Former F1 driver Jarno Trulli has questioned the state of Grand Prix racing and believes the sport is at risk of entering an “irreversable” downturn.

Trulli, a veteran of 252 F1 career starts in F1 who raced mainly for Renault, Toyota and Lotus, insists that Formula 1 is no longer the dashing, high performance sport he once knew.

“What has Formula 1 become?” the 44-year-old Italian blogger Leo Turrini.

“Do you realise that in Singapore the drivers were 10-12 seconds per lap slower than the pole time? It’s absurd, ridiculous.

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“I imagine the dismay that guys like Kimi, Fernando, Lewis and Seb must feel, as they knew the Formula 1 that really was Formula 1.

“That F1 pushed from the start to the finish, but now you need to look after consumption, the tyres, so on. Without intervening quickly, this distortion of Formula 1 risks becoming irreversible.

“I regret it enormously because I love this world — it represented so much of my life. What a pity,” he added.

Trulli casts a critical eye on F1 but the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix winner is still mighty impressed with Lewis Hamilton’s performance this year.

“He has always been strong but usually something goes wrong with him, but this time he has made no mistake,” acknowledged Trulli.

“I’m sorry to say it but he has been better than Vettel. For Ferrari, the dream is fading once again.”

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Sebastian Vettel shrugged off the disappointment of Saturday’s qualifying session and insisted that he was still positive about Ferrari’s prospects in the Russian Grand Prix.

Vettel was half a second off the pace of his Mercedes rivals in qualifying, which is around the same as he had been in FP2 and FP3. That’s a big deficit to overcome in race conditions on Sunday.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” he said. “Obviously it was important to get as close as possible to them, and then we’ll see what is true.

“They’ve been very quick, so we’ll see tomorrow. It’s a long race. We’ve seen that the tyres are very important.

“For today I think it should have been a bit closer, the gap, but enough to be a threat.”

• Bottas beats Hamilton in Mercedes-dominated qualifying

Vettel said he felt he could have been closer to the pole-winning pace of Valtteri Bottas, adding that he’d been pushing right up to – and over – the limit in qualifying.

“I had a tiny mistake in the last sector,” he revealed. “I knew I had to improve by half a second so I had to try, but it didn’t work.

“But I’m quite happy. The car felt alright so that makes me quite positive for Sunday.”

Vettel is looking to last year’s race for inspiration. He will be starting from third place on the grid, which is where Bottas lined up last year. The Finn went on to win the race after slipstreaming the Ferraris in the run down to turn 1.

Now Vettel is planning to do the same tomorrow.

“I hope so,” he said. “I just spoke to Valtteri and reminded him of what happened last year so maybe we can turn it around. That would be nice.

“But I think it depends on the start, the initial jump, that’s important. And then I think you know where you are and then you see what you can do in the first corner.”

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“After that it’s a long race. A tricky one. But for sure if there’s a gap we’ll go for it.”

Vettel will be starting on the second row alongside his team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who has already said that he has no plans on merely playing the loyal team mate in his last season at Ferrari.

With just six races to go before he gives up his race seat and heads to Sauber, Raikkonen wants to bow out with more more win to add to his career tally of 20 to date.

However he admitted that it looked unlikely that Sochi would deliver him the chance to do that, given Mercedes’ evident superiority so far this weekend.

“It looks like we’re a bit behind here,” he acknowledged, after finishing 0.850s off Bottas in the final round of qualifying.

“Qualifying was okay but the last lap didn’t come together,” he said. “The car didn’t feel too bad in qualifying, it’s just that we were a bit off on the speed.”

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While other drivers said that Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix had been rather ‘boring,’ that certainly wasn’t the way that Valtteri Bottas saw his day at the office.

The Finn was already seriously compromised by a number of grid penalties for having to use new power unit components this weekend. It meant the Mercedes driver started the race well out of position from 17th place on the grid.

Bottas was then caught up in the first lap incident at La Source, running into the back of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin in the confusion.

While the Williams was able to continue, the contact forced Bottas to pit for repairs. It dropped him to the rear again, but he still managed to fight back to eventually cross the line in fourth place at the finish.

“Our goal for today was damage limitation and we’ve had a good recovery drive,” Bottas said after the race.

“I was hoping to maybe get the chance to be on podium, but I had a collision going into Turn 1 which damaged my front wing.

