Q: Is Haas getting any closer to understanding its tire management problem? Again, in Hungary, they qualify pretty well (Hulk anyway) and start out looking pretty racy, and then they just fade and finish at the back of the field. It’s got to be really frustrating for everyone involved, and it’s hard to watch as a fan. Under the cost cap rules they should have more opportunity for improvement upgrades than almost everybody else, but it doesn’t look like there’s any progress.
Alan, Orlando, FL
CM: Speaking to Kevin Magnussen, he says Haas does understand the issue, but putting in solutions is the harder part. There are upgrades planned for later in the year that he says the team can get a little bit excited about, but until those arrive then it’ll remain really tough. Plus, Haas hasn’t always had the best development rate — that’s perhaps the penalty of being such a small team compared to the others — so the gains it does make often get overshadowed by bigger steps for others.
Guenther Steiner has made it clear that he wants the team to avoid a repeat issue next season, and so is willing to give it more time developing the 2023 car to ensure it knows how to fix the weakness.
Q: With Andretti’s F1 bid still up in the air, is there a chance another team — say, McLaren — swoops in and gets GM?
Mark
CM: McLaren must look pretty attractive to a few manufacturers now after the recent steps forward, but as it stands I don’t think it’ll be GM that it takes. From what I’ve been told, GM has said it’s Andretti or nothing for it in F1, and if its bid is snubbed it won’t be coming back.
Whether that’s true or just posturing remains to be seen, and maybe McLaren would try and open talks if Andretti is unsuccessful, but I don’t think it’ll get anywhere before we know the outcome of that bid.
Q: So, Formula 1 is in summer break. Now what? With the spending cap, can the teams that already have gone to “B spec” cars (Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren) afford to do any more major updates? Or will there be financial pressure to move on to next year’s cars?
It seems to me that a team such as Alpine, whose season has turned to you-know-what, has every incentive to move on to 2024. However, for the three squads previously mentioned plus Aston, second through fifth in the constructor’s championship is entirely up for grabs — and the millions that entails.
Side note: for all the dominant seasons being compared to Verstappen’s, Jim Clark’s 1965 run seems to be forgotten. Clark and his Lotus 33 had the world championship locked up so early that he could go off and run the Indy 500. He also was, like Verstappen this year, widely known for being by far the easiest on tires.
Al, Boston
CM: Most teams will have already committed to updates by now, and will be focusing on 2024 in terms of other developments. The time it takes from signing-off the design of an upgrade and getting it on the car can be a couple of months, so there could be new parts after the break that were finalized weeks ago.
But there is also learning to be had for 2024 because of the stability of the regulations, so some teams might look to develop the current car for longer because it’s performance that will also help it next year, or at the very least give it knowledge to help next season. Aston Martin insists it will be developing aggressively and it did have the most wind tunnel time of all those teams, so I expect to see new parts from all of the teams.
Good point on Clark — he won the title at round seven of 10, and that was after missing Monaco (the second round) to win at Indianapolis. He wasn’t alone in choosing Indy due to the clash that year, but he did give up the F1 championship lead to nearest rival Graham Hill, who won Monaco. For Clark to come back and reel off five straight wins to take the title was remarkable given the reliability issues at the time — he failed to finish any of the final three races after that!
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, August 3, 2016
Q: What is Roger Penske like? We fans see him interviewed, and he is always correct and professional. He is known to be loyal to his employees. He is, with great justification, universally respected within the sport. But is he liked? Do you like him? Is he witty, interesting, personable, a good fellow to have a few beers with? (Assuming he didn’t have companies and around the world to run and could find the time.)
Jenks
ROBIN MILLER: I’ve often said R.P. is the smartest man I’ve ever met, and certainly the most polished and professional in motorsports. He’s very clever and never tells you much unless he wants it out there. He is one of the most powerful people in American business because he always delivers. Is he liked? We’ve had a couple of memorable feuds (including standing on pit road at Pocono before the race screaming at each other) in the past five decades, but Roger doesn’t hold grudges — at least professionally — and always treated me with class, even though maybe I didn’t deserve it a couple times.
I think more people respect him than really like him because, honestly, he’s not easy to get to know and he’s always flying around the world, so it’s not like he hangs out a lot. But his good friends and employees from days gone by are his true pals, and the loyalty factor at Team Penske speaks volumes.
I’ve only seen The Captain really let his hair down a couple times and once was in Mexico City after the CART race in 1981, when he got drunk on the school bus with everyone else. Sure wish I had a camera phone back then. I could trade that video for some Penske stock.