– Lewis Hamilton has said he will continue to speak his mind on important societal issues regardless of the FIA’s clampdown on political protests ahead of the 2023 Formula One season.
– In December, the FIA, the sport’s governing body, updated the International Sporting Code with a clause requiring prior written permission for drivers to make or display “political, religious and personal statements or comments.”
– F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has said the sport will not allow its drivers to be gagged, but the FIA has the power to hand down financial and sporting penalties if rules are not followed.
– Hamilton has been increasingly active in highlighting different issues during race weekends, such as when he wore a shirt saying “Arrest the Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor” before and after the Tuscan Grand Prix in 2020, and he said no rule would make him change his approach.
– “It doesn’t surprise me,” Hamilton said of the FIA decision, in a media session after the launch of Mercedes’ 2023 car. “But nothing will stop me from speaking on the things that I’m passionate about, and on issues that there are.
– “The sport does have a responsibility still to speak out, to create awareness on important topics, particularly as we travel to all these different places. So nothing changes for me.”
– It remains unclear what the penalty for protesting without written permission will be.
– McLaren’s Lando Norris predicted that the opposition from F1’s drivers and Domenicali would lead to a U-turn on the ruling.
– When asked whether he would risk a sporting penalty to make a political protest or highlight a particular issue without permission, Hamilton said: “I think It would be silly to say that I would want to get penalty points for speaking out on things.
– “But as I said, I am still going to be speaking my mind. We still have this platform, and there are still a lot of things we need to tackle.
– “The support from Stefano has been amazing, and I think all of the drivers have been very much aligned on freedom of speech.”
– “At that particular school, I was one of three kids of colour and just bigger, stronger, bullying kids were throwing me around a lot of the time.”
– Speaking to the On Purpose podcast, the seven-time Formula 1 champion detailed a number of racially abusive terms that he was referred to at school.
– Hamilton added: “Not knowing where you fit in, that for me was difficult.
– “When you go into history classes and there are no people of colour in the history they were teaching us. I was thinking, ‘Where are the people who look like me?’
– “In my [secondary] school there were six or seven black kids out of 1,200 kids and three of us were put outside the headmaster’s office all the time. The headmaster just had it out for us – and particularly me.
– “I really felt the system was up against me and I was swimming against the tide. There were a lot of things I suppressed.
– “I didn’t feel I could go home and tell my parents that these kids kept calling me [racist terms], or I got bullied or beaten up at school today. I didn’t want my dad to think I was not strong.”
– In recent years, Hamilton has embarked on a campaign to increase diversity in motorsport.
– He set up a commission to study why ethnic minorities are under-represented in the sport, established his Mission 44 campaign to look at ways of supporting young people from under-served backgrounds, and is working with Mercedes on increasing diversity within their team, and in F1.
– Hamilton embarks on his 17th season in F1 in March and is entering the final year of his latest Mercedes contract.
– Team principal Toto Wolff said earlier this month that he was confident Hamilton would agree a new contract to continue racing beyond the end of this year.
– “We have a full year to go,” Wolff said. “We are so aligned – in the last 10 years our relationship has grown.
– “It’s just a matter of him physically being back in Europe, sticking our heads together, wrestling a bit, and then leaving the room with white smoke after a few hours.”
– Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc beat the Dutchman’s team-mate Sergio Perez to secure second in the championship.
– Leclerc, who was Verstappen’s title rival earlier this year before Ferrari’s season imploded in a flood of errors and reliability failures, held off Perez on divergent strategies to take second place.
– Sebastian Vettel’s final race ended in disappointment, the four-time champion bemoaning when he felt was a poor strategy from Aston Martin.
– Vettel took the final point for 10th place after Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes retired from fourth place with three laps to go.
– Hamilton’s result means he has finished a season without a win for the first time in his career – ending a record only he held.
– Verstappen’s win was his 15th of 2022, extending the new record he has set this year for wins in a single season.
Max Verstappen completes a hat-trick of wins at Abu Dhabi, and notches a remarkable 15th first place of the season 👏#AbuDhabiGP#F1https://t.co/R54yPG7gNk
– “It was a good race,” said Verstappen. “It was all about tyre management. I think we looked after the mediums quite well and then on the hard tyres managing until the end.
– “A 15th win of the season is unbelievable. It’s been really enjoyable to work with the whole team and to be able to achieve something like this. I know it is going to be hard to replicate but it is also very good motivation to try and do well again next year.”
🗣️ "Every season in #F1 is grueling but it truly has been a herculean effort from everyone this season."
The thoughts of Max, Checo and Christian after our 17th win 👇
– George Russell took a maiden grand prix victory – and a first for Mercedes in 2022 – as Max Verstappen was penalised for a collision with Lewis Hamilton in Sao Paulo.
