With our roundup of all the pit side action from this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix, plus other developments in the last fortnight, TrackDays brings you our regular roundup of Formula 1 news…
- Verstappen increases title lead with second consecutive win
The chances of Team Red Bull's Max Verstappen finishing the 2021 season as Formula One World Championship title holder are looking stronger by the minute.
With just another four races left to go in the calendar for this year, he increased his lead over Team Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton on Sunday, notching up his ninth win of the season and increasing his points lead on the standings to date to by 19.
And it wasn't a close run thing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this weekend either; with a final race time of 1:38:39 he was also 16.5 seconds quicker than his rival, whose dominance of the World Championship title is looking shaky despite finishing 2nd in Mexico.
It was also a good weekend for Verstappen's Red Bull team mate, Sergio Perez, who finished 3rd. Writing on his Twitter, Verstappen said "What a win and team performance! Simply lovely … The start made my race and the car was incredible, thank you Red Bull, Honda and everybody at the factory … And that passionate crowd, just amazing, congrats Sergio Perez on his podium."
- Motorsports' cleaner mobility comes under microscope
One bit of news that has been dominating headlines since our last update has been the COP26 Summit, which comes to an end in Glasgow this Friday (12th November), from which delegates from over 200 countries - the UK included - are looking to make and sign off on firm agreements on reducing carbon emissions to ensure the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming down by 1.5°c are met and avoid the worsening effects of climate change.
This has, naturally, caused transportation - and in particular, motorsports, of which Formula 1 is undoubtedly the biggest, to come under close scrutiny once again, particularly as it's thought to be responsible for between 25 - 30% of all carbon emissions globally.
It's a complex debate, but one that will have to be discussed and addressed sooner rather than later, particularly for fans of the sport and teams alike. Tellingly, the all electric Formula E racing team Envision Virgin Racing were the only motorsport team to showcase in the blue zone at the summit on Thursday of last week (4th November).
However, the team's boss, Sylvain Filippi, is optimistic that many of the changes motorsport technology has brought about to cars generally in recent years - lighter bodywork, traction control, improved batteries - could prove vital to the future.
Speaking at the summit, he said "It's a good time to be alive if you work in this industry. We are learning more every year, and all companies are hungry for data … Innovation every year means that we still make this arbitration between energy and power, but the overall threshold is increasing every year, so for the same power as last year you can have more energy, or vice versa."
- Pirelli on track for new tyres in 2022
Ending on a positive note, Pirelli have said this week that they are on course to deliver much needed new durable tyres ahead of next year's Formula 1 season. They have been developing the tyres as a way to allow drivers to push harder and give closer racing out on the track.
Of course, anything that adds to and builds on the levels of excitement we've seen across this current season can only be a good thing. Pirelli's boss, Mario Isola, has said that the tyres have already undergone numerous tests with F1 drivers and that they're "happy" with the results.
The new tyres are a lot broader, as they are 18 inches rather than the F1 standard 13 inches which haven't allowed drivers to push harder for longer periods of time without running the risk of overheating and losing performance.
Furthermore, the rubber on the new tyres has been developed so that overheating is reduced significantly, reduced thermal degradation and a wider working temperature range that will ensure the tyres stay at the optimum temperature possible.
Make sure you keep visiting our News page here on the TrackDays website to get all the very latest updates on the current Formula 1 season. To book your next Formula 1 Single Seater driving experience via available dates or purchase of our open gift vouchers, visit our dedicated Formula 1 Experiences page today.
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