The Dutch Grand Prix was another win for Max Verstappen over Lewis Hamilton — though his 2021 bitter title rival came agonisingly close to denying him on home soil.
So close, in fact, that some couldn’t help themselves but to assume that foul play had been involved, and as has become increasingly commonplace for this volatile rivalry, the discourse online has been over the top, to say the least.
AlphaTauri is at the centre of a storm of baseless accusations of race fixing so significant that it’s been forced to deny online that it’s acted underhandedly to benefit Verstappen — a sad lead-in to the team’s home race this weekend in Monza.
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That wasn’t the only controversy taking place online. Sebastian Vettel, off social media with the exception of his largely inactive Instagram page, stirred up chatter in Formula E by declaring the all-electric racing series as irrelevant to the electrification of the automotive sector.
Meanwhile, Mercedes is turning its focus to 2023, with the clock counting down on a decision about how much of its 2022 car is going to carry over to next year.
ALPHATAURI CONDEMNS CONSPIRACY THEORIES AFTER DUTCH GP
AlphaTauri has been forced to hit back against abusive conspiracies flourishing online in the wakes of Yuki Tsunoda’s race-altering retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix.
Tsunoda stopped twice on track with what he thought was a loose wheel and then a differential problem, eventually triggering a virtual safety car that allowed Max Verstappen to make his second pit stop without losing track position to the two Mercedes cars, effectively sealing victory for him.
It didn’t take long for conspiracies to sprout that the junior Red Bull team was helping its leading man to victory.
Online they took an ugly and abusive form, with renowned Red Bull Racing strategist Hannah Schmitz coming being targeted in particular.
The abuse was significant enough to move AlphaTauri to release a statement condemning the online pile-on.
“Such hateful behaviour cannot be tolerated, and to entertain accusations of foul play is unacceptable, untrue and completely disrespectful towards Hannah and us,” AlphaTauri said in a statement.
“We have always competed independently, fairly and with the highest levels of respect and sportsmanship.”
A closer look at the situation shows the conspiracy to be baseless.
The confusion at AlphaTauri stemmed from Tsunoda reporting a loose wheel when what he was actually feeling appears to have been a differential issue, which was only detected once his car had been given the visual all-clear.
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Believing the conspiracy also means ignoring the fact that Verstappen had a decent shot at victory anyway. Indeed Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner said the VSC actually made life more complicated for the Dutchman by forcing him onto the hard tyre, which he couldn’t get the best out of, rather than his preferred soft.
Verstappen was also already 93 points up in the championship battle before arriving in the Netherlands, meaning there is virtually nothing to gain on the title table in exchange for the significant risk of cheating.
Tsunoda will take a 10-place grid penalty at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix for collecting his fifth reprimand of the year for racing with loose belts in Zandvoort.
VETTEL ACCUSED OF GREENWASHING AFTER FORMULA E SNUB
Sebastian Vettel has stirred up considerable disquiet in Formula E by branding the sport as irrelevant to electric mobility, attracting heavy criticism from FE champion and former F1 driver Luca di Grassi.
In an interview about his post-F1 ambitions, in particular how he could marry environmental activism with his motorsport passion, Vettel told German newspaper Zeit that working with Formula E wasn’t an option because the sport “doesn’t fully convince” him.
“I don‘t understand the meaning behind [Formula E],” he said. “The battery technology that is being developed has nothing to do with the technology that a normal car could use.
“It is not good for the environment if the batteries are charged not with renewable energy but with fossil fuels.”
It triggers a furious response from Di Grassi on social media, where Vettel was accused of being dishonest.
“Either [he] has no idea of what he is talking about or is trying to mislead the general public on purpose,” Di Grassi wrote. “And/or all that green stuff he has been doing lately … is completely greenwashing.”
There has also been notable crossover of Formula E technology into the automotive sphere, particularly when it comes to drive train efficiency given the drive train is one of the few parts of the car open to development.
Formula E boasts Nissan, Maserati, Porsche, Jaguar, Mahindra and French luxury brand DS among its manufacturer entries, with McLaren joining the sport next season with a Nissan drive train.
The battery, however, is a control part and of limited road relevance. Its dimensions are designed with the restrictions of a racing chassis rather than a road-going wheelbase, and the technology itself is different too — whereas road cars are looking for batteries that deliver consistently for long periods of time, racing batteries are about peak power output over a short distance.
That’s not to say there’s no potential crossover in battery tech, but as it stands, Formula E isn’t much of a proving ground for automotive battery technology.
With valid arguments on both sides about just how relevant Formula E is to the road, perhaps this is a case of agreeing to disagree.
CRUNCH TIME FOR MERCEDES 2023 CAR CONCEPT
Mercedes will decide “in the next weeks” what direction it takes with its 2023 car design despite not yet having a firm grasp on the problems afflicting its current machine.
The reigning constructors champion won’t defend its crown this year thanks to its dramatically unpredictable W13, which has been good enough for one pole and no victories so far.
With next year’s rules largely stable, experiments with this year’s car are useful in setting design cues for next year — though with the car so volatile, Wolff has said decision-making for 2023 is proving especially tricky.
“It’s a very difficult situation because we obviously have a certain concept of the car, and it’s not like we can experiment a lot this year and simply [try] stuff out and test,” Wolff said in Belgium. “So whatever we decide for next year, it needs to be carefully evaluated.
“We have massive swings in performance that we can’t really get on top of. In this very moment to take a decision for next year — whatever it may be; changing the concept dramatically — how can you be sure that’s the better direction to go?”
But with pre-season testing around five months away, deadlines for final decisions are fast approaching.
“There’s various cut-off points relating to these various parts of the car that happen really in the next few weeks.
“You’ve got to commit to a chassis concept, you’ve got to commit to a suspension layout et cetera. And how do you do your cooling? Where do you place your radiators, how to integrate the engine?
“That is something which we need to decide really in the next weeks.”
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Speaking at the Dutch Grand Prix, Wolff said his team’s worst weekends were proving the most educational in deciding what direction to take for next year.
“The bad one was really necessary in order to comprehend why it was going good [at Zandvoort],” he said. “Because as weird as it sounds for a hi-tech science lab on wheels, the data don‘t seem to correlate this year.
“We are gathering data on the track in order to put the puzzle together. We added a few new bits of the puzzle to comprehend for next year.”
Though much has been made of Mercedes’s no-sidepod design this year, it’s a bit of a red herring, with the floor far more important to performance than the bodywork. Ferrari and Red Bull Racing also field dramatically divergent bodywork solutions, albeit less strikingly so.
