Category: Formula 1

New Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur says it is "obvious" that his target is to win the title this year.

Italian Alessandro Alunni Bravi is given a senior leadership role with the Alfa Romeo/Sauber team, which will become Audi in 2026.

Protesters invaded the racing track during the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, a trial is told.

• Turf war between teams and FIA continues to escalate
• Ben Sulayem accused of interfering over commercial rights

Formula One, owned by Liberty Media, has accused the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, of interfering with its commercial rights by publicly questioning a reported $20bn (£16.2bn) valuation of the sport.

Ben Sulayem, elected in 2021 to the top job at F1’s governing body, posted on Twitter on Monday after Bloomberg reported Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) explored a bid for more than that amount.

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Formula 1's owners Liberty Media accuse the head of motorsport's governing body of making "unacceptable" remarks about the championship's value.

A human rights group says Formula 1's governing body the FIA is "suppressing drivers' freedom of speech" with a new rule introduced this year.

Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi is to stay as the Haas team's reserve driver for a fifth consecutive season.

• Hamilton says children ‘kept calling me the N-word’
• School days ‘the most difficult part of my life’

Lewis Hamilton said he had bananas thrown at him and was repeatedly called the N-word at school. The seven-times Formula One world champion, who was born and educated in Stevenage, detailed the racial abuse in the On Purpose podcast, released on Monday.

The 38-year-old, who is preparing for his 17th season in F1, said: “School was the most traumatising and most difficult part of my life. I was already being bullied at the age of six. At that particular school I was one of three kids of colour and just bigger, stronger, bullying kids were throwing me around a lot of the time.

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Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton says he had bananas thrown at him and was regularly racially abused when he was at school.

F1 cars having power steering and F2 cars being without is just one of the issues which could be preventing women from rising through the motorsport ranks.

Italian Antonio Giovinazzi and Russian-Israeli Robert Shwartzman will share the reserve driver role at Ferrari this year.

• Well respected new director has been in sport for 30 years
• Nielsen will address FIA’s much criticised race management

Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, has completed a restructuring of its F1 management with the appointment of Steve Nielsen as sporting director. Nielsen, a veteran of 30 years in F1, will take up the role to address the FIA’s race management, which has been criticised with increasing intensity since the controversial finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.

Nielsen is very well respected within the sport after a career including time at Lotus, Tyrrell, Benetton and Toro Rosso. He has worked under Ross Brawn as sporting director with F1 management since 2017. At the FIA he will be responsible for F1 sporting matters, including race control, the remote operations centre and future sporting regulations.

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Britain's W-Series champion Jamie Chadwick will remain in Williams' driver development programme, despite switch to American Indy NXT Series.

Formula 1 teams back Steve Nielsen's switch from a senior F1 role to take over as sporting director of governing body the FIA.

• Alternatives including race in Algarve turned down
• Covid policy means China misses out for fourth year

Formula One will have a four-week hole in this season’s calendar after the sport confirmed the Chinese Grand Prix would not be replaced.

The race in Shanghai – which had been due to take place on 16 April – was cancelled last month amid ongoing coronavirus restrictions in the country. Despite Chinese officials subsequently moving away from their zero-Covid policy, the round could not be salvaged, marking the fourth season it has been scrubbed from the racing schedule.

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