MOTORSPORT: Red Bull's recipe for more fireworks

Racing rules

As the European ‘season’ of Formula 1 begins this weekend, with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, Red Bull Racing claims its drivers now understand the rules of engagement, but Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have different interpretations.

After the pair eliminated themselves from the Azerbaijan GP two weeks ago by crashing together in the closing stages, there have been extensive debriefs within the team and the drivers apologised to the entire workforce for the 22 world championship points squandered.

RBR chiefs Christian Horner and Helmut Marko say carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo and Verstappen remain free to race each other but that they’re not to crash into each other – and that their race engineers are to intervene if future battles between them look like getting out of hand.

Horner and Marko say there won’t be a repeat of the bad blood in the team between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the early years of this decade, because Ricciardo and Verstappen get along well.

But, despite all the conciliatory noises, Ricciardo and Verstappen aren’t talking exactly the same language about what happens next time they find themselves racing in close quarters towards the end of a GP.

Ricciardo was asked in Barcelona last night if he expected a ‘call’ – read that as instruction – from the pit wall to enforce a strategy in future if a similar scenario to Baku arose and he replied: “If it got to that point again where there is banging wheels and stuff, then yes, especially if the car is faster behind. Then you’d probably expect at some point they might go, right, let’s swap cars and release one of them [instruct that the driver ahead allow his teammate behind to overtake]. There is no guarantee, but that was one thing we certainly talked about.”

Ricciardo expected that he and Verstappen would handle a repeat of the Baku situation “differently or at least with some more respect on track”.

Verstappen’s interpretation though was: “If maybe [it is like] Baku again, I think at one point the team will maybe tell us to calm down a bit and just follow each other, in the last few laps.”

So Ricciardo expects – or wants – the team to sort things out for the best if, as in Baku, he’s behind but quicker and has the better chance of finishing higher, while Verstappen thinks that if he’s ahead of Ricciardo but slower that they ought to just maintain station to the end.

A clearer indication that the pair are not on the same page came when Ricciardo was asked specifically what the ‘new rulebook’ was at RBR.

“I have a rulebook? From Red Bull? I think they need to give it to someone else ... I don’t need it.”

Who could that someone else be? There’s only person it could be – 20-year-old Verstappen, a phenomenal talent who has repeatedly messed up in the four GPs so far this season.

Horner and Marko are right in saying the relationship between the pair is not toxic like that between Webber and Vettel was. But conspiracy theorists who felt Webber was dudded by Red Bull may well interpret the insistence of the team chiefs that Ricciardo and Verstappen were equally at fault in Baku as going soft on the Dutch youngster – and an indication that he is their favourite.

The reality is that Verstappen was in the wrong in Baku – he moved twice (right, then left) approaching the corner where they crashed when he’s not supposed to make a second change of direction.

Marko, the man with the most clout at RBR and representative of Red Bull energy drink Dietrich Mateschitz, admitted this week that Verstappen “could have prevented the accident”, yet said Ricciardo “was too late on the brakes”.

Ricciardo’s mistake was his impatience to gain a place from his marginally slower teammate in the closing stages of that race. Had he made the overtaking manoeuvre on a Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, perhaps even Vettel, they much more likely would have adhered to the one-change-of-direction rule and conceded without contact.

Horner this week described Ricciardo as “very polished ... the finished article ... obviously at a different stage in his development ... a very good and rounded benchmark” for Verstappen.

RBR wants to retain the Australian it has groomed for a decade, in the face of feverish speculation that he is in the sights of Ferrari and Mercedes. But it’s going to take more than those accolades – including a car capable of winning a world title and a guarantee of no favouritism towards Verstappen – for him to stay beyond the expiry of his contract this year.

Ferrari keeping a close eye on Le Mans

On the one hand Ferrari is being more conciliatory about F1 owner Liberty Media’s plans for the sport beyond 2020, but at the same time the Italian company is deeply involved in negotiations on future rules for prototype sports cars at Le Mans – its obvious alternative if it were to quit F1.

