Vettel says he’d take Red Bull seat if offered – but Verstappen sees no reason not to stick with Albon

Will Sebastian Vettel be on the F1 grid in 2021? And if so, will it be with a team capable of winning races? Those are the questions fans have been asking since it was announced he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of this season. Yesterday the door to an opening at Renault slammed shut with the news Fernando Alonso was returning to partner Esteban Ocon – so what of the possibility of a move back to Red Bull, with whom he won his four world titles?

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, Vettel admitted great affection for his former team, even going so far as to say he’d accept the offer of a seat with the team if it arrived.

“Generally I’m of the conviction that if you want to win you have to be happy to take on anyone,” said Vettel, who also confirmed that he’d had no solid conversations with Renault about a move.

“I know the team very, very well from my past, so of course I am still in contact with a lot of people there whether Christian [Horner, Team Principal], Helmut [Marko, Red Bull advisor] or others.

Pressed if that meant he’d accept an offer should one appear, Vettel replied: “It’s a winning car, and as I said earlier, I’m here to compete, I’m here to win, so probably the answer would be yes.”

But if Vettel doesn’t mind pitting himself alongside Verstappen – who is signed to Red Bull until the end of 2023 – what does the Dutchman think of going up against Vettel in the same machinery?

Earlier this week Verstappen appeared on a TV show alongside Vettel where he didn’t exactly pour cold water on the possibility. But speaking ahead of this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, he clarified his remarks and indicated he was in fact keen to keep current team mate Alex Albon alongside him in the future.

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I was just trying to be polite and nice by saying I could imagine it,” said Verstappen, regarding his comments on TV. “I think at the moment the team is very happy with both of us and I am really happy with Alex as a team mate. He’s first of all a very nice guy in the team, which is good for everyone.

„He’s good with setups, so we both give good feedback to the team. And he’s a fast guy. So I don’t think there is any reason to change, and I think Christian and Helmut can back that up. It’s also not up to me to decide these things.”

So, the question marks remain over whether Vettel might end up at Red Bull. But if he doesn’t, might Racing Point – soon to be Aston Martin Racing – be an alternative?

“I know part of the team,” he said. „I know some members of the team from my past and for a long time. I think it’s a good opportunity for them this year to have a good car to fight with and try to improve from there.

“Everything is an option at the moment: Carry on, have a break or retire,” he added. “As I said I haven’t made a decision yet. It depends what options are around. It’s not a secret that I’m competitive. I’ve achieved so much in this sport and I’m interested in achieving more – not just taking part.”

www.formula1.com

Lorenzo takes wildcard win at Virtual British Grand Prix

The five-time World Champion took victory on his return to MotoGP™ – his first with Yamaha since Valencia 2016!

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo is a MotoGP™ race winner once again after getting the better of Reale Avintia’s Tito Rabat in the closing stages of Sunday’s Michelin® Virtual British Grand Prix. Lorenzo made the most of his only wildcard appearance in 2020 by taking his first victory in the blue of Yamaha since Valencia 2016.

As we’ve become accustomed to by now, the opening lap wasn’t short of drama with the first incident coming when LCR Idemitsu Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami wiped out Lorenzo through Turns 2 and 3. Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quartararo had taken the holeshot but he was quickly dropped to second when Nakagami slipped through as the group powered down the Hangar Straight.

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Quartararo was keen to make up for his earlier mistake, possibly in the end too keen, as he then joined Lorenzo in the gravel trap when the front end of his Yamaha M1 folded. The Frenchman’s crash elevated Pramac Racing’s Francesco Bagnaia to second place, with the Italian needing a rostrum finish to move to the top of the virtual standings. However, that target slipped further into the distance when the Italian also tucked the front; a surprising mistake from the Red Bull Ring victor.

Final lap

As we completed the opening lap, Nakagami lead with Rabat and Ducati Team’s Michelle Pirro chasing him down in an unlikely opening trio. Quartararo was starting to make some progress back through the field after his first lap crash, but he had another set back when crashing after contact with Rabat. Four laps completed and Lorenzo was starting to find his feet, squeezing past Pirro for third place. 