– Russell was in control of the race throughout after Verstappen and Hamilton came together as they disputed second place in the early stages at a safety car restart.
– Hamilton dropped to ninth place after the collision with his 2021 title rival but came back to secure a Mercedes one-two and seal the team’s recovery after a difficult season that the eight-time champions started with an uncompetitive car.
– Russell’s accomplished drive included him surviving a late safety car that bunched up the field and put Hamilton right behind him heading into the final 10 laps.
– Behind them, the final 10 laps were a frantic fight as a number of drivers who had had difficult races revived their afternoons.
George Russell
– Among them were Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – who had been barged off the track by McLaren’s Lando Norris at Turn Five shortly after the Verstappen-Hamilton incident and dropped to the back – and Verstappen himself.
– Leclerc was sixth at the restart but moved up to finish fourth behind his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, as both passed the fading Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
– Alpine’s Fernando Alonso also overtook the Mexican to take a strong fifth place after starting 18th.
– The late caution period also helped Verstappen move up from the bottom of the top 10 to sixth place, just failing to pass Alonso on a race to the line.
– Verstappen had been allowed to pass Perez a few laps earlier to chase Alonso, but was told heading into the final lap that he should let his team-mate back ahead if he did not pass Alonso by the final corner. But he did not comply.
– Asked what happened, Verstappen said: “I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that again to me, OK? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.”
– Perez said over his radio: “It shows who he really is.”
– Seven-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was made an honorary citizen of Brazil on Monday by the country’s lower house of Congress and dedicated it to his boyhood idol, the late Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna.
– “I feel like now I’m one of you,” the Mercedes driver said in a crowded session of Congress packed with admirers in Brasilia days ahead of this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix on Nov. 11 in Sao Paulo.
– Hamilton delighted Brazilians by unfurling the Brazilian flag from his Mercedes during the slowing down lap after winning the last year at Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit and later carrying the flag onto the podium.
– The lower house passed in June a bill to make the 37-year-old an honorary citizen that was proposed by congressman Andre Figueiredo after the British driver won the Brazilian Grand Prix for the third time in 2021.
– Hamilton clinched his first world championship at Interlagos in 2008, beating Ferrari’s then local favourite Felipe Massa with an overtake on the last corner of the last lap of the final round of the season.
– A smiling Hamilton, wearing a royal blue suit, received Brazil’s legislative medal of merit, a diploma and made a speech thanking his fans and dedicating the honour to Senna.
– “I have so many amazing memories of Brazil,” Hamilton said.
– “And particularly 2021. Knowing you guys would cheer me on the way was one of the most special moments of my entire life. I can’t wait for us to continue to strive ahead,” he added.
"EU QUERO DEDICAR ESSE MOMENTO A AYRTON SENNA. QUANDO EU, COM 5 ANOS VIA ELE CORRER, SOUBE QUE QUERIA SER UM CAMPEÃO MUNDIAL IGUAL A ELE"
– Verstappen headed Sergio Perez in a Red Bull one-two after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who crossed the line second, was penalised for cutting the track and gaining an advantage on the last lap.
– There was confusion after the race as to whether Verstappen had done enough to tie up the championship, because it was not immediately clear whether full points would be awarded for a race that ran just over half distance.
– But governing body the FIA said that reduced points only applied if a suspended race could not be resumed.
– Awarding full points or three-quarter points – as all the teams expected would be the case – was the difference between Verstappen leaving Japan as a double world champion, or having to go to the next race in the USA needing to gain one point on Leclerc and Perez to seal it.
– Even Verstappen asked: “Are you sure?” when he was told he was champion, reflecting the historical precedent that reduced points are awarded in such circumstances.
Max Verstappen
– But it seems that this protocol was inadvertently left out of the rules when they were rewritten over last winter following the controversial Belgian Grand Prix, when a result was declared despite no racing taking place.
– Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said this was “a mistake” and he was “certain” the rules would be revised over the winter.
– There can, however, be no question marks about the validity of Verstappen’s championship, after he secured his 12th victory of the season in the same manner as he has taken control of the championship, by being a class apart from everyone else in his Red Bull car.
– “It’s crazy, very mixed emotions,” said Verstappen, who was told of Leclerc’s penalty and his title victory during the podium interviews conducted by former F1 driver Johnny Herbert.
– “Winning the championship, what a year we’ve had. It’s incredible!
– “I’m so thankful to everyone who’s been contributing to the success, the whole team has been working flat out. Beside that, the work we did with Honda every year, constantly improving, gets very emotional especially here. I’m very proud we could do it here.
– “The first is more emotional but the second is more beautiful. We’re leading the constructors so we want to focus on that, to secure that.”
– The race was marred by a controversy over officials deploying a recovery vehicle on to the track while cars were still running after a crash on the first lap.
