New chief executive Chase Carey has quickly addressed some of F1’s problems yet hard decisions over key issues like race fees cannot be put off for longHaving dealt with the awkward business of closing out the Bernie Ecclestone Formula One era with an alacrity that was also an impressive statement of intent, the sport’s new owners were equally hasty in launching an immediate charm offensive. The hearts and minds of the fans are the thrust of a strategy that has been pursued with vigour and some success given many reactions to it. After years of the previous owners CVC allowing the sport to meander while walking away with huge profits, any positive noises from Liberty were likely to create early...
With help, engineering ingenuity could bring about some of the next great technological leaps forward, with Silverstone having an important part to playAbout 15 years ago Britain ignored a great opportunity to bring together sport, industry and action on the environment. A country whose designers and engineers were dominant in Formula One could have exploited some of that creativity in order to become the world’s leader in the emerging field of electric vehicle technology. Instead the racers got on with racing and the captains of industry carried on supervising the decline of Britain’s industrial base. Related: Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes seat could result in fireworks with Lewis Hamilton | Giles Richards Continue reading...
A predicted understudy role would take the pressure off the Finn but with the F1 drivers’ market opening up at the end of 2017, he is likely to come out fightingWith 10 years in Formula One and three world championships under his belt there is little that will unnerve Lewis Hamilton, even entering a season which brings the biggest rule shakeup for two decades. But while taking the wheel of a new car is a challenge the British driver will relish, adapting to his new Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, may be more of a concern. Related: F1: Valterri Bottas joins Mercedes to replace Nico Rosberg Related: FIA approves sale of F1 to Liberty Media with takeover expected in March Continue...
The technical director Paddy Lowe’s departure hard on the heels of world champion Nico Rosberg leaves the British driver as the team’s senior figurePre-season preparations took a back seat on Tuesday to Formula One’s equivalent of the transfer market as Mercedes announced the long‑expected departure of their technical director, Paddy Lowe, who is predicted to re-emerge at Williams in a management role. The loss will be felt – Lowe has been ever-present as a key part of the Mercedes team during their three dominant years in F1 – but not as keenly as might be expected.More intriguingly, however, it may be a factor in creating a scenario that will present a career-defining challenge for Lewis Hamilton: the chance to forge...
As the new Formula One champion’s shock decision to retire shows, once the hunger for success goes, the dangers in sports like F1 become apparentProfessional athletes lead a crazily short and often lucrative working life, over within a decade or so of its beginning, wreathed in success or disappointment. Memories of glory, often embellished, are revived in middle age for nostalgia or for reheating in ill-advised comebacks.It is unlikely the 31-year-old Nico Rosberg will be returning to his dangerous sport. Nor will the 26-year-old Nick Blackwell – but for wholly different reasons. Blackwell, the middleweight boxer who nearly died eight months ago, was still recovering in hospital on Friday from injuries sustained in a recent sparring session his father, John,...