- Tsunoda issues apology to AlphaTauri F1 team for post-qualifying outburst
08/05/2021 - 21:03
The Japanese driver was angry after being dumped out of Q1 for the Spanish Grand Prix, having been left with no explanation as to why he was lacking pace.
Tsunoda went on to suggest that the characteristics of his AlphaTauri AT02 car seemed different to those of Gasly across the garage, who managed to qualify 12th in Spain.
He pointed out that the feedback he was giving about the car was not ...Keep reading
- Ex-F1 racer Reutemann moved to intensive care in worsening condition
08/05/2021 - 20:05
The 79-year-old politician, who finished runner-up to Nelson Piquet in the 1981 F1 world championship, was admitted to the Sanatorio Santa Fe on Wednesday after suffering a digestive haemorrhage.
On Friday, the Santa Fe hospital reported the serving Argentinian senator's condition was "clinically stable, with acceptable haemodynamic parameters".
But after a new episode of internal bleeding ...Keep reading
- Hamilton: 100th F1 pole "feels like one of the first"
08/05/2021 - 19:09
At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Mercedes driver narrowly edged out Red Bull title rival Max Verstappen by 0.036s to take a stunning 100th pole of his F1 career, now going 35 poles beyond previous record holder Ayrton Senna.
His 100th pole position came almost 14 years after his first, at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix that also yielded his first win.
But after all those years ...Keep reading
- Mazepin: F1's qualifying no-overtaking etiquette is flawed
08/05/2021 - 18:51
The Russian was caught up in a bunch of slow cars ready to start their qualifying laps in Q1 at Barcelona, when Norris's fast-approaching McLaren came up behind them to finish a quick lap.
While drivers are supposed to stay in order prior to starting timed laps, Mazepin had found himself jumped by both Kimi Raikkonen and Yuki Tsunoda – who were finishing timed laps and also wanted to get out ...Keep reading
- Ricciardo more confident in McLaren F1 car after "mini breakthrough"
08/05/2021 - 18:32
Ricciardo qualified seventh in Saturday's session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, outpacing team-mate Lando Norris - who had a disrupted Q3 session - by four tenths.
While Ricciardo managed to start in front of Norris for two of 2021's first three grands prix, he has struggled to adapt to his new car so far, which especially shone through on Sundays.
Coming a week after a slightly ...Keep reading
- F1 Spanish Grand Prix – Start time, how to watch, & more
08/05/2021 - 18:20
The reigning F1 world champion beat Max Verstappen in qualifying to notch up a century of pole positions, with the Mercedes driver’s 1m16.741s set on his first run in Q3 enough to take top spot by 0.036s.
The Red Bull driver still secured a front row start ahead of Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas in third, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc producing an impressive late lap to move up ...Keep reading
- Mercedes explains call to start Spanish GP on soft tyres
08/05/2021 - 18:12
The Black Arrows squad regularly takes the middle compound tyre in qualifying to give it more strategic options in races, where the yellow-walled rubber is also generally more durable compared to the softs the rest of the top 10 runners take to ensure their Q3 places.
Red Bull usually gives Max Verstappen a similar strategy, but all three frontrunners eschewed that approach in qualifying at ...Keep reading
- Norris: Q1 traffic “cost me” later in F1 Spanish GP qualifying
08/05/2021 - 17:46
The McLaren driver had been on a fast lap in Q1 at Barcelona, but came across a gaggle of cars in the final chicane sequence.
Mazepin in the Haas elected to stay ahead of him, and cost Norris a vital few tenths on the run to the line – which meant that the young Briton had to burn another set of tyres to run again so he could guarantee he got through to Q2.
Not having that extra set of ...Keep reading
- Shoulder issue hampered Perez in Barcelona F1 qualifying
08/05/2021 - 17:36
Perez slumped to eighth place in Q3 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday, finishing nine-tenths of a second behind Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, who qualified second.
The Mexican spun during his first push lap in Q3, leaving him with a single timed effort at the end of the session which he used to usurp Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso.
But Perez revealed after qualifying ...Keep reading
- Hamilton feared set-up "gamble" backfired before taking Spanish GP pole
08/05/2021 - 16:48
Hamilton was able to edge out Red Bull rival Max Verstappen by 0.036 seconds in Q3 to clinch his second pole position of the season, and continue his perfect record of front row starts this year for Mercedes.
