David Reynolds is on the fence regarding the raceability of the Gen3 Supercars after Grove Racing's first shakedown yesterday.
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Reynolds was one of three Grove Racing drivers to share the team's first Gen3 Mustang at Winton yesterday along with teammate Matt Payne and enduro signing Garth Tander.
The trio covered around 80 laps of the Victorian circuit, most of which were trouble free apart from a wheel parting ways with the car during one of Reynolds' stints.
Fortunately there was no major damage despite the issue sending Reynolds off the road.
Reflecting on the test, Reynolds said he was very impressed with the Grove Racing build on the new car which, according to him, is extremely close to race spec.
"Overall, from a car build perspective, the team has done an amazing job," he said.
"We could pretty much race that car tomorrow. It just needs a helmet fan and some driver's side intrusion and everything else is sorted.
"The team has done an unbelievable job to get to that stage quicker than anyone else.
"The day ran pretty flawlessly except for the wheel falling off. They are looking into what happened there. It could be something very simple, it could be something more complex.
"But otherwise we had a great day. We all shared responsibility in the car and we did 80 laps all up, which is a lot for a shakedown. We made some improvements to the balance of the car, which was good."
What Reynolds did leave the test questioning, however, was the raceability of the new car.
Supercars has looked to improve the racing product with its new car by dumping most of the downforce and moving to a platform consisting of mostly control parts.
According to Reynolds the new car comes with its challenges, particularly in the terms of feel of the front end.
And while he's not ruling out the new cars producing better, closer racing, he is simply, right now, unsure.
"As far as driving goes, the car looks incredible and it goes incredibly fast," said Reynolds. "The acceleration is faster than the old car.
"But I think when it comes to braking and cornering, the drivers will be earning their money this year. The front end feel is a challenge.
"I don't know. Every car you drive can be tricky to race. I can see what they are trying to do by making everything the same, but where are the differences? What can you do to improve things and make life easier for you or harder for someone else?
"You want some freedoms to find time or lose time. You might get it right this weekend and wrong next weekend.
"But right now everything is quite similar so it's hard to know what will happen, and who will be fast, or what will transpire.
"Will we have the confidence in the car to pass the guy ahead? I don't know. Right now I don't, I feel like I'm passing myself out there."

Supercars Championship

David Reynolds

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By Andrew van Leeuwen

Reynolds unsure on Gen3 raceability

Officials in Las Vegas have approved a plan to shut the Strip for the Formula 1 grand prix for the next 10 years as they eye a &ldquo;lifetime in partnership.&rdquo;
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F1 revealed last March that it would be returning to Las Vegas in November 2023, hosting a street race around the centre of the city with part of the track incorporating the iconic Strip.
The race will take place on Saturday night in Las Vegas, capturing the primetime audience in the United States amid the current boom of American F1 interest.
An initial three-year contract covering 2023-25 was signed for the race in Las Vegas, but F1 made clear at the announcement that it was anticipating a longer-term commitment.
On Tuesday, the Clark County Commission heard a resolution to recognise the grand prix as an annual event for the next 10 years, bringing an estimated economic impact exceeding $1 billion to the region.
As part of this, the commission was requested to recognise the circuit on both public and private land in Las Vegas, including roads owned by Clark County - Harmon Avenue, Las Vegas Boulevard, Koval Lane and Sands Avenue - that would require closure.
&ldquo;We have a three-year contract with Formula 1, but we anticipate a lifetime in partnership,&rdquo; said James Gibson, the Clark County commissioner, ahead of the vote.
&ldquo;This will open the pathway to be able to do it for at least 10 years. And then beyond that, I&rsquo;m sure that those who succeed us will see the value in what we&rsquo;ve done and continue doing it forever.&rdquo;
The motion was carried unanimously by the board 7-0, giving the green light for the required closures each year until 2032.
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The resolution also indicated that Las Vegas plans to retain its late-season slot moving forward, saying the set-up of the event was anticipated to take place &ldquo;a few hours a day for five days, beginning on each Wednesday through Sunday in the week prior to the Thanksgiving holiday in November in the years 2023 through 2032.&rdquo;
Terry Miller, the project manager for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, appeared to speak before the commission&rsquo;s vote, and said that plans for the race in November were &ldquo;on schedule.&rdquo;
&ldquo;This is a community-wide opportunity for the labour force, for vendors, for everybody that is excited about a new opportunity in Las Vegas and Clark County,&rdquo; said Miller.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very proud of what we&rsquo;re doing. This obviously provides labour for construction, but also for the operation of the event itself. If the resolution is passed, it will be years to come.
&ldquo;The impact the Las Vegas Grand Prix brings to our community is very significant.&rdquo;
Construction is underway on a building that will form the pit and paddock area for the race after F1 purchased a 39-acre site for $240m last spring.&nbsp;
The Las Vegas Grand Prix is scheduled for 18 November, serving as the penultimate race of the year before the season finale in Abu Dhabi eight days later.
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Formula One

2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix

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By Luke Smith

Las Vegas approves F1 plan to shut Strip for race until 2032

Kyle Busch has called out "disrespect from everybody" in Sunday's "disaster" NASCAR Cup Series pre-season Clash at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum.
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For the second consecutive season, the race took place on a made-from-scratch quarter-mile asphalt oval inside of the LA venue.
When it came to Sunday night&rsquo;s main event, a number of drivers made daring moves that resulted in numerous accidents.
The 150-lap main event ended up with 16 cautions with all but one involving at least two cars.
This was in stark contrast to the 2022 event, which saw just five cautions throughout the 150-lap main race.
Busch, who finished third behind his Richard Childress Racing team-mates Martin Truex Jr and Austin Dillon, said Sunday's Clash was "a disaster" from a driving standards point of view.
"Last year&rsquo;s show I felt like was relatively clean and good racing, some bumping, some banging, but we could run long stretches of green-flag action," he said.
"Whereas today [Sunday] was I would call it a disaster with the disrespect from everybody of just driving through each other and not just letting everything kind of work its way out," said Busch.
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"But it&rsquo;s a quarter-mile. It&rsquo;s tight-quarters racing. Actually, this is probably how it should have gone last year, so we got spoiled with a good show the first year. Maybe this was just normal."
In an interview later on Sunday night on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Busch took specific issue with the actions of last year's winner, Joey Logano, who sent Busch around and brought out a caution on Lap 86.
"It's really unfortunate to get raced by guys that are so two-faced," Busch said of Logano.
"We were in the TV booth earlier in the night together and when we were all done with that he was like, 'Hey man, good luck tonight' and I said, 'Great, thanks, yeah. Whatever.' And then low and behold, there you go, he wrecks me.&nbsp;
"Don't even talk to me if you're going to be that kind of a [driver] on the race track."
Dillon said there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the cars that teams brought to the race this year. Last season, the Clash was the first race in which the Cup Series&rsquo; Next Gen car competed in race conditions.
"Everybody has gotten a little better since last year, so the parity was close," Dillon said.
"There were a lot of fast guys. The little bit, if you are faster than someone, you kind of have to bump them, because they can kind of check up on the exit of the corner and stop you.
"If you get that run and you&rsquo;re there, you kind of have to use it or be used."
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NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Busch

By Jim Utter

Busch calls out "disrespect from everybody" in "disaster" NASCAR Clash

Sébastien Ogier

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

Thierry Neuville

Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT

91. Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo

By Tom Howard

Steiner: Colin McRae was “the most gifted driver I ever met”

Ex-F1 driver Jos Verstappen set for WRC debut at Ypres Rally

Rovanpera: Estonia weather was "on our side" in WRC turnaround

70. Rally Sweden

World Rally Championship

Pascal Wehrlein

TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team

Jake Dennis

Avalanche Andretti Formula E

René Rast

NEOM McLaren Formula E Team

Diriyah ePrix/2

Riyadh Street Circuit

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Mexico City E-Prix: Dennis wins first Gen3 FE race for Andretti

By Lewis Duncan

Susie Wolff leaves Venturi Formula E team

London E-Prix: Di Grassi denies Dennis double, Vandoorne one hand on title

Hyderabad E-Prix

Formula E

Sébastien Buemi

Envision Racing

The French manufacturer, which joined the WEC for the final three races of 2022, has already undertaken two Le Mans 24 Hours simulations of more than 30 hours and has confirmed that there will be a third prior to the 1000-mile WEC opener at Sebring in mid-March. Peugeot undertook its first endurance test with the 9X8 at Paul Ricard in the run-up to Christmas and its second at the Algarve ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/peugeot-to-complete-three-major-endurance-tests-before-2023-wec-season/10429880/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

The French manufacturer, which joined the WEC for the final three races of 2022, has already undertaken two Le Mans 24 Hours simulations of more than 30 hours and has confirmed that there will be a third prior to the 1000-mile WEC opener at Sebring in mid-March.
Peugeot undertook its first endurance test with the 9X8 at Paul Ricard in the run-up to Christmas and its second at the Algarve ...Keep reading

Peugeot to complete three major endurance tests before 2023 WEC season

Albon will enter his second season with Williams in 2023 looking to build on an impressive campaign last year that saw him spearhead the team's efforts, scoring four of its eight points. Albon's efforts were rewarded with a new long-term contract, but some figures within the team said they wanted to see him be a bit harder off-track, particularly with the engineers. Former Williams technical ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/albon-wont-throw-laptops-around-to-get-more-out-of-williams/10429855/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

Albon will enter his second season with Williams in 2023 looking to build on an impressive campaign last year that saw him spearhead the team's efforts, scoring four of its eight points.
Albon's efforts were rewarded with a new long-term contract, but some figures within the team said they wanted to see him be a bit harder off-track, particularly with the engineers.
Former Williams technical ...Keep reading

Albon won't "throw laptops around" to get more out of Williams

Having topped both days at last week's Fuji test and the opening day of the Okayama test on Wednesday, the NSX-GT contingent shone once again on Thursday, with the four Bridgestone-shod Hondas occupying places one to four in the faster two-hour morning session. This time it was the turn of the #8 ARTA machine of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu to head the order, with Nojiri registering a ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/supergt/news/okayama-testing-honda-dominates-arta/10429822/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

Having topped both days at last week's Fuji test and the opening day of the Okayama test on Wednesday, the NSX-GT contingent shone once again on Thursday, with the four Bridgestone-shod Hondas occupying places one to four in the faster two-hour morning session.
This time it was the turn of the #8 ARTA machine of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu to head the order, with Nojiri registering a ...Keep reading

Honda continues dominant run as Okayama SUPER GT test ends

By Kevin Turner

Ranked! The top 10 worst F1 cars to win a grand prix

George Russell says that the way an off-the-cuff radio remark criticising Mick Schumacher last year became a big deal shows how he is more under the spotlight in Formula 1.
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The young Briton raised some eyebrows at the Singapore Grand Prix when he questioned why Schumacher was being so aggressive in their battle for position.
&ldquo;Schumacher is defending like it&rsquo;s the race of his life, crikey,&rdquo; declared Russell at one point, as their fight eventually ended in a clash.
After his first season at Mercedes, Russell said that that moment with Schumacher has proven to him that there are actions he takes now that would never have been noticed when he was racing further down the order.
&ldquo;These are things that are part of the experience when you are at the front,&rdquo; said Russell. &ldquo;Everything is under the microscope and that kind of comment last year would not have been picked up on.
&ldquo;But I think there are two parts of it: one, it&rsquo;s fighting your case; but two, it&rsquo;s you just trying to offload some frustrations. And you do sometimes forget you are talking to the whole world.&rdquo;
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Russell believes that the Schumacher radio message also had a more aggressive tone than normal because of the incident happening at a challenging flyaway.
&ldquo;My comment with Mick was more frustration from my side,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve travelled to the other side of the world, put so much effort into that race, and there I am fighting outside the points.
&ldquo;I am frustrated, I am upset. And anybody who is frustrated or upset, physically exhausted, you are going to be a little bit emotional in the heat of the moment.
&ldquo;If you go running on the treadmill for one and half hours in 30 degrees heat, with high humidity, and you&rsquo;ve been overloaded mentally, then something happens that goes against you, you are going to be a bit frustrated.&rdquo;
Russell said he had now taken on board the fact that, as someone fighting for F1 wins, everything he said was now public property.
&ldquo;This is part of my experience of, one, controlling this [frustration], and two, [thinking] &lsquo;do I need to say it publicly?&rsquo; And I think that&rsquo;s one of the challenges of this sport.
&ldquo;You have no privacy. I have chosen to be the racing driver, because my dream is to become a Formula 1 world champion. My dream isn&rsquo;t to be famous, to be in front of the TV cameras day in and day out. My job and my dream is to race and to win.
&ldquo;Some of these comments, this is to achieve that, forgetting that there are millions and millions of &nbsp;people watching at home and every single word is being written down and under the microscope.
&ldquo;This is also an experience for me. As I said, I probably said a lot of comments like this previously over the radio, but no one gave two damns.&rdquo;
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Mick Schumacher

George Russell

By: Jonathan Noble Co-author: Alex Kalinauckas

Schumacher radio criticism highlighted F1 privacy change for Russell

American car giant Ford has officially confirmed its return to Formula 1 in 2026, ahead of Red Bull's car launch in New York.
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Having quit F1 at the end of the 2004 season, when it pulled the plug on the Jaguar operation and its badging of Cosworth engines, Ford announced on Friday that it will be coming back for the new engine era that begins in 2026.
Its early morning announcement only made reference to its plans to enter F1 again, and it did not detail which teams it would be working with.
However, as Autosport first revealed back in December, Ford has been in talks with Red Bull for many months. It is understood that a deal is in place and is expected to be announced during the Milton Keynes-based team's car launch later.
Red Bull is well advanced in its design of an F1 power unit for 2026 and has been open about the desire for a manufacturer partner to provide technical input and potentially badge the project.
Speaking about Ford's return to F1, executive chair Bill Ford said: "This is the start of a thrilling new chapter in Ford's motorsports story that began when my great-grandfather won a race that helped launch our company.
"Ford is returning to the pinnacle of the sport, bringing Ford's long tradition of innovation, sustainability and electrification to one of the world's most visible stages."
Ford has cited two key factors in its decision to return to F1 &ndash; the growth of the grand prix racing, especially in the United States, since Liberty Media's takeover, plus the increasing role that electric power will play in the 2026 power units.
The decision by Ford to commit to grand prix racing has been welcomed by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who joined the company for its announcement on Friday.
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Domenicali said: "The news today that Ford is coming to Formula 1 from 2026 is great for the sport and we are excited to see them join the incredible automotive partners already in Formula 1.
"Ford is a global brand with an incredible heritage in racing and the automotive world and they see the huge value that our platform provides with over half a billion fans around the world.
"Our commitment to be Net Zero Carbon by 2030 and to introduce sustainable fuels in the F1 cars from 2026 is also an important reason for their decision to enter F1.
"We believe that our sport provides the opportunity and reach unlike any other and we cannot wait for the Ford logo to be racing round F1's iconic circuits from 2026."
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem reckoned that Ford's decision vindicated F1's change of engine rules for 2026.
"There are few manufacturers who have such a celebrated motorsport history as Ford, so to see them coming back to the FIA Formula 1 world championship is excellent news," he said.
"It further underlines the success of the 2026 Power Unit Regulations that have at their heart a commitment to both sustainability and spectacle, and of course having more interest from the United States is important for the continued growth of the world's top motorsport category. "
Ford is one of the most successful manufacturers in the history of F1, having won ten constructors' championships and 13 drivers' championships.
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Red Bull Racing

By Jonathan Noble

Ford confirms Formula 1 return for 2026

IndyCar has announced that this year&rsquo;s 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 will offer only &ldquo;regular&rdquo; points.
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From 2014 to 2022, the 500 offered 100 points to the winner, 80 to the runner-up, 70 to the third-place finisher, etc, as opposed to 50-40-35 etc for regular IndyCar races.
Although no Indy 500 winner in that period went on to take the series title, it was felt that double-points unduly hurt those who suffered a bad Month of May.
An official IndyCar statement read, &ldquo;Over the years, the rule has proven to overly penalize full-time championship teams that have performed poorly in the &ldquo;500.&rdquo;
Today, IndyCar president Jay Frye stated: &ldquo;For 17 consecutive seasons, the NTT IndyCar Series championship has been decided in the final race of the season. While double points at the Indianapolis 500 has not altered who won the season-long championship, occasionally it has had a negative effect on the final position of the full-time teams.
&ldquo;As our entry list grows, this move will provide consistency for teams competing for championship positions while not diminishing the importance of &lsquo;The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles added:&ldquo;For over 100 years, the Indianapolis 500 has been the pinnacle of motorsports. From the pre-race festivities, to drinking milk in Victory Lane to adding the champion&rsquo;s likeness to the famed Borg-Warner Trophy, its rich traditions have made it a prestigious annual event.
&ldquo;The Indianapolis Motor Speedway supports the change by IndyCar to enhance the integrity of the NTT IndyCar Series championship.&rdquo;
From 2015-&rsquo;19, double-points were also awarded at the final race of the season, but this proved hugely unpopular with teams, drivers and fans, who regarded it as an artificial way of ensuring the title battle stayed alive to the final round.
In 2014, there were double points awarded at all three "500s" on the schedule &ndash; Indianapolis, Pocono and Fontana.

