F1 2023 news: Miami Grand prix qualifying, starting grid, Australia start time, Max Verstappen
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff delievered a furious takedown of his team’s car, as Mercedes once again failed to keep pace with the Red Bull cars at Miami qualifying.
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A furious Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff labelled his team’s car as a “nasty piece of work” and expressed frustration at the lack of improvements made to the vehicle in the past year.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton finished 13th in qualifying on Saturday at the Miami Grand Prix and George Russell narrowly made it into sixth place on the grid as Mercedes again failed to keep pace with the dominant Red Bull.
Both Mercedes drivers struggled with their car in the tricky conditions on the resurfaced Miami track.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has pole position heading into Sunday’s race and adding to Mercedes woe, Fernando Alonso, in the Aston Martin, with a Mercedes engine, finished second-fastest.
Wolff was certainly in no mood to consider Russell’s grid position any kind of positive.
“I take no enjoyment from finishing sixth. It’s the lack of comprehension of what it is, that makes this car such a nasty piece of work,” he said.
“The car is not a nice car, not a good car,” said Wolff.
“I would say the performance is just really bad, and for George and Lewis it just really went south. You could see in the first sector the car really wasn’t there.
“When things go bad they compound bad and this has happened for him (Hamilton) and for all of us as a team,” he said.
Last year the Mercedes struggled at Miami with bouncing but Wolff said he said he expected more improvement from the past year’s work.
“It is worse than I thought, we have had 12 months since we were last in Miami and the car is just marginally better.
“Maybe it is not bouncing on the straight but that is the only thing that is better than last year. The car is not fast enough and we haven’t got any comprehension why that is. It is just not acceptable,” he said.
Hamilton said the car’s troubles had made it hard for him to push for a front row position.
“It was a difficult session. We’re not that quick so we really needed perfect laps but it was difficult to get into a rhythm, at the beginning I had that issue with the car going slow in the last corner,” Hamilton continued.
“The last run I was the last of the pack and trying to get the temperatures into the tyres. I was at the back of the queue and everyone slowed into the last corner and I lost all temperatures and couldn’t do the lap,” he said.
Russell said his sixth position was a “flattering result” and that while Sunday’s race was the priority, the team needed to look further ahead.
“We’ll focus on tomorrow, but we need to think about the bigger picture and how we’re going to bring the fight to the guys at the top,” he said.
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MAD MAX DENIED, PIASTRI BOMBS AFTER F1 QUALIFYING CHAOS
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez grabbed pole position for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix and with team-mate Max Verstappen left back in ninth on the grid, has his eyes on a victory that could send him to the top of the standings.
Perez is just six points behind defending world champion Verstappen, after the Mexican’s second victory of the season in Azerbaijan last week.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was second and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start in third in an all-Spanish speaking front row of the grid.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out with one minute 36 seconds left, causing a red flag and the decision was taken not to resume the session.
That left Verstappen, who had topped the final two practice sessions, without the chance to make a final lap to challenge for pole and Leclerc back in seventh.
Australia’s Oscar Piastri, driving for McLaren, will start 19th on the grid after a difficult day in qualifying.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the seven-times world champion, failed to make it out of Q2 and will start down in 13th place on the grid for Sunday’s race.
With Red Bull consistently the fastest this season, the duel between their two drivers is so far the source of the most drama.
“I’m enjoying (the battle),” said Perez.
“I’m just thinking race by race. Tomorrow (Sunday) is a new opportunity starting from pole, we are the ones that have something to lose.”
Perez said he had been struggling in practice before finding his pace when it counted.
“It wasn’t coming together. I was struggling for balance, confidence,” he said. “It has been my worst weekend up to qualifying. I was just resetting everything we did, we made a small change into qualifying that really everything became more alive. We put in the lap when it mattered,” added the Red Bull driver.
Verstappen was left frustrated that he had not been able to complete a peak lap before the red flag.
“I was trying to put it on the limit and then I made a mistake and had to abort the lap,” Verstappen said.
“Then you rely on a bit of luck that there is not going to be a red flag, but that can happen on a street circuit. I’m just a bit upset with myself.
“It’s going to be difficult. I made it difficult for myself, so I have to accept that,” he said.
Hamilton has an even more difficult task as his frustrations continued.
“Last run I was at the last of the pack and trying to get the temperatures into the tyres. Everyone slowed into the last corner and I lost all temperatures and couldn’t do the lap,” he said.
“We knew it was very hard and there was a 50:50 chance we could get into Q3 so we need to be better with our timing. It’s done, I’ll try and get my head down tomorrow and see what I can do -- 13th to God knows where,” he said.
Kevin Magnusson of Haas was a surprise fourth, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
That left Verstappen without the chance to make a final lap to challenge for pole.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the seven-times world champion, failed to make it out of Q2 and will start in 13th place on the grid for Sunday’s race.
