In the round-up: Formula 1 has unnecessarily disrupted its last two races, says George Russell.
In brief
Red flag was another “unnecessary” call – Russell
Russell criticised the decision to red flag the Australian Grand Prix after deploying the Safety Car in response to Alexander Albon’s crash. He compared it to the surprising use of the Safety Car when Lance Stroll retired dur the previous race in Jeddah.
“I was pretty disappointed initially with the decision to red flag the race,” he said. No words for that. Obviously, we had a similar situation in Saudi with the Safety Car coming out in an unnecessary circumstance.”
He said Mercedes “made the right decision” by pitting him from the lead when the Safety Car came out, though the later red flag took away the advantage he had gained by changing tyres. “Pitting, I think, was the right call under the safety car,” he said. “I was surprised when I saw Lewis and Max stay out, and I was kind of pretty pleased when I saw that because I thought it played right into my hands. And then obviously the red flag ruined things.”
Police arrest suspects in Leclerc case
Almost a year since Leclerc was mugged for a bespoke Richard Mille watch in Viareggio, Italy, local police confirmed they have arrested four people in connection with the crime. A number of watches were recovered, though it has not been confirmed if any belonged to the Ferrari driver.
The watch was taken after the thieves stopped Leclerc and asked him for a photograph. Following the robbery last year he said the police’s investigation “hasn’t been as smooth as what I’ve read.”
Former Mercedes designer “not surprised” team’s reign ended
Former Mercedes technical chief Aldo Costa says he isn’t surprised the team was wrong-footed by a change in the technical regulations last year, but is convinced they can bounce back.
Costa, who worked for Mercedes between 2011 and 2019, told La Gazzetta dello Sport his former team’s defeat “didn’t surprise me, in the sense that they have been winning for many years, they have been the reference for everyone.”
“It’s perfectly fine that they didn’t interpret a regulatory change in the best possible way. More precisely: they didn’t have the timing that others had, because then they recovered during the season. And it is in these things that the strength of a team is seen. They have all the numbers to return to winning.”
Despite Red Bull’s dominance of the 2023 season so far,…
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