Indy Car Series

2023 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500

By: David Malsher-Lopez

IndyCar ditches double-points for Indy 500

The recent revelation that Formula 1 chiefs briefly evaluated the idea of fan cars being part of a new rules set from 2026 was fascinating on two levels.
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Firstly, it showed that F1&rsquo;s Liberty Media era is not afraid to think outside the box, and has ruled nothing out, when it comes to ensuring that grand prix cars are as raceable as they possibly can be.
For the 1978 Brabham fan car, which Niki Lauda took to victory in that year&rsquo;s Swedish Grand Prix, remains an iconic machine and will be a talking point forever because of its uniqueness.
Secondly, it proved that the battle that rule makers have always faced &ndash; in coming up with regulations that help produce a great spectacle &ndash; is something that is unlikely to ever end.
Here we take a look at the fan car choice, and the problems F1 is trying to solve.
The thinking behind a fan car option The news about the fan car popped up at the Autosport International Show last month, when F1&rsquo;s chief technical officer Pat Symonds spoke about just how open-minded the sport was being about the future direction of cars.
With the current rules set pretty much in place until 2025, plans are well underway to do something different for 2026.
Looking at the work done on potential changes, Symonds said: &ldquo;When we studied the &rsquo;26 project, we did have another clean sheet of paper, and we investigated all sorts of things.
&ldquo;We actually went right back to a skirted ground effect car to get some kind of idea where the ultimate was. We looked at fan cars, all sorts of weird things. The &rsquo;26 car will be quite conventional, because that's the way we want it to be. But the following performance actually can be even better than the &rsquo;22 cars.&rdquo;
Formula 1 designers do have a knack of looking at the past for inspiration, so it&rsquo;s of no real surprise that, with modern development tools at their disposal, Symonds and the technical working group decided to take a look at how skirts and fans could be employed in the latest ground effect era.
Undoubtedly, thinking about ground effect machinery, we need look no further than the Lotus 79, or &lsquo;black beauty&rsquo;, as it was more affectionately known at the time, owing to its stunning black and gold livery.
The 79 owed much of its success to its predecessor, given the growing pains that had to be overcome for the team to extract performance from the ground-effect venturi tunnels and make use of sliding skirts.
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The trials and tribulations of the 78 were actually a good thing for Lotus, as its competitors hadn&rsquo;t reckoned on them being able to find the level of performance it did with the 79. This resulted in everyone else being late adopters and needing to catch up.
That&rsquo;s how the other concept studied by FOM came into being, as Brabham deployed its B-spec BT46, or the fan car as it&rsquo;s more widely known, at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix and immediately &lsquo;blew&rsquo; the competition away.
The fan sucked the car down on to the ground, so the faster it went the more downforce it had.
The BT46B was not only rapid, but also an ingenious workaround for a problem that Brabham had no quick answer to in terms of using ground effect venturi tunnels.
Its problem lay in the car being powered by a flat-12 Alfa Romeo engine, which encroached into the space needed to make the tunnels work.
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The performance was so potent that rival teams got upset. And, with pressure mounting on Bernie Ecclestone, who not only owned Brabham but was also head of FOCA (Formula One Constructors&rsquo; Association) by that stage, the car was withdrawn after just that one outing and victory.
Ultimately, motor racing&rsquo;s governing body would go on and see fit to ban sliding skirts and introduce a minimum ride height, owing to safety concerns as the teams continued to look for more performance.
In the 40 or so years that have passed since these concepts were last used in the sport, the technology and safety of F1 has improved significantly so there could be grounds for a return.
But, ultimately, FOM is only interested in delivering cars that can race &ndash; and there are better solutions out there to allow that to happen.
F1&rsquo;s historical problem The key driving force is the answer to the age-old problem of tackling the wake turbulence created by a lead car, and the impact it has on the cars that trail it.
The sport&rsquo;s last major attempt at dealing with this was made in 2009, when the complexity of the cars was dramatically reduced in comparison with their predecessors.
However, while the intentions of that rule set were great, they weren&rsquo;t as comprehensive as the plan set out for 2021, which were inevitably postponed until 2022, owing to the implications posed by the pandemic.
In 2009 an Overtaking Working Group (OWG) was tasked with finding ways to reduce the issue, but lacked the time and resources that FOM had at its disposal this time around.
This led to a sound but rather broad stroke approach that teams quickly resolved to overcome, resulting in the erosion of those efforts both through technical and political will.
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Another reset of the car&rsquo;s aerodynamics occurred in conjunction with the introduction of the turbo-hybrid power units in 2014.
But, given the loss in performance relative to the previous era of cars, a knee-jerk reaction followed, resulting in a more aerodynamically powerful regulation set to be formed for 2017, with much larger bargeboard structures one of the key ingredients back in the recipe.
The consequence of this change required the governing body to make another course correction, using some of the information already gained in the study of the 2021/22 project to reduce the potency of the front and rear wing.
This resulted in the cascades being removed from the front wing, strakes on the underside of the wing being limited and the number of elements also reigned in.
Meanwhile, the rear wing louvres that teams had used for over a decade to help alter the tip vortex were also outlawed, and the dimensions of the wing were also altered significantly.
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The plan for 2022 was much more overarching though, with not only a larger team tasked with redesigning the car&rsquo;s platform, but the regulations also being rewritten from the ground up.
This sought to resolve some of the inefficiencies posed by years of overlapping regulation changes, which had often opened the door for loopholes being discovered.
To fortify these efforts, changes were also made to the sporting regulations, in order to alter the power dynamic amongst the teams.
And, while the current regulations have set out to curb the issues posed, there&rsquo;s an inevitable point at which teams always find ways to reduce those efforts and another reset will be required.
Knowing this, 2026 has been earmarked as the waypoint at which to perform the operation, which is poignant given the curtain will also fall on the current crop of turbo-hybrid powertrains, having graced the sport since 2014.

By: Matt Somerfield Co-author: Jonathan Noble

Why F1 considered reintroducing 'fan car' aerodynamics for 2026

Ferrari has labelled wild rumours of a 30hp leap in engine performance this year as a "joke", amid growing intrigue about the steps that Formula 1 manufacturers have made for 2023.
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With an engine freeze in place from the start of last year, a number of car makers elected to risk reliability in a bid to ensure they had the best possible baseline of performance.
Both Ferrari and Renault, which powers the Alpine team, admitted that they had pushed things to the limit in the quest for longer-term gains.
They knew that the rules would permit them to make changes to improve reliability, whereas no straight performance gains could take place.
In the wake of Ferrari's engine reliability dramas in the middle of 2022, the team turned down its power unit to try to better manage things over the closing stages of the campaign.
However, it emerged that the Prancing Horse was able to deliver reliability tweaks for the season finale in Abu Dhabi which allowed it to regain some of its power &ndash; and that could have been worth as much as 15hp.
Speculation also emerged over the winter that Ferrari had another 15hp in its pocket that could be unleashed once the power unit was more durable.
This triggered a number of stories that Ferrari could be set for a 30hp leap forward for 2023, compared to where it was at during stages of last season.
But team principal Frederic Vasseur has laughed off such wild claims, and played down any talk that tweaks made to its power unit over the winter had delivered any steps in power.
"I don't know where the numbers are coming from, but it's just a joke," he said. "We made some step but it's just about reliability.
"I think the performance last year of the engine was not an issue at all. The issue was the reliability and the first target is to fix it.
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"So far it looks okay. But the reality of the track is a different aspect.
"I think there were a couple of issues that teams suffered from, and it's not just true for Ferrari. It's coming from the track operation, bouncing and vibration, and everybody will have a much better picture in Bahrain in a bit more than two weeks' time."
Vasseur's comments about Ferrari's engine progress come in the wake of Renault's F1 engine chief Bruno Famin saying over the winter that he expected the FIA to get tougher in ensuring that any reliability gains were genuine problems and not a back door route to improve performance.
"It [the FIA] has been quite tolerant in 2022," he said. "I think it was quite normal because everybody was affected by reliability issues: not only us, clearly, because I think we had 30/40/50/60/70 requests from different manufacturers, so everybody was affected by this kind of problem.
"I am expecting the FIA to be a bit stronger in the future, but I have no information."
He added: "What is a pure genuine reliability issue? It's a question we can't answer because behind the reliability issue you have often a potential performance gain of course. The limit is not always super clear.
"If you have a water pump issue as we had in 2022, I think it's quite clear it's a pure reliability issue right: there is nothing to gain in having a different water pump.
"But if you need to change the material of the piston rings, you will be able to have something stronger, to have more knock, to have more performance, then where is the limit? It's not obvious."
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Ferrari

Ferrari: Claims of 30hp F1 engine step for 2023 "a joke"

Meyer Shank Racing scored its second consecutive victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with its Acura ARX-06 shared by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, leading home a one-two for Honda's prestige brand.
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Blomqvist crossed the finish line 4.1 seconds clear of the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing ARX-06 of Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Brendon Hartley and Louis Deletraz in a nailbiting finish to the 61st running of the Florida endurance classic, which was punctuated by 14 caution periods.
After a long stretch of green-flag running in the morning hours, a series of full-course yellows kept the top four cars &ndash; the two Acuras and Chip Ganassi Racing's pair of Cadillac V-LMDhs &ndash; separated by just a handful of seconds in the closing stages.
The yellows helped the WTR Acura, which had dropped three laps off the pace in the night to replace an oil filler bracket, back onto the lead lap, and Albuquerque was able to pass both Ganassi Cadillacs to move up from fourth place to second.
However, Blomqvist was unstoppable aboard the MSR Acura after taking over for the final 90 minutes or so, surviving three restarts with his lead intact to deliver a second consecutive Rolex 24 triumph for the team owned by Jim Meyer and founder Michael Shank, and a third in a row for Castroneves.
The two CGR Cadillacs couldn't keep pace with their Acura rivals when it mattered, albeit engaging in a spirited battle of their own for third.
In the end it was the IMSA full-season #01 entry of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon that came home for the final spot on the podium, followed by the #02 car of Richard Westbrook, Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber that will contest the FIA WEC this season.
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Action Express Racing was fifth with its Cadillac driven by Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and IMSA debutant Jack Aitken, but 12 laps down on the leaders owing to gearbox issues during the night.
BMW brought home the best of its new M Hybrid V8s in sixth, another three laps in arrears. The #24 car shared by Augusto Farfus, Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Colton Herta had already fallen off the lead lap when it was hit by hybrid issues in the morning hours, and then lost further ground due to a brake change.
The sister #25 BMW of Connor De Philippi, Nick Yelloly, Sheldon van der Linde and Herta was the first GTP runner to hit trouble in the opening hour, which required a change of MGU to solve. The car finally finished 131 laps down.
While BMW lacked the pace to contend for victory, Porsche was well in the mix with its pair of new 963s until both cars hit technical issues.
First to fall off the pace was the #7 car of Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr and Michael Christensen, which lost 35 laps due to a battery change.
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The sister #6 car of Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet and Dane Cameron was well in contention until a spin the morning hours for Tandy. Subsequent caution periods allowed the Briton to recover to one lap behind the leaders when the car expired in a cloud of smoke.
Tandy coaxed the car back to the pits on electric power, but the car did not re-emerge and was finally classified 83 laps down.
LMP2: Proton beats APR in photo finish Proton Competition stole the LMP2 win in a sensational finish, as James Allen's #55 Oreca 07 beat the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR machine of Ben Hanley by a scant 0.016s.
Hanley looked like he had done enough to take the win in the car he shared with George Kurtz, Matt McMurry and Esteban Gutierrez when he repelled the #35 TDS Racing machine of Job van Uitert at Turn 1.
But Hanley didn't reckon on a late charge by Allen, who arrived on the tail of the APR machine at the start of the final lap and regrouped after an attempt to pass around the outside at Turn 1 was firmly rebuffed.
Allen stuck close to the tail of his rival and drafted by on the run to the finish to steal the win by the slimmest of margins for himself and teammates Fred Poordad, Francesco Pizzi and Gianmaria Bruni.
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AF Corse completed the podium in third with its Oreca driven by Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Julien Canal and Nicklas Nielsen ahead of the TDS machine of van Uitert, Josh Pierson, Francois Heriau and Giedo van der Garde.
The #8 Tower Motorsports car shared by IndyCar stars Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, as well as Kyffin Simpson and John Farano, was fifth and two laps down after suffering a loss of power on the very opening lap of the race that put them eight laps down.
GTD: Mercedes, Aston Martin victorious GT Daytona honors were split between Mercedes and Aston Martin in the GTD Pro and GTD categories respectively.
First car home was the GTD class-winning #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Roman De Angelis, Marco Sorensen, Ian James and Darren Turner, which was locked in battle until the closing stages of the race with the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
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The Winward car, rebuilt around a spare chassis after Lucas Auer's crash in practice, was running second in the closing stages when Phillip Ellis hit the barriers exiting Turn 1 - the same point where Auer had his accident - during the restart following the 13th FCY period.
Winward's demise cleared the way for an Aston Martin 1-2 in GTD, as the Magnus Racing car of John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Nicki Thiim beat the Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff, Ollie Millroy and Marvin Kirchhofer to second.
Heart of Racing had looked good for the GTD Pro win at one stage, but the #23 Vantage of Alex Riberas, David Pittard and Ross Gunn lost a wheel in the night due to a rare wheel-hub failure.
That set-up a three-way dice between the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, the solo factory Corvette C8.R and the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 heading into the closing stages.
Maro Engel pulled off what turned out to be the race-winning move when he passed the Lexus of Jack Hawksworth into Turn 1, a move that gave the WeatherTech car also driven by Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella and Cooper MacNeil crucial breathing space going into the closing stages.
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Engel finally beat the Corvette shared by Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner by 3.9s, while the #14 Lexus took third, a further seven seconds down.
Fourth in GTD Pro was the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 shared by Romain Grosjean, Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Jordan Pepper, which finished on the lead lap but never had the pace of the leading trio.
Porsche and Ferrari also had weekends to forget with their new GT3 models, which struggled with an unfavorable Balance of Performance.
Best of the new 992-type Porsche 911 GT3 Rs was the Pfaff Motorsports example, which finished fifth in GTD Pro and 12th of all the GTD cars, while newcomers Triarsi Competizione was the first Ferrari squad home, 10th in GTD and 15th in the combined GTD Pro/GTD order.
In LMP3, the #17 AWA Duqueine of Anthony Mantella, Wayne Boyd, Nico Varrone and Thomas Merrill survived a race of attrition to claim the win, taking advantage of a lengthy delay for the long-time leader, the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier, which suffered a gearbox problem.
The car shared by Lance Willsey, Joao Barbosa, Nico Pino and Nolan Siegel finished a distant second in class ahead of the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier of John De Angelis, Christopher Allen, Connor Bloum and Cameron Shields.
<a href="https://motorsportstats.com/results/imsa-sportscar-championship/2023/rolex-24-at-daytona/classification/race">Rolex 24 at Daytona - race results</a>

