F1 INSIDER

Alonso is back, but where does this leave Vettel?

Sebastian Vettel’s future in Formula 1 hangs in the balance following Renault’s announcement that Fernando Alonso will join the Anglo-french team on a two-year contract from the start of 2021. When Ferrari announced that Vettel’s contract would not be renewed beyond this year – indeed, that it had not even offered the four-time world champion a deal to stay on – Renault seemed the most plausible alternative destination, given that it has championship ambitions and had a vacancy to fill.

That door was closed at the beginning of July when Renault announced that Alonso, who walked away from F1 at the end of 2018 after four turbulent and largely disappointing seasons with Mclaren, would be returning to the team with which he won his world championships in 2005 and 2006. While senior Renault figures – including four-time champion Alain Prost – admitted they had been in contact with Vettel, they were adamant Alonso was a better option because he was more motivated, and that two years out of Formula 1 would give fresh perspective to a personality often characterised as difficult and demanding.

“Two years outside F1 in my opinion was maybe not bad for him to have a different feeling, a different view,” Prost told Reuters.

Since Red Bull has also indicated that it has no room for Vettel in either of its teams, and Mclaren has Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris under contract, Vettel now has just one competitive possibility: Aston Martin. The team currently known as Racing Point now has one of the best cars in F1 – a state of affairs which, owing to the Covid-induced development freeze, is likely to prevail into 2021, when it will rebrand. Racing Point has a key

shareholder in common with Aston Martin – Canadian business magnate Lawrence Stroll, and it is Stroll’s ambition to relaunch the struggling road car brand by giving it an F1 presence.

Reports in a German tabloid newspaper claimed Vettel already has a contract offer on the table. Pressed on the matter during the Hungarian GP weekend, though, he gave little away, saying he had engaged in “talks” with a number of teams.

Vettel has said the Aston Martin F1 project “sounds exciting”. In an interview with Sky Sports F1 he confirmed his position that he has no intention of remaining in F1 just for the sake of it, or to earn more money.

“I want to win, so I know, and I think we all know at the moment, you need to be in a certain car to be able to win,” he said. “That’s probably not on the cards, and then obviously I have to evaluate whether there’s anything that comes close to that.”

The current Racing Point package is unashamedly based on last year’s Mercedes but, while this tactic has

TWO YEARS OUTSIDE F1 IN MY OPINION WAS MAYBE NOT BAD FOR HIM [ALONSO] TO HAVE A DIFFERENT FEELING, A DIFFERENT VIEW

”

proved successful so far and may retain an advantage into 2021, the new technical rules coming for 2022 will require an all-new design. The question then is whether Aston Martin, as it will be known, has the resource and know-how to generate a frontrunning car entirely from its own IP (intellectual property). Recruiting a driver with championship-winning calibre would be both a statement of intent and a huge resource in itself. If Vettel means what he says about not wanting to stay in F1 for the money, Aston Martin can be sure he won’t lack motivation.

One key obstacle to Vettel moving to Aston Martin is the presence of two contracted drivers currently occupying the seats there. Both Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll have compelling arguments to remain in place, since Pérez not only has a proven capacity to bring home whatever points are on the table in any given race, he also brings a number of sponsors. And while there are those who doubt Stroll’s fundamental desire and motivation to race at this level, he isn’t slow – and his father is a major shareholder.

None of the interested parties moved to squash the rumours unequivocally. Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer gave a curious non-denial, saying “We have long contracts with both our drivers, so it would only be logical that we don’t have space.”

“I think I’m staying with the team, as far as I know,” said Pérez. “I have a contract.” Stroll Jr said rumours were “all part of the fun” but that he was “determined to stay here.”

If there is any certainty here’s it’s that Aston Martin is the only remotely competitive Formula 1 team with potential space for Vettel, all other plausible destinations having ruled themselves out. For Vettel, it’s Aston Martin or a ‘sabbatical’ – which usually, but not always, translates into ‘retirement’.

director during the team’s period of dominance in the early 2000s, pointed out copying is nothing new in F1.

“Every team has, in normal times, digital photographers in the pitlane out there taking thousands of photos of every car for analysis, with a view of copying the best ideas,” he wrote in his regular post-race column after the Hungarian GP. “We used to give our photographers a shopping list.

“Racing Point have just taken it to the next stage and done a more thorough job. There is not a single team in this paddock which has not copied something from another. I’d ask every technical director in the paddock to raise their hand if they haven’t copied someone else. You won’t see any hands. I have certainly copied others.”

The FIA’S technical regulations draw an explicit distinction between areas of the cars which must be a team’s own design and those which can be bought in from others to reduce design and manufacturing costs. This is a model used to notable effect by Haas, which buys in as many components from Ferrari as the regulations permit.

Over the winter the FIA examined the RP20 and the W10 and concluded the 2020 Racing Point had not been produced from the same CAD (Computer-aided-design) data, which would have breached the so-called ‘listed parts’ regulations. Racing Point demonstrated it had in effect reverse-engineered the W10 from photographs, which is not illegal.

But Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’S head of single-seater technical matters, has subsequently confirmed the brake ducts, which are the focal points of Renault’s protest, were not subjected to detailed scrutiny. Until this season Racing Point did buy brake ducts from Mercedes but these are now ‘listed parts’ which must be designed in-house. This is because brake ducts are increasingly used for aerodynamic benefit and to heat the tyres, rendering them a key performance differentiator.

After Renault’s initial protest following the Styrian GP, the FIA impounded examples of the Racing Point ducts

Download and read it on your PC, Mac or ipad

Lance Stroll claimed fourth in Hungary (below) but that result and the team’s score from the previous race hinge on the Racing Point ducts (right) being declared legal

Mugello, the venue for a full F1 test in 2012, will host its first ever F1 race – the Tuscan GP – in September

On sale the same day as the print edition and will compare them – physically and via CAD data – with last year’s Mercedes ducts.

“It is impossible for them to be illegal,” said Racing Point tam principal Otmar Szafnauer. “Brake ducts, just so you know, take a long time to design and make, they are very, very complicated, and we have 886 individual drawings for our brake ducts.”

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