In the round-up: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says his team’s recovery in the championship shows why the threat of Mercedes should not be underestimated.
In brief
“Things can turn around very quickly” – Horner
Having lagged off the front-running pace in the opening races, Mercedes were quick enough to trouble Mercedes in Spain thanks to their latest upgrade.Horner said he isn’t ruling them out of getting into contention for the championship, pointing out how Red Bull recovered quickly after a series of retirements in the opening rounds.
“It shows how quickly things can swing,” he said. “I think after Australia we came home 40 points behind, and we lead by six going into Monaco a couple of races later. So it just shows in Formula 1 how quickly things can swing and change.
“That’s why I wouldn’t write off Mercedes with the amount of points still available. And we know Ferrari’s got a very quick car, so things can turn around very quickly.”
We chose wrong strategy – Schumacher
Mick Schumacher says Haas slipped up by sticking to a two-stop strategy in the Spanish Grand Prix. He failed to score after starting ninth.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said after the race. “We had a good start, we were in a good position. But the tyres just didn’t last as we expected them to.
“We probably then took the wrong decision in staying on ‘Plan A’ and not diverting to something else, which was then in that case a three-stop strategy. So quite gutting but we we will analyse it as a team and we Will come back stronger as a team.”
Schumacher ran as high as sixth at one stage before slipping to 14th at the finish.
“It was very fun to be up there with everybody and seeing that we had such a good start,” he said. “And obviously it was frustrating that we didn’t have the pace to stay there.”
Vettel victim of robbery
A bag belonging to Sebastian Vettel was stolen in Barcelona yesterday morning following the Spanish Grand Prix, his Aston Martin team have confirmed.
“He tried to find it by using his iPhone to track his earphones which were in his bag,” an Aston Martin spokesperson explained, “but when he located his earphones he found them abandoned and was therefore unable to locate his stolen bag.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Hearing some pretty bad stories from fans at #SpanishGP – people fainting from heat & stalls selling out of water as well as HUGE traffic issues. Also saw one story of a man running a hose for drinking water to a long queue..!
Did you attend? What was your experience? #F1
— Claire Cottingham (@Cla_Cottingham) May 23, 2022
Every second person watching TV in Austria yesterday viewed the @F1 race on @ORF ! A stunning 51% market share 💪 – a new record. Most viewed Barcelona F1 Race ever with us on national free-to-air Television #ORF #Austria #F1Nation #ThankYouViewers #Danke
— alex wurz (@alex_wurz) May 23, 2022
Yesterday was another day that reminded me just how much I love this sport. Going from your emotions hitting the floor to ending on a high is such a thrill. All of our hard work as a team is starting to pay off. Together we are making progress! Can’t wait for this weekend. pic.twitter.com/fsNLeocoap
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) May 23, 2022
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Lawson playing to his strengths with Barcelona feature race fightback (Formula 2)
'It’s pretty clear that qualifying this weekend was a disaster for us. We know the reasons why and we know what we need to do to fix these issues. For Monaco, if I do my job right, we should be in a good position.'
Assessing Will Power’s place in IndyCar and Indy 500 history: ‘He is doing a hell of a job’ (NBC)
'I’d just like to get one myself. It’s crazy, out of all the poles I’ve had, I’ve never had one here. I’ve had all these front rows here, too. That’s pretty funny.'
Piastri could replace ill Norris (Auto Action)
'McLaren does not have a specific reserve driver but earlier this year added the Alpine reserve driver Piastri to its list of potential stand-ins.'
Palou sets practice pace as Ganassi power parade continues (IndyCar)
'Reigning IndyCar series champion Palou led with a top lap of 229.441 mph in the number 10 Ganassi. He was the pacesetter of four Ganassi team cars in the top five.'
'Perez had pitted his Red Bull on lap 37 for brand new mediums, and Verstappen did the same six laps later, which of course is approaching 10% of the race distance although I'm not entirely sure that constitutes a 'different race strategy' as Perez was informed when he was told to let him through for the victory.'
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
Scott Dixon’s record-breaking Indianapolis 500 pole position lap impressed Mark:
The look of disbelief on Palou’s face said it all. He laid down an incredible lap that looked like it couldn’t be beat. Then Dixon went out and crushed it!
Dixon is just so calm and collected his methodology reminds me of Schumacher in his precision and consistency. An incredible drive, those cars were fast but on the edge in the turns the whole time.
Honourable mention to Grosjean, he hung that car out there even though it was a handful. Can’t wait for the race it should be exciting.
Mark in Florida
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Driftin and Mallesh Magdum!
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
24th May 2022, 1:43
“Having lagged off the front-running pace in the opening races, Mercedes were quick enough to trouble Mercedes in Spain thanks to their latest upgrade.”
What does garbage even mean? Might want to actually read your stuff before you push the little green button.
Understeer (@abdelilah)
24th May 2022, 4:39
@darryn “The Person Who Never Makes a Mistake Will Never Make Anything”
While it’s a positive thing to report mistakes, we all make them, it’s always nice when one don’t crush people’s confidence by being too harsh.
Pedro Andrade
24th May 2022, 5:03
@darryn what a pathetic, rancorous, comment. Everyone makes mistakes, what’s the point of being bitter about such a small thing?
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
24th May 2022, 6:33
Pointing out the Particulars of Omissions Orthographic
is the Pedantic Pursuit of the Obtrusively Scholastic
David BR (@david-br)
24th May 2022, 10:46
@darryn
What does this garbage even mean, you mean?
