In the round-up: McLaren’s Lando Norris admits he had a “tough” sprint race after recovering from suspected food poisoning prior to the race weekend.
In brief
Norris found sprint race “tough” after illness
Norris qualified fourth on the grid for the sprint race and fell to seventh by the chequered flag, despite passing Kevin Magnussen with five laps remaining. He will start sixth on the grid after gaining one place with Carlos Sainz Jnr’s five-place grid penalty.“[It was a] tough day today, but our main objective was to pass Magnussen, and we did that, so I’m happy,” Norris said.
“We didn’t really have a chance to compete against the top three teams and I really wasn’t expecting more than P7. I found it tough today. I’ve been unwell, it was hot and this track is hard work – but we had a good race. We’re in a decent position, and if we can get both cars into the points tomorrow, it could be a really good day for us. We’ll work hard tonight, and see what we can do.”
Williams no longer ‘stuck in the past’ financially – Demaison
Williams technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison says that the team are no longer “stuck in the past” financially after the investment into the team by owners Dorilton.
The team, founded by the late Sir Frank Williams, was bought by the American capital firm in 2020. The team has received significant investment in their facilities to bring it in line with rival teams, Demaison said.
“We’ve been investing a lot of money and effort in the modernisation of the company,” said Demaison. “For many reasons, mostly financial, Williams have been stuck a bit in the past. So that was the priority – invest in the wind tunnel, invest in the factory and invest in people.
“We are slowly getting to where we are, but to build a team you need two to three years. And to get the maximum out of this team, it’s another two to three years. So, it’s a long journey.”
Buemi, Hirakawa and Hartley beat Toyota team mates to WEC crown
The number seven Toyota hypercar team of Sebastian Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley secured the World Endurance Championship title in the hypercar class despite being beaten to victory in the final race of the season in Bahrain.
Toyota team mates Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez won the eight hour endurance race at the Sakhir circuit, 45 seconds ahead of the number seven crew, but it was not enough to deny Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa the world title. It was the fourth consecutive world championship for Toyota, with the trio also having won the Le Mans 24 Hours earlier in the season.
Jota claimed the LMP2 championship title with Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens. Next year’s WEC will see Ferrari enter in the hypercar category with its new 499P model, while Penske, Jota and Cadillac will also join the series under the LMDH Daytona hypercar regulations.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Shorter and lighter cars from 2026? (Auto Action)
"The FIA and the teams all agree that the current generation of cars is too long, too wide and too heavy, to the detriment of racing, so there’s a general consensus that, from 2026, the sport needs to go back to smaller, nimbler cars that will allow better wheel-to-wheel racing and facilitate overtaking."
Red Bull Founder Was Paid €866 Million Dividend Before Death (Bloomberg)
"Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who died last month, had recently been paid a record €866 million ($865 million) dividend by the energy drink maker out of the company’s 2021 results.The payout to Austria’s then-richest person was 28% more than the previous year, according to Austria’s corporate register. Mateschitz’s son, Mark, has inherited his 49% stake in the company."
Formula One grandstand to be built in front of Bellagio fountains (Las Vegas Review Journal)
"MGM Resorts is rolling out all the stops for the 2023 Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, including a seating area lined up in front of the popular Fountains of Bellagio. Weekend packages start at $2,827 for what may be one of the most picturesque seating areas of the race — a massive grandstand to be constructed in front of the Bellagio on the Strip. Only guests staying at MGM properties will have access to the Bellagio spectator area."
Why Hasn’t The World Rally Championship Gone All-Electric? (Forbes)
"Motorsport has always seen itself as a testbed for innovation in transport technology, but in this time of transition, some manufacturers don’t seem to be sure which technology they should be developing. This has resulted in some curious decisions, with Audi leaving Formula E and entering Formula 1, while simultaneously aiming to be the most electric brand by 2025 with 20 models (it currently has eight). Mercedes has also quit Formula E, despite winning the most recent season and having a strong and growing range of EVs, most recently joined by the EQS SUV."
Drivers and teams pay tribute to the FIA Volunteers (FIA)
"Watch drivers and teams from different championships say thank you to our great volunteers. Without them, motor sport would not be possible!"
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.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) November 12, 2022
P1 BABY!!!!
So proud of the progress we've made this season. Lining up alongside LH on the front row tomorrow – let's get it! 👊 pic.twitter.com/Mp1KfViQ8p
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) November 12, 2022
🇧🇷Estou muito feliz em anunciar que agora faço parte da família RedBull! Muito obrigado Dr. Marko e Christian Horner pela oportunidade.