IMSA SportsCar Championship

2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona

24 Hours of Daytona

By Jamie Klein

Rolex 24: Meyer Shank Racing wins again, leads Acura 1-2

Meyer Shank Racing&rsquo;s Simon Pagenaud led the field as the clock ticked past the halfway mark in the 61st Rolex 24 Hours, with the AXR Cadillac of Alexander Sims, the WTR Acura and the #6 Porsche in hot pursuit.
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GTP Following the fifth yellow flag, at the end of the ninth hour, Renger van der Zande in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh sprinted away but Jack Aitken in the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac got ahead of Richard Westbrook in the #02 Ganassi machine, and in fact Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche 963 and Tom Blomqvist in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 also demoted Westbrook to fifth. Westbrook then had to fight off Ricky Taylor&rsquo;s Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.
Blomqvist blasted past Jaminet down to Turn 1 on the next lap, and kept pushing hard to zap past Aitken, carrying so much momentum out of the Bus Stop chicane that he was able to haul in the Whelen Engineering sponsored Caddy to grab second. In fact, Aitken would lose out to Jaminet too, and drop to fourth, just ahead of Taylor who had demoted Westbrook.
Up front, Blomqvist wasn&rsquo;t losing momentum and on Lap 298 he got past van der Zande &ndash; who wisely didn&rsquo;t put up a huge fight on worn tires &ndash; and then he also lost out to Jaminet. Fifteen minutes later, van der Zande was down to fourth behind Aitken. Taylor had to serve a drive through for leaving his previous pitstop with pit equipment still attached.
The sixth yellow followed less than 30mins later prompting a rash of stops but in anticipation of that yellow, Meyer Shank pitted its car and installed Colin Braun, with Aitken and van der Zande also stopping. Once the yellow flew and the pits opened, Braun re-pitted leaving Aitken and van der Zande up front, with Jaminet and Westbrook pitting the #6 Porsche and #02 Cadillac respectively.
Thanks to the yellow, the top seven were now on the same lap, and at the drop of the green after 10hr50mins, Braun wasted no time in demoting van der Zande and two laps later Jaminet&rsquo;s Porsche also got around the #01 Caddy.
Just past the 11th hour, Taylor &ndash; recovering from that penalty &ndash; got past Westbrook and into fifth place, and as sprinkles of rain hit the track, Taylor also displaced van der Zande&rsquo;s Cadillac. Westbrook then spun, and dropped to seventh, half a minute behind Augusto Farfus&rsquo;s BMW, and a minute behind leader Aitken.
Fifteen minutes before the completion of the 11th hour, the AXR Cadillac and the #01 Ganassi Cadillac pitted, Alex Sims not taking on new tires on the AXR car, while Scott Dixon took over the #01 from van der Zande but departed before the pit equipment was detached and incurred a drive-through penalty..
Next time by, Jaminet, Taylor and Farfus stopped &ndash; Jaminet handing off the #6 Porsche to Dane Cameron, Taylor ceding his ride to Louis Deletraz &ndash; while Braun went a lap longer. The upshot of all these pitstops was that Sims&rsquo; Cadillac led by nine seconds ahead of Braun&rsquo;s MSR Acura, with Cameron in third, Deletraz fourth, followed by Farfus, Dixon and Earl Bamber who was back in the #02 CGR Cadillac.
Just before the end of the 11th hour, Braun moved the MSR Acura back into the lead ahead of Sims. By this time, Cameron was 25sec adrift and starting to get pressure from Deletraz.
Ten minutes into the 12th hour, Dixon passed Farfus&rsquo;s BMW for fifth in the #01 Cadillac, and soon after, Deletraz pushed the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura into third ahead of Cameron&rsquo;s Porsche.
By the time Sims pitted from second for fuel and fresh tires, with 11hr20min gone, the AXR car had lost 18sec to leader Braun and he re-emerged sixth. Dixon stopped next time by and came out seventh, with Cameron pitting two laps after that.
Deletraz pitted from second while 40sec behind leader Braun, with Farfus and Bamber (fuel only) following him in. Farfus handed the wheel of the BMW to Marco Wittmann.
Braun was the last of the leaders to stop, Braun handing off the MSR Acura to 2016 IndyCar champion and defending Rolex 24 winner Simon Pagenaud. When Pagenaud was up to speed, he had a 16.5sec lead over Sims&rsquo; AXR Caddy, with Deletraz a further 23sec down, and Cameron 11sec further back. Then Pagenaud started stretching his lead over Sims
LMP2 Alex Quinn&rsquo;s PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport entry had little problem holding off Josh Pierson&rsquo;s TDS Racing car at the start of the tenth hour, while Pierson dropped Gianmaria Bruni in the Proton Competition in a similar manner, this trio dropping Julien Canal&rsquo;s AF Corse car.
TDS stopped Pierson before the sixth yellow so he assumed the lead, while under yellow Nicolas Lapierre took over the PR1M car ahead of Canal, Bruni and Ben Hanley of Crowdstrike APR.
At the restart, Lapierre took less than two laps to get around Pierson, while Hanley got around Canal, who then also lost out to Bruni. Hanley&rsquo;s pursuit of Lapierre also took him past young Pierson to claim second.
Following the next round of stops, Lapierre held a half-minute lead over James Allen in the Proton car, with Francois Perrodo the same distance behind in the AF Corse machine, Devlin DeFrancesco fourth for Rick Ware Racing and Pierson fifth in the TDS car. Once Giedo van der Garde got back in the TDS machine, and Eric Lux replaced DeFrancesco, this latter pair changed places. Van der Garde maintained his momentum and passed Perrodo for third, early into the 12th hour, and he was pursued by Esteban Gutierrez in the Crowdstrike APR car. Van der Garde&rsquo;s pursuit of the #55 car of Allen was aided by the Proton driver getting a drive-through penalty for failure to adhere minimum refueling time, while Gutierrez pitted, elevating Nicklas Nielsen&rsquo;s AF Corse car to fourth.
Just before the halfway mark, the leading PR1M car endured a long stop, allowing Allen into the class lead, but staying 13sec clear of Nielsen.
LMP3 Nico Pino in the Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier held off Nick Boulle&rsquo;s FastMD Racing Duqueine, with Sebastian Alvarez a minute off the lead in the MRS GT-Racing. During the sixth yellow, Pino stayed up front but Nico Varrone was up to second in the AWA car ahead of Alvarez, and Jarett Andretti in the Andretti Autosport machine. Andretti displaced Alvarez for third just past the start of the 11th hour.
Varrone passed Pino for the lead but couldn&rsquo;t pull away.
After the next round of stops, IMSA legend Joao Barbosa was into the lead for Creech, chased by Thomas Merrill of AWA and Andretti third. Alvarez had two offs on his out lap and fell to 70sec behind Barbosa.
Just before the halfway mark, the MRS GT car caught fire at the rear end, bringing out the seventh caution.
GTD Pro and GTD After the fifth full course yellow, there were GTD Pro cars filling the top four places in the two GT3 categories, Jack Hawksworth&rsquo;s Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F chased by Daniel Juncadella in the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, Antonio Garcia&rsquo;s Corvette Racing C8.R and Alex Riberas&rsquo; Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.
Behind them were Philip Ellis in the Winward Racing Mercedes, Frederik Schandorff&rsquo;s Inception Racing McLaren 720S, Mike Skeen&rsquo;s Team Korthoff&rsquo;s Mercedes, Kyle Marcelli&rsquo;s Racers Edge Acura NSX and Frankie Montecalvo&rsquo;s Lexus.
The sixth yellow, caused by the the JDC Miller MotorSports LMP3 car stopping at Turn 1, most of the field pitted but Schandorff did not and took the lead of GTD (and the GT3 field overall) in the McLaren, with Taylor assuming the GTD Pro lead ahead of archrival Riberas&rsquo; Aston. Ward was second in GTD ahead of Ashton Harrison now in the Racers Edge Acura, Kenton Koch in the Team Korthoff Mercedes, and the two Lexus RC Fs of Mike Conway (#14 GTD Pro) and Montecalvo.
At the restart, Koch poked ahead of Riberas to give Taylor a handy GTD buffer back to the HoR Aston Martin, while the Magnus Racing Aston of Nicky Thiim was up to third in GTD, ahead of Conway and Jordan Pepper&rsquo;s Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan. Winward&rsquo;s Ward stayed ahead of Darren Turner&rsquo;s GTD HoR Aston, and Montecalvo and Harrison. Pepper would soon drop back behind Ward and Turner, while Riberas displaced Koch and closed on Taylor, as the track started to get spattered with drizzle.
Turner then slipped ahead of Ward into fourth in GTD class, just as Riberas claimed the lead of GTD Pro from Taylor. Not long after, Taylor suddenly slowed with an apparent puncture and had to hobble to the pits, emerging sixth in class. He would soon be pitting again, and according to IMSA Radio, it was because of brake damage incurred while limping to the pits, necessitating a change of rear rotors and calipers.
The next round of stops saw Marvin Kirchhofer taken over the Inception McLaren at the head of the field, ahead of Ross Gunn who was now in the Heart of Racing GTD Pro Aston, while Koch held down second in GTD ahead of Andy Lally (Magnus), Turner&rsquo;s GTD HoR Aston, and Daniel Morad who had taken up the cudgels for Winward. Maro Engel was third in GTD Pro in the WeatherTech Mercedes. Next up came Aaron Telitz&rsquo;s Lexus RC F and Romain Grosjean fourth in GTD Pro in the Iron Lynx Lamborghini.
Following the next round of stops, the GTD Pro HoR Aston led the GT3 class with Gunn at the wheel, while Maxi Goetz in the Team Korthoff Mercedes led ahead of Kirchhofer&rsquo;s McLaren, Sorensen in the GTD Aston, and Morad in the Winward Mercedes. Maro Engel then ran second in GTD Pro, 15sec behind Gunn, and only four seconds ahead of Ben Barnicoat&rsquo;s #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the pair split by Andy Lally of Magnus.

By David Malsher-Lopez

Rolex 24, Hour 12: MSR Acura leads AXR Cadillac at half-distance

Former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Mattia Binotto has been praised by replacement Fred Vasseur for helping talk him through their handover.
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Vasseur was signed up by Ferrari in the wake of Binotto resigning last year, after feeling he did not have the necessary support of Ferrari chairman John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna.
While Binotto expressed his &lsquo;regret&rsquo; at the time about having to leave behind a team that he felt was on the up, it appears he made sure not to leave Vasseur in the lurch.
Speaking to the media this week about taking over from Binotto, Vasseur made it clear that the transition proceeded in a straightforward way &ndash; and he had a lot of support from the outgoing boss.
&ldquo;The process was crystal clear,&rdquo; explained Vasseur. &ldquo;Even if we had some rumours into the press during Abu Dhabi [Grand Prix weekend], we didn't discuss before. We had the first discussion the week after Abu Dhabi and it was very, very quick as a process.
&ldquo;Then I had a call with Mattia, and I even met Mattia during the handover. And we had a one-to-one discussion.
&ldquo;It was thanks to Mattia for this, because I appreciated the move from Mattia to stay, to wait for me, and to discuss together.&rdquo;
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As well as getting some insight from Binotto about the challenges of being Ferrari team principal, Vasseur has revealed that he plans to get some advice from former boss Jean Todt soon too with a proper sit-down chat.
Todt famously led Ferrari during the glory years with Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s, prior to becoming the FIA president.
&ldquo;For sure, I&rsquo;ve had some discussions with Jean, because he&rsquo;s stayed close to the F1 world,&rdquo; explained Vasseur.
&ldquo;We exchanged [messages] by WhatsApp a couple of weeks ago, and I will meet him soon. All the advice is welcome, for sure, but I think it&rsquo;s also quite difficult today to compare the situation of &lsquo;94, &lsquo;95, and 2022.&rdquo;
Todt&rsquo;s exit from his FIA role last year prompted some suggestions he could return to Ferrari in a consultancy role.
However, despite his emotional ties to the team, Vasseur says that there is no consideration being given to such a plan &ndash; and anything between him and Todt will be on a purely personal level.
&ldquo;I've known Jean for now more than 20 years,&rdquo; added Vasseur. &ldquo;He was never far away from me in my professional life.
&ldquo;I think it makes sense for me to discuss with him, but it's not a matter to be a consultant. I'm considering Jean as a close relationship and nothing else.&rdquo;
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Binotto praised for helping Vasseur’s Ferrari F1 handover

New Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur is &ldquo;convinced&rdquo; the team has everything it needs to win the championship, and that targeting anything less would be a &ldquo;lack of ambition.&rdquo;
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Vasseur took over as Ferrari team principal earlier this month following Mattia Binotto&rsquo;s departure in December, having overseen Sauber&rsquo;s F1 operation for the previous five years.
He joins a Ferrari team that has not won an F1 championship since 2008, and saw its early promise in 2022 fade through the season.
As well as losing ground on Red Bull in the development battle, Ferrari also struggled with poor engine reliability, strategic mistakes and occasional on-track errors that meant it failed to win a race after the Austrian Grand Prix in July.
But Vasseur downplayed talk of widespread changes at Maranello, believing the right ingredients were already in place for Ferrari to win again.
&ldquo;I'm really convinced that Ferrari today, and, for sure, my experience is limited to the last two weeks, but we have everything to win,&rdquo; Vasseur said in his first media call since taking charge of Ferrari on Thursday.
&ldquo;We have to put everything together to do a good job, but we have everything to be able to win.
&ldquo;You can have a look on the results of the last decades that the wheel is always running, and it's just a matter of continuous improvement for me.
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&ldquo;If we are doing a better job than the others in a couple of months or years, then we will be able to win. Nothing is set in stone. If you have a look at some teams that were in a very dominant situation a couple of years ago, they are nowhere today.
&ldquo;It means that you don't have to take this kind of direction to say OK, it was like these last decades or the last 20 years, and it will stay like this the next 40 years.
&ldquo;F1 is a changing world and we just have to be focused on the job, on the performance, and everything is possible.&rdquo;
While Ferrari&rsquo;s runner-up finish in last year&rsquo;s constructors&rsquo; championship marked its best result since 2019, CEO Benedetto Vigna said in an interview that nothing but the title would be good enough and that second was &ldquo;first of the losers.&rdquo;
Asked by Motorsport.com if he felt any pressure to win the championship this year given Vigna&rsquo;s comments, Vasseur said it was an &ldquo;obvious target.&rdquo;
&ldquo;When you are in a top team, you can&rsquo;t have another target than the win,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t start the season to say, &lsquo;OK I would be happy with P2.&rsquo; It would be a lack of ambition. I think we have everything to do a good job, and the target has to be to win.&rdquo;
Vasseur is the fifth team principal to take charge at Ferrari since it last won a championship, following Binotto, Maurizio Arriavabene, Marco Mattiacci and Stefano Domenicali.
At Sauber, he served as both the team principal and CEO of the F1 squad, while Ferrari is known for having greater internal politics through its various strands across racing and the car company.
Vasseur made clear he had no concerns about his level of autonomy at Ferrari, saying: &ldquo;The situation is crystal clear.
&ldquo;Even last year at Sauber, I had to report to the chairman of the group, and you have always a boss. It&rsquo;s not a new situation for me.
&ldquo;Now that I&rsquo;m running the team, I have the delegation to do it, and I will do it as I want. We have enough discussion with Benedetto and John [Elkann, Ferrari chairman] on a daily basis to discuss the key points.
&ldquo;This is crystal clear and it&rsquo;s working perfectly.&rdquo;
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By: Luke Smith Co-author: Jonathan Noble

Vasseur "convinced" Ferrari has everything it needs to win F1 title

Formula 1 loves a good storm in a teacup, but this week&rsquo;s letter from FOM to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is something much bigger than that.
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Rather than it being a side story to F1&rsquo;s ongoing Netflix-era soap opera, it potentially marks the start of a change of dynamic in the way the championship is run.
While in public there has long been a united front between FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, paddock regulars know that things have been different behind the scenes. Away from the spotlight of television cameras, microphones and journalists&rsquo; notebooks, tensions have been simmering away for months now.
Although many of the clashes of opinion between the FIA&rsquo;s top man and chiefs at F1 owners Liberty Media were previously dealt with amicably behind closed doors without the need for dirty laundry to be aired in public, things have taken a big turn this week.
Indeed, F1&rsquo;s angry letter to Ben Sulayem about his remarks of an &lsquo;inflated&rsquo; $20 billion price tag for the series has effectively made, what one senior paddock source says, is now &lsquo;open warfare&rsquo; between F1&rsquo;s regulator and its commercial rights holder.
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Power battle
This clash is a world away from the decades where the FIA and FOM were as thick as thieves. Indeed, it is the polar opposite to the time when then FIA president Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone era would collude to divide-and-conquer the teams.
Now we appear to be back to the kind of scenario from the early 1980s where there was a FISA-FOCA war &ndash; with Ecclestone on one side of the fence and FIA chief Jean-Marie Balestre on the other, with little common ground between them.
While the straw that broke the camel&rsquo;s back was the way that Ben Sulayem spoke out about concerns over the rumoured $20 billion offering for F1 from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, tensions between him and FOM have been steadily bubbling away for the last 12 months.
There has been a sequence of events and responses that have served to ratchet up the situation. Some of it is related to the governing body and the way it has been running F1&rsquo;s regulatory matters. This includes what was felt to be an unsatisfactory response to the errors the FIA made at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Ben Sulayem&rsquo;s initial blocking of more sprint races being on the schedule for 2023, and unease about some of the race control decisions and rule enforcement last year (such as the Monza safety car and the Japanese GP points rule confusion).
There has also been angst in some quarters about the way that Ben Sulayem favours dealing with matters personally rather than using more typical presidential channels.
While it could be argued this personal focus can be a strength &ndash; like the way he spoke to all drivers and teams about the porpoising problem last year to formulate a response &ndash; there have been times when such an approach has annoyed those within F1, especially when he has not been across all the details of incredibly complex matters in front of him.
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The FIA&rsquo;s issuing of the record-breaking 2023 calendar press release with his quote before F1 knew it was going out, and that awkward on-stage moment with Red Bull boss Christian Horner at the FIA gala over the Japanese GP confusion, provoked some figures within the series.
But things have escalated dramatically in recent weeks thanks to social media posts on Ben Sulayem&rsquo;s personal account. The first was criticising pushback over Andretti&rsquo;s new team bid, even though current competitors had largely kept their views private on the matter. Now though, his remarks about the Saudi interest and a $20 billion price tag have proven to be a step too far.
The Saudi situation perhaps typifies all that paddock sources are uneasy about: Ben Sulayem&rsquo;s need to make a strong personal response to a story that insiders suggest was wide of the mark and could be safely ignored. Rather than the Saudis having looked at buying F1, the trigger for the story was talks involving the Saudis around the time of the 2021 Italian Grand Prix to get involved in sponsoring grand prix racing, which did not come off.
Given that story has resurfaced now has all the hallmarks of a deliberate leak to try to get the $20 billion price tag figure out there. Who stands to benefit the most from it being talked about, and why now, is unclear...
F1 shareholders did gain though, with the share price of FWONA jumping by 7.8% from less than $59 on Friday before the Bloomberg story appeared, to hit a peak of $63.60 later that day before steadily slipping back. The share price lift also meant ultimately, a $20 billion price tag does not seem excessive, with the market cap of FWONA currently standing around the $16 billion level.
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The team impact
While teams are currently sitting on the sidelines as observers of the battle between F1 and FIA, they are mindful about how things develop from here. At a time when F1 has been going from strength to strength with record attendances and earnings, a power battle at the top could serve as an unnecessary distraction.
Several sources Autosport has spoken to suggest that the goings on at the top are not something that has triggered alarm about potential damage to the teams or F1&rsquo;s global image for sponsors and fans.
The teams&rsquo; lifeblood of commercial rights income should not be impacted by it and, even if relations between Ben Sulayem and FOM breakdown completely, the FIA&rsquo;s governance structures should still allow the processes that FOM need (such as the running of weekends, approval of the F1 calendar, and sorting out of rule changes by the World Motor Sport Council) to go on.
Where they point to the biggest change coming is perhaps within the corridors of the FIA, depending on how Ben Sulayem&rsquo;s action is viewed by those inside the governing body. FOM&rsquo;s warning that the FIA could be &lsquo;liable&rsquo; for damages caused by Ben Sulayem talking on commercial matters will not be lost on members &ndash; for government regulators do not take kindly to anything that unduly impacts company valuations.
Let&rsquo;s not forget that Elon Musk was fined a total of $40 million back in 2018 by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) when he was accused of having misled investors over a Tweet that suggested he was considering taking his Tesla company private.
Furthermore, the FOM letter served as a reminder that the FIA had agreed long ago not to get involved with any commercial matters relating to F1.
As part of a sign off by the EU&rsquo;s anti-cartel authorities back in 2001, it was made crystal clear about where the FIA&rsquo;s control ended.
In the press release issued at the time by the European Commission, it stated: &ldquo;The role of FIA will be limited to that of a sports regulator, with no commercial conflicts of interest.&rdquo;
It added: &ldquo;The FIA will, therefore, have no influence over the commercial exploitation of the Formula One Championship.&rdquo;
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Moving on
So what next? In the short term it will be interesting to see if Ben Sulayem stands firm on what he said, or apologises and changes his tact going forward. Longer term, it would be wrong to suggest that F1 will settle for nothing less than a FIA coup and someone else brought in to head the governing body.
However, what it most likely does want is some clearer definitions of spheres of responsibility from the governing body. In particular, in the way that things are handled going forward so Ben Sulayem does not act as a thorn in F1&rsquo;s side in evolving the series the way it wants.
But, almost definitely, F1 will want guarantees that the FIA sticks to what it agreed with the EU decades ago: not getting involved, or trying to influence, any commercial matters.
Ben Sulayem himself has long insisted that he does not see big problems between himself and Domenicali. At last year&rsquo;s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he said they speak every other day about matters.
Last weekend, at the Monte Carlo Rally, Ben Sulayem again pointed out that things were good at the top &ndash; even though he knew there were times when F1&rsquo;s promoter had to act in ways it felt was best.
&ldquo;Yes, but the FIA has to do its job, also,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The good thing is that I have a good relationship with Stefano. Stefano comes from motorsport and the automobile industry, so that makes it easier for both sides to go forward. It is not something where you bring in somebody who has total commercial knowledge and [knows] zero about sport, no.&rdquo;
Most pointedly, Ben Sulayem suggested that talk of friction between FIA and FOM had been the creation of the media.
&ldquo;It was also the media that created [this],&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When they say, &lsquo;every time you do something to correct [each other], oh there is a split.&rsquo;&rdquo;
What F1&rsquo;s letter to the FIA has shown is that the schism at the top is not a figment of journalists&rsquo; imagination. Instead, it is a real fight for control of F1&rsquo;s future direction, and something that looks set to dominate the paddock agenda in the months to come.
&nbsp;

