F1 Round Up: Ferrari's inconsistency, Mercedes season turnaround, Piquet's fine upheld

Ferrari struggles to understand consistency issue SF-23

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur admitted that the team is struggling to address the consistency issue with their Formula 1 car.

While the car has shown speed over one lap, as demonstrated by Carlos Sainz's second-place qualifying performance at the Spanish GP, it has been inconsistent during races.

In Barcelona, both Sainz and Charles Leclerc struggled with the car's behavior, experiencing imbalanced setups and losing time to competitors.

Vasseur highlighted the difficulty in understanding and fixing the issue, as it is not consistently the same problem.

He dismissed the notion that tire degradation was the main issue and downplayed the impact of running in dirty air.

Vasseur acknowledged the need for more development focus on addressing the consistency problem and stated that they have made progress in that regard.

The team aims to have a more consistent and easier-to-drive car in order to improve their performance from stint to stint.

Toto Wolff: Early season struggle led to bold car change

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes that the team's early-season struggles were necessary to push them towards a bold concept change.

Despite persisting with their troubled 2022 car concept, the team found themselves further behind Red Bull during Bahrain winter testing, leading to the decision to change the concept of its floor, sidepods, and suspension mid-season.

The revamped W14 made its debut at the Monaco Grand Prix, but it was the Spanish Grand Prix that provided a more representative sample of the car's performance.

With Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finishing second and third, respectively, behind Max Verstappen, Mercedes' decision to change course was vindicated.

Wolff acknowledged the hard work of the team back at base and highlighted the risks involved in the move.

He cautioned that Mercedes still has work to do to catch up to Red Bull and emphasized the importance of confirming their turnaround at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Despite finishing 24 seconds behind Verstappen, Wolff believes the actual difference is smaller and stated, "I think we are much closer, but you see where the benchmark is."

Nelson Piquet Fails in Appeal Over Lewis Hamilton Slurs, Fine Stands

Three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet's appeal to overturn his fine for racist and homophobic comments against Lewis Hamilton has been unsuccessful.

Piquet faced a court case brought by four human rights groups in response to his use of racial slurs against Hamilton in multiple interviews.

Piquet apologized and clarified that the term used was not intended as racial abuse but rather a colloquial synonym for "guy" or "person."

However, a Brazilian court fined him 5,000,000 Brazilian Reals (£780,000) in 'moral damages'.

Piquet's appeal has been rejected, and the fine remains in place. As a result of his comments, Piquet has been absent from the Formula 1 paddock, and his access has been suspended indefinitely.