Haas brought a huge package of upgrades to Austin, and like others who faced the challenge of only having FP1 in which to hone updated cars, the team struggled to optimise the VF-23.Following the Saturday sprint the team took the decision to take both cars out of parc ferme and switch to a higher downforce rear wing, in essence to stop the rear sliding and protect the tyres.That meant that Kevin …Keep reading
Lando Norris jumped polesitter Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 of the United States Grand Prix last weekend before race winner Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton demoted the Briton down to third – although the lead Mercedes was then disqualified for running with an excessively worn rear plank.Given that the remaining rounds in Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi represent a move away from …Keep reading
The world champion squad had originally planned to build a brand new facility at its base, which it felt was needed to keep the team at the cutting edge of F1 car development over the long term.A site near its technology campus had been sorted and the team had formally applied for planning permission for construction to go ahead.However, as part of major ongoing developments at Milton Keynes in …Keep reading
The campaign keeps up its relentless pace by heading straight from the Circuit of the Americas to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexican round.Despite brake concerns with his Red Bull F1 car in Austin, Max Verstappen remains in dominant form having won both the sprint race and the grand prix last time out – marking his 50th career win and 15th of the season so far.But the major talking …Keep reading
In fact, there have been remarkably few times in F1’s history that planks have been found to have worn down too much – with the most famous still being Michael Schumacher’s disqualification from the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix. This makes it even more intriguing that, in an area of the car that teams are very mindful of there being no room for error, two of the top squads tripped up on the same …Keep reading
Norris jumped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the start to lead the first half of Sunday’s United States Grand Prix. But he was powerless to keep Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from a 15th season win and also had to let Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes past in the closing stages.Afterwards Norris was promoted back to second when Hamilton was disqualified for excessive plank wear, meaning the Briton has now …Keep reading
Everything’s bigger in Texas, according to popular belief and brass-plated belt buckles. While the on-track spectacle across Formula 1’s sprint and grand prix races at the Circuit of the Americas largely did not deliver on such hyperbole, the post-race ramifications certainly did as the theatre ensued in the stewards’ room.PLUS: Why Mercedes could have won the US GPA pair of disqualifications …Keep reading
Running an upgraded Mercedes floor, Hamilton proved particularly rapid during the final stint at the Circuit of The Americas to close to within 2.25 seconds of Max Verstappen at the flag.Meanwhile, Leclerc was hamstrung by being the only finisher to undertake a one-stop strategy across the 56 laps, which left him vulnerable in the closing stages as he fell back to sixth.However, random post-race …Keep reading
Polesitter Leclerc was jumped by the faster-starting Lando Norris, who dived up the inside into Turn 1. He then lost out to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen during the opening stint.Ferrari opted to keep the Monegasque out on his medium tyres until lap 23 of 56, when he made his sole pitstop for hard tyres. Leclerc was the only finisher to run a one-stop strategy.But this led to his pace dropping …Keep reading
Lewis Hamilton produced Mercedes’ most competitive race of the season so far as he made the most of a floor upgrade to challenge Max Verstappen for the win.But although he got within 2.225 seconds by the chequered flag, the team was left ruing what might have been as it had lost valuable time through an extended first tyre stint that did not pay off, and then slow pitstops.Asked by Autosport if …Keep reading