Welcome to Friday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
The shortcomings of Aston Martin’s car have sometimes hidden how Lance Stroll has narrowed the gap to Fernando Alonso, observes Ben:
Do you still think Alonso is that good? If you do, then Stroll on race day has improved and is getting quite close to ‘Alonso level’ on race days. The pace difference between them has not been big, and not last year either.
Stroll has significantly cut down on his errors and I would even say his overtaking skills are pretty good. His weaknesses are one-lap pace and a tendency to miss what’s in his mirrors, although he hasn’t had those incidents recently.
I would say that now, Alonso is average at best, and Stroll is just underwhelming now rather than terrible.
Ben Rowe (@TheGiantHogweed)
Social media and links
Worlds collide – Daly and Ricciardo (Speed Street)
Daniel Ricciardo reflected on cars he enjoyed most: “The car I probably loved the most was 2016. By then, that was year three of that era, so development was pretty good. The cars were narrow, they were small, they felt more like a go-kart where you had room on the track to move around and get some clean air and launch overtakes. We’re not braking right at the apex of the corner. That was the coolest — I felt probably the most comfortable racing that car.”
News and reactions from Qualifying One (Nürburgring 24 Hours)
The 54th ADAC 24h Nürburgring began under typical Eifel conditions. Qualifying One started wet with multiple spins, then produced fast times on a drying track before heavy rain and hail returned late in the session. The number 80 Mercedes-AMG set the first benchmark lap at 8:14.957. The defending champions in the number 1 Rowe BMW were 3.112 seconds behind in second, with the number 3 Verstappen Mercedes-AMG third and the number 99 Rowe BMW fourth.
Nürburgring Thursday Notebook (Sportscar365)
Much attention focused on Max Verstappen’s highly anticipated N24 debut. The four-time Formula 1 world champion was not made available to the media this weekend, which reportedly caused friction within the press corps, especially among F1 journalists covering the event because of his appearance.
V8 Formula 1 cars a matter of ‘when, not if,’ says FIA president (Car and Driver)
The FIA president discussed future engine concepts, suggesting a move to larger displacement for the combustion unit — roughly 2.6 to 3.0 litres — and an energy split that could allow combined outputs near 880 horsepower, with the combustion engine delivering around 650 horsepower.
TV audience dips for Indy GP (Racer)
TV figures for the Indy GP showed a peak audience of 890,000 viewers during the final stages of the 85-lap race. Despite a year-on-year drop, Fox reported an average audience of 1,141,000 across the first six races of the season.
Practice two highlights – 2026 Indianapolis 500 (IndyCar)
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Jonny!
On this day in motorsport
- 40 years ago today Elio de Angelis was killed in a crash while testing for Brabham at the Paul Ricard circuit in France
- 45 years ago today an accident in the pit lane at Zolder during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend claimed the life of Osella mechanic Giovanni Amadeo
- Born today in 1959: Luis Pérez-Sala, who made 26 Grand Prix starts in 1988 and 1989 for Minardi
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