Ferrari has appointed Diego Ioverno as its new Sporting Director following the departure of Laurent Mekies. The Frenchman was announced as AlphaTauri’s successor to the retiring Team Principal Franz Tost for 2024 back in April but stayed on in his role at Ferrari in the short-term.
Mekies formally left Ferrari prior to the Belgian Grand Prix and Ioverno, a Ferrari lifer, has now been promoted to the role of Sporting Director. It is the latest managerial change undertaken since the appointment of Frederic Vasseur as Team Principal at the start of the year.
Mekies’ start date in his new surroundings has not yet been confirmed by AlphaTauri.
Pierre’s Run for Anthoine
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly organized a “Run for Anthoine” on Thursday evening in memory of his friend, Anthoine Hubert, who was killed during a Formula 2 race at Spa-Francorchamps in 2019.
A large portion of the Formula 1 paddock gathered on the start/finish straight to remember Hubert, with Gasly carrying out a short speech, accompanied by some of the drivers who had been part of the Renault driver academy (now the Alpine scheme) of which Hubert was a member.
Gasly went on to lay flowers at the scene of the accident—as he has done each year since—while some of the participants went on to run a whole lap of the 7 km circuit despite torrential rain pummelling the track.
F1 Strengthens F1 Academy Ties
Formula 1 has strengthened its ties with its F1 Academy for 2024. The new-for-2023 series, which features five teams and 15 female drivers, has been racing at European venues but without TV coverage, in a deliberate move to build up the championship in a less-pressured environment.
Next year each of the 10 Formula 1 teams will support one of the drivers and her respective car’s livery will replicate the scheme of the accompanying Formula 1 team. The remaining five drivers will be supported by yet-to-be-confirmed partners.
“We created F1 Academy to bring about real and lasting change to ensure young female talent have the right system in place to follow and achieve their dreams,” said Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
“This is a very important moment as it shows the impact the project is having and the support it is receiving from across the F1 community. [F1 Academy CEO] Susie [Wolff], the teams, and everyone involved are working tirelessly to ensure we go from strength to strength and continue to deliver on the important objective we have set out together.
“In 2024 the F1 Academy will join our race calendar, raising the awareness and profile of the series globally and to have the F1 liveries on the grid will be something very special.”
Vandoorne Gets Home Outing
Stoffel Vandoorne will return to Formula 1 machinery for the first time since 2020 as part of the post-race Pirelli tire test. Vandoorne competed for McLaren across two seasons (2017-18) and has remained affiliated in Formula 1 roles since losing his seat in the championship.
Vandoorne, the 2022 Formula E champion, has this year taken on a role of Aston Martin’s reserve driver, alongside last season’s Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich. Belgian Vandoorne will drive at his home circuit, Spa-Francorchamps, across Tuesday and Wednesday’s tire test, with Drugovich also set for time behind the wheel of the AMR23.
Rules stipulate that at least one day must be undertaken by a driver with race experience, hence Vandoorne being drafted in alongside Drugovich. Vandoorne most recently tested a Formula 1 car at the end of 2020, when he was Mercedes’ back-up driver. McLaren will also be present at the test with its race drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Tire Blankets to Remain in 2024…
Tire blankets will remain in use through at least the 2024 season after teams voted against a possible ban. Tire supplier Pirelli carried out tests without the heated blankets being used, but drivers were uneasy over safety concerns, and at a meeting of the F1 Commission it was decided that they will remain in place next year.
“The results of the testing undertaken so far show that the change can be implemented to the requested target specifications for 2024,” read an FIA statement after receiving feedback from Pirelli.
“However it has been decided to postpone the introduction of a tire blanket ban for dry tires in 2024 and to continue this discussion and further testing into 2025. Further analysis will continue for other potential future changes to the regulations that can improve the environmental sustainability of the sport.”
…as Pirelli Ponders a “Super Intermediate”
Pirelli has mooted the idea of a “super intermediate” tire in Formula 1. For years Formula 1 has had an intermediate and a wet (commonly referred to as a full wet), but the latter is rarely used in the current era due to the tendency for proceedings to be suspended because of the conditions. This has been accentuated in recent years by the volume of spray kicked
The regulations stipulate, however, that at any race (or formation lap) which begins behind the Safety Car, drivers must be on the wet tires. On multiple occasions they have then immediately pitted for intermediates once racing gets underway, as was seen in Saturday’s Sprint, when half of the field pitted at the end of the last of five formation laps.
The FIA has been working on developing wheel arches that would be fitted only in very wet conditions, in order to reduce spray, but initial trials with a prototype at Silverstone earlier this month were not successful.
“If, for the future, the idea is to stay with the current situation where if there is a lot of water on track, [there is] a red flag, or Safety Car, and they are not going to run because of visibility then in my opinion the best solution is probably to develop an intermediate tire, let’s call it a super intermediate or intermediate-plus or whatever name,” explained Pirelli boss Mario Isola.
“That [would be] an intermediate that is more towards wet conditions, so with one product we can cover from the limit of what is acceptable for visibility to the crossover with dry conditions. If the idea is to continue to look for a device to be able to reduce the spray, and to run in full wet conditions, we have to keep the two products, and improve the full wet tire.
“But if the full wet is used only behind the safety car I agree with drivers that at the moment it’s a useless tire, so we have to decide the future direction.”
Isola added that development of its wet tire is complicated by only being able to run in wet conditions at Fiorano and Paul Ricard—two circuits with different characteristics to the likes of Spa or Silverstone.
Vesti’s Crash Hands Advantage to Pourchaire
The lead of the Formula 2 championship changed hands at Spa-Francorchamps in unusual circumstances.
Mercedes-backed Fred Vesti had been set to start the Feature Race from the front row of the grid, but on his reconnaissance lap he lost control in slippery conditions and crashed. That meant he was out of the race before it even began and Théo Pourchaire, who finished second, moved into the lead of the standings by 12 points.
Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan thrust himself into outside contention for the title with back-to-back feature race wins.
In Formula 3, Gabriel Bortoleto, part of Fernando Alonso’s management scheme, came agonizingly close to clinching the title in an enthralling damp race on Sunday morning but wound up with a 38-point lead when a 40-point advantage was required to clinch proceedings. He is all-but-assured of the crown—given the mathematics involved—but must wait until the final round at Monza in September to seal the deal.
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