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Red Bull thinks it will gain from F1’s ‘party mode’ ban



a racing car on a track: Red Bull thinks it will gain from 'party mode' ban

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Red Bull thinks it will gain from ‘party mode’ ban

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko thinks his team and Honda are set to gain from Formula 1’s ‘party mode’ ban.

From this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, F1 teams will no longer be allowed to run special engine modes in qualifying that help deliver them a single-lap power boost.

Instead, teams will be forced to run pretty much the same modes in qualifying and the races.

While it is widely accepted that Mercedes has the most power available in qualifying – with estimates putting its advantage over Honda and Renault at around 28hp – there is some scepticism about the changes slowing the team enough to stop it locking out the front of the grid.

There are even some suggestions the change in engine usage will instead allow Mercedes to run with more power in the races,

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Red Bull: High-rake F1 concept still the right direction – F1

Red Bull has faith that its high-rake concept is still the right way to go in Formula 1, despite some rivals suggesting it may have reached its limit of performance.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit has led the way with its high-rake concept in F1, with technical chief Adrian Newey convinced that it is the best solution for maximising downforce.

But amid the difficulties of its troublesome RB16, which has left Max Verstappen and Alex Albon struggling at times to find a good balance, there have been suggestions that the high-rake option may no longer offer as much scope for improvement as low-rake solutions.

McLaren technical director James Key suggested recently that his outfit was considering moving to a low-rake car for 2021 because it felt that there could be bigger opportunities for downforce gains.

“While I don’t think the high-rake philosophy is dead necessarily, it does make you step back

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Gasly “ready” for Red Bull return after maiden F1 win at Italian GP – F1

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly feels he is “ready” to return to Red Bull Racing should the team wish to recall him following his shock win at the Italian Grand Prix.

Gasly scored the first victory of his Formula 1 career at Monza on Sunday after capitalising on a red flag stoppage and a penalty for Lewis Hamilton, before fending off Carlos Sainz Jr. in the closing stages.

The win came just 13 months after Red Bull demoted Gasly back to Toro Rosso following a difficult 12-race spell at the start of the 2019 season, and marks Gasly’s second podium finish after his second-place finish behind Max Verstappen at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

The result also comes amid ongoing struggles for Gasly’s Red Bull replacement, Alexander Albon, so far this season. Gasly sits just five points behind Albon, who finished 15th at Monza, in the drivers’ standings.

Red Bull has repeatedly

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Hamilton: Gasly winning F1 Italian GP has “got to hurt” Red Bull – F1

Lewis Hamilton says Pierre Gasly’s Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix victory has “got to hurt” Red Bull following his demotion from the team last year.

Gasly scored a shock maiden grand prix victory at Monza on Sunday after capitalising on a red flag stoppage and a penalty for Hamilton to move to the front of the order.

The AlphaTauri driver faced late pressure from McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr, but held on to win the race by 0.4 seconds.

It marked the latest major landmark in Gasly’s career since he returned to the Faenza-based F1 operation following a 12-race stint with Red Bull’s senior team in 2019.

Gasly scored his first F1 podium for Toro Rosso in Brazil last year ahead of its rebranding, and sits just five points behind his Red Bull replacement, Alexander Albon, in the drivers’ standings.

Six-time world champion Hamilton was quick to congratulate Gasly on his

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Bottas “not sure how happy Red Bull is now” with F1 engine party mode ban



Bottas

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Bottas

Valtteri Bottas is “not sure how happy Red Bull is now” with the ban on Formula 1 engine ‘party modes’ after Mercedes dominated qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

Mercedes swept to a front row lockout at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza as Lewis Hamilton scored his 94th F1 pole position, edging out team-mate Bottas.

Third-placed driver Carlos Sainz Jr from McLaren was a distant eight-tenths of a second off the pole time, while Hamilton’s lap was a new track record, setting the fastest average lap speed in F1 history.

Mercedes’ domination came despite the FIA’s ban on changing engine modes through qualifying and the race via a technical directive, stopping teams from using their high-power setting, also known as “party mode”.