Nakagami reached lap five and half race distance without making a single mistake, that was to change. The Japanese rider’s hopes of a debut MotoGP™ win evaporated when he crashed out whilst braking hard into The Loop. It handed Rabat, much to the Spaniard’s excitement. By this time five-time World Champion Lorenzo was up to second and had his eyes firmly set on the race lead.

It took the Yamaha man two laps to close in on the rear wheel of Rabat’s Ducati and a further lap to properly dispatch him. Once he had clear air ahead of him, he began to break clear and eventually came across the line two seconds clear of Rabat on the final lap to clinch victory in MotoGP™ just a handful of months after announcing his retirement.

Quartararo clinched the final place on the virtual podium after diving past Nakagami on the last lap to take a debut virtual podium. Pirro completed the top five, ahead of Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori, a disappointed Bagnaia and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir.

1295 days since his last win with Yamaha, @lorenzo99 does it again! 🙌

He WINS the #VirtualBritishGP! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/kExfGpSQcQ

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2020

motogp.cpm

Hamilton ‘concerned’ by Mercedes power unit reliability ahead of Australia

Mercedes may appear to be the team to beat based on the evidence from 2020 pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. But power unit issues across both weeks of the test have sowed some seeds of doubt in members of the team ahead of the fast-approaching season opener in Melbourne – not least driver Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton was forced to stop out on track midway through the second day of Week 2, limiting him to just 14 laps for the day. And after Mercedes traced the problem back to an oil pressure anomaly, the six-time champ admitted there was tension within the Silver Arrows camp about getting the problems fixed in time for Australia.

“Is it a concern? For sure,” said Hamilton. “Normally in pre-season testing, we’ve got much more confidence in the reliability, so it’s not been perfect for us. We’re on our third engine already, so it’s definitely not an easy or relaxed scenario for us. But I have every confidence in the Mercedes factory that they’ll analyse and do the best they can over the next two weeks to make sure that we’ll start off, again, on the right foot.

“It was a difficult winter [for the power unit team] last year and I think it’s been a difficult winter this year,” Hamilton added. “The engine is actually very good, and an improvement from last year. It’s just not quite where we want it to be reliability-wise. But I’m sure they’re back at the factory now

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Hamilton’s team mate Valtteri Bottas has also suffered during this winter test, having been hobbled by an electrical issue last week. And despite Bottas having claimed comfortably the fastest time of the test for Mercedes, with his 1m 15.732s effort from Day 3 of Week 1, Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison admitted the team’s issues were “clearly a worry”, with the Australian Grand Prix’s March 15 date looming.

“You don’t have to be Hercule Poirot to know that we stopped once or twice, and that clearly is a worry,” said Allison on F1 TV’s Tech Talk show. “We’re quite close to Melbourne, and that’s something we’ve definitely got to scoop up and put right.

“We’re fortunate that we’re not having to fight a war on many fronts simultaneously. The vast majority of things are solid and very robust. We’ve just got a couple of areas that we need to put right. The things that have gone wrong are broadly understood, and I’m sure that we’ll move the necessary mountains to make that come right in time for Melbourne.”

With Mercedes having enjoyed an enviable reliability record in recent years – with Hamilton the only driver to have finished all Grands Prix in 2019 – their rivals will doubtless be hopeful that the Silver Arrows’ power unit fears turn out to be justified, to hamper Mercedes in their pursuit of a seventh-straight double championship.

Article from f1.com

Rolex 24 at Daytona: Results, standings from 2020 race

The 58th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and with it a new season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship — began Saturday and ended Sunday afternoon after 24 long hours of racing. America’s toughest endurance race tested 38 teams, the smallest field ever for the sports car race at Daytona International Speedway, and crowned four class winners.

Wayne Taylor’s No. 10 Konica Minola Cadillac DPi team defended its overall title with another DPi victory in 2020. In the LMP2 class, the No. 81 DragonSpeed team easily cruised to victory. In GTLM, the tightest class of the race, BMW Team RLL’s No. 24 eventually pulled away from the pair of Porsche 911s. The No. 48 Lamborghini of Paul Miller Racing easily won the GTD class.

