Indholdsfortegnelse for November 30, 2017 i Autosport

ROBERT KUBICA DROVE a 2017 Williams for the first time during the post-Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Pirelli tyre test at Yas Marina this week. The Pole, whose F1 career was interrupted by life-threatening injuries from a rally crash in 2011, is favourite to replace Felipe Massa at Williams next season and line up alongside Lance Stroll. Williams was encouraged by his form when he tested a 2014 F1 car with the team at Silverstone. He ran in a 2017 Renault in Hungary in August, during the in-season test, but Yas Marina gave Williams its first glimpse of his capabilities in current machinery. Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe and performance head Rob Smedley stayed on in Abu Dhabi to follow his progress. Nico Rosberg, who is part of Kubica’s management,…

SAUBER IS EDGING CLOSER TO finalising its line-up for the 2018 Formula 1 season, with Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc favourite to get a seat. Team principal Fred Vasseur had suggested an announcement on its drivers would be made last weekend in Abu Dhabi, but that was delayed as discussions continue. The situation is complicated by the fact that Sauber is considering enhancing its partnership with Ferrari. The deal already involved taking a supply of current-spec F1 engines, after running year-old units this year, but that could evolve into Sauber becoming a Ferrari junior team. Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne is keen for Antonio Giovinazzi to run alongside Formula 2 champion Leclerc, who has taken part in free practice sessions with Sauber recently. That would end Marcus Ericsson’s three-year stint with the…

@autosport WE HAD A GREAT RACE IN ABU DHABI LAST SUNDAY – but it wasn’t the grand prix. As at Monza, the excitement came in the morning, when Charles Leclerc topped off his championship-winning Formula 2 season with a stunning drive. The future Ferrari driver sliced through from sixth on the second lap to pass Alexander Albon for the lead on the last, a move at once superbly judged and extremely brave. Leclerc was suitably exhilarated afterwards, and he should savour the memory, for it will be a long time before he has another race like that: next year he is in Formula 1, where the cars are so sophisticated that they can’t actually race each other. “F1 fans want great racing, and it’s a very long time since they’ve…

@BenAndersonAuto WHEN LEWIS HAMILTON WON THE THIRD OF HIS FOUR FORMULA 1 WORLD titles with three races to spare in 2015, he subsequently went off the boil, struggling to perform with the same intensity and focus that had propelled him to that glory in the first place. Hamilton lifted off the gas and allowed Nico Rosberg to win three races in a row, which handed Hamilton’s arch rival some useful momentum to carry through that winter and build into a successful title charge the following season. On the evidence of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton should be wary that the ghosts of the past don’t come back to haunt him. There was a sense of deja vu about the way Hamilton’s season slightly tailed off again in 2017.…

DANIEL RICCIARDO shrugged off losing fourth place in the world championship to Kimi Raikkonen at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix because he feels Raikkonen should have outscored him comfortably. Ricciardo arrived at Yas Marina seven points ahead of Raikkonen in the standings and was on course to beat him to fourth in the race too. But a hydraulic failure on Ricciardo’s Red Bull and Raikkonen’s fourth place meant the Ferrari driver beat Ricciardo in the championship by five points. When asked how disappointed he was to lose fourth in the standings, Ricciardo told NBC:“If I’m brutally honest, with that car he should have been a long way in front in the championship. So, yeah, I don’t think it’s a big deal.” Ricciardo said his fifth retirement of the season due…

TORO ROSSO DRIVERS PIERRE Gasly and Brendon Hartley both expressed their disappointment at the team’s failure to hang on to sixth place in the constructors’ championship after a poor race in Abu Dhabi. The team was on for its best championship result since 2008 before the race, but lost out as both its drivers failed to escape Q1 and struggled to lowly finishes, while Nico Hulkenberg secured the spot for Renault with sixth. “It was always going to be an uphill struggle for us to hang on to that sixth place in the championship and it’s a real shame to lose it,” said Hartley, who finished the race 15th. “I’m obviously massively disappointed. “I was in a train of cars – a McLaren, a Haas, a Sauber, myself and Pierre…

