FORMULA 1

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CANADIAN GRAND PRIX TECHNICAL PREVIEW

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has many similarities with the Baku city circuit, rewarding straight-line performance as well as mechanical grip in the slow-medium speed corners.

The Canadian Grand Prix weekend, Round 7 of the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship, also marks the first appearance of the HyperSoft tyre on a track where its race performance, especially, can be judged – Monaco saw a great deal of tyre management, with drivers safe in the knowledge that they could not be overtaken.

Downforce vs Drag

Due to the presence of multiple straights, the longest being that heading towards the final chicane, teams take off a chunk of downforce from their cars, although the change is not as significant as that seen at tracks like Baku, Spa or Monza. Those with weaker power units will need to compromise cornering speeds more while running enough rear load to keep the rear tyre wear and degradation under control.

Car Strengths Needed

As well as a low drag set-up and high engine power, strong mechanical grip is required from the car in the multiple slow corners on the track, while Aerodynamic downforce is rewarded less here. An efficient Aero philosophy (Sorry Williams), however, is important, something which Ferrari has tended towards with its 2018 car, and part of the reason for its improved performance in Baku relative to 2017.

There are a large number of significant braking events around a lap in Montreal, requiring both high stopping potential as well as consistency from lap to lap, allowing drivers to maximise car performance.

Brake cooling and durability is also critical, and often an issue during the race. Finally, the aggressive kerbs, especially at the final chicane, require a compliant car, allowing drivers to take the shortest possible route through a corner.

Key Corners

Turn 10 is critical, not only because it requires heavy braking on entry, but also because the performance in this corner determines the speed carried down the ensuing straight, which may enable the possibility to complete an overtaking manoeuvre into the final chicane. This chicane it itself important, as the aforementioned high kerbs reward driver bravery, with the Wall of Champions at the exit of the corner punishing driver errors.

Tyres & Strategy

The introduction of the Hypersoft tyre in Canada should provide some strategic variation this weekend. As seen in Monaco, the tyre has high one-lap performance but then falls away considerably over a race stint, to varying degrees depending on the car.

Last year, the Supersoft was capable of 60 laps, and the Ultrasoft managed more than 30 laps. This season’s Ultrasoft and Supersoft are similar to last year’s, but perhaps with a little more performance and less durability; perhaps they will be able to manage 25 laps and 50 laps respectively in 2018.

An Ultrasoft-Supersoft strategy would seem to be the one of choice, avoiding the tricky HyperSoft, but only completing one-stop, which is preferable given the general difficulty in overtaking. It is therefore likely that at least some of the front runners will attempt to complete Q2 on the Ultrasoft, at the risk of being eliminated due to the high-performance difference to the Hypersoft, in order to enable this one-stop.

Mercedes certainly appears to be looking at this option in detail, choosing as many sets of the Ultrasoft as the Hypersoft (5). It may also be possible to start on the Hypersoft and then run the SuperSoft, especially for the Toro Rosso, with Gasly managing a particularly long opening stint in Monaco on the Hypersoft. The likes of Red Bull may opt for a more aggressive two-stop, especially with grid penalties likely for Ricciardo at least.

Overtaking/DRS

Canada is one of the better overtaking circuits, something which will be aided by the addition of a third DRS zone for 2018. This zone is extremely unlikely to facilitate overtaking opportunities in itself, but it should enable following cars to remain closer to each other before the long run to the final chicane, where overtaking in the second DRS zone is likely. Also of benefit is the use of consecutive DRS zones, with the zone into Turn 1 providing a further opportunity for passing if it cannot be completed on the back straight.

Weather

The weather is expected to be dry on all three days, with moderate winds and warm temperatures. This is perfect for the teams, with the Engineers able to collect significant data on set-up and tyre performance during Friday practice, before making the necessary changes before competitive sessions to optimise performance.

Form Guide

The characteristics of the Montreal track are in many ways different to Monaco, but there are some similarities in terms of the emphasis on mechanical grip, driver confidence and low speed downforce, with these factors favouring Red Bull over Ferrari and Mercedes.

However, its straightline speed performance deficit, together with likely grid penalties, will blunt a potential charge, although higher than expected tyre wear would prove beneficial. Between Ferrari and Mercedes, there may be little to choose between the two; Hamilton’s strong form around the circuit may tip the balance in favour of the World Champions.

Further back, Force India will look to continue its strong run, with the street circuit characteristics of Montreal, together with the long straight, favouring their package. Meanwhile, the likes of Renault and McLaren could be susceptible to attack from those behind with better straightline speed, and could face a battle to score points, especially with Haas bringing a major Aerodynamic update this weekend.

 

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THE HISTORY OF THE PIT STOP: AN INTERVIEW WITH GORDON MURRAY

The History of the Pit Stop is an extended interview with one of the greatest Formula 1 engineers in history – Gordon Murray.

Pit stops have become a large part of Formula 1, and of motor racing in general, but many of the elements that make up a modern pit stop were developed by Murray and the Brabham team back in 1982 and first introduced at that year’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The trials and tribulations of creating rudimentary plywood tire warmers, high-pressure refueling rigs made from old beer kegs, and accidentally blowing up fuel tanks makes for a great story and Murray tells it well. Even fans with just a passing interest in motor racing, this short film is a must watch.

I’ve included in-race footage from 1982 showing the first of the Brabham pit stops, if you look closely you can see Gordon Murray out in front of the car acting as what we would now call the “lollypop man”.

Note: The interview film loops half way through (at approximately the 20 minute mark) and replays the interview from the B camera. I’m not sure why it does this.

 

[Bartolomeo]

Forza Ferrari!

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F1 teams load up on Ultrasofts for French GP return

Formula 1 teams have loaded up on Ultrasoft tyres for next weekend’s returning French Grand Prix.

The championship is returning to France after a decade-long absence, with Paul Ricard set to host its first F1 event since 1990.

Sole supplier Pirelli has nominated the Ultrasoft, Supersoft and Soft compounds in order to cope with the demands of the circuit.

It is one of three circuits in 2018 where Pirelli has opted for a thinner tyre tread, along with Barcelona and Silverstone.

Of the 13 sets of tyres available, Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s drivers will have nine sets of the purple-banded compound, while their Red Bull rivals will have seven sets.

Red Bull’s approach is the most conservative, with the bulk of teams opting for eight or nine sets, aside from Williams, which has plumped for 10 batches of the compound.

As per usual, one set of the Ultrasoft must be cast aside for use only in Q3, while either the Supersoft or Soft must be run for one stint of the race, assuming dry conditions prevail.

