Category: Formula 1

• Newey yet to tender resignation from Formula One team
• Chief technical officer reportedly ready to leave Red Bull

Adrian Newey is set to begin talks with Red Bull’s management to resolve his future with the team after reports he has expressed a desire to leave.

The Guardian understands that Red Bull’s chief technical officer is yet to formally tender his resignation or announce to staff that he will be leaving and insiders say the headlines caught Newey and the team by surprise on Thursday.

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• Newey believed to be unhappy with events this season
• News deals blow to Red Bull hopes of keeping Verstappen

Red Bull’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, is expected to leave the team, it has been reported. Newey is the most successful designer of the modern Formula One era and has been an instrumental part of Red Bull’s success but is said to have become uncomfortable with his ­position at the team since the team principal, Christian Horner, was cleared after an investigation into accusations of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee.

The 65-year-old Newey has been with Red Bull since 2006, only one year after the team was formed. He has since designed cars that have won seven drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships for Red Bull and his talents have long been sought after by rivals across the paddock. Losing him would be an enormous blow to the team.

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Businessman, powerboat racer and founder of the Toleman Formula One team

Ted Toleman, who has died aged 86, provided Ayrton Senna with his introduction to grand prix racing. The team bearing Toleman’s name entered Formula One in 1981 and got off to a faltering start, but three years later they came close to giving the great Brazilian, a future triple world champion, a spectacular first victory in only his fifth race at the top level.

Rain fell heavily during the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. Senna, then aged 24, started from the 13th slot on the 20-car grid and used all his precocious skill in the treacherous conditions to overtake one rival after another on the tight two-mile street circuit until he found himself in second place behind Alain Prost’s McLaren.

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• Team principal says improving team are on ‘strong trajectory’
• Stella full of praise for Norris after exceptional drive in Shanghai

The McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, believes his team may catch Red Bull within a year after they returned an unexpectedly strong result at the Chinese Grand Prix, with Britain’s Lando Norris taking second place.

The race was won by Max Verstappen, with another commanding drive from pole to flag and he almost certainly will not be caught on his way to a fourth consecutive title. He now leads his Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez by 25 points after five meetings and has already won four of those five grands prix.

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• ‘I don’t think Toto’s problems are his drivers,’ says Horner
• Question marks raised over efficacy of Red Bull’s engine for 2026

The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has issued a stern rebuke to his counterpart at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, insisting he needs to focus on solving the problems at his struggling team rather than trying to poach Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen.

Verstappen won the Chinese Grand Prix with a dominant drive from pole, his fourth win from five races this season as he remains on course to claim his fourth world championship. His command of the race was such that at times he was up to almost a second a lap quicker than the rest of the field.

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• Dominant Dutchman’s lead twice interrupted by safety car
• McLaren’s Norris impressively holds off Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez

Max Verstappen won the Chinese Grand Prix with another dominant drive, despite having to twice re-establish his lead for Red Bull in a race interrupted by two safety car periods. He beat McLaren’s Lando Norris, who did superbly to take what was an unexpected and hugely-impressive second place, while Sergio Pérez was third for Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton came back to ninth having started in 18^th, a far better result than he expected in a car which was not performing. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively.

Verstappen’s win never really looked in doubt in Shanghai, hosting its first race since 2019, but he had to command the race through two restarts, which he did flawlessly to further extend his championship lead over Pérez to 25 points after five meetings.

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• World champion follows sprint win with pole in qualifying
• Lewis Hamilton knocked out in Q1 and 18th after error

McLaren’s Lando Norris warned that Max Verstappen’s dominance of Formula One is in danger of turning fans away from the sport after the Dutchman powered to another pole for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Verstappen took his fifth consecutive pole of the season in Shanghai where he was once more all but untouchable. That was in stark contrast to Lewis Hamilton, whose travails continued with the Briton managing only 18th on the grid – his worst qualifying position since he crashed out in Brazil in 2017.

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The Sauber driver has had a long wait to race on home soil and expectations are off the charts in Shanghai

There has been no little wait for the home crowd and their local hero Zhou Guanyu but what a moment it will be when, finally, this weekend he becomes the first Chinese driver to compete at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Already the star of a documentary, the only Chinese driver to compete in an F1 race is the main draw for a meeting that sold out in minutes.

This race has not been held since 2019 because of the pandemic and while the 24-year-old Zhou made his F1 debut in 2022, with the Alfa Romeo (now Sauber) team, he has had to wait till his third season to race on a track in the city where he was born and where he has never before competed in a single-seater.

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• Mercedes driver says he remains unfazed by ‘people talking shit’
• Seven-time champion has 10 points going into of Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton has insisted his decision to join Ferrari in 2025 does not need any vindication, as he bemoaned the continued discussion over whether it is the right choice.

Before the start of the 2024 ­Formula One season, the 39-year-old shocked his Mercedes team by announcing he would be switching at the end of this year. The team’s slump is now entering its third year and they remain far from the leaders, Red Bull, and have also been outpaced by ­Ferrari this season. Hamilton is enduring the worst start of his career, without a finish in the top six and having scored only 10 points.

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• Melbourne to host curtain-raiser for first time since 2019
• No new additions in 2025 as 24-race calendar remains

Lewis Hamilton will make his Ferrari debut in Australia after Formula One announced next season’s record-equalling 24-round calendar.

Hamilton, 39, is set to realise a childhood dream when he swaps Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025, with the seven-time world champion’s opening race to take place in Melbourne on 16 March.

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• Double world champion was linked to Lewis Hamilton’s seat
• Spaniard has signed ‘multi-year’ contract with current team

Fernando Alonso will remain with Aston Martin beyond this season after signing a new “multi-year” deal with the British-based Formula One team. Double world champion Alonso, 42, had been linked with Mercedes and Red Bull – as possible replacements for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen respectively.

However, Aston Martin announced on Thursday that the Spanish driver, whose current deal had been due to expire at the end of the year, has agreed a contract extension.

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