Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes raise game in Montreal, bounce back into podium form

Associated PressJun 20, 2022, 2:00 PM EDT
Lewis Hamilton Montreal podium
Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
1 Comment

It was the roar of the fans that Lewis Hamilton missed, and so it was fitting that when he most needed a boost, he heard it for his podium Sunday from the largest Montreal crowd in Canadian Grand Prix history.

Montreal is, after all, the site of Hamilton’s first Formula One victory in 2007. That was 15 years, 103 wins and seven F1 championships ago — practically another lifetime considering the horrific start Hamilton and Mercedes have had this season.

The new Mercedes built to F1’s 2022 specifications is miserable to drive; Hamilton’s back hurts from all the bouncing, in part because Mercedes rides it low to the ground for maximum performance. That quest for downforce has created a “porpoising” effect that is, at minimum, dangerous to a drivers’ long-term health.

Hamilton acknowledged suffering from more headaches than usual the last few months, but if they are micro-concussions, he doesn’t know. He uses his own personal physiotherapist, takes painkillers and (along with new teammate George Russell) drives whatever car Mercedes gives them.

But it had to feel like rock bottom a week ago in Baku, when Hamilton, 37, struggled to even climb from his car after bouncing for 190 miles through the Azerbaijani streets. F1’s governing body stepped in last Thursday with an FIA-issued technical directive to address porpoising.

The directive engulfed the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve paddock in backroom politicking, and rivals found it peculiar that Mercedes so quickly reacted to a late notification in time for Friday’s opening practice.

In the end, Mercedes used the technical directive to try new setups Friday, but it made its cars even worse. So come Saturday, the team did what their rivals had been suggesting all along: Mercedes raised the ride height, and Hamilton’s fourth-place qualifying effort was his best of the year. Then he finished third Sunday to earn just his second podium in nine races this season.

He was Sir Lewis Hamilton when he climbed from the car, not the veteran struggling to hold off his younger teammate and keep the leaders in sight. Hamilton heard the crowd – F1 said a record 338,000 spectators turned out over three days in the series’ return after a two-year pandemic pause – and immediately addressed the fans.

“How are you going, Montreal?” he asked. He later reflected on what Sunday’s finish – his first podium since the season-opener in March – meant to him in this terrible season.

“I’ve not been on the podium for a long time,” he said. “So, especially as I had my first one here 15 years ago, to be back up there and get to experience the energy from the crowd was very reminiscent of that first year here. I’m so, so happy with it.”

Will Hamilton now be competitive enough to defend his British Grand Prix victory when F1 next races in two weeks? Probably not. Mercedes still doesn’t have the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, and even after raising the ride height in Montreal, the cars still bounced.

“We still have bouncing, that’s not going away,” Hamilton said. “And I really hope, moving to Silverstone, it’s such an important race for us and for me, I just want to be in a battle with these guys. We will get there eventually.”

Russell, who has beaten Hamilton in seven of nine races this season, didn’t sound as encouraged after finishing fourth. He said the porpoising was likely “less extreme” than Baku because of Montreal’s smoother surface but the Mercedes “is still smashing up and down on the ground.”

“The overall inherent issues of these 2022 cars are far from being resolved,” Russell said.

He also was critical of Mercedes’ pace and said the qualifying and race results were misleading because the pace deficit to Red Bull and Ferrari “was still pretty substantial.”

“We’re still a long way from where we need to be,” said Russell, “yeah, we haven’t made a huge amount of progress as yet.”

Their rivals will tell you Mercedes simply missed the mark wildly on its 2022 car build and is overdramatizing driver health concerns to push the FIA into rules changes.

Though other drivers, including Sergio Perez of Red Bull, have acknowledged the porpoising, no team has struggled as Mercedes has. And, if Mercedes is so concerned, rival teams openly pondered, why doesn’t it raise its ride height to better comfort its drivers? (Answer: The lower to the ground, the faster the car).

“This is a Formula One car. This is not a Rolls-Royce. And drivers should be aware of this,” said Franz Tost, the former driver-turned-head of AlphaTauri. “If the cars are too stiff, or it’s too difficult for them, maybe they should stay at home, in the living room, sit in the chair, and then they can do the races on TV or wherever. I don’t know.”

Alpine principal Otmar Szafnauer was just as blunt: “We just tend to run the car at a ride height that still gets the performance that we need, but it doesn’t injure or hurt the drivers or destroy the car.

“We run it safely. And I believe every team has that opportunity to do so,” he added.

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
2 Comments

LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).