Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: F1

  • Should F1 even be racing?

    This weekend is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as-well F2’s second round, but should we even be racing their this weekend?

    An oil depot- around 7 miles from the track and owned by F1 sponsor, Aramco- was set ablaze during the first free practice in Saudi and a large black smoke cloud could be seen from the circuit…

    F1 drivers met for four hours yesterday, after practice on Friday- which included team bosses and F1 chiefs, it continued till 2.30am Saudi Arabia time.

    It is to be understood that the drivers raised concerns over the safety of the event in the wake of the attacks. But while the lengthy meetings suggested some drivers may have wanted to boycott.

    But the Saudi Arabian GP is still set to go ahead as planned and team bosses have insisted they will be racing this weekend.

    The fire at the North Jeddah Bulk plant.

    My Opinion-

    Plain and simply I think no. Putting drivers and team members at risk for what? And marshals too, people who are offering their time to make sure the race goes ahead. It’s quite unbelievable we are going to see a race happen.

  • Overview F1 2021

    We have had an amazing season and its only right that as the year is coming to the end I take a look back on the year and pick out some brilliant moments/races we have had this year.

    Which 3 drivers were the best this season?

    I am going to pick the two most obvious ones, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers gave it their all this year and came back fighting after things which have happened on track. My third pick would be Carlos Sainz, I feel like his just beat his ex team-mate to the third place spot but only because of how well and quick he settled into Ferrari, he managed to grab four podiums in his first year, so it will be interesting to see how he can do in his second year!

    Biggest shock of the season?

    I would say the Esteban Ocon win in Hungary or Daniel Ricciardo’s in Monza. The Alpine win was quite surprising considering the car changed quite a bit from last year and obviously Alonso’s marvellous defending from Hamilton helped secure his team-mates win but Esteban was there when he needed to be and it was nice to see him rewarded for it! Danny Rics win in Monza wow, if someone asked me back in June if Ricciardo would of been one of the winners this year I would have said no! And I think thats what made the win so great, he and the whole McLaren team just deserved the 1-2 and they had no problems at all on the Sunday.

    The best individual drive?

    Lewis Hamilton, Brazil. Even if your not a Lewis fan you have to admit he done amazing that weekend! To be demoted down the field twice over the course of the weekend is just wow and to top it off he won. I definitely think that will be a race which will be talked about for a long time!

    The best qualifying moment?

    Hmmm, I had a few for this, but one of the best moments for me was Sochi, where the top 3 was Norris on pole, Sainz 2nd and Russell 3rd. It was like a little preview of what is to come and what made it better was that Russell was in a Williams!

    A team I think thats improved…

    Ferrari. Plain and simple! Partly because of the new team-mates Carlos & Charles, as they get on great on and off track, they seem to qualify together and finish quite close together to so it feels a lot more equal at Ferrari. Another part of the improvement would be the car, they’ve managed to figure out what went wrong in 2020 and switched it around so quickly and to pull of P3 in the Constructors.

    Most heartbreaking moment?

    I would say Lando Norris, loosing his win in Sochi after the whole switching/non switching tyre situation. I felt like he deserved a win this season and I’ve said it since the beginning! Sochi was a learning curve for him and the team and it will most likely give him the hunger to go for the win next year.

    A team I thought would do better?

    Aston Martin. They outshined in quite a few races last year, but obviously they just couldn’t get it right this year. They did have their podium in Baku and as well had one in Hungary but got disqualified, so they did have the pace at some places, I just thought they would’ve done a bit better and it felt like they didn’t try and upgrade their car during the season.

    What driver and team need to do better in 2022?

    For driver I would say Lance, I feel like this year he was just floating about I didn’t see something amazing from him, where as his team-mate who only joined the team this year down really well, hopefully AM come up with a good car next year which will suit Stroll and we will see more of what he can do.

    For the teams I managed to nail it down to two! Williams and Haas. Even though Williams scored a good set of points this year, it can only go up from here, new regs for everyone so a clean slate and it will be interesting to see how the British team can cope with it all. Now Haas, obviously we have all seen whats been going on with them, but I feel with Schumacher in the car and again new regs next season they could possibly have a chance at scoring points hopefully frequently, these two teams I’m going to be keeping my eye on when the season starts up.