@JamieKlein_ This year’s MotoGP campaign had something that was lacking in the previous season – a proper title fight that went down to the wire. And what a fight it was, between two riders with wildly contrasting characters and career paths: Marc Marquez, the 24-year-old phenomenon steadily staking a claim to being the best ever, and Andrea Dovizioso, the modest 31-year-old who had won just once in more than 150 starts prior to last October. It was fitting that the pair’s battle should be settled by a drama-filled Valencia showdown, but the reality was that Marquez probably should have had things wrapped up quite a bit sooner. It’s easy to forget that the year didn’t start well for the reigning champion, as crashes at Rio Hondo and Le Mans left…

IN HIS SECOND YEAR IN MOTO3, LEOPARD RACING Honda rider Joan Mir dominated the 2017 season, coming close to equalling one of Valentino Rossi’s records in the process. Mir fell one short of matching the 11 wins scored by Rossi in the 1997 125cc season, but did manage to secure the title with two rounds to spare and had a deal to join crack Moto2 squad Marc VDS by the middle of the season. His nearest challenger was Romano Fenati, who rehabilitated himself this year, after being thrown out of Rossi’s team in 2016, with a trio of race wins. The Italian didn’t have the consistency to live with Mir over the course of the year, but did at least secure a Moto2 graduation of his own, along with his…

ENAAM AHMED AGE 17 Ahmed moved from Douglas Motorsport to Carlin for his second year in BRDC Formula 3. He won the 2016 Autumn Trophy, then dominated the main championship, scoring 13 victories on his way to the ’17 crown. MAX FEWTRELL AGE 18 After taking the 2016 British Formula 4 title, the Renault Sport Academy driver stepped up to the Formula Renault Eurocup. Driving for Tech 1, Fewtrell took a race victory and finished sixth in the standings. HARRISON SCOTT AGE 21 A 2014 Award finalist, Scott earned his place this year by dominating the Euroformula Open championship. Driving for RP Motorsport, he scored 12 victories and was only beaten twice during the campaign. DAN TICKTUM AGE 18 The Red Bull Junior driver joined Arden in the Formula Renault…

After I was finished with school, my father said, ‘I want to stop working when I am 50, will you make it longer for me?’ So I said, ‘Sure, I want to run it’.” When Jens Moetefindt took over the eponymous trailer dynasty in 2004, he had an enormous challenge on his hands. Entrusted with protecting and building upon more than 20 years of history, started in his father Philipp’s garage in east Germany, Jens could have been forgiven for adopting a risk-averse approach while he learned the ropes, but that couldn’t have been further from reality. “IT’S A BIT LIKE LEGO – YOU CAN MAKE IT BIGGER, SMALLER, LONGER, WIDER…” Under his stewardship, Moetefindt has gone from strength to strength, from a company that exclusively traded in handmade products…

NYCK DE VRIES HAS TAKEN the coveted remaining seat in Prema Racing’s 2018 Formula 2 line-up, as the Italian team bids to win a third straight drivers’ title in its three-year history in the second-tier series. McLaren Formula 1 junior de Vries, who finished seventh in the 2017 F2 standings with one win, joins Sean Gelael at Prema. He has previously received backing from the Jagonya Ayam scheme of Gelael’s father Ricardo. The signing of the Dutchman means that for the first time Prema enters a season with two drivers who have at least a year of F2 experience. “We are delighted to have secured the services of Nyck for the 2018 F2 season,” said Prema boss Rene Rosin, whose team has taken Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc to the…

@nauckas LANDO NORRIS. IN 2015 HE WON THE BRITISH Formula 4 championship (then MSA Formula) in his rookie season in cars. After winning Formula Renault 2.0’s Eurocup, its NEC offshoot and the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand all in ’16, this season he won the Formula 3 European Championship in his rookie year. And now he’s been confirmed as moving up to Formula 2 for ’18. That’s quite a progression. Norris followed up his 2017 Macau Grand Prix runner-up spot with a one-off F2 appearance in Abu Dhabi for Campos Racing just one week later, and, when you add in McLaren upgrading him from a junior driver to full F1 reserve after impressing in testing, less than a year after he won the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, he’s…