But the seven-time F1 world champion initially feared that some changes he requested on his car between final practice and qualifying would leave him worse off in the fight for ...Keep reading
- Tsunoda has ‘question mark’ over AlphaTauri F1 car versus Gasly
08/05/2021 - 16:40
Tsunoda finished 16th in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, narrowly missing out on a place in Q2.
The Japanese driver was heard over team radio complaining about the car after his Q1 knockout before being told to calm down by his race engineer.
Asked about his qualifying struggles, Tsunoda said after the session that he prepared the car ...Keep reading
- F1 Spanish GP: Hamilton beats Verstappen for 100th pole position
08/05/2021 - 16:25
Valtteri Bottas claimed third in the second Mercedes, with both Black Arrows cars and the leading Red Bull joining the rest of the Q3 runners in getting through the middle segment of qualifying on the soft tyres, on which they will start the race.
Hamilton led the way after the opening runs in Q3 with a 1m16.741s, with Verstappen slotting in 0.036s behind.
But none of the top three went ...Keep reading
- Formula 1 encouraging teams to look at American drivers
08/05/2021 - 13:59
Liberty Media has long been trying to expand the sport in the USA, and finally achieved its first goal when last month it confirmed that the first Miami GP will be held in 2022.
Asked in a call with Wall Street analysts if a local driver on the grid in Miami would boost the sport Domenicali confirmed that finding one was an important target for F1.
There has not been an American driver on ...Keep reading
- Mercedes F1 team spent over £324m to win in 2020
08/05/2021 - 13:16
The number represents a slight drop relative to the £333.2m it spent in 2019, reflecting both a shorter race calendar and a general move by the sport to reduce costs.
Although the headline spending figure includes many items that do not come under F1’s new cost cap, it nevertheless indicates just how much the team has had to restructure to meet this year’s limit. The cap is pegged at ...Keep reading
- F1 Spanish GP: Verstappen tops final practice from Hamilton
08/05/2021 - 13:09
When the session got underway, the pack was in no particular hurry to head onto the track, with Fernando Alonso eventually emerging for a solo run on the medium tyres towards the end of the opening 10 minutes.
Alonso therefore set the P1 benchmark at 1m21.020s, which remained fastest until the Alpine driver was joined by Sergio Perez towards the end of the session’s first quarter.
Perez ...Keep reading
- Williams: Peaky downforce trait of F1 car was not intended
08/05/2021 - 11:37
The Grove-based team’s current challenger shows good form in certain conditions, but its downforce levels and balance can be impacted quite heavily by the wind or turbulence from other cars.
While a number of F1 outfits have over recent years moved away from chasing theoretical peaks of downforce for cars that are more consistent in all conditions, Williams has ended up going the other ...Keep reading
- Revised approach to Spanish GP weekend helping Leclerc
08/05/2021 - 11:14
The Ferrari driver emerged from the second free practice session at Barcelona as the closest challenger to Mercedes after a strong day’s running in which he lapped just 0.165s off Lewis Hamilton's FP2 pace.
The Monegasque was outqualified by new team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr last time out in Portugal, but fought back in the race to finish sixth as Sainz slipped out of the points due to heavy ...Keep reading
- Wolff: Mercedes won’t play "musical chairs" with its F1 drivers
08/05/2021 - 11:02
A report in the UK press earlier this week claimed that Bottas may not see out the season at Mercedes after a sluggish start to the year that has seen him fall 37 points behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the standings.
But the report was swiftly dismissed by Bottas, who called it “bullshit”, while Hamilton called on the Finn’s critics to “give him a break”, showing his ...Keep reading
- What is behind McLaren's latest F1 upgrades
08/05/2021 - 10:36
It duly arrived at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix with some new parts to evaluate as it aims to enhance the performance of the MCL35M.
The parts were first tested by Lando Norris during FP1 while his team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, collected baseline data on the old set-up.
Both had the revisions for FP2, with the front wing optimised to suit a higher-downforce configuration, whilst its new ...Keep reading
- FIA explains clampdown on F1 drivers using old Spain circuit
08/05/2021 - 09:58
Following the fierce debate over track limits in Portugal one week ago, FIA race director Michael Masi outlined in his event notes for Spain that Turns 1, 2, 13, 14 and 15 would be subject to policing by the stewards through the race weekend.
