In the round-up: AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost explains what Liam Lawson must do this year to earn a shot at Formula 1, and who will join him in the team’s practice sessions this year.
In brief
AlphaTauri have two drivers lined up for F1 practice this year
Lawson has moved up to Super Formula after taking five wins over two seasons in Formula 2. Tost said he needs to “win in Japan” to stand a chance of progressing to F1 in the near future.
“That’s important,” Tost said to media including RaceFans. “He has to show that he can do it. When he was testing for us, he did a reasonably good job.
“We have to give him time, we have to prepare him, and then we will see. At the end, I always say every driver has in his hands the career, whether he can come into F1 or whether for whatever reason he can’t do it.
“A driver must live very professional, must do a lot of training, and must be then prepared in a real good way because nowadays F1 is really very competitive, and I could not tell you any driver who does not deserve to be in F1. And this has changed [from] the past.”
F1 teams are required to run drivers who have made fewer than three starts in practice sessions at two grands prix. Tost said his team’s plan plan is “currently Liam and [Isack] Hadjar, both of them” when it comes to calling up young drivers to drive for AlphaTauri in those sessions.
Hadjar finished fourth in Formula 3 last year and is stepping up to F2 for 2023. He has never driven an F1 car before.
Domenicali proud of F1’s “soft power” on human rights
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says he is proud of the changes the world championship has been able to influence in the various countries it has raced in around the world.
The political influence of F1 has been a topic of intense scrutiny this winter, with the FIA restricting competitors’ ability to make political statements at events while the championship itself has come under pressure for choosing to race in countries with concerning human rights records.
Domenicali says he “takes pride” in being able to “open up the discussion on issues in these places.”
“I know it is easy to criticise me but I have no fear because with soft power, I believe in the right context, in the right way, I can achieve results,” he told The Guardian.
Spanish talent heads to Japan for next career step
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