Vettel is on the brink of missing the British Grand Prix, Ricciardo and Verstappen are transforming Red Bull’s outlook and Stroll is proving his critics wrongThere was clear disappointment for Lewis Hamilton after his charge in Baku ended in him dropping a further two points to his title rival Sebastian Vettel but, moving on from it and the acrimonious exchanges between the pair, the British driver emerged looking the stronger and more rounded. It was the loose headrest that had actually cost him the win and he took it on the chin and did not apportion blame. “I know the team will be devastated about the issue with the headrest,” he said. “We all feel that pain but it’s on...
Emphasis on simulator work in motor sport means more drivers will emerge from the gaming scene – if they can conquer problems over the lack of ‘fear of death’When Lewis Hamilton looked to his future in Formula One in 2012 and decided to leave McLaren, the team with whom he had grown up and won his first world championship, the decision was roundly questioned. After securing two further titles for Mercedes, the move was regarded as inspired but predicting what is round the corner in motor racing has never been easy and, with F1 having just begun the process of reinvention under its new owners, the future is very much on the agenda.Many sports have faced new challenges and opportunities...
Some say the German benefited from fortune but others believe it was favour, while the Indy 500 competitor Fernando Alonso remains popular in F1Kimi Raikkonen gave every impression he believed he had been sacrificed by his team to boost Sebastian Vettel’s world championship chances after Ferrari’s strategy worked in the German’s favour at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton believed it was clear the Scuderia had chosen their No1 driver but Vettel and his team countered by saying it had been accident rather than design. Raikkonen had been losing pace towards the end of his stint on the ultrasoft rubber and the decision to pit him to cover Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen was expected. What was not was the sudden...
The new owners of F1 showed their softer side with young Ferrari fan but are as hard-nosed as ever when it comes to the bottom line of the spiralling cost of the British Grand PrixLiberty Media scored a PR coup in working with Ferrari and finding the distraught six-year-old who had been in tears after Kimi Raikkonen’s early exit from the race. Thomas Danel from Amiens in France was brought to the motorhome to meet his hero Raikkonen and there were smiles all round. His mother, Coralie Danel, was hugely impressed:“This has been the most fantastic day for us. We could not believe it when they came to get us and took us to Ferrari,” she said. “This is great...
The first four races of the season have shown Ferrari are on the up and proved Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have work to doBarcelona beckons as Formula One prepares to begin the European season proper, with the teams having 10 days to reflect on the four opening races and prepare for the upgrades that will be unveiled in Spain. The new regulations have thrown up a tense and gripping, rather than spectacular, prologue and the racing has been better than many feared, while there is an absolutely cracking battle at the front in prospect. Time then, to consider where the leading drivers and their teams stand before returning to the fray at the Circuit de Catalunya.Ferrari’s resurgence has proved the...