit.
"We indicated that little could be changed about the track. You can't just make the straight two hundred meters longer.
"We then went to see with the technical people at FOM how we could make Zandvoort 'sexy' and suitable for overtaking.
"The first idea was to make turn 13 sharper or to insert a chicane to take out the speed, so that the drivers could accelerate full to the first turn and the DRS could open early."
Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean were not overly impressed by their first impressions of Pirelli’s 2020 tire compounds following the opening day of testing in Abu Dhabi.
All the teams are taking part in a dedicated two-day test at the Yas Marina Circuit where they can analyze the new 2020 tires and compare them to this season’s compounds. Bottas set the pace on Tuesday with his fastest lap coming on the 2019 C4 tire. After completing 138 laps, he admitted he was tired but had found little improvement with Pirelli’s new tires.
“After a race weekend and after such a long season, you can feel it, no question about it,” Bottas said. “At least I am in a better shape now after having the flu. But a long day of testing is part of the routine, so no worries. You just try to be as consistent as possible and repeat one run after another.
“Just the tires (were tested). I had to say it felt that nothing better would have been found from these new tires; I got the impression they were even a little bit slower compared to the old ones. They behaved in the same way
Haas’ Romain Grosjean was similarly reserved about the new compounds he tried from Pirelli on Tuesday, having also managed more than 100 laps.
“They’re different,” Grosjean said. “There are some positives and there are some negatives. They did a big change, and are they what everyone would like to have? No
“We have to look at how we’ve been running the cars and make sure that we are on the maximum of everything. But if you’re asking if I’m very happy about the new tires and if it’s going to solve some of the problems of thermal degradation sensitivity when following another car, I just have to tell the truth, and no it’s not going to change that problem fully.
“The degradation on some compounds was better. Being able to run lower tire pressures also helps you; obviously they don’t balloon that much. So they are the positives, but it’s not what you would dream of.”
Pirelli would have no objection to use its 2019 tires next season after mixed feedback from drivers during the 2020 tire test in Abu Dhabi.
Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas were both critical of the 2020 compounds on Tuesday, with Antonio Giovinazzi similarly finding little improvement in the new tires after a morning of testing on Wednesday. Pirelli head of F1 Mario Isola says there have been some positive aspects but that he is willing to not use the new tires if the teams don’t want to.
“The target is not to have a tire that is quicker or with the highest peak of grip, but to have a tire with more consistency, less overheating and a wider working range of the compounds,” Isola said. “This is the target — the teams know exactly what we are looking for so I am sure we will have good feedback in terms of the quality. Then we are open to any decision.
“Mixed (feedback so far), because some of them found an improvement in some characteristics of the tire or some compounds but not an improvement on some other characteristics, or in some cases the new tires are not working at the expected level. So that’s why it will not be very easy to understand the real performance of the tires.
“The current cars are very sophisticated, it’s very difficult. Every time you change a little bit — and the tires are an important part of the car — the feeling and the reaction is huge. So we need to sit down, look at the data, cross the data with the drivers’ feedback which is also an important part of our job, and finally understand which is the best solution together with the rest of the sport."
With a decision required by Monday, December 9 to allow Pirelli to nominate the 2020 tire compounds for the opening races, Isola says seven of the 10 teams would have to request a change, otherwise the new tires will be used.
“For the moment the FIA has homologated the 2020 tires so this is the product for next year, unless after the test and each team has given feedback to the FIA there is a decision taken by at least 70% of the teams to stay on the 2019 tire. In that case next year’s tires will be the 2019 ones.
“We have no concerns because the 2019 product is very good — we had an exciting season with a lot of action and good racing so I’m not worried about staying on the 2019. In that case, what is important for Pirelli is to understand why we had a different result during our tire development tests compared to the final test. That is important to improve our process and our systems for the future.”
Robert Kubica is close to signing a deal to be reserve driver at Racing Point in 2020, turning down a similar role at Haas as a result.
Haas had been keen to recruit the Pole following his departure from Williams in order to bolster its simulator setup and increase the experience level within the team. Team principal Guenther Steiner had previously stated he was waiting on a decision from Kubica, who wants to combine any role in Formula 1 — that his sponsor Orlen is pushing for — with a race seat in DTM.
However, Racing Point has also been working hard to convince Kubica to take on a reserve and simulator role in support of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, and RACER understands the 34-year-old is on the verge of turning down Haas in favor of a move to the former Force India team.
Senior sources at Racing Point insist no deal is yet signed but that they are hopeful Kubica will join the team, having now finished work with Williams — for who he scored the team’s only point this season — following Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Should Kubica opt for Racing Point, it would be a blow to Haas after the team was willing to give him Friday practice outings to help correlation between the simulator and the track, following a season where it struggled to get the most out of its tires and finished ninth in the constructors’ championship despite regular Q3 appearances.
Both teams have named unchanged race driver line-ups for the 2020 season, with Perez and Stroll staying with Racing Point and Haas retaining Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.
11-17-2019, 06:05 PM
Vettel and Leclerc
again
