Jun.6 (GMM) Mercedes sacrificed Valtteri Bottas so that his teammate Lewis Hamilton could get a major slipstreaming benefit in qualifying. That is the view of Dr Helmut Marko, as the open tension between Red Bull and the reigning world champion team continued to heat up at Baku. Mercedes’ Hamilton and Bottas have struggled for pace […]
Category: Recent stories
Alonso tells F1 rivals to ‘calm down’ at Baku
Jun.6 (GMM) Fernando Alonso has urged his fellow Formula 1 drivers to “calm down” ahead of Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP. On Saturday at the high-speed Baku street circuit, there were multiple session stoppages for crashes. The most significant was the one involving Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz, which spoiled the decisive moments of Q3 for the […]
Kai Ebel slams Hamilton and Mercedes
Jun.6 (GMM) Well-known and colourful Formula 1 broadcaster Kai Ebel has hit out at the sport’s reigning champions Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. He was the flamboyant face of RTL’s long-running television coverage of the sport in Germany, but that deal passed into pay broadcaster Sky’s hands for 2021. Now, 56-year-old Ebel has compared seven time […]
Wolff still not ruling out rear wing protest
Jun.6 (GMM) Toto Wolff is still refusing to rule out a post-race protest against Red Bull’s allegedly flexible rear wing. Amid a chaotic qualifying at Baku, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to overcome earlier difficulties to outpace his title rival Max Verstappen and set up an exciting prospect for Sunday. However, the risk of a disputed […]
F1 scraps reverse race plan for second Austrian GP
Jun.5 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko has reluctantly ruled out spicing up the second Austrian GP this year by reversing the layout of the Red Bull Ring. As Formula 1 grapples with the ongoing covid pandemic, Red Bull stepped up by offering to host a second race at the circuit it owns in Styria. To keep […]
F1 can be exciting without ‘tyre war’ – Pirelli
Jun.5 (GMM) Pirelli is confident that Formula 1 can be more exciting even without a ‘tyre war’. Earlier this week, well-known former F1 driver and now broadcaster David Coulthard admitted he is no fan of the current Pirelli era, which he says is “super boring” compared to his era of head-to-head tyre maker competition. “I […]
Vettel, Wolff back Hamilton over racing costs
Jun.5 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel and Toto Wolff have backed Lewis Hamilton’s sentiment after the seven time world champion described modern Formula 1 as a “billionaire kids’ club”. Hamilton suggested the exploding costs of becoming a professional racing driver is locking out youngsters from more modest backgrounds – and ramping up the representation of drivers with […]
Sainz ‘surprised’ by top F1 drivers’ struggles
Jun.5 (GMM) Carlos Sainz is “surprised” that so much is being said about Formula 1 drivers struggling to adapt to their cars in 2021. So far this year, high profile drivers including Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez have struggled to varying degrees since making team moves over the winter. Sainz is […]
Giovinazzi not ahead due to ‘luck’ – Raikkonen
Jun.5 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen has denied that “bad luck” explains why he is trailing his Alfa Romeo teammate so far in 2021. Speculation is mounting that with so many youngsters knocking on the door at the Swiss-based team, F1’s 41-year-old world champion of 2007 might finally be facing the exit. Raikkonen denied that “bad luck” […]
Red Bull ‘ready’ for Mercedes’ rear wing protest
Jun.5 (GMM) Christian Horner has warned his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff to “keep his mouth shut” about excessively flexible wings at Baku. Wolff is not backing down over his threat to lodge a protest this weekend about the ‘bendy’ rear wing of Max Verstappen’s championship-leading Red Bull. Verstappen said at Baku that Mercedes is clearly […]
Green light for 75,000 spectators at Spa
Jun.5 (GMM) Even with Singapore now scrapped and several other races looking obviously endangered in 2021, there is some good news for Formula 1. Torrential rain at Spa-Francorchamps has flooded the famous circuit and forced the cancellation of this weekend’s Spa Euro Race, but the Belgian GP scheduled for late August is definitely on. In […]
Second US GP ‘most likely’ to replace Singapore
Jun.5 (GMM) Formula 1 says it is weighing up “several options” to replace the newly-axed 2021 Singapore GP. Singapore promoter Colin Syn said organisers had no choice but to cancel the popular October night race “in light of prevailing restrictions for live events” in the city-state. As for F1’s “options” for a replacement, the speculation […]
Red Bull plays down Mercedes’ Baku slump
Jun.5 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko has played down Mercedes’ performance slump on the streets of Baku. The reigning champions also struggled at Monaco, but neither Lewis Hamilton nor Valtteri Bottas were even among the top ten in Friday practice at the Azerbaijan capital. “We just couldn’t find any grip,” said chief engineer Andy Shovlin. Bottas […]
Alonso admits to ‘wasting my time’ in F1
Jun.4 (GMM) Fernando Alonso says he quit Formula 1 almost three years ago because he felt he was “wasting my time” in the category. After a two-year sabbatical, including adventures at Le Mans, the Indy 500 and the Dakar Rally, the former two-time champion is now back on the grid. However, at the age of […]
Russia wants Mazepin to do mandatory army service
Jun.4 (GMM) Amid his already controversial first season in Formula 1, Nikita Mazepin is now coming under pressure from the Russian military. The 22-year-old’s billionaire father Dmitry, who owns the Moscow-based chemical company and Haas title sponsor Uralchem, said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that the Russian military wants Nikita to complete his […]
Bottas denies blame for botched Monaco pitstop
Jun.4 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas has hit back at his Mercedes boss’s suggestion that the Finnish driver was at least partly to blame for his retirement from the Monaco GP. Bottas’ rejoinder comes amid high uncertainty about whether the 31-year-old will be replaced by George Russell for 2022. “We haven’t discussed anything yet,” he said on […]
F1 ‘needs’ Wolff versus Marko fight – Berger
Jun.4 (GMM) The high tension between Mercedes, Red Bull and the title rivals’ respective top bosses is “exactly what Formula 1 needs”. That is the view of F1 legend Gerhard Berger, who was asked by Austria’s Auto Revue to comment on the barbs that are now being regularly exchanged by his countrymen Toto Wolff and […]
Rivals ‘trying to slow us down’ – Verstappen
Jun.4 (GMM) Max Verstappen says it’s “understandable” that Mercedes is “trying to slow us down” by pushing on with the flexible wing saga. Formula 1 has now arrived at Baku, where Toto Wolff recently warned could be the scene of an official protest against the ‘bendy’ Red Bull rear wing. But an unnamed engineer at […]
Russell could be eyeing Mercedes split – pundit
Jun.3 (GMM) Another option may be shaping up for George Russell’s next move in Formula 1. The highly impressive 23-year-old, who almost won his one-off fill-in drive for Lewis Hamilton late last year, has spent the rest of his three-year F1 career so far at the back of the grid with Williams. Strongly supported by […]
Michael Schumacher would have been team boss – Haug
Jun.3 (GMM) Michael Schumacher would have gone on to become a successful top manager or team boss, according to former Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug. Almost nothing is known about the seven time world champion’s current physical condition, but Schumacher has not been seen or heard from publicly since suffering serious brain injuries in a […]