Ahead of this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, the Istanbul Park circuit was water-blasted to make the surface rougher following an FIA recommendation in the aftermath of the 2020 event. The Istanbul surface had been re-laid with fresh asphalt ahead of Turkey’s return to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2011, but as the
Formula 1
Medical car driver Alan van der Merwe and doctor Ian Roberts have worked together for many years, and most famously played a key role in helping Romain Grosjean escape from his fiery crash at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix. But during pre-event testing before they travelled to Istanbul, it was revealed that both had been
Two-time F1 world champion Alonso made his return to the championship this season after spending two years away exploring other motorsport events including the Indianapolis 500, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Dakar Rally. Alonso initially struggled to match Ocon’s form at Alpine, but has scored points in all but one of the last
Ferrari debuted an updated hybrid system for its F1 power unit on Charles Leclerc’s car at the Russian GP, with the Monegasque driver duly serving a back of the grid penalty for the Sochi race, while the Italian team confirmed Sainz would receive the upgrade later this season. In the team’s preview of the Turkish
Honda will exit F1 at the end of the 2021 season, and was set to enjoy its final home grand prix in Japan this weekend prior to its cancellation and replacement with a race at Istanbul Park in Turkey. To pay tribute and give thanks to Honda ahead of its departure from F1, Red Bull
F1 is set to publish its 2022 schedule on 15 October, after the next meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council. Speaking this week, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said that F1 was aiming for 23 races, which would be slotted in to a more compact timeframe than this season. While that means there will
In fact, where once it would have been simply happy to get a single car into the top 10, its run of results since has left it with a healthy 23-point tally right now. Looking well clear of Haas and Alfa Romeo, Williams should feel pretty secure behind Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship barring
The Frenchman endured a frustrating time in the Russian Grand Prix as he ended up lapped and in 14th, while teammate Fernando Alonso delivered a strong performance to finish eighth. Reflecting on what happened in Sochi, Ocon said it was especially confusing because he and Alonso had been running near identical setups. And, in a
Whitmarsh became the latest high-profile signing by Aston Martin amid its ongoing expansion under new owner Lawrence Stroll, joining as Group CEO last month. It marks Whitmarsh’s return to a role in F1 after his stint at the helm of McLaren from 2009 to 2014. He will oversee Aston Martin’s new Performance Technologies division, as
The talks come the wake of the issues faced at Spa, when the Belgian GP was red-flagged without any flying laps being run. Asked if TV schedules restricted the FIA’s ability to shuffle F1 sessions, Masi said: “It is not so much TV schedule dependent. It is something that we will be discussing in the
Haas boss Gunther Steiner suggested ahead of the Russian Grand Prix that the team could benefit from having a veteran providing input to rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. He believed that the team was lacking a good reference point to judge the speed and feedback from its current line-up. But Schumacher is sceptical about
For anyone with a passion for motorsport and writing, becoming a journalist seems like the perfect profession; one day you could be interviewing the stars, the next you could be writing race reports or penning an opinion piece. This makes it a highly competitive career to get into, and can make it tougher to stand
From a low-key beginning with Bahrain in 2004, F1 now have four grands prix in the region, all with contracts that ensure they will be on the calendar for the foreseeable future. Even allowing for the inevitable expansion beyond this year’s 22 races that is a high percentage of events concentrated in a relatively small
Having started from pole, and briefly lost the lead to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr, Norris had moved back to the front and looked to have everything under control as the laps counted down. But a late race shower turned the Sochi race on its head, and the decision to stay out on slicks proved costly
During his two-year spell at Renault in 2019 and 2020, Ricciardo had a wager with then team principal Abiteboul that if they scored a podium then the Frenchman would have to get his first tattoo. That top three finish was duly delivered at last year’s Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, when Ricciardo came home third