The Turn 13-15 complex covers the chicane in the final sector, which replaced the two right-hand turns from 2007 onwards and has proven largely unpopular ...Keep reading
- F1 assessing Turkish GP impact after country placed on UK red-list
07/05/2021 - 20:40
Travellers returning to the UK who have been in countries on the list in the previous 10 days are obliged to pay for a compulsory 10-day quarantine in government-approved hotels.
Turkey will officially join the red list on 12 May, a month before the scheduled race date of 13 June.
It’s understood that the usual UK government exemptions which allow F1 team personnel and others directly ...Keep reading
- Vettel ‘more at home’ with Aston Martin F1 car after upgrades
07/05/2021 - 19:03
Four-time F1 world champion Vettel has failed to score any points in his first three races with Aston Martin, having struggled with the car's rear-end instability following the FIA's downforce cuts for 2021.
But the team hoped to remedy his struggles with an upgrade package that was used by team-mate Lance Stroll last weekend in Portugal, focusing mainly on the floor of the car.
Vettel ...Keep reading
- Domenicali: "Robust" F1 will survive if Hamilton retires
07/05/2021 - 18:01
Hamilton only has a one-year deal with Mercedes, and inevitably there has been much speculation about him stepping away at the end of 2021, especially if he wins a record eighth F1 world championship.
Hamilton himself has insisted that he hasn't made any decision, and that when he does, it would not be influenced by the outcome of this year's title battle, which he is currently leading.
He ...Keep reading
- F1 Spanish GP qualifying - Start time, how to watch & more
07/05/2021 - 17:40
The reigning F1 world champion battled back after Bottas topped FP1 to set the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session, with Hamilton posting a 1m18.170s during a soft tyre run.
Bottas completed a Mercedes 1-2 in FP2, 0.139s off Hamilton’s top time, but was just 0.026s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in an incredibly competitive top group, with the top 14 drivers covered by ...Keep reading
- Hamilton happy to see F1 rivals catching up in 2021
07/05/2021 - 17:24
The world champion topped second free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, as main title rival Red Bull had a more tricky day around the Barcelona circuit.
With Ferrari's Charles Leclerc ending up as Mercedes' closest challenger on the timesheets, with Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso right behind him, Hamilton said that he was impressed with how the midfield pack ...Keep reading
- Wolff: Red Bull approached 100 Mercedes staff over F1 engine move
07/05/2021 - 16:58
Red Bull revealed in February that it would be forming its own power unit arm, known as Red Bull Powertrains, that would take over the existing Honda engine IP upon the Japanese manufacturer’s F1 exit at the end of the year.
Red Bull is making plans to produce and develop its own power unit in-house upon the next generation of engines in 2025, led by technical director Ben Hodgkinson, who ...Keep reading
- F1 Spanish GP: Hamilton tops FP2, Verstappen only ninth
07/05/2021 - 16:10
In conditions that were hotter and windier than Friday’s earlier FP1 session, the second 60-minute practice running was initially led by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
But Giovinazzi’s leading time from the first minutes was soon beaten by a flurry of fast times, as Esteban Ocon moved ahead with a 1m20.303s and Bottas’s 1m19.087s.
Bottas went fastest again on a 1m18.419s after a ...Keep reading
- Austrian Grand Prix: Tickets, the best grandstands, where to stay and how to get there
07/05/2021 - 16:00
Every year, the picturesque region of Styria welcomes Formula 1 to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix.
While the scenery may be peaceful, the action on track certainly is not. Over the past few seasons, the race has served up some season highlights and has fast become one of the most anticipated races on the calendar.
And although its location in the Styrian mountain lends itself ...Keep reading
- F1 financial numbers continue to improve after disastrous 2020
07/05/2021 - 15:36
Primary revenue rose from just $17m for January to March in 2020 to $159m for the same period this year, while total revenue was up from $39m to $180m.
An operating loss of $137m for the first quarter last year was turned into a $33m loss for this year.
The numbers reflect that no races were held in the first three months of 2020, following the last-minute cancellation of the Australian GP ...Keep reading
- F1 team bosses to hold meeting to discuss track limit rules
07/05/2021 - 15:16
At every grand prix event, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali meets with team bosses for an informal chat about the latest developments within the sport.
And on the back of the track limits controversy from Portugal last weekend, when Max Verstappen lost a pole position and fastest lap for running wide, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says that the topic will come under the ...Keep reading
- Tost: Changes to F1 cost cap rules must be done ‘in a proper way’
07/05/2021 - 15:10
The 2021 season marks the first year that F1 is racing under a new budget cap and financial regulations, limiting each team to spending $145 million per season.
