RaceFans Round-up: More ‘experiments’ in sprint rounds

In brief

Audi outbid Red Bull for Sainz – Marko

Red Bull motorsport consultant Marko said the team has been “talking to” its former junior driver Sainz, who’s “having his strongest season in Formula 1.” However he believes they cannot match a rival offer put forward by Audi, who will arrive in F1 with Sauber in 2026.

“He has a very lucrative offer from Audi that we can’t match or beat,” Marko told Kliene Zeitung. “But we still know him from the Toro Rosso days, even back then he drove with Max. But it really hurt him back then when we at Red Bull relied on Verstappen and not on him.”

More ‘experiments’ in sprint rounds

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon expects the new rules for sprint rounds will lead to teams being more adventurous with their car set-up.

Parc ferme restrictions will lift between the start of the sprint race and grand prix qualifying on Saturdays this season, allowing teams to make adjustments to set-up. Ocon expects teams will take more risks as a result.

“Luckily, if things go wrong in that first stage of the weekend, you can always change the set-up back, which is a new thing,” Ocon said. “So probably a bit more experimental things you can try for that first stage of the weekend, but otherwise, it’s not a huge difference.”

Boya quickest as F3 test ends

Mari Boya was quickest on the third and final day of in-season F3 testing in Barcelona.

Boya set the quickest time of the day in the morning session with a 1’27.034, almost four tenths slower than his own best time from Wednesday’s session. His Campos team mate Oliver Goethe was second quickest with Luke Browning third for Hitech, while Leonardo Fornaroli was fastest in the afternoon session.

The F3 season resumes next month at Imola as part of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend.

Garcia, Pin join FREC with Iron Dames

F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia and World Endurance Championship driver and F1 Academy race winner Doriane Pin will enter in this year’s Formula Regional European Championship with the Iron Dames team.

Both Garcia and Pin will make their debuts in the series with the team which Pin currently races with in the WEC GT class. Pin had won both races of the opening round of the F1 Academy in Jeddah, but lost victory in race two due to a penalty for taking the chequered flag twice.

The season will run over 20 races and ten rounds, starting next month at Hockenheim.

Instead of being handed their trophy, the #ChineseGP winner will wear it around their neck.

When they wear it or lift it, the trophy will light up to symbolise the speed F1 cars race around the track.

It was designed by Pininfarina.#F1 pic.twitter.com/UxI1CAApbs

— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) April 18, 2024

The year of the dragon 🐲🔥

Chinese GP 2024 @StiloOfficial helmet design by @tiffanycromwell 🇨🇳#VB77 #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/i1o2sd2Chd

— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) April 18, 2024

Fernando Alonso is going to stay in F1 until at least 2026 😱

When I retired from Formula 1 I knew I needed a break from the incredible pressure which came with racing, testing and traveling all the time. Now we have 24 races, and I usually raced with only 16 races each year..

— Mika Häkkinen (@F1MikaHakkinen) April 18, 2024

When people find out that my team and other car skins in F1 24 are now in the non-editable database file. Oh boy. Quality of career videos from YouTubers in F1 24 will decrease significantly without the possibility of changing a livery in my team or career. 😬

— GameGecki (@GameGecki) April 18, 2024

Are @F1 now deliberately tweeting out incorrect data to get more interactions?

Anyway, @Prost_official in 1993 (7), @ayrtonsenna in 1988 and @nigelmansell in 1992 (both 6), Senna again in 1989 and @F1MikaHakkinen in 1999 (both 5) all did this.https://t.co/vViab8s2qQ#F1

— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) April 18, 2024

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Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Jiten, Lenny, The Comedian 39, The_Pope and Tommo N7!

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