– Drivers and team bosses united to call the decision from race control “unacceptable”, eight years after Jules Bianchi lost his life after crashing into a tractor on track.
– The race was stopped shortly afterwards, leading to a two-hour delay while officials waited for the persistent rain to ease sufficiently for racing to resume.
– When it finally did, Verstappen and Leclerc initially pulled away from the rest of the pack, but as the laps ticked by Ferrari’s tyre problems reared their head.
– Leclerc dropped back from Verstappen and Perez began to reel in the Ferrari. Leclerc held him off for several laps and looked to have done enough, only to lock up at the final chicane on the last lap and cut the corner.
– Leclerc held Perez off to the line, but was deemed to have gained an advantage by going off track and was demoted back behind.
– “From lap five, it was all downhill,” said Leclerc. “I really struggled with the tyres but after three four laps we just destroyed them.
– “Huge congrats to Max on his second championship. Max’s title this year was just a matter of time. We expected him to win the title. Now we just use the last few races to become a better team.”
– Behind the top three, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon held off Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes for the entire race, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel doing the same to Fernando Alonso’s Alpine.
– Alonso made a stop for fresh tyres with just 15 minutes of race time remaining and dropped to ninth, reclaiming sufficient ground to finish the race right on Vettel’s tail, but unable to pass.
– Mercedes’ George Russell climbed up to eighth from 13th, after being delayed by being stacked behind Hamilton in the pits when the field changed from wet to intermediate tyres, and the final points when to Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
– Verstappen’s 11th win this year puts him 115 points clear of Leclerc and means he could potentially clinch the championship at the next race in Singapore.
– Mercedes’ George Russell took third place, ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, both of whom fought up from the back of the grid.
– Verstappen drove another consummate race, moving up quickly from seventh on the grid after a penalty for excessive engine usage to be second after five laps.
– He edged closer to Leclerc until a virtual safety car was deployed on lap 12 when Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin broke down on track.
– Ferrari decided to gamble on a stop, hoping to benefit from the time saved from doing so under caution, although they stopped as the VSC was ending so did not gain all of it.
– Verstappen, though, ran his planned race and did not come in for his stop for tyres until lap 25.
– Verstappen came out 10 seconds adrift of Leclerc and soon began to close on the Ferrari. Within seven laps, he had receded the lead to just over five seconds and looked certain to catch and pass Leclerc.
– But Ferrari called Leclerc in again on lap 33, changing to soft tyres, hoping to close on Verstappen over the remaining 18 laps.
– But he came out 20 seconds behind and made little progress before a full safety car was deployed with five laps to go when Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren broke down with an engine problem and stopped at the Lesmo corners.
– Everyone bar Hamilton pitted for fresh tyres but officials ran out of time to restart the race, and it finished under the safety car.
– There will be questions as to why the safety car initially picked up Russell rather than Verstappen, why it took so long to run through the procedures required to restart the race, and why officials could not have red-flagged the race and gone for a re-start and short sprint to the flag.
– Max Verstappen claimed an astonishing and dominant victory despite starting from 14th on the grid at the Belgian Grand Prix to move even closer to successfully defending the F1 championship.
– Verstappen had qualified quickest but started down the order after an engine penalty. Nevertheless, he looked ominously quick from the first lap.
– Verstappen was in the lead by lap 12 of 44, vindicating Red Bull’s decision to give him a fresh engine at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
– The Dutchman controlled the race once he had the lead and, with title rival Charles Leclerc finishing sixth, now leads by a huge 93 points lead over teammate Sergio Perez and 98 to Leclerc with eight races left.
– As it stands, Verstappen could wrap the title up as early as the Japanese Grand Prix in October.
– Perez, who finished a distant second, said: “Max was on a different planet today”.
– Leclerc had started one place behind Verstappen and was following him up through the order until he was forced to make an unscheduled pit-stop for a brake duct issue under an early safety car.
– He looked set for fifth position but Ferrari pitted him for fresh tyres to set the fastest lap, meaning he emerged in sixth behind Fernando Alonso.
– Although Leclerc got past Alonso on the final lap, he was given a five-second time penalty after the race for speeding in the pit-lane, dropping him back behind the Alpine driver.
– Behind Perez was Carlos Sainz, who had started from pole position and claimed the final spot of the podium ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
– The mixed up grid caused by a slew of engine penalties had raised hopes of a chaotic race and there was drama from the very start.
– Old rivals Lewis Hamilton and Alonso collided while fighting for third position on the opening lap.
– Hamilton had reeled Alonso in down the Kemmel Straight and attempted to go around the outside, but the two made contact, with Hamilton’s car briefly pitched into the air.
– Alonso, who had been squeezed on the inside of the corner, was furious and let his feelings be known on his race radio.