 

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The upgrades that Haas hopes can turn its season

A combination of mistakes and misfortune have served to blight Haas’ Formula 1 season, and left it unable to deliver the kind of points that the pace of its car would suggest were possible.
But while a change of circumstance would certainly be welcome to lift it from seventh in the constructors’ championship, the team knows full well that it must not sit back and stop worrying about improving its chassis.

That is why in Canada it introduced the second phase of a hefty update that it believes can form the basis of an uplift in results.

The update is not only about directly improving aerodynamic performance, but also in ensuring that parts can make it through a race weekend unscathed - as the team has had its share of troubles with parts coming loose.

The team was actually forced to sacrifice performance in Monaco, as the FIA requested it remove some elements from its bargeboards, given that the parts had failed whilst on track in previous races. No risks were wanted in case bodywork flew off around the tight streets of Monte Carlo.

Front wing

As a precursor to the large scale Canada update, the team introduced a new front wing and halo fairing in Monaco, having tested both at the test after the Spanish GP.

Only Grosjean fielded the wing in Monaco but the new part made its way on to Magnussen's car in Canada too.

The front wing's triangular end plate topper has been displaced in the update, altering how the airflow moves around the surfaces.

The mainplane and subsequent flaps arcs have also been amended, as the aerodynamicists do their best to adapt to the revised tyre behaviour for 2018, mitigating the turbulence created and improving performance downstream.

The flap frequency was also amended, with four upper flaps now occupying the same space that three could previously be found in.

Camera/Halo tweaks

The camera pods on the side of the nose are now mounted on extensions too, moving them away from its surface to allow the airflow to move more freely.

The halo fairing used by Haas in the opening five events featured a row of vortex generators atop it (inset), as the designers looked to improve flow around the structure.

For Monaco the team had a new solution, utilizing a stack of winglets much like we've seen elsewhere up and down the grid.

You'll note that a serrated strip also lays ahead of the winglet stack, as the designers try to buffer the turbulence created on the structure's leading edge.

Bargeboards

It's the cars midriff where most of the development action has taken place for Canada, as more furniture appears on the bargeboards in order to position the airflow more accurately.

On top of the serrated footplates, a series of vertical vanes of various sizes and shapes can be found (white arrow). These will work in harmony with one another, depending on the car's yaw angle, in order to improve flow around that region.

The leading element of the main bargeboard now arches over to meet the chassis (red arrow), creating a barrier for any airflow that may upwash too aggressively ahead of it.

The sidepod deflectors have been adjusted too, as the uppermost element has been merged with the slat that runs over and in front of the sidepod's leading edge (blue arrow).

This slat has also been pulled further forward, not only to engage the airflow sooner but also offering a means to disguise the strakes added to the leading edge of the floor.

By virtue of the slats' now more forward position, it's opened up the opportunity to mount the mirror stalk from it too, with a highly swept stalk being employed (black arrow).

Strakes

An idea first introduced by Mercedes and subsequently adopted by a large portion of the field is these strakes on the leading edge of the floor.

The regulations introduced in 2017 opened up the possibility of upturning the floor in this region, improving flow to the rear of the car.

However, the turbulence created by the tyre ahead had proved problematic and so teams have taken to using these strakes to clean up the flow and, with it, the potential of the diffuser.

The strakes used by Haas differ from the ones used by the majority of the grid as they're stacked on top of one another, rather than reaching right down to their termination point.

In comparison, Mercedes continue to use three strakes (upper right inset), as do many of the other teams that have subsequently copied the solution.

Meanwhile, Red Bull pushed the concept further in Spain when it introduced a floor that features six of these strakes to align the airflow (lower right inset).

The area ahead of the rear tyre has also seen attention from the designers, as whilst the most rearward L-shaped enclosed hole and its accompanying floor flap appear relatively unchanged, the three fully enclosed holes ahead have been cast aside in favour of four shorter ones.

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Vettel: Criticism of boring races "short-sighted"

Formula 1 championship leader Sebastian Vettel believes it is "short-sighted" for people to criticise races like the Canadian Grand Prix even if they appear "boring".
Two weeks after a Monaco GP slammed by several drivers, Vettel led from lights-to-flag in a Montreal race that featured no on-track overtaking at the front after the first corner.

Vettel beat Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen as the front three finished where they started, while Daniel Ricciardo passed Kimi Raikkonen at the start and Lewis Hamilton in the pits.

Asked to explain why the race was not exciting, Vettel claimed "there's no reason, don't even look for an answer" and urged the media to "write about something else".

"I don't think it's justified to criticise the racing, or criticise this race," he added.

"I don't know if it was boring. From my point of view, it's still busy inside the car no matter where you are.

"I don't like…I don't know why people today are so short-sighted. We had seven races this year, some were phenomenal, some were boring.

"Next week the [football] World Cup is starting and I promise you that a lot of the games will not be exciting, but still people will watch it, some games will be incredible.

"That's what we always look forward to, but it can't just always continue to go up and get better.

"We do our job inside the car and if we can race, we race but obviously, we also do our job inside the car and try to avoid racing – disappear, stay in front, or not get overtaken.

"And then some races are just exciting and others are not."

Championship rival Lewis Hamilton said he didn't want to "talk crap" about F1, but he added it was a shame if fans felt the race was uneventful.

"I've not watched these races so I don't know what you guys feel," he said on Sunday evening.

"I heard today there were not many overtakes, and a couple of my friends said the most exciting part of the race was the crash at the beginning.

"If that's what Formula 1 is about then that's sad to hear, because there is so much more to it."

Bottas said there is always enough going on in the car to prevent drivers from getting bored.

"Like Seb said, we are always pushing everything we can," said the Finn. "It's not like we are getting enough time to get bored in the car.

"There is always something to do and we need to keep concentrating 100%.

"There will be good races, there is no doubt. We've just had a couple in a row that there is not many things happening [in]."

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Alonso prefers his F1 legacy to 'undeserved' trophies

Fernando Alonso says deserving more success than he's had from his Formula 1 career is preferable to having "many trophies people think I don't deserve".
Last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix was the two-time world champion's 300th F1 race appearance, but success in recent years has been hard to come by, as he missed out on championships with Ferrari and struggled with McLaren since returning to the team in 2015.

When asked in Montreal how he feels about having fewer race wins and titles than some of F1's other great drivers, Alonso said: "In a way it's better this way.

"I will not be happy if I have many trophies at home and people think that I don't deserve them. That would be even harder.

"Obviously we had some opportunities missed, especially in the last three years, with McLaren-Honda, didn't deliver the results we wanted.

"Right now we are in the right direction to go back to the winning path, but we'll see at the end of my career in F1 what we achieve, and what we should achieve.

"But I'm happy and I feel very privileged on everything we did so far. There are drivers here that I race against that I see their talent and they have never been even on a podium.

