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F1 Today | Wolff airs Sainz's secret, and is Colapinto on Alpine's radar?
The Formula 1 world never stops turning, and GPblog once again can bring you the top stories of the day from around the motorsports world. Toto Wolff has told a secret behind Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari, Max Verstappen is criticised by a Sky analyst and could Franco Colapinto shockingly be on Alpine's radar for 2025? Find out the latest now!
Wolff knew of Hamilton's move after call with Sainz Sr:
The move of seven-time world Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari even came as a shock to Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss. Hamilton, who has been at Mercedes since 2013, only has three races to go before his hugely successful Mercedes tenure comes to an end. Wolff recently told the High-Performance Podcast that he had his suspicions a little earlier after Carlos Sainz's father leaked the news.
Wolff recently revealed that he had a sneaky feeling he knew Hamilton would leave for the iconic Italian team before the Brit had told him. "So I heard the bells ringing two weeks before. The old man Sainz (Carlos Sainz Sr) called me and said, this is what's happening. And then there were a few drivers that rang me up that didn't before. So I thought, okay, this is, something is going on there," the Austrian revealed. Read the full story by clicking this link HERE.
Sky analyst critiques Verstappen:
Sky Sports analyst Bernie Collins has been critical of Max Verstappen's 'complaining' during the Brazilian Grand Prix. According to Collins, the Dutchman tried to get a red flag for his own benefit. The former head of strategy at Aston Martin thinks Verstappen would have won the race even without a red flag. Collins says she cannot judge whether a red flag was necessary, but is glad race director Niels Wittich stood his ground and didn't give a red flag until Colapinto's incident. Still, she is unapologetic about the drivers who she said 'demanded' a red flag after they themselves made the choice to continue on used intermediates.
"The red flag obviously helped Max in this eventuality," Collins said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. "I would have liked to have seen it without that because I think he would still have won without the red flag. Therefore, the win wouldn't have been - tainted is the wrong word - but you would have taken away any discussion about people's opinion of him being lucky or unlucky with the red flag. His pace was so [strong], either way he was possibly going to come through the entire pack and win. That would have stood out more than maybe it does." The Irishwoman concluded.
Shock move to Alpine for Colapinto?
Another shock driver transfer might be on the cards. Franco Colapinto has performed strongly since his Grand Prix debut—except for his crash behind the safety car at the Brazil GP in challenging conditions—and is already being linked to several F1 teams for a permanent seat in 2025. In principle, the driver will be on the sidelines next year as the line-up at Williams is already fixed with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull Racing was mentioned as a potential interested party, but Alpine's name also surfaced. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Flavio Briatore (former F1 team boss and currently an advisor at Alpine) would have changed his mind about contracting reserve driver Jack Doohan. Instead of Doohan, it is said he would prefer to see Colapinto come to the French team. The Enstone-based squad refused to comment on the matter.
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