Spaniard returns to his old team, initially with only mentoring duties, as he continues his pursuit of the triple crownThe irrepressible Fernando Alonso’s farewell to Formula One at the end of last season may not have been the final curtain.McLaren are testing in Barcelona and they revealed on Wednesday that the 37-year-old will now be an ambassador for the team and test their F1 cars over the next two years. Having the two-times world champion in their set-up is a boon while they rebuild with two far less experienced drivers but crucially it also ensures the Spaniard remains at the heart of McLaren and keeps his hand in should he make a return to F1 in 2021. Continue reading...
Norris will become the youngest British driver to compete in F1 and his reassuring maturity will be tested, given team’s plightWhen Lando Norris takes to the grid for the Australian Grand Prix next season he will, at 19, become the youngest British driver to compete in Formula One. It is a daunting enough prospect and one that is accompanied by a level of pressure, expectation and scrutiny that would weigh heavily on the most experienced drivers. Norris will take to the wheel of a McLaren as the team try to put a disastrous season behind them and begin the process of returning to the front of the grid.Having endured a woeful year with a car that was fundamentally flawed and...
The Japanese Grand Prix was a miserable one for McLaren, while for Toro Rosso and Red Bull there were positive signsFernando Alonso’s ire at the Japanese Grand Prix after he was penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after being pushed off by Lance Stroll at the chicane might have been the low point of the Spaniard’s weekend. But for the team, qualifying in Japan will be a moment they would rather forget. Suzuka’s magnificent layout is one of the great tests in F1, it rewards a good car and exposes the failings of others. McLaren looked terribly vulnerable. They were comfortably the slowest cars in qualifying – a statement that would have been dismissed as comic a...
After a dramatic race Minttu has her say; Ferrari handles the conditions; McLaren and Williams hang their headsWhat had been a thrilling race to the end was still disappointing for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes and they closed it with what felt like sour grapes. The suggestion that Ferrari were deliberately targeting their cars and that Kimi Räikkönen had intentionally hit Hamilton was farcical on many levels, not least that planning to do so would have had to anticipate Hamilton losing places.Equally with damage likely to go both ways and Ferrari very much in the constructors’ fight it would have been self-defeating. Hamilton and Mercedes have since accepted it was a racing incident. Their reaction was perhaps a reflection of the...
Charles Leclerc impressed again and Max Verstappen finally got his temperament in sync with his talent in CanadaFernando Alonso’s 300th grand prix was far from a celebratory affair: he started 14th on the grid, his lowest position this season, and retired from the race with an exhaust failure. The McLaren racing director, Éric Boullier, had been clear about their car’s problems in lacking grip in low-speed corners that was making them struggle in Canada and afterwards Alonso could not wait to walk away from it. He wanted to talk about Le Mans, where he will race next weekend. He will be in the class of the field Toyota at La Sarthe, a world away from the recalcitrant McLaren. The Spaniard...