In short

Ricciardo impressed engineer with F1 comeback check

Simon Rennie, who was Ricciardo’s race engineer when he drove for Pink Bull, mentioned he was “positively not as assured” as he remembered when he started simulator classes after returning to the staff earlier this yr. “Identical to somewhat bit hole in a means.”

The pair have been talking collectively in an interview for Pink Bull carried out earlier than Ricciardo broke his hand at Zandvoort final month. Rennie instructed him: “It felt such as you have been doubting your self somewhat bit. And also you have been a bit involved about whether or not you might do it once more. It didn’t essentially click on right away within the simulator and it took you – that first day that we did collectively, you continue to appeared somewhat bit not sure of all of it.”

Nevertheless Ricciardo’s first drive again at his previous staff for a Pirelli tyre check at Silverstone left Rennie in little doubt he was again to his greatest. “You couldn’t actually inform that he hadn’t been within the automotive for eight months,” he defined. “The primary run, perhaps on the set up lap you have been reminded how fast the automobiles have been. However after that, inside just a few laps it was similar to you have been driving a automotive the final week, not final yr. That was fairly – I don’t know in the event you have been stunned about that, however I used to be quietly impressed about that.”

Hamilton fortunate to flee critical injury in Piastri conflict

Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says Lewis Hamilton was lucky to keep away from any important injury from his conflict with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri through the Italian Grand Prix. After the incident, which occurred whereas they have been combating for eighth place, Hamilton made a number of passes to complete sixth.

“We have been fairly fortunate as a result of the contact was all on the wheel rim and the tyre,” mentioned Shovlin. “There’s a little bit of injury to the rim, there’s a little bit of injury to the wheel cowl on it, however nothing that might have affected the efficiency of the automotive.”

Pirelli end Italian tyre check

Pirelli concluded their two-day System 1 tyre check in Italy on Wednesday, with operating at Monza and Ferrari’s check observe Fiorano.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly did 122 laps of Monza, with a 1:24.971 being his quickest lap, as he tried out slick compounds. Charles Leclerc clocked up 130 laps of Fiorano on intermediate and moist compound tyres because the observe’s sprinkler programs have been put to make use of. Combining the 2 days of motion, which included Pink Bull becoming a member of Alpine at Monza on Tuesday, there was 2922 kilometres of testing.

Pirelli is bidding to stay as F1’s official tyre provider after 2024 towards competitors from Bridgestone. Pirelli’s head of motorsport Mario Isola mentioned: “Our purpose throughout these two days was to finalise among the decisions for subsequent yr but additionally to work on the long-term future, although we don’t but know whether or not we’ll proceed to provide F1 from 2025. We don’t get that many probabilities to check on observe so we have to maximise each single one.”

Myles Rowe secures his 2024 Indy Nxt seat

Myles Rowe, winner of this yr’s USF Professional 2000 championship and a protege of IndyCar champion Will Energy, has signed with HMD Motorsports to race in Indy Nxt in 2024.

The 23-year-old received a $664,500 (£569,936) scholarship to step as much as the following degree on IndyCar’s assist ladder by claiming the USFP2000 title final weekend at Portland. Throughout the season he received 5 races and took 4 pole positions.

Rowe’s automotive shall be backed by Penske Leisure’s Race for Equality and Change initiative. It will likely be entered as a ‘HMD Motorsports with Pressure Indy’ – the latter programme having supported his profession since 2021.

Blissful birthday!

Blissful birthday to Stephen and F1Sauber!