Jun.23 (GMM) Lando Norris says he wants a new deal to stay at McLaren in 2020. In recent days, team supremo Zak Brown played down the prospect of Fernando Alonso returning by saying the team is happy with Norris and Carlos Sainz. But the Sun newspaper says Norris is being paid just $500,000 this year, […]
Dominant Hamilton says Bottas battle still interesting
Jun.23 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton says his battle with teammate Valtteri Bottas is still interesting. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel could not put up a challenge to the dominant Mercedes cars in qualifying at Paul Ricard, but Hamilton hopes Charles Leclerc – third – can be fast on Sunday. “I’m looking forward to a race with this one,” […]
Rumours swirl about Chase Carey’s future
Jun.22 (GMM) Rumours about the future of F1 CEO Chase Carey are heating up at Paul Ricard. American Carey, a former News Corp, Sky and Fox executive, is busily negotiating the controversial 2021 rules but with rumours hanging over his head. The 65-year-old’s contract with Liberty Media reportedly runs out at the end of next […]
Silly season revving up at Paul Ricard
Jun.22 (GMM) F1’s silly season is shifting into another gear in the Paul Ricard paddock. Firstly, given Valtteri Bottas’ most recent performance dip, there are claims Toto Wolff wants to put Esteban Ocon in the Mercedes for 2020. But another season for Bottas is also a possibility. Ocon, the Mercedes reserve this year, told the […]
Steiner says Twitter account is fake
Jun.22 (GMM) Gunther Steiner has denied that a Twitter account in his name is controlled by him. The account, whose official handle is ‘BanterSteiner’, is followed by 20 thousand followers including Mika Hakkinen, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. The humorous tweets are normally laden with expletives, following the Haas boss’ now notorious appearances in the […]
Stroll in ‘transition phase’ after team switch
Jun.22 (GMM) Lance Stroll has played down his struggle to match his teammate in qualifying this year. In fact, Stroll – whose billionaire father owns Racing Point – has failed even to get out of Q1 since joining the former Force India team. “There is only one or two tenths between Sergio (Perez) and me,” […]
F1 physically difficult enough for Hamilton – Kubica
Jun.22 (GMM) Robert Kubica has hit back at Lewis Hamilton’s claim that Formula 1 is not physically demanding enough. Recently, the five time world champion said drivers should be “exhausted” after a race. “Sometimes I do these races and I could get up and probably do two or three in a row, and Formula 1 […]
Hockenheim still ‘fighting’ for German GP
Jun.22 (GMM) Hockenheim is still fighting to save the 2020 German grand prix. It is believed Hockenheim and Barcelona are the existing circuits most likely to be axed in order to make way for the new races in Vietnam and Zandvoort. “It would be sad to see it go but at the end of the […]
Ferrari car upgrade ‘not a failure’ – Binotto
Jun.22 (GMM) Ferrari did not get off to a good start at Paul Ricard. First, the stewards rejected the push for a review of Sebastian Vettel’s controversial Canada GP penalty. And then questions were raised about the new car upgrade. A lot is riding on the upgrade, with Vettel declaring that Ferrari realistically has only […]
Verstappen defends stewards as Vettel saga ends
Jun.22 (GMM) Max Verstappen has defended F1’s stewards as the Sebastian Vettel time penalty affair finally ends. On Friday at Paul Ricard, the FIA rejected Ferrari’s push for a review of the controversial call that cost Vettel victory in Canada. The Maranello team declared that it had “overwhelming” new evidence to present, including footage of […]
Two F1 drivers eye Le Mans with fathers
Jun.21 (GMM) Two sons of former Formula 1 drivers are hoping to race alongside their fathers at Le Mans. “I’ve always said that I would like to race anywhere with my father,” Kevin Magnussen, whose father is Corvette sports car driver Jan, said at Paul Ricard. “We’ll see,” the Haas driver added when asked what […]
Three races face 2020 F1 calendar axe
Jun.21 (GMM) As Liberty Media puts together the 2020 calendar, strong doubts about the fate of three existing races remain. The F1 owner has inked new deals with Zandvoort and Vietnam, with chief executive Chase Carey saying the calendar will remain static at 21 races by dropping two current grands prix. The most endangered are […]
Bottas has ‘no doubt’ he can beat Hamilton
Jun.21 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas says he has “no doubt” he can still challenge Lewis Hamilton for the 2019 title. Hamilton, who leads by 29 points, was absent in Paul Ricard on Thursday as he attended an event in Paris in memory of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. “Toto Wolff allowed him to do it,” a Mercedes […]
Russell denies Kubica’s claims about car
Jun.21 (GMM) George Russell has denied Robert Kubica’s claims about the unpredictability of their Williams cars. Although also suggesting the pair are not enjoying identical equipment, Kubica said recently that the performance and handling of his car is wildly inconsistent in 2019. “In Monaco, the car was very stable and I was able to have […]
Verstappen denies F1 easier than karting
Jun.21 (GMM) Max Verstappen has hit back at claims about how easy driving a modern Formula 1 car is. Recently, Lewis Hamilton said he could do three race distances on the trot, while Romain Grosjean says go-karting is more physically demanding than F1. Red Bull’s Verstappen said he does not agree. “If I go karting […]
FIA to hear Vettel penalty review on Friday
Jun.21 (GMM) The FIA will hear Ferrari’s stewards ‘review’ on Friday. Two weeks after the controversial decision that cost Sebastian Vettel victory in Canada, the topic totally preoccupied the Paul Ricard paddock on Thursday. “Maybe someone wants to ask something about France?” Vettel joked to reporters. The German married his long-time partner Hanna in between […]
Struggling Giovinazzi ‘will never give up’
Jun.20 (GMM) Antonio Giovinazzi has vowed to “never give up” in his quest to improve and succeed in Formula 1. The Italian rookie immediately impressed when he stepped in at short notice at Sauber in 2017 for the then injured Pascal Wehrlein. But he also made waves by crashing in both qualifying and the race […]
Vettel time penalty review ‘on standby’ – report
Jun.20 (GMM) Ferrari’s stewards review of the Canada GP time penalty is “on standby”. That is the news from Daniele Sparisci, the correspondent for Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. We reported earlier that the stewards at Paul Ricard were expected to make a decision about the review of Sebastian Vettel’s controversial Montreal time penalty by […]
$175m budget cap for 2021 ‘a big number’ – Brown
Jun.20 (GMM) The $175 million a year budget cap for 2021 will not provide the level playing ground some F1 teams were hoping for. That is the view of Zak Brown, the McLaren supremo who told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that the leaked figure was “not a surprise”. “Of course there are things that […]
Carey hints one-sided season hurting F1
Jun.20 (GMM) Chase Carey has admitted the one-sided 2019 season may be contributing to Formula 1’s crashing television ratings in some markets. In Germany, for instance, viewership on free-to-air RTL this season is down compared to 2018 by a factor of about a million pairs of eyes per race. But Carey, the F1 CEO, says […]