Nov.4 (GMM) Fernando Alonso says he will be working on building up his neck muscles as he tests a two-year-old Renault this week in Bahrain. After a two-year sabbatical, the 39-year-old Spaniard is returning to Formula 1 next year to replace Daniel Ricciardo as Renault becomes Alpine. Some people have been surprised about Alonso’s commitment […]
Month: November 2020
Car upgrade successes ‘good sign for future’ – Leclerc
Nov.4 (GMM) Ferrari is on the right track as the Maranello team moves to pull out of its competitive slump. That is the positive news from Charles Leclerc, even if his departing teammate Sebastian Vettel has been progressively struggling in the improving 2020 car. “I think Ferrari has gone in Leclerc’s direction with all these […]
Costa thinks Mercedes will continue to dominate
Nov.4 (GMM) Aldo Costa says he doubts Mercedes can be beaten by any rival Formula 1 team any time soon. The Italian designed Mercedes’ dominant title-winning F1 cars until last year, when he decided to move to the Italian race car designer Dallara. Toto Wolff gave Costa a shout-out after Mercedes wrapped up its seventh […]
Salo surprised as Raikkonen keeps racing in 2021
Nov.4 (GMM) Mika Salo has admitted to surprise that Kimi Raikkonen will keep his longest-ever Formula 1 career alive into yet another season in 2021. Fellow Finn and former F1 driver Salo recently predicted that the now 41-year-old 2007 world champion’s long career would finally conclude at the end of this season. “I was pretty […]
Verstappen not upset about missed F1 record
Nov.4 (GMM) Max Verstappen is not bothered that he will never be crowned the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. After Imola, it has become mathematically impossible for the 23-year-old Dutchman to beat the Mercedes drivers to the 2020 title – and therefore Sebastian Vettel’s record as youngest champion remains safe. “Records like that […]
More gravel traps will ‘improve the show’ – Binotto
Nov.4 (GMM) Mattia Binotto says installing more old-school gravel traps at Formula 1 circuits will help to “improve the show”. Next year, teams will only be able to make limited modifications to their current cars after the all-new regulations were delayed until 2022 amid the corona crisis. Ferrari boss Binotto thinks the field will be […]
Mercedes to keep black livery in 2021
Nov.3 (GMM) Mercedes will keep its all-black livery in 2021, boss Toto Wolff has revealed. Amid Lewis Hamilton’s advocacy for the Black Lives Matter movement, the reigning world champion team agreed to switch from silver to black for 2020. “It seems that yes, we will also be in black in 2021,” Wolff told the Austrian […]
Haas also opposed to Alonso’s ‘young driver test’
Nov.3 (GMM) A third team has revealed its opposition to Fernando Alonso’s participation in the end-of-season ‘young driver’ test in Abu Dhabi. With rules restricting teams from fielding anyone other than highly inexperienced drivers, Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul said he asked his fellow team principals for dispensation to allow Alonso to re-acclimatise to F1. “One […]
Grosjean ‘definitely’ eyeing Indycar move
Nov.3 (GMM) Romain Grosjean has admitted that a move from Formula 1 to Indycar for 2021 cannot be ruled out. Earlier, the Frenchman said the American series’ many oval circuits were a turn-off because of the heightened safety risk, but suddenly he admits that Indycar is “certainly an option”. “I have some contacts in America,” […]
Hamilton defends Russell after safety car crash
Nov.3 (GMM) Fellow drivers are jumping to George Russell’s defence after the Williams driver made an embarrassing mistake during the race at Imola. In scenes similar to Romain Grosjean’s incident of 2018 at Baku, the otherwise impressive Briton Russell crashed out behind the safety car last Sunday. “One minute he was there, the next minute […]
Zandvoort still not confirming 2021 race date
Nov.3 (GMM) Organisers of the Dutch GP at Zandvoort are still not confirming the race date for its first grand prix since agreeing to return to Formula 1. Zandvoort was one of the victim’s of this year’s coronavirus crisis, with organisers deciding against going the ‘ghost race’ route. Now, it is emerging that the 2021 […]
Jos Verstappen wants Hulkenberg to be son’s teammate
Nov.3 (GMM) Jos Verstappen says that if he was running Red Bull, Nico Hulkenberg would replace Alex Albon and become his son Max’s teammate in 2021. Max Verstappen recently admitted – twice – that he would like to be paired at the team with Hulkenberg next year. “It can only be three drivers – Albon, […]
Alpha Tauri preparing Tsunoda for 2021 debut
Nov.3 (GMM) Yuki Tsunoda is standing on the cusp of a busy period ahead of his almost certain 2021 debut for Alpha Tauri. The Honda-linked 20-year-old is set to replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull’s second team next year, and in preparation will test the 2020 Alpha Tauri at Imola this week. “Imola will be […]
Haas a good place to start for Schumacher – Maylander
Nov.3 (GMM) Haas is a good first team for likely 2021 rookie Mick Schumacher. That is the view of Bernd Maylander, who is Formula 1’s long-time safety car driver. Speaking to Sport1, he was commenting on what is now regarded as an open secret – that Ferrari will place Michael Schumacher’s son at Ferrari-powered customer […]
Wolff thinks ‘tired’ Hamilton will stay in F1
Nov.2 (GMM) Toto Wolff remains confident that Lewis Hamilton will eventually sign a new Mercedes contract for 2021 and beyond. After winning at Imola, and celebrating Mercedes’ seventh consecutive world championship, Hamilton caused a stir by saying there is “no guarantee” he will stay in Formula 1 beyond next month’s Abu Dhabi finale. The six-time […]
Kvyat out but Marko gives Albon more time
Nov.2 (GMM) While one Red Bull-contracted driver’s exit appears set in stone, another still has a few races to prove he still belongs in Formula 1. Although driving for the energy drink company’s second team Alpha Tauri, Daniil Kvyat thinks he easily outperformed the struggling Alex Albon at Imola. “From the very beginning of the […]
F1 should move to ‘rotating’ races idea – Seidl
Nov.2 (GMM) Andreas Seidl has admitted his opposition to the trend for longer Formula 1 calendars made possible by the likely introduction of Imola-like two-day race weekends. Just as news of the unprecedentedly long 2021 calendar featuring 23 races broke, Formula 1 descended on the much-loved former San Marino GP venue Imola for a novel […]
Covid threatens tail-end of 2020 season – Wolff
Nov.2 (GMM) The rest of this year’s makeshift Formula 1 calendar is in “the hands of the national authorities”. That is the view of Toto Wolff, whose Mercedes team on Sunday wrapped up the constructors’ championship at Imola – one of the stand-in events for the permanent races that had to be cancelled this year […]
Ferrari boss Binotto to skip next race in Turkey
Nov.1 (GMM) Laurent Mekies will step up and serve as Ferrari’s acting team boss at the next race in Istanbul. The rumour at Imola was confirmed by team boss Mattia Binotto, who said he will stay at Maranello instead of travelling to Turkey before missing “a few more” of the remaining four races after that. […]
Kvyat slams ‘bulls**t’ track limits at Imola
Nov.1 (GMM) Daniil Kvyat has slammed the strict enforcement of ‘track limits’ this weekend as Imola makes an otherwise highly popular return to Formula 1. “Jesus Christ! We don’t need white lines, we just need old-school gravel. Then we can get rid of this bulls**t,” the Russian driver is quoted by Sport1. Many drivers have […]