Q: This year, F1 has very one-sided teammate battles for Haas, Williams, Aston Martin and Red Bull. Red Bull’s junior team started out the year one-sided before Daniel Ricciardo turned his season around, and Sauber and Alpine haven’t been fast or consistent enough to compare.
Is having only four teams with teammate battles a low-water mark for modern F1?
Will, Indy
CM: The premise of your question is a really good one Will, but I’m going to pick a hole in the way you’ve asked it in a second…
Firstly, I don’t think it’s a lower water mark, I actually think it’s generally a sign of how competitive the sport is at the moment that tiny margins between teammates can lead to really big gaps in results because other cars are on very similar performance. You can’t afford to be 0.2s off like in the past — previously a pretty acceptable margin — because that’ll cost you four or five places in qualifying. The expectations now are for both drivers to be on exactly the same performance level.
Reliability is so good that you get to see far more comparisons over a race distance, and I reckon you’d be quite surprised that there are only four teams where the split is worse than 2:1 in terms of results, and one is at McLaren…
Red Bull (11-1), Haas (10-1), McLaren (9-3) and Williams (8-2) are the biggest gaps in that sense — discounting double DNFs — but with Oscar Piastri fairly regularly backing up Lando Norris in terms of being close in the finishing order, it feels grossly unfair to use that stat to suggest there’s a weakness in that lineup.
The bit I was going to pick you up on, though, was calling out Aston Martin’s pairing, because I think it’s fashionable to criticize Lance Stroll and it’s usually justified, but not right now. That’s the closest pairing on the grid in terms of qualifying results (Fernando Alonso leads 7-5), and is 8-4 in Alonso’s favor in races but Stroll’s form has picked up/Alonso’s dropped off and they sit ninth and 10th in the drivers’ standings.
I’d also still say you can compare drivers in slow or inconsistent cars, and feel the Alpine pair have been extremely closely matched — look how regularly in races they’re near each other — and Sauber’s haven’t been massively far apart either.
The only places I think there has been a concerning gap are at Red Bull, Haas and Williams, and even then we’ve seen Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant have strong moments that show the performance is there, they just can’t do it anywhere near consistently enough this year.
Q: I’m very happy that Sir Lewis won his 104th! Do the past two races really signal an upswing for Mercedes such that they will regularly be in the hunt with Red Bull and McLaren?
Also, Ferrari seem to have faded somewhat. Do you think that they will be clawing their way back?
Being an American, I had hoped that Sargeant would be more competitive. It seems entirely possible that he will be replaced, perhaps as early as mid-season. Since Antonelli is off the board and also quite possibly Sainz, who are now the front-runners?
Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA
CM: Taking them in order, Don: Yes, I think Mercedes will regularly be in the hunt. The car is much more competitive now, has upgrades coming for the next two races and has two drivers capable of winning multiple races. Plus the reset in development time means Mercedes was fourth in the standings at the end of June and has an advantage on that front over Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
Ferrari’s an interesting case, because everything was going so well, including with developments. But the upgrades introduced in Spain have created a bouncing problem that needs addressing. The team managed to respond really well in a similar situation last year (Zandvoort was the turning point) and I expect that experience will help it resolve the current issues quickly too. But it might have set it back a little compared to the top three.
While Carlos Sainz would never have been an option for Williams mid-season, someone like Liam Lawson potentially could have been, but there might be movement at Red Bull that rules him out. The only other experienced driver who would be a genuine upgrade and you could see being available this year is Esteban Ocon, but I’d be surprised if Alpine felt it was better off promoting rookie Jack Doohan mid-season given how strong Ocon’s performances are.
Other than that, you really are looking at Antonelli or Mick Schumacher, but given neither are racing in F1 this year they aren’t certainties to deliver a clear improvement over the remaining 12 rounds if they need time to get comfortable within the team.
Q: After the death of Dale Earnhardt there were significant changes made to racing in the name of safety. The HANS device quickly became mandatory, and we saw the SAFER barrier installed at all of the NASCAR tracks within a few short years. Now that John Force has had what is likely a career-ending crash, maybe it’s time for the NHRA to require the SAFER barrier at the tracks they race at.
Also, why isn’t there some sort of safety device that automatically deploys the parachutes during a catastrophic engine explosion?
Finally, would it be possible for the NHRA to change from tube frame cars to those similar to IndyCar? One where the driver sits inside a carbon fiber safety cell where the suspension and engine components are built around it? I’m hoping like everyone that Force can recover and enjoy retirement with his family and grandkids. Here’s hoping the NHRA takes a long look at his crash and asks if they can do better for the drivers.
Rick Schneider, Charlotte, NC
KELLY CRANDALL: Yes, there is the technology for the parachutes to deploy. But when the explosion happened in Force’s car, it seems that system was compromised. NHRA has been investigating the crash (I am still waiting to hear from them on details) but I’ve heard that what they found with regard to the parachutes has already been discussed with John Force Racing and other teams. The same will be done as the investigation comes to a close if there are any other findings that need to be shared with the teams or updates made to the cars.
Q: Given the severity of John Force’s crash, is the NHRA looking into installing SAFER barriers?
Bob Crosby, Charlotte, NC
KC: The conversation around SAFER barriers for NHRA is not a new one, but it comes down to the practical application of such technology in a sport of such high speeds, maintenance for tracks that are used by more than just NHRA, as well as the costs. I don’t think it’s impossible for NHRA tracks to have SAFER barriers but there seems to be a lot more involved than just installing them and going forward.
Q: What is Hailie Deegan going to race in now since she is only 23? Will she race again?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
KC: Deegan’s next steps are unknown. Deegan has some backing and some Ford support, so I would imagine the next decision needs to be evaluating where works best to place her. It’s very easy to push a driver forward and ruin their career because it doesn’t develop as expected. Deegan does have talent but she needs to be surrounded by drivers and peers she can learn from, while also having the right resources.
Q: While we see similar titles for personnel across IndyCar, F1, NASCAR and IMSA (race engineer, performance engineer, data engineer, etc.) I’m curious about how the positions compare functionally across disciplines. Can you all share some light on that?
Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA
KC: The race engineer is all about the data and vehicle performance. They are going to help the team with analyzing what the data is saying, the car setup and translating that to race simulation. NASCAR has become so much about data over the years, with testing going away, that engineers are even more important. So, the design and development of systems that are going to help the car perform is going to be key. And you’ll also notice that NASCAR went through a stretch where a lot of individuals being named crew chief have an engineering background.
Q: Why isn’t Smokey Yunick in the NASCAR Hall of Fame? Are the Frances still blocking him, and if so why after all these years? He was a genius — the only chief mechanic to win the Daytona 500 and Indy 500, I think.
John, DE
KC: There is no clear answer on that, only theories as you mentioned. I don’t think anything will ever be acknowledged publicly if there is something to the France family’s feelings about Yunick. He has never been nominated for the Hall of Fame.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, July 13, 2016
Q: What is your favorite Carl Haas story?
David, Waxhaw, NC
ROBIN MILLER: It’s everyone’s favorite. He accidentally blessed Bobby Rahal’s car before a race at Mid-Ohio (it was red just like Mario’s) and Rahal won. Carl was depressed for a month.