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Pirro to lead updated McLaren F1 young driver programme

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McLaren has a long history of getting drivers into F1 – in recent years this has included Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, Stoffel Vandoorne and Lando Norris, this year rookie Oscar · Piastri joins the orange team.

According to a McLaren statement, its program has been renewed to “support the development of young drivers from karting to professional racing, with the aim of promoting emerging talent into F1”.

The statement continued: “As well as supporting emerging grassroots talent, the program will also support established professional drivers in other series, giving them the opportunity to gain F1 experience.”

McLaren hopes its initiative will also provide race, test or development drivers for its IndyCar and Formula E teams, with Pirlo – in recent years serving as the FIA’s F1 administrator – returning to the organisation, where he was previously its official test driver. Driver In 1988 and 1992 he raced in F1 for Benetton and 1989-1991 for Scuderia Italia.

“I’m excited about this mission for several reasons,” Pirro said.

“McLaren has played a vital role in my career, giving me the opportunity to win an F1 car and to develop myself into the higher level.

“Together with my team, my role will be to assist in creating a state-of-the-art program, selecting the best drivers and giving them all the tools they need to make the most of their talents.

“Also, integrate them into McLaren’s mission, vision and values ​​and hopefully one of them will make it to the F1 team.

“The IndyCar and Formula E teams are a major asset for us and will provide additional career opportunities for our McLaren Driver Development members.

“I love working with young drivers and helping them grow and improve. Every time I’ve done this in the past it has been an enriching experience and I look forward to doing it again.

“McLaren has an amazing history in F1. It means a lot to me and I’m very proud to be a part of the project.

“I am grateful to Zak Brown (McLaren CEO) and Andrea Stella (McLaren F1 Team Principal) for giving me this fantastic opportunity.”

FIA Driver Steward Emanuele Pirro and FIA Race Director Michael Masi.

FIA Driver Steward Emanuele Pirro and FIA Race Director Michael Masi.

Photography: Charles Coates / motorsport pictures

McLaren’s current roster of young drivers includes Indycar stars Alex Palu and Pato Owald – the former is also McLaren’s 2023 F1 reserve driver with the Ganassi IndyCar team – and Formula 4 driver Ugo Ugochukwu.

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“McLaren has a long history of developing emerging talent into top-level racing drivers, and I’m proud that this will continue long into the future,” Brown said.

“We have an experienced team at McLaren, who will be ably led by Emanuele, able to provide the support and resources needed to develop young talent into competitive professional racing drivers.

“With McLaren’s extensive racing portfolio in Formula 1, IndyCar and Formula E, we are well positioned to help develop young talent from the start of their careers through to full-time racing or testing and development roles.

“We already have an exciting group of talent, including Pato, Alex and Ugo, and I am delighted to continue to support their development as we begin to establish the McLaren Driver Development Programme.”

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Alonso vs Verstappen; who beats whom? 'Man, that is hard'

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While Fernando Alonso is not yet in contention for a win in 2023, the Spaniard’s performance in a relatively strong Aston Martin looks like a comeback. Even with a slightly better car, the nearly 42-year-old F1 driver could take on Max Verstappen, a fight everyone including Pedro de la Rosa would love to see.

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Mercedes and Ferrari set for crucial 2024 no-blanket Pirelli F1 tyre test

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The race in Barcelona is significant because Pirelli raced on its 2024 tires just once before the FIA ​​made a final decision on whether to go ahead with the original race plan – after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Red Bull took part. There is no blanket for the game next season.

Current rules say the blankets will remain in place until 2024, and a decision on whether to change and abandon them must be made by July 31.

Several drivers who tested early prototypes of the blanketless tires in winter were not happy with them, with Lewis Hamilton calling them “dangerous”.

However, testing after the Bahrain Grand Prix showed more promise and Pirelli believes next week’s race in Spain will represent a further step.

An early design of the future structure will be used for this year’s British Grand Prix and was tested by drivers in Barcelona on Friday.

The FIA ​​has approved the carpetless all-wet tyres, which were first used by Sergio Perez and the Haas drivers during the Monaco Grand Prix.

“It’s very important for us,” Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra told Autosport of the Barcelona race.

“We’re testing most of the compounds, we have a lot of variants. We’re trying to test different structures to move forward because the goal is to have no blankets in 2024.

“So we need a structure that obviously needs to have good integrity, a high level of integrity, but needs to work really well at the start of the run when the pressure is lower and help the compound get to temperature and become in the operating range .

“So we’re continuing to develop new structures. Then we’ll start looking at new families of compounds that don’t use blankets. So I think that’s going to be a good test for us.

“The Barcelona we know is representative because we have high-speed sections. It’s a normal track, a more complete track compared to Bahrain when we tested at the beginning of the season.”

While not entirely representative, Bella believes the Bahrain test has helped point Pirelli in the right direction, with the tires due to run in Spain next week meeting the requirements.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

“I think we’ve gotten some interesting stuff,” he said. “Obviously Bahrain is not really important for all circuits because you have a high temperature on the track and you have high traction demands and braking demands.

“So we need to test the new structure on different tracks where you have high lateral loads, higher severity and maybe cooler temperatures compared to Bahrain, just to see where we’re going in a good direction effort.

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“When we were testing in Bahrain, we had some good options out of the box. But there were still some things that needed to be fine-tuned, finalized, and this was a new proposal.

“So that’s what the test is for. We’re trying to develop a structure that helps generate the temperature on the tyre, so that the compound can work. That means the structure is less stiff and can increase stiffness as pressure increases .”

Bella believes Pirelli will finally get the FIA’s approval to ditch blankets in 2024.

The test will also see the Mercedes track debut of the team’s reserve driver Mick Schumacher, who will tackle the W14 on Wednesday after George Russell entered the race the previous day.

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Fernando vs Verstappen; who beats whom? 'Man, that is hard'

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While Fernando Alonso is not yet in contention for a win in 2023, the Spaniard’s performance in a relatively strong Aston Martin looks like a comeback. With a slightly better car, the nearly 42-year-old F1 driver could challenge Max Verstappen. A fight that everyone, including Pedro de la Rosa, wanted to see.

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