"I see my teammate now [Stoffel Vandoorne], I see Nico [Hulkenberg], I see Carlos [Sainz] – talented drivers.

"As I said, we missed some opportunities but I'm happy with the things we have done."

Asked for his highlights from his F1 career so far, Alonso picked two races alongside his 2005 and '06 world championships with Renault.

"It's difficult to pick moments, when you experience so many things, so many ups, so many downs," he said.

"Definitely the two championships will be the highlight of this 300 grands prix, and some of the wins, like Valencia 2012, my first win in Hungary [in 2003].

"But more than on-track, there are a lot of experiences off-track, of 18 years in Formula 1, and more or less with the same people around, same mechanics, media, team-mates, and a lot of fun so far in this journey, and hopefully many more things to come."

Alonso described the tough years he has gone through at McLaren as "part of the journey", having had to pick the team up from effectively hitting rock bottom early in its second Honda partnership.

"In terms of results, it's definitely not the ones we wanted," he said of his second spell at McLaren.

"In terms of team spirit or learning it is part of your personality and part of your process in this sport that you need to live this kind of moment and try to rebuild a team and a structure like McLaren from nearly zero after 2015.

"Now the direction is definitely the right one and we are getting closer and closer to the top guys, but there's still a long way to go."

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BOULLIER: THERE’S STILL TIME TO DEVELOP THIS CAR

After seven races in this year’s Formula 1 world championship, one would not blame McLaren to start looking at next year because the MCL33 has been a massive disappointment, but team chief Eric Boullier insists his team are fully focusing on sorting out the current car.

Much was expected of McLaren’s new Renault power era, team chiefs were bullish and confident that the team would once again find winning form or at least match Red Bull who are the benchmark for similarly powered teams.

But after weekends at two very different venues – Monaco and Montreal – it is clear that the car Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne have at their disposal is simply not up for the job on any type of circuit. Nowhere near as good as their target, namely Red Bull.

In Canada, they were easily the worst of the three Renault powered teams, while their updates in Montreal were hardly noticeable as they seemed to slip further down the pecking order, the wrong end of the midpack.

Boullier told the official F1 website, “I think it’s worth developing it for a couple of reasons. The first one is to understand what’s wrong and to not repeat any kind of platform mistakes in the future.”

“There’s still time to develop this car, potentially curing the low-speed lack of grip which has a big impact on top performance. So those are two reasons why we should carry on.”

“We also need to make sure we don’t compromise next year’s development as well as understanding the car. That’s the balance which we are working on.”

“We are flat out on trying to cure these car issues, and to make sure we understand it, and obviously we will start soon on next year.”

Amid the crisis of performance at Woking, Boullier continues to believe in his team, “We have 100 percent confidence in the group of people we have at McLaren. We can blame some issues on the car. Definitely, I think the car this year is not the car we were expecting to have.”

“It’s just a matter of understanding why and making sure we have the right vision and leadership for the future to conduct and make sure we can design and manufacturer competitive cars. I believe in the people we have in place today. There is a great talented bunch at McLaren.”

After seven rounds, McLaren are fifth in the constructors’ championship with 40 points, 16 shy of Renault and trailing Red Bull by 94 points.

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RENAULT BOLSTER TECHNICAL TEAM WITH EX-MERCEDES MAN

Renault strengthened their technical team by hiring former Mercedes man Matthew Harman as deputy chief designer for the French team, bringing valuable expertise in the area of powertrain integration and transmission design.

Official press release:

Renault Sport Formula One Team is pleased to announce a strengthening of its design team as it looks to consolidate performance in the FIA Formula One World Championship.

Matthew Harman is joining Renault Sport Formula One Team from 1 September 2018 and will start as Deputy Chief Designer, assisting Chief Designer Martin Tolliday in the design of future cars.

Matthew brings a wealth of motorsport experience, most recently from his years at Mercedes AMG F1, where he served as Head of Powertrain Integration and Transmission Design. In this role he ensured seamless integration between the power unit, transmission and chassis.

Cyril Abiteboul, managing director, Renault Sport Racing: “Over the past three years Bob Bell has been leading the charge for the team to reinforce its technical line-up. We are delighted to have attracted someone of Matthew’s calibre to enable the team to anticipate on the design cycle of future cars, a crucial benefit, something we are currently missing since the team’s acquisition and that will become even more important with the upcoming changes planned for 2021.”

 

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BRUNDLE: KIMI HAS REACHED THE END OF THE ROAD

Kimi Raikkonen has shown a few flashes of brilliance during the first seven races of his 16th season in Formula 1 but, at the same time, the veteran Finn has also made some glaring errors which have done little to help his team or Sebastian Vettel’s quest for another world title.

Raikkonen won the Scuderia’s last title back in 2007, he departed the sport in 2009 before returning with Lotus in 2012, two years later he returned to Ferrari but in the five seasons back at Maranello he has yet to win for the Reds again.

After the Canadian Grand Prix, where Raikkonen was comprehensively beaten in qualifying and then in the race by Vettel, Sky pundit and former F1 driver Martin Brundle wrote in his column, “Ferrari have to be concerned about Kimi.”

“I know he’s one of the most popular drivers around, but after another mistake in qualifying, he finished nearly 30 seconds behind his team-mate on Sunday.”

“What are they going to do? In my view, Kimi has reached the end of the road. He still shows a flash of real speed from time to time but he can’t relentlessly deliver the required race pace any more.”

“Nor is he working as an effective rear-gunner to Seb. Winning the Constructors’ Championship is super-important to Ferrari – they don’t put the list of their titles on their road car dashboards for fun – and if they want to win it in this era against Red Bull or Mercedes they need a Ricciardo or a Leclerc alongside Vettel next year. And Vettel needs to deal with that.”

To be fair, predicting Raikkonen’s future in Formula 1 is an annual ‘sport’ among fans and pundits that plays prominently during the sports’ infamous silly season.

Again this year, speculation about his future is a hot topic in the paddock. Talk is that Raikkonen will quit at the end of this season and return to a World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2019, a scenario which he has played down.

Nevertheless, Daniel Ricciardo’s availability on the drivers’ market and the emergence of Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc at Sauber has provided bosses at Maranello with some hard decisions to make in the near future.

Brundle continued, “Charles Leclerc looks the real deal to me. He is out-performing his Sauber car just like Alonso and Webber did in a Minardi, like Senna did in a Toleman and Schumacher in a Jordan. He stands out a mile and really impressed me a month ago in Spain when he didn’t wilt with Fernando Alonso on his tail.”

“He clearly has the head for F1, and he just looks like the complete package, even if his picture in the F1 grid graphics make him look like a startled Harry Potter.”

