F1 ROUND-UP
Helmet saga
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat says the rule that prevented him from using a special helmet livery design at his home race is “a joke”. Kvyat was told by the FIA that he could not use a new helmet, featuring the colours of the Russian flag, for his home race because he already used a different design at the Italian Grand Prix. F1’s sporting regulations only allow drivers to substantially deviate from their main helmet livery once each season. Kvyat said he had not been aware of the rule, adding: “It is a joke – but anyway, the rule is a rule. To be honest, there are bigger problems to focus [on] than a helmet design of a driver.”
Tyre trial
All F1 drivers will be given two sets of 2020 tyres to test in Friday practice at the US Grand Prix next month. Regulations give Pirelli the option to provide one compound of tyres for Friday running, if it wants to log more mileage. They can be used in either of the 90-minute sessions. The tyres to be used in Austin will be the definitive 2020 specification, which will be finalised after a development test that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull will conduct at Barcelona next week. The Austin running will give all teams a head start on understanding the latest construction, before the traditional end of season test at Abu Dhabi – at which a range of compounds will be used.
TV time
Carlos Sainz Jr criticised F1’s television direction over the lack of airtime midfield teams receive. Sainz was part of a four-car, final-lap battle in Singapore that was not shown on the original broadcast and, responding to a clip of that scrap on Twitter accompanied by the message “why wasn’t this shown live?”, said: “Because it had me involved.” Elaborating on his comments, Sainz said: “It’s something I’ve been very critical about and something I think every midfield driver has been critical about because we feel like the fans are missing out on a lot of battles in the midfield, many of them you don’t get at the front.”
Ferrari finished
Ferrari will not introduce any more major F1 upgrades this season. Despite missing out on victory, Ferrari had the fastest car at the Russian GP – one week after claiming a shock pole and one-two finish at the downforce-dependent Marina Bay circuit in Singapore. Team principal Mattia Binotto and sporting director Laurent Mekies both said Ferrari’s Sochi pace validated the new parts and that its biggest development work was now complete. “It was important to confirm how good was the package coming here, [on] different types of tracks and set-ups,” said Binotto.