As Formula 1’s driver market ‘silly season’ wound down in 2021 and this year’s grid fell into place, Alfa Romeo left it late to finalise its line-up. Talks with Andretti over a possible takeover of the Sauber Group postponed a final decision on who would partner the incoming Valtteri Bottas in 2022. But the eventual […]
Month: January 2022
Aston Martin appoints Mike Krack as F1 team principal
Krack has followed a similar career path to McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl, having worked with BMW in F1 early in his career before gaining experience in other categories. He joined Sauber in 2001 and rose to the position of chief engineer in the works BMW era, and spent some time working with current Aston […]
Senna, Prost, Hamilton and more
Bruce McLaren’s firm made its F1 world championship debut in 1966 and the New Zealander scored its maiden victory in the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. Since then, 19 other drivers have taken wins for McLaren and seven have won drivers’ titles. PLUS: The numbers that reveal McLaren’s revival For the selection of the top 10 […]
FIA sets out next steps and plans for Abu Dhabi F1 investigation
The FIA confirmed in the days following Max Verstappen’s last-lap title win over Lewis Hamilton that it would be launching a full investigation into the race restart, which was subject to protests by Mercedes. Mercedes opted to end its pursuit of action after the FIA announced its plans to analyse what happened in Abu Dhabi, […]
Alpine announces exit of F1 team chief Budkowski
Late last season Budkowski was linked with a possible role at Aston Martin, and the recent departure of team principal Otmar Szafnauer has opened up a potential opportunity at the Silverstone outfit. Szafnauer’s name has also been mentioned in connection with Alpine in what would be a straight swap of two of F1’s key figures. […]
The hints of change and lingering questions in the FIA’s Abu Dhabi update
It was the kind of information that fans had been eagerly waiting for, and while it did not offer any concrete answers, it at least outlined the state of play and the possible timeline for any decisions and, more importantly, action. Newly-appointed FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem spoke earlier this month of the need to […]
Alonso “sad” to see Honda leave F1 despite McLaren years
Honda announced in October 2020 that it would pull out of F1 after the 2021 season, with partner team Red Bull moving the engine production in-house at its Milton Keynes campus for the power units used by both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. While Honda will aid Red Bull with its power unit, Honda’s F1 […]
The rise and fall of bargeboards in F1
Ross Brawn, together with F1’s technical working group, immediately singled out the complex aerodynamic solution as one of the changes required in order to reduce the aerodynamic wake created by the cars and help produce closer racing in future. In recent years, driven by the openness of the regulations in that region, the bargeboards had […]
“Pretty damn fast” F1 2022 cars may still be hard to follow
F1 will introduce a new technical ruleset for this year, featuring an overhaul of the aerodynamic regulations that could shake up the pecking order. The goal of the new regulations is to make the field more competitive and allow drivers to race wheel-to-wheel more without losing as much downforce due to dirty air coming off […]
Bottas can flourish in F1 outside of Hamilton’s ‘shadow’
Bottas has joined Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season after a five-year stint with Mercedes that yielded five constructors’ championship wins and saw him finish as runner-up in the drivers’ standings in 2019 and 2020. The move to Alfa Romeo came following Mercedes’ decision to sign junior driver George Russell to its team for this […]