“Ferrari don’t often take risks on young drivers but there’s a changing of the guard going on between generations – the field can be divided into three groups with the likes of Fernando and Kimi at one end, Grosjean and Hulkenberg in the middle ground, and a group of young fliers coming through – and Ferrari don’t want to be caught out,” warned Brundle.

After seven championship races, Raikkonen is trailing his teammate on all fronts. The Finn has only once outqualified Vettel in this campaign while the German has won three times. Raikkonen has yet to win this season, second place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April his best result so far.

Vettel leads the championship with 121 points while Raikkonen has only 68 points in fifth.

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The rights and wrongs of flag gate

You’ll be aware by now – to borrow some poetic words from Clive James’s brilliant commentary on the 1982 F1 season review – that the final two laps of last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix were an optical illusion.

The race actually contained 68 laps, even if to the unaided eye of the average earthling it had appeared to contain 70.

And as you’ll also be aware by now, it was for a simple reason. The chequered flag to end the race was waved a lap early in error.

And the effect of this was doubled, as to quote Article 43.2 of F1’s sporting regulations, “should for any reason the end-of-race signal be given before the leading car completes the scheduled number of laps, or the prescribed time has been completed, the race will be deemed to have finished when the leading car last crossed the Line before the signal was given.” So in other words, similar to what happens with a red flag stoppage, the result is taken from the lap before the error.

It was to the good fortune of all concerned that the changes to the outcome between 68 and 70 laps were minor – Sergio Perez lost a place gained but it was outside of the points. Daniel Ricciardo lost fastest lap to his team-mate.

A meagre additional crumb of comfort for all concerned is that the goof up is far from unprecedented. The most recent instance before last weekend was relatively recent indeed, the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix when victor Lewis Hamilton got the chequered flag a lap early. And again even though Lewis and everyone else continued to the end of the scheduled distance the official result was based on where they were with two laps remaining.

As for how such a thing could happen, especially in this age of precise computerised timing, on that occasion in China it turned out that – to borrow the catchphrase of a notorious UK newspaper columnist – you couldn’t make it up. It was reported that it was “understood that the mistake happened when the clerk of the course unfurled the flag to test it.” Oops.

As was the case in Canada they had the fortune that the only position change after the result was declared was outside the points.

Going further back in the 1985 British Grand Prix the chequered flag was also shown a lap early, that time to leader and victor Alain Prost, and it was all down to a bit of old-fashioned British incompetence. The official on the line assumed his manual lap chart was correct even though he had the computerised system close to hand. Trouble is his manual chart wasn’t correct. Prost however, as ever leaving nothing to chance, completed the final lap anyway just as victor Sebastian Vettel did last Sunday.

Drivers can get it wrong too – in the German round at Hockenheim a couple of years back the self-same Vettel somehow resolved to slow for the race’s end a lap early. Fortunately he realised his error before he’d lost any places.

My personal favourite tale comes from 1982 and the Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon – in effect a second French race on the calendar. Then the home ticket of Alain Prost in the Renault had led for much of the way, but in the late laps second-placed Keke Rosberg’s Williams was hurtling down on him at a rapid rate.

As they were set to begin their penultimate tour the gap was down to a few cars’ lengths, but Williams’ team manager Peter Collins spotted something. An official at the start line apparently was all set to wave the chequered flag two laps early – presumably to the aid of the home team! Collins however sprinted over and managed to distract the said official long enough to allow Prost and Rosberg to flash by once more.

Then, on what all assumed was the final lap, Rosberg indeed found a way by to lead but come the end of the lap there was no chequered flag. According to Maurice Hamilton at the time, “the officials, now thoroughly harassed, were gesticulating with their colleagues in the control tower and, in so doing, missed Rosberg...”. Some dryly noted that instead they might have been minded now to put the flag out late in case Prost caught up again. Whatever, Rosberg kept going until he saw a flag which duly arrived a lap later.

But for all that these things may amuse the consequences of such an error, including the one at Montreal, could have been grave. Literally.

Vettel was right to fear that fans thinking the race was over could have invaded the track, as they did at this venue in 1995, while all were continuing at full pelt. There is a real danger too that if some cars had slowed and some not one could have flipped over the back of another.

This is why you alter such set procedures at your peril; the risk is that not everyone will react the same way.

It has been pointed out too that under the rules all flags should be obeyed, so really upon passing a chequered flag all cars should have slowed and returned to parc ferme, rather than carried on as they did. This is said not to criticise the drivers involved, rather to underline the confusion created.

Then there are the potential sporting implications. As noted F1 had the fortune that nothing of great significance happened in those two ghost laps. But imagine if something had happened at the front, say Vettel stopping on the final lap like Nigel Mansell did here in 1991. Imagine then that the eventual championship destination changed because of it…

There is a red herring however. The initial reaction was to round on the model Winnie Harlow who did the flag waving. Really we should have known the blame didn’t lie with her, given as Will Buxton put it, “I don’t believe any celebrity has ever been put in charge of deciding when to wave a flag…It’s not like she bounded into the box and grabbed the flag. You’re only as good as the info you're given. Wasn’t her fault. In any way.”

Instead as Buxton intimates it was fault of the person giving her the instructions. On this race director Charlie Whiting took up the subject – just as in China four years ago it seems you couldn’t make it up.

“I think people who don’t work in F1 are sometimes a little confused by the graphic that they see on the screen where it says 69 out of 70,” Whiting said.

“We all know that means we’re on lap 69, but to someone who let’s say is more casual observer thinks ‘Oh, this must mean it’s the last lap.’

“I think that’s where the doubt originates. Obviously we need to do a better job of briefing these people.”

Quite – but it seems a heck of an oversight to not make sure this fundamental point was understood.

“We need to analyse exactly what happened,” Whiting continued.

“It may need us to review procedures and make sure we have a very simple procedure for every circuit because all circuits are different. They all have different communication systems [and] networks. Sometimes it’s the clerk of course that waves the flag. They’re all different.

“We need to try to make sure that every time we have we have a countdown. This is what some circuits do, they say ‘leader’s in the third last lap, second last lap, this is the last lap, end of this lap’. Then they’ll [tell] the guy waving the flag where the leader is, they’ll say ‘next car’, that sort of thing. It wasn’t done that thoroughly here.

“It seems to me that no one really knew and this is what we need to get to the bottom of. It’s not satisfactory. Luckily it didn’t affect the result.”

And for the reasons given about its importance it seems strange that this responsibility is left to a local official at all, let alone one whose F1 knowledge might be ‘casual’ as Whiting had it. A permanent FIA presence that goes to all races and is always on the gantry at the race’s end would perhaps be a good move.

