Welcome to Monday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Did McLaren make another basic strategy error yesterday?
McLaren nearly lost the title last year with a big factor being several bad, or at least lacklustre pit calls. And they showed they still are too reactive and not bold enough. I think they likely would have won, if they had not lost the lead with that pit call, it did not look like Antonelli was much faster, if at all faster.
@BasCB
Social media and links
F1 will have V8 engines by 2031, possibly 2030, says FIA president (Reuters)
‘The president added that under the rules, a change can be made for 2030 if a super-majority of four of the six manufacturers, including Cadillac’s partners General Motors, vote in favour. Otherwise, the FIA can force through the switch for 2031.’
Race report (McLaren)
Andrea Stella said the development battle will be crucial this season with four teams capable of fighting for pole and wins. McLaren has a development roadmap with parts planned for Canada and further updates targeted for Monaco and Spain.
Race Recap (Haas)
Ayao Komatsu acknowledged a difficult weekend but noted the team came close to the top 10. Their upgrade strategy means they learned where to improve car procedures and processes ahead of Montreal, and they look forward to running an upgrade during a Sprint weekend.
Not the hoped-for result at the end of a hard-fought race (Ferrari)
Ferrari reported Charles had strong pace in clean air and the team fought at the front, but traffic and a loss of consistency hurt performance later in the race. They will investigate the drop-off, which mirrored issues seen in the sprint race.
Sunday (Honda)
Shintaro Orihara, trackside general manager and chief engineer, said they reduced most vibrations, improving reliability in warm conditions like Saturday’s sprint. It’s a small but important step that will let them focus on extracting more performance, though progress will take time.
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Jack Sargeant, Martin Stanley, three4three, skodarap, Vickyy and F1_Barbie!
On this day in motorsport
- Born today in 1928: Wolfgang von Trips, who died in 1961 while racing Ferrari team mate Phil Hill for the world championship at Monza, in a crash which also killed 14 spectators
- Born on this day in 1946: Future McLaren and Ferrari Formula 1 designer John Barnard
- Born today in 1946: John Watson, who won five F1 races and took the 1982 title fight to the last race. He also set the record for winning an F1 race from the lowest starting position, 22nd, at Long Beach in 1983.
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