Within the financial regulations, F1 lawmakers are permitted to sanction teams for breaches via financial penalties, minor sporting penalties, material sporting penalties or enhanced monitoring.
But it emerged last week that ...Keep reading
- Horner: Poaching Mercedes F1 engine staff an “inevitability”
07/05/2021 - 14:35
Red Bull will take on the development of its Honda F1 engines from 2022 when the Japanese giant pulls out of F1, whilethe team will also prepare to build in-house power units at its Milton Keynes campus for the new 2025 engine regulations.
Last month Red Bull Powertrains announced it had hired long-time Mercedes employee Ben Hodgkinson as its technical director, who had been the head of ...Keep reading
- Aston Martin: Red Bull/Mercedes F1 gap justifies low-rake complaints
07/05/2021 - 14:31
While Lewis Hamilton has won two of the races so far this campaign with a low rake concept, his Mercedes team has been run close by Red Bull at all three events.
This contrast of how close Red Bull is this season compared to 12 months ago shows just how much the 2021 floor changes have impacted things, Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer believes.
“If you just look at the last race ...Keep reading
- Vettel: ‘Wasted opportunity’ if Aston Martin writes off 2021 F1 season
07/05/2021 - 13:12
Four-time F1 world champion Vettel joined Aston Martin for this season following his exit from Ferrari at the end of last year, linking up with Lance Stroll.
Vettel had hoped to rediscover his form after a tough final year with Ferrari, but has failed to score any points in the opening three races of the season.
Aston Martin has been struggling with its AMR21 car following the downforce cuts ...Keep reading
- F1 Spanish GP: Bottas tops disrupted FP1 from Verstappen and Hamilton
07/05/2021 - 12:45
Under clear skies and in warm temperatures, Robert Kubica, running in place of Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo for FP1, set the initial P1 benchmark at 1m27.006s on the hard tyres.
But Kubica was almost immediately demoted by Bottas’s 1m21.899s, also set on the white-walled rubber.
Just after Nikita Mazepin lost the rear of his Haas accelerating out of the fast Turn 7 left, spearing off left ...Keep reading
- Raikkonen reveals his son teased him over F1 Portuguese GP crash
07/05/2021 - 10:38
The Finn brought out the safety car at the start of the second lap in Portimao after he ran into the back of Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi on the start-finish straight.
Raikkonen had claimed that he had been distracted by changing some button controls on his steering wheel so hadn’t realised he was drifting in to Giovinazzi’s rear wheel.
Speaking about the reaction from the ...Keep reading
- Perez following Verstappen’s Red Bull F1 car set-up to avoid getting "lost"
07/05/2021 - 10:27
The Mexican has faced a tough challenge in adapting to the unique characteristics of Red Bull’s high-rake concept, having moved across from Racing Point at the end of last year.
With limited pre-season mileage, Perez braced himself for needing time to get up to speed, and quickly realised that it would be futile so early in the campaign to try to get the car changed to suit him ...Keep reading
- Verstappen: Mercedes still has F1 energy deployment advantage
07/05/2021 - 09:53
With the German manufacturer locked in a tight fight with Red Bull for the F1 world title, the small differences between the two outfits are being exposed as their performance fluctuates.
Mercedes appears to have a car that is better in the races, but the Red Bull car looks to be faster over a single lap – which is perfect for qualifying.
And while the gap between ...Keep reading
- Hamilton wins third Laureus Award for social activism
06/05/2021 - 20:30
At the yearly Laureus World Sport Awards, dubbed the Oscars of sport, Hamilton was the first recipient of the new Athlete Advocate of the Year Award, which recognises the Mercedes driver's ongoing efforts to support racial justice and promote diversity.
During the 2020 Formula 1 season, in the wake of the George Floyd murder and race riots in the US, Hamilton led F1's push for racial equality ...Keep reading
- F1 drivers react to 2021 Barcelona track changes
06/05/2021 - 18:34
The Turns 10/11 sequence has been significantly altered ahead of this year's Spanish Grand Prix, a move made to improve safety that has been carried out in conjunction with the FIA and FIM.