RENAULT F1 TEAM BOSS CYRIL ABITEBOUL blamed a late TV replay for Nico Hulkenberg not handing position back to Sergio Perez after cutting the track on lap one. “We didn’t have access to the footage and the replay was late coming,” said Abiteboul. “And when the replay came it was too late to give back the position. It was in the hands of the stewards and that [decision] was five seconds. From that point it was all about building the gap, in order for the pitstops to happen and not lose track position, which we did. I don’t see a problem with that.” Q&A CYRIL ABITEBOUL RENAULT SPORT F1 MANAGER What was more important, securing the extra money for finishing sixth in the championship or the momentum of such a…

WORLD CHAMPION LEWIS HAMILTON SAYS THE lack of overtaking in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix shows that the Yas Marina track does not suit Formula 1 cars in its current configuration. “It’s a great, great track but unfortunately it doesn’t suit the cars very well,” said Hamilton, who praised the venue’s atmosphere and hospitality. “In the last sector you just can’t follow. It’s one of the worst tracks in that sense. You need 1.4s advantage to pass the car in front.” Circuit architect Hermann Tilke intimated changes were possible. “We have an idea to change one corner,” he told Sky Sports F1. “It’s a very small change, but maybe it has a lot of impact.” Haas team boss Gunther Steiner said the focus should be on making the grid more…

@BenAndersonAuto MERCEDES 8 LEWIS HAMILTON Ultimately, lost this race by uncharacteristically failing to get it together when he really needed to in Q3. Preferred to see that as a “lesson” rather than a mistake, but pushed for set-up changes that misjudged the circuit, so must carry the can. Did everything he could in the race, but Bottas simply would not budge. 10 VALTTERI BOTTAS Vettel called Bottas’s qualifying lap “mega” and it looked that way – clean and fast, and the biggest margin yet for Bottas. Executed a very fine race too – all the more impressive given the need to respond after botching his big chance in Brazil. Withstood enormous pressure to get the job done. Bottas at his best. RED BULL 10 DANIEL RICCIARDO After a disappointing couple…

@glenn_autosport We’re only three buttons into my briefing on how to use the functionality of a Formula E steering wheel and already I’m wishing I was taking notes. The DS Virgin Racing team has been kind enough to invite Autosport to the La Ferte Gaucher circuit in France to try out its latest specification of car just before it heads off to Valencia for pre-season testing. Our input is unlikely to be of much use to Sam Bird and Alex Lynn when they hit the track in Spain, but to the team’s credit we are getting a serious runout in the car. Once the engineers finish running me through the limited number of controls they’ll let me play with, I’m doing everything I can to get another glance – alone…

Qatar 1 Vinales 2 Dovizioso 3 Rossi With qualifying washed out, the grid was set by practice times, giving Vinales his first-ever MotoGP pole. But it was Zarco who stole the show early on, racing to a lead of 1.6 seconds before crashing. That handed the advantage to Dovizioso, but Vinales soon emerged from fourth after a bad start and caught up, eventually beating Dovizioso by four tenths. Argentina 1 Vinales 2 Rossi 3 Crutchlow From pole, Marquez led the first three laps but then crashed out. That paved the way for Vinales, coming from sixth, to grab back-toback wins by a little under three seconds from team-mate Rossi. Crutchlow took what would prove to be his only podium of the year in third, while Dovizioso suffered a rare DNF…

1 MARC MARQUEZ It was easy to overlook the fact that Marquez had to come from 37 points back after six races, such was his superb form in the second half of the year. Assuming he stays healthy and motivated, he’ll be figuring in many future ‘greatest’ discussions. 2 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO What more can be said about his heroic season, one that brought Ducati so close to its first MotoGP title in 10 years? Perhaps more impressive than the Italian’s exceptional victory tally of six was the manner in which those wins were achieved. 3 VALENTINO ROSSI A lone victory may not sound like much to write home about for a man who was once grand prix motorcycling’s dominant force, but Rossi generally made more of the Yamaha than Vinales…

