Hello fellow F1 fanatics, the sport is back from it’s summer break! What a way to return with our favourites, Spa and Monza back-to-back! We start off with the Belgian Grand Prix! Let’s dive into what is making news right now:

 

FIA approve Racing Point Force India entry to compete at Belgian GP

 

 

We start off with the first of the biggest news, Force India’s newest owners have now been given the green light for an official championship entry by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, with the team free to race this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix.

 

Earlier in the month, a group of investors lead by Canadian businessman Lance Stroll agreed to take Force India out of administration. Yesterday, the FIA confirmed that the joint administrators of Force India have now completed the sale of the business and assets to the Racing Point UK Limited Group.

 

Racing Point Force India is a new team, losing all of it’s constructor points achieved by the former entry, which has been excluded from the Constructors Championship due to being unable to complete the season and will start with none, However, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon will keep the points that they earned in the Driver’s Championship.

 

You can read the full statement made by the FIA here: https://www.fia.com/news/fia-approves-mid-season-entry-racing-point-force-india

 

 

Gasly promoted to Red Bull senior team in 2019

 

The second big news of the week was the announcement that Aston Martin Red Bull Racing have promoted Pierre Gasly and will succeed the outgoing Daniel Ricciardo (who is off to Renault) to race for the Milton-Keynes squad alongside Max Verstappen for the 2019 season.

 

Gasly who got his first run in Formula One last year, joining sister team Toro Rosso for the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, has had a great full season so far, with the most notable result coming from a fourth-placed finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix and achieving another two top ten finishes in the first half of the championship.

 

Gasly’s career has been stellar so far. Starting in karting, he then moved on to the French F4 Championship in 2011 before jumping to Formula Renault 2.0, winning the title in 2013. Part of the Red Bull Racing Junior Programme, he graduated to Formula Renault 3.5 competing for Arden Motorsport before making the switch to GP2 (now FIA Formula 2) in 2015 and becoming Red Bull’s reserve driver. He won the 2016 GP2 World Driver’s Championship at the end of an entertaining season racing for Italian squad Prema Powerteam. In 2017, he went over to Japan to race in the Super Formula Championship where he came runner up whilst beginning his Formula 1 career with Toro Rosso.

 

You can read the full statements by Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner and Pierre Gasly at the link: https://redbullracing.redbull.com/article/going-full-gas-2019

 

 

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team motivated for Belgian Grand Prix

 

Returning from the sport’s traditional summer break, the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team is looking forward to hitting the track this weekend at the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.

 

Spa offers various challenges to all the drivers and teams, which drivers Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc find very interesting.

 

With unpredictable weather conditions, which plays a major role at the famous circuit, this race weekend is a big test for the teams as they try to deal with the changeable climate.

 

“We’re off to Belgium for the first race after the break. We are coming back recharged after a nice summer, and it is great to kick-off the second half of the season at one of the best tracks on the calendar – the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.” explained Ericsson. “It is uniquely challenging and always a great circuit to drive on. We have the opportunity to build on a strong first half of the season, on a track that should suit us quite well. The unpredictable weather conditions could add an extra twist and make it even more exciting to race there. I look forward to the weekend.”

 

On the other side of the garage, Leclerc reflected on the first half of the season but is keen to hit the ground running.

 

“The most important thing will be to get back in the rhythm as quickly as possible, and as a team, to regroup and focus on our target, which is to continue making progress as we did during the first half of the season.” said Leclerc. “The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a very special one. The lap is very long, and it has all different kinds of corners, which makes it interesting to drive on. I look forward to being back in the car there.” Leclerc concluded.

 

Sauber currently sit eighth in the Constructors Championship on 16 points, can they score more points this weekend?

 

Ferrari ready for Spa

 

 

The Scuderia were back to work this week following a much-needed rest and both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are keen to hop in their SF71-H racers at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

 

Championship contender Vettel enjoyed his time off and is confident heading into the second half of the season.

