Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i Motor Sport Magazine

GOOD ▲ ALBON THE TYRE WHISPERER Williams’ Alex Albon pulled off one of the all-time great strategy wheezes, driving just slow enough to preserve his Pirellis till the year 2100 and score a point in Oz. ▲ FERRARI LETS ITS STARS SPAR “I will enjoy their battle for a good position, ” purred Ferrari principal Mattia Binotto after Melbourne, sounding like an unchallenged Roman emperor heading for the Coliseum. ▲ F1’S ASTOUNDING SAFETY Mick Schumacher hit a concrete wall at 170mph in Saudi, sustaining an impact of 33g, and appeared essentially completely fine afterwards. F1 safety innovations still astound. ▲ DRS CHESS Racing has reached its logical post-modern state in Jeddah when Verstappen and Leclerc played games before the DRS line. A modern classic? ▲ F1 DRIVERS UNITED They may…

EARLIER IN THE YEAR I DROVE THE new BMW i4 M50, the first BMW to marry what some might regard as the competing interests of its ‘i’ and ‘M’ brands. It didn’t work. Weighing more than a Bentley Continental GT, it was unable to live up to the promise of its billing. But there is a less ambitious i4 on sale and I signed off my test saying, “I’ve not driven it, but I’d bet my house it makes more sense than this.” Well now I have driven it and I’m glad to say the deeds will be staying put for now. Relieved of a couple of hundred horsepower you won’t want to use, traded for a considerable hike in range you most certainly will and yours for a five-figure…

IT IS AMAZING HOW MUCH PEOPLE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT LAST YEAR’S ONE-LAP race/championship. However it was an unforgettable F1 race. As the Williams car of Nicholas Latifi hit the barriers the yellow flags waved and the safety car appeared, I could almost hear Jean Todt shouting in the ears of Michael Masi, “No! It should not be finished on the safety car, we must have a race!” It was such a pity that in those precious seconds Masi did not wave the red flag, as then it would have been a new race, both with equal tyres. Imagine what a race! The irony was that it was a rare and unusual mistake by Lewis Hamilton to leave the door open in Turn 5 for the very hungry Max Verstappen,…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR RARITY, A HEROIC story and a smattering of celebrity provenance in your next historic racer, you’ll find it all at RM Sotheby’s in Monaco when this spectacular Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3 crosses the block. This is the car campaigned at Le Mans by the late Giovanni ‘Nanni’ Galli, a decidedly handy but not hugely successful driver who – so the tale goes – used the first name ‘Nanni’ on his entry forms in a bid to conceal from his parents the fact that he was a racing driver. Although he made a brief foray into Formula 1 with McLaren-Alfa, Ferrari and Frank Williams, Galli’s finest hours came as an endurance racer, notably with a win at the Circuit of Mugello event in 1968 and, in the…

A LTHOUGH WE TURNED UP SOME great pictures for our Israeli Grand Prix story in this issue we were disappointed not to find a good image of the official programme. Written in Hebrew, it must be one of the rarest programmes out there (cue immediate response from reader who has a perfect copy in his collection…). Since until recent years organisers gave or sold programmes – race cards in horsey speak – to most of the people attending their events they’re not rare as a group, even though many would be binned after the race. Yet it’s the sort of item that can turn into a collection even though you didn’t intend it. Perhaps you’re a faithful spectator at your local circuit and have attended almost every meeting since you…

YOU CATCH ME SPANNER IN HAND busily preparing five cars to head to the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s annual visit to Cadwell Park this Easter weekend, which sadly falls beyond the print deadlines of this fair magazine, so more on that next month… But what the break in VSCC competition has done is give me time for a run out elsewhere, and where better to truly kickstart the season than taking part in the 79th Members’ Meeting at Goodwood? I love Goodwood, and always feel incredibly lucky to be one of the privileged few able to take part, and I think that the Members’ Meeting is perhaps my favourite event. I find the Festival of Speed a bit crowded and, while I do love the pomp and circumstance of the Revival,…

