#MexicoCityGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

Sainz Mexico City GP FP1 – Carlos Sainz lead from team-mate Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two in a twice red-flagged FP1 session at the Mexico City GP with home favourite Sergio Perez rounding out the top three for Red Bull.

 

 

A late failure for reserve Liam Lawson – in place of regular Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri – forced the session to be aborted with four minutes remaining before time to leave Sainz on top.

 

As Leclerc was a narrow 0.046 behind, home hero Perez placed third as Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen’s progress was hurt by a rare spin for the newly-crowned double world champion.

 

With the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez dirty due to it’s lack of use and with an extended FP2 session on the way dedicated to the 2023 Pirelli Tyre Test, the field emerged quickly into the opening 60 minutes of running with all cars on the C2 white-marked harder compounds.

 

From the busy start to proceedings, Verstappen was quickest in the opening five minutes as he lapped with a 1:23.282 to be six tenths ahead of team-mate Perez as Leclerc was forced to pit with a suspected left-rear puncture, which left the Ferrari driver in the garage for 15 minutes.

 

Verstappen found another half-a-second before McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo split the Red Bull pairing and sat a little over a second off his former team-mate.

 

But Ricciardo would then be forced to sit in the McLaren pits as the Woking-based squad investigated a brake problem as Perez replaced his Red Bull team-mate at the top of the time-sheets with a 1:22.702.

 

Verstappen then snatched first place back by 0.411 seconds as he clocked a 1:22.291 before most drivers went straight to the pits after a quarter of an hour to put on a set of the faster C4 red side-walled softer rubber.

 

In a bid to make up for lost time, Leclerc emerged on the softs early and was the first driver to get into the 1:21’s bracket, posting a 1:21.546 to fins 0.745 over former title-rival Verstappen thanks to a rapid sector two and three effort at the time.

 

Verstappen’s reaction had to wait, due to a rare mistake from the newly-crowned two-time world champion, as the Red Bull driver lost the rear of his RB18 racer through the turns nine-ten chicane.

 

Verstappen lit up the rears to recover from the spin, having complained of low-grip. The Dutchman opted not to pit and set a 1:20.827, which moved him to fourth.

 

This left him 0.12 adrift of Leclerc but with an identical lap-time to Red Bull team-mate Perez.

 

Sainz therefore, provisionally headed the time-sheets with a 1:20.707 to sit a narrow 0.046 in-front of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc.

 

The proceedings were interrupted by a red flag from Haas F1 team reserve Pietro Fittipaldi – the Brazilian subbing for regular Kevin Magnussen in the VF-22 – breaking down on the pit-straight after a puff of smoke came from the rear of the car with the Kannapolis-Banbury outfit ordering him to stop the VF-22 immediately and done so out of the opening corner.

 

Another red flag could have been shown earlier as Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu stopped his C42 racer at the end of the pit-lane to prevent overheating after an upshift issue.

 

But the marshals were then able to push the halted Alfa behind the exit line to allow the Hinwil-based squad to recover the Chinese driver without the need to stop the session.

 

However, the session ended under the red flag for the second and last time with four minutes remaining when Lawson’s AT03 stopped into the 13th corner after a sudden failure.

 

As a result of pulling over his AlphaTauri to deprive the car of cool air, the brakes that the Kiwi had complained about throughout the session caught fire to leave opening practice not to be continued.

 

This meant Sainz finished on top and 0.046 ahead of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc with Perez wounding up third and fourth for Red Bull, whilst Sir Lewis Hamilton completed the top five for Mercedes.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso was sixth and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who placed seventh, whilst McLaren’s Lando Norris pipped AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly for eighth and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten.

 

McLaren’s Ricciardo finished opening practice outside the top ten in 11th and ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou who came 12th in the classification and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll taking 13th in the AMR22 entry.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi were 14th and 15th respectively.

 

Reserve drivers Lawson (in place of Yuki Tsunoda) was 16th for AlphaTauri and in-front of Logan Sargeant (in place of Alexander Albon) who placed 17th for Williams and Nyck De Vries (in place of George Russell took 18th for Mercedes.

 

Alpine reserve Jack Doohan (subbing FP1 for Esteban Ocon) ended the session 19th and Fittipaldi brought up the rear for Haas.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2022 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1136/mexico/practice-1.html

 

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Red Bull Racing enter ABA with FIA over 2021 cost-cap breach

 

 

Newly-crowned Constructors Champions Oracle Red Bull Racing have entered an Accepted Breach Agreement with sport’s governing body, the FIA following a breach of the 2021 Cost-Cap.

 

For the first time in the sport’s history, all ten teams were required to submit accounts of their annual spending against the Cost-Cap for 2021 by the following March.

 

On Friday in Mexico City, the Milton Keynes based-outfit were found to be in breach.

 

“The Cost Cap Administration recognised that Red Bull Racing has acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner, that this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations and that there is no accusation or evidence that RBR (Red Bull Racing) has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration. In these circumstances, the Cost Cap Administration offered to RBR an ABA to resolve this matter. That offer was accepted by RBR.” Stated the FIA.

 

In the statement, it was revealed that Red Bull Racing were found to have exceeded 2021 Cost Cap of £118,036,000 by less than 5% (£1,864.000 or 1.6%), which was a minor breach. The FIA explained they acknowledged that Red Bull Racing had applied “the correct treatment within its Full Year Reporting Documentation of their Notional Tax Credit within its 2021 submission of a value of £1,431,438” and therefore they would have exceeded the cap by $432,652 or 0.37%.

 

Regarding the sanction, Red Bull must pay $7 million to the FIA within 30 days of the Accepted Breach Agreement.

 

They were also hit with a minor sport’s penalty of a 10% reduction in their allocated Restricted Wind Tunnel Testing and Restricted Computational Fluid Dynamics limits.

 

Based on Red Bull Racing’s championship position, the coefficient to their allocation will drop from 70% to 63%.

 

Red Bull Racing also bears the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the Accepted Breach Agreement.

 

Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner is expected to comment on the news later on.

 

Non-compliance by the Milton Keynes based-outfit with any terms of the Accepted Breach Agreement will result in further procedural breach and automatic referral to the Cost Cap Adjudication panel.

 

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Aston Martin enter agreement with FIA over 2021 cost-cap breach

 

 

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team have entered an accepted breach agreement with sport’s governing body, the FIA following a procedural breach of the 2021 Financial Regulations.

 

After submission of financial documents from all ten participating F1 teams, the Cost Cap Administration undertook a review under the Financial Regulations, and Aston Martin were found to be in a breach of the rules – though their costs under the 2021 period were under the Cost Cap.

 

The Silverstone-based squad were found to have incorrectly excluded and/or adjusted costs relating to the building of their new headquarters, new F1 simulator, wind tunnel fees, R&D tax credit, a signing bonus cost, use of transferrable components, used inventories, service desk costs, cost of catering services at their headquarters, costs of desks and chairs, sponsor services and outsourced personnel services.

 

Aston Martin must pay financial penalty of $450, 000 within 30 days of the execution of the ABA, plus bearing the cost of the Cost Cap Administration.

 

“The Cost Cap Administration recognised that AMR has acted cooperatively and in good faith throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner, that this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations and that there is no accusation or evidence that AMR has sought or obtained any undue advantage as a result of the breach,” stated the FIA on Friday at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

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#F1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2022 Preview. #MexicoCityGP