Ferrari chief Sergio Marchionne said he had been “encouraged” by what he called a change of attitude from Liberty Media, whose plans had previously not gelled with the Prancing Horse stable or Mercedes.

“We will reach a conclusion by the end of the year,” Marchionne said.

“It is important for Ferrari to be the winner in F1.”

However, Ferrari is keeping its options open by being among the core group of manufacturers negotiating with the Le Mans and World Endurance Championship (WEC) organiser, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

The talks centre on a GT-Proto concept that would retain hybrid technology but with the cars more closely identifiable to those the manufacturers produce for the road.

Toyota, the only maker fielding hybrids in the premier class in the 2018-19 ‘Super Season’ that includes the next two 24 Hours of Le Mans, McLaren, Aston Martin and Ford are the other manufacturers thought to be involved in the talks, with Porsche – which pulled out of LMP1 last year – as an ‘observer’.

“We are around the table. We need to understand what is happening, but if the new category is not so expensive, a lot of manufacturers could be interested,” Ferrari’s GT racing boss Antonello Coletta told Britain’s Autosport.

Potentially even more enticing for manufacturers is that the same cars could race in the American sports car championship, where Cadillac, Mazda, Honda’s Acura brand and Nissan are already competing.

Mega field for 24 Hours of Nurburgring

Germany’s 24 Hours of Nurburgring – on the proper Nordschleife circuit – has drawn almost 150 entries this weekend, including 29 GT3s.

Australia’s Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell will compete for German team Frikadelli Racing in one of eight 911 GT3 Rs among 43 Porsches in the field of 146 cars.

Campbell, 23, is from Warwick in Queensland, while two drivers from Brisbane, Rob Thomson and Angus Chapel, are competing separately in Porsche Cayman GT4s.

Power and glory at The Brickyard

The ‘grand prix’ on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the US this weekend is the fifth round of the IndyCar series, with the Indianapolis 500 to come two weeks later.

Australia’s Will Power has won the ‘GP’ twice, in 2015 and last year, for Team Penske and came within a metre of victory in the 500 in 2015.

The 2014 series champion, Power – originally from Toowoomba – is 10th in the standings this year, with barely half the points of his defending champion teammate, American Josef Newgarden.

Colombian Sebastian Saavedra and Britain’s Katherine Legge are now favourites for the Indy 500 drive with Dale Coyne Racing that is open because of Brazilian youngster Pietro Fittipaldi breaking both legs in a sports car crash last weekend at Spa in Belgium. Australian Ryan Briscoe and Matthew Brabham were earlier mentioned as possibilities.

Melbourne’s James Davison is already the second Aussie in the field in a third entry for A.J. Foyt’s team.

NASCAR on the market?

NASCAR could be for sale ... Reuters reported this week that the France family that has controlled American stock car racing for 70 years could be looking to offload a majority stake.

“The move comes as NASCAR grapples with an ageing fan base, stricter safety rules and a competitive media landscape that have weighed on its popularity and made it less attractive to advertisers and sponsors,” Reuters said.

Appearing to have been surprised at news leaking out that investment bank Goldman Sachs was seeking a buyer, NASCAR messaged all its employees telling them the France family remained committed to the sport.

Meanwhile, the Spanish entrepreneur who founded and runs the Formula E electric open-wheeler championship now in its fourth season, Alejandro Agag, has made a A$950 million offer for full ownership of that series.

Nico Rosberg, who quit F1 immediately after winning the 2016 world title, recently invested in Formula E.

Specialist Mercedes tuning outfit HWA is to become the 11th team in the series next season.

HWA has been assisting the Monaco-based Venturi team and will operate as a customer of Venturi.

Mercedes will enter a factory team in Formula E in 2019-20 after quitting the German touring car championship, the DTM, at the end of this year.

HWA has prepared the Mercs in the DTM for 30 years.

Unless a new manufacturer is unearthed within the next couple of months, the DTM will be left with just two makes next year – BMW and Audi.