There has been much speculation about Aston’s potential for the upcoming campaign after Fernando Alonso put the AMR23 in the top three spots on both the opening two days of pre-season testing in Bahrain last week and then produced an eye-catching race simulation run on that event’s final evening. That meant Aston did not get […]
Month: March 2023
UK MPs express “grave concerns” over FIA and F1 role in “sportswashing”
The 20-strong group of cross-party MPs, notably including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell, has called for an independent inquiry into the championship and governing body’s activities in countries with “questionable human rights records”. This comes ahead of the opening round of the 2023 campaign in Bahrain this weekend before […]
Pirelli’s race to improve the tyres Hamilton called “dangerous”
A decision on next year will be made in July, and in the interim Pirelli has to develop and test tyres that the drivers, teams and the FIA are satisfied with. It’s not only a race against the clock, but it will have to be done with limited track running. Pirelli has just three slick […]
F1 2023’s Testing Analysis – A Race Engineer Explains
From fastest laps to pace versus degradation, we look at Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, McLaren and more to see what the data really can tell us ahead of the 2023 F1 season. Special guest Blake Hinsey, ex-Red Bull Performance Engineer for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez (among others), joins F1 editor Jon Noble […]
Why F1’s midfield looks too close to call
Behind the obvious top trio of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, they say a toss of a coin will decide which of the seven other squads are strongest in 2023. Even then, the order will change from one race weekend to the next as the timing of upgrades and differing circuit characteristics upset the status […]
How Liberty is “playing long game” to help F1 teams make money
On Wednesday F1 announced increased revenue and profits for 2022, as well as a record overall payment of over $1.1 billion split between the 10 teams. In the early years of Liberty’s ownership several teams were in financial trouble and came close to failing, with Force India and Williams surviving only when they found new […]
F1 revenue boosted to $2.5 billion in 2022 amid record fan attendance
While there was a full 22-race calendar in 2021 there were still some restrictions on attendance in place. But last year, with those finally gone and F1 continuing to benefit worldwide from the Drive to Survive boost, the numbers rose significantly. The increasing interest in the world championship was reflected in a claimed overall fan […]
“No foundation” to AlphaTauri F1 team sale rumours
During pre-season testing in Bahrain last week, German publication Auto Motor und Sport reported that a Red Bull management structure – rejigged following the death of company founder Dietrich Mateschitz last year – was considering a sale of AlphaTauri. This was supposedly related to dissatisfaction with the team’s new identity, the squad having been rebranded […]
The laps that offered McLaren a glimpse of Piastri’s F1 promise
The Australian is making his F1 debut for McLaren at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and had his first proper run in the new MCL60 last week. Although McLaren is facing some competitive struggles with its new car, that has not stopped Piastri from showing just what he is capable of. In particular, McLaren team principal […]
Alpine “exercised the envelope” with extreme F1 testing set-ups
TV coverage showed the car bottoming heavily at times during the test as it appeared to tend towards bouncing. However, Harman insisted that was a result of experiments that weren’t necessarily intended to be useful at the Sakhir track specifically, but which could apply to other tracks. That focus on exploring the car meant that […]