F1 Gossip: Perez's Imola GP performance “more than annoying” - Marko

- Red Bull F1 consultant Helmut Marko was left disappointed by Sergio Perez's race-day performance at Imola after he failed to convert his front-row starting position into a podium finish.

Perez was running in fourth before spinning out, ultimately finishing the race just outside of the points in 11th.

Reflecting on Perez's performance, Marko told ServusTV as quoted by SpeedWeek: "It started well in qualifying. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he drives the second best time. Then we thought that everything would fit. I think he didn't manage to get the tyres up to temperature right away like Max did. Of course, 11th place is more than annoying."

- In the same interview, Marko also stated he believes Mercedes has the faster car over a race distance, while Red Bull has the edge over one lap.

- With F1 announcing a race in Miami will take place in 2022, CEO Stefano Domenicali says it could end up replacing a European round on next year's calendar. (RacingNews365.com)

- Ex-Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher has criticised Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas after his disappointing performance at Imola.

In his column for Sky Germany, as cited by the Express, Schumacher questioned why the Finn was near a Williams in the first place before his race-ending accident with George Russell.

“Bottas has to ask himself why he has to defend himself against a Williams,” Schumacher wrote. “George’s speculation that Valtteri acted like this because of the special scenario – Russell is a Mercedes junior and has ambitions for the Bottas cockpit – Toto Wolff dismissed as ‘bullsh*t’.

“At over 300 km/h Bottas certainly doesn’t want to play games, but he certainly didn’t want to let Russell just pass by either. And I didn’t like his attitude in the interviews that followed. In general, he has to ask himself why he had to defend himself against a Williams while lying deep in midfield.

- Netflix F1 documentary - Drive to Survive - has been nominated for a SportsEmmy for Serialized Sports Documentary.

The #SportsEmmys nominees for Serialized Sports Documentary are
All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur |@PrimeVideo @72_films @AmazonStudios
The Cost of Winning |@HBODocs @SMAC
Formula 1: Drive to Survive |@netflix @BoxToBoxFilms
Outcry |@SHOsports
Texas 6 |@CBSSports @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/N1XRwQYtch

— Sports Emmys (@sportsemmys) April 20, 2021

- Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has given his verdict on the George Floyd case after police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder at his trial in Minnesota.

 

 

 

 

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- Taking over from teammate Hamilton yesterday, Valtteri Bottas was in the Mercedes W12 testing Pirelli's 2022 tyres at Imola.

That’s 64 laps for @ValtteriBottas with the 2022 Pirelli #Fit4F1 18-inch tyres this morning at @autodromoimola with @MercedesAMGF1. And he’s not done yet.... pic.twitter.com/50PmpFawav

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) April 21, 2021