• Vettel wins at Spa with first-lap pass on Hamilton

“After that P4 was the maximum we could get and it’s not a bad result given the fact that we started from P17.”

Race stewards subsequently reviewed that collision with Sirotkin and decided that Bottas was to blame. He was duly handed a five second post-race penalty.

“The driver of car 77 [Bottas] admitted the collision was his fault,” said the official bulletin from the FIA.

“[He said] he had completely misjudged the situation and that the braking of car 35 [Sirotkin] caught him by surprise and that he should’ve left more margin.

Fortunately his margin over Sergio Perez was big enough that Bottas still held on to fourth place despite the time penalty.

In addition, he also receives two penalty points on his license, taking him to a total of four for the last 12-month period.

Not that this will take the shine off the day for Bottas, for whom fourth place was a very effective comeback in the circumstances.

“I actually quite enjoyed the drive today, as I got to overtake a lot of cars,” he said. “My favourite moment was probably the pass in Eau Rouge – that was a lot of fun.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t win the race today, but we scored more points than Ferrari, so that’s one positive.

“They looked really strong this weekend, both in qualifying and in the race. We made a step forward with our engine for this weekend, but the Ferraris are still quicker so we need to keep pushing.”

Despite race winner Sebastian Vettel’s apparent dominance in the race, an early retirement for Kimi Raikkonen means that Mercedes has actually added five points to its lead in the team championship.

“Valtteri put in a great drive from the back to claim P4, so the points total brings us a small advantage on the constructors’ side,” noted Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

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American driver Santino Ferrucci will take part in two more races in the Verizon IndyCar Series this season.

Ferrucci made his début in the championship in June in the Detroit doubleheader with Dale Coyne Racing. The team announced on Friday that he will return to the series next month for two more races at Portland and Sonoma.

“We were very impressed with Santino at Detroit this year,” said team owner Dale Coyne. “Not just by his performance behind the wheel, but also by his professionalism and maturity outside of the race car.

“We’ve had lengthy discussions with Santino in the past few months and we’re excited to have him back for the final two rounds of the season.

“We look forward to seeing what he will do with this opportunity as he gets back behind the wheel of an IndyCar,” he added.

It means that the team will field three cars for the two events. Ferrucci will be lining up alongside team mates Sebastien Bourdais and Pietro Fittipaldi.

• Ferrucci apologises as Haas reviews links with F2 driver

His first IndyCar outing earlier this year came to a premature end following a collision with Charlie Kimball. He finished in 20th position on his second attempt, after another collision this time with Spencer Pigot.

Ferrucci’s 2018 calendar had been freed up somewhat after he was dropped by Formula 2 team Trident.

It followed a series of incidents that took place at Silverstone. He deliberately ran into his team mate Arjun Maini on a post-race cool-down lap, and then drove to the paddock while talking on a mobile phone having removed one of his racing gloves.

The multiple breaches of sporting regulations earned him a two-weekend race ban from F2 race stewards. Trident went further and said they were dropping him altogether.

However Ferrucci has so far been retained by Formula 1 team Haas in his role as development driver. Principal Guenther Steiner said that he would make a decision about the 20-year-old’s future with the American squad in due course.

Ferrucci himself was just happy to put a difficult period behind him and get back to racing next month.

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“I am extremely grateful to Dale and everyone at Dale Coyne Racing for giving me this opportunity to get back behind the wheel of an Indy car in Portland and Sonoma,” Ferrucci said.

“I truly enjoyed my time with Dale Coyne Racing in Detroit earlier this season,” he added.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be back with them for a couple more races, as I look to the future and enter the next chapter of my career.

“I’m also excited to be bringing my long-time sponsor Cly-Del on board and introducing them to the world of IndyCar racing.”

Next year will see IndyCar introduce a superlicence system similar to that operated by the FIA for Formula 1. Details of the exact criteria are unclear, but as things stand it seems likely that Ferrucci would struggle to get the necessary points to qualify him for a full-season campaign.

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Pierre Gasly pointed the finger at Esteban Ocon after the pair’s squabble in the Mexican Grand Prix, the Toro Rosso driver admitting he’s wary whenever he goes wheel-to-wheel with his countryman.

It’s a well-known fact that there is no love lost between the two French drivers, their rivalry dating all the way back to their karting days together.

The pair locked horns once again in Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix as they fought for position at Turn 4 in the closing stages of the race, with Gasly feeling he had been forced off the track by the Force India driver.

