Emphasis on simulator work in motor sport means more drivers will emerge from the gaming scene – if they can conquer problems over the lack of ‘fear of death’When Lewis Hamilton looked to his future in Formula One in 2012 and decided to leave McLaren, the team with whom he had grown up and won his first world championship, the decision was roundly questioned. After securing two further titles for Mercedes, the move was regarded as inspired but predicting what is round the corner in motor racing has never been easy and, with F1 having just begun the process of reinvention under its new owners, the future is very much on the agenda.Many sports have faced new challenges and opportunities...
German’s high-risk style yields benefits; Force India have bout of indecision; Fernando Alonso engine failure brings McLaren divorce from Honda closerThat Sebastian Vettel does not want to lose points to Lewis Hamilton is a given. What was impressive at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was just how committed he is to the task. Damage to the front wing on lap one was a major setback, coming back to finish fourth a huge recovery and the manner he achieved it a statement of intent. Having chased down and overtaken his team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, and still looking for a podium place, he saw passing the two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon as paramount. Ocon was first and Vettel’s lunge down...
Some say the German benefited from fortune but others believe it was favour, while the Indy 500 competitor Fernando Alonso remains popular in F1Kimi Raikkonen gave every impression he believed he had been sacrificed by his team to boost Sebastian Vettel’s world championship chances after Ferrari’s strategy worked in the German’s favour at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton believed it was clear the Scuderia had chosen their No1 driver but Vettel and his team countered by saying it had been accident rather than design. Raikkonen had been losing pace towards the end of his stint on the ultrasoft rubber and the decision to pit him to cover Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen was expected. What was not was the sudden...
The 18-year-old Williams driver must win points soon to silence the critics who believe he should justify his place on the grid beyond his father’s billions“The haters will always hate,” says Lance Stroll with a passivity that almost certainly belies the fact he knows there is more weight to the phrase than its throwaway juvenilia suggests.The 18-year-old Canadian rookie is already under intense pressure and about to face his toughest test on the streets of Monaco. How he comes through it will determine whether he can give his critics reason to reassess. Related: British Grand Prix at Silverstone in doubt over rising fees charged by F1 Related: Ruth Buscombe: ‘F1 drivers don’t care if a woman or a chipmunk calls...
The double F1 world champion has much to learn as he prepares to make his IndyCar debut. But his team have a proven record of crossover successFrom now until this weekend, when the grid order is set for the 101st Indianapolis 500, most of the talk emanating from the track will be about practice – a discipline measured on the speed charts and through the marks on the Brickyard’s barrier walls. Of the 30-odd drivers hoping to challenge for the Borg-Warner trophy when the race goes green on 28 May, none will face more scrutiny than Fernando Alonso – who is skipping this year’s Monaco Grand Prix to try for the second stage of motorsport’s triple crown.Maybe that scrutiny is...