We empty the notebook from Monaco and find Ricciardo, Vettel's brush with crime, French GP, F2 and more.
- Ricciardo Lashes Out
- Why the Monaco Grand Prix Was Delayed
- One Way to Save French Grand Prix
- Vettel Goes from Victim to Crime Fighter
- Formula 2 Battle Taking Shape
Monaco’s Formula 1 Grand Prix attracted some stars, featured some rain, and included some behind-the-scenes money moans. Autoweek takes a look at some of the other stories from the event.
Ricciardo Lashes Out
The spotlight has fallen on Daniel Ricciardo in the past couple of weeks after a run of disappointing performances for the McLaren driver.
An abysmal display in Spain preceded another lackluster showing in Monaco. Ricciardo crashed heavily during practice, was eliminated in Q2 and ultimately classified a relatively anonymous 13th in the race. It leaves him with only 11 points on the season against the 48 amassed by teammate Lando Norris, who was sixth in Monaco, despite still recovering from a bout of tonsillitis.
Ricciardo, who is 11th in the F1 Drivers’ Standings, has not finished outside the top 10 in the season points chase since 2013.
Ricciardo confirmed in Monaco that he has a deal in stone to drive for McLaren for 2023, but McLaren CEO Zak Brown, speaking in Indianapolis, intimated that there may be mechanisms in place. It was also noted that Ricciardo had scrawled ‘FEA’ on his helmet in Monaco, believed to stand for ‘F*** Em All’, in a bid to aid his mindset.
Daniel Ricciardo has finished outside the top 10 in six of seven races this season.
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“I put it on my helmet on 2018 as well,” said Ricciardo, referring to the year in which he dominated in Monaco. “It’s just something that you have… I like to use acronyms to pump me up, it’s not directed at anyone. It’s just something that I’ve said for a few years. It just kind of gets me in my happy place.
“I think as well, as a driver you put the helmet on and it’s very significant of, flipping the switch. It’s one of the last things I see when I put the helmet on so it always reminds me to channel in and get into the zone. Personally, I don’t wanna be 14th (he actually finished 13th), especially on a circuit I still have a big admiration for and a love affair. But equally it’s not just me, it’s the team, the team wants to see me get better results.”
Ricciardo needs to up his game soon in order to prevent the McLaren partnership from fizzling into anonymity.
First, the threat of rain postponed the start of the race. Then, the rain that did come set everything back about an hour.
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Why the Monaco Grand Prix Was Delayed
There were a few eyebrow-raising calls from race control during the Monaco Grand Prix. The first was the decision to delay the start by nine minutes in anticipation of a rain shower, hold formation laps, and then bring proceedings to a halt when the deluge arrived about 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.
Several drivers were upset by the decision not to start on time, given the track at that point was raceable, and suggested that the FIA should trust them to show the world their ability.
Following the deluge, there was then a prolonged delay of around half an hour before proceedings resumed under a rolling start. It later transpired that the rain storm affected various pieces of equipment related to the start procedure, such as the gantry itself and the light panels. It also partly influenced the manner in which the race was restarted following Mick Schumacher’s accident.
The FIA has the choice to trigger a standing restart or rolling restart following red flag periods and chose the latter. It outlined that this was partly due to uncertainty over the starting equipment following the rain, but also that the drying nature of the track would have led to severely inconsistent grip levels for one side of the grid.
One Way to Save French Grand Prix
Formula 1’s 2023 calendar remains a talking point, with the championship increasingly keen to group regional races, amid the return of Qatar, debut of Las Vegas and prospective comeback of China, COVID-permitting. Talks are ongoing with officials in South Africa as Formula 1 strives to have a presence on each habitable continent for 2024. Expansion elsewhere means contraction somewhere.
The race most at risk of dropping into oblivion is France’s Grand Prix. The nation that gave its language to motor racing returned to Formula 1’s calendar in 2018 at Paul Ricard following a 10-year absence but its current deal expires after this July’s event. France’s promoter is striving to secure a fresh deal but attention has now switched to trying to hold a Grand Prx every two years, and rotate with another event.
One prospective candidate is Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps, which is also out of contract after 2022, while Monaco is another Grand Prix that is still discussing its 2023 deal.
Sebastian Vettel is still dealing with the loss of personal belongings from a recent theft.
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Vettel Goes from Victim to Crime Fighter
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel had a dramatic Monday after the Spanish Grand Prix after a backpack was snatched from his car outside of his hotel in Barcelona.
Vettel briefly turned detective as he was able to track the headphones that had been left in the bag. He successfully located the headphones, but they had been left in a flowerpot. The backpack itself was nowhere to be seen.
“I wasn’t sure at the time whether my passport was in there or not,” said Vettel. “As it happened, it was in another bag. So I was lucky. But I had like ID and insurance card, driver’s licence, that just boring stuff that takes time to get back and you have to apply and fill out the forms. I wasn’t looking forward to that.
“Unfortunately, there was no money in there. I had some bandages in there for the knee. So I guess whoever picked the backpack wasn’t a great deal, because the only thing that was valuable maybe was the headphones, which he had to sort of lose, not to be found. But I really liked the backpack.”
Felipe Drugovich has built a healthy lead in Formula 2.
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Formula 2 Battle Taking Shape
Formula 1’s future stars are going to come from Formula 2 so it’s an opportune time to check in on the feeder championship.
After five of 14 rounds a two-way fight is taking shape between third-year driver Felipe Drugovich and sophomore Théo Pourchaire. Drugovich claimed his fourth win of the year in Monaco, with three of those coming in the more important Feature Race, ahead of Pourchaire.
Brazilian Drugovich, 22, is not attached to any Formula 1 team but 18-year-old Pourchaire is under the wings of Sauber Motorsport, which operates Alfa Romeo’s F1 team. Drugovich, on 113 points, now leads Pourchaire on 81, with third-placed Jehan Daruvala on 53 leading a train of closely-matched drivers. 39 points are available per weekend, meaning there’s a long way to go, but Drugovich and Pourchaire are best-placed to emulate the achievements of Oscar Piastri.
The big question is whether there’ll even be any opening on Formula 1’s grid to accommodate them.
Keyword: F1 McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo Has a Message for His Critics