Verstappen pleased with change to Pirelli’s tyres

In brief

“I’ve never sat in a car with understeer which is fast”

Pirelli has made revisions to its tyres for the 2023 F1 season which Verstappen hopes will improve the front-end grip.

“The big issue last year was not specifically the tyres, it was just the weight of the car was very massively over and that creates a lazy behaviour on the front,” he told media including RaceFans last week. “Basically once we started to get rid of that weight, the car became more agile and that’s how a car is going to go quick, because I’ve never sat in a car with understeer which is fast in my life, in any category.

“Also with the new tyres for Pirelli, I do think it’s a little improvement. Of course we only tested it fully in Abu Dhabi, for example. We have to see on every single track as well that it works everywhere. Because every Tarmac and track condition, like the weather, it influences a lot. But I’m confident that everything will be heading into the right direction.”

Capito ‘laid the foundation’ for Vowles at Williams

Former Williams team principal Jost Capito says he laid the foundations for the team’s future development and hadn’t committed to spending a third year at the team before his departure was announced at the end of last year.

“Of course you don’t have that insight from the outside, but I originally said that I’d do it for two years, maybe a third,” he told Auto Bild. “In the meantime, however, there are so many races that it is relatively exhausting. And getting the team back up just takes longer than two or three years.”

Capito spoke highly of James Vowles, who will replace him in charge of the team later this month, and said he had left behind a structure the former Mercedes strategist could develop.

“I just think you have to lay the foundation first and once it’s laid, you can build on it,” said Capito. “I was convinced that this is the case now, and I also communicated this to the board in the following way: that now that you have the basis, you should also have someone who will stay there in the long term and continue it from there can.”

Bottas reveals weight loss ‘addiction’

Valtteri Bottas has admitted he pushed himself too hard to lose weight earlier in his Formula 1 career.

“I trained myself to pain physically and mentally,” he said in an interview. “It got out of…