Boudi
24th May 2022, 14:53
Garbage means people like you on Wikipedia.
Urvaksh (@thedoctor03)
24th May 2022, 16:04
This person, if you’ve been on this site long enough, is a (insert word for person who goes on comments sections and sites to just ridicule and stir up a mess). Best ignored. I know I am not taking my own advice to ignore such people but given he’s ruffled a few feathers here I just needed to let you know it’s typical of him to do this. Trust me, ignore him, he’ll go away. @abdelilah @uneedafinn2win @david-br
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th May 2022, 1:36
If I understood right, the word you’re using is also for a creature around 3 meters tall in the harry potter universe, which definitely appears in the first movie.
Ajaxn
24th May 2022, 19:12
Yeah, i was about to make the same point.
I think the author meant to say – Mercedes were quick enough to trouble Red bull –
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
24th May 2022, 6:28
“He tried to find it by using his iPhone to track his earphones which were in his bag,” an Aston Martin spokesperson explained, “but when he located his earphones he found them abandoned and was therefore unable to locate his stolen bag.”
Inspector Seb at it again!
In all seriousness I hope he didn’t have anything of sentimental value or passport in there, you like to think it isn’t the case but sometimes it can feel like there are naff people everywhere. The F1 Paddock may be seen as a full of ‘sharks’ but peoples bags should be pretty safe. The most rubbish part is most of the stuff is probably of no use to anyone other than Seb.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th May 2022, 9:19
The article mentions “documents” @bernasaurus, so I presume it’s exactly stuff like his passport/ID card and drivers licences that would have been in the bag.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
24th May 2022, 9:48
Be awkward if a person at RBR were discovered with a copy of Seb’s license and sidepod doodles. ;-)
BasCB (@bascb)
24th May 2022, 14:01
:-)
Jere (@jerejj)
24th May 2022, 7:36
While things can generally change quickly in F1, I doubt Merc could join the WDC & WCC battles anymore.
They’d need quite a few wins with RBR & Ferrari, but especially VER-LEC suffering points losses simultaneously, so easier said than done.
Easy to judge, but perhaps he should’ve been more attentive to his surroundings or simply avoided scooter riding in the city center in the first place.
Norris, Leclerc, & now him, I wonder who’s the next regular driver to get robbed as these individuals seem to be an easy target for thievery.
I’m still surprised how the Montmelo circuit was totally unprepared for a sellout or generally well-attended event & thus didn’t take any precautionary measures.
From memory & knowledge, nothing similar has happened in Montmelo before like with Circuit Paul Ricard in its comeback season or Silverstone & Spa in the distant past, etc.
Or perhaps simple whichever De Vries or Vandoorne attends with Merc & Piastri only if both were unavailable for any reason.
However, for now, I’m positive Norris can compete.
MacLeod (@macleod)
24th May 2022, 8:03
@jerejj – While the distance is large but there is only 6 races done and still 16 togo if Mercedes wins 6 after this one they are with Max and Charles on top. Clearly they still have a good chance.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th May 2022, 9:22
It would be dependent on Mercedes now being able to quickly improve another 3 tenths to half a second to be able to get on the pace of the top 2 teams though @macleod. Not sure I see that happening earlier than in another 3-6 races by which time it will already be a VERY steep uphill climb (or Ferrari and Red Bull really suffering from reliability and having to take penalties, as @jerejj mentions)
Ajaxn
24th May 2022, 19:17
I think the next task for the Mercedes is cooling. Their engine is obviously capable of a lot more, but its limited by cooling. When they solve that issue, they will be unstopable. The same for the other Mercedes powered cars, their engines wont have their restrictions lifted until the parent team opens up the pace on its own engines.
They will have gathered very useful data this weekend, which bodes well for the cooler circuits later in the year.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
24th May 2022, 11:39
@jerejj
Jules Bianchi (RIP) was also mugged in the heart of Paris near Champs-Elysees in front of a luxury hotel. He was knockdown to the ground and held while the attackers stole his watch.
In 2010, Bernie Ecclestone was brutally attacked and stripped of £200,000 worth of jewellery outside his Knightsbridge penthouse. Though Bernie being Bernie took advantage from the incident and made a deal with luxury swiss watch maker to show his battered face in a watch advert.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th May 2022, 11:50
@tifoso1989 Oh, I had forgotten these cases.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
24th May 2022, 14:27
@tifoso1989 I remember him being robbed (and mother-in-law hostage incident), but I didn’t realise he sold his image to a Hublot saying “if i’d wore my Tag Hauer they wouldn’t have bothered”.
Is perhaps the most Bernie thing ever.
Looking at the picture, they really did a number on him. Incredible that once again he managed to spin it into a positive for himself.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
24th May 2022, 15:41
@bernasaurus
I still don’t understand how he sold his private jet making a net profit of around 10 millions in normal conditions where a used airplane is trading below its list price. I will not be surprised to know that he cut a deal and out-negotiated the criminals who kidnapped his mother-in-law :)
Ucat33 (@ucat33)
24th May 2022, 15:44
These cases happened outside of the paddock. How was his bag not locked up in a locker of some sort? If it wasn’t, why wasn’t it in a secure area inside the AM garage. This is crazy. Feel bad for him. The one guy that is really trying to make the world a better place for everyone. Karma will hit that thief like a ton of bricks – or at least I hope so.
grat
24th May 2022, 16:34
Reliability will be a factor this season.