In the round-up: The editor-in-chief of German magazine Die Aktuelle has been sacked after the publication ran an ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher generated by an online AI chatbot.
In brief
Editor sacked for “tasteless” Schumacher article
German publishing company Funke Mediengruppe has apologised to the Schumacher family after one of its magazines published a fake interview with seven-times world championship Michael Schumacher which had been generated using an AI chatbot.
A representative of the Schumacher family confirmed to RaceFans that they planned to pursue legal action after the ‘interview’ was published in Die Aktuelle magazine. Schumacher suffered brain injuries in a skiing accident in 2013 and has not appeared publicly since. Funke managing director Bianca Pohlmann said the publisher offered its apologies to the family for running the article.
“This tasteless and misleading article should never have been published,” Pohlmann said. “It does not meet the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like Funke.”
Funke also confirmed that Die Aktuelle editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who had edited the magazine since 2009, had been removed from her position as a consequence.
Mazepin takes Canadian government to court over sanctions
Former Haas driver Nikita Mazepin is suing the the Canadian government in a federal court over sanctions placed on him last year in a bid to help revive his F1 career.
The Canadian Press reports that Mazepin, who is Russian and was dropped by Haas following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is taking the Canadian government to federal court to remove him from the nation’s sanctions list. Mazepin’s father, Dmitry, was also sanctioned as head of the petrochemical company Uralkali, who were also dropped as Haas sponsors.
Court submissions reportedly claim that Mazepin considers his case urgent as “it will be extremely difficult — if not impossible — for him to be recruited again as an F1 driver or as a driver in other motorsport championships” if the sanctions are not dropped.
Mazepin competed in February’s Asian Le Mans series with 99 Racing in the LMP2 class.
Formula E delays Attack Charge pit stops to 2024
Formula E will delay its plans to introduce pit stops to ‘recharge’ cars during races later this season, the series’ leadership has confirmed.
The regulations for the 2023 season – the first with Formula E’s Gen3 car – included plans to introduce a mandatory 30 second pit stop to charge car batteries during races at select rounds later in the season, after which drivers would receive two periods of increased power output. However, Formula E has decided not to introduce the system in 2023 and instead postpone its implementation to next season.
The second Formula E race of the weekend at Berlin will take place later today around a reversed circuit layout. Mitch Evans took victory in yesterday’s race, ahead of Jaguar team mate Sam Bird.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Hamilton has ‘gone stale’ at Mercedes says Eddie Jordan who compares star to David Beckham and says ‘it’s time to move on’ (TalkSport)
“I think he would like to win his eighth title but I have a passion in that I think he should go to Ferrari but that’s just me talking nonsense. The reason why is I don’t want him to become stale, and I think when he was at McLaren he did well but he moved quickly to Mercedes.”
Haas boss Steiner admits Ricciardo made the right decision to walk away from F1 (Daily Mail)
“It’s good to have a year in my opinion just to reflect on it because, for sure, the last year wasn’t easy for him because he is a good race car driver and he was beaten by his teammate. And for sure, he’s not happy about that. He’s still not happy. But does he want to come back and prove that he’s what he was before? A winner. Or is he given the opportunity? Because it’s not only his decision. It is the decision of one of the teams which take him on as well.”
Tsunoda has clearly stepped up this season – but what has he changed to improve his performance? (F1)
“There are always caveats when analysing data like this – track conditions, fuel loads, position on the track when an incident happens etc – but what it does show is that Tsunoda has ticked a lot of boxes in terms of what is expected of him. He has found some consistency, not just across a weekend from Friday practice through the Sunday’s Grand Prix, but across three races, on three very different tracks, and with a car that is not capable on pure performance of fighting for points. And yet, he’s put himself in a position to score in all three rounds so far.”
What is an F1 Car Concept? (Mercedes)
“‘Car Concept’ is regularly mentioned when bodywork is changed on a Formula One car. Visual differences that are clear to see. But does that accurately reflect what a team means by a ‘car concept’?”
Academy Driver Chadwick shares how she’s adapting to Indy Nxt in her own words (Williams)
“My first race was a mix of emotions. On one hand, I was a bit disappointed with the result, but on the other side, there are so many positives and learnings I can take away. It was certainly a baptism of fire, but I think that’s a good thing in a way – to throw myself into something like that and take away so much new experience.”
F1 Clienti and XX Programme feature at Circuit of the Americas (Ferrari)
“Opened in 2012, the circuit, which hosts one leg of the Formula 1 World Championship, will welcome some of the single-seaters and sports prototypes that have made the history of the Prancing Horse. These include an F150 that competed in the 2011 F1 World Championship, driven by Fernando Alonso, who won that year’s British GP at Silverstone. The car’s name is a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. The event will feature 11 hypercars developed at Maranello specifically for the non-competitive track activities of the exclusive XX Programme, including the 599XX, the 599XX Evo, the FXX Evo and the FXX K Evo.”
Analysis: How Jaguar sealed a first one-two (Formula E)
Karun Chandhok analyses the close stage of the first Berlin Eprix of the weekend and how Jaguar successfully secured their first ever one-two finish.
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On this day in motorsport
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