Mazepin and Schumacher were plucked out of Formula 2 to replace Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen at the underperforming Haas outfit, which had severely compromised the 2021 season to focus on the new 2022 car. While Schumacher and Mazepin generally brought up the rear of the field in a car that was barely developed from […]
Month: January 2022
McLaren ‘adamantly opposed’ to cost cap raise for sprint race damage
F1 debuted its new sprint race weekend format at three events in 2021, holding 100km races on Saturdays that offered points to the top three and set the grid for the race on Sunday. The trial of the format last year has led to plans being formulated to expand it to six events next year […]
Ricciardo explains impact of homesickness on early F1 2021 struggles
Ricciardo endured a difficult first half to the 2021 season after joining McLaren as Lando Norris scored more than twice as many points than his more seasoned team-mate before the summer break. Ricciardo has since labelled his first half of the year as being “nearly laughable” before he bounced back with a dominant victory in […]
Armstrong exits Ferrari Driver Academy, Ilott on “gap year” in IndyCar
Armstrong, 21, joined Ferrari’s young driver programme in 2017, and has spent the last two years racing in FIA Formula 2. The New Zealander is yet to confirm his racing plans for the year ahead, but Ferrari revealed on Tuesday that he was no longer part of its junior set-up as the academy began its […]
Ocon learned “quite a lot” from Alonso in first season as F1 team-mates
Alonso made his return to F1 in 2021 after two seasons away, partnering Ocon at Alpine. Ocon managed to score his maiden grand prix victory by taking a shock win at the Hungarian Grand Prix, aided by Alonso, who managed to halt Lewis Hamilton’s charge with a brilliant defensive display. The duo helped Alpine secure […]
How leader Gasly blossomed in his ‘best F1 season so far’
Gasly was one of the standout F1 performers in 2021, taking a podium in Baku alongside several top six finishes. It propelled Gasly up to ninth in the drivers’ championship with 110 points, just five points behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and well ahead of rookie team-mate Yuki Tsunoda (32). The Frenchman has steadily blossomed with […]
Schumacher has “great expectations” for new 2022 Haas F1 car
Ferrari Driver Academy member and 2020 Formula 2 champion Schumacher graduated to F1 last year with the backmarker Haas team. Haas opted against developing its car for 2021 so it could focus all its resources on the new technical regulations for 2022, resigning it to the back of the grid and a season without points. But […]
Alfa Romeo’s season “good on performance, bad on results’”
Following a difficult 2020 that saw Alfa Romeo struggle with its underperforming Ferrari power unit, the team appeared to take a step towards the other midfield teams last year, improving its points tally from 8 to 13 with drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. But the team would drop from eighth to ninth place in […]
Strong end to 2021 just as important as Hungary F1 win
Before the summer break, Ocon triumphed in Budapest after a chaotic wet-weather start had propelled him into the lead, and the Frenchman held firm to take his maiden grand prix win and the Enstone team’s first victory since 2013. While Ocon’s win was an important milestone for Alpine in its quest to become a regular […]
Espargaro gained “realistic” understanding of Marquez’s MotoGP speed in 2021
The 2013 Moto2 world champion switched from KTM to the factory Honda squad last season, ending a largely difficult campaign with one podium and pole position to his credit. Despite missing four races through injury and crashing out of four others, Marquez won three times and was comfortably top Honda rider in seventh in the […]