Ricciardo, paid by McLaren to leave the team for this season, was called to replace sacked AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries from Hungary. But two rounds later, the Australian crashed in practice at Zandvoort, sustaining a broken metacarpal in his left hand and flew to Spain for immediate surgery.Red Bull team boss Christian Horner supposed that Ricciardo might initially target a return for Qatar …Keep reading
This may yet be the most difficult challenge yet for Andretti; although it has proven to the FIA that it has merit on sporting, technical, and financial grounds, thrashing out a deal with FOM will be tough given that the existing 10 teams will put the championship under pressure.After all, the existing teams have their own vested interests, and have been conspicuously cool to the prospect of any …Keep reading
Sargeant has six races left with which to secure his place on the F1 grid, and despite the public show of faith from team principal James Vowles, it’s obvious that he’ll have to improve his performance relative to team-mate Alex Albon while staying clear of trouble.Inevitably the knowledge that the clock is ticking will only pile on the pressure in the coming weeks, especially when he races in …Keep reading
Following months of analysis by the FIA over the expressions of interest to join F1 from 2025 at the earliest, the governing body finally confirmed the outcome of its efforts.In a statement issued on Monday, it said that Andretti was the only applicant that was being put forward to the final stage of selection.FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the process to select the team had been very …Keep reading
F1’s official tyre supplier has been evaluating some minor tweaks to next year’s tyre compound selection in a bid to tidy up some minor issues.One of the areas it thought about changing was making the C2 – the third hardest compound in its selection that runs from C0 to C5 – slightly softer.This was because it has proven to be quite close in performance to the C1, and slightly too far away …Keep reading
In the early phase of the season, the Mercedes would have the edge in races because its W14 car was much less harsh on its tyres than the Ferrari SF-23.However, as Ferrari has made gains in understanding why its 2023 challenger was so hard on its rubber early on, its race pace has improved dramatically.And with the two teams now locked in a fight for runners-up in the constructors’ championship …Keep reading
With its two drivers on slightly offset strategies at Suzuka, McLaren had to ask Piastri to let Norris through at one point to ensure that they did not waste time fighting each other and risk squandering the team’s prospects for a double podium finish.The latest call to get the drivers to help each other came after similar team orders requests at the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix.McLaren …Keep reading
The Silverstone-based outfit began 2023 as Red Bull’s main challenger, with Fernando Alonso rolling off five podium finishes from the first six races. He also had a shot at winning the Monaco Grand Prix. But since the midpoint of the season, Aston Martin’s form has fallen back, and Alonso has had just one podium – second place in the Dutch GP – in the last eight races. It has also …Keep reading
Vandoorne has shared the Aston reserve job with Felipe Drugovich this year, essentially fitting in trips to grands prix around the Formula E calendar.As well as driving the simulator, he also had his first chance to sample the AMR23 on track in a Pirelli test at Spa.However, next season he will run the full WEC schedule alongside his Formula E commitments, which will reduce his availability to be …Keep reading
The dramatic sight of Damon Hill’s Bridgestone-shod Arrows overtaking the Goodyear-rubbered Ferrari of old rival Michael Schumacher for the lead in the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix is one of the enduring images of the decade in Formula 1. For a different reason, so was the sight of Schumacher, now with Bridgestones on his Prancing Horse, leading away a grid of six cars at Indianapolis in 2005 after …Keep reading