 

“I spent my break relaxing with the family, swimming, running and biking”, explained Vettel. “Now we’re back to work on a circuit that we like so much because it’s a drivers’ track, where you can make a difference.”

 

“As is customary after the break, we will have some developments on our car. The key from now on will be to keep the speed everywhere. I think we did a god job so far in progressing as a team, and that’s why I’m confident for the rest of the season.”

 

“There have been races in which we had the upper hand in terms of performance and we didn’t get as many points as we could have, but the same applies to our competitors”. Vettel concluded.

 

Vettel currently sits 24 points Driver’s Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, can the German take the fight to the Briton in his quest for his fifth title-crown?

 

On the other side of the garage, Raikkonen, a four-time winner of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, looked ahead to the challenges of the legendary circuit.

 

“I really like the layout of this circuit, driving here is great. I preferred the old part of the track , at the Bus stop chicane, but apart from that bit, the circuit hasn’t changed too much.” explained Raikkonen. “This place always brings good racing, so it’s nice for us and also for the spectators.”

 

“We’ll see what the weather holds; here it can change very quickly, it might rain in one place and the next corner it can be dry. We’ll need to adapt the best that we can. As any other race it’s a bit of an unknown where we are going to be against the others; we will find out over the weekend and especially on Sunday. We’ll keep doing the same job we have done so far and then we’ll see what the outcome is”.

 

Raikkonen is third in the Driver’s Championship and 43 points behind team-mate Vettel, can the Finn become a five-time winner at Spa this weekend?

 

F1 could delay overhauled 2021 engine regulations

 

 

Formula 1 could delay it’s proposed engine regulation changes until after 2021 should new manufacturers not show an interest in joining the championship.

 

Earlier this year, the proposal was on keeping the 1.6L V6 turbocharged-hybrid engines but removing the MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Heat) from the hybrid system.

 

The plan also included increasing the fuel allowance limit to make the engines sound lounder whilst the MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic) will be upgraded to make it more powerful and keeping it in line with road relevance.

 

The removal of the MGU-H took an negative effect on current manufacturers Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault who said that it will result in the dumbing down of the sport and will see the newly developed power-trains increase heavily in cost.

 

F1’s main plan was to remove the MGU-H so it can allow new manufacturers to join the sport, but despite Porsche showing initial interest, it appears that there are no new manufacturers on the horizon who are interested.

 

A proposal on the 2021 regulations was on course to be released at the end of June, but the deadline was missed due to no agreement on the details. With no commitments made from any new manufacturer for 2021, F1 Motorsport Director Ross Brawn is considering delaying the overhauled engine rules for a later date.

 

“We want to try and create a set of technical regulations on the engine, which are appealing to new manufacturers coming in as well as consolidate our existing engine suppliers,” explained Brawn in an interview published in the Belgian Grand Prix programme. “And I think we just need to think of our timing on that, whether 2021 is the right time to do that, or whether it’s better to keep that powder dry until we can be certain that a major regulation change will bring fresh blood into the sport.”

 

“My feeling is that there’s still quite a lot we can do on the engine side in terms of sporting regulations such as limits on dyno test time, number of upgrades during a season, consistency of specification to all customer teams etc. On the engine, we need to decide if now is the time to have a revolution or an evolution.”

 

Brawn said the main goal on the engine rules overhaul was to give new manufacturers an equal start whilst making the engine not being the difference in performance than it is currently.

 

“What I’m mostly concerned about is the capacity for a new supplier to come in,” Brawn continued. “We have four great manufacturers in Formula One and we don’t want to lose them. But equally, we don’t want a situation where the technical regulations make the challenge of a Formula One engine so great that only if you’ve been doing it for seven years can you hope to compete.”

 

“A reset in the technical regulations provides an opportunity for someone who is new and has the opportunity to perhaps at least start in a better place, instead of trying to complete with someone who has been pursuing this and these objectives for a long time. Also, we don’t want the engine to be the major differentiator. The first differentiator should be the driver, the second should be the car and the third should be the engine.” Brawn concluded.