Brake failure wreaked havoc on Perez’s efforts on home turf

However, the stewards deemed that Gasly had run wide as a result of locking up, and no further action was taken but the Toro Rosso driver – who eventually overtook Ocon – was clearly wound up against his rival.

“With Ocon it’s always the same thing. I’ve known him for a long time, there are a lot of chances that things happen,” Gasly said after the race.

“I think he wasn’t very happy that I had started last and managed to overtake him, so he pushed me wide and I had to go off track.

“I could have forced my way in Turn 5 and we would have had contact, but it wasn’t worth it, as I could have another go after that.”

“For me it wasn’t fair, because you leave the space for one car, but if they say you can race aggressively, I don’t mind.”

Gasly also questioned the stewards’ stance, referring to a similar incident earlier this year at Silverstone when he was handed a penalty for running Sergio Perez wide.

“I think compare it with many other situations, like with me in Silverstone, so it seems to be quite a grey area, as normally you should leave space for one car and clearly there wasn’t space for one car there,” he said.

“In the end I don’t care, because I finished ahead of him [Ocon] and I scored one point, and he didn’t score points.”

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Russian Grand Prix boss Sergey Vorobyev has distanced himself from what he has labeled as the “tootheless” grievances leveled upon Liberty Media by the Formula One Promoters Association.

The FOPA, whose members include all F1 race organisers except for Sochi, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Monaco and Bahrain, released a statement on Monday after a meeting in London in which they expressed their concerns over Liberty’s move away from free-to-air broadcasting, its expansion of the F1 calendar, potentially to the detriment of existing races, and its lack of engagement with promoters.

Vorobyev, the deputy general director of Sochi F1 promoter Rosgonki, is at odds with FOPA’s views, insisting that F1’s commercial rights holder is in the process of addressing most of the disgruntled promoters’ concerns.

Formula 1’s promoters aren’t happy with Liberty Media!

“The statement is fairly toothless, because all the issues indicated there, in this statement, they are being resolved one way or another in the current format of communication with Liberty,” Vorobyev told Motorsport.com.

“I do not share the position of the current chairman of the FOPA Association, Stuart Pringle. In his comments – public comments for the media – he has very frequently made personal criticisms of Liberty’s leadership and our whole common sport.

“I don’t believe this approach to be constructive, and therefore we, along with several other grands prix – and I am sure there will be more of us in the coming days, weeks and months – are not members of FOPA.”

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With several promoters currently in negotiation with Liberty for an extension or renewal of their contract with Liberty Media, the group was allegedly unsettled by the latter’s talks with the promoters of a potential Miami Grand Prix and the revelation of a profit-sharing scheme associated with the event instead of a typical franchise fee.

But Vorobyev believes the reproof expressed by the promoters regarding Miami is unwarranted because Liberty was still a long way off from signing a deal with the Magic City.

“If you look at the calendar of the current Formula 1 season, it does not have the Grand Prix of Miami, so what’s the point of having theoretical conversations about how things could be, now or in 2020?” said the Russian.

“First you would need to look into the actual Miami GP agreements. And if the Miami promoters, our partners and friends, have some special provisions, that would be a great reason to discuss further improvement of contractual conditions [for other races].

“But at the moment it is absolutely pointless to discuss this. To worry about it makes no sense, because the Miami GP is not on F1’s calendar.”

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It’s always an entertaining and jaw-dropping experience to watch classic F1 cars in action, regardless of the time and place.

But the legends parade that commemorated this weekend Suzuka’s 30th anniversary as a Grand Prix venue was a pure delight to watch and especially to listen to for F1’s impassioned Japanese fans.

Among the runners were Mika Hakkinen, Felipe Massa, Kazuki Nakajima, Aguri Suzuki, Saroru Nakajim and a few others, showcasing a colorful selection of cars from the 80s and 90s.

For those doing the driving as for those watching, it was a fantastic experience complete with ear-piercing sounds and gripping sights!

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Nico Hulkenberg expects new team mate Daniel Ricciardo to provide Renault with some valuable technical knowledge collected from his previous team, Red Bull Racing.

Formula 1’s regulations are upgraded for this year with a series of aerodynamic changes, but Hulkenberg still believes the Aussie’s insight could give Renault a technical boost.

“As drivers we’re not engineers and certainly not aerodynamicists,” the Hulk told Auto Motor und Sport.

“He cannot tell us how to make the bargeboard, but he could help us by explaining what Red Bull did with various systems or on setting up the car.

