After deciding not to develop its 2021 car to put its entire focus on F1’s new set of technical regulations in 2022, Haas has struggled for pace this season, Schumacher and Mazepin usually languishing on the last row of the grid. On Saturday, a Haas car managed to progress to Q2 in qualifying for the […]
The Italian car manufacturer elected to hold fire on introducing some upgraded 2021 power unit components until the second half of this season, so it could maximise development time with an engine freeze in place. The final go-ahead for the developments was given at the Russian Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc took a grid penalty […]
Bumps have long been an issue at COTA due to the instability of the land on which the circuit is built, a situation made worse by the heavy rain and flooding that impacted the 2015 F1 weekend. The undulations were a cause for concern during the last F1 event there in 2019, when some surface […]
After Charles Leclerc took a new engine in Russia, which included the latest update of Ferrari’s hybrid system, it was Sainz’ turn last weekend to move to his fourth power unit of 2021 and thus take a grid penalty. But when the Spaniard saw how quick Leclerc was on Friday during low- fuel runs, he […]
Ricciardo arrived in Turkey off the back of consecutive top-five finishes, winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and finishing fourth in Russia following the late rain shower. But Turkey proved to be a more challenging weekend for Ricciardo as McLaren struggled for pace, resulting in him dropping out in Q1. The team opted to […]
F1 teams have had to balance work on this year’s cars against the efforts needed to maximise the potential of next season’s challengers. And while Red Bull pushed on until well in to the season with upgrades to its RB16B, Mercedes decided to wind down work on its W12 quite early to focus on its […]
F1’s recent addition of races in Saudi Arabia and Qatar has prompted renewed concerns about regimes with poor human rights records using grand prix racing as a sportswashing exercise. However, F1 chiefs and the FIA have long argued that sports should remain neutral, and that racing in such places can have a positive effect by […]
Early on in the season, Red Bull appeared to be throwing more weight behind aerodynamic upgrades in the opening half of the season than its rival. It was delivering smaller optimisation packages at almost every race, while Mercedes stuck to its usual development path of bring more occasional substantial upgrades. Red Bull RB16 front wing… […]
Russell made his life harder in Sunday race with a mistake at the last corner of his final run in Q2, an error that left him only 13th on the grid when he had the pace to make the top 10. He then lost two places in the early laps of the damp race and […]
The German was running in 10th place when he was told there was a pit stop window as other drivers were stopping for a second set of intermediates. Asked on lap 36 if he might want to try soft tyres should slicks become an option Vettel responded, “Medium, medium, let’s go for it. These inters […]