–
🇺🇸I’m very happy to announce that I will be joining the RedBull Family! Thank you Dr. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner for the opportunity! pic.twitter.com/CqglwfVnWk— Enzo Fittipaldi (@enzofitti) November 12, 2022
Até amanhã, Brasil!#F1 #BrazilGP | @FelipeDrugovich pic.twitter.com/4E8E3AU174
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) November 12, 2022
It took six attempts, but #F1 finally produced a sprint race worth watching. My preference would still be to have the same format each race weekend, whether that means having a sprint race or not, but I still think they take too much away from what makes a grand prix special.
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) November 12, 2022
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
The sprint race may have been more eventful than many that had come before it, but @Roger-Ayles fears the grand prix will be less exciting as a result…
Anyone that was out of position basically recovered so what would have been a fun opening stint to a grand prix has taken place today meaning the grand prix tomorrow will likely feature a lot less action making it less interesting and exciting than it otherwise would have been if the sprint hadn’t normalised the starting grid.
We saw it at several of these sprints now. Cars out of position after provisional qualifying recover those places in the sprint so it always end up being racing action taken away from the grand prix.
Roger Ayles
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Thenikii, Sid90 and Piotr Zukowski!
LyndaMarks
13th November 2022, 0:30
Cotd is spot on.
These sprints do nothing but devalue the gp in situations like this. Cars out of place drop back or move forward in the sprint so when we get to the go the next day there is less shuffling of the order to happen.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
13th November 2022, 8:21
COTD is off the mark. Mercedes are out of position on the front row. Verstappen is out of position in 4th. Alpines are out of position in P17 and P18. It is set up to be great race today.
And it is not as if we’ve only seen boring main GP’s on sprint weekends either. Monza 2021 was great and so was Silverstone last year. Sometimes it hits and sometimes it misses. Basically like each and every F1 weekend. For that reason I disagree with Keith’s tweet too. Not all tracks are suited to feature sprint races and thus I don’t like to see them every weekend.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
13th November 2022, 12:40
@spafrancorchamps Given what we saw in the sprint and comments from drivers and teams after – I don’t think the Mercs are out of position. I think we now know because of the sprint that they are favourites to win, so it will be somewhat less exciting if/when that happens now since we have that knowledge we wouldn’t normally have before a race.
Alberto
13th November 2022, 10:12
If there wasn’t a sprint race, the qualifying would haven been on Saturday on dry and the order of cars in the race for today would have been more or less the same position as they are lining up the grid after the sprint race. I am not a big fan of the sprint races but you have to admit that there was an extra excitement this weekend compared to the other ones.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th November 2022, 2:04
Sprint was pointless again, I’d rather have qualifying on a Saturday, qualifying was an exciting one. The sprint did not totally ruin the qualifying but tomorrow is the race, had the sprint kept going we might have had a really interesting race but now there is another start and another 300 km to erase all the drama of qualifying and the sprint.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
13th November 2022, 5:36
It was the wet qually that made the sprint worth watching. Wet qually always makes for an exciting race. Might as well draw random grid positions. Guaranteed would have exciting racing every single race.
It’s just a farce.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th November 2022, 7:00
Auto Auction: Old news.
The Forbes post about WRC is interesting.
I wonder why Alpine seemingly faces more toxicity than other teams.
Enzo Fittipaldi is an interesting addition.
Last season’s Silverstone & Interlagos Sprints were also decently good.
I’m not pessimistic like the COTD.
Cristian Ingles (@doctorlovesexy)
13th November 2022, 7:58
The worst part of the Sprint race (wich was a really good one) is that now we know that yellow tyres are not very good and everybody’s going to start on soft tyres… well, maybe Ferrari makes Leclerc start on mediums.
We’ve lost a surprising slow race pace for Red Bull and tyre strategy war.
JA
13th November 2022, 11:01
But do we know that? Verstappen called that he had picked up debris, we don’t know the extend of it and it was a washed track, so a soft will always perform better. Now with more rubber into the track things will be different. The soft was faster and looked fairly reliable, I would personally expect at least one Ferrari and an Alpine on mediums, perhaps even a Haas, Aston and/or an Alpha Tauri. We have also seen track where the yellow dropped in performance only to stabilize a few laps later which could be the tale of some of Verstappens trouble yesterday.
It’s any given sunday.
Jockey Ewing
13th November 2022, 12:10
The race will start 90 minutes earlier than the sprint. The sprint usually held before sunset. This might be a significant difference in temperatures, so the mediums might even be ok. Otoh starting on mediums as a lone driver, was interesting, but at least they have tested them for today.