DANIEL Ricciardo made a promising start to Formula One’s pre-season by driving his Red Bull to the fastest time and the most laps on the track near Barcelona.
Ricciardo clocked 1 minute, 20.179 seconds before rain and cold track temperatures that dipped below seven degrees kept most cars off the tarmac.
The Aussie star bucked that trend and braved the poor conditions to be the only driver to reach the 100-lap mark.
Defending champion Lewis Hamilton managed to get in 25 laps before the weather turned unfavourable after teammate Valtteri Bottas had his turn behind the wheel for Mercedes.
Somewhere in the middle of the pack is Daniel Ricciardo.Source: Getty Images
Bottas put in the second fastest lap.
Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and Nico Hulkenberg of Renault were all also within 0.4 seconds of Ricciardo.
“We still got over a hundred laps, so we are happy with that,” Ricciardo said.
“The morning was all right when it was dry, but the afternoon was just so cold, it was hard to get anything working on the tires. We didn’t get any real productive running.”
Last year, Ricciardo proved to be the circuit’s next best driver after the dominant four of Mercedes and Ferrari. He finished fifth overall with one grand prix win in his fifth season with Red Bull.
Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, made an inauspicious start after his McLaren lost a wheel and went off the track while it was still dry.
Alonso was about to complete his seventh lap when the rear wheel on the right side came off, sending him into the gravel on the final turn at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The morning session was stopped for a few minutes while a crew hauled the McLaren onto a flatbed truck and drove it back to the pit lane. McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said the wheel popped off due to a problem with a wheel nut.
Daniel Ricciardo has set the early standard in Barcelona.Source: Getty Images
“Obviously it cost us track time, the only downside today,” Boullier said.
McLaren is hoping to rebound this year after changing to Renaut engines following three problem-plagued campaigns with Honda.
Testing in northeastern Spain runs until later this week. A second four-day session will be held from March 6-9.
The next great V8 rivalry will be born in Bathurst this year with the first completed Camaro to be revealed at Mount Panorama in October.
Set to take on the Mustang and create the next generation rivalry which will form the foundation of a sport, News Corp Australia can reveal the first Chevrolet Supercar will be completed in time for a Bathurst 1000 unveiling.
With components already being designing and constructed, the Camaro is part of the “Gen 3” program which will make the sport both more accessible and less expensive.
As part of News Corp Australia’s look into the biggest issues facing the sport, Supercars CEO Sean Seamer revealed the Bathurst 1000 was being targeted for the Gen 3 unveiling.
The Camaro will first be tested on tracks including Queensland Raceway before being unveiled to the public with a Mount Panorama hot-lap.
“At this stage I think we will be looking at the middle of the year (to test) based on the feedback that I have got from the committee,” Seamer said.
“It’s one of those things – you want to bring it to life, but you can’t rush it.
“Right now the middle of the year is the target.”
Seamer said the Gen 3 plans were progressing “very well” with his expert team navigating through the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Obviously there is a tremendous amount of work to be done and continues to go on,” Seamer said.
“But the team and the committee and everyone involved has made the most of last year in particular, but also the extended break that we have had between races, this has been quite a long off-season by our standards, finishing at Bathurst at the end of October,” Seamer said.
“The time has been put to good use and they are flat out working through it.
“We are looking at making sure the transition is successful with the two platforms that we have got and now working towards a third manufacturer for the following year (2023).”
The firm charged with designing the new Supercar’s Camaro is confident of putting the revolutionary car on a racetrack by the end of the year.
“We continue to work with Supercars to try and ensure that what we put on track next year is what we have promised everyone,” said Triple Eight Race Engineer owner Roland Dane.
“I think the fans will gravitate towards the Chevrolet next year. The feedback that we have had has been overwhelmingly positive and continues to be.”
Also in charge of the Red Bull Ampol Racing, Dane said Chevrolet could replace Holden and become Ford’s next great rival.
“I think the demise of the Holden brand in the new car market here is unfortunate,” Dane said.
“But it has happened and it’s old news now and everyone has moved on.
“The Holden brand continues to hold a place in the hearts of many Australians as being something that they have grown up with and enjoyed etc and I’m sure that we’ll get plenty of Holden fans going forward even as we start racing Chevrolets.