As for ‘celebrity’ involvement, well that can also be debated even if it is a secondary issue. We may employ a similar argument and say that something this important should not have frivolous bits added to it. Perhaps, as Peter Windsor has argued, having two people performing the task rather than one adds potential for error – particularly when one of them is likely to be attracting a lot of attention.

Scott Mitchell for one though gave the case for the defence. “What’s pissing me off massively about this story is everyone's taking aim at F1 having a nice distinguishing factor from other sports – involving someone else in a big part of the event – when the high-profile individual has nothing to do with the gaffe,” he said. He added elsewhere that even with two people involved it shouldn’t be hard to get right.

There is another red herring. Since Sunday I have encountered a few ‘this never would have happened under Bernie’ claims. But they are ahistorical – we’ve mentioned three boo boos from Bernie’s time already and it was no means an exhaustive run down. His day contained plenty of celebrity chequered flag wavers too and they didn’t always get it right either. We may recall Pele missing the winner of the 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix. And ultimately flag waving procedures are an FIA matter in any case rather than one for the commercial wing.

Perhaps the celebrity involvement, and the association of Bernie’s successor Liberty Media with razzmatazz, led to people putting two and two together (and getting five). But there might be something deeper. It adds also to a few recent TV graphics glitches, the faltering start to its F1TV, and an email in the Spanish round referring to ‘Nicki Lauder’, among a few other things. Perhaps it contributes to a creeping sense of Liberty being accident prone.

Then there is that we’ve had three Grands Prix in a row that were hardly stellar entertainment. Again to blame Liberty for this is harsh, as it’s a problem it clearly inherited and equally clearly is minded to solve. While the fundamentals to solve it – things like aero rules and financial distribution – were never going to be quick changes (and some of the former will change for next year).

But we may also recall what Napoleon said about lucky generals. Liberty, deservedly or not, just lately has increasingly had little room for error.

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FIA lifts DRS restrictions during yellow flags

The FIA has lifted restrictions on the use of DRS when yellow flags are shown as part of its efforts to increase overtaking.

Prior to the Canadian Grand Prix, if a yellow flag is shown in any zone, then the drag-reduction system would have been globally deactivated across the entire track, meaning a driver would be unable to use it even if they weren't within the yellow zone.

As the FIA pushes to increase DRS use – in Canada they added a third DRS zone and have hinted at more in future races – they want to avoid drivers missing out on the extra performance it provides, particularly if they're locked in a close fight for position, and therefore won't now deactivate the system during the entire race weekend through practice, qualifying and the race.

However if a yellow flag is displayed within a DRS zone, then the onus will be on the driver to slow sufficiently – as they're already required to – without activating their DRS.

This was revealed in revised race notes issued ahead of the Canadian GP, where the usual section on DRS had been deleted.

Another contributing factor to the change is, as the FIA adds more zones, the complexity of the system increases and therefore makes it harder to deactivate only part of the system, which makes policing the use of DRS within a yellow zone very difficult and could lead to unfair penalties.

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Alonso: State of F1, not McLaren form, key to my future

Fernando Alonso has revealed that the state of Formula 1 will be a bigger factor in determining his future than the form of his McLaren team.
The two-time world champion retired from a second successive race in Canada last weekend as McLaren's underwhelming form continued.

Alonso, who turns 37 next month, is seventh in the drivers' championship by virtue of some fine drives in the opening races but McLaren has not enjoyed the revival it expected since parting from Honda.

During the Canada weekend Alonso criticised F1's predictability again and, with his World Endurance Championship already under way and a move to IndyCar a possibility, said his future in grand prix racing will be determined by more than just McLaren's competitiveness.

"The last championship car I had was 2007," said Alonso, who has not won a race since driving for Ferrari in 2013 and claimed the second of his titles with Renault in 2006.

"All the rest has been always quite far off from the performance at the top, or the winning team that season.

"So, 11 years after that moment, I don't think there is a problem [with not having a car to win titles].

"The biggest thing for me is the direction that Formula 1 goes.

"I don't think too much in how competitive you will be next year because it's impossible to predict, it's just about the sport.

"It's a constructors' world championship, it's not a drivers' world championship."

Asked if confidence of McLaren progress was important for his personal satisfaction, Alonso stressed that "it's not a matter of how competitive you are".

"It's how important the driver input becomes, and which direction the sport wants to take," he reiterated.

McLaren's season hit a new low in Montreal, where it suffered its worst qualifying of the year with Alonso 14th and Stoffel Vandoorne 15th.

Both drivers failed to score points as Alonso retired with an exhaust problem and Vandoorne picking up an early puncture and running at the back throughout.

Alonso claimed that McLaren's strengths and weaknesses were different this year to last but said he still preferred the current season with Renault because he is at least scoring more points.

After retiring on his 300th start, Alonso said that as well as "definitely" needing more performance McLaren must have better reliability as well.

"We saw at the beginning of the year how many points we scored and now we retire the car seventh in Monaco and 10 [in Canada] so we've lost points in the last two races," he said.

"We have some problems with the car that we need to keep improving and see what happens in the next couple of months.

"It was definitely disappointing and frustrating. We were not competitive this weekend but at the same time we overtook a couple of cars at the restart and we were in the points."

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ALONSO: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VICTORIES OF MY LIFE

Fernando Alonso’s Le Mans dream was realised as he celebrated on the top step of the podium after he and teammates Kazuki Kanajima and Sebastien Vettel, both ex-Formula one drivers powered to victory in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050-Hybrid.

Shortly after winning the world’s most famous endurance race, Alonso told Spanish reporters, “This is one of the most important victories of my life.”

“It is an important day, perhaps historic up there with Marc Gené and of Antonio García, to have the Spanish flag on the podium is important and for me, after joining this adventure and running these historical races such as the Indy 500 is special.”

“Being competitive with specialist drivers makes me feel very proud that I am able to exploit the ability I have to adapt to cars. I will sleep with this trophy, as I did with the one from Spa,” added the Spaniard who now has two wins from two starts in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with Toyota.

From the podium, Alonso said, “Thank you all. Thanks to the whole Toyota team, it has been incredible in terms of preparation and dedication. It has been a very difficult race. Thanks to all the fans, it has been a very special week.”

“I am proud of the work we did, the preparation to get this title, but it was the job of six or seven drivers for us to win today, those of us who got together at the 36 hours of testing in Aragon, being together, eating together, winning together… whether #7 or #8 won the race was down to fate.”

Toyota were always expected to dominate the 86th running of the race as the only works team on the grid, but they have endured 20 years of heartache at the Sarthe venue before finally get their hands on the most coveted prize in sportscar racing.

