Now Ben Sulayem says Andretti should buy team

In brief

Ben Sulayem changes tack on Andretti

The FIA approved Andretti’s bid to enter Formula 1 as an 11th team last year, but its president Mohammed Ben Sulayem now says they should attempt to buy one of the existing 10 competitors.

“I would advise them to go and buy another team, not to come as the 11th team,” he told Reuters. “I feel that some teams need to be refreshed. What is better? To have 11 teams as a number or 10 and they are strong? I still believe we should have more teams but not any teams. The right teams.”

Formula One Management turned Andretti’s application down in January this year. No F1 teams are known to be up for sale however Haas owner Gene Haas has announced he is closing the NASCAR team he runs with Tony Stewart.

Sainz tests at Paul Ricard

Carlos Sainz Jnr covered 768 kilometres – more than two grand prix distances – in a test for Pirelli at Paul Ricard in France yesterday. The test was chiefly aimed at developing compounds which are more resistant to overtaking.

He did 138 laps, mostly on the layout used by F1 until 2022, and 17 on the short track. His team mate Charles Leclerc is due to take over today.

Newgarden’s Indy 500 win worth £3.3m

Josef Newgarden’s victory in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 netted him a total prize of £3.35 million ($4.28m), the series has confirmed. Pato O’Ward, who lost the lead to Newgarden on the final lap and finished second, won £820,000 ($1.05m). The total prize fund for the 33 drivers was a record £14,463,930 ($18,456,000).

“Enough is enough” in Gaza – Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton spoke out following the deaths of civilians in Rafah, where an air strike by Israeli forces is reported to have killed Palestinians on Sunday.

“These children lived in the Rafah tent camp that was massacred last night,” wrote Hamilton in a post on social media yesterday. “Enough is enough. We cannot continue to watch this tragedy unfold and not speak up.

“The trauma and terror [of] so many, but particularly innocent children, are experiencing is horrifying. This must stop – for the children, for their families, and for their lives.”

Hamilton previously called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war in March.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

A catch-up with Jos about Max: ‘Only one thing counts: winning’ (Verstappen)

‘I don’t think everyone realises how much Max needs to do to perform like this. It’s not something that just happens. The competitors have not got it together as much as they wanted and they appreciate what Max has done.’

FIA to ramp up use of AI against online abuse (The Straits Times)

‘The volunteers. You remove them and there is no Formula One. No WRC (world rally championship). Nothing. I got threats, our volunteers got threats, our drivers got threats, our stewards. If we allow this to happen for long our sport will be beyond repair.’

The Detroit Grand Prix — and all big-time racing — is meant to sell you a car (Detroit Free Press)

‘Getting in front of fans is so important that on May 21, US Sen(ators) Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan joined a bipartisan group of senators in urging the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to address the exclusion of the Andretti Formula Racing team, which is partnered with GM, from the Formula 1 Championship series.’

Introduction of second-generation Formula Regional chassis delayed to 2026 (Formula Scout)

‘Visually it should ‘follow the same trend that Formula 2 has gone, although not as radical because there is no DRS in Formula Regional’.’

Zinedine Zidane, official starter for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans (Automobile Club de l’Oeust)

‘Since 1949, the role has often been conferred upon a personality from the world of politics, sport, film or entertainment. Previous official starters include Brad Pitt (2016), Rafael Nadal (2018), Alain Delon (1996), French president Georges Pompidou (1972) and Steve McQueen (1971). Last year, for the event’s Centenary, LeBron James had the honour of performing this momentous task.’

Al Kamel Systems (LinkedIn)

‘For this reason, he denounces the fact that the control of the track limits has become ‘95% of race director and the stewards’ work’, which means that ‘they cannot attend to their real tasks and cannot focus on the development of the sessions’.’

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Social media

Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:

I suppose I could live with a race with little to no overtaking but I’d want the drivers to be flat out, grazing the barriers to stay out in front of their competitors. When you can back off as much as they could on Sunday, it really is not racing. It’s not even sport. https://t.co/3lBl3BWlNr

— Alex Yoong (@alexyoong) May 28, 2024

I’m surprised at some of the negativity from the NASCAR media around Larson prioritizing Indy. People romanticize Mario, AJ, Graham Hill, Allisons, & Unsers who would drive anything, but the optics of a bigger race somewhere else one day out of the year is too much to accept.

— Nathan (@IndyNathan) May 27, 2024

Sunday’s Indy 500 peaked at 6.46 million viewers from 7:30-7:45 p.m. ET as Newgarden outdueled O’Ward. The race is also the most-streamed INDYCAR race EVER with an AMA of 286,000 viewers across Peacock and NBC Sports digital platforms. https://t.co/TdDdk3eq48

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) May 27, 2024

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Happy birthday!

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