Mohammed Bin Sulayem

What next for F1 after FOM's broadside to Ben Sulayem

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been accused by Formula 1 chiefs of "interfering" in the sport's commercial rights with his comments that a $20 billion valuation was inflated.
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Ben Sulayem took to social media on Monday to express his concern about the implications of an exaggerated price for F1.
In the wake of a report from Bloomberg that Saudi's sovereign wealth fund had tabled a $20 billion bid for F1 but without interest from owner Liberty Media, Ben Sulayem said he was worried about potential consequences of such figures being thrown around.
In particular, he felt that without a valid plan in place by any new owners to improve F1, there was the risk that a takeover could prompt a huge ramping up in race hosting fees, which would then lead to increased ticket prices.
"As the custodians of motorsport, the FIA, as a non-profit organisation, is cautious about alleged inflated price tags of $20bn being put on F1," he wrote.
"Any potential buyer is advised to apply common sense, consider the greater good of the sport and come with a clear, sustainable plan &ndash; not just a lot of money.
"It is our duty to consider what the future impact will be for promoters in terms of increased hosting fees and other commercial costs, and any adverse impact that it could have on fans."
But Ben Sulayem's comments have not gone down well with Liberty Media, who have formally expressed their annoyance over the matter.
In a letter sent on Tuesday by F1's legal department to Ben Sulayem, which was also circulated to teams, it expressed dismay at the way that the remarks had "interfered" with F1's commercial rights territory.
As part of an original deal agreed by former FIA president Max Mosley in 2000 to lease the rights out to F1 for more than 100 years, the governing body agreed not to get involved in any commercial matters &ndash; and would instead be involved only in regulatory issues.
F1's letter argued that, in making comments about the value of the sport, Ben Sulayem had overstepped the mark.
The letter stated: "The FIA has given unequivocal undertakings that it will not do anything to prejudice the ownership, management and/or exploitation of those rights.
"We consider that those comments, made from the FIA President's official social media account, interfere with those rights in an unacceptable manner."
The serious tone with which F1 was treating the matter was also made clear when the letter suggested that the FIA may be liable if it is found the comments have caused any damage to shareholders and investors in grand prix racing.
F1 itself has not made any official statement on the matter, while the FIA declined to comment.
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by Jonathan Noble

F1 chiefs angered by Ben Sulayem’s "unacceptable" remarks

Toyota SUPER GT driver Kenta Yamashita has been hospitalised following a major crash on the opening day of SUPER GT manufacturer testing at Suzuka.
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Yamashita suffered an off at 130R at the wheel of his Rookie Racing Toyota GR Supra during the morning session as group testing for the 2023 season kicked off at the Japanese Grand Prix venue.
However, the 2019 GT500 champion appeared to escape any serious injury in the accident, the cause of which remains unclear.
A short statement from Rookie Racing posted on Twitter said that Yamashita "is currently being examined in hospital, but is able to walk by himself and his not in serious condition."
Yamashita's accident brought an early end to the test for the Rookie Supra he shares with Kazuya Oshima, although the car was only scheduled to participate in the opening day of the two-day test.
The team now faces the task of repairing the damaged car in time for the team's next scheduled test outing at Okayama on February 8-9.
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A total of eight cars were on track at Suzuka, with attention focused on Nissan as the only one of SUPER GT's three manufacturers not to have officially announced its driver line-ups.
Nissan had all four of its Z GT500s present alongside a trio of Toyotas, Rookie Racing joined by Cerumo and Racing Project Bandoh, and a single Honda representative in Real Racing.
While Team Impul - proudly wearing the #1 plate following its title success last year - and the two NISMO-run cars ran with unchanged line-ups, the Kondo Racing Nissan appeared to be shared by Daiki Sasaki and Kiyoto Fujinami.
It suggests that Fujinami, a two-time champion in SUPER GT's lower GT300 division with Kondo, is finally set for a promotion to Nissan's GT500 roster, potentially at the expense of Kohei Hirate.
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Tuesday's test marked the first time that Fujinami has driven a Nissan GT500 car outside of the marque's annual shootout tests held at Fuji Speedway in December. Last month, he was in action alongside fellow youngsters Teppei Natori, Riki Okusa and Atsushi Miyake.
In cold and unrepresentative conditions, it was the Real Racing Honda NSX-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Nobuharu Matsushita that set the pace with a best lap of 1m44.142s in the morning session.
The Yokohama-shod Bandoh Toyota (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) was second-fastest on a 1m44.500s, while the Rookie Racing GR Supra had set the third-fastest time before its crash.
Best of the Nissans was the Impul Z of reigning champions Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine in fourth.
Testing continues on Wednesday, but forecast temperatures of just one degree Celsius mean any running is likely to be limited and of little value to the teams.
Suzuka SUPER GT testing times:
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Super GT

Kenta Yamashita

Suzuka International Racing Course

Yamashita taken to hospital after Suzuka SUPER GT test crash

The IMSA SportsCar Championship&rsquo;s new GTP era has begun with a thrilling battle between Acura and Porsche being resolved in the favour of Tom Blomqvist&rsquo;s Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
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Due to poor weather and only two of the new GTP cars taking to the track in Saturday&rsquo;s two-hour evening session, the class was granted an extra 15 minutes preparation before qualifying.
Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn were installed in the #01 and #02 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-LMDh entries; Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr took charge of the Team Penske-run Porsche 963s; Philipp Eng was wheeling one of the BMW M Hybrid V8s run by Rahal Letterman Lanigan; Pipo Derani was driving the Action Express Racing Cadillac; Ricky Taylor drove the Acura ARX-06 of Wayne Taylor Racing, while the similar car of Meyer Shank Racing was driven by Blomqvist.
The #25 BMW missed the session because the car was still in the IMSA tech line.
Tandy set the early pace with a 1m35.530s, then lowered the mark to 1m35.349s, then 1m35.228s.
Then Blomqvist and Nasr set identical times to each other, before the next time by Blomqvist was on top with a 1m35.081s for MSR Acura.
That wasn&rsquo;t the final roll of the dice though, because Nasr went faster with an impressive 1m34.926s around the 3.56-mile Daytona course.
Some 75 minutes later, after the lower classes had qualified, the GTP cars were back on track for their 20- minute qualifying session. The two Acuras were first out and Taylor delivered a 1m34.783s on his third lap and 1m34.295s on his fourth.
Blomqvist then pitted for fresh tyres, while Taylor let his tyres cool before going for another fast one &ndash; an impressive 1m34.198s.
Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW got within 0.9s, but he was pushed down to fifth, by Nasr, Tandy and team-mate Eng.
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Tandy had set the fastest two sectors of all on his next lap, but braking for the Bus Stop chicane &ndash; where LMP2 drivers had reported a severe tail wind &ndash; Tandy lost control on turn-in and struck the tyre wall.
That brought out the red flag and cost the #6 car its two fastest times.
That left the cars with just one chance of a flying lap, with Nasr delivering an excellent 1m34.114s to beat Taylor - only to see his time shaded by a 1m34.031s from Blomqvist&rsquo;s MSR Acura.
Bourdais had sat idle for the majority of the session, but emerged from the pits in determined mood to land a 1m34.262s and fourth on the grid alongside Taylor, and within a quarter-second of the pole.
Team-mate Lynn will start from fifth alongside Derani of AXR, while the BMWs of Eng and Yelloly were a respectable seventh and eighth, within one second of pole.
Ben Keating of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports found enough clear air to slam in a 1m40.541s to go fastest in the LMP2 class, while Nico Pino in the Sean Creech Motorsport car took top honours in LMP3.
New for this year, GTD teams were allowed to run their Platinum and Gold drivers to run qualifying. With 33 cars in total &ndash; nine GTD Pro, and 24 GTD &ndash; the track was extremely busy.
Philip Ellis of Winward Racing delivered a 1m46.267s to make it a Mercedes 1-2-3 in GTD, with WeatherTech Racing's Maro Engel top of the GTD Pro class.&nbsp;
<a href="https://motorsportstats.com/results/imsa-sportscar-championship/2023/roar-before-the-rolex-24/classification/qualifying" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RESULTS</a>

2023 Roar Before The Rolex 24

Daytona International Speedway

Meyer Shank Racing

Porsche Motorsport

Acura beats Porsche to pole for 2023 Daytona 24 Hours

Several drivers from the FIA World Endurance Championship are optimistic that the new breed of LMDh and LMH cars will herald the start of a new era that will last longer than the peak years of LMP1.
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The introduction of new regulations by both the WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have brought an unprecedented number of manufacturers to the top echelon of sportscar racing, with the likes of Porsche, Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, Lamborghini, Alpine and Glickenhaus all having confirmed factory programmes for the coming seasons.
This has brought back much needed life to prototype competition, particularly in the WEC, after several lean years plagued by limited manufacturer rivalry and diminishing grids.
The WEC last enjoyed such a strong period in the mid-2010s when LMP1 formed the top class but, while the high-performance thoroughbreds from the likes of Porsche, Toyota and Audi drew comparisons to Formula 1, the rapid withdrawal of manufacturers left the category in the doldrums.
However, many believe that the championship organisers have since learned lessons from LMP1 and the new LMDh and LMH regulations will provide longevity to the Hypercar class.
United Autosports driver Oliver Jarvis raced for Audi at the height of the LMP1 era in 2015-16 and also has a firm grasp on DPi regulations from his time with Mazda and Acura in IMSA in recent years.
The British driver believes the way the LMDh and LMH regulations have been framed provide for a level-playing field, and it&rsquo;s now financially feasible for new manufacturers to enter the class and go up against the incumbents.
&ldquo;If you look at it, the LMP1 lasted a long time, it just didn't maintain the manufacturer involvement,&rdquo; Jarvis told Motorsport.com.
&ldquo;I think costs got out of control. The [new] regulations come from a much better cost analysis point of view.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It's much easier to find the budgets to make it work and to make it viable, which is why you've seen the likes of Ferrari come back and Peugeot come back.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And it's how manufacturers that probably looked at it in the past but financially they knew they couldn't compete with an Audi or Porsche back in the 2014-15 era.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'd like to think that this has longevity just because of that. As long as the budgets stay under control, which I believe it's possible, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be five-to-ten years.&rdquo;
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Acura driver Filipe Albuquerque highlighted how there is no incentive for manufacturers to throw more money on development for bigger gains, as cars are required to remain within a certain window of performance.
He also cited the requirement to lock the specification of LMDh cars for a five-year period as proof that costs of competition will not go out of control.
&ldquo;I think the cost of things quickly escalated in LMP1 times,&rdquo; Albuquerque told Motorsport.com.
&ldquo;Here now it's a cost cap in a way because it's really well made the way it is. You can only achieve x downforce, x number of drag and power output.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It doesn't matter if you have like back in time the most powerful engine because at the end of the day it has to be a nice curve that you cannot go over. And the [minimum] weight [limit has to be respected].&nbsp;
&ldquo;And once you do the car it's going to be fixed for five years. So I think that is addressing the biggest problem for manufacturers to not keep spending this amount of money they are spending now on building [the car] because it's just going to be steady [later].
&ldquo;And eventually with the attraction of marketing you can get some sponsors and customers to help the manufacturers to justify that money, so it makes sense.
&ldquo;We are way cheaper than LMP1. It looks good and I hope it stays longer.&rdquo;
As part of the convergence of rules between WEC and IMSA, manufacturers can now compete in the top class of both championships with the same car, whether it is built to LMDh or LMH rules.
This has allowed Porsche and Cadillac to announce twin programmes in WEC and IMSA for 2023, meaning they will get to battle for outright honours at both Le Mans 24 Hours and the Rolex 24 at Daytona without spending money on developing two entirely separate cars.
Timo Bernhard, who won Le Mans for Porsche in 2017, believes the successful convergence between WEC and IMSA has played a major role in luring back manufacturers to the top of the sportscar racing tree.
&ldquo;I think endurance racing always had different waves, like manufacturers came and went,&rdquo; Bernhard told Motorsport.com.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm happy that now it looks like a golden era again of endurance racing with more manufacturers coming in.&nbsp;
&ldquo;LMP1 was different rules and for me it was more the question at that time who can compete at a high level. Also the costs were definitely also an issue.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And now with the LMDh rules - LMH is probably more expensive - it is more attractive to manufacturers.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Also the key is that you can run the same cars all around the world which helps as well to attract.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It would be important for sportscar [racing] that the manufacturers stay more longer.&rdquo;
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Porsche is known to have spent in excess of 100 million dollars a season when it raced in LMP1 from 2014-17, although there are varying accounts about how much money actually went into the programme.
For its return to the category, Porsche has taken the more affordable LMDh route and it will also be supplying customer cars to JOTA and Proton Competition in the WEC.
Porsche&rsquo;s motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach is reasonably confident that the new Hypercar class will continue to attract strong manufacturer participation in the coming years as the rulemakers had focused on keeping costs under check from the very beginning.
Asked if the new era of sportscar racing will last longer than the peak years of LMP1, Laudenbach told Motorsport.com: &ldquo;I very much hope so because we are very, very serious about cost control.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We've seen in motorsport many series coming and going and very often they suffered from financial stability in general.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So taking care of that point right from the beginning is a good approach. We have to keep it under control.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We have to get this topic of convergence right because we have LMH and hypercars. But from a starting point there is a good chance that we will see an era which will be really good and fascinating and hopefully long-lasting.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm not saying it's going to happen 100% there are too many things to still get. but the chance from the boundary conditions it's definitely there.&rdquo;
Peugeot driver and ex-Audi LMP1 ace Loic Duval, however, urged some caution, saying that while the next few years will offer competitive racing, it remains unclear if some manufacturers will remain in the category for long periods.
&ldquo;They've done a good job so far, FIA, ACO, IMSA, to have everybody onboard, but you cannot have everybody happy,&rdquo; Duval told Motorsport.com.
&ldquo;So when constructors are not happy they unplug or they carry on to try to improve.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It's difficult to say but what I'm sure is that in the next few years in terms of racing, in terms of viewers, in terms of constructors it will be really strong. Then I don't know how long it will start.&rdquo;
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World Endurance Championship

By Rachit Thukral

WEC drivers hope new sportscar era will last longer than LMP1

Mercedes' Formula 1 technical director Mike Elliott has explained how a single data point in the initial design simulations of the W13 car led to the team's disappointing 2022 campaign.
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The W13 came to be most closely associated with the porpoising problem that impacted every F1 team to some extent during the first season of the championship returning to running ground-effects designs.
Although Mercedes was able to address the specific aerodynamic porpoising issue, it then spent the next phase of the campaign working to fix a ride problem the porpoising had been masking before finally making the W13 quicker and into a race winner at the season's end.
Key to that successful turnaround was a major upgrade Mercedes added at the US Grand Prix, where team boss Toto Wolff revealed it had traced the W13's conceptual flaws back to "one single decision" taken during its design processes as part of the large overhaul of its procedures enacted when it realised how bad things were in terms of performance against its rivals.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Elliott discussed the impact of that decision, while remaining tight-lipped about its precise nature because "we'd be explaining what it is we're trying to do over the winter and where we're trying to go" with the W14 car Mercedes will enter in 2023.
"[But] what we targeted in the car, interestingly enough, we had right when we started," Elliott added.
"And [then] we had a result in simulation that caused us to choose a slightly different direction.
"It's easy to go back and say, 'why did that happen?'. But I think in all these things, it's always easy to go back in hindsight and go back and look and go, 'if we hadn't done that step there, we would've been in a very different position.'
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"But I think to have seen that [data anomaly] at the time would've been very hard.
"I'm going to explain it in a completely tangential way: if you scuba dive, there's something called an incident pit. And so, if you teach scuba diving you teach people the incident pit.
"And the reason we teach that is that what happens when you look at accidents that happen in scuba diving, it's never the first thing that went wrong, it's because people didn't abort at the first thing that went wrong and [then] a whole load of other things then went wrong that meant they were in a lot of trouble.
"When you at going back to the decision we made, it's pretty similar. Which is the first thing that we did was very difficult to spot.
"It was then a cascade of things that came afterwards that meant we ended up where we ended up.
"And so, when you know where you ended up at in the end, it's very easy to look back and see where we took the wrong step."
It has been suggested that the single simulation flaw error led to Mercedes pressing ahead with its 'zero-pod' sidepod approach which meant a large rear floor area that flexed under peak downforce load and triggered extreme porpoising on the W13 during the early part of 2022 &ndash; even at lower speeds than on rival cars.
Elliott suggested that the pivotal design flaw left Mercedes with performance potential it could not unlock in the W13, with the Silver Arrows squad's new car being worked on to ensure this does not remain the case heading into 2023.
"We ended up in a position where we started the year front of the midfield, occasionally slightly worse than that," Elliott said of Mercedes' 2022 campaign.
"And we ended the season, I'd like to think, with the second-quickest car.
"So, the decision we baked in wasn't one that was massive. We're talking about something that if we'd have got it right, maybe we would have been three or four tenths quicker.
"It's really hard to know because you can't play the cards again from that point forwards.
"And it'd be arrogant to think that if we hadn't made that one mistake, we'd have a car that was winning the world championship &ndash; because I think that's not the right way of looking at it.
"More to the point is to look and say, 'we know we made a mistake and we know that there's performance to unlock by changing it'.
"Some of the upgrades we've brought towards the end of the season have been up there to confirm that and we need to do the rest of it over the winter and let's see where we get too."
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Mercedes