“He will certainly have some information from Red Bull for us, that will be interesting for sure,” said the German who thinks Ricciardo’s arrival at Renault will bring “a breath of fresh air” to a team that is pushing to close the gap to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Verstappen: ‘Ricciardo will miss what he had at Red Bull’

The 2019 aero tweaks, destined to improve overtaking, will include a simpler, larger front wing, simplified front brake ducts with no winglets and a wider, deeper rear wing.

The jury is still out however on whether the changes will allow a mid-field team such as Renault to edge significantly closer to F1’s trio of front-runners.

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“With the new front wings no one knows exactly where to go,” Hulkenberg said.

“But it’s not a full reboot, more of a soft reset. As a factory team, it must be our claim to be much closer to the front.

“In the last races we were missing between one and two seconds to the top teams, and we need to at least try to get rid of half of that.”

But Hulkenberg also insists that Renault, which is still building up its base, will require time to bridge the gap with its rivals up ahead.

“It also took time for Ferrari and Red Bull to catch Mercedes. We need that same time,” he added.

“Today nobody gets into Formula 1 and blows the others away. Everything has just become too complex for that. The first thing is finding the right people. It all takes time.”

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Here in Kabul, young friends with the Afghan Peace Volunteers look forward  to learning more about “The Tea Project” in late December, when Aaron Hughes arrives, an artist, a U.S. military veteran, and a core member of Iraq Veterans Against War. He’ll carry with him 20 plaster replicas of a standard-issue, factory-made Styrofoam cup. They’re part of a set numbering 779 replica cups, each cup dedicated to prisoners detained in Guantanamo. In the entire collection, 220 of the cups bear names of Afghan citizens imprisoned in Guantanamo.

In Guantanamo, with each evening meal, Guantanamo prisoners are served tea in styrofoam cups. Many prisoners etch floral designs into their cups, which become a nightly artistic outlet for men with few other freedoms allowed them. Aaron had heard a former Guantanamo guard describe how deeply he grew to deeply love the cups that had become works of art.  

The cups would then be collected, each night, and turned over to military intelligence which most likely just dumped them. Aaron’s cups are more durable. A Guantanamo prisoner’s name is written on the base of every cup, and each carries a unique design. Following the practice of the prisoners, Aaron focused on etching floral patterns into the cups he created, displaying flowers that are native to each prisoner’s homeland. 220 of the cups he has sculpted bear the names of prisoners from Afghanistan.

Life stories represented by each cup are reaching a wide variety of individuals and groups during Aaron’s travels on behalf of the project. He invites people to sit with him, sip tea from the cups, and talk about their stories related to war, destruction, peace, love, creativity …the conversations range freely, but the cups bring a certain focus, remembering the prisoners in Guantanamo.

I wish that Aaron could somehow sit across from Tariq Ba Odah and serve him tea. Now 36 years old, Tariq Ba Odah, a Yemeni citizen, arrived in Guantanamo in 2002, when he was only 23. Detained without charge in Guantanamo since 2002, Tariq has maintained a hunger strike since 2007. He now weighs 74 pounds. His lawyers say that he visibly suffers from severe effects of malnutrition and is at serious risk of permanent physical and neurological impairment and death. Tariq Ba Odah endures horrible force feeding rather than cooperate with the system that has separated him and the other prisoners from loved ones, subjecting them to torture and dehumanizing conditions.  

Witness Against Torture activists from the U.S. focused on Tariq Ba Odah’s life in Guantanamo when they set up their encampment, in late November, 2015, in Cuba, outside the U.S. naval base. Like Aaron, they feel great empathy for the people imprisoned in Guantanamo, along with responsibility to keep educating U.S. people about the plight of 107 prisoners still held there. The delegation demanded that the prison close. They reject a new plan being developed by the Obama administration which would move the Guantanamo prisoners to prisons in the U.S., some still to be held indefinitely without charge or trial.

“Simply moving Guantanamo is no solution,” says Helen Schietinger of Washington, D.C. “That would mean holding on to the barbaric practice of indefinite detention. Besides, the entire domestic system of “correctional’ institutions is a travesty, poisoned by racism. We need to overhaul the U.S. justice system, not add Guantanamo to it.”

Enmanuel Candelario, an artist from New York, spoke bluntly about the base itself, calling it “an unwelcome symbol of U.S. power, which houses a torture chamber.”