Motor Sports News
Four-time world champion eighth in qualifying
Failed to finish in the points in sprint race
Max Verstappen condemned his Red Bull’s performance as having reduced his efforts to a matter of “survival” in merely trying to complete a lap in Shanghai.
From the off the four-time champion had not been happy in the buildup to Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, dismissing his car on Friday as undriveable and saying: “We have never had anything this bad.”
Continue reading...Italian takes advantage of Mercedes teammate’s technical trouble
Lewis Hamilton third in qualifying and sprint race for Ferrari
There was an inescapable sense of joy and satisfaction for Kimi Antonelli as he became the youngest pole sitter in Formula One history. Tellingly, there was an air of vindication from his Mercedes principal, Toto Wolff, as the teenage protege came good when it mattered by claiming the top spot for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Italian took pole by beating his older and more experienced teammate George Russell into second, albeit after the Briton endured a technical problem in Q3 and had time to set only one quick lap.
Continue reading...George Russell and Kimi Antonelli took a one-two win in Australia and team’s ability to master dark art of energy management is paying off
As Formula One grapples with its new, controversial regulations, there is consensus at least that Mercedes are expected to be on top once more in the second race of the season on Sunday in Shanghai. The team have a fearsome car but most importantly in a formula dominated by the engine, appear to have also stolen a march in optimising the dark art of energy management.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli claimed a one-two at the opening round in Australia last weekend. In qualifying Russell was eight-tenths quicker than Mercedes’ nearest rival, the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar and in the grand prix itself finished 15 seconds in front of third-placed Charles Leclerc having eased up in the final third of the race.
Continue reading...Verstappen describes Red Bull as ‘undriveable’ on radio
Bahrain and Saudi GP decision due after China race
George Russell laid down a further marker as the man to beat in the new Formula One season with a dominant run in qualifying to claim pole for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix. He sealed another front row lockout alongside Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli with Russell finishing more than half a second clear of their nearest rival.
The first sprint weekend under the new regulations is a journey into the unknown for teams and drivers and they had only the single hour of practice to understand how best to optimise their cars for energy deployment before qualifying.
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Continue reading...‘I don’t enjoy the car but I do enjoy working with the team’
Meeting with drivers brought forward amid disquiet
Max Verstappen has once more expressed his discontent with the new Formula One regulations. Amid a clamour of unhappiness from many drivers, the four-time champion also reiterated his warning that he would leave the sport if he ceased to enjoy it, which is clearly the case at the moment.
After the first round of the season in Melbourne last week, Verstappen showed disdain for how the new rules had affected driving, and speaking before this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, he belittled the new formula with another reference to the videogame Mario Kart, which has swiftly become a go-to reference across the grid. A drivers’ meeting to discuss the new regulations, originally planned for after the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of the month, has now been brought forward to take place after this weekend’s race, the Guardian understands.
Continue reading...British former champion hits out at former colonial rulers
‘I’m hoping countries unite and take Africa back’
Lewis Hamilton has called for a movement to “take Africa back”, claiming the continent is being “controlled” by European powers. On the eve of the new Formula One season in Melbourne, the seven-time champion outlined his ambition to compete in a grand prix on African soil.
But the 41-year-old, F1’s first black race driver, did not stop there. He suggested former colonial rulers still exerted undue power in the region and called for action to reverse that influence. “I’ve got roots from a few different places there, like Togo and Benin,” he said. “I’m really proud of that part of the world.
Continue reading...Williams team principal on pre-season trevails, why McLaren are an inspiration and closing the gap to the top
“I didn’t realise it until I saw the notice,” James Vowles says of last month’s third anniversary of his arrival at Williams as their team principal. On a rainy afternoon he smiles wryly in his London office. “I probably should have allowed myself a moment to reflect but you are too caught up in the work. That reality defines Formula One.”
Vowles is one of the most interesting men in F1 and not just because, as the director of strategy, he helped two of his past teams win nine constructors’ championships, including eight drivers’ titles. He will soon reveal a reflective side to his character and touch on the adversity he overcame at the outset of his career. His relish for a challenge in pure racing terms is already obvious because in 2022 he left Mercedes, who had finished second in the championship, for Williams, after they ended that season in 10th and last place.