Since the formation of GP3, one team has dominated. With five drivers’ titles and seven out of eight teams’ crowns, the French squad has made the third-tier category virtually its own. Only Carlin’s win in 2014 prevents a clean sweep. 2010 With five wins, four of them in the higher points-paying race one, future Sauber and Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez takes the first GP3 drivers’ title. The Mexican, alongside team-mates Alexander Rossi and Pedro Nunes, helps give ART the teams’ title ahead of Status Grand Prix. 2011 Another future F1 driver helps ART clinch its second GP3 double: Valtteri Bottas. The Finn and his team-mates Nunes (who is replaced by Richie Stanaway) and James Calado – the drivers’ runner-up – give ART six wins to finish ahead of Arden…

750 MOTOR CLUB BIKESPORTS champion Stefano Leaney will share Neil Primrose’s Lola B2K/40 in this weekend’s HSR Classic 12 Hour event at Sebring. The 24-year-old, successful in a Radical-Suzuki PR6 this year, will race the ex-Gunnar Jeannette car, powered by a three-litre 380bhp Nissan V6 engine. “I’ve not driven the Lola yet, or the Sebring circuit, but we’ve done simulator work at iZone,” said the West London-based recruitment company boss. “We’re facing some very serious opposition, including Audis, Courages, Pescarolos and ORECAs with star drivers.” Travis drummer Primrose and American Tim Gaffney finished third in class D1 in the recent Classic 24 Hour event at Daytona earlier this month, but 1999-2004 cars are pitched together on the Floridian airfield circuit.…

@autosport AN INVITATION TO THE McLAREN TECHNICAL Centre (MTC) is not one to be missed. Guided tours of the jaw-dropping racing facility outside Woking were a fascinating part of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award process when I was on the judging panel. But it’s the group’s Automotive Division that has really been going places in recent years. Its supercars are selling like the proverbial hot cakes, a staggering 13,000 having thus far been hand-crafted to order. Indeed, with more mouthwatering models in the pipeline, customer appetite continues to grow! Last week’s trip to its HQ took me to the McLaren Thought Leadership Centre for the launch of its driverdevelopment programme. Its title suggests a place of worship and on entering this typically dramatic semisubmerged circular edifice, subtly fed by light…

@tomgerrington A pedal car version of a Michael Schumacher Ferrari – albeit with considerably less power and questionable aerodynamics – was fairly prominent during my early years, but it took a trip to the 2008 British Grand Prix to get me into motor racing. Although motorsport had taken a back seat at first, my dad shared two life-long followings with me: Newcastle United and Formula 1. Throughout the early 2000s, it was Alan Shearer scoring for fun and Schumacher dominating grands prix. As a fairly active kid with no karting track within sight, I was more absorbed in other things, such as video games – including Colin McRae Rally on the PlayStation 1. There was, though, the odd trip to watch national racing at Donington Park with my family, and…

JEAN TODT WILL BE UNCHALLENGED IN next month’s FIA presidential election, meaning he is now guaranteed to stay on board for a third term. The Frenchman announced back in May that he intended to stand for another four-year term, having first taken up the role back in 2009. And with a November 17 deadline for rival candidates to put themselves forward having passed with no-one expressing interest, it is now a formality for Todt to win the election. The FIA General Assembly will ratify Todt’s continued role as president when it meets on December 8. Todt announced the 11-man team that he had to put forward for election back in May, with the former Peugeot and Ferrari chief saying he had come under pressure to stay on board as president.…