Alonso acknowledged, “The truth is that we were very prepared and there were no big surprises in that sense, the first stint was to adapt and not make mistakes and when I woke up at night and saw that we were two minutes behind we had to go for it hammer and tongs if we wanted to get into the race.”

“When I can win and when I cannot I still try, what I never do is give up. Since January, I’ve been preparing for this race, with many days of simulator, time, working with the team, many days of tests.”

“Now it may seem it was easy, but it was not it was no coincidence that our team was better than the others,” added Alonso who now only lacks a victory at the Indianapolis 500, to add to his previous Monaco Grand Prix victories plus the fresh Le Mans triumph, in his quest for the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

Alonso will remain in France where he will return to the orange colours of McLaren for the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard next weekend.

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SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS ON F1 CALENDAR FOR NEXT THREE YEARS

Spa-Francorchamps will be on the Formula 1 calendar for at least another three years following a deal concluded between Liberty Media and the Walloon government which guarantees that the iconic Belgian Grand Prix remains as part of the Formula 1 World Championship until at least 2021.

Walloon Minister of the Economy, Pierre-Yves Jeholet told L’Echo, “This is a good agreement which ensures a major event in Wallonia, which contributes to the promotion of the Region.”

The race weekend this year in the Ardennes is expected to match if not surpass last year’s crowd, with 100,000 people expected to attend this year’s race day on 26 August.

Located in the heart the Ardennes forest, Spa-Francorchamps was on the calendar for the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship season, the fifth round on 18 June 1950, with Juan Manuel Fangio in an Alfa Romeo winning the first Belgian Grand Prix. There have been 49 grands prix at the venue since.

Lewis Hamilton won last year’s race for Mercedes, while Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen – with four Belgian Grand Prix wins on his CV – is the driver of the current era with most victories at Spa.

Michael Schumacher enjoyed a record six triumphs at the venue, followed by Ayrton Senna who won five times.

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WHITMARSH: A NUMBER OF MCLAREN MAIN FIGURES HAVE TO GO

A report has emerged claiming that a staff led revolt is either brewing or underway at McLaren, with disgruntled employees set to reach out to former team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

As it turns out Whitmarsh himself is disenchanted and concerned about the future of the team he is still passionate about and thus more than keen to help his former team in this time of crisis and part of that solution is axing some of the current management heavy hitters.

Whitmarsh, who was team principal at Woking for five years, confirmed that he has previously been approached by disgruntled staff since new chief Zak Brown took over at the helm. In September last year, this site reported that dissent was brewing in the corridors of the MTC.

“People at McLaren said they would send me a letter about the situation. I told them not to send it to me, but to Mansour,” revealed Whitmarsh who said that an anonymous letter was sent last year to the board.

McLaren are at the lowest point in their illustrious history, a much-vaunted change to Renault customer engines not only cost them around $70-million, which Honda reported injected into the F1 operation each year but has not returned them to the sharp end of the grid – ironically around the same level of the Honda-powered Toro Rosso outfit.

The Sportmail report claims Brown and lieutenant Eric Boullier are increasingly marginalised by staff at the factory, while the vision to take the brand beyond Formula 1 in a works capacity, as the Formula 1 programme is in tatters, is being questioned.

Whitmarsh revealed that he recently met with his former boss, McLaren’s long-time shareholder, Mansour Ojjeh and describes how he had a go about the state of affairs at his former team, “I piled in a little bit. I love the team and I am desperately sad to see what it has become.”

“It needs a big change of approach. There is too much politics between the main figures. I think a number of them have to go. I have explained my view to Mansour and it is for the shareholders to decide what to do.”

“The team used to be all about winning in Formula 1. Now they are looking at other avenues — going to race in IndyCar and Le Mans, for example. They are great things in themselves, but McLaren going in that direction, rather than making grand prix racing their sole priority, makes me shudder.”

“I live locally and I bump into friends who work at McLaren. They are disappointed with what is happening and remonstrate with me.”

Senior engineer Tim Goss was made the fall guy for the team’s ill fortunes, a turn of events that clearly surprised Whitmarsh, “Tim Goss’s departure pitched me over the edge.”

“Tim has a fantastic intellect and is a hard-working, non-political, value-adding member of the team. He was scapegoated. He may not have all the answers, but he would work on a solution from first principles.”

“If a delegation showed up at my door, I wouldn’t turn them away. They know where I am,” added Whitmarsh who is spending this weekend at Le Mans keeping tabs on his former driver Jenson Button and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso at the 86th edition of the legendary French race.

The Sportsmail report added: “Patience broke earlier in the week when racing director Eric Boullier led the usual post-race debrief in the Woking factory at which it was admitted they were at a loss to explain the car’s lack of performance.”

“Members of the shop floor were so furious at what they saw as the incompetence of their leaders that they plan to enlist Whitmarsh’s support as a last-ditch attempt to help turn around the ailing team.”

A source told the Sportsmail reporter: “Enough is enough. A delegation is being pulled together.”

MIKA: If anyone needs to be answerable is Zac Brown. This guy is more interested in other forms of Motorsport than focusing on Formula 1

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FORCE INDIA THROUGH CASH FLOW CRISIS AS BUYERS LOOM

Force India’s slow start to the Formula 1 season can partly be blamed on rivals blocking the cash advances that have helped the team through the winter in the past, according to chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer.

The Silverstone-based team have finished fourth for the past two years but took only a point from the season’s first three races before Mexican Sergio Perez finished a lucky third in Azerbaijan.

Currently sixth, they are co-owned by one-time billionaire Vijay Mallya whom India is seeking to extradite to face charges of fraud and who remains team principal despite recently stepping down as a director.

Cashflow has been a problem in the past for the team, whose budget consists mainly of sponsorship revenues and performance-related prize money.

“It’s no secret we asked for a bit of money up front (from F1 owners Liberty Media) so that gets us through the winter,” Szafnauer told Reuters at an event organised by the team’s digital partner Orange Bus.

“This year, that money wasn’t forthcoming because I think some of the teams said ‘You can’t do that’ and blocked it,” added the American.

“So that… put a bit of a financial strain on us over the winter, if you don’t have the cash flow. But now we’re past the winter months it should be easier for us.”

Szafnauer denied media reports suggesting Liberty, who took over in January last year and ousted former supremo Bernie Ecclestone, had helped keep the Mercedes-powered team afloat.

Informed Formula One sources told Reuters, however, that the commercial rights holder had been helping Force India with cash flow and indicated the teams collectively had not been involved in that process.

“If you have 10 million extra in November or December, then you can build the car parts. If you don’t, you can’t,” Szafnauer said of the squeeze.

