Mar.9 (GMM) For the third consecutive season, Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has still failed to eliminate the “bouncing” of its Formula 1 cars amid the new ground-effect era. The team began the season with high hopes thanks to a new, more Red Bull-like car concept – despite losing Hamilton to Ferrari for 2025. The seven […]
Renault CEO jets in amid Alpine’s deep F1 crisis
Mar.9 (GMM) Luca de Meo, the CEO of Renault, has made an ultra-rare appearance at a Formula 1 race – just as the French marque’s Alpine team sinks into deep crisis. After the team’s all-new 2024 car qualified on the very last row of the grid in Bahrain, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly could do […]
Ferrari ‘intensifies contact’ with Red Bull’s Pierre Wache
Mar.9 (GMM) Rival teams have a keen eye on the internal strife that is dogging the otherwise totally-dominant Red Bull Racing. Mercedes, for one, has targeted Max Verstappen to replace the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton – and the key to that move might be finding a place in the silver garage for Dr Helmut Marko. “We […]
Alonso rules out podium with tyre-eating 2024 Aston
Mar.9 (GMM) Fernando Alonso has totally ruled out racing towards the podium in Saudi Arabia – despite topping the times in practice and qualifying fourth on Friday. “We have a very fast car on one lap,” the Aston Martin driver told the Spanish broadcaster DAZN in Jeddah, “but not such a fast car on long […]
Doctor says Sainz could be fit for Melbourne
Mar.9 (GMM) Carlos Sainz could be in good enough shape to return to his Ferrari cockpit in Melbourne in a fortnight. The Spaniard struggled through Thursday practice with what he thought was food poisoning – but a day later, was diagnosed with appendicitis and replaced by 18-year-old Ferrari reserve Oliver Bearman. Bearman, a rookie, was […]
Verstappen threatens to quit if ‘glue’ Marko leaves
Mar.9 (GMM) Max Verstappen says Dr Helmut Marko is the “glue” that keeps him at Red Bull. As the Austrian-Thai energy drink company’s obvious power struggle plays out inside the Formula 1 paddock, the next explosive chapter is that Marko, 80, could be set to imminently depart. That ties in perfectly with reports about a […]
Sauber eyes different drivers for Audi F1 future
Mar.8 (GMM) Mere hours after reports broke that Audi has completed a 100 percent acquisition of the Sauber team, rumours about the drivers began to swirl in Saudi Arabia. Even Germany’s biggest newspaper Bild is following the story, revealing that both Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou are out of contract at the end of 2024 […]
Magnussen admits he must catch up with Hulkenberg
Mar.8 (GMM) Kevin Magnussen admits he needs to up his game relative to Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg. After Bahrain, but also the 2023 season in which Hulkenberg was consistently quicker over a single lap, new Haas boss Ayao Komatsu said Magnussen lagging 7 tenths off the pace of the sister car was “not acceptable”. Komatsu […]
Leclerc not afraid of Hamilton head-to-head
Mar.8 (GMM) Charles Leclerc insists he is not anxious about having to take on Formula 1’s most successful driver in history as his Ferrari teammate from 2025. It was rumoured that, at least initially, Leclerc was upset that new team boss Frederic Vasseur decided to break up his pairing with Carlos Sainz – a driver […]
De la Rosa plays down Alonso’s Saudi pace
Mar.8 (GMM) Pedro de la Rosa, an Aston Martin team ambassador and close confidante of Fernando Alonso’s, played down the Spaniard’s top time in Jeddah free practice. “It’s just practice,” Alonso, sponsored by Saudi oil company Aramco, warned, alluding to different engine modes and fuel loads that the various teams run in practice. Indeed, Red […]
Marko admits Verstappen contract ‘has clauses’
Mar.8 (GMM) Christian Horner has pleaded for the end of a scandal that endangered not only his top job at Red Bull, but could lead to Max Verstappen’s shock exit. “Every contract has clauses, that’s clear,” said Dr Helmut Marko, amid reports Verstappen’s 2028 deal allows the Dutchman to easily exit in the event Marko […]
Audi already 100 percent Sauber owner – newspaper
Mar.7 (GMM) Audi really is taking over 100 percent of the Sauber team, with multiple authoritative sources now insisting that little doubt remains about the VW-owned brand’s commitment to entering Formula 1 for 2026. Last weekend, we reported Bahrain paddock rumours that despite months of uncertainty about the F1 project and management upheavals, Audi is […]
No ‘miracle’ changes in 2024 F1 pecking order now – Alonso
Mar.7 (GMM) Even just a single race into the 2024 season, respected Formula 1 journalist Michael Schmidt thinks the pecking order is already essentially clear. When asked to divulge his ideas about the hierarchy of performance after the season opener in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso agrees that not much will be different this weekend in Jeddah. […]
Alonso happy to be on ‘lists’ at Red Bull and Mercedes
Mar.7 (GMM) Fernando Alonso freely admits he is on the “lists” being drawn up by top teams Mercedes and Red Bull amid the swirling 2025 driver market silly season. Flavio Briatore, who still oversees the management of the Aston Martin driver’s career, was spotted in the Bahrain paddock last week meeting with the likes of […]
‘Not exciting’ F1 has triggered wave of scandals – Alonso
Mar.7 (GMM) Leading Formula 1 figures are watching on in horror as their sport becomes engulfed in scandal upon scandal. The Christian Horner scandal is now well-known and raging out of control, risking tearing Red Bull apart from the inside. But also in trouble is controversial FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The Paris-based federation is […]
Drivers hail new ‘rollercoaster’ F1 track project
Mar.7 (GMM) Three leading F1 faces have hailed the revolutionary venue that is slated to host the Saudi Arabian GP in the future. The fast and popular current street track in Jeddah was always designed to be temporary, with the country inking a deal with Formula 1 through 2030. The plan, now revealed in spectacular […]
Wolff deputy joins Hamilton in silver-to-red switch
Mar.7 (GMM) Former F1 driver Jerome d’Ambrosio looks set to follow in Lewis Hamilton’s wheel-tracks by switching from Mercedes to Ferrari for 2025. Earlier, the former Virgin and Lotus driver continued his racing career in Formula E, but ultimately climbed into the world of team management there in collaboration with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s wife […]
Verstappen wants ‘calm’ restored at crisis-struck Red Bull
Mar.7 (GMM) Max Verstappen admits he is hoping for a “quieter weekend” in Saudi Arabia, after the Christian Horner saga engulfed the Red Bull camp last time out in Bahrain. Throughout the scandal so far, even though his own father Jos has happily waded into the obvious power struggle taking place at present, Max has […]
Magnussen’s qualifying struggle ‘not acceptable’ – boss
Mar.6 (GMM) It is “not acceptable” for Kevin Magnussen to be so far behind his teammate Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying, Haas’ new team boss has warned. Over the winter, the struggling small American team’s owner Gene Haas ousted long-time boss Gunther Steiner, replacing him with engineer Ayao Komatsu. But arguably a bigger concern for Haas […]
Red Bull’s Mateschitz successor Mintzlaff to be in Jeddah
Mar.6 (GMM) The scandal engulfing Christian Horner and revealing the depth of a power struggle at Red Bull looks set to race on throughout and beyond this weekend’s Saudi Arabian GP. On one side of the divide is Red Bull’s 51 percent Thai owner, headed by Chalerm Yoovidhya, who rushed to Bahrain last weekend to […]