Jun.22 (GMM) F1’s 2020 world championship will be a two-man fight, according to former driver Mark Webber. “In reality, it will be between (Max) Verstappen and Lewis (Hamilton),” the Australian told Ziggo Sport. The sport’s ‘corona calendar’, set to kick off after a long shutdown, will begin next weekend with back-to-back races in Austria. “I […]
Category: Recent stories
Ecclestone tried to lure Montoya back to F1
Jun.22 (GMM) Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone once tried to convince Juan Pablo Montoya to return to the sport. Out of favour at McLaren, the Colombian scrapped his six-year-old Formula 1 career in mid-2006 in favour of a long-term Nascar deal. Montoya, now 44, says he never regretted the move. “When I left, the matter […]
Hamilton apologised for fake news comments – Marko
Jun.19 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko has confirmed that world champion Lewis Hamilton apologised for this week’s media misunderstanding. The Mercedes driver had slammed the top Red Bull official after Marko was quoted as suggesting Hamilton was “distracted” by the Black Lives Matter movement. The comments attributed to Marko, however, were false. Marko said Red Bull […]
‘No great pain’ after Renault test – Ocon
Jun.19 (GMM) Esteban Ocon says his test in Austria this week reassured him that he is ready for Formula 1’s post-corona crisis restart. Although the test irked Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko, Renault drivers Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo drove a two-year-old car at the scene of the forthcoming Austrian GP. “It was great. It only […]
Kvyat ‘often faster than Ricciardo’ – Tost
Jun.19 (GMM) Team boss Franz Tost says he is more than happy with Alpha Tauri’s two drivers. The Austrian suggested that both Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly were given premature call-ups to the senior Red Bull team in the past years. “We actually had no choice (about the promotions) with either of them,” Tost told […]
Leclerc, not Vettel, taking 2020 Ferrari pay-cut
Jun.19 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel did not join his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in agreeing to reduce his pay during the 2020 corona crisis, according to Italian reports. The reports, suggesting that tensions between the quadruple world champion and the Maranello team are now likely to further escalate, emerged after boss Mattia Binotto revealed that Leclerc […]
Mugello ‘so close’ to 2020 F1 race deal – mayor
Jun.19 (GMM) It is “practically certain” that Italy will host a second grand prix in 2020. That is the word from Florence mayor Dario Nardella, who is optimistic about the local Ferrari-owned Mugello circuit being able to host the race one week after Monza. “A second grand prix this year is practically certain and would […]
Engine change to take ‘twice as long’ in 2020
Jun.19 (GMM) Crash repairs and engine changes will take significantly longer at grands prix in 2020, Racing Point technical boss Andy Green has warned. He said strict social distancing measures in the garages at the forthcoming ‘ghost races’ means work on the cars will “automatically take longer”. “We have a limited number of people who […]
Binotto hits back at Wolff over Vettel news
Jun.19 (GMM) Mattia Binotto has hit back at fellow F1 team boss Toto Wolff after the Mercedes chief expressed surprise about recent driver signings. Wolff said he was surprised that Ferrari announced so early that Sebastian Vettel will leave at the end of 2021 and be replaced by Carlos Sainz. “I’m glad that Mercedes always […]
Boss Steiner ‘not certain’ about Haas’ future in F1
Jun.19 (GMM) “Nothing is certain” about the future of the small American team Haas in Formula 1. That is the admission of team boss Gunther Steiner, who admits the outfit has been hit hard by the corona crisis and financial fall-out. Even driver Kevin Magnussen knows Haas is in trouble. “It’s a major crisis,” he […]
McLaren could sell 30 percent team stake – report
Jun.18 (GMM) Hot on the heels of news that Williams is for sale, another independent British team – McLaren – is reportedly also on the market amid the corona crisis. Mark Kleinman, the respected City editor for Sky News, says talks between McLaren officials and “advisers and lenders” have already taken place. A source said […]
Timing not right for Ferrari seat – Magnussen
Jun.18 (GMM) Kevin Magnussen says the “timing” just wasn’t right for him to be considered for the 2021 Ferrari race seat. Instead, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz got the nod to replace quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel. “I haven’t hidden that I would like that seat,” Magnussen told Ekstra Bladet newspaper. “It’s a lot to do with […]
Ricciardo ‘fits’ at McLaren – de Ferran
Jun.18 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo “fits” with the McLaren brand and team supremo Zak Brown. That is the view of Gil de Ferran, the former Indy 500 winner who now heads McLaren’s Indycar project. The Brazilian was recently also McLaren’s F1 sporting boss, and he told Globo Esporte’s Na Ponta dos Dedos podcast that he can […]
Ferrari adds 15hp to engine before Austria GP
Jun.18 (GMM) Ferrari has reportedly found 15 horsepower to add to its 2020 engine ahead of the resumption of racing in Austria early next month. Ralf Bach, a prominent German journalist writing for Sport1, said the update is also more reliable following problems with the Melbourne-spec engine in winter testing. As for the power upgrade, […]
Teams can still improve ‘frozen’ cars for 2021
Jun.18 (GMM) There is “enough scope” in the new corona-era car development freeze for uncompetitive teams to improve their single seaters for 2021. That is the claim of Racing Point technical boss Andy Green, referring to the fact that teams must also use their 2020 cars in 2021 to keep costs down. “A bad car […]
Hamilton withdraws attack on Helmut Marko
Jun.18 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton has withdrawn a scathing rebuke of Dr Helmut Marko after it emerged that comments attributed to the Red Bull official were not real. The six-time world champion said on social media that he was “offended” that Marko had reportedly pointed out that “certain drivers” were “distracted” by political issues while Max […]
No plans yet for races with spectators – Brawn
Jun.17 (GMM) Ross Brawn says Formula 1 will only “very slowly” push to reintroduce spectators in the wake of the corona crisis. The sport has confirmed only eight ‘ghost races’ at six European venues for 2020 so far, but there are plans for around 15-16 by the end of the year. Some of those European […]
Schumacher should focus on F2, not F1 – Vasseur
Jun.17 (GMM) Frederic Vasseur is giving no hints about whether Mick Schumacher will make his Formula 1 debut with Alfa Romeo in 2020. FIA president Jean Todt, who knows Mick’s father Michael well, this week called the 21-year-old German driver “intelligent, mature and humble”. “I hope he has a good season in Formula 2,” Todt […]
Bottas suggests Mercedes will use DAS in Austria
Jun.17 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas thinks he and Lewis Hamilton will be using the controversial ‘DAS’ steering system once the 2020 season gets up and racing next month. Mercedes’ highly innovative system, which alters the ‘toe’ of the front wheels when the drivers pull or push on the steering wheel, attracted queries about its legality in […]
Leclerc questions F1 2020 game’s driver rankings
Jun.17 (GMM) Charles Leclerc thinks the way current drivers were ranked by the developers of the new official game F1 2020 was “not appropriate”. For the game’s new ‘My Team’ feature, developer Codemasters has ranked the current drivers out of 100 in terms of how expensive they are for users to sign up. Lewis Hamilton […]