  • Logan Sargeant joins Williams

    During the US Grand Prix weekend, it got announced that American racer Logan Sargeant is now officially apart of the Williams’ Driver Academy

    This year, Logan led Charouz Racing System to their first victory in Formula 3. Also their highest ever points tally, with Logan finishing seventh in the Drivers’ Standings. With a total of four podiums, including his victory in Sochi he helped the team finish 5th in the Teams’ Championship.

    His role within the British team includes simulator work and helping with the car development. We will most likely see him at a lot of race weekends next year when his not racing. Even though it has not been announced what his plans are for 2022, they will be announced in ‘due course’.

    Logan joins Roy Nissany, Jack Aitken and Jamie Chadwick in the Academy. All of them looking to be the best…

    “I am delighted to be joining the Williams Racing Driver Academy,” said Sargeant. “It’s a team with not only a fantastic history, but a great track record of bringing young talent into Formula 1. I am really excited to begin working with the team and can’t wait to hit the ground running.”

    Williams CEO Jost Capito added: “I am incredibly pleased to welcome Logan to the Williams Racing Driver Academy. He’s demonstrated his talent in FIA Formula 3, consistently delivering strong results in an extremely competitive field. I’m proud that Williams will play a part in supporting the progression and growth of another talented young driver.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is a good move from both sides, with now the backing of Williams for Logan, he will more than likely be in Formula 2 next year, hopefully it wont be too long until we get an announcement to see his plans. It will be interesting to see how he does next year, definitely one to watch.

  • To sue or not to sue?

    During the course of last weekend it came to light that Aston Martin refused to rule out taking the FIA to court due to regulation changes which have severely hindered them this season and we are only two weekends in…

    A series of modifications made last year has reduced the downforce available from the rear floor which has harmed teams with low-rake cars, including Aston Martin. It’s taken the Silverstone based team from race winners to the lower end of the midfield.

    These changes were made for safety reasons given the downforce was becoming too great for the Pirelli’s tyres… However the Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer believes its for other reasons😬

    Although, this is now a different case and it seems like Aston Martin have now dropped this slightly… Szafnauer has softened his stance over the changes after a couple of meetings with the FIA. They are still in talks with the FIA but it was mainly wanting to know what the steps were and that their done properly and equitably.

    In my opinion I don’t really understand why Aston Martin are bringing it up now? As they knew that their car was going to be affected and they weren’t going to be the only ones… The FIA know what they are doing and they want the cars to be safe to keep the drivers safe, as thats what really matters here. It’s not like it got sprung on them with a weeks notice? All the teams agreed to tweak their floors and got given plenty of warning…👀

  • Alfa Romeo car launch

    So the first team of F1 has set a date to launch their car for 2021, and that is Alfa Romeo. The Switzerland based team have announced that they will be launching their car on Monday 22nd February in Warsaw, Poland.

    The new Alfa Romeo, is set to be called C41 even though last years car was C39, it will be launched in Polands capital as the title partner ORLEN who has some of their key operations based in the city.

    It will be driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, the duo have been paired up with each other for a third consecutive season.

    The C41 is set to be a challenger this year as they will be aiming to be more at the top of the grid, last year they only scored 8 points throughout the season, meaning they finished 8th overall in the constructors title, finishing before Haas and Williams.

    The C41 will hit the track for pre-season testing in Bahrain on the 12th-14th March, it was scheduled to be held in Barcelona from the 2nd to the 4th of March but it changed as the FIA figured it would be better for logistical reasons to be held at Bahrain where the first race is held two weeks after testing. One positive to take from this is that in Bahrain the weather is more reliable than what it would be in Barcelona.

    To save costs, testing has been lowered to 3 days, so only one and a half day for each driver, this will inconvenience some drivers who have moved to new teams including the rookies.

    Below is the link for what Alfa Romeo put on their Instagram this morning https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQtR6OIy7P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    One car launch date revealed, and only 9 more to go!!