– “What an idiot,” Alonso said after the collision. “Closing the door from the outside. We had a great start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first”
– Hamilton accepted blame, saying: “Looking back at the footage, he was in my blind spot and I didn’t leave him enough space so it was my fault today. Just sorry for the team.
– Hamilton’s car clearly had floor damage and a few corners later Mercedes told him to stop the car and retire from the race.
– The race stewards disagreed Hamilton was at fault, deciding neither driver was predominantly to blame.
– A Safety Car came out the following lap when Williams driver Nicholas Latifi got wide on the exit of the Les Combes chicane and collided with Valtteri Bottas, ending both drivers’ race on the spot.
– Alonso recovered from the opening-lap clash to finish fourth, with Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon driving from the rear of the grid to sixth.
– It was a strong weekend for Alpine as McLaren, who they are fighting for fourth in the championship, failed to score a point.
– Lando Norris was struggling in the final laps — with McLaren amusingly telling him it was too late to move on to Plan G — while Daniel Ricciardo’s miserable run of form continued.
– Ricciardo had started from seventh on the grid but he faded across the grand prix, finishing a lowly 13th.
– The result comes just days after McLaren and Ricciardo confirmed they will part ways at the end of the season.
– Sebastian Vettel finished eighth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who started from the pit-lane.
– Alex Albon claimed a deserved point after a brilliant qualifying performance on Saturday.
– Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has revealed that he studied Manchester United’s failures to avoid a decline at the Formula One team.
– In an interview with the Financial Times, Wolff claimed he looked at the Premier League club’s mistakes to understand why “great teams” are not able to continue their success.
– Manchester United won a record 13 Premier League titles, and three consecutive titles on two separate occasions under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but have not been able to replicate their dominance since his departure in 2013.
– Mercedes have won eight consecutive constructors titles since Wolff took over in 2014 but have struggled this season.
– “I studied why great teams were not able to repeat great title [runs],” said Wolff, referencing United’s record under Ferguson.
– “No sports team in any sport has ever won eight consecutive World Championship titles and there are many reasons for that, and what is at the core is the human.
– “The human gets complacent. You are not energised in the same way you were before. You are maybe not as ambitious.
– “I often get the question: ‘How hard is that?’
– “I had so many periods, so many episodes in my life that I would judge as difficult, that this is not on the same scale.
– “I don’t think it’s challenging in a way because I’ve had much harder times in all of my life, not particularly in Formula One, but this is actually within my comfort zone.”
– Mercedes sit third in the constructors championship, 137 points behind leaders Red Bull having had a difficult year so far with new regulations and a car that has proven to be inconsistent.
– Wolff, 50, said he is learning from the challenges Mercedes has faced this year and believes the team still has what it needs to be successful going forward.
– “I would say I’m enjoying getting it wrong at the moment because it’s the basis for long-term future success, I believe,” he explained.
– “We are still the same group of people with the same ambition, energy, tools, funding. Maybe we need to tweak here and there because psychology plays an important role, but I believe this team has all it needs to be successful but with no sense of entitlement. I want this to be a blip and not a longer-term phase of not being able to compete at the front.
– “In a way we are control freaks. Sometimes I feel like a football coach: There’s a point where there’s nothing more you can do and you have to leave it to the players on the pitch to get the job done. That’s why when you’re there you have those reactions. Sometimes you need to push the pressure release valve.”
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) August 1, 2022
– Alonso said as recently as Thursday that he was looking to stay at Alpine, which he joined two years ago on his return to F1.
– It means Alonso will be partnered with Lance Stroll, the son of Aston Martin’s owner Lawrence, next year.
– “This Aston Martin team is clearly applying the energy and commitment to win, and it is therefore one of the most exciting teams in Formula One today,” Alonso said in a statement. “I have known Lawrence and Lance for many years and it is very obvious that they have the ambition and passion to succeed in Formula One.
– “I still have the hunger and ambition to fight to be at the front, and I want to be part of an organisation that is committed to learn, develop and succeed. We all appreciate that there is much to be done to get to the front, and that we must apply all our energies in working together to find performance.
– “The passion and desire to perform that I have witnessed convince me to maintain my enjoyment and commitment to the sport. I intend to win again in this sport and therefore I have to take the opportunities that feel right to me.”
– Alonso returned to F1 in 2021 after two years out of the category racing in the World Endurance Championship and attempting to win the Indy 500.
– He had hoped to secure motorsport’s triple crown, which includes winning at Monaco in F1, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indy 500. After missing out on the Indy 500, however, he has now set his sights back on F1.
– Lawrence Stroll added: “I have known and admired Fernando for many years and it has always been clear that he is a committed winner like me.
– “It seemed natural therefore to invite Fernando to be part of the development of a winning team, and we very quickly established in our recent conversations that we have the same ambitions and values, and it was logical and easy to confirm our desire to work together.”
