Category: Motor Sports

Formula One writer who wrote classic biographies, including a remarkable account from Ayrton Senna of his experiences

When Ayrton Senna decided to tell a journalist what he felt while driving a racing car, and what it meant, it was Gerald Donaldson who provided his audience of one. Senna chose wisely. The Canadian writer and broadcaster, who has died aged 87, was a sympathetic listener who could be relied on to ask the sort of questions that encouraged interesting answers.

During Donaldson’s career as an observer of Formula One racing, reporting for daily newspapers and national TV and radio stations, Senna had provided him with his outstanding memory. It was that of the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park, Derby, where the Brazilian, on a wet and treacherous track, overtook five rivals on the opening lap to seize a lead he would never relinquish.

• Austrian key to Vettel and Verstappen world title wins

• ‘Now is the right moment,’ says influential 82-year-old

Red Bull’s influential auto racing adviser Helmut Marko is retiring from his role at the age of 82, ending a 20-year stint in which he helped Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen develop into four-time Formula One world champions.

Marko’s departure leaves Red Bull without the two main guiding personalities from its 2005 entry into F1 after the team principal Christian Horner was ousted in July and replaced by Laurent Mekies.

McLaren were the obvious choice for team of the year but Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari were a big disappointment while Williams exceeded expectations

Lando Norris had gone into the season as favourite and he emerged on top after a gruelling contest. Securing his maiden world drivers’ title was no easy feat given how hard he had been pushed by his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Closing it out was testament to a driver who maintained his nerve and confidence even as at times it seemed the title had slipped from his reach.

• ‘I drove at a level I don’t think other people can match’

• Driver apologises to Hamilton over Hungarian GP spat

Lando Norris said he performed at a level his rivals could not match this season after he was crowned Formula One world champion for the first time.

Norris celebrated at a glitzy afterparty at the W Hotel which sits on top of the Yas Marina Circuit, where only hours earlier he realised his childhood dream, becoming the 11th driver from Britain to win an F1 title.

• Australian ends 2025 season third in driver standings

• McLaren driver determined to learn lessons from low points

Just as calm and measured amid his obvious disappointment as he’s been level-headed during the highest points of a remarkable season, Oscar Piastri is confident of rediscovering that giddy feeling of being “unstoppable” behind the wheel of his McLaren.

Taking his title disappointment on the chin on Sunday after finishing runner-up in Abu Dhabi and third in the championship race, the Australian said he was ready to use any sense of anti-climax to fuel a push to become a world champion of the future.

• Hadjar replaces Yuki Tsunoda after impressive 2025

• British teenager Arvid Lindblad to join Racing Bulls

Red Bull have announced they are to sign Isack Hadjar to drive alongside Max Verstappen at the team next year. The 20-year-old Frenchman is being promoted from sister squad Racing Bulls after only one season in F1 to replace Yuki Tsunoda in 2026, while the 18-year-old British driver Arvid Lindblad is to join Racing Bulls to make his F1 debut.

Hadjar has been impressive in his rookie year in the sport, taking his debut podium at the Dutch GP and a series of points finishes that have moved him up to 10th in the drivers’ championship. He has demonstrated confidence and assurance, outscoring and repeatedly out qualifying the New Zealander Liam Lawson who will continue at Racing Bulls.

• Norris passed Mercedes driver near finish of Qatar GP

• Red Bull had initially hinted at foul play in title fight

The Mercedes teenage driver Kimi Antonelli has been subjected to death threats after Red Bull suggested he deliberately moved out of Lando Norris’s way in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.

Norris was elevated to fourth after Antonelli ran wide on the penultimate lap of Sunday’s race. Norris gained two points from Antonelli’s mistake which means he now can finish third, rather than runner-up at this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, to be assured of beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the title.

A tactical howler by McLaren handed Max Verstappen and Red Bull victory and set up a title showdown in Abu Dhabi

John Brewin has West Ham v Liverpool here, by the way:

If Norris outscores his teammate Piastri by four points, he’s the champ.

• Newey: ‘I have seen great talent within our team’

• Current chief Andy Cowell to become strategy officer

Adrian Newey, regarded as one of the best engineers in Formula One history, will become Aston Martin team principal next season,

Newey committed his long-term future to Aston Martin in September 2024 after his departure from Red Bull sparked a bidding war for the Brtion’s services.

• F1, FIA and Bernie Ecclestone are defending the claims

• Brazilian former driver says he is rightful 2008 winner

Felipe Massa’s £64m claim against Formula One, its governing body the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone over Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 world championship in 2008 can go to trial, a high court judge has ruled.

Massa claims he is the rightful champion after the Brazilian lost by a single point when Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed at the Singapore Grand Prix. Ecclestone, who was F1’s impresario for four decades before he was deposed in 2017, suggested in 2023 that the sport’s executives were aware of the cover-up – which became known as Crashgate – before the 2008 campaign concluded. The 95-year-old Ecclestone, the FIA and Formula One Management are defending the claims.

• Grill’d apologises for jinxing 24-year-old with promotion

• Piastri’s manager Mark Webber backs McLaren driver to rebound from Formula One woes
  

As Oscar Piastri desperately works to rebound from his recent Formula One woes, an Australian restaurant chain is doing its part to keep his title hopes alive.

After offering free burgers for every time the Australian made the podium, Grill’d burger chain has apologised for putting a “curse” on the McLaren driver.