THE ISLE OF MAN TT WAS THE world’s biggest, best-known motorcycle race for most of the first century of the internal combustion engine. Then 50 years ago something happened that transformed the event forever. On June 9, 1972 Gilberto Parlotti was leading the Lightweight 125cc TT when he crashed on the 37¾-mile course’s mountain section, sustaining fatal injuries. Parlotti had never previously contested the TT, which was already notorious for its dangers and complexities. He only considered the risk worthwhile because he wanted to defend his lead in the 125cc world championship, taking advantage of the absence of reigning champion Angel Nieto, a Spaniard who had made his TT debut in 1968. Nieto broke a leg in practice and vowed never to go back. In 1970 another Spaniard, Santiago Herrero,…

Saudi Arabian GP Australian GP IT WAS VERY CLEAR AFTER THE SEASON-opener in Bahrain that the early stages of this championship were set to be fought out between the Ferrari and Red Bull teams and that Mercedes was not in a position to compete with them. The severe porpoising problem suffered by the silver cars (see F1 Tech) was going to require a long-term fix. The Saudi Arabia race followed just a week after Bahrain, with a two-week gap then until Melbourne for round three. In Jeddah – once a potential driver boycott was headed off after a missile attack on a nearby oil storage facility – a fascinating three-act race played out between the Red Bull and Ferrari teams. Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez secured pole position for the first…

HOW MIGHT SERGIO PÉREZ’S Jeddah race have panned out if Nicholas Latifi had not crashed his Williams about 30sec after Pérez – the pole-sitter and first stint race leader – had pitted? Because the medium tyre on which most of the field started could not be raced flat out, but needed some temperature management by the driver, Pérez’s task in the first stages was a) to get out of the DRS zone of the chasing Charles Leclerc before the feature was enabled at the end of the second lap, and b) to be out of Leclerc’s undercut range as the first pitstop window opened. But to do all this without overheating the rubber. He got himself out of the DRS reach of the Ferrari but couldn’t quite manage the second…

PORPOISING HAS MADE ITS reappearance in F1 after a break of four decades – from when cars last ran venturi underbody tunnels. Even the two fastest cars of the early season races, the Ferrari and Red Bull, are controlling it rather than eliminating it. But the way each is doing it seems to be quite different, perhaps because the aerodynamic concepts of the two cars are so dissimilar, as suggested by their radically different sidepod designs. Whatever the reason, Red Bull has been running noticeably less rear wing, inset, than Ferrari and has greater end-of-straight speed as a result. With its bigger wing, the Ferrari has tended to be a little quicker in the corners which, combined with its better acceleration, has offset the penalty of the lower terminal speed.…

THE NEW PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4 RS is, put in simplest terms, a Cayman GT4 with the engine from a 911 GT3, and that begs a rather interesting question: if the lighter, better balanced, cheaper Cayman can now be had with GT3 power, and given that, like the Cayman, no GT3 has any rear seats, has Porsche not just tugged the carpet straight out from under the feet of its most coveted car? On paper it would seem so. Yes, because the engine has to be turned around for a midengine application and has longer exhausts, so the Cayman GT4 RS has ten fewer horsepower than the GT3, but 493bhp is hardly going to leave punters feeling short-changed, especially as both cars post identical 0-62mph times and the Cayman is 20kg…

WATCH BRANDS ARE NOT quite so keen on forming long-term partnerships with motorcycle companies as they are with car marques, largely because they tend to be less successful. But a good fit is occasionally found – as seems to be the case between Breitling and Triumph, a collaboration covered last month. No sooner had the dust settled on that one than another interesting pairing emerged in the form of an alliance between two of Italy’s most recognised brands – jewellery and watch house Bulgari and superbike maker Ducati. The Bologna-based bike builder has entered into official partnerships with several brands during the past couple of decades, the first being Breil, which backed the Ducati Corse race team during the early 2000s before handing the baton to Tudor in 2011 As…

“I HAVE HAD SO MANY GREAT RIVALS, Jackie Stewart and Jack Brabham in Formula 1, Jochen Rindt in Formula 2, to name just a few, but most of the time they had better equipment and were probably better than me. Then in long distance sports cars there were Jacky Ickx and Pedro Rodriguez at Porsche. Yes we were sharing cars, but there’s always some rivalry. Of course rivalry is as much about the equipment as the drivers. Were the cars on equal terms? So, for that reason, I have chosen George Follmer because we were team-mates at Shadow in both Formula 1 in 1973, and in Can-Am in 1974. I brought the UOP Shadow team into F1, was central to their plans, but Don Nichols wanted an American driver alongside…