Turn 10, at the end of the track's back straight, has returned to a similar layout to its original design – a longer, flowing left-hander that feeds directly into Turn 11 along the same curve, unlike the ...Keep reading
- Verstappen: Understandable Mercedes staff want new F1 challenge with Red Bull
06/05/2021 - 18:21
Red Bull announced in February that it would be taking over the production of its power units from Honda at the end of the year, moving its engine operations in-house in anticipation of the next rules cycle in 2025.
The team has since been on a hiring spree for its engine division, including the signing of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains head of mechanical engineering Ben Hodgkinson, who ...Keep reading
- Williams rear end issue hampered Russell’s Portimao F1 race
06/05/2021 - 18:12
Russell put in his best qualifying performance of his Williams career thus far in earning 11th on the grid, but in what he called "a race of survival" he slipped back to eventually finish 16th at Portimao.
Russell also pointed out that his 11th place in qualifying flattered the true form of the Williams package, as several drivers from midfield teams underperformed, and the FW43B was actually ...Keep reading
- Hamilton unsurprised by Red Bull's F1 hires from Mercedes
06/05/2021 - 17:37
Red Bull revealed on Thursday morning that it has hired five more engineers from Mercedes' High Performance Powertrains division, after previously announcing that Ben Hodgkinson – HPP's head of mechanical engineering – would be the technical director of its new Red Bull Powertrains division.
When asked about Red Bull's moves by Autosport in the pre-event press conference for this weekend's ...Keep reading
- F1 champion Hamilton: People need to give Bottas a break
06/05/2021 - 17:27
Bottas and Hamilton have been Mercedes team-mates since the start of the 2017 season, winning the constructors’ championship in each of the past four years together.
Bottas finished as runner-up to Hamilton in the championship in both 2019 and 2020, but has struggled to match his team-mate’s form through the early part of the new season.
Hamilton has scored two race wins and leads the ...Keep reading
- Verstappen: F1 needs better solution for track limits
06/05/2021 - 16:21
Verstappen was left frustrated by F1's track limits rules at the last race in Portugal after losing the fastest lap bonus point for allegedly going off track, breaking the guidelines issued by FIA race director Michael Masi.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko fumed over the ruling, saying the team had lost a race win, pole position and fastest lap over the opening three races of the season because ...Keep reading
- Bottas dismisses "bullshit" F1 mid-season dropping suggestion
06/05/2021 - 15:31
Bottas has failed to beat Lewis Hamilton in any of the first three races of the season, leaving him 37 points behind his Mercedes team-mate in the standings.
The Finn’s current contract expires at the end of the season, with his future being a regular talking point, particularly amid the rise of Mercedes junior George Russell and his stand-in performance for the team last year in ...Keep reading
- Steiner: Criticism from F1 rivals shouldn't affect Mazepin
06/05/2021 - 14:15
Mazepin's debut F1 campaign got off to a rocky start, marred by errors and a lack of pace compared to fellow Haas debutant Mick Schumacher.
At F1 2021's first three race weekends in Bahrain, Imola and Portimao, Mazepin qualified behind the German on each occasion with an average gap of six-tenths of a second.
Mazepin's Bahrain debut race was over after spinning out of the first sequence of ...Keep reading
- Verstappen "always has full trust" when fighting F1 rival Hamilton
06/05/2021 - 13:12
Verstappen and Hamilton are currently separated by eight points in the drivers' championship heading into this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, after Hamilton beat Verstappen home in the last race in Portugal.
That event featured the two championship leaders each passing the other – Verstappen getting by at the early safety car restart before Hamilton moved back ahead a few laps later following ...Keep reading
- Red Bull signs five more Mercedes F1 engine staff
06/05/2021 - 11:41
Just weeks after the Milton Keynes-based team announced that it had signed Mercedes' head of mechanical engineering Ben Hodgkinson as its new technical director, more personnel have been confirmed as moving from the German manufacturer to Red Bull.
Mercedes' head of manufacturing Steve Blewett is to become Red Bull's power unit production director.
Omid Mostaghimi, who is Mercedes' F1 ...Keep reading
- Can F1’s standout performer of 2021 keep up his charge?
06/05/2021 - 11:19
The 2021 Formula 1 season could hardly have got off to a better start for Lando Norris, who three races into the season lies in third place in the world championship.
The McLaren youngster has finished fourth, third and fifth in the opening events, and thus far has only been beaten to the flag by drivers from the Mercedes and Red Bull teams.
In addition he outran Sergio Perez in the first ...Keep reading
