In the round-up: Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin says the team will reintroduce the floor they removed from Spa onto their cars at Zandvoort
In brief
Mercedes planning to reinstall removed Spa floor at Zandvoort
After Mercedes removed their updated floor from their car over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend to reinstall a previous specification floor, the team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says they intend to refit the new floor to their cars at Zandvoort.
“We are planning to do that now,” Shovlin said.
“We essentially reverted the car to the Silverstone-spec on the Friday night. We did that because we had a good race in Silverstone, and Spa and Silverstone are not dramatically different circuits in terms of the corner speed range that you’re dealing with.
“We’d clearly introduced some problems somewhere. We think that was largely due to how we were running the car in Spa – not induced by the updates themselves. That was obviously giving us a bit of bouncing in the high speed corners, a few issues with the balance. Going to that Silverstone-car got it all back to normal. We’ve since had time to look at the data to understand what it was we did exactly and, knowing that, we’re pretty confident that we’ll be going for a reintroduction in Zandvoort.”
Dixon wants more wear at Milwaukee
Scott Dixon says the upcoming IndyCar oval race at the Milwaukee Mile will bring the question of how much tyre wear is best in the series to the forefront.
“Milwaukee will be interesting,” Dixon said. “They’ve really got to work on the formula for those tracks because nobody wants to just follow the leader. Unfortunately, with the repave at Iowa, that kind of ruined the best short track we’ve had for a good five, ten years.
“It will be interesting to see the Milwaukee test for us, almost zero deg as well, extremely hard to pass. We’ll have to see how that plays out. I know they’re talking about bringing a softer tyre.
“Deg is key. You need three or four seconds over a stint. That spices it up, makes it interesting. Firestone don’t want to hear people talking about degradation, but it creates great racing.”
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Links
F1 design guru Newey reveals his favourite cars of all time (Formula 1)
”The Bluebird (CN7), I think that land speed record car of the mid-60s was absolutely astounding. It’s more advanced than many F1 – all F1 cars in many ways – and the first car actually to properly understand ground effect, venturis and tune it.”
Pricing confirmed at $42.99/month for upcoming Venu Sports streaming service (ESPN Press Room)
‘Venu Sports, the upcoming standalone streaming service being built through a joint venture to be established by ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery, will be available at a launch price of $42.99 per month for the service, with a seven-day free trial. Includes coverage throughout the season of the biggest auto racing events, including all IndyCar Series races, NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and Championship Race and all Formula 1 events.’
How the F1 Academy ‘Discover Your Drive’ Race Academy is helping young female karters progress to the British Indoor Karting Championship (F1 Academy)
‘After completing the F1 Academy ‘Discover Your Drive’ Race Academy, the pathway behind the wheel continues with the opportunity to qualify for the British Indoor Karting Championships, a more accessible and affordable start in motorsport. Split into two categories for under 16s, children aged eight-to-12 compete in the Cadet class, if their 12th birthday falls after 1st June 2024. Meanwhile, those aged 12-16 participate in the junior class. The window to qualify for the BIKC finals runs from June 1st to August 31st, 2024.’
Thank You Mercedes (Jarno Opmeer via YouTube)
Multiple F1 Simracing world champion Jarno Opmeer reflects on what he achieved as part of the Mercedes esports team over the last four years.
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On this day in motorsport
- On this day in 1984 Alain Prost won the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring ahead of team mate Niki Lauda
