Honda is now in a race against time to make a breakthrough with its troubled RC213V with just one day of testing left before the 2023 season starts. Top Honda honours on Saturday at the Portugal test went to LCR’s Alex Rins, who was 11th and almost a second off the pace, while factory duo […]
Year: 2023
Verstappen sceptical about F1 qualifying format trials
F1 has decided to trial a tweaked qualifying format at two races this year. As previously reported by Autosport, the first trial is taking place at May’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. In a bid to reduce the number of tyres used at grands prix, the experiment involves reducing the number of Pirelli sets […]
Quartararo warns Yamaha “will not be ready for first race” of MotoGP 2023
The 2021 world champion ended Saturday’s running at the Algarve circuit eighth overall, but over eight tenths off the pace of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. Quartararo concluded last month’s Sepang test claiming his 2023 Yamaha was “a nightmare” in qualifying trim, and now admits the bike struggled for pace in general on fresh rubber. As a […]
Mercedes vows no ‘finger-pointing’ despite hurt of F1 form
The German manufacturer has found itself in need of a rapid response to the lack of performance of its new W14 car, which has proved to be no match for the pace-setting Red Bull squad. Team boss Toto Wolff has already talked about Mercedes needing to evaluate an all-new concept for the car in the […]
Bagnaia leads Ducati 1-2 as pre-season resumes
The countdown to the 2023 season is on as just two more days of running are permitted between now and the start of the new campaign on 26 March in Portugal. The paddock has decamped to the Algarve International Circuit to wrap up the pre-season, with Saturday’s session running for eight hours. VR46 Ducati rider […]
Williams winter F1 gains second only to Aston Martin
The Grove squad struggled with the ground-effects rules revolution in 2022 as it lacked downforce and suffered with poor low-speed balance. That left the team to prop up the constructors’ championship with just eight points, compared to 35 for next-worst AlphaTauri in ninth. But the new FW45 has proved more stable and allowed Albon to […]
Ranking the top 10 pre-war grand prix cars
Grand prix racing had been around for nearly half a century before the arrival of Formula 1. The inaugural world championship in 1950 is often used as a starting point, but there had been plenty of brilliant machines and epic races already. The rules were modified regularly from the inaugural French GP in 1906 to […]
Alfa Romeo’s mystery F1 2023 launch floor revealed as a fake
The Hinwil-based operation was the first squad to unveil a genuine 2023 challenger earlier this year at an event it held in Zurich. Launch renders of the new C43 showed the car with a unique serrated solution that featured a run of fins all along the edge of the floor. However, when the new car […]
Ferrari will persist with “difficult” single-pillar F1 rear wing
The new design, which is intended to clean up the airflow to the wing, triggered a DRS issue when it was trialled on the final day of testing. When it was tried again in the Friday FP1 session, TV coverage showed it oscillating in dramatic fashion, and it was quickly replaced with a standard twin-pylon […]
The Aston Martin F1 brake revamp that helped Alonso’s Bahrain charge
Matters were not made easy for him as a shorter DRS zone, and Aston Martin’s relative lack of straightline speed, meant there was no chance of easily passing on the straight. Instead, Alonso pulled off some great overtaking moves, which included a brilliant dive down the inside of Lewis Hamilton at the tricky Turn 10. […]