THE HILLCLIMB The hillclimb runs directly through the heart of the event. Each year, drivers race to the top in their bid for the quickest time across the four-day festival. Who will be crowned the champion of the 2022 Festival of Speed? ELECTRIC AVENUE With over 30 models on display, Electric Avenue will be bigger and better for 2022. You’ll be able to learn more about the benefits associated with switching to electric, with the help of our partners on hand to answer any questions you may have. MICHELIN SUPERCAR PADDOCK The Michelin Supercar Paddock is THE place to see the world’s newest and most powerful supercars up close and personal. With manufacturers making debuts every year and firing them up the Hill, it’s the only show worldwide that lets…

FORTY YEARS. WHO KNOWS where the time goes? In the midst of one of grand prix racing’s most unpredictable seasons, a friendship pivoted in one controversial afternoon into a deadly rivalry between two of Formula 1’s fastest-ever drivers – and in a matter of weeks ended all too abruptly in a pall of tragedy for both. Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi couldn’t have been more different as men, yet as fire and ice team-mates at a turbulent Ferrari they still formed a firm bond based on mutual respect and trust, until one betrayed the other in an act of on-track treachery that triggered a devastating spiral. Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher vs Mika Häkkinen, Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen… all keynote F1 rivalries. But none is more troubling…

MOTOR RACING ODDBALLS CAN really liven up our sport’s history, and the Formula 2 Israel Grand Prix is right up there. Held in November 1970 on the Mediterranean streets of Ashkelon – an ancient seaport city 46 miles west of Jerusalem – it brought its own sort of conflict. The event came immediately after the 1967-1970 War of Attrition between Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in which the Egyptians attempted to regain the Sinai Peninsula lost to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. When a ceasefire took place in August 1970, the frontiers hadn’t changed. Alcohol is behind many interesting ideas and this was one. Wolfgang Diemer and Ingo Trepel were businessmen from Mainz and Wiesbaden with interests in Israel. Over a few frothies at…

SEND US YOUR IMAGES If you have any images that might be suitable for You Were There, send them to: Motor Sport, 18-20 Rosemont Road, London, NW3 6NE, or email: editorial@motorsportmagazine.co.uk. Hi-res digital images preferred. Original images sent at owner’s own risk. We can’t return.…

IT’S NOT LIKE THERE WASN’T ALREADY enough to see and do in Las Vegas, but somewhere between Lady Gaga, Adele and Kiss, it’ll also hand Formula 1 a residency after the sport’s chiefs agreed a three-year deal to host a street race around the Nevada resort city from 2023. Even before F1 opens its account at the new-for-’22 Miami International Autodrome, the sport was already busy finalising another fresh US venue in the form of Las Vegas, with Liberty announcing the deal late last month. The contract includes the construction of a new 3.8-mile street circuit, which will incorporate a section of the famous Las Vegas Strip. And the city’s numerous neon lights will be put to good use, with the event planned to be a night race due to…

Carlos Sainz’s disastrous Australian Grand Prix could hardly have been timed more badly. With Ferrari clearly in the mids of a title campaign with the fast and reliable F1-75 and Charles Leclerc scoring two victories from the first three races, the event of Melbourne threatened to put Sainz into the role of support driver just at the time his career could be going to an entirely new level. His spinning out on the second lap was entirely down to him. But the circumstances which put him in that position were not. He’d been troubled in the first two races by a small pace deficit to Leclerc but came into the Melbourne weekend with a better understanding of what the car needed from him. In the practices he was as quick…

THE SVELTE SHAPE IN FRONT OF you is many things: the first Mercedes EV to be developed from scratch as an EV, and an indicative pointer into Benz’s EV future to name but two. Most importantly however is that it is the world’s first standard production genuinely luxury EV. In many ways, the luxury car format is perfect for an EV: the weight matters far less than usual and helps with ride quality, there’s silence and instant torque to power you away from rest. In theory it works brilliantly. And so too does it in practice. This is more than just a capable car, blessed not only with the quiet, comfort and sybaritic surroundings you might expect, but a couple of additional assets you might not. Range is one: Merc…