By Alex Kalinauckas

How one wrong simulation answer triggered key mistake with Mercedes' W13 design

Lewis Hamilton&rsquo;s ultimate mission at the Mercedes Formula 1 team is unchanged since the day he joined: it is taking himself and his team to world championship glory.
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But what is notably different between the current seven-time champion and the driver who joined the squad back in 2013 as a single title winner is his approach.
His years of experience at Brackley, through many highs and lows, has given Hamilton a wealth of data to fall back on; and the knowledge to know where best his efforts should be focused.
Nobody is perhaps better placed within Mercedes to offer insight in to how Hamilton was evolved as a driver than the team&rsquo;s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.
As the man who has been at a coal face in leading the engineering aspects of Hamilton and Mercedes&rsquo; title ambitions, he has noticed an interesting evolution.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked with Lewis now for a long time and he is a driver who has a really impressive feel for what the car is doing,&rdquo; Shovlin told Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview.
&ldquo;If you can get the car where he needs it to be, we know far and well what he&rsquo;s capable of. And, yeah, we&rsquo;ve worked with each other for sufficiently long enough that we can have whatever conversations need to be had.
&ldquo;We all like to think we develop as we go through our careers, and if you knew what you know today 10 years ago, then I think we&rsquo;d all have been more successful.
&ldquo;Lewis, as a driver, puts an awful lot of effort into looking for where that edge is going to come from. That constant searching for how he can emerge into a new season as an even better driver than the one that we had before is just borne out of his love of winning.
&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t want to be beaten. He&rsquo;s very engaged with the engineering process now, he&rsquo;s talking to all [engineering departments] &ndash; on the aerodynamics side, and vehicle dynamics side.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very familiar with all the people within the team and he knows where to go to ask questions and give feedback. Ultimately, it&rsquo;s a problem that we&rsquo;ll all solve together.&rdquo;
Shovlin thinks that where Hamilton has improved the most is in working out in which areas he needs to devote his key efforts to extract more from a car &ndash; and more importantly how to get the team to deliver what he needs.
&ldquo;I think the mechanism by which he is always looking to improve has always been there, the difference is he has realised how much more he can draw out of the team and the people around him to help that learning and that improvement phase,&rdquo; explained Shovlin.
&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s the thing: he&rsquo;s become more and more comfortable and settled within the team, and confident and happy to go and speak to different people about different areas. He&rsquo;s just drawing more effectively on the resource.
&ldquo;But, ultimately, if he finds an area that he thinks he&rsquo;s not good enough at, he just solves it by hard work.
&ldquo;The amount of work a driver has to do these days out of the car, the homework &ndash; understanding what the tyres are going to do, what do I need to be doing to manage them well, how am I going to get them at the right window in qualifying &ndash; that workload is much higher than it&rsquo;s ever been.
&ldquo;And very often you&rsquo;ll see Lewis as being one of the last drivers to, if not the last driver, to leave the paddock. He&rsquo;s just going round and round, making sure he knows what it is he needs to do.&rdquo;
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Relationship test Nothing tested the relationship between Hamilton and Mercedes more than last year&rsquo;s tricky W13.
With the team battling to find answers to its early-season porpoising problems, there were some tough times inside the garage and engineering debrief rooms.
Shovlin adds: &ldquo;In the early part of the year, there&rsquo;s no doubt, whether you&rsquo;re talking about Toto&rsquo;s relationship with the engineering team or engineering&rsquo;s relationship with Lewis, there was quite a lot of stress and pressure and anxiety, and difficult conversations, because we simply hadn&rsquo;t done anywhere near a good enough job.
&ldquo;I think for Lewis it was particularly challenging coming off the back of 2021. He knew how he wanted to respond in 2022 and we were unable to give him a car to allow him to play that role. And it was definitely a difficult time. But I think the process has been good for the team.
&ldquo;One of the biggest challenges we had was sticking together and working together, which we&rsquo;ve come through well and I think the experience will serve us well further down the line.
&ldquo;Tricky cars like that on the back of a run of success are quite a difficult thing for a team to deal with, and it&rsquo;s a case of working out: &lsquo;what is it you do as an organisation that&rsquo;s good that needs to be kept, and what is it that you do as an organisation that&rsquo;s not good enough and you&rsquo;ve got to change?&rsquo; And that, again, was a process that we were running through for a lot of the year.&rdquo;
Shovlin does not hide from the fact that there were times when things got very extreme &ndash; but says getting through those moments has put Mercedes and Hamilton in good stead for the future.
&ldquo;There were some difficult points where we know that the car that we gave them in Baku, in Montreal, in Imola and all those races &ndash; it was bordering on dangerous,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;And that certainly focuses your attention to make sure that we dig ourselves out of that position and start giving them something that they can race in again.
&ldquo;But the whole team has been through a lot with Lewis, and it&rsquo;s great that we have such an experienced driver when we&rsquo;ve had such a challenging year.
&ldquo;Hopefully, we&rsquo;re now through the worst of that challenge and we can get on with the next challenge, which is hopefully fighting our way back to the front and fighting for championships.&rdquo;
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&nbsp;

Lewis Hamilton

How Hamilton has changed as an F1 driver at Mercedes

Two-time and reigning IndyCar champion Will Power has decided to pull out of next week&rsquo;s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona due to ongoing medical issues for his wife Elizabeth.
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Power was set to make his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut at the wheel of Kenny Habul&rsquo;s GTD-class SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3, sharing the ride with Habul, Axcil Jefferies and Fabian Schiller.
However, Power is standing down from the line-up as his wife Elizabeth has spent more than a week in hospital, including two days in ICU, and has undergone back surgery. The 2014 and &rsquo;22 IndyCar champion has elected, therefore, to stay at home to support her and their son Beau.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate timing, but after what Liz has been through and is still going through, my place is at her side until she can recover full mobility,&rdquo; Power told Motorsport.com. &ldquo;I have kept Kenny informed of the situation, and I can tell you he&rsquo;s been absolutely supportive and totally understanding about the situation. He agrees I need to be there for Liz.
&ldquo;I can just wish him, Axcil, Fabian and the whole team the best of luck at Daytona and I hope they win those Rolexes.&rdquo;
SunEnergy1 is due to send out an official release tonight, although it&rsquo;s unclear whether Habul has already nominated a replacement for Power.
Despite Power&rsquo;s sad absence, IndyCar will remain well represented in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, across the classes. In GTP, Scott Dixon (Ganassi Cadillac V-LMDh), Colton Herta (BMW M Hybrid V8) and Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud (both Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06). In LMP2, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden are part of Tower Motorsports&rsquo; line-up while Rinus VeeKay is in the TDS Racing entry and Devlin DeFrancesco will be competing for Rick Ware Racing. In GTD, Kyle Kirkwood will reprise his role as extra for Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
Former U.S. open-wheel drivers in the race include four-time Champ Car title winner Sebastien Bourdais, multiple race winners Ryan Briscoe and Mike Conway, as well as Ed Jones, Gabby Chaves, Jack Hawksworth, Jan Heylen, Franck Perera, Katherine Legge, and Jan Magnussen.

Will Power

Power withdraws from Rolex 24 due to wife’s ill health

After years of playing his part in helping Mercedes dominate Formula 1, incoming Williams boss James Vowles faces a completely different challenge at his new team.
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It is not lost on him that for four of the last five years, Williams has found itself pegged to the bottom of the constructors&rsquo; championship.
Plus, more recently, it has faced fresh uncertainty following the departure of team principal Jost Capito and its technical director FX Demaison.
Turning the squad&rsquo;s fortunes around quickly is not going to be an easy task for Vowles, as he is comes in at a time when much of the work on the 2023 car has already been completed.
His job list is going to be large too; for he will need to get a restructured technical team in place to help drive its F1 challenger forward as fast as he can.
But, while decisions over the technical department and overall reporting structure will be important for Vowles, there is one thing that he thinks take priority above everything else: a new team culture.
For the team that he famously remembers watching through the catch fencing at Silverstone in the early 1990&rsquo;s during its most dominant era, is in a very different place right now.
As Vowles said: &ldquo;If you asked me what are the front facing and most iconic brands of the sport, Williams is what comes to mind.
&ldquo;It's filled with incredibly talented people who were just hurting a little bit from the last few years. But it has great potential.&rdquo;
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What Vowles thinks is critical therefore for helping shape a better future for Williams is in lifting spirits at the team; getting the squad believing in its future direction.
A new mentality and a shifted culture are the foundations that Vowles thinks need laying down before any other changes can hope to make the improvements necessary to move up the grid.
Speaking about where he felt Williams was lacking at the moment, Vowles said: &ldquo;What will definitely be wrong is when you're hurting, and when you've been punished and you've been pushed down as an organisation because you're suffering, it doesn't get any better year on year unless you get a change to what's going on - a change to the culture, a change to the methods and systems.
&ldquo;I suspect a lot of it was that if we go back a few years, we didn't have the strength that is Dorilton [team owners].
&ldquo;Dorilton really want to and will invest the correct amount to make this a performant team. And I don't think it was fair to say that that was the case just a few years ago. That impact will take a while to probably kick in.
&ldquo;But I'm one of a change, and clearly one individual won't make it. What's required is restrengthening the technical team, but also allowing those internally that are incredibly good to shine and prosper.
&ldquo;And I suspect the environment they've had around them isn't one that would have been conducive to that for a period of time.&rdquo;
While Vowles is arriving from a Mercedes team that is known for dominating F1&rsquo;s turbo hybrid era, that&rsquo;s not to say he only knows what it is like to win.
There were definitely some tough times at Mercedes last year when the squad was battling its early season porpoising dramas.
Plus, Vowles was on board at Brackley during its difficult early days as British American Racing &ndash; which included long streaks without scoring any points in the early 2000s.
"I'm fortunate enough to have known failure on levels that many of you unfortunately have publicly seen,&rdquo; he said during a media briefing last week.
&ldquo;Even prior to Mercedes, there were times where we were languishing in a very poor position: we didn't score a point for 12 races.
&ldquo;The real gain that you get out of this is that you have to instil a culture into this that allows everyone to realise that you have to be empowered. You have to grow, you have to move forward as a unit together, and it has to be one collaborative motion.
&ldquo;I strongly suspect that we're just in a situation where that collaboration isn't quite at the level it could be or should be, just simply because it's been a few years of pain that cemented it.&rdquo;
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Having lived through the journey at Mercedes from a team that struggled to score points to one that has, at times, been expecting to win each race it goes to, Vowles has a huge wealth of experience about the way things need to operate inside a successful organisation.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;ve asked our senior leadership team, what's the most important element of the team, it will always come back to two things at Mercedes: people and culture,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the machine shop floor, not the wind tunnel tools, not the driver in the loop simulator. It comes back to people and culture. And I believe exactly the same is true within Williams.
&ldquo;Before setting foot in there, I'm unsure where we are at the moment, but it is the highest thing on my priority list: making sure that everyone understands that it's about working together.
&ldquo;It's about empowerment. It is about treating your colleagues with the respect that you want back from them, and the growth you want back from them, so that we can work together towards an end goal.&rdquo;
Perhaps the biggest endorsement of Vowles&rsquo; belief about culture being so important comes from his former boss Toto Wolff &ndash; who has long held the view about it being a key factor in the success of the German car manufacturer.
Speaking about his perception of Mercedes, Wolff said: &ldquo;Where we started the journey, the kind of prevailing philosophy was, this is a race car. and the race car needs good aerodynamics, and a strong engine, and so on and so forth.
&ldquo;But it was almost always neglected that the racing team is a group of people that have joined on a journey. And these people have hopes, dreams, objectives, and anxieties, all of that.
&ldquo;I think what we have been able in Mercedes is to embed a structure where it's all around the person. We care. And we believe when we care.
&ldquo;When you set up an organisation that demonstrates that every day, then you can achieve extraordinary performances. Now, that's no guarantee forever, as we've seen in 2022, but the culture and the values are the immune system of any organisation.
&ldquo;James has been a part of this journey of developing our culture, about setting objectives. And so he will be able to translate that into the Williams organisation.
&ldquo;I have no doubt that James within the organisation will discover talent, will discover committed and ambitious people. And if he embeds all of that in a positive mindset, a safe environment, as a caring team principal, I think Williams can very much turn around and move forwards.
&ldquo;It always starts at the top and then it needs to cascade into the organisation. I've been at Williams. I loved being there. And I have no doubt that James will too.&rdquo;

Williams

The change that Vowles is making his priority at Williams F1

Formula 1 hopes the new engine rules for 2026 help &ldquo;level the playing field&rdquo; for incoming manufacturers amid growing OEM interest.
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F1 will overhaul the regulations for its V6 hybrid power units in 2026, placing a greater emphasis on electric power and sustainable fuels as part of the series&rsquo; push to become carbon neutral by 2030.
The plans have already successfully brought the Volkswagen Group into F1 through Audi, which will enter in 2026 as an engine supplier. Its sister brand, Porsche, remains interested in making an F1 engine despite seeing its planned partnership with Red Bull fall through.
F1 remains in talks with a number of interested parties about joining the grid in the future. Andretti Global has already stated its plan to establish an F1 team working with US automotive giant General Motors through its Cadillac brand, although this would not involve an initial engine supply.
In the past, one of the biggest hurdles facing manufacturers looking to enter F1 as an engine supplier was the challenge of catching up with those already on the grid.
This was seen most severely with Honda, which joined F1 one year after the V6 hybrid power units were introduced and struggled for performance and reliability for a number of seasons.
Speaking at Autosport International in Birmingham on Saturday, F1 chief technical officer Pat Symonds said that ensuring there was a level playing field for new engine manufacturers was a key goal of the new engine rules.
&ldquo;We set a lot of high-level objectives with the new regulations, and one of the high level objectives for the &rsquo;26 power unit was to level the playing field for newcomers,&rdquo; explained Symonds.
&ldquo;The combustion on a current Formula 1 engine is very, very different to the combustion on what I&rsquo;d call a conventional one. It&rsquo;s damn nearly a diesel running on gasoline. It&rsquo;s a very complex combustion.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something where if you&rsquo;ve been designing racing engines for years and suddenly you&rsquo;re tasked with a Formula 1 engine, it&rsquo;s quite different.
&ldquo;So we wanted to level the playing field a bit there, because getting people like Audi and Porsche, Cadillac have raised their head, there are others I won&rsquo;t name - that&rsquo;s not a bad thing.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite good to have those names in the sport.&rdquo;
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The mooted interest from new manufacturers has coincided with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem moving to start the process to expand the grid beyond its existing 10 teams.
Andretti has been the most vocal party, but scepticism remains from within the paddock over its entry plans and what it would bring to the grid.
Symonds said he would welcome new teams and adding more cars to the grid, so long as they were bringing value to F1.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no harm having more cars, providing they&rsquo;re quality,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to go back to the HRT thing of 2011 or whenever it was.
&ldquo;But the sport is incredible successful at the moment. It&rsquo;s successful as it is. It&rsquo;s no wonder people want to get involved, because we&rsquo;ve turned the sport around in the last five years from being a cost centre to a profit centre, and that&rsquo;s quite something.
&ldquo;So I&rsquo;m not surprised they want to be involved.&rdquo;
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F1 hopes 2026 engine rules "level the playing field" for new manufacturers

Jake Dennis won the Mexico City E-Prix in a safety car-packed opening round of the 2022-23 FIA Formula E World Championship at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Saturday.
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The Avalanche Andretti driver atoned for his qualifying error that cost him pole by pouncing on a mistake from polesitter Lucas di Grassi to pick up the lead, and overcame a hit to his lead from a mid-race safety car to waltz into an unassailable lead.
Dennis overcame a slight challenge from Jake Hughes to retain second off the line, but could not challenge di Grassi in the opening stages following an early safety car.
Robin Frijns' crash into the back of Norman Nato at the Turn 10 chicane produced an early safety car to put a pin in the early proceedings. The Dutchman will need to go an operation having broken his left wrist in the crash.
Although Dennis restarted his charge when the race resumed on lap 6, it was only fleeting as Sam Bird came to a stop on the exit of Turn 1 with a broken driveshaft and required a recovery vehicle to collect his stranded Jaguar.
After the second restart on lap 10, Dennis began to put pressure on the Mahindra ahead, and two laps later reaped the benefits as di Grassi made a mistake in the first corner to allow the Nuneaton native to move ahead into the lead.
Pressing on with his race, Dennis was able to build a break over di Grassi which had grown to 3.6s by lap 18, but his efforts melted away when a third safety car was produced; Edoardo Mortara lost control of the rear of his car at the Turn 1 apex and went backwards into the wall.
A quick clean-up operation meant that green flag running could continue on lap 21, but di Grassi's greater energy consumption meant that he could not pose a threat to Dennis, who carried on driving into the sunset.
The Porsche-powered Andretti showed great energy management and gave the Briton the ammunition to build his lead up to four seconds over di Grassi, before the Brazilian was passed by Wehrlein on lap 29 as the German dived past at Turn 9.
But Wehrlein was unable to close in on Dennis, who continued to disappear into the distance. Even with five added laps for the cocktail of safety cars pervading the race, Dennis crossed the line after 41 laps with almost eight seconds in hand to draw first blood in the 2022-23 title race.
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Wehrlein similarly escaped di Grassi's clutches and was 10s ahead at the flag, as the 2016-17 champion had to contend with a train of cars forming behind him as the Mahindra package was perhaps compromised in race pace.
Di Grassi's defensive moves were excellent; he held off a number of moves from McLaren rookie Hughes as the Birmingham-born driver sought after a podium in his maiden Formula E race, and earned the Paulista another trip to the Mexico City podium.
Hughes' inability to forge a path past di Grassi ultimately cost him a position, as Andre Lotterer snatched fourth away from him on the final lap of the race heading into the Foro Sol stadium section.
Lotterer had been fending off Sebastien Buemi and Antonio Felix da Costa behind him, as the two were drawn into the battle owing to di Grassi's slow pace in the latter stages of the race.
Mitch Evans claimed eighth after a slow-burner of a race, in which he prioritised taking his attack mode activations late on to make progress, and finished ahead of fellow Kiwi Nick Cassidy.
Cassidy had been in a fight with the DS Penske pair of Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne, but the latter duo struggled with energy at the close of the race and ceded positions &ndash; Vandoorne finishing the race in 10th, as Vergne slipped behind Maximilian Gunther.
Dan Ticktum, who had qualified in a stellar fifth place on the grid, endured multiple misfortunes and had to serve a drive-through penalty for a spike in overpower, before a corner cut cost him a 10-second penalty.
A subsequent corner-cut to gain an advantage awarded Ticktum another drive-through, and he is under investigation from a safety car infringement &ndash; as is Nissan&rsquo;s Sacha Fenestraz.
<a href="https://motorsportstats.com/results/formula-e/2023/hankook-mexico-city-e-prix/classification/race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RESULT</a>
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2023 Hankook Mexico City E-Prix