Bottas said after qualifying that he was not sure how happy Red Bull would now be with its move to try and get the technical

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Bottas “not sure how happy Red Bull is now” with F1 engine party mode ban – F1

Valtteri Bottas is “not sure how happy Red Bull is now” with the ban on Formula 1 engine ‘party modes’ after Mercedes dominated qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

Mercedes swept to a front row lockout at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza as Lewis Hamilton scored his 94th F1 pole position, edging out team-mate Bottas.

Third-placed driver Carlos Sainz Jr from McLaren was a distant eight-tenths of a second off the pole time, while Hamilton’s lap was a new track record, setting the fastest average lap speed in F1 history.

Mercedes’ domination came despite the FIA’s ban on changing engine modes through qualifying and the race via a technical directive, stopping teams from using their high-power setting, also known as “party mode”.

Bottas said after qualifying that he was not sure how happy Red Bull would now be with its move to try and get the technical directive pushed through, as

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Perez: Racing Point must take F1 podium chances when Red Bull fails – F1

Sergio Perez says Racing Point must grab podiums when Red Bull slips up if it is to earn third place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship.

Racing Point currently sits in fourth place, two points behind McLaren and five clear of Ferrari following its 15-point deduction in the constructors’ standings, after Perez and team-mate Lance Stroll finished in the final two points places at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

While the Racing Point car has been the third fastest on the grid on several occasions, the team has sometimes underperformed in races and is yet to record a podium finish, while both McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari Charles Leclerc have secured rostrum results this season.

Perez says the team has to “minimise the damage” at tracks that are less favourable to the RP20, and he expects to see an improvement in form at Monza.

“I think we should be better

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Verstappen explains why Red Bull didn’t try contra tyre strategy for Spanish GP – F1

Max Verstappen opted against a contra strategy in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix as he feels the soft tyre will hold up fine for the opening race stint.

Verstappen took a surprise victory last weekend at the 70th Anniversary GP ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after perfecting his tyre strategy.

The Red Bull driver qualified on the hard tyre and was able to push for a long first stint, while both Hamilton and Bottas struggled after starting on mediums, with their hard stints then being blighted by blistering.

Tyre management is expected to be important once again in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix due to high track temperatures, which neared 50ºC during qualifying.

PLUS: Why F1 may get another Mercedes/Red Bull showdown in Spain

But Red Bull opted to qualify Verstappen on the soft compound tyre in Q2, matching the Mercedes drivers’ strategy, as he took third place

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Quartararo: Suzuki “perfect bike” for Red Bull Ring in MotoGP – MotoGP

MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo has branded the Suzuki the “perfect bike” for the Red Bull Ring ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix.

Alex Rins threatened to take the Suzuki to victory in last week’s Austrian Grand Prix before crashing while making a move for the lead on Andrea Dovizioso, while Joan Mir scored his maiden podium in second.

Mir led Saturday’s FP3 session by 0.151 seconds, having shown strong race pace in Friday afternoon’s FP2.

Though the Suzuki is still around 7-8km/h down in the speed trap compared to the Ducati around Red Bull Ring, the GSX-RR is proving to be one of the strongest machines at the Austrian venue.

“For me, the Suzuki is really impressive how much performance they have because it looks like the bike is turning so well, stopping so well, the top speed is also much higher than our bike,” Quartararo said when asked

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The difficulties in making the Red Bull Ring safer for MotoGP



a group of people sitting in a parking lot: The difficulties in making the Red Bull Ring safer

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The difficulties in making the Red Bull Ring safer

Safety at the Red Bull Ring has been called into question again for MotoGP after last weekend’s huge accident between Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco.

The pair collided at the fast Turn 2 kink under braking for the uphill Turn 3 right-hander, with Zarco moving off-line and leaving Morbidelli with nowhere to go but into to the back of the Avintia Ducati at close to 200mph.

Zarco’s bike slammed into the air fence at Turn 3 and vaulted into the air, with the bike coming close to hitting Maverick Vinales’ head.

At the same moment, Morbidelli’s errant Petronas SRT Yamaha slid straight up the track and only narrowly avoided wiping out Vinales and Valentino Rossi.

In response to two MotoGP bikes becoming essentially multi-million dollar bowling balls, MotoGP has moved to make safety changes at Turn 3 to

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