Category: Formula 1

• AMR26 car will not run until Thursday and Friday

• Williams unable to take to the track at all in Spain

The Aston Martin team have admitted they are to miss at least one day of their allotted three at Formula One’s first pre-season test in Barcelona and will not run their car before Thursday at the earliest. They are the second team to fail to take full advantage of the opening test after Williams also announced they would be unable to take to the track at all in Spain.

Testing is taking place from Monday to Friday this week at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with teams able to use three of the five days to assess their cars. They have been designed to entirely new regulations and with new engines this season and consequently three full pre-season tests are being held. But as the track running began, Aston Martin conceded they would not be there at the off and issued a statement.

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• Ferrari unveil 2026 car amid regulation reset

• Williams not ready and will miss next week’s first test

Lewis Hamilton has emphasised the scale of the challenge facing drivers and teams as Formula One enters a new season with a regulation reset which the British driver described as the biggest of his career, as his Ferrari team look to a new start after a disappointing 2025.

The Scuderia launched their new car, the SF-26, with Hamilton driving it at the team’s test track at Fiorano for the first time on Friday. He was optimistic, having been involved in the development of a Ferrari for the first time but acknowledged that a huge task lay ahead.

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• Policy allowed Max Verstappen back into 2025 title race

• Team due to unveil new car in Bahrain on 9 February

McLaren will continue pursuing a policy of rigorous fairness towards Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the 2026 Formula One season, despite their insistence on not imposing team orders almost costing Norris his world title by allowing a late challenge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Last year McLaren enjoyed the most competitive car for most of the season and insisted their drivers would be free to race one another, applying their “papaya rules”.

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Grand prix driver who survived spectacular crashes and was victorious at endurance races including Le Mans and Daytona

Before leaving his home in Stuttgart to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the summer of 1970, the German racing driver Hans Herrmann promised his wife, Magdalena, that if he won, he would retire from the cockpit. This was his 14th attempt at the French sports car classic and, at 42, he was not expecting to have to honour his pledge.

But win he did. He and his co-driver, Richard Attwood, a former Jaguar apprentice, held the lead in their Porsche 917K for the last 12 hours of a race run on a rain-drenched track so treacherous that only seven cars out of 51 starters were able to reach the finish.

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Compression ratios will be at the top of the FIA’s agenda in a meeting with F1 teams to head off growing fears before the 2026 season gets underway

Unveiling their new engine in Tokyo should have been a significant moment for Honda to celebrate but behind the scenes, the storied grand prix team – as well as plenty of their Formula One rivals – are worried that a looming row over new engine regulations is threatening to overshadow the opening of the 2026 season.

So significant is the concern that it will be the key topic of discussion at a meeting between the FIA and the engine manufacturers set for Thursday before the first day of pre-season testing at Barcelona.

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• John Owen was key figure in titles won from 2014 to 2021

• Audi to unveil first car in Berlin on Tuesday evening

Mercedes have announced that their leading car designer, John Owen, will leave this season as Formula One enters the first year of a major change in regulations. Owen has played a key part in the enormous success Mercedes has enjoyed in the modern era when the team secured eight consecutive constructors’ championships.

There are no indications as yet that Owen intends to join another team, with Mercedes saying he will continue in his role until mid-season to manage the transition process, after which he will take a period of gardening leave and what the team described as “a break from F1”.

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• Relationship between pair had appeared fractious

• New race engineer to be named ‘in due course’

Ferrari have announced they are to replace Riccardo Adami as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer for the 2026 Formula One season, after the pair endured what appeared to be a fractious and testing relationship during the seven-time world champion’s first season with the Scuderia.

Ferrari issued a statement on Friday stating Adami would be moved to a new role with the team’s driver academy as academy and test previous cars manager, adding that his replacement as Hamilton’s race engineer, the crucial link between team and driver on the pit wall, would be announced in due course.

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• Red Bull first to launch 2026 car under new regulations

• Row brewing over possible loophole in engine rules

Red Bull formally began their tilt at the forthcoming Formula One season, unveiling the livery for their challenger, the RB22, in a showcase event in Detroit on Thursday, with Max Verstappen admitting the sweeping regulation changes for 2026 will be a step into the “unknown”.

Before a highly anticipated season, with a swathe of big rule changes presenting a challenge across the grid, Red Bull are the first in what is due to be a hectic period of launches before pre-season testing begins.

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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