Andretti Autosport

Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff has softened his stance on the prospect of Andretti joining Formula 1, admitting the team's tie-up with General Motors brand Cadillac is "definitely a positive" and a "statement".
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US racing stalwart Michael Andretti has been on the front foot trying to gather support for an F1 entry, including months of lobbying in the paddock.
But enthusiasm for Andretti becoming an 11th team on the grid, which requires the approval of both the FIA and F1, has been lukewarm at best.
It is understood a large majority of F1 teams are not keen on having to share the prize pool with an extra entrant.
Their concerns come amid questions over whether the current $200 million dilution fund Andretti would have to pay is enough to reflect the increased value of an F1 entry following the sport's popularity boom.
Last summer Mercedes chief Wolff said any expansion team would have to add value to the sport, saying: "Andretti is a great name but this is sport and this is business and we need to understand what is it that you can provide to the sport."
"And if an OEM or a multinational group joins F1 and can demonstrate that they are going to spend X amount of dollars in activating, in marketing; that's obviously a totally different value proposition for all the other teams."
Now Andretti appears to have done exactly that by joining forces with GM brand Cadillac, Wolff has softened his stance and admits partnering with an OEM is a massive box ticked for Andretti.
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"Cadillac and GM, that's a statement. Certainly, them joining forces with Andretti is definitely a positive," Wolff said.
"It gives it another angle that may or may not be beneficial for Formula 1, but definitely nobody would ever question GM's or Cadillac's pedigree in motorsport, and obviously as a global auto company."
New Williams team principal James Vowles, who joins the Grove outfit after years of acting as Mercedes' chief strategist, added that F1 still needs to gain a better understanding of how Andretti and Cadillac are planning on contributing to its growth.
"We're always open to the sport growing, but the truth behind it is the sport financially needs to become more and more successful.
"Whoever joins in that environment needs to bring with it effectively the growth that is required in order for everyone else to be in a better position, or at least a neutral position. And I think it's been the statement from the outset, from the beginning.
"There are a lot of lovely things about Andretti and about Cadillac. It just needs to have a good understanding of how it will grow the sport, in what way, and what the growth will be."
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&nbsp;

Torger Christian Toto Wolff

Team Cadillac

By: Filip Cleeren Co-author: Jonathan Noble

Wolff: Andretti F1 bid made a statement with Cadillac and GM tie-up

2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson will join McLaren Racing for the 2024 Indianapolis 500, racing a car co-owned by Rick Hendrick.
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In recognition of this co-ownership by Hendrick, whose team has amassed 14 NASCAR Cup Series titles, and who is chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group, this fourth Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet will carry title partnership from HendrickCars.com.
Larson, 30, has won a total of 19 Cup points races as well as the 2019 and 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race. In his 2021 championship campaign alone, the Californian won 10 points races and led more laps in a single season (2,581) than any driver since 1995.
Pending additional 2023 entries, Kyle would become just the fifth driver to run "The Double" on Memorial Day weekend by racing in the Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. The most recent driver to do so was Kurt Busch in 2014.
Hendrick, who has seen his team score 291 NASCAR Cup wins, including 10 in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said: &ldquo;Having the opportunity to support Kyle, partner with an elite team like Arrow McLaren and promote HendrickCars.com in one of the world&rsquo;s great auto racing events is truly unique.
&ldquo;All of us are competitors. Putting Kyle in top-level equipment and allowing ample time for him to prepare for such a difficult challenge was important.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be very, very special to field a Chevrolet in the Indy 500 as a car owner. A collaboration like this was what we needed to make it happen, and fortunately the stars aligned. We&rsquo;re 100 percent committed to doing it right and look forward to working with Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] and his organization.&rdquo;
Larson, who has shown his versatility by co-driving the Chip Ganassi Racing Riley DP to overall victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m super excited. Competing at the Indianapolis 500 is a dream of mine and something I&rsquo;ve wanted to do for a very long time &ndash; since I was a child, before I ever began competing in sprint cars.
&ldquo;To do it with Arrow McLaren and Mr. Hendrick especially is a dream come true. I&rsquo;m grateful for the opportunity and am really looking forward to it, even though it&rsquo;s still about a year-and-a-half away.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really looking forward to competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 and maybe even get a win or two that day.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Adding Kyle Larson with a HendrickCars.com partnership to the Indy 500 lineup in 2024 is
exciting for our Arrow McLaren team as well as for race fans,&rdquo; said Brown. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a complete driver, known for racing anything on wheels, so I&rsquo;m looking forward to seeing what Kyle can do in an NTT IndyCar Series car.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been great working with Rick Hendrick and [Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman] Jeff Gordon to pull this together, so a big thank you to them for what&rsquo;s to come in May 2024.&rdquo;
Gavin Ward, racing director at Arrow McLaren added: &ldquo;Kyle&rsquo;s ability and desire to compete across so many disciplines of motor racing is as rare today as it is refreshing. He&rsquo;s one of the best dirt track racers on the planet. He&rsquo;s a NASCAR Cup champion. He&rsquo;s won a Rolex 24 at Daytona.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an incredibly talented driver and has shown his ability to win no matter what he&rsquo;s racing. I can&rsquo;t think of a more exciting addition to Arrow McLaren&rsquo;s 2024 Indy 500 lineup.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all racers on this team, and we&rsquo;re going to give it everything to make sure this endeavor is as successful as possible.&rdquo;
Arrow McLaren SP will run four cars at this year&rsquo;s Indy 500, too, with 2013 Indy winner Tony Kanaan joining the team&rsquo;s full-timers Pato O&rsquo;Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi.

Kyle Larson

McLaren

Kyle Larson to race for McLaren-Hendrick in 2024 Indy 500

Max Verstappen has further outlined his early frustrations with the handling of Red Bull&rsquo;s 2022 Formula 1 challenger, saying &ldquo;a car cannot be fast with understeer&rdquo;.
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Although Verstappen went on to claim the 2022 title with four races to spare and with a total of 15 victories, his title rival Charles Leclerc won two of the opening three events for Ferrari and might have won more in the first phase of the year but for his team&rsquo;s issues with strategy and unreliability.
While Verstappen&rsquo;s Red Bull squad also had early-season retirements due its fuel pump issues, which meant the Dutchman retired from the Bahrain and Australia races Leclerc won, he also lost qualifying positions (including pole in Jeddah) to team-mate Sergio Perez as the RB18 at that time did not suit his driving style.
This centred on the car being above the 798kg minimum weight limit at the start of the campaign, which added understeer to a package where that was already being felt due to the unexpected handling issues from Pirelli&rsquo;s 2022 front tyres &ndash; newly constructed for the switch to 18-inch wheel rims &ndash; in the slow-speed corners where ground-effects cars do not perform at their best.
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The combined problems left Verstappen unable to have the extremely pointy and nimble front end he prefers until Red Bull was able to get the RB18 under the weight limit and could apply ballast to load up the front axle and create Verstappen&rsquo;s wilder, oversteer-happy approach.
Speaking to Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview, Verstappen explained how his driving style fitted in along with the requirements of the new ground-effects machines, with the understeer issue felt most when running on near-empty tanks in qualifying.
&ldquo;Well, now it was just related to the weight of the car,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;Being really overweight created an understeering balance and once we started to get rid of that, it started to be more agile again.
&ldquo;Not just twitchy but more agile. You could really use the front end. At the end of the day, that&rsquo;s also how you really drive a fast car.
&ldquo;A car cannot be fast with understeer. It&rsquo;s impossible.
&ldquo;Especially with the tyres we had this year being a bit more understeer limited as well. You cannot have a car like that.&rdquo;
When asked how he had adapted to work around the understeer issues &ndash; Verstappen would win six races in the season&rsquo;s first half before the lightened RB18 really allowed him to produce his best from the summer onwards &ndash; he replied: &ldquo;To be honest, most of it came from the weight.
&ldquo;But also the updates we did to the car [helped].
&ldquo;[It was about] trying to learn the tyres, trying to really understand how we can preserve them better, which hasn&rsquo;t been the easiest for sure.&rdquo;
What is preventing women drivers from reaching Formula 1? Make sure your voice is heard on this important topic by taking part in the More than Equal fan <a href="https://more-than-equal-survey-2023.motorsportnetwork.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attitude survey.</a>&nbsp;

Max Verstappen

Verstappen: Impossible for understeery F1 car to be fast

Prior to the start of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Petty GMS Motorsports is undergoing a shakeup of its leadership structure.
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Bruce Mosley, a former executive at Roush Fenway Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing and most recently president of Violet Defense, is slated to take on an executive role at what is currently known as Petty GMS, multiple sources confirmed to Motorsport.com.
Mosley, 54, brings more than 30 years of experience in sales and building teams to the organization which recently added seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson to the ownership structure. Johnson also plans to compete in a handful of races this season.
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Mike Beam, who led GMS Racing&rsquo;s NASCAR Truck Series team to two series championships, will continue in the role of team president, a position he has held since GMS Racing&rsquo;s acquisition of the former Richard Petty Motorsports in 2021.
Brian Moffitt, who has served as executive vice president of sales since the 2021 merger between Petty and GMS Racing, is no longer with the organization, sources said.
An official announcement of the additional personnel changes is expected at a later date.
&ldquo;As Petty GMS continues to evolve since the merger in 2021, we have experienced an exceptional amount of growth and change,&rdquo; owner Maury Gallagher said in a statement provided to Motorsport.com. &ldquo;Our goal is to create one of the strongest and most competitive teams in NASCAR both on and off the racetrack, and with the new ownership structure, we remain committed to putting the best personnel in place to accomplish that goal.
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&ldquo;While we know change is difficult, we are confident it is in the best interest for the long-term and overall success of our team. We can confirm we are in talks with some senior level executives with heavy-hitting experience in the salesforce, business world and on the competition side to take this team to the next level. We will be able to announce those individuals once negotiations are final.&rdquo;
Jimmie Johnson's growing role within the team The organizational changes, including Mosley&rsquo;s addition, come from the direct involvement by Johnson, 48, who made a shocking announcement in November that he had entered an ownership agreement at Petty GMS with Gallagher and Chairman Richard Petty.
Both Erik Jones and Noah Gragson will compete fulltime for Petty GMS in 2023 in the Nos. 43 and 42 Chevrolets, respectively. The number of Johnson&rsquo;s part-time team, as well as his complete schedule of races, has yet to be announced.
Johnson was not available for comment Tuesday as he was on his way to New York City for a previously scheduled appearance on NBC&rsquo;s &ldquo;Today&rdquo; show on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson confirmed.
With Mosley, Petty GMS gets an executive well-versed in the success and difficulty in obtaining sponsorship in NASCAR and at some of the Cup Series&rsquo; biggest teams.
He served as chief revenue officer and led all sales and partnership development efforts for Roush Fenway Racing (now Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing). He&rsquo;s also worked with the former Chip Ganassi Racing, The Kroger Company, Walmart and International Speedway Corp.
Mosley&rsquo;s Violet Defense company, which uses UV disinfection to protect everyday spaces from harmful pathogens, sponsored several races for RFK Racing Cup drivers Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher in 2022.
Mosley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Florida State University and undertook master&rsquo;s studies in business administration at Stetson University. He currently serves as an adjunct professor and the Executive in Residence for Belmont Abbey College&rsquo;s Motorsport Management Program.
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As for Johnson, the changes to Petty GMS since his arrival show his ownership involvement is definitely not in name only.
According to sources, he has been in the Statesville, N.C. shop several days a week since the announcement and has been taking a very active role in the team&rsquo;s restructuring process.
Johnson retired from fulltime NASCAR competition following the 2020 season. He won 83 Cup races in his career and a NASCAR record-tying seven series titles. He has competed in the IndyCar Series the past two seasons as well as driven in several IMSA events.
At the time of Johnson&rsquo;s announcement in November, Gallagher said Johnson&rsquo;s addition was an important step in becoming a consistent winner in the Cup Series.
&ldquo;Having a driver, the caliber of Jimmie, driving our equipment and being able to provide feedback to our crew chiefs and engineers but most importantly, mentoring Erik and Noah will be invaluable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Perhaps most important of all, Jimmie will be a great partner.&rdquo;