“We didn’t have a lot of spares (in testing),” he added. “So we couldn’t push the car, you couldn’t go off, you make sure you didn’t hit anything, the car wasn’t to the latest (specification).”

Szafnauer said the situation could now work to Force India’s advantage, however, and fourth overall remained an achievable target.

“The nice thing is that the 10 million advance we used to always get, that used to come off at one million every month, that’s not happening now. So we’re better off,” he said.

Some media reports have suggested a sale of the team is imminent, given Mallya’s legal problems, with energy drink brand Rich Energy prominent.

That may be wide of the mark, however, even if the team are clearly open to offers.

“I’m sure there was an approach, because we asked Vijay, but he keeps playing down the level that it’s at,” said Szafnauer, emphasising there had been no contact between Rich Energy and team management.

Austrian water company BWT, the team’s biggest sponsor, have also been talked of as potential buyers, and Szafnauer conceded that a team name change mooted pre-season was linked to that possibility.

“I think they’ve had discussions with Vijay too, but I don’t think that’s gone anywhere,” he said.

Szafnauer said Mallya’s leaving the board made no difference to the running of the team.

“From day-to-day, Vijay didn’t do anything anyway. That’s not a derogatory thing, it’s a factual thing,” he said. “We run it like we think we need to run it, and it’s rare that Vijay interfered. So stepping down as a director I see as having zero impact on how we run the team.”

Szafnauer said Force India would represent good value to any potential purchaser, “You can buy a team that’s capable of finishing fourth and being on the podium but spend the least, So if you’re coming into Formula 1 and you want to own a team, who do you look at first?”

“Where are you going to go? Are you going to go buy Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull?”

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MARKO: UNBELIEVABLE HARTLEY STORIES GOING AROUND

Red Bull driver chief Helmut Marko has rubbished reports that Brendon Hartley’s position in the Toro Rosso team is at risk in the wake of massive first lap shunt on the opening lap of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Even prior to his Montreal mishap there was the ‘Lando Norris report’ which emerged as the New Zealander, a double WEC champion and Le Mans winner, struggled to find his feet in his first full Formula 1 season relative to his rookie teammate Pierre Gasly who has 18 points to Hartley’s one.

Marko said in the wake of the incident in Canada, “It was, I would say, a racing accident, and has nothing to do about his future. He will be in the car.”

“All the people who say they want to race for Toro Rosso, or they want to put an offer that we didn’t know about. Unbelievable stories going around,” added Marko.

Prior to the shunt at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Hartley was enjoying an improved weekend where he was quicker than Gasly throughout practice and then outqualified the Frenchman.

Hartley was the quicker Toro Rosso driver through practice and said after qualifying 12th that he was keen to complete a clean weekend and fight for points.

Hartley, who was released from hospital with a clean bill of health the evening of the race, lamented, “I’m really disappointed for Toro Rosso and Honda because we’ve been quite strong all weekend with a good update from the power unit. I think we definitely had the pace to challenge for points.”

As for the incident, Hartley said, “I had a good start, similar to the drivers around me, but I got left a bit on the outside of Turn 2 which lost me a position.”

“I got a good run on Lance out of Turn 4 on the outside, but he lost the car which put us both into the wall. It’s very disappointing as there was room to make the overtake, and I was looking forward to a strong race.”

“It’s a frustrating way to end as I’ve been really happy with my performance all weekend,” added Hartley.

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Romain Grosjean shows off his French GP helmet

Haas driver Romain Grosjean has unveiled his special home race helmet for next weekend's French Grand Prix.

Formula 1 returns to France for the first time in a decade after the former French GP, held at Magny-Cours, was axed after the 2008 season.

The Circuit Paul Ricard will host next week's race and it will be the first time Grosjean has raced in front of his home crowd in F1 machinery, having made his debut with Renault in 2009 at the European GP held at Valencia.

Although Grosjean was actually born in Switzerland, he races under a French licence and holds dual Franco-Swiss nationality.

His helmet, which he revealed on Instagram, is predominantly made up of the French flag and features a cartoon version of himself on the back with the words 'Castellet 2018' – which is where the Paul Ricard circuit is located. 

Under FIA rules, drivers must race with the same helmet throughout the entire season – although small changes are allowed – with the exception of a single one-off design for special events, such as a home race or the Monaco GP.

MIKA: "LE CHEF" or LE BUTCHER?  

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Renault's C-spec engine upgrade nearing completion

Renault says its third and what's likely to be its final engine upgrade of the 2018 season is nearing completion ahead of its expected debut in a little over two months.

With the latest power units expected to last seven rounds each, due to the FIA's stipulated three per driver per season limit, manufacturers are having to stretch out reliability, but it also means performance upgrades are fewer, though they should be more effective.

Renault, Ferrari and Honda all introduced their latest specifications in Canada last weekend whilst Mercedes had hoped to do the same, but a quality issue forced a delay until next weekend's French GP, meaning neither the works team nor its customer outfits, Force India and Williams, received the new parts.

Now with five races in the next six weekends, development time on the next upgrade which Renault hopes will close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari, is very limited, but Renault's Cyril Abiteboul's revealed that their 'C-spec' upgrade which will see out the season is already being tested and is nearing completion.

"The C-spec engine is already on the dynos at Viry [Renault's engine facility] and we’ll soon be at a stage for its deployment with races coming thick and fast over the weeks ahead, especially with Formula 1’s first triple-header on the horizon."

It's likely Renault will aim to introduce its C-spec unit at the power hungry Belgian GP which comes after the summer break, providing extra development and testing time, though it could be pushed back to Monza depending on how things stand in terms of reliability.

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FIA backs Vettel's claim that drivers can gain under VSC

FIA race director Charlie Whiting has backed up Sebastian Vettel's claim that drivers can save time by using clever lines under a virtual safety car.
However, he says the potential gains are very small, and the FIA will now act to rectify the loophole.

Vettel made his comments after the Spanish GP, saying that it was possible for drivers to "beat" the system by driving lines that cut distance, and that they wouldn't use in normal racing conditions.

"It's the same for everyone but the FIA is supplying us with a system that makes us follow a delta time," he said.

"And everybody has to slow down by, I think, 40 percent, but I think everybody's aware you can have a faster way to go under VSC than just follow the delta – by saving distance.

"So, I think we should have a system that hasn't got this loophole, because it forces us to drive ridiculous lines around the track, and everybody's doing it, so I don't think it's a secret.

"Our sport should be in a better shape than supplying software that's just poor and allows us to find some extra performance that way."

At the time, Whiting disagreed with Vettel's claim but after some research he admits there is something to it.

"Yes, I've worked it out now," he explained in Montreal. "The calculation that the system does every 50 metres is based on the distance from the timing line.

