In the Round-Up – Hamilton expects “smooth sailing” for Verstappen with “massive” points lead
In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton empathised with Charles Leclerc’s woes as Max Verstappen’s title lead extended at the French Grand Prix
In brief
Lewis Hamilton said that Ferrari’s woes at the French Grand Prix had handed Max Verstappen an “obviously pretty huge” title lead.
“I’m gutted for Charles, who’s been doing a great job, as has Carlos,” said Hamilton following Leclerc’s crash during yesterday’s race. “It’s not easy though, having that pace and that performance and maintaining it.
“It’s a tough job and I feel for the whole team because I know what that can feel like. But they’re a great team, and they’ll continue to keep their heads down.”
Verstappen now leads Leclerc by 63 points in the championship. Hamilton said it was a “massive gap” at this stage in the season. “So that’s pretty smooth sailing in that space, generally.
“But a lot still can go wrong up ahead so I would just advise them just to continue to push.”
Norris says he cannot use water bottles during races
Lando Norris said that he cannot use a drinks bottle during hot races or he would be sick.
“I still don’t use a water bottle inside,” said Norris after the French Grand Prix, which was run in punishingly high temperatures. “[It] makes me feel too sick, so I can’t use it.
“I just can’t do too many fluids when I drive otherwise I’d just barf it back up.”
Although Norris said this has never actually happened to him, “I just know it will, so that’s why I avoid it.”
Chadwick considering Indy Lights move
Jamie Chadwick, who has a 70-point lead in the W Series championship, says she was considering a move to Indy Lights if she could not secure a Formula 3 or Formula 2 drive for 2023.
“My goal is always to keep progressing,” Chadwick said. “I really want the step up. I know I need to perform still this year but I’ve still got one eye one eye on the future as well.
“Any feeder series is the goal, so Formula 3, Formula 2 but also I’m actually looking at America opportunities and potentially Indy Lights as well. So I’m just exploring all options.
“I think we’ve got a nice big break after Budapest so there’d be some time to really understand what we’re capable of and what the best opportunity is.”
Advisor to the President of the RAF on the abolition of the Russian Grand Prix F1: this is dishonourable on the part of the FIA (Championat – Russian)
Ivanov: ‘The track is excellent: multifunctional, interesting. Now the situation is such that there are difficulties: international competitions were cut off for us, which is dishonorable on the part of the FIA . They violated the Olympic Charter, mixed politics with sport.’
McElrea wins Iowa after Lundqvist penalised for Brabham clash (Formula Scout)
With a missing nose cone and broken front wing, Brabham held on to second until the final lap when McElrea got by at turn two and Rasmussen got him at the finish. Lundqvist meanwhile won by several seconds, only for stewards to put him behind Brabham in the final race result and thus handing McElrea victory.
Novalak emotional following home points finish after aggressive strategy pays off (Formula 2)
Novalak: ‘But to be honest, I’m happy with the points though I’m more happy overall with the progress we made from the last three weekends. I think it’s been the first weekend where we really kicked into gear compared to the last couple of races.’
The Sunday program for Nagrada Hrvatske 2022 (Award of Croatia 2022) has been cancelled. A track marshal lost his life in an accident in Saturday’s race and any further activities at the Grobnik circuit were called off.
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