LEBRON, BRADY, HAMILTON? F1 STAR DECLARES ‘I’M IN MY PRIME’
Lewis Hamilton wants to sign a new multi-year contract with Mercedes as he rallies against suggestions he will retire.
The seven-time world champion is out of contract at the end of this season but has always stated his intention to stay in F1.
But rather than agreeing a 12-month extension to his deal with Mercedes, worth £40million a year, he wants to open up discussions about a longer-term contract.
Hamilton, 38, said ahead of this weekend’s Miami GP that he is taking motivation from veteran basketball star LeBron James and NFL’s Tom Brady, by extending his career.
He said: “I’m not at the end of my career, I’m not in the downhill slope of my career. I’m in my prime.
“It all depends on how hard I want to work and keep myself in my prime, in terms of physical and mental capability.
“If you look at LeBron, if you look at Tom Brady, they have shown that it can be sustained for as long as you are dedicated enough to put the energy and time in.
“Right now, I don’t plan on changing, I only plan on adding to the drive and the motivation and to being better. I’m massively driven.”
With his future in the balance - at least contractually - there has been speculation linking Charles Leclerc with a move from Ferrari to become Hamilton’s replacement.
It is a rumour that Hamilton shot down as he repeated his desire to remain with the Silver Arrows.
He added: “I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about ending my career anywhere else. I started at McLaren, I’d like to think I’ll always be a part of the McLaren family.
“I started there when I was 13 years old [as a junior driver], so I thought about what it would look like if I was at McLaren one day.
“I thought about and watched the Ferrari drivers on the screens at the track and of course you wonder what it would be like to be in red…
“But then I go to my team, to Mercedes, and this is my home. I’m happy where I am. I haven’t signed a contract yet, but we are working on one.”
—The Sun
FANS ROAST BRAD PITT OVER F1 DEBUT NEWS
News that Brad Pitt will take to the track at Silverstone as he continues filming for the forthcoming F1 movie being co-produced by Lewis Hamilton prompted a hilarious response from snubbed rookie Colton Herta.
The Hollywood heartthrob, who will play a retired driver making his comeback, will begin filming on-site at the British Grand Prix in July between the main F1 sessions.
Pitt will drive an adapted F2 car that has been worked on by Hamilton and his Mercedes engineers.
As news of Pitt’s inclusion in the British Grand prix became public, Herta, who was last year denied a super-licence because he didn’t have enough points took to social media to deliver a hilarious response.
“Brad Pitt got a super license before me. Tough,” he wrote.”
Herta was being pursued by Red Bull, Alpha Tauri and McLaren.
Brad Pitt got a super license before me. Tough. https://t.co/r7gedm1esn
— Colton Herta (@ColtonHerta) May 4, 2023
While Pitt’s movie remains untitled what we do know is the project is being lead by Joseph Kosinski, director of Top Gun: Maverick and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Hamilton insists he has been involved every step of the way.
“I don’t know absolutely every single plan with all the things we’ll be doing in the paddock, I’m more focused on making sure the script is where it needs to be,” he said in Miami.
“That’s where all the time is currently, going through the script.
“We’ve got a really great and diverse cast. Joe’s focus is to make us as embedded in this sport as possible. For me it’s to make sure it’s authentic, and that all of you and racing fans see its authenticity and say ‘this is believable’, and have a view of racing from a different perspective than you might see on TV.
“I’m spending a lot of time right now helping Joe and the team get the script right, it’s an amazing process and I’m really enjoying it.”
Formula 1 fans on social media had a field day with the news of the movie star being allowed to race on the track during Grand Prix weekends.
Brad Pitt on the #F1 parade lap: pic.twitter.com/E7eQrHB5mb
— Laura Leslie (@LauraLeslieF1) May 4, 2023
brad pitt at turn one in silverstone pic.twitter.com/168nTurA43
— bella (@lovesjenson) May 4, 2023
actual footage of brad pitt taking out half of the grid at the start of the British gp pic.twitter.com/2K7WKf0xq9
— s🫕 (@luvr_carlos) May 4, 2023
brad pitt seeing max lap him for the 12th time pic.twitter.com/fWMyLkSnYF
— Maudeâ´â· (@schumihoney) May 4, 2023
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has voiced his concerns about how invasive the filming will be on the sport.
“We’re going to start the shooting in Silverstone very soon, and you will see it will be the first movie when basically, they will be within the racing event,” he said.
“It will be quite invasive in terms of production, it’s something that we need to control in a way, but it will be another way of showing that F1 never stops.”
The movie comes on the heels of the worldwide success of Netflix’s smash hit series Drive to Survive.
The series goes behind the Formula 1 curtain to show off teams and drivers throughout the entirety of a season and what they go through during race weekends.
Originally published as F1 2023 news: Miami Grand prix qualifying, starting grid, Australia start time, Max Verstappen
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