Continue reading...Get to grips with active aero, boost mode and super-clipping as the adoption of new hybrid engines shakes up the sport before the new season begins next weekend
In a week’s time, a new era will begin in Formula One as a major shift in regulations brings with it an air of unpredictability when the Australian Grand Prix gets under way in Melbourne.
The cars have been made smaller and lighter with the intent of making them more nimble, better to drive and to facilitate improved racing. The wheelbase has been reduced by 20cm to 340cm and the width by 10cm to 190cm. Across changes in the chassis and to the engine, the overall weight has been reduced by 30kg. Drivers such as Lewis Hamilton have declared themselves generally pleased with the improved handling characteristics of the more sprightly rides, which will operate with approximately 40% less drag, but they will not enjoy the same downforce or the same pace as last year’s models and are expected to open the season around one to two seconds a lap off last year’s times.
Continue reading...Briton overcame crippling self-doubt to become F1 world champion and is determined not to relinquish his crown
Lando Norris recalls being rendered speechless with joy when he was given his first contract with McLaren. Sitting in the cramped office of a paddock truck, the confirmation that he had made it to Formula One left him “very smiley for a long time”. Seven years on, he enters the new season having achieved his lifelong ambition of becoming world champion and is wearing an equally irrepressible grin as he sets about defending his title.
Claiming the championship after a monumental season-long tussle that went to a thrilling three-way fight at the finale in Abu Dhabi was the defining moment of the 26-year-old’s career and perhaps something of a turning point.
Continue reading...Australian F1 driver was replaced after 2025 Miami GP
Doohan revealed threats and abuse on Drive to Survive
Jack Doohan has said he received death threats and called police to resolve an encounter with armed men around the time of last year’s Miami Grand Prix, just before he lost his Formula One drive with Alpine.
In the latest series of the Netflix documentary Drive to Survive, released on Friday, the Australian driver said he had been threatened by email, describing the atmosphere around what proved to be his final race as “pretty heavy stuff”.
Continue reading...Mercedes chief attacks backlash over engine loophole
Vote on legality of power plant ‘a storm in a teacup’
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes principal, has snapped back at “utter bullshit” about a potential fuel problem a day after the FIA proposed a mid-season rule change over the team’s controversial engine.
It was announced on Wednesday that a vote will take place over whether a regulation change should be implemented from August onwards over the legality of Mercedes’ engine, after they were adjudged to have found a loophole that allowed them to deliver a higher limit when their engine is at operating temperature.
Continue reading...Dutchman joins Lewis Hamilton in criticism of new cars
Champion Lando Norris says changes are a ‘lot of fun’
Driver disquiet over the new Formula One regulations marked the second pre-season test which concluded in Bahrain this week, with world champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen delivering damning verdicts on driving the new cars, while in competitive terms leading contenders Mercedes and Red Bull were entertainingly vehement in each declaring the other as favourite.
Times in testing must be taken with a liberal amount of salt, more so this year as so much time is being put into understanding the new cars and how best to drive them, without yet really pushing toward real performance limits. Nonetheless, across the three days in Bahrain it was Mercedes who finished on top with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell setting the quickest times, from the two Ferraris of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth for McLaren and Verstappen in seventh for Red Bull.
Continue reading...Power management regulations will be hard to explain
Hamilton: ‘You need a degree to fully understand it all’
Lewis Hamilton has issued a striking warning that fans may struggle to understand Formula One’s new regulations for the 2026 season, branding them “ridiculously complex” after having spun while testing his new Ferrari in Bahrain.
Hamilton was speaking at the second pre-season test where the teams are coming to terms with cars and engines that have been subject to what amounts to the biggest single shake-up in the sport’s history, and specifically to how drivers are expected to manage the power of their engines which are now defined by a near 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power.
Continue reading...A look at each team’s choice of colours and designs ahead of the new F1 season
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