Oct.17 (GMM) Mick Schumacher’s likely Le Mans adventure looks set to kick off at the Spanish circuit Jerez on Tuesday. Motorsport-magazin.com and Bild newspaper report that the Mercedes F1 reserve and axed Haas driver is set to test Alpine’s new world endurance championship prototype. The news was confirmed by the Renault-owned concern. Alpine motor racing […]
Month: October 2023
Marko, Horner power struggle breaks out at Red Bull
Oct.17 (GMM) Notwithstanding Red Bull’s utter dominance of Formula 1 at present, there are rumblings of a power struggle within the energy drink owned team’s upper ranks. Rumours suggest that Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is at odds with the team owner’s powerful F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko, 80. A report by the Brazilian […]
F1 teams say their 2024, 2025 cars will be similar
Oct.17 (GMM) The pressure is on Red Bull’s rivals to produce much better cars for 2024 – because they will then be used as the basis for the teams’ next cars in 2025. Auto Motor und Sport reports that moves are afoot to ban design and development preparations for the all-new rules in 2026 until […]
Tsunoda plays down Aston Martin rumours
Oct.16 (GMM) Yuki Tsunoda has moved to clarify rumours linking him with Lance Stroll’s seat at Aston Martin. Rumours about the underperforming son of team owner Lawrence Stroll only intensified in Qatar when Lance, 24, violently shoved his own trainer after a fourth consecutive failure to even break out of Q1. The FIA even launched […]
Hungary likens Mazepin sanctions to communism
Oct.16 (GMM) Hungary’s foreign minister has slammed the sanctions that have ended the Formula 1 dream of Nikita Mazepin for now. At the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia crisis, Russian Mazepin was sacked by Haas but also blocked even from returning to Europe due to European Union sanctions against the 24-year-old and his influential father Dmitry. […]
Verstappen will keep dominating for now – Prost
Oct.16 (GMM) F1 legend Alain Prost says Max Verstappen’s rivals need to prepare for more Red Bull domination. Recently in Qatar, Dutchman Verstappen became a triple consecutive drivers’ champion with five full grands prix still left to run in 2023. Prost, a quadruple world champion who admitted to L’Equipe that he expects the 26-year-old to […]
Drivers ‘the least’ of Ferrari’s problems – Montezemolo
Oct.16 (GMM) Drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are “the least” of Ferrari’s problems, according to the Italian marque’s former president Luca di Montezemolo. Now 76, Italian Montezemolo attended the Il Festival dello Sport in Trento and said there are plenty of things he likes about modern Formula 1. “Today’s F1 is beautiful because there […]
Piquet-Hamilton comments not racist, homophobic – court
Oct.16 (GMM) It’s been a busy few days in Formula 1 news. Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has escaped jail for tax fraud, Lance Stroll apologised to the FIA in writing and was warned over his recent conduct, and the governing body is re-thinking Lewis Hamilton’s EUR 50,000 fine for crossing the track in Qatar. […]
Perez quit rumours denied as Ricciardo returns
Oct.16 (GMM) Red Bull has denied wild reports suggesting Sergio Perez is poised to announce his immediate retirement from Formula 1. With the off-form 33-year-old’s place at the team in serious doubt despite his 2024 contract, it has been rumoured he might either quit Red Bull on the occasion of his forthcoming home race or […]
Marko admits final ‘very real fear’ of 2023
Oct.13 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko says he very worried that Red Bull will fail in its mission to finally finish both first and second in a drivers’ world championship. It is the energy drink-owned Formula 1 team’s last mission in its utterly dominant 2023 campaign – but the out-of-form Sergio Perez is now only 30 […]
Villeneuve hits out at ‘smiling’ Ricciardo
Oct.13 (GMM) 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve admits the current Formula 1 drivers he admires most at present are Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. The French-Canadian, fluent in Italian and well known in Italy via his fabled former Ferrari driver father Gilles and his work for Italian TV, was speaking at the Il […]
Axed Russian GP layout slashed in half
Oct.13 (GMM) Organisers of the axed Russian GP appear to have accepted that their Formula 1 hopes are over for now. At the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the sport axed its annual event in the Russian resort city of Sochi – at the Sochi Autodrom. The venue is situated around Olympic Park, and it […]
Renault now obstacle to Andretti green-light
Oct.13 (GMM) Renault-linked Alpine may have emerged as an obstacle to Andretti-Cadillac joining Formula 1. Although Cadillac is owned by General Motors, Andretti’s plan to enter the sport as early as 2025 is dependent on a rebadged customer engine. But Alpine boss Bruno Famin this week said the Renault engine deal agreed with Andretti earlier […]
Alonso breaks ranks to condemn Hamas attacks
Oct.12 (GMM) Fernando Alonso has broken ranks to speak out about the devastating situation unfolding in Israel and Palestine. With the world of Formula 1 not too far away in Qatar at the weekend, Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel and also launched a terrorist ground strike, involving the kidnapping, killing and butchering of […]
F1, circuits must resolve track limits farce – Vasseur
Oct.12 (GMM) The unresolved track limits issue in Formula 1 is “unacceptable” and “inappropriate”. That is the word from Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur, following a repeat of what he called a “penalty festival” in Qatar last weekend – echoing the even more farcical situation earlier this year in Austria. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is […]
Schumacher says Alpine deal still not done
Oct.12 (GMM) Mick Schumacher says he is still not ready to announce his plans for 2024. The current Mercedes reserve driver had hoped to return to the racing grid next year, but it recently emerged that he may need to be content with keeping his current back-up role in F1 alongside a world endurance championship […]
Hamilton will get new cockpit position – Wolff
Oct.12 (GMM) Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton will be happier at the wheel of Mercedes’ all-new 2024 car. After dominating Formula 1 throughout the initial ‘hybrid’ era that began in 2014, Mercedes and Hamilton dropped off the boil as the ‘ground effect’ rules came into force from 2022. Hamilton, in particular, has complained consistently about […]
Bridgestone admits interest in future F1 return
Oct.12 (GMM) Bridgestone has admitted it remains interested in returning to Formula 1. F1 and the FIA have now confirmed that Pirelli has been successful in securing the exclusive F1 tyre supply deal through 2027, with an option for 2028. But Bridgestone’s technical capabilities were also green-lit by the governing body amid the recent tender […]
Spa inks new F1 deal through 2025
Oct.12 (GMM) There’s good news for Formula 1 fans out of Belgium – the fabled Spa-Francorchamps circuit will host at least two more grands prix. Multiple local media outlets, including the French-language Le Soir newspaper, report that Belgian GP race organisers have extended another 1-year contract extension. That means the race will definitely take place […]
Marko backs Berger over extreme heat comments
Oct.12 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko has backed fellow Austrian and F1 legend Gerhard Berger’s view that it is up to the drivers to be ready for extremely hot races. With the FIA accepting responsibility for the group of drivers who suffered with heat stroke and dehydration in Qatar last Sunday, Berger said the issue is […]