The Supercars Gen3 Red Bull Camaro will be unveiled in October.Source: Supplied
“I don’t see that as an issue, the hangover from Holden fans. To be honest, our fan base across the country has become much broader than just Ford and Holden, but they do like to gravitate towards the brands when it comes to watching the racing.
“And we are going to continue that with Chevrolet, which is a very aspirational brand in this country. So I don’t see it as impediment, I think it is only going to add to the excitement.”
Holden great and “Car of the Future” mastermind Mark Skaife predicted the new rivalry between Chevrolet and Ford would be able to sustain the sport.
“I keep trying to think of the helicopter view of what Gen 3 stands for and to me it stands for three things: it stands for affordability, it stands for aspiration and it stands for authenticity,” Skaife said.
“So what we are trying to create is a car that looks very much like the car that we see in our showrooms and that we love, we are trying to create a next generation that is not a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or a McLaren or a whatever.
Davison not just here to make up numbers
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“It’s not unachievable, it’s an aspirational car that is essentially affordable.
“Really it’s about being part of that brand and having the brand association. Even if you’re a young person, you just love the look of the Camaro.
“I was a little bloke and I used to watch Bob Jane in a Camaro, Allan Moffat in a Mustang. They were the name plates for me that I thought, ‘Oh, wow’.
“If we can provide the same wow factor in the modern era, I see no reason why we can’t make it work.”
The Mercedes Formula One team despite seven successive constructors titles possesses the “same fire, hunger and passion” says team principal Toto Wolff as when he arrived in 2013.
The 49-year-old Austrian’s remarks came as the team launched its car for the 2021 season, one which they hope will culminate in Lewis Hamilton winning a record eighth drivers’ title.
The Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance builds on the solid base of its predecessor but includes considerable aerodynamic changes alongside improvements to areas as such as the suspension, cooling system and Power Unit.
But like their crafty rivals in Red Bull, the heavyweight team wasn’t giving everything away about its new design, not divulging where it had both allowable development ‘tokens’ on major changes to the car.
“There are some parts of the car that you can change token-free, for example the power unit, the cooling systems, the suspension and of course all of the aerodynamic surfaces,” said technical director James Allison.
“We have spent our tokens, but we won’t reveal how we used them just yet. That’ll become clear in good time.”
Mercedes revealed two weeks ago that it was battling some ‘issues’ with its engine ahead of the new season, but today’s announcement said the team had worked hard to fix problems that reliability plagued them in 2020.
“We have got some issues with the power units,” engine chief Hywel Thomas said in February.
But Thomas at the launch said: “In 2020, we used an aluminium structure which wasn’t as reliable as intended, so we’ve introduced a new alloy for the engine block … We’ve got a big challenge in 2021 with 23 races on the calendar, we will need to ensure that the reliability of the power unit is spot on. We’ve worked hard on that area and hopefully it’s paid off.”
And he delivered a stern warning to the team’s rivals, declaring: “We’ve got some completely new innovations that will be in the racing PU (Power Unit) for the first time.”
It will be seen on the track for the first time in pre-season testing in Bahrain on March 12.
Bahrain kicks off the season with their Grand Prix on March 28.
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One of reigning champion Lewis Hamilton’s crusades has been to promote and develop more diversity in the sport.
As a result the black base livery remains for a second season “to underline the team’s commitment to improving diversity and inclusion within the team and our sport”.
Wolff said the team had set itself targets to back up its words with actions. “We’ve set ourselves the goal of at least 25 per cent of all new starters coming from under-represented groups for the next five years,” he said.
“The latest step is a joint foundation that we will create together with Lewis to improve all aspects of diversity in motorsport.
“All of these measures are encouraging, but we know that real change takes time and we’re at the start of a very long journey.”
F1 world champions Mercedes unveiled their new car for the 2021 season: British driver Lewis Hamilton (L) and Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas (R) posing with Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff (C).Source: AFP
– ‘Magnificent duo’ –
Meanwhile Alpine – the rebranded Renault outfit – also unveiled its new-look car, after a fifth-place finish in the constructor’s championship last season.
