日: 2023年3月30日

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali thrust the sanctity of free practice into the limelight in an interview last weekend with SportTV. He said: “I am a supporter of the cancellation of free practice sessions, which are of great use to the engineers but that the public doesn’t like.”
Arguments in favour of slashing the three one-hour sessions include taking away data from engineers and drivers to increase …Keep reading

Just like in any other sport, in Formula 1 if drivers don’t follow the rules set out by the FIA, then they can be penalised for it.
However, it isn’t rare for drivers to find themselves victims of bizarrely harsh penalties which sometimes don’t even seem to make sense – like the infamous 65-grid penalty Stoffel Vandoorne suffered in Spa in 2017.
F1 can be a complicated form of …Keep reading

In the wake of penalties given out to Alonso and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in the opening two races of the season for starting outside their markers, the FIA has widened the grid boxes in Melbourne.
But despite an extra 20cm of space, plus the trial of a new guidance line to help drivers line up, Alonso is sceptical of them being enough to assist with the difficulties being faced.
In particular …Keep reading

With Red Bull’s new RB19 proving to be the class of the field this year, the championship battle already looks set to be a straight head-to-head between Perez and Max Verstappen.
The potential for that fight to get quite intense was made obvious at the recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, when Perez edged out his team-mate in the scrap for the win. But their battle was somewhat overshadowed by …Keep reading

The man who heads race promoter Saudi Motorsport Company, and who is largely responsible for the success of the event, is Briton Martin Whitaker.
Prior to becoming involved in the circuit and event operation business, Whitaker’s career followed an unusual path that saw him working for bosses as diverse as Bernie Ecclestone, Jean-Marie Balestre, Max Mosley and Ron Dennis.
Along the way, he’s …Keep reading

While the team has solved the porpoising and bouncing that underlined its 2022 fall to third, the fixes have exposed an underlying ground-effects concept that fundamentally lacks performance.
As a result, Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff announced after only qualifying in the Bahrain season-opener that the team would change its design philosophy.
Hamilton has now pinpointed further …Keep reading

After winning two of the opening three races in 2022 before going on to be well beaten by Red Bull in that campaign, Ferrari’s 2023 season has started badly in comparison – with Sainz’s fourth place at the Bahrain season-opener the team’s best result so far.
It currently sits fourth in the constructors’ standings – behind Aston Martin and Mercedes in trailing Red Bull – and has …Keep reading

Speaking in Melbourne ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the reigning double world champion said that initially he felt like he was “missing a lung” and admitted that he didn’t feel good in the car from the start of the weekend.
Verstappen arrived late in Jeddah after giving himself an extra day to recuperate at home in Monaco from what was said to be a stomach …Keep reading