Formula 1 – Worldwide Sports News

July 26, 2024

Rattled Max Verstappen faces further frustration at Belgian Grand Prix

Red Bull driver, who launched tirade at team after car underperformed and handled badly in Budapest, struggling to handle threat of resurgent McLaren team

Formula One wants gladiatorial drivers, sportspeople set apart, racing on the edge in the heat of battle, so it might be considered a little rich when the sport clutches at its pearls in distaste over Max Verstappen’s vehement swearing at last week’s Hungarian Grand Prix. It is impossible not to sense that the affront at his bad language is rather missing the point.

When Verstappen launched a tirade at his Red Bull team’s poor performance in Budapest, at one point including one “bullshit” and two “fucks” in the same breathless exposition of distaste, the team radio bleeper operative would have struggled to mash his button fast enough.

July 25, 2024

Lando Norris says he is not proud of ignoring McLaren team orders

Briton let Piastri through only after 17 laps in Hungary
‘Could it have been handled differently? Yeah, absolutely’

McLaren’s Lando Norris has admitted he did not handle the team orders controversy which marred the Hungarian Grand Prix last week well, admitting that he was not proud of himself and that he would behave differently if the situation arose again.

In Budapest Norris ignored orders to allow teammate Oscar Piastri back into the lead after the British driver had gained the place through a team decision to send him into the pits first. He was repeatedly told to concede the place but chose not to for 17 laps, only moving over three laps from the end to allow Piastri through for his debut F1 win.

July 22, 2024

‘It’s still on’: Lando Norris insists he can battle Max Verstappen for F1 crown

Oscar Piastri denied his McLaren teammate in Hungary
‘I know it’s a big stretch … I’m ready to battle,’ says Norris

Lando Norris has insisted he is in the Formula One world championship fight with Max Verstappen and believes his McLaren team is well placed to take the competition to the wire, despite team orders denying him victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Norris’s teammate, Oscar Piastri, took his debut F1 win in Budapest with a superb drive, but the final third of the race was marked by McLaren’s team orders. When Piastri was leading the team pitted Norris before the Australian, concerned that any problem at the stop may cost them a potential one- two. When Piastri then stopped, Norris took the lead on fresher tyres.

July 21, 2024

Lando Norris admits he was tempted to ignore team orders and win

Briton surrendered race lead as instructed by McLaren
Oscar Piastri let through for maiden win at Hungarian GP

Lando Norris admitted he considered disobeying the team orders to surrender the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, to allow his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, to take victory, describing his thought process in the closing stages as he engaged in a tense standoff with his team as “pretty crazy”.

Norris had been told by McLaren to hand back the lead he had gained through a pit-stop strategy decision from Piastri, who had led almost the entire race. However, for the final 17 laps Norris vehemently resisted the repeated and increasingly frenetic calls to concede the position, before finally doing so reluctantly with three laps to go.

July 21, 2024

Oscar Piastri wins F1 Hungarian GP after McLaren order Norris to give up lead

Australian driver enjoys debut win in second season
Teammate Lando Norris reluctantly ceded the lead

Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix after an enormously tense finale in a showdown with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who finished second only after he very reluctantly agreed to follow team orders and let the Australian past with three laps remaining to secure his debut Formula One grand prix victory.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was third. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was furious with his car and his team throughout, came in fifth. He is under investigation for causing a collision, having hit Hamilton in an over-ambitious overtake attempt late in the race.

July 20, 2024

Lando Norris takes Hungarian F1 GP pole after Russell’s shock early exit

McLaren driver beat teammate, Oscar Piastri, into second
Session interrupted by stoppages after two crashes

Having defied the pressure to claim pole in what was a high-intensity qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris and his McLaren team know they must now deliver when it matters on Sunday. Missed opportunities and minor errors have peppered recent races proving costly but with Oscar Piastri completing a McLaren front row lock-out, in what was clearly the quickest car of the field, Budapest feels like a must-win for Norris.

His lap for pole was an exceptional run at the Hungaroring, chasing down the time Max Verstappen, who finished disappointed in third, had set. So aggressive and confident was the 24-year-old, nailing apex after apex, he was in imperious form, finishing more than three-tenths clear of the Dutchman.

July 19, 2024

Red Bull and Max Verstappen feel heat in Hungary as title race warms up

Victories for Russell and Hamilton raise Mercedes’ spirits
World champion looks to upgrade for a boost

A long, hot weekend in Budapest lies ahead at the Hungarian Grand Prix where a testing trial, heavy with import for the top teams is perfectly poised as they look towards what is set to be a fiercely competitive second half of the Formula One season.

Temperatures at the Hungaroring soared to 33C on Friday afternoon,piling the heat on top of the tension in an increasingly hard to predict battle which was scarcely imaginable earlier in the season.

July 18, 2024

Lewis Hamilton hails Ralf Schumacher but insists F1 has work to do on diversity

Schumacher ‘wasn’t comfortable coming out in past’
Hamilton believes his on-grid protests forced change

Lewis Hamilton has praised Ralf Schumacher’s decision to announce he was in a same-sex relationship but insisted Formula One still has a long way to go in encouraging further diversity and inclusion.

Earlier this week former F1 driver Schumacher, the brother of seven-time champion Michael, came out on social media but he is one of only four drivers to have done so since the championship began in 1950, highlighting the paucity of LGBTQ+ representation in the sport.

July 16, 2024

Ralf Schumacher coming out will have a positive impact on ‘evolving’ F1 | Giles Richards

Sport has become more inclusive and former driver’s decision to come out as gay will hopefully inspire others

Long a bastion of male heterosexuality, Formula One is a sport that for years positively revelled in all that went with it. The drivers living a glamorous high-life alongside beautiful women was sold to the extent that it became intrinsically linked with F1’s image. Change is happening for the better but as some of those in the sport note it has been a long time coming.

On Sunday when the former driver Ralf Schumacher came out as being in a same-sex relationship, he was only the third F1 driver to have done so since the championship began in 1950. Schumacher, brother of the seven-time world champion Michael, raced between 1997 and 2007 and was married for 14 years to Cora Schumacher, a former model, before they separated in 2015. Nonetheless rumours about his personal life persisted during his time in F1 and afterwards.

July 8, 2024

‘Fairytale’ win inspires Hamilton to believe in more victories with Mercedes

British GP ended win drought to restore optimism
Wolff: Mercedes have ‘clicked’ and found performance

Toto Wolff has described Lewis Hamilton’s victory on Sunday at the British Grand Prix as a fairytale, while the seven-time world champion is now optimistic he can take more victories this season and end his time with Mercedes on a high.

Hamilton took the flag at Silverstone with a mighty drive in tricky wet and dry conditions to end a win-drought stretching back to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December 2021. His car is now increasingly close to the frontrunners, Red Bull and McLaren, after two years of struggling for performance.

July 7, 2024

Lewis Hamilton makes F1 history with British Grand Prix victory – as it happened

The British driver won his ninth race at Silverstone, the most any driver has won at any track in F1 history

Report: Hamilton thrills by winning ninth British GP

2/52 So, Russell and Hamilton clear. Norris is giving chase to Verstappen round Copse Corner. Russell is 6/10 ahead, with Verstappen out of DRS range. Hulkenberg has been reported to stewards for doing off-piste, while Gasly didn’t start at all.

1/52 Russell heads off Hamilton, and Verstappen makes the move on Norris and gets there to make it to third, just two more Brits to chase. Norris struggling with tyre temperature and Alex Albon has reported a puncture.