Jimmie Johnson

Richard Petty Motorsports

Johnson's ownership role fosters Petty GMS leadership changes

When Michael Andretti announced his tie-up with General Motors to launch a new Formula 1 team, he was adamant that it would convince the sport to welcome him.
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After months of facing a cold shoulder from rival outfits and F1 owners Liberty Media, it appeared on the face of it he had got all his ducks in a row.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem had gone public in his desire to get more teams on the grid, and the GM-backing for a Cadillac-badged operation certainly seemed a big enough deal to prove the value his new team would bring to grand prix racing.
Speaking to the media about the newly restructured bid having more weight behind it with OEM support, Andretti said: &ldquo;One of the big things was: well, what does Andretti bring to the party?
&ldquo;Well, we're bringing one of the biggest manufacturers in the world now with us, with General Motors and Cadillac.
&ldquo;We feel that that was the one box we didn't have checked that we do have checked now. I think we'll be bringing a tremendous amount of support now to F1. It's hard for anyone to argue that now.&rdquo;
Lukewarm reception But if Andretti was hoping his latest efforts would be a game-changer in getting his team an entry, it would not take long for him to find that opinions elsewhere had been swayed very little.
Even before the embargo on the news of the Andretti-Cadillac plans had been lifted, F1 itself had issued a lukewarm response to it &ndash; making it emphatic that the American team was not the only team looking to join, and that this was not only a matter for the FIA to deal with.
Furthermore, as rival teams digested Andretti&rsquo;s plans over the following few days, they were quick to double down on their resistance to F1 of it opening its arms and giving Andretti an automatic place on the grid.
It was the voicing of these opinions, as well as the public stance from FOM, that prompted FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to express his surprise at the weekend about the reluctance of people to embrace the Andretti entry.
He wrote: &ldquo;It is surprising that there has been some adverse reaction to the Cadillac and Andretti news.
&ldquo;The FIA has accepted the entries of smaller, successful organisations in recent years. We should be encouraging prospective F1 entries from global manufacturers like GM and thoroughbred racers like Andretti and others.
&ldquo;Interest from teams in growth markets adds diversity and broadens F1&rsquo;s appeal.&rdquo;
While Ben Sulayem is quite correct in saying that F1 should be encouraging entries from manufacturers like GM and teams like Andretti, the situation is not as black-and-white as that.
As one team boss who did not wish to be identified told Motorsport.com: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of smoke and mirrors.&rdquo;
Indeed, after speaking to multiple sources who have good knowledge of the situation and the mood within teams, there are three intertwined elements that are behind F1&rsquo;s current stance.
The major driving force remains financial, as new teams need to demonstrate they can bring more to their rivals by being on the grid than is lost from the dilution of current commercial rights income (as will be discussed later).
But, there are other factors at play too.
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The public games The very first line of F1&rsquo;s official response to the new Andretti announcement was quite cryptic.
It stated: &ldquo;There is great interest in the F1 project at this time with a number of conversations continuing that are not as visible as others.&rdquo;
While this was obviously a reference to there being other teams and manufacturers seriously looking at an F1 entry, there is also a second aspect to this.
Sources have indicated that rival teams and F1 itself have not been impressed by the way that Andretti has so publicly gone about trying to get support for his own entry, and been quite aggressive in his politicking in public and privately among paddock figures.
While other serious potential entrants have kept a low profile and done their bidding in private, Andretti has spoken in public about his ambitions many times &ndash; even holding a press conference to notify his expression of interest.
Rivals feel that there has been too much lobbying at play, and Motorsport.com understands that Andretti&rsquo;s efforts to get a letter of support for his entry signed by all teams at last year&rsquo;s Miami Grand Prix did not go down well.
Indeed, the fact that it only got two signatures (from Alpine and McLaren) said it all.
Teams are also worried about the political fallout of Andretti using Ben Sulayem&rsquo;s support to whip up public support and push through the entry, at a time when relations between the FIA and FOM are not as good as they have been in the past.
They also feel of perhaps being aggressively gamed by the timing of Sulayem&rsquo;s social media messages and the Andretti announcement.
As one source said: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s annoyed the other teams, which isn&rsquo;t a good start.&rdquo;
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The OEM element When Andretti first attempted to get approval for his new team last year, one of the questions thrown around the paddock was: what benefit will the team bring?
While the Andretti name is big in the United States, a market of key interest to F1, the squad&rsquo;s ability to increase grand prix racing&rsquo;s global visibility was not on the scale of what arrivals like Audi and Porsche could do.
That is why F1 was so supportive of Audi&rsquo;s announcement of its entry last year at the Belgian Grand Prix &ndash; devoting a formal press conference and even creating a mock-up liveried car.
Audi&rsquo;s investment in engine technology, its buy-in of Sauber, and the huge marketing machine that will come in to play, are all things that will help make the F1 grid stronger.
When it came to the Andretti entry, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was clear that any new team really needed manufacturer support if it was going to bring a benefit to rivals that exceeded the loss of commercial rights income that will come from having an extra entry on the grid.
Speaking last year, Wolff said: &ldquo;F1 prospers because we have 10 teams, each with a different DNA that have shown commitment to Formula 1, and have most of the team's contributed over many years more than a few billion in spend. And this is what made F1 what it is today.
&ldquo;If someone new wants to come in, everybody's free to pitch that to the FIA. Then the FIA and F1 need to understand how creative that team can be for our business. And that hasn't been the case so far.
&ldquo;If a team comes in with an OEM and says this is what we want to do, it's obviously a very different game. And will trigger different considerations.&rdquo;
Andretti getting GM on board appeared to be a direct response to this.
However, as teams have dug into what GM is planning to do, they do not see the American manufacturer&rsquo;s plans being on the same level as what a full-on works effort from an OEM would be.
GM was quite coy last week about what it was up to on the engine front, suggesting that while it would start out in collaboration with another manufacturer, the company would help develop technology going forward.
Mark Reuss, GM president said: &ldquo;We have a signed agreement with a power unit supply to begin with, and then as we move forward, we bring a lot of our expertise to create things for the future as well.&rdquo;
That talk of &lsquo;collaboration&rsquo; made it logical to assume that Cadillac was potentially looking at a partnership with Honda &ndash; with the two companies already working together on road-car technology.
In the world of F1, it would be inconceivable to think that Andretti could sign a customer engine deal with Renault and the French car manufacturer and then allow GM to tinker with changing elements on the power unit.
Reuss certainly did not dismiss the Honda idea last week: &ldquo;On the EV part of it, obviously we do have a large partnership with Honda. We also compete against Honda in series like IndyCar as well. So we have that natural respect and relationship which is not problematic at all.&rdquo;
However, it appears that the Honda element is a red herring and that such a tie-up is not being considered.
While there has been no confirmation from Andretti itself, teams believe that the plan is very simple; it is for the American operation to push on with a supply of Renault customer power units that will then be badged as Cadillac.
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Rivals, therefore, view the GM entry not as a game-changing new OEM effort in F1, but more akin to a straight sponsorship deal. Some view it as no more significant than what Alfa Romeo has done at Sauber in recent years, or when TAG-Heuer badged the Renault engines in the past.
In fact, the GM plan &ndash; which is effectively offering manufacturers the opportunity for a cheap way to hang their coat tails on an F1 entry &ndash; has annoyed factions within the paddock so much that there is talk of a push for the rules to change to clamp down on what power units can be rebadged as in the future.
In the long term, what is the point of an OEM spending billions on developing their own power units to achieve success in F1, if the door is open for one of their competitors to sign a sponsorship deal for $20 million to take the same publicity?
Even the current discussions between Ford and Red Bull from 2026 is about a proper involvement in the Milton Keynes-based team&rsquo;s technical operation, rather than just a badge on an engine.
The $600 million question Neither of the issues of the public stance and the engine name badge are insurmountable hurdles in getting Andretti on the grid though.
In fact, the team&rsquo;s plans effectively boil down to a simple financial equation: does Andretti&rsquo;s presence on the grid as an 11th entry bring an added value for the other 10 teams beyond what they lose from sharing their commercial rights income with someone else?
Teams have long been aware of the fundamentals at play in expanding the grid; for it would mean that rather than sharing team income among ten entrants, it would be split 11 ways; so effectively each team would lose one-tenth of their income.
That is why, when the latest F1 Concorde Agreement was signed for 2021, it included a clause that demanded any new entrant pay a $200 million dilution fund to compensate rival teams.
It was felt that the one-off $20 million payment each competitor would receive was enough of a bump to offset losses that varied from around $5 million per year at the back of the grid to $10 million for the front-runners.
But a lot has changed since the dilution fund was first agreed, with both the commercial rights income and the health of the sport reaching new heights.
Now, a $20 million bump to each team for permanently losing around 10 percent of a team&rsquo;s income is no longer viewed as good value as it would only cover losses for three or four years at best.
Several F1 teams have cited the example of the finances of the NHL, which has recently expanded its roster. It has a similar arrangement to F1&rsquo;s &lsquo;dilution&rsquo; payment, but it is called the &lsquo;expansion&rsquo; fee.
Under an expansion fee that has had to be paid, the Vegas Golden Knights effectively paid $500 million in 2017, while last year the Seattle Kraken paid $650 million to its rivals as part of the formal process of joining the league.
With the franchise value of F1 teams believed to be approaching $1 billion, it is a dilution figure around the $500-600 million level &ndash; rather than $200 million &ndash; that teams feel is the ballpark level of compensation right now.
F1 teams have already been open in suggesting that, when the new Concorde Agreement gets sorted from 2026, the dilution fee be raised dramatically &ndash; and probably to around this area.
Until then, Andretti will find that unless he is willing to stump up a value that rivals think is worth it, his effort will not receive the support he hopes to get it across the line.
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FOM's stance Although F1 teams have no formal say in the acceptance of a new team, what is clear is that FOM, and especially CEO Stefano Domenicali, will act in the interests of the current competitors when it comes to expanding the grid.
For if current teams are not happy about increasing the entries, and there is even a risk of one of the current ten being forced out of business by the arrival of an 11th, then there is not going to be a change of heart.
Every extra team added to the grid makes it financially harder for the current competitors; so there are compromises that need to be made.
Only if a team brings value to everyone will it get the support; and there are other serious entries out there lining up beyond Andretti. F1's duty is to pick only anyone that brings value to the sport as a whole; and there could be better options out there beyond Andretti who have not gone public yet.
While Domenicali has not said anything public since Andretti&rsquo;s latest announcement, it is thought his stance from last summer is completely unchanged in doing everything he can to protect the current grid.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve invested in us, and that&rsquo;s the reason why we do believe that the community of the teams has to be respected,&rdquo; he said of the current teams.
&ldquo;Today, it&rsquo;s not a problem of having more teams, because we have a list. Some of them are more vocal than the others, but we have a lot of people or a lot of investors who would like to be in Formula 1.
&ldquo;But we need to protect the teams. This is really another sign of a very healthy system.&rdquo;
So rather than viewing the reluctance to expand entries as a problem like Ben Sulayem, Domenicali sees it as the complete opposite: a sign of how strong and committed F1 is to the long-term health of the current grid.

Why F1 and teams are still not impressed by Andretti’s entry plans

George Russell says the increasing weight of Formula 1 cars risks becoming a potential safety issue as an impact &ldquo;is like crashing with a bus compared to a Smart Car&rdquo;.
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The new ground-effects cars that were finally introduced for the 2022 season are the heaviest in the championship&rsquo;s history at 798kg.&nbsp;
That figure is actually 3kg up on the minimum weight target number for F1&rsquo;s latest rules reset, but this was increased to incorporate the metal floor stays several teams ran throughout last season to improve their problems with porpoising, as well as because several standard parts came in heavier than expected when produced for the teams.&nbsp;
Car weight was also a major issue in terms of performance in 2022 at all teams bar Alfa Romeo &ndash; which hit the minimum weight target ahead of last season &ndash; as they struggled to get down to the limit due to the heavier standard parts and having to design their new machines with the heavier 18-inch wheels and new safety structure additions in mind.
The high weight total was a big factor in many driver complaints about the new cars, which performed as expected in high-speed turns due to their underfloor aerodynamic surfaces but struggled with understeer in slow corners &ndash; a problem exacerbated by Pirelli&rsquo;s 2022 front tyre design.
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Speaking to Motorsport.com regarding his thoughts on the handling of F1&rsquo;s latest ground-effects machines, Russell said there are &ldquo;a lot of positives to take from this regulation change&rdquo; and also outlined his thoughts on how the high and seemingly ever rising weight figure could soon become problematic.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The big one [issue] is the weight,&rdquo; said Russell, who is also a director of the F1 racers&rsquo; collective organisation, the Grand Prix Drivers&rsquo; Association.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The weight is extraordinary. At the moment, the low-speed performance is not great. &nbsp;
&ldquo;We keep making these cars safer and safer, but obviously the heavier you make them when you have an impact it&rsquo;s like crashing with a bus compared to a Smart Car. &nbsp;
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to have a greater impact if you&rsquo;re going the same speed with a car that weights 800-odd-kgs or over 900kgs at the start of a race, compared to one 15 years ago when they were at 650kg. &nbsp;
&ldquo;And I&rsquo;m sure there&rsquo;s analysis going on about striking that right balance because I don&rsquo;t know where the line is drawn. &nbsp;
&ldquo;If you just keep making it heavier, heavier, heavier, stronger, stronger, stronger &ndash; actually you get to a point where you cross over that [line] that too heavy is actually not safer.&rdquo;
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&nbsp;

Russell: F1 car weight now on the edge of being a safety issue

New Ferrari Formula 1 boss Frederic Vasseur believes there needs to be quicker and stricter action for future cost cap breaches after the controversy surrounding Red Bull in 2022.
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Following the audit of the first year of F1's financial regulations in 2021, Red Bull was found to have exceeded the $145 million budget cap by 1.6%, resulting in a $7m fine and a 10% reduction in its aerodynamic testing for 12 months.
The sanction drew mixed reactions from the F1 paddock. While Red Bull labelled the penalty "draconian" and "enormous", Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies said the penalty did not go far enough as Red Bull could spend the money saved on aerodynamic testing in other areas.
Although Red Bull denied its overspend had any impact on car performance, instead pointing to areas such as catering and payroll that led to the breach, rivals were concerned that even a small overspend could have a big impact on track.
In an interview conducted before news of his move to Ferrari emerged, outgoing Alfa Romeo F1 chief Vasseur called the cost cap "by far the best regulation that we introduced in F1."
But he felt it was important to both speed up the process, having waited 10 months from the end of 2021 to get certification and answers over cost cap compliance, and take stricter action even against minor breaches.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/2_0d7e87a354.webp" alt="" />
"Where we have to work today, firstly, it was far too long," Vasseur told Motorsport.com.
"We need to find a way to have a red light before, or to be able to take action much earlier.
"And we have to probably be a bit more strict on the decision. OK, perhaps this was the first one, but from now we have to forget about minor and major. Because for me, two or three million, it's not minor, it's mega, for development.
"I think we have to be much more strict and much more quick on the action."
Under the financial regulations, any team that exceeds the cost cap by less than 5% is considered to have committed a minor overspend breach, while more than 5% is a major overspend breach that could lead to harsher penalties.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has already outlined his hope for a swifter resolution to the cost cap audit in 2023, acknowledging "it should be done earlier" instead of keeping teams waiting until October to get an answer on their submissions.
Vasseur praised the FIA's head of financial regulations, Federico Lodi, and his team for their work overseeing the first year of the cost cap.
"I would say the cost cap administration and Federico Lodi did a mega job," said Vasseur. "We don't have to forget it."
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Vasseur wants quicker, stricter action for future F1 cost cap breaches

Red Bull Formula 1 advisor Helmut Marko believes the team should fear Mercedes more than Ferrari as it prepares to defend its championships in 2023.
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Red Bull enjoyed a dominant end to 2022 as Max Verstappen clinched his second straight drivers' championship, while the team claimed its first constructors' crown since 2013, winning 17 of the 22 races.
Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez won 10 of the final 11 races in 2022, with Red Bull's only defeat in this period coming at the Brazilian Grand Prix when George Russell took victory for Mercedes.
It marked Mercedes' only win of 2022 as the team struggled to get to grips with the new technical regulations, spending the early part of the season out of contention against Red Bull and Ferrari.
As the year went on and Mercedes understood its struggles with the W13 car better, both Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton started to feature more towards the front of the pack.
Although Mercedes' late revival was not enough to beat Ferrari to P2 in the constructors' championship, it was enough for Marko to label the team as Red Bull's main threat heading into the new season.
"I would say that we should fear Mercedes more," said Marko.
"Mainly because they have an advantage over Ferrari in terms of strategy and reliability."
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Ferrari initially looked set to pose the greatest threat to Red Bull in 2022, winning two of the first three races, only for its form to tail off in the second half of the season.
Engine reliability issues and some strategic mistakes cost Ferrari chances to contend with Red Bull, the most notable slip-up coming in Hungary when a decision to run hard tyres cost Leclerc a good chance of victory.
Ferrari has made a number of changes over the winter, including the appointment of Frederic Vasseur as its new team principal, as it looks to end its title drought in 2023 amid the potential for a three-team fight.
Marko was sceptical that Red Bull's success in 2022 could mark the start of a period of dominance, similar to that of Mercedes when the V6 hybrid power units were introduced in 2014.
"Our situation is certainly not like that of Mercedes at the beginning of the hybrid era," said Marko.
"We don't have an immense lead with the engine right now. So that is very different. Mercedes had at least 50bhp margin over all the others back then.
"And we shouldn't forget: 2022 has been the first year under this new set of regulations. Other teams have obviously seen what we have done with this year's car.
"So I think it will definitely be much closer next season."
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Helmut Marko

Marko: Red Bull should fear Mercedes more than Ferrari in F1 2023

Andretti Global and General Motors have announced plans to enter a new Formula 1 team in the coming years under the latter&rsquo;s Cadillac brand.
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Andretti revealed last February that it was planning to open an F1 operation in the future, and spent much of the 2022 season discussing the possibility of expanding the field with the existing 10 teams.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem revealed on Twitter earlier this week that he had asked his team to look at starting the process for expressions of interest from potential new F1 teams, marking a first step to expanding the grid.
In an announcement made on Thursday, Andretti and General Motors revealed their plan to enter an &ldquo;all-American team&rdquo; in response to the FIA&rsquo;s call for expressions of interest as an Andretti Cadillac team.
&ldquo;We are continuing to grow Andretti Global and its family of racing teams and always have our eyes on what&rsquo;s next,&rdquo; said Michael Andretti, the chairman and CEO of Andretti Global.
&ldquo;I feel that we are well suited to be a new team for Formula 1 and can bring value to the series and our partners, and excitement for the fans.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to have GM and Cadillac alongside us as we pursue this goal. GM and Andretti share a legacy born out of the love of racing. We now have the opportunity to combine our motorsport passions and dedication to innovation to build a true American F1 bid.&rdquo;
Andretti, the chairman and CEO of Andretti Global, would not be drawn on when the new team would be ready to join the grid, saying it would &ldquo;depend on the expression of interest, how long that takes, and where we are at the time.&rdquo;
&ldquo;But we are going to be on-track when it all makes sense to be on-track,&rdquo; he added.
The potential team would initially receive a power unit supply from another engine manufacturer, but both Andretti and Cadillac are set to offer technical support as part of a collaboration.
The team would operate chiefly out of the new Andretti Global headquarters that is under construction in Fishers, Indiana, due to start operations in 2025. A satellite facility would also operate out of Europe for the team, as well as aiding with Andretti&rsquo;s other racing interests.
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F1 has not had a new team since Haas joined the grid in 2016, but there is understood to be interest from a number of parties about joining the field in the future.
The process for Andretti and Cadillac to join the grid is one that requires the support of F1 itself and the current teams, only two of which have been publicly supportive of Andretti's plans amid concerns of the potential financial impact.
Any new team joining the F1 field is required to pay a $200 million fee as a dilution fund that is split between the current grid to make up for splitting the teams&rsquo; payouts with another entrant.
Since first discussing plans to join the F1 grid, Andretti has been vocal about wishing to field an American driver in one of its seats, namely Colton Herta, who races for Andretti Autosport in IndyCar.
Asked by Motorsport.com if the plan was still to hand Herta one of the seats, Andretti said: &ldquo;We definitely have plans to have an American driver. I think you all know who is leading the pack on that one.
&ldquo;Colton we have under contract right now in Indycar. We want to make this an all-American effort to make sure we have an American driver in the seat.&rdquo;
Cadillac&rsquo;s interest in Formula 1 follows an expansion of its racing operations in recent times to include an entry to the World Endurance Championship under the new LMDh regulations.
&ldquo;Cadillac and F1 both have growing global appeal,&rdquo; said Mark Reuss, the president of General Motors. &ldquo;Our brand has a motorsports pedigree that&rsquo;s more than a century in the making, and we would be proud to have the opportunity to bring our distinct American innovation and design to F1.&rdquo;
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Andretti and Cadillac announce Formula 1 entry plans

Blanchard Racing Team has offered an early look at the build of its new Gen3-spec Ford Mustang Supercar.
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BRT will be one of five Ford-backed teams for the 2023 Supercars season alongside Dick Johnson Racing, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United.
The squad will field a single Gen3 Mustang for new signing Todd Hazelwood.
Photos of the BRT Ford show that the build is relatively advanced, with the car able to come off the hoist and sit on its wheels.
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It has also already been fitted with its 5.4-litre V8 engine.
However there are some parts missing, notably the rear wing which is yet to be formally homologated by Supercars.
As first revealed by Motorport.com earlier today Supercars is planning to test the Ford and GM prototypes this month, both at Queensland Raceway and also on a runway, to help finalise homologation and further alleviate concerns from Ford following VCAT testing late last year.
Once homologations is signed off, teams will be able to complete their builds ahead of a compact testing programme, which will kick off in late January.
According to BRT owner Tim Blanchard, being able to showcase BRT001 this close to completion is a major step &ndash; particularly as it is the first in-house build, after running what were effectively Tickford customer Gen2 chassis.
"Our brilliant little team led by Mirko De Rosa has worked tirelessly over the last few weeks to have this car on the ground and the engine in and plumbed," said Blanchard.
"Whilst we are still waiting for some components to arrive in the coming weeks, we are proud to show our progress.
"This marks an important step in the development of BRT, as many components as possible have been designed and manufactured in-house meaning BRT001 is truly a BRT car.
"Our spares package and Gen3 specific equipment is also well advanced as our preparation for the season ramps up."
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Blanchard Racing Team