Alfa Romeo is known to be weighing up replacing Giovinazzi for next season, considering a number of drivers to partner the incoming Valtteri Bottas from Mercedes. Alpine junior and F2 title contender Guanyu Zhou is understood to be leading the chase for the seat, but no decision has yet been taken by the team. Giovinazzi
Whitmarsh was recently announced as the Group CEO of the newly-created Aston Martin Performance Technologies entity. Since leaving McLaren in 2014, the 63-year-old has mainly been involved in the America’s Cup with Ben Ainslie Racing, latterly as chairman of BAR Technologies. He also briefly had a consultancy role with the FIA when the new financial
Gasly had been as high as third fastest in practice on Friday at Sochi, but at the end of Q2 he was kept out on old intermediates while rivals changed to new tyres, and he failed to progress in 12th place. The Frenchman labelled the incident a “big mistake” that cost him a place in
“He used to disallow the use of caffeine within the team, and now it’s an open shop!” japed Ricciardo when asked about what had built the team’s confidence in recent weeks. But while the caffeine explanation is certainly wide of the mark, what isn’t is the influence Seidl has had in helping steer McLaren from the doldrums into a squad that is now, at times
It became known as the ‘S’ duct due to the shape of the ductwork housed within the 150mm space that it was allowed to occupy ahead of the front wheel centreline. Although the design still bears that exact same name nearly a decade on, the complexities have increased somewhat over the years. The turning point
While that landmark achievement fell slightly under the radar because of the focus on Lando Norris’ near miss on a maiden victory, Hamilton’s feat was one that clearly deserves a lot of recognition. So in appreciation of the achievement, Autosport’s latest podcast reflects on what Hamilton’s century of successes means for Formula 1, and where
Bottas took a new power unit for Sunday’s race, and moved back to 16th on the grid, ahead only of other drivers who had taken penalties – including Max Verstappen in 20th. While the change was necessary after the Finn suffered an issue with his newest engine on Friday, it also opened up a tactical
After scoring just one point across the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Williams has recently enjoyed a resurgence in form, recording a top-10 finish in four of the last five races. George Russell scored the team’s first podium since Azerbaijan 2017 in the rain-shortened Belgian Grand Prix, and qualified third in Sochi last weekend before finishing
Alonso started on the hard tyres and as others pitted he rose to second place, behind only Sergio Perez, before making a late first pit stop on the same lap as the Red Bull driver. The Spaniard was running in sixth when the rain came towards the end of the race, and finding more grip
Ferrari debuted an upgraded hybrid system for its power unit on Charles Leclerc’s car at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi last weekend. The updated power unit was understood to be worth less than 10bhp, but Ferrari made clear prior to its introduction that its greater purpose was to help lay the foundations for 2022
Sunday’s dramatic Russian Grand Prix saw Lewis Hamilton scored a historic 100th Formula 1 win after a late rain shower shook up proceedings in Sochi. It ended in heartbreak for Lando Norris, who was just a few laps away from his maiden grand prix victory before a decision to stay out on slicks backfired, leaving
Mazepin was shown the black and white flag for unsportsmanlike behaviour after a blocking move on the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Mazepin has been involved in several incidents with his teammate Mick Schumacher this season, although only one – for causing a collision in the Italian GP – resulted in a penalty. On that occasion,
Verstappen had to start last at Sochi after his team elected to fit a fresh engine to his car. Although he made great progress in the early stages, his charge up the field was stalled when he suffered graining on the switch from hard to medium tyres for the second half of the race. PLUS:
The young Briton looked on course to win his maiden F1 race from pole position at Sochi on Sunday, as he held off Lewis Hamilton behind him in the closing stages. But it all went wrong a few laps from home when a downpour arrived and Norris and his McLaren team left it too late
Remarkably, the Briton has now become the first driver to reach a century of world championship F1 wins at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. It has taken him 281 races and a little over 14 years, during which time he has also scored 101 pole positions, 57 fastest laps and seven world titles. Now seemed