IN SUPPORT: Fernando Alonso says his first run for Aston Martin today will be an important start to their 2023 season.
in short
Tuesday test “Gold” – Alonso
Alonso will start today’s test at the Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi as the driver of Aston Martin. Next year, each team is allowed just three days of pre-season testing, which he says is a valuable opportunity to get used to the new environment.
“I think it will be important, but it will be more in terms of convenience. What kind of steering wheel, handle, buttons, pedals, things like that.
“Next year in Bahrain we only have a day and a half and then you start the championship. So this Tuesday is golden for things like that.
Vesti returns to Prima for a second F2 season
Mercedes junior driver Frédéric Vesti will move from ART to Prima in Formula 2’s second season next year to win the 2019 Formula One Regional European Championship. “With his talent and experience, we expect him to be competitive and we are committed to supporting him in any way we can,” said Prima Group Principal René Roisin.
Vesti is set to test drive a Mercedes Formula 1 car for the first time today.
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Binotto dismissed “criticisms and rumours”.
Ferrari F1 team principal Mattia Binotto said he and company chief executive John Elkann had agreed to release a statement soon, denying reports that the job was in doubt. Some Italian publications have reported that Ferrari plans to replace Binotto as Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur.
The “big passion” around Ferrari means there’s always “a lot of criticism and rumours,” Binotto said. “This was true in the past, is the case now, and will be in the future.
“So when these speculations became clear, I had a discussion with my chairman, John Elkann, and together we discussed clearly what was the best way to move forward and we decided to make a statement. That was probably the best way to shut down any speculations, and they are obviously speculations that are, in their entirety, baseless.”
Mazepin offers “words of wisdom” to drivers
Nikita Mazepin visited former Formula 2 team Hitec at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and made headlines on social media when he proposed to the four drivers who have followed him out of Formula 1 at the end of the season.
The post, themed around the five stages of acceptance, included the following thought about ‘anger’: “You blame everyone but yourself for having to leave F1. Especially the ‘Drive to Survivive’ film crew. You’ll be watching the race with emotion and screaming at the screen.
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happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Clare Msj, Dane, Rachel and Richard!
This day in motorsport
Born today in 1934: Jackie Pretorius, who made four appearances at South Africa’s home Grand Prix in 1965 and 1973, last came as a replacement for Nani Galli in Frank Williams’ team.