Ford Motorsport

Ford Motor Company

BRT Gen3 Mustang build breaks cover

Max Verstappen says he cannot understand why he and Lewis Hamilton have repeatedly crashed into each other during the last two Formula 1 seasons.
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The pair have clashed five times, a list including multiple incidents in the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, since the start of 2021 in their closely-fought and controversial title battle season at the end of F1&rsquo;s previous rules cycle and the conclusion of last season.
Most of the incidents occurred during 2021, but at the penultimate round of the 2022 season, which Verstappen had dominated while Hamilton was largely absent from the lead fight due to the deficiencies of the Mercedes W13, they crashed again at the Brazilian GP eventually won by George Russell.
This was nearly a year since their last clash, with Verstappen then going on to have clean repeated battles with Ferrari&rsquo;s Charles Leclerc and Russell, although he did utilise questionable tactics defending against Haas&rsquo;s Mick Schumacher late in the 2022 British GP as he drove a car hobbled by floor damage.
In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, Verstappen was asked if it was accurate to describe his racing style as "uncompromising", but particularly with Hamilton given their run of incidents.
The Red Bull driver replied: &ldquo;Well, I have to be careful what I&rsquo;m saying here, but with everyone I&rsquo;ve been fighting this year, it&rsquo;s been really hard, aggressive battles and we never really came together.
&ldquo;Somehow, with Lewis it&rsquo;s a different story. And I honestly don&rsquo;t understand.
&ldquo;Like, this year, ok we haven&rsquo;t really had a lot of battles. But Brazil we got together &ndash; it was not my intention [that we crashed]. I got the blame for it, which I didn&rsquo;t find fair.
&ldquo;If it would&rsquo;ve been more of a racing incident that I could live with.
&ldquo;But&hellip; I don&rsquo;t understand. Maybe it&rsquo;s just a generation thing &ndash; that we understand each other better, we are racing nicer to each other. I don&rsquo;t get it.
&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t feel like I&rsquo;m doing anything different to Lewis or to the other drivers in terms of how we&rsquo;re racing.
&ldquo;Because the day before with George [in the Interlagos sprint race where Russell attacked and passed Verstappen], we were having an incredible [fight] &ndash; closing the door, defending, out-braking each other.
&ldquo;That was a lot of fun and I was trying to do the same in the main race &ndash; having that kind of battle. But, unfortunately we couldn&rsquo;t get it to work.&rdquo;
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Outlining why he feels he needs to be careful discussing the topic of racing Hamilton, Verstappen said: &ldquo;Because in England this can very quickly be received as criticism. And then I&rsquo;m being called out on it.
&ldquo;I always respect Lewis a lot for what he has achieved in the sport, but that&rsquo;s why I don&rsquo;t really understand why we cannot really race like I&rsquo;ve been doing with the others.
&ldquo;Of course, everyone is different in their approach. I know that Charles is a bit different to George, or to Carlos [Sainz] or to Checo [Perez], or whoever.
&ldquo;I do have to be a little bit more careful with that because immediately it&rsquo;s really taken as criticism. And then people start to hate on you. Well, that&rsquo;s not my intention.&rdquo;
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Verstappen doesn't know why he crashes with Hamilton so often

The FIA president has revealed he is looking to expand the Formula 1 grid by appealing for expressions of interest for potential new teams.
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The F1 grid has stood at 10 teams since the collapse of the Manor squad at the end of the 2016 season, but the series has enjoyed a significant commercial boom in the meantime.
It has led to a number of parties publicly expressing a desire to join the F1 grid, the most notable being Andretti Global, headed up by Michael Andretti.
Until now, the FIA has not made any public indication that it would look to evaluate potential new teams through a tender process, leaving the grid set at 10 teams for the foreseeable future.
But in a tweet sent from his official account on Monday, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem revealed he was talking to his team about starting the process to allow new teams to join the grid.
&ldquo;I have asked my FIA team to look at launching an Expressions of Interest process for prospective new teams for the FIA F1 World Championship,&rdquo; read the tweet.
The start of a formal process could pave the way for an interested party such as Andretti to join the F1 grid in the future, although there would still be a number of hurdles for any successful applicant to negotiate.
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Andretti&rsquo;s efforts to get on the grid have so far hit a brick wall amid uncertainty from many of the existing teams that believe it would benefit the whole of F1 commercially. Only McLaren and Alpine have publicly stated their support for Andretti&rsquo;s plans.
Under the existing Concorde Agreement, signed in 2020, the teams have set out the split of the prize money awarded from F1&rsquo;s revenue 10 ways, meaning the addition of an 11th team could reduce their slice of the pie.
To combat this, dilution fund was written into the Concorde Agreement that would require any new entrant to pay $200 million to join the grid, which would be split between the other teams.
Andretti has said he is prepared to pay this fee to get his F1 operation up and running, but doubts have been raised by many that this is enough to make up for the possible lost revenue.
&ldquo;The dilution fund was set a few years ago, when the value of Formula 1 was different,&rdquo; Haas F1 chief Gunther Steiner said in June.
 &ldquo;I think one of the things will be, should we readjust it to current market rate, which is a lot more than that. But I think that's a very difficult process to do.&rdquo;
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said in May that any new team would have to prove it could be &ldquo;accretive&rdquo; to the overall value of F1.
&ldquo;If a team comes in, how can you demonstrate that you're bringing in more money than it's actually costing?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Because the 11th team means a 10% dilution for everybody else.&rdquo;&nbsp;

FIA president wants to start process for new teams to join F1 grid

Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey is braced for a tough year in Formula 1 against Ferrari and Mercedes, believing they will &ldquo;be right back&rdquo; in the championship fight.
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Red Bull completed its first double championship win since 2013 last year as Max Verstappen clinched his second drivers&rsquo; title with four races to spare, which the team followed by sealing the constructors&rsquo; crown at the next round in the USA.&nbsp;
Verstappen won a record 15 races through 2022, while Red Bull set a new record for the number of points scored by a team through a single season.&nbsp;
But as Red Bull prepares to defend its titles this year, the team has to contend with an additional limit on its aerodynamic testing as punishment for breaching the budget cap in 2021.
It was already set to receive the least amount of time in the wind tunnel as a result of its championship win, but was hit with a further 10% drop for the breach, along with a $7 million fine.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The reduction in wind tunnel testing means we can therefore evaluate less different components, less different ideas,&rdquo; explained Newey, Red Bull&rsquo;s chief technical officer.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re really smart and always putting the right things on the model, then of course it doesn&rsquo;t make much difference.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Ferrari won&rsquo;t be resting, they&rsquo;ll be sorting out their weak areas. They had a couple of reliability problems. They made a couple of pit wall mistakes. So they&rsquo;ll be right back.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And then of course, you saw Mercedes starting with a car that was quite a long way off the pace, and evolving it to the point that it won the last race but one.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You know they will be right there. So it&rsquo;s going to be a tough year, for sure.&rdquo;
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Although Mercedes made significant progress with its car through the second half of the season after struggling in the early part of the year, Red Bull remained the dominant team, winning 10 of the final 11 races.&nbsp;
The Red Bull RB18 was recognised for its success by winning the International Racing Car of the Year Award at the Autosport Awards in December.&nbsp;
Newey said that Red Bull could be &ldquo;very proud&rdquo; of what it achieved with the RB18, saying it focused on ensuring there was decent scope for development - something evident as it pulled clear of Ferrari through the second half of the year.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We focused on trying to get the fundamentals right, trying to get the package in the way that would include suspension, front and rear suspension, the layout of the monocoque, the layout of the radiators and so forth,&rdquo; said Newey.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was so that we would have the package that hopefully, even if it didn&rsquo;t start out as the quickest car, we could develop through the season.&nbsp;
&ldquo;In pre-season testing, we were a little bit worried before we got there, so we&rsquo;d already done a lot of research and knew roughly what we needed to do to improve it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When we put the race one package on in Bahrain, just before the race, then that catapulted us from definitely behind Ferrari to broadly level, let&rsquo;s say.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The car definitely had some weaknesses in the first half of the season. We still have some weaknesses of course. But we reduced those weaknesses, and certainly by the second half, then we had a fully competitive package.&rdquo;
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Adrian Newey

Newey expects "tough year" against Ferrari, Mercedes: "They’ll be right back"

The Formula 1 record books are dominated by drivers that rack up the big numbers, such as Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, but there is a small group of racers who have just one victory on their CVs.
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Excluding the anomalous Indianapolis 500, 26 drivers have taken a single world championship F1 success. Some of those drivers should have won many more races, while others got on the list through good fortune or an outstanding performance.
Here is our pick of F1's top 10 one-hit wonders, based on their drives to victory, the circumstances of that success and their overall careers. We&rsquo;re excluding those drivers who are still active in F1, so no Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz or George Russell just yet.

F1's top 10 one-hit wonders

Fernando Alonso felt his reliability struggles with Alpine in Formula 1 were not comparable to what he faced with McLaren-Honda, saying this year was &ldquo;more enjoyable&rdquo;.
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Alonso finished his second season since returning to F1 ninth in the championship, but rued a number of missed opportunities due to recurring reliability problems that emerged throughout the season.
The Spaniard was open in his frustration about the problems Alpine faced at times, believing it had cost him dozens of points that resulted in a head-to-head loss to teammate Esteban Ocon in 2022.
It was not the first time Alonso saw a season get impacted by regular reliability problems, spending three years racing for McLaren through its tricky Honda partnership.
But Alonso rejected a comparison between the two periods, saying Alpine had been &ldquo;more competitive this year.&rdquo;
&ldquo;When we finished the race, it was more enjoyable,&rdquo; said Alonso.
&ldquo;In McLaren-Honda, we were always out of the points. So I will not compare.&rdquo;
Alonso endured a difficult stint with McLaren through its Honda partnership, joining the team in 2015 when the Japanese manufacturer returned to F1 as an engine supplier.
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But a difficulty in getting to grips with the V6 hybrid engines while playing catch-up with the existing suppliers made for a difficult season that limited Alonso to just two top-10 finishes.
Although 2016 saw McLaren and Honda take a step forward, a troublesome 2017 followed that prompted their deal to be terminated.
McLaren linked up with Renault from 2018, while Honda joined forces with Toro Rosso, paving the way for an eventual deal with Red Bull.
Alonso failed to reach the chequered flag six times in 2022, compared to eight in 2015 and 10 in 2017.
He also recorded far more consistent results through this year for Alpine when he wasn&rsquo;t impacted by reliability issues, scoring a best result of fifth at Silverstone, Spa and Interlagos.
But the two-time world champion said after retiring from his final race for Alpine in Abu Dhabi that the &ldquo;facts this year have been against us a little bit in car 14&rdquo; as his DNF tally did not reflect all of his issues.
&ldquo;[There have been] six DNFs but also [things] they don't count as a DNF but they were DNF like Australia the qualifying problem,&rdquo; said Alonso.
&ldquo;The sprint race in Austria, I didn't even start the race, and things like that. So I think there are nine or 10 reliability issues, which are this level is obviously not acceptable.&rdquo;

Fernando Alonso

Alpine

Alonso: Alpine F1 reliability struggles not comparable to McLaren-Honda

Michael Schumacher

Sebastian Vettel

Alain Prost

Ayrton Senna

Nigel Mansell

Jim Clark

Jackie Stewart

Niki Lauda

By Tom Jeffries

The 10 best Formula 1 drivers ever: Hamilton, Schumacher & more

Andrew Shovlin says Mercedes did not think its W13 was &ldquo;in a bad place&rdquo; following the initial Barcelona 2022 Formula 1 pre-season test, despite its porpoising problem already being apparent.
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Mercedes topped the times at the Spanish Grand Prix venue with what was an early development phase package, an achievement that required significant ride height changes and metal floor stays not originally designed to be run nor considered legal under F1&rsquo;s original technical rules to be added.
But Shovlin, Mercedes&rsquo; director of trackside engineering, has revealed that although the team&rsquo;s issue with porpoising had been spotted at its shakedown run during Storm Eunice two weeks earlier and continued at Barcelona, it was not overly concerned because the W13 was yet to run in its race specification.
That specification arrived to great intrigue at the Bahrain test ahead of the season opener, with the car transformed thanks to its &lsquo;zero-pod&rsquo; sidepod design (the floor stays remaining and subsequently declared legal by the FIA with several squads using them to the end of the season).
But here Mercedes&rsquo; 2022 campaign unravelled as the W13&rsquo;s porpoising got even worse and could not be solved until the team introduced its first major upgrade at May&rsquo;s Spanish GP.
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Afterwards it was revealed that Mercedes also had a problem with suspension stiffness over bumps, even though its aerodynamic issues with porpoising had been addressed.
This secondary problem and the work to improve it meant the Silver Arrows team could not make the W13 quicker through additional developments until the Austin race late in the season.
&ldquo;At Silverstone [for the shakedown], we were in the middle of a storm &ndash; it was about the worst conditions we&rsquo;ve ever run a car in,&rdquo; Shovlin told Motorsport.com.
&ldquo;That certainly doesn&rsquo;t allow for very clear and sensible shakedown running for the filming day.
&ldquo;But that car &ndash; so the car that we then took to Barcelona &ndash; yes, you could get porpoising and we were running the car very high anyway on ride heights given the weather and given that it was the first running of the car.
&ldquo;We did lower the ride heights to more normal levels at Silverstone and saw that you could get this phenomenon. But, we didn&rsquo;t really know much about it and what was causing it.
&ldquo;So, going to Barcelona was therefore a case of understanding: &lsquo;How can we run the car? What are the problems? How can you mitigate what was happening with the porpoising?&rsquo;
&ldquo;At the time about the best thing you could do was just lift the car off the ground, give up performance and manage it that way.
&ldquo;That car was defined much, much earlier in the development programme than the race one package.
&ldquo;But the issue&hellip; at the time in Barcelona, we thought: &lsquo;We&rsquo;re not the quickest, but we don&rsquo;t think we we&rsquo;re in a bad place&rsquo;.
&ldquo;Because we were expecting to add good performance with that Bahrain package.
&ldquo;The issue was that when we fitted it, the porpoising was a whole other level.
&ldquo;Most of the performance that we intended to add didn&rsquo;t materialise because we had to lift the car even further and at that point you couldn&rsquo;t get rid of the bouncing.&rdquo;
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Formula One Testing

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Mercedes didn't think porpoising was major issue after Barcelona F1 test

Mick Schumacher has seen an "immense" growth in Mercedes&rsquo; Formula 1 operation since his "sneaky" first visit to the team in 2014 for his simulator debut.
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Mercedes announced last week that it signed Schumacher as its new reserve driver for the 2023 season, marking a return of the iconic family name to the team 11 years after his father Michael made his final F1 start.
It marks the next step in Schumacher's career after losing his F1 seat with Haas last month following two seasons with the team, as well as ending his partnership with Ferrari after four years.
Schumacher said that joining Mercedes "means a lot" given the family ties that date back several decades. His father raced sportscars for the German manufacturer prior to his F1 debut in 1991, while his uncle, Ralf, also raced for Mercedes in DTM.
"My dad has been part of this team from 2010 until 2012, and obviously it was a lot of the foundations of what it is today," said Schumacher.
"I'm very proud of being a part of it now, and hopefully again, I'll be able to help them go forwards and progress, and contribute my knowledge to it."
Schumacher Sr joined Mercedes for its comeback F1 season in 2010 after it acquired the title-winning Brawn GP operation at the end of 2009.
Schumacher recorded one podium finish over his three seasons with Mercedes but helped lay the foundations for the run of eight constructors' championships that would follow from 2014.
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Schumacher Jr said there was a noticeable change in the facility at Brackley since his last visit, revealing he made a secret visit in 2014 to try an F1 simulator for the first time.
"The changes that are obvious since 2014, which was the last time I came here, which was a kind of sneaky visit and do my first simulator session at the time," said Schumacher.
"To see the growth in the team is immense. It shows why the team is at the standard that it's at right now. So I'm very happy to be part of it, very excited to see more of it and get to know everybody."
Schumacher takes over the reserve role at Mercedes from Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries, both of whom have left the team ahead of the 2023 season. De Vries will race full-time in F1 next year with AlphaTauri, while Vandoorne has become the reserve driver at Aston Martin.
Schumacher will be one of the only reserve drivers in F1 next year with extensive experience of the new generation of cars that were introduced in 2022, something he felt would benefit Mercedes.
"I guess it's not as common to have a reserve driver that has been driving the new era of cars," said Schumacher.
"I know the new tyres, I know what the car is about, what it needs also in terms of driving style. So hopefully I'll be able to contribute to that, but also see what the drivers need from the outside, and obviously simulator work is going to be very important.
"We have a lot to do, and hopefully I'll be able to contribute the knowledge that I have, but also gain a lot of knowledge for myself that I'll be able to use for the rest of my career and my life."
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Schumacher: "Immense" growth at Mercedes since "sneaky" F1 simulator debut

Mercedes is the first Formula 1 team to confirm it has fired up its 2023 car as it continues preparations for next season.
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Shortly before factory staff disappeared for the Christmas break, Mercedes hit its target of getting the W14 fired up at Brackley before the holidays.
In a short video published by Mercedes, the team teased the firing up of the car &ndash; but made sure to reveal no clues about potential changes to its design.
Mercedes is coming off the back of a disappointing F1 season, where it failed to win a world championship title for the first time since the turbo hybrid era began in 2014.
The W13 suffered from excessive porpoising and it took the squad much of the year to get to the bottom of the issues.
Towards the end of the season the team was much more on top of what it needed to do, and a final push of updates from the United States Grand Prix helped it eventually claim a 1-2 finish in Brazil.
The W13 stood out from its rivals in having a &lsquo;zero-pod&rsquo; concept, but its main Achilles heel was that it had been designed to produce maximum downforce as close to the ground as possible.
That choice proved unworkable in the real world, thanks to the impact of bumps and porpoising with the new ground effect models. Mercedes has duly had to change tact.
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It is expected to make a much larger overhaul of its concept for next season, which could also include a revision of its sidepod design.
Speaking recently, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said analysis of what had gone wrong with the W13 had prompted a change of direction for the team in 2023.
&ldquo;The DNA of the car is going to change for next year, that&rsquo;s clear,&rdquo; said Wolff.
&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean that our bodywork is going to look very different. But certainly what is part of the DNA of the car, the architecture of the car, will change for next year.&rdquo;
Mercedes will retain the same driver line up next year, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell being teammates for the second successive season.

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