Daniel Ricciardo, who moved to McLaren after a fifth-place drivers’ championship finish with Renault in 2020, is replaced by two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso.
Alonso, who was world champion in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, returns to Formula One after leaving McLaren two years ago.
The 39-year-old Spaniard was absent from Tuesday’s launch after undergoing surgery on his broken jaw after he was involved in a road accident while cycling in Switzerland last month.
In a statement, however, he said he was happy to be back in F1. “I’m very motivated heading into this new chapter with Alpine and it’s of course very special to be back with the team that I achieved so much with in the past,” he said.
Alonso in December alongside his 2006 F1-winning Renault.Source: AFP
Luca De Meo, CEO of Groupe Renault, described the new Alpine line-up as a “magnificent duo”.
“Fernando Alonso, he has come back home 20 years after he made his debut with us,” said De Meo.
“He’s a two-time world champion and an international star.
“He brings us his speed, tenaciousness, his will, his talent, his experience, his commitment.
“Esteban Ocon is a star in the making. He brings his talent in full ascent as well as his fighting spirit and cool head, his humility and consistency.
“We can expect some beautiful podium finishes from him.” The chassis of the new A521, built in Enstone in the UK which will be the team headquarters, is an evolution of last year’s RS20 with the team saying they have developed and improved “every part that has not been homologated”.
The most striking difference a complete change in livery. No longer the familiar yellow and black but instead red, white and blue, deliberately chosen to reflect both the French and British flags.
“It’s a team with French and British heart, French passion and British grit,” said Ocon.
Lewis Hamilton said Tuesday that winning a record-breaking eighth world championship in 2021 would not be the determining factor in whether he quits after the season.
The attempt to land a drivers’ crown that would move the 36-year-old Briton above Michael Schumacher to become the most decorated driver in the sport’s history will go hand-in-hand with the issue of his future in Formula One.
“I’ve made a really important decision in my mind, that I don’t want that to be the deciding factor,” Hamilton said in a conference call at the launch of the Mercedes car for 2021.
“I got into racing because I loved racing and I think that’s got to always be at the core of what I do. If all you’re going for is accolades, if all you’re going for is titles, I feel like you could potentially lose your way.
“Of course it’s the ultimate dream, but I don’t think that’s necessarily going to be the deciding factor whether to stay or keep going.”
Hamilton denied that a one-year extension to his contract had increased the possibility that the upcoming season could be his final one in the sport.
“I am in the fortunate position where I have achieved most of the stuff that I wanted to, so there is no real need to plan too far into the future.
“We are living in an unusual period of time. I just wanted one year, then we can talk about if we do more and keep adding to it by one if we have to.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff insisted that despite seven successive constructors’ titles the team had the “same fire, hunger and passion” as when he arrived in 2013.
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The Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance builds on the solid base of its predecessor but includes considerable aerodynamic changes alongside improvements to areas as such as the suspension, cooling system and power unit.
It will be seen on the track for the first time in pre-season testing in Bahrain on March 12. The season-opening Grand Prix takes place on March 28.
“Every year we reset our focus and define the right objectives,” said Wolff in a statement to mark the launch of the new car.
“That may sound simple but it’s damn hard and is probably why there are no sports teams out there with seven consecutive titles.
“So many things can happen and it’s very natural to get used to success, and therefore not fight as hard for it. But this team has not shown any of that.”
Wolff said Hamilton and Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas, who underlined Mercedes’ dominance by finishing second in the 2020 drivers’ standings, always have new challenges which keep them motivated.
“I see the same fire, hunger and passion now as I did the first time I walked through the doors in 2013,” he said.
One of Hamilton’s crusades has been to promote and develop more diversity in Formula One.
As a result the car’s black base livery remains for a second season “to underline the team’s commitment to improving diversity and inclusion within the team and our sport”.
Wolff said the team had set itself targets to back up its words with actions.
“We’ve set ourselves the goal of at least 25 percent of all new starters coming from under-represented groups for the next five years,” he said.
“The latest step is a joint foundation that we will create together with Lewis to improve all aspects of diversity in motorsport.
“All of these measures are encouraging, but we know that real change takes time and we’re at the start of a very long journey.”
