F1 Gossip: Marko claims Hamilton’s Monza injury was ‘a show’

- Red Bull motorsport director Helmut Marko says Mercedes ‘put on a show’ about Lewis Hamilton being injured following his collision with Max Verstappen in what he has described as being a “normal racing accident” (Österreich) 

"It was a normal racing accident, all the stories surrounding it were pulled out of thin air by Mercedes,” Marko said.

“Verstappen had already dropped out when Hamilton tried to get out of the gravel with the reverse gear. 

“The medical car saw this and drove on. And then a show is put on that poor Hamilton is suddenly injured.”

- The director of the Automobile Club d’Italia, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, has requested financial support from the Italian government to help Antonio Giovinazzi secure his Alfa Romeo seat for the 2022 F1 season (PitlaneTV.com, in Italian) 

- Stefano Domenicali has revealed F1 is in talks with African countries and Korea over the possibility of staging future grands prix, but stressed he wants to keep the calendar to 23 races (Bild, via Autoweek) 

- F1 teams are pushing for a further increase in the minimum weight limit for next year’s cars (RaceFans)

- Daniel Ricciardo says his lack of sleep following a surprise victory at the Italian Grand Prix has been caused by “excitement” rather than being due to wild celebrations (BBC Sport) 

- Sky Sports commentator and ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle stands by his view that the collision between Verstappen and Hamilton at Monza was a racing incident (Sky Sports) 

- A technical issue with Alpine’s F1 car prevented Daniil Kvyat from conducting the final run of a two-day 18-inch tyre test at Magny-Cours (Motorsport Week)