F1 news today: Lewis Hamilton data leak revisited as Binotto makes signing claim… See Details…
McLaren’s Ron Dennis with Lewis Hamilton. Shanghai, 2007.
McLaren’s Ron Dennis with Lewis Hamilton.
With the end of the current ‘autumn break’ in F1 almost in sight, here’s all the latest F1 news from Saturday.
In the final weekend of the current break before the onslaught of six races in seven weekends, here are all the latest F1 news stories you need to digest after a quiet Saturday.
F1 news: The day Lewis Hamilton tweeted telemetry data
Matt Bishop, then-McLaren’s communications chief, has recounted the story of the day when Lewis Hamilton tweeted telemetry data belonging to teammate Jenson Button’s car (or so he thought!) after being out-qualified by the British driver at Spa 2012.
Bishop detailed how he got a phone call telling him to quickly check out what Hamilton had tweeted, before rushing to speak to the World Champion in his driver’s room in the motorhome.
“You’ve got to delete that tweet,” I said.
“Which tweet?” he replied.
“You know which one, the one showing JB’s telemetry. Delete it right now please.”
Mattia Binotto agrees with Ferrari Lewis Hamilton signing
Binotto has returned to the F1 fold as a team boss at the Audi squad, but has spoken out about his time in charge at Ferrari and said he never had Lewis Hamilton on his radar as a target to sign.
Asked by Corriere della Sera if he would have brought Hamilton to Ferrari, Binotto replied: “No. But he did very well to go to Ferrari, I agree with his decision.”
Explaining his reasoning, Binotto said that Hamilton’s future Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc – a Ferrari driver since 2019 after graduating from their academy – should be their centrepiece for an F1 title challenge.
“Because Ferrari had set their sights on other drivers. And if the talent is Leclerc, he is the one who somehow I think should be taken to the target,” claimed Binotto.
How the Financial Regulations have impacted Red Bull staffing
Red Bull recently losing some high-profile names to other teams has come about as a result of an inability under the financial regulations to make strong counter-offers, Christian Horner has revealed.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Horner said the challenges of retaining top-level staff becomes more difficult due to the constraints of the budget cap.
“You can’t have a Galactus because you can’t afford it,” Horner said.
“You’ve got to look at bang for buck, and it forces you to make some really tough decisions.
“It’s tough. Jonathan was a very good sporting director, but he was an expensive asset. So you have to weigh things up.”
Martin Brundle seeking ‘purity’ in F1 racing
Should F1’s introduction of biofuel prove successful, negating the need for hybrid engines, Sky F1 commentator and pundit Martin Brundle believes the sport should reconsider the possibility of running naturally aspirated engines.
“I don’t like the hybrid engines, if I’m honest, because they’re big and heavy. And of course, we like purity in racing. It’s all about minimum weight.
“Formula 1 must stay relevant. It must be cutting edge, appeal to the manufacturers and the sponsors. It’s a really fine line to tread because when everything’s said and done, we’re about entertainment and we’ve got to entertain people. Otherwise they won’t watch. If they don’t watch, we won’t have sponsors, we won’t have engine manufacturers and the whole thing falls over.”
Sergio Perez jokes: Maybe Max Verstappen isn’t focused
With Sergio Perez having to field plenty of questioning and criticism about his on-track focus this season, the Mexican couldn’t resist making a joke as teammate Max Verstappen has struggled for outright pace at some recent races.
Having lagged behind Perez throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and unable to harry Lando Norris for the win in Singapore, Perez made a tongue-in-cheek comment to highlight the criticism he himself has faced.
“Maybe he’s also not focused or something on the racing,” Perez joked.
“Anyway, you know I went through it all. I think it’s clear we have a problem at the moment, and we just have to focus on it, try to get the most out of it.”