Miami Grand Prix, May 7–9 IS THIS THE FUTURE OF FORMULA 1? Liberty Media has long pined for a race to be held in Miami since taking over ownership of the series back in 2017, but after five years of trying, it finally has its wish. Added to the calendar as part of its F1-breaks-America assault, the Grand Prix will run around the surrounding area of the Miami Dolphins Hard Rock Stadium. While the bulk of the circuit is only temporary, purpose-built sections of track have been created to provide a more permanent feel to the event. It has been surrounded by a plethora of VIP and Paddock Club grandstands, with fan areas and stands dotted around what is an impressive locale. It’s said that if you were to walk…

SO MUCH HAS ALREADY BEEN SAID about Max Verstappen including in the documentary Whatever It Takes, as well as several biographies, that the big question about André Hoogeboom’s Max: The Dutch Master is whether it brings new revelations to the table. The book is divided into two parts. The first focuses on Max’s karting career and the latter on his F1 days. The karting section reveals the pivotal moments that shaped the Dutch driver into a future world champion and it is clear that Max had to endure a lot of tough love from his father Jos, himself a successful F1 driver who raced alongside Michael Schumacher. The book highlights one incident which took place in Sarno, Italy, in 2013, when Max crashed his kart and lost his shot at…

“THAT’LL STAY DAMP FOR hours, that bit... Brake early into here, Glenn – get it lined up... It’s rough through here – they’ve resurfaced it, but they’ve only resurfaced the bumps!” It’s no use. Perched in the back of a Honda HR-V, bunched up beside TT newcomer Glenn Irwin as he prepares for his much-delayed debut racing the infamous 37.73 miles of the Snaefell Mountain Course, I flip my notebook full of questions shut. Studiously typing info into his phone as team-mate John McGuinness sits up front, readily dishing out tips on how best to dissect each corner, my voice is unequivocally the least interesting in the car. And I couldn’t be more content with that. As someone who’s long admired the gladiators who take on the Isle of Man,…

BUYING, SELLING, AUCTIONS, MEMORABILIA “AIN’T NO SUBSTITUTE FOR cubic inches” was once a popular refrain among American car racers – but many regard the British-built 289 cubic inch version of Carroll Shelby’s Cobra as both sweeter to drive and prettier to look at than its mighty 427-powered brother. And while this example may not look like it at first, it began life as just that. Gentleman racer David Skailes of the Cropwell Bishop cheesemaking family acquired it from HW Motors in Walton-on-Thames after part-exchanging his brother Ian’s Marcos and handing over £2183 15s in cash. After AC had shipped its last cars to Shelby in December 1966, the Thames Ditton firm hit on the idea of combining the 427’s coil-sprung chassis with the less rowdy 289 engine – and thus…

1996 FERRARI F50 SOLD BY ARTCURIAL, £3.5M With just 349 examples having been made, Ferrari’s F50 ‘F1 car for the road’ is one of the rarest of the marque’s modern models. This one had covered 819 miles from new in the hands of a single Monégasque owner – but didn’t have a single stamp in its service book, meaning extensive recommissioning will be needed before it returns to the road or track. Despite the additional expense that’s likely to entail, no fewer than eight bidders battled to own the car, which was one of six latter-day Ferraris consigned by the same collector. Others included an F40, a LaFerrari and an Enzo. 1951 REYONNAH 175 SOLD BY ARTCURIAL, £69,700 This prototype microcar is stranger than it looks, with retracting front wheels…

ALL PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT MOTORSPORTMAGAZINE.COM/SHOP STIRLING MOSS & TONY BROOKS SIGNED STEERING WHEEL It’s not often you can get two legends for the price of one: this steering wheel is signed by Sir Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. The design harks back to the wooden-rimmed steering wheels used in Vanwall racing cars in the 1950s, and in 1957 Moss and Brooks made history by sharing Vanwall VW5 to victory in the British Grand Prix at Aintree. It marked the first F1 World Championship race win for a British-built car, and was the final time a championship GP had been won by two drivers sharing a car. The wheel comes with a display stand and a custom centre boss signed by Moss and Brooks, plus a certificate of authenticity. With stock…