May 31 (GMM) Championship leader Oscar Piastri thinks he and Lando Norris can handle an intense intra-team battle for the 2025 drivers’ title. With Max Verstappen lurking in P3, McLaren’s two drivers are separated by just 3 points after a third of the current calendar. So far, the team’s ‘Papaya rules’ have permitted them to […]
Category: Recent stories
Vasseur forgives Hamilton for ‘undriveable’ comment
May 31 (GMM) Just as Charles Leclerc is becoming more upbeat about Ferrari’s performance, Lewis Hamilton’s woes are only deepening. Team boss Frederic Vasseur had predicted a boost for the team from the flexible wing clampdown this weekend in Barcelona, and it seems to have materialised somewhat. Championship leader Oscar Piastri said after Friday’s running […]
Marko slams ‘nonsense’ Verstappen contract claims
May 31 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko has slammed as “nonsense” reports in the British specialist press about Max Verstappen’s contract exit clause. The reports claimed that as long as the quadruple world champion doesn’t drop from P3 to P5 in the drivers’ championship by the end of June, he cannot escape the deal for 2026. […]
Clipped wings for McLaren ‘didn’t happen’ – Marko
May 31 (GMM) Even without a fully-flexible front wing, McLaren remains on top in Formula 1. When asked about the FIA’s much stricter flexibility checks that have taken effect this weekend, Mercedes’ George Russell quipped sarcastically: “Well, it’s certainly slowed McLaren down a lot.” It’s a bitter pill for every other team, given the way […]
F1 bosses agree struggling Colapinto needs ‘time’
May 31 (GMM) Flavio Briatore agrees that Alpine’s new recruit Franco Colapinto needs “time” to get up to speed in Formula 1. Although the rookie Colapinto recently replaced – Jack Doohan – only got six grands prix in the cockpit, team advisor Briatore has already scrapped the official five-race guarantee for the 21-year-old Argentine. Imola, […]
Horner denies considering Ferrari job offer
May 30 (GMM) Christian Horner has denied reports that he might be considering a switch to Ferrari. As the Red Bull boss’s counterpart-in-red Frederic Vasseur finds himself under the spotlight, Bild newspaper claimed this week that mere “weeks ago,” Ferrari made a move for Horner. “Rumours are part of Formula 1,” Horner told the same […]
Tsunoda must do more to secure Red Bull seat – Horner
May 30 (GMM) Yuki Tsunoda needs to up his game if he wants to hang onto his seat at Red Bull. That’s the warning of team boss Christian Horner, who admits that because Liam Lawson and now Tsunoda have failed to match Max Verstappen in 2025, the constructors’ championship is already out of reach. “We […]
Hamilton denies falling out with Ferrari engineer
May 30 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton says reports that he has fallen out with his race engineer are “BS”. There have been clear signs of the seven time world champion’s on-radio frustration with Riccardo Adami ever since Hamilton, 40, made the switch from Mercedes to Ferrari. Adami, who previously race-engineered Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel at […]
Beating Ben Sulayem ‘will not be easy’ – Sainz snr
May 30 (GMM) It will not be “easy” to dethrone FIA’s current president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. That’s the admission of the man most likely to take on the current boss of F1’s governing body in the December elections – Carlos Sainz senior. “I’m considering it,” the 63-year-old, whose son and namesake drives for Williams, said […]
Haas boss says Cadillac recruiting with ‘high salaries’
May 30 (GMM) Cadillac F1 is already splashing the cash around the Formula 1 paddock. Set to join the grid next year as the eleventh team with full General Motors backing, the outfit is actively recruiting with the goal of heading into 2026 with about 600 employees. One insider said Cadillac is currently hiring at […]
Colapinto struggling to ‘handle’ F1 pressure – Briatore
May 30 (GMM) Flavio Briatore is not yet ready to rave about the performance so far of his latest Formula 1 protege – Franco Colapinto. When Alpine ousted Jack Doohan recently and installed fellow rookie Colapinto in the car, team advisor Briatore was quoted in the press release as saying the young Argentine was only […]
2025 contest ‘doesn’t feel like a fight’ – Verstappen
May 30 (GMM) Max Verstappen is not holding out hope that the flexi-wing clampdown in Barcelona will affect McLaren’s pace. Up and down the pitlane, insiders and experts are split over whether the master of bendy front wings that pass the FIA tests – McLaren – will be slowed down. “McLaren aren’t going to end […]
Indy 500 winner Palou not switching to F1
May 29 (GMM) Indy 500 winner Alex Palou has ruled himself out of the running for a switch to Formula 1. The 28-year-old is widely considered the best driver in Indycar right now, with titles in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Palou flirted with Formula 1 through a McLaren testing deal, but a contract dispute led […]
FIA not ruling out even harsher flexi-wing clampdown
May 29 (GMM) Nikolas Tombazis is not ruling out clamping down even harder against flexible front wings in 2025. This weekend in Barcelona, much stricter new FIA tests will apply in the hope that flexible aerodynamic solutions like the one at field-leading McLaren will be stopped. “I don’t think much will change,” McLaren CEO Zak […]
Ron Dennis admits muting Sky’s F1 TV coverage
May 29 (GMM) Ron Dennis says the British television coverage of Formula 1 is so bad that he watches grands prix with the sound muted. After being pushed from control and co-ownership of the McLaren team he led for decades in late 2016, he took some of the reported $350 million he received to buy […]
Ex-promoter warns Montreal not to lose F1 race
May 29 (GMM) The long-time promoter and figurehead of Canada’s grand prix in Montreal has warned the city not to leave Formula 1. The sport is determined not to increase the current schedule from its bustling 24 races, even though it is in advanced talks with Thailand while new rumours suggest Morocco has entered the […]
Renault is not leaving Formula 1 – CEO
May 29 (GMM) Renault CEO Luca de Meo has declared once again that the Alpine Formula 1 team is safe in the French carmaker’s hands. From the outside, the Enstone based outfit has appeared utterly chaotic in recent years. Key staff have rapidly departed and been replaced, the works engine project is being axed, Flavio […]
F1, Monaco, ‘talking about’ Monaco GP problem
May 29 (GMM) Stefano Domenicali admits Formula 1 is “talking about” the problem of the Monaco GP. Notwithstanding the disastrously processional 2024 race on the tight, twisty streets, the sport’s reaction – mandatory two-stop strategies – resulted in arguably an even worse outcome. Still, F1 CEO Domenicali sees the bright side. “The Monaco event has […]
Liberty’s F1 sponsorship revolution continues
May 28 (GMM) Formula 1’s approach to sponsorship under the now eight-year reign of American mass media company Liberty Media continues to intensify. When the Bernie Ecclestone era ended in 2017, the former F1 supremo had shied away from consumer tech and entertainment-related partnerships, focusing instead on traditional industries like banking, oil and logistics. In […]
Expert says flex clampdown may not hurt McLaren
May 28 (GMM) A leading Formula 1 journalist has questioned whether much will change in Barcelona this weekend when the new clampdown against flexible front wings takes effect. McLaren – the obvious current master of passing the existing flex tests whilst still enjoying visible flexibility on track – has denied the harsher tests and stricter […]