F.1godfather

In brief

Latifi getting “stronger and stronger” – Russell

Russell praised team mate

Nicholas Latifi

, who ran ahead of him early in the Italian Grand Prix, saying he deserved his recently-announced contract extension.

“Nicky was doing an extraordinary job, he deserved to be in the points,” said Russell. “He’s really getting stronger and stronger, week-in, week-out, finding a lot of confidence and he’s really doing a good job.

“He retained his seat on absolute merit this year. So I’ve got a lot of respect for how he’s working and how he’s going about his business, trying to improve. And as I said, he is truly doing a very good job.”

Stroll given warning by stewards for ignoring yellow flags

Lance Stroll has been issued a formal warning for an incident during the Italian Grand Prix where he did not slow sufficiently under yellow flags.

While ignoring yellow flags tends to result in an automatic penalty, the stewards showed leniency towards Stroll, acknowledging the flags were not easy to see.

“Although the marshalling system was not showing yellows, the marshals were showing yellow flags from the entry to turn eight to the exit of turn 10,” they explained.

“There was one flag point that was not easily visible to the drivers that was showing a double yellow, however this was parallel to an easily visible flag point that was showing a single yellow.

“The stewards were able to determine that the driver slowed as required in the regulation, however could have done so earlier. The stewards therefore issue a warning.”

Schumacher “wouldn’t be happy” with 2021 F2 calendar

Reigning Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher isn’t a fan of the new calendar format the series has adopted this year.

Having previously run double-header events, the series has switched to double-header rounds. It is also holding fewer events, with longer gaps between them, making for an uneven schedule.

“I haven’t really paid much thought to it,” Schumacher said when asked about the arrangement. “To be honest, I’m in Formula 1 and I’m happy to be not much looking back. But, let’s say, if Formula 1 had that kind of calendar, I think I wouldn’t be happy with it.”

However he added the arrangement is probably “more logistically and financially better for Formula 2 that way.”

Piastri: F2 title still open despite top two lead

Formula 2 points leader Oscar Piastri isn’t only concerned by the threat from Guanyu Zhou in the championship fight. The F2 feature race winner leads Zhou by 15 points but Piastri says “it’s definitely not a two-horse race.”

The next-closest rival to the pair is Robert Shwartzman, 36 points back from Zhou. “I think if you’re still within 50 points of the lead then you can have a really good weekend or the guys at the front can have a really bad weekend and all of sudden you’re well and truly back in the mix,” said Piastri.

“We’ve got three rounds to go, which is still over a quarter of the season, so it’s definitely not a two-horse race.”

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Verschoor and Beckmann handed post-race penalties at Monza (Formula 2)

“Verschoor has been disqualified from today’s Feature Race results after it was found that the combined weight of his MP Motorsport car, including the driver wearing his complete racing apparel, was below the minimum weight specified in Article 5.a of the Technical Regulations.”

Raducanu set for global media stardom, say UK marketing experts (The Guardian)

“Tim Crow, a sports marketing consultant who advised Coca-Cola on football sponsorship for two decades, said: ‘I haven’t had this many calls from clients, major brands, who are interested in her since Lewis Hamilton broke through in Formula One. If she wins she will become one of the hottest properties in British sport, if not the hottest.’”

Kirkwood beats Malukas at Portland after double pass for lead (Formula Scout)

“Malukas (HMD Motorsports) and Lundqvist (Global Racing Group with HMD) started on the front row and battled in the opening stages. Lundqvist was the only frontrunner starting the race on new tyres. As the duo came onto lap two, they were squabbling between themselves at the tight first turn, allowing Kirkwood to cut outside of both through the second corner for the lead.”

GB3 round 20: Oulton Park (GB3 via YouTube)

GB3 round 21: Oulton Park (GB3 via YouTube)

Euroformula Open round 12: Red Bull Ring (Euroformula Open via YouTube)

Formula Regional Europe round 16: Red Bull Ring (Formula Regional Europe via YouTube)

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On this day in motorsport

• 40 years ago today Alain Prost won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza ahead of Williams pair Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann. Having failed to qualify for the previous nine rounds, Toleman finally started their first race.