Welcome to Saturday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
George Russell is fourth in the championship but second in RaceFans’ rankings – and Andrew reckons that’s too high:
Don’t get me wrong, he is delivering his most successful season so far, which is great to see, but it still feels as a lackluster.
At the moment he seems to be a similar type of driver as Vettel was, which should be a flattering comparison, but it also means that he is extremely fast on one lap and on a Saturday, and brings the car back home on a Sunday usually where he started from, still siphoning the points quite effectively, but nothing more. He doesn’t really take the fight to other cars supposedly in his car’s league, doesn’t really navigate well his way through the traffic unless he has a huge tyre or performance advantage, and certainly doesn’t bother the likes of Verstappen in wheel-to-wheel racing.
Just like Vettel, he might be able to fight for titles in a dominant car, but he just doesn’t seem to be able to create opportunities for himself with an inferior car. I couldn’t really rate him as the second-best performer of the season.
@AndrewT
Social media and links
Statement from CIK-FIA karting department (FIA)
‘Safety will always be the key priority of the FIA. Suggestions that safety has been compromised to accommodate kart upgrades are entirely baseless and untrue. In fact, the technical regulations have been strengthened this year to further enhance safety standards.’
‘We respect the thresholds set by FIA/ F1. Our plan involves two options: a change of control transaction in an existing entrant or applying in the next FIA process as a compact, well-funded customer team with long-term PU supply.’
All I remember about the 140mph F1 crash that nearly killed me was saying ‘Oops’ (The Mirror)
Rubens Barrichello: ‘I don’t remember the crash, either – I kind of remember the impact. I just said, ‘Oops,’ and then it was such an impact.’
Lundgaard building strong foundation for future title run (IndyCar)
‘Personally, I think everybody on the seven car left Portland with a feeling of, ‘We won that weekend.’ We were the fastest car all weekend. We had an engine penalty, but we drove back to second. I had to hold off Alex Palou, who’s won eight races this season. We were right there with Power all weekend. Without the penalty, I have no doubt we could’ve had a better result.’
‘He was totally in tune’: how Senna’s rain masterclass delivered his debut F1 win (The Guardian)
‘He was totally in tune with everything. I’ve never worked with another driver like him at all. He was so precise that if he found a spot on the circuit which was particularly slippery then he would just avoid it on the next lap.’
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