DC AND McKENZIE TO HOST AWARDS Formula 1 broadcasters David Coulthard and Lee McKenzie are the new presenters for the Autosport Awards, which take place in London this Sunday. Among the presentations will be the 29th McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, of which Coulthard was the inaugural winner in 1989. Live coverage will be shown on autosport.com, motorsport.tv and motorsport.com. LE MANS POINTS ARE SCALED DOWN The World Endurance Championship has scaled down its points coefficient for the Le Mans 24 Hours in time for the 2018-19 superseason. Previously counting for double points, the French classic will now be worth 1.5 times the tally for a normal six-hour race. The 1500-mile event at Sebring in March 2019 will be scaled up by 1.25. MONTEIRO SIDELINED UNTIL 2018 Honda star Tiago Monteiro,…

KIMI RAIKKONEN’S FEELINGS on the Yas Marina circuit are legend. Fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas wouldn’t go quite as far as calling it “shit”, so when asked how much he liked the track, you had to read between the lines: “My honest opinion is that it is quite average – it’s not one of my favourites; not one I hate.” An expert piece of fencesitting, if ever there was one. Max Verstappen was more effusive, calling the circuit “quite interesting” because “a lot of corners follow up on each other, so if you miss one you’re not well positioned for the other one – so it’s quite technical in that way.” It’s no surprise to find Verstappen being positive about a circuit he says is “a bit like Mexico”, where he…

FERRARI TRIES RED BULL FLOOR CONCEPT Getting the best performance out of a current Formula 1 car is all about downforce – the more you have, the better you can load up the tyres and get them up to temperature faster. Ferrari, with an eye on 2018, tested a Red Bull-style outboard section on its diffuser. Red Bull is the team that instigated the high-rearrideheight set-up and now a few teams are starting to follow suit. The diffuser is vitally important to this concept. It’s basically there to increase the velocity of the airflow between the ground and the large flat-floor area underneath the car. The faster the airflow, the more downforce you produce. The actual size of the diffuser is controlled in the regulations, but its height is measured…

@ScottAutosport Three champions in three seasons, another final-round showdown and manufacturers queuing outside the door. The way Formula E’s previous campaign ended means 2017-18 has a lot to live up to. Fortunately, a three-year rules cycle means the field is likely to compress – so expect one hell of an opening qualifying session in Hong Kong this Saturday. There is, however, a big but. The end-of-day timesheets in pre-season testing at Valencia point to a remarkable season in store – barely a tenth covered multiple drivers and multiple teams. But the long runs painted a different picture. Gaps that were previously covered by hundredths ballooned to a few tenths, as is normally the case as the efficiencies of the various powertrains are proven or exposed. Audi’s advantage was astonishing. Reigning…

@ScottAutosport Commitment, professionalism and dedication – three words it is no surprise to hear linked with Mercedes. The German manufacturer has been a successful player throughout motorsport for decades, most recently (and obviously) demonstrated by its monopoly of the Formula 1 drivers’ and constructors’ championships for the past four seasons. Impressive, to say the least, but not the reason Mercedes’ commitment, professionalism and dedication is brought into focus here. The team is not the Brackley-centred behemoth, rather a small testing crew that’s set up camp at a chilly Silverstone in late October. On this occasion the car receiving the plaudits is not the Mercedes F1 W08 Hybrid, rather the Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM. And the feat is not a brace of F1 titles, but a key part in the selection process…

@KRT917 The GT3 element of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award is often underrated – by the finalists themselves and by those on the outside. But it shouldn’t be. The 500bhp machine poses a range of different challenges that can be revealing about a driver. Most finalists haven’t driven with a roof over their heads before and, with the DTM car being likened to a single-seater with a roof, the McLaren tends to push the finalists further outside their comfort zones. First, there’s the extra weight, and then there are all the driver aids, such as ABS. “GT3 adds something to the Award,” agrees CRS boss Andrew Kirkaldy, whose team developed the GT3 McLaren MP4-12C and its successor, the 650S. “Drivers tend to say it’s the furthest removed car to what…

