Category: Formula 1

• McLaren’s fourth change of power unit exceeds regulations

• Reigning champion eyes overtaking opportunities

Lando Norris believes he can still be competitive at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, despite a 10-place grid penalty. The defending world champion will nonetheless have his work cut out at Spa after his McLaren team took a new battery for his car, the fourth, one more than is allowed.

Norris is fifth in the world championship, 82 points behind the leader, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. He and McLaren have endured a series of failures from their Mercedes power unit this season, including “terminal” issues with the power electronics unit, a part of the battery. One failed in China, one was withdrawn in Japan, repaired but failed at Monaco.

Continue reading...

Fans were denied thrilling finale as Charles Leclerc won behind safety car but there are no easy solutions

The British Grand Prix ending under the safety car and denying a potentially thrilling finale was a controversial, but also complicated incident. It raised issues from the sport’s past and questions over what it may yet address for the future.

The Silverstone victor, Charles Leclerc, of course said he would rather have done it in more style than with taking the flag behind the safety car. The scenario does not happen often, but whenever it does, almost no one finds it a satisfactory way to conclude a race.

Continue reading...

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won at Silverstone with Mercedes’ George Russell in second and Lewis Hamilton third

Pierre Gasly has dropped three places after a grid penalty for impeding the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in qualifying.

Gasly will now start 15 on the grid, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg at 12, Ollie Bearman to 13 and Carlos Sainz’s Williams to P14.

Continue reading...

• Ferrari driver qualifies first ahead of Kimi Antonelli

• Hamilton: ‘I love this place, I love this crowd’

Lewis Hamilton gave the home crowd reason to roar as he took pole position for the sprint race at the British Grand Prix for Ferrari, beating the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli into second, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third.

The pole for the short format race to be held on Saturday morning at Silverstone must be considered somewhat against the odds, as Ferrari had been expected to be somewhat on the back foot to Mercedes, at the power dominated track.

Continue reading...

Partnerships with Aston Martin, Red Bull and Haas mean students have a rare chance to make it in F1 after graduation

Unnoticeable amid the spectacle and heaving crowds at the British Grand Prix this weekend, the school that overlooks the circuit is a definitive success story and will continue its contribution to Formula One well into the future after the roar of the engines has receded.

Kian Brown and Savannah Morgan both graduated last year from the Silverstone University Technical College that facilitates a fast-track into engineering, and they have gone on to take positions with F1 teams. Brown is now a composite machining apprentice at Mercedes and Morgan is an advanced digital machining apprentice at Cadillac.

Continue reading...

• Teams must fit a driver cooling system for race

• First time heat hazard has been declared this season

Formula One’s governing body has declared a heat ⁠hazard for the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg’s Red ⁠Bull Ring ⁠this ​weekend, the first time this season that the designation has ⁠been used.

The race director, Rui Marques, said the official weather service ⁠forecasts temperatures in excess of 31C during the race. Declaring a heat ‌hazard requires teams to fit a ‌driver cooling system, such as a liquid-cooled vest, though drivers are not obliged to use them and can take a ballast penalty instead.

Continue reading...

Less than a decade ago, the British GP was on the brink of disappearing but this July it will break the record for the biggest ever with 570,000 through the gates

The scale of change at the British Grand Prix in recent years will be writ large come July when the meeting is poised to become the biggest in Formula One history.

This year’s race is expected to sell out its new capacity of 570,000 over four days, which will be a record-breaking 50,000 increase on the previous highest attendance of 520,000 at the Australian GP in 1995. Only Wimbledon, across two weeks, will boast more numbers in the UK summer with Silverstone the largest event on F1’s calendar.

Continue reading...

• Changes will address energy management issues

• Verstappen one of most outspoken critics of current rules

The key players in Formula One have come to an agreement to settle the proposed changes to the sport’s engines for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. These have been seen as crucial in addressing widespread driver dissatisfaction with the current formula, not least for the four-time champion Max Verstappen who has repeatedly threatened to leave the sport owing to how unhappy he is with the current engine rules.

Verstappen has been particularly outspoken, declaring the rules “anti-racing”, but he has been far from alone. The FIA, teams, engine manufacturers and F1’s owners have since been in discussions looking at ways to address the issue. Notably their resolution does not reach the minimum scale of improvement Verstappen believed was needed until 2028.

Continue reading...

Kimi Antonelli won a chaotic Monaco GP which featured a red flag and multiple driver penalties

Some quotes from Max Verstappen, second on the grid in his Red Bull: “Try not to overthink it too much, that works best. We will try to do the best start we can. It is a long race, anything can happen. It is not always easy and I hope today, we can have a normal start.”

