Silverstone organisers quiet over the British Grand Prix’s future and Williams identify the root cause of their difficultiesLewis Hamilton’s dominant win from the front proved he and his car were the class of the field in Barcelona. There is no sense, however, that Mercedes have solved their problems nor that they will necessarily enjoy such an advantage again. This season it is all still to play for. Related: Lewis Hamilton wins Spanish Grand Prix to stretch lead in F1 title race Continue reading...
The Red Bull driver’s errors are recurring and a win at the track where he burst on to the scene two years ago would be timelyA somewhat contrite and possibly even cowed Max Verstappen may have been expected to emerge in the paddock for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The young Dutchman’s poor start to the season reached its nadir when he crashed into his Red Bull team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, at the last round in Baku, but Verstappen faced down the scrutiny with a smile at the Circuit de Catalunya. However, if he is to make good on the promise of his prodigious talent, there is some serious work to be done.Verstappen and Ricciardo had been wheel to wheel for...
The Spaniard has been in fine form in both the World Endurance Championship and F1 this season, but goes to Barcelona needing McLaren to give him the tools for the jobFernando Alonso finally made it back to the top step of the podium last weekend when he, alongside his Toyota team-mates Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, took victory in the first round of this year’s World Endurance Championship at Spa. It has been some time in coming. This was the 36-year old’s first win since 2013, when he took the flag for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix, and it would have taken a hard heart not to empathise with the evident pleasure he felt at being back where he...
Drivers are delighted by new regulations aimed at improving chances of ‘natural’ overtaking and Wurz is optimistic about the sport’s future under new ownersThe first skirmish in the battle to secure the future of Formula One threw up an unlikely and unexpected result when the sport announced it would be introducing rule changes for next year to improve overtaking. It was an engagement that had looked doomed from the off, faced with the natural self-interest of the teams, but the success bodes well for F1, the fans and the drivers, who can claim no small part in bringing about the first step in what should be a new era for the sport.F1’s new owners, Liberty Media, and the FIA have...
How Mercedes fare in Barcelona will be telling – they must work the tyres at the correct temperature to unlock performanceLewis Hamilton was absolutely honest after his unlikely victory in Baku. He knew he had inherited a win that with three laps to go was looking like a third place and a further deficit to Sebastian Vettel in the world championship. He came out of it on top and rightly did not opt to celebrate as he might have were it a harder won victory. He is four points ahead of Vettel but made it clear that relying on good fortune would not be enough in what is shaping up to be a highly contested season. The reality, Hamilton knows,...