Summary Thursday | Verstappen criticises sprint race and problems at Mercedes
- GPblog.com
The Brazilian Grand Prix starts on Friday and this weekend the last sprint race of the season is on the programme. On Thursday the press conference took place as usual and there is again a lot to discuss. GPblog lists the highlights of the day.
Reliability problems Mercedes
Today there were rumours from Brazilian media about the combustion engine of Lewis Hamilton. The Brit would have to replace it again, resulting in a grid penalty for the race. The Brit couldn't say anything about it yet, but Mercedes seems to want to wait until the qualification results on Friday evening. According to the team, there are no grid penalties to report yet and they just hope to make it to the end of the season without any problems.
Verstappen criticises sprint race format
So far the race weekends with a sprint race have not gone according to plan for Max Verstappen. At both Silverstone and Monza, the Dutchman crashed out during the race, the day after the sprint race. During the press conference, Verstappen expressed his criticism of the new format. The driver thinks it is too risky that teams are stuck with their set-up for the rest of the weekend after just one free practice. According to the rules they are not allowed to change anything after qualifying on Friday evening, while there is also a practice session on Saturday morning.
Rumours around Szafnauer
Although today there were reports from various media that the deal between Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer and Alpine would be finished, Szafnauer himself reacted to the rumours. According to the team owner, the rumours are pure speculation and not based on facts.
Cargo delays F1 teams
For some teams a long night is planned. Due to delays in the delivery of the cargo, the teams have been given more time by the FIA to check their cars and make an official statement. Normally this has to be done eighteen hours before the first practice, now the FIA has changed this to three hours before FP1. This should prevent the need to change the schedule this weekend.
Bottas to Ferrari?
In F1's Beyond The Grid podcast Valtteri Bottas talks about his future. In the coming years, the Finn expects to drive at the Alfa Romeo team, where he signed a few months ago. In any case, the Mercedes driver does not exclude a switch to Ferrari. "I can't predict the future", he said.