"So if you can shorten that, you can gain tiny fractions. The way we've calculated it with our software guys is you can possibly gain about 150 milliseconds [per lap].

"But in Formula 1 that's worth having. But that's the extent of it, as far as it was explained to be me by our software people. We can rectify it, and make it a bit more bulletproof."

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New Schumacher exhibition unveiled in Germany

A new exhibition featuring 12 Formula 1 cars raced by Michael Schumacher has been unveiled in Cologne, Germany.
The career of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion, who continues to recuperate from a head injury sustained in a skiing accident in December 2013, is being celebrated with a selection of his cars, trophies, helmets and race suits from his two decades racing in F1.

As well as seven Ferraris, the exhibition includes his title-winning Benettons and the Jordan he made his Grand Prix racing debut in 1991.

The private collection was unveiled to the press this morning at Motorworld Cologne Rhineland, a former aircraft hangar converted to house a prestigious classic and sportscar exhibition.

Schumacher’s collection takes up an area of 1,000 square metres and will open to the public from this weekend.

It will be free to visit seven days a week. The Michael Schumacher Private Collection is a huge thank you from the Schumacher family to the many fans of Michael and motor sport," said Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s manager.

"It displays significant pieces from his personal collection. The fact this exhibition has found a home at Motorworld Cologne Rhineland is perfect for us.

"It’s situated a kew kilometres away from Michael’s home town of Kerpen, while sharing a passion for cars."

Schumacher’s collection of memorabilia at the site includes race winning trophies, family photos, press-cuttings and is also supplemented by archive videos and testimonies from former team bosses, such as Jean Todt and Flavio Briatore and fellow F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa.

A private event follows this evening, while the doors open to the public in the morning.

Organisers are expecting up to half a million Schumacher fans to visit each year.

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Gasly pushed "everyone" to avoid engine change in France

Pierre Gasly says he pushed "everyone" at Toro Rosso and Honda to avoid having to take a new Formula 1 engine and subsequent grid penalty for his home grand prix.
Gasly suffered a problem with his upgraded Honda engine in Canadian GP practice and reverted to the old spec for qualifying.

As Gasly was only due to start 16th in Montreal Honda fitted another new engine for the race, dropping him to the back and protecting him from a change and grid drop at next week's French GP.

Gasly said: "I pushed everyone, I pushed with Franz [Tost, team principal], I pushed with Jonathan [Eddolls, chief race engineer], I pushed with Tanabe-san [Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe], I pushed everyone.

"I said, 'OK, I want the new engine in the car'. Otherwise will be just too difficult a race and it's better to take the penalty here – we have more chances to finish in the points and also for France it is better because we don't start far back."

Gasly rose from 19th to 11th in Canada and while he would likely have scored points with a higher starting position he said the "good news" was it protected his home race.

"We still need to do all the free practices and everything there, but of course the first home race for me, on a track I really like, I want to do great there.

"With the upgrade, if we have a good car there, we can probably expect to have a good weekend."

Toro Rosso and Honda were buoyed by the upgrade, which centred on the internal combustion engine, introduced in Canada.

Gasly said more should be expected as they go to tracks better suited to the Toro Rosso chassis will.

"Definitely the power unit is good," he said. "Chassis-wise we were not fantastic [in Canada], compared to Monaco [where Gasly finished seventh], or compared to even Barcelona.

"Our car wasn't the best for that track. I think if we manage to improve a bit the performance of the car, I think the power unit will give us really good chance to be more consistently close to the top 10 or in the top 10."

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Designers of 2019 F1 cars will 'forget overtaking', warns Steiner

Formula 1 teams' designers will "forget about overtaking" when they get to work on the changes being enforced for 2019, Haas team boss Gunther Steiner has warned.

Last-minute changes were pushed through at the end of April to alter the design of the cars for next year, following research carried out by F1 itself with the help of the teams.

The changes, which include alterations to the way the front wings manage airflow around the tyres, are aimed at making it easier for drivers to follow another car closely.

But Steiner believes it's too early in the process to be certain the changes will have the desired effect.

"These aero people, they do a study in a week, and they say 'this is what it is', then they do a study of two months, and [the results are] completely different because they use every little bit of how the regulation is written to get as much performance," he said.

"That is the phase that everybody is in now, to get the most out of that regulation that was introduced after a three-week study.

"The three-week study was out of a good purpose, to make overtaking easier, but now the aero guys are on it too - forget about overtaking, get performance.

"They are working to find out how much [difference] it is actually doing - I don't think anybody has the answer yet."

Haas brought its biggest upgrade package in its short history to the Canadian Grand Prix, but Steiner admits its plans for the rest of 2018 will be affected by the disruption to the regulations for next year.

"We are still looking to find out how much it affects what we are doing," he said.

"They need to do some CFD runs to see what the new front wing does, then they decide, in the next two to three weeks, if we focus a little bit more on 2019 than with the old regs.

"I think we will for obvious reasons - we don't want to be behind. "There is a point we will need to switch to 2019, and with the limited windtunnel development and CFD time everybody is in the same situation."

Haas driver Romain Grosjean said part of the team's thinking behind producing such a big in-season upgrade package was because it was expected there would be rules stability for next year, meaning any gains found this year would benefit the 2019 car.

"In theory the rules were not changing for next year, so we were putting a lot of effort into thinking that next year was going to be the same," said Grosjean.

"Since they announced the new front wing I guess everyone will need to switch quite early onto 2019 because the car is going to be very different.

"With the big update we have, if the car keeps going well and faster than the others, we are in a good position to have a lot of races with decent points."

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GHOSN: A CHINESE DRIVER WOULD BE EXTRAORDINARY FOR RENAULT

The Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn wishes his team could unearth a Chinese driver who could race for his team in Formula 1 while insisting that his company will not invest in a star driver or personality in their quest for world championship glory.

La Presse asked Ghosn what type of driver his team are seeking to which he replied, “One who draws attention to our main markets.”

“A French driver would be fine, a Russian driver would be fine. A Chinese driver would extraordinary because we would have the attention of 1.3 billion consumers. ”

While acknowledging, “But you have to find the driver to win so it’s always a difficult equation.”

There has been talk in the paddock that the French outfit are courting Adrian Newey, while Fernando Alonso has been touted for a possible return to the team with whom he won two F1 world titles.

But according to Ghosn, these theories appear off the mark, “Of course, if there were no budget, we would hire the best drivers in the world, but we’re not going to be the richest team.”

“We have proven in the past that we can win while not being the ones who spend the most money or have the best drivers,” said Ghosn who is reportedly happy with the current driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz.

The Spaniard is on a one-year loan deal from Red Bull. Should he be recalled by his paymasters then the Renault seat would become available.