The Italian manufacturer has now won back-to-back riders’ titles with Francesco Bagnaia in 2022 and 2023, marking the first time in its MotoGP history that this has happened. It capped off a year of utter dominance for Ducati, having scored a total of 43 podiums and 17 grand prix wins across its eight riders, while […]
Month: December 2023
F1 2023 has “been my best year”
That was the year Norris made his F1 debut with McLaren, with which he has remained after signing two contract extensions in 2021 and 2022. Although the papaya team had a tough start to the season just gone, its development work helped it go from battling to escape Q1 to regularly being Red Bull’s closest […]
Newey not planning on walking away from Red Bull F1
Newey, who celebrates his 65th birthday on Boxing Day, has been credited as being an essential part of turning Red Bull into a championship-winning machine upon his arrival in 2006. He initially made a name in F1 with his first technical director role at Leyton House before moving to Williams and then McLaren, designing cars […]
How a struggling MotoGP sophomore saved his career but highlighted a wider issue
Gresini Ducati rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio scored points on just six occasions in 2022. His haul at the end of that season was a slender 24, a full 87 points adrift of the next Ducati rider in the standings. His fellow rookie Marco Bezzecchi, had a higher peak too, managing a podium at Assen on his […]
Bottas “in denial for five years” at versus Hamilton at Mercedes F1
Following the shock retirement of newly crowned F1 world champion Nico Rosberg, Bottas left Williams to join Mercedes for 2017. He remained alongside Hamilton until a 2022 move to Sauber (then branded Alfa Romeo). During their time together, Hamilton won 50 grands prix and four drivers’ titles while Bottas scored 10 victories. To keep competing […]
Adrian Newey’s F1 championship-winning cars from FW14B to RB19
Adrian Newey today (26 December) celebrates his 65th birthday in a year where he has contributed to yet another F1 championship-winning car. He and his Red Bull colleagues created the RB19, which won 21 of 22 grands prix to dominate both the 2023 F1 constructors’ and drivers’ world championships. However, it was not the first championship the […]
Red Bull RB20 will be “evolution over revolution” as it predicts F1 rival clones in 2024
The Milton Keynes-based team has been hard at work on its RB20 for several months now, having elected to switch off development of its 2023 challenger early because it was so far ahead of the opposition. But while it knows that it will need to make progress if it is to stay ahead of its competitors next […]
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #1 Max Verstappen
Eleven laps remain of the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Max Verstappen is 3.6 seconds behind his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez. Defeat in Baku, and a 2-2 record from the opening four races of the season, stare back from the leading RB19. But then that gap starts to come down – quite rapidly at first – […]
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #3 Lando Norris
Outside of the Red Bull-Ferrari-Mercedes triumvirate, Lando Norris was the only driver to manage a podium finish in 2022, with his third place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. When McLaren limped out of the starting blocks in 2023 with a car in dire need of an aerodynamic overhaul, Norris must have imagined that it […]
F1 “not far away” from IndyCar level of convergence
IndyCar is known for its close, action-packed races with Dallara-built cars that are largely spec outside damper development and having two different engine manufacturers. It leads to very close racing, with top six qualifying shootouts on several road courses covered by three tenths or less. In its 2023 opener at St Petersburg, there was a […]