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Daytona Prototype International (DPi)

Pos.	Team/Car	Car No.
1.	Konica Minola Cadillac DPi-V.R, Cadillac DPi	10
2.	Mazda Team Joest, Mazda DPi	77
3.	JDC Motorsports, Cadillac DPi	5
4.	Acura Team Penske, Acura DPi	6
5.	JDC Motorsports, Cadillac DPi	85
6.	Mazda Team Joest, Mazda DPi	55
7.	Whelen Engineering Racing, Cadillac DPi	31
8.	Acura Team Penske, Acura DPi	7

Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)

os.	Team/Car	Car No.
1.	BMW Team RLL, BMW M8 GTE	24
2.	Porsche Motorsport, Porsche 911 RSR – 19	912
3.	Porsche Motorsport, Porsche 911 RSR – 19	911
4.	Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	3
5.	BMW Team RLL, BMW M8 GTE	25
6.	Risi Competizione, Ferrari 488 GTE	62
7.	Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	4

GT Daytona (GTD)

Pos.	Team/Car	Car No.
1.	Paul Miller Racing, Lamborghini Huracan GT3	48
2.	GRT Magnus, Lamborghini Huracan GT3	44
3.	WRT Speedstar Audi Sport, Audi R8 LMS GT3	88
4.	Wright Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R	16
5.	Black Swan Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R	54
6.	Turner Motorsport, BMW M6 GT3	96
7.	Scuderia Corsa, Ferrari 488 GT3	63
8.	Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Racing, Acura NSX GT3	57
9.	AIM Vasser Sullivan, Lexus RC F GT3	14
10.	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, Acura NSX GT3	86
11.	Riley Motorsports, Mercedes-AMG GT3	74
12.	AIM Vasser Sullivan, Lexus RC F GT3	12
13.	Pfaff Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R	9
14.	Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Huracan GT3	11
15.	Tower Motorsport by Starworks, Lamborghini Huracan GT3	47
16.	Tower Motorsport by Starworks, Lamborghini Huracan GT3	19
17.	Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin Vantage GT3	98
18.	Heart of Racing Team, Aston Martin Vantage GT3	23

By sportingnews.com

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,,Kimi Raikkonen Will Drive For As Long As He Wants, Never Letting Him Go,,- says team principal boss

For the 2020 Formula One season, Alfa Romeo will be fielding an unchanged lineup of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. As it turned out, team principal Fredric Vasseur saw little sense in altering the driver line up at the Alfa Romeo team in 2020.

The Alfa Romeo team principal admitted that he was not aiming to attract bigger fish into the team, as they were not what the team needed. Speaking to Blick newspaper, Vasseur stated that he was happy with the performance of his current Alfa duo.

“What good would that be?” Vasseur noted. “I do not want different drivers that are so frustrated after three races with us that they would stop.”

He affirmed that the Swiss-Italian team’s goal is to target sixth or seventh place in the 2020 constructor’s world championship. So the priority is to have two drivers who get along well together and Giovinazzi improved after the summer break, while Kimi Raikkonen could race for them as long as he pleases.

Kimi does a great job for our team, both on the track and in the car development factory. Last season, he scored a large number of points and contributed significantly to our team’s progress. We are happy that the race is for us and it can stay as long as it wants.

Last year, Alfa Romeo took eighth place in the 2019 constructors standings ahead of Haas F1 and the struggling Williams F1 teams. Their best finishes of the year were fourth and fifth with Raikkonen and Giovinazzi at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikknen and Antonio Giovinazzi confirmed for next season

Although the young Italian could only rack up 14 points to Raikkonen’s 43, Vasseur was more concerned about the constructor’s championship.

Looking ahead towards the near future, Fred Vasseur acknowledged that majority of drivers are out of contract at the end of the 2020 season, including both of his wards. To that end, Vasseur is of the opinion that over the course of the coming season, there will be plenty of fodder in the rumor mill regarding the drivers’ seating arrangement in 2021 and beyond.

For now though, Alfa Romeo will be training their focus on the 2020 season, and have been boosted by new recruit, Robert Kubica.