David joyce

Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have joined the driver backlash to the FIA’s new controls over political statements. The FIA caused something of a stir when they introduced a new ruling which stated that any personnel would need their prior permission to make religious or political statements during an FIA-sanctioned event. The likes of Valtteri Bottas and former F1 driver Sebastian Vettel, the latter a leading F1 activist in his final few years on the grid, have both spoken out against the ruling, and now Verstappen and Perez can be added to the list. Verstappen said that while he is not usually one for speaking out, he finds it “unnecessary” to bring in a ruling designed to stop it. “I think firstly, you know, everyone’s different, some people are more outspoken than others,” he told Sky Sports F1. “I’m normally not that outspoken on that, because first of all, it’s tough as a racing driver to be fully committed to that as well in terms of going into … [Read more...] about Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez latest F1 drivers to disagree with FIA’s political statement clampdown

The second campaign of the DTM’s GT3 era will be remembered for a number of good storylines, but one race that grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons was the opening leg of the Hockenheim finale. While all eyes were on the title battle out front, a number of incidents erupted lower down the grid, with videos of a high-speed crash between David Schumacher and Thomas Preining in particular being circulated widely on social media. Such was the extent of the damage from the spate of incidents that seven cars were forced out the final race the following day, with some chassis even having to be written off completely. Driving standards in the DTM have come under question repeatedly in the past and teams do factor in damage costs when preparing a budget for the season. But the number of accidents in 2022 were beyond most had expected, forcing Mercedes squad GruppeM to exit the series due to what it described as “unpredictable” cost of repairs. One way to tackle this problem … [Read more...] about Why some DTM teams take out crash insurance but others gamble

The first dry qualifying session of 2014 saw Mercedes continue their monopoly on pole position this year – though this time it was Nico Rosberg , not Lewis Hamilton, on the top spot. But while a Mercedes front-row lockout was predicted by most, there were some interesting upsets and incidents throughout the rest of the field that could also be heard playing out over team radio. Romain Grosjean has often sounded unhappy on the team radio this year but for once his frustration wasn’t directed at his uncompetitive Lotus. Grosjean fumed at Adrian Sutil who got in his way during Q1, for which the stewards later penalised the Sauber driver . An unusual message from Valtteri Bottas pointed to a new kind of problem for drivers to cope with. It appears he was directed onto the weigh bridge between sessions and when a marshal turned his steering wheel to manoeuvre his car they accidentally changed some of his settings . Sebastian Vettel complained of gear change problems … [Read more...] about 2014 Bahrain GP qualifying team radio transcript · RaceFans