Lewis Hamilton has appeared fresh and full of his previous self.

The car has repeatedly demonstrated how good it is in the slower corners but has struggled with drag on straights and in using a smaller turbocharger than their rivals. It has proved costly on traditional circuits this season where, even when competitive at the off, the Ferrari has been unable to match the Mercedes’ formidable race pace, or that of the upgraded McLaren.

Ferrari’s pace through the twists – Hamilton was quickest in the slow speed corners at the last round in Canada – and that smaller turbo will be vital in Monaco. Energy management should not be an issue with ample recharging, while the smaller turbo will enable it to remain spooled up to be most effective in punching quicker out of the corners.

Continue reading...

• ‘It has always been more than just a team to me’

• Driver is third in this year’s standings

Charles Leclerc has signed a new multiyear deal to remain driving for Ferrari, with the 28-year-old Monegasque extending his relationship with the team which began in 2019. He will continue to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton, who also has a long-term contract with the team.

Ferrari announced their decision to continue with Leclerc on the eve of his home grand prix at Monaco this weekend. He has been a staunch Ferrari driver for almost all of his career and has competed in 155 races for the Scuderia, a tally second only to Michael Schumacher’s enormously successful tenure with Ferrari between 1996 and 2006.

Continue reading...

Engine failure in Canada is latest setback for British driver, who is 43 points behind teenager Kimi Antonelli after five races

George Russell was left wondering quite which deity he had offended as he despairingly contemplated his retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix with a mechanical failure. Fortune, for good or ill, will always play a part but what also became clear in Montreal is that Russell’s teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli is going to be fearsomely hard to beat this season, whatever the circumstances.

Russell ground to a halt on the circuit Gilles Villeneuve on lap 30 after a thrilling battle with his Mercedes teammate Antonelli that had ebbed and flowed. The British driver deserved better, the two had been exchanging the lead and going side by side repeatedly, inches apart and trading paint on one occasion, only for Russell’s efforts to count for naught as he went out not with a whimper when the systems on his car shut down due to battery failure.

Continue reading...

• British driver enjoys best finish at Ferrari

• ‘I am much, much happier in the car’

Lewis Hamilton was thrilled with his second place at the Canadian Grand Prix in what he called “the greatest job in the world” after a great fight with his old adversary Max Verstappen and expressed how excited he was to be back in a wheel to wheel contest, enthused with his and his Ferrari team’s performance.

“I love this job it’s the greatest job in the world, I never take that for granted,” he said. “To have a good battle with Max finally, I’m really, really grateful. I am so, so happy. It’s good day of racing, overall, a solid weekend. I felt the whole team have done an amazing job.”

Continue reading...

• Mercedes teenager claims fourth consecutive victory

• Lewis Hamilton second; Max Verstappen third

It is too early to be decisive yet but without doubt George Russell was left cursing his damnable luck as his world championship ambitions took a body blow in Montreal. The British driver was left angry and disconsolate as his Mercedes ground to halt on track at the Canadian Grand Prix and his teammate and title rival Kimi Antonelli powered to a record-breaking victory.

Russell must be wondering what he has to do to catch a break in what increasingly looks like a two-way title fight with his Italian teammate. He had claimed victory in the sprint race, then pole and then had an absolutely gripping, toe-to-toe fight with the 19-year-old for the opening 29 laps on the Île Notre-Dame.

Continue reading...

• Mercedes lock out front row; Russell fastest by 0.068

• McLaren’s Norris third and Piastri fourth; Hamilton fifth

George Russell took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix to set up a fascinating battle with his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli who was in second in Montreal, after the pair endured a feisty flashpoint having clashed with one another on track in the sprint race that preceded qualifying.

Russell put in an inch-perfect lap of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve, as the very last of the cars on track to steal it in what was a gripping session, ultimately beating his teammate by just six-hundredths of a second to ensure Mercedes maintain their unbeaten record of five poles from five races this season.

Continue reading...

• Mercedes pair clashed with both drivers out in front

• Toto Wolff tells Italian to ‘stop the radio moaning’

George Russell won the sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix but only after his championship battle with Kimi Antonelli reached an angry flashpoint. The Mercedes pair clashed for the lead on track and the teenage Italian was left demanding the British driver should be penalised.

Such was the febrile atmosphere that their team principal Toto Wolff intervened, telling Antonelli to “stop the radio moaning”.

Continue reading...