SUPER TC2000 GENERALROCA(RA) NOVEMBER26 ROUND 11/12 MATIAS ROSSI RETURNED TO THE winner’s circle one year after his last series win, also taken at General Roca. Standings leader Facundo Ardusso claimed pole on Saturday, prior to Rossi steering his TTA Toyota Corolla to victory in the qualifying race, ahead of reigning champion Agustin Canapino and Damian Fineschi. Rossi also led away at the start of the main event, with front-row neighbour Canapino (Chevrolet) vying for the lead from the onset, while Ardusso (his Renault demoted down the grid due to the division’s handicap system) swiftly went for Esteban Guerrieri and fourth. The safety car was first deployed early on, when Luciano Farroni’s Ford ignited, after which Ardusso’s main title rival, Mariano Werner, continued to battle it out with two of Ardusso’s…

FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 11/11, YAS MARINA (UAE), NOVEMBER 25-26 RACE 1 (31 LAPS – 106.913 MILES) Winner’s average speed 107.667mph. Fastest lap Albon 1m50.314s, 112.623mph. QUALIFYING 1 Markelov 1m47.181s; 2 de Vries 1m47.387s; 3 Fuoco 1m47.575s; 4 Rowland 1m47.617s; 5 Nato 1m47.676s; 6 Leclerc 1m47.692s; 7 Ghiotto 1m47.753s; 8 Matsushita 1m47.759s; 9 Sette Camara 1m47.824s; 10 Palou 1m48.127s; 11 Latifi 1m48.201s; 12 Deletraz 1m48.212s; 13 Norris 1m48.404s; 14 King 1m48.476s; 15 Ferrucci 1m48.538s; 16 Gelael 1m48.609s; 17 Malja 1m48.671s; 18 Merhi 1m48.794s; 19 Jeffri 1m50.201s; EX Albon 1m47.957s. RACE 2 (22 LAPS – 75.853 MILES) 1 Leclerc 41m36.188s; 2 Albon +1.293s; 3 Latifi +3.207s; 4 Matsushita +4.105s; 5 Ghiotto +4.952s; 6 Markelov +14.758s; 7 Rowland +15.446s; 8 Sette Camara +24.795s; 9 de Vries +29.261s; 10 Merhi +29.689s; 11 Fuoco…

@mattofautosport The unstoppable Walter Hayes Trophy aside, James Beckett’s recent FF1600 initiatives have had a mixed reception and sometimes felt like answers to questions no one was asking. That is not the case with Heritage FFord, the ‘homelessness’ of the much-loved 1990s cars having vexed FF1600 paddock veterans. Beckett’s FF1600 ideas are always evocative. But there were too many small grids, and there would’ve been more without the personal loyalty Beckett commands among FF1600 racers. Creating a calendar that means teams don’t have to choose between Heritage and BRSCC series must be a priority. In its golden era, FFord’s structure was always more octopus than pyramid – a multiplicity of rival national series, regional championships and categories for different ages of cars. That diversity and flexibility was why it thrived.…

A NEW MAZDA MX-5 SUPERSERIES WILL cater for drivers unable to compete on the new-for-2018 TCR UK bill next season. The British Racing and Sports Car Club’s Mazda MX-5 SuperCup Championship – which uses Mk3 cars – will join the TCR package next year, but a number of drivers who raced in the SuperCup in 2017 will be prevented from taking part due to likely grid-capacity issues, prompting the seperate SuperSeries to be created for the Mk3 class. The decision gives Mk3 drivers more options in deciding where they want to race and will help to keep costs down, as many teams who run Mk3 cars also manage Mk1 machinery in the Mazda MX-5 Championship, with which the new SuperSeries will share the BRSCC billing, as the SuperCup did before.…

BOOKS JENSON BUTTON LIFE TO THE LIMIT RRP £20 ISBN-10: 1911600346 Button’s autobiography is must-read if you’re a fan of the 2009 world champion or a general F1 supporter. It does lack detail in the more controversial elements of his career – particularly the Williams/BAR contract wrangling – and there is rather a lack of criticism of Honda’s power units at the very end of his F1 career. But the insight he does provide is very enjoyable and he doesn’t hold back on his opinions of Flavio Briatore and Sir Richard Branson. Told faithfully in the wry-humoured voice that Button is known for, the book charts his career from karting to the present day, with the first third focused on his karting exploits with late father John. This is one…