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...
McLaren’s No1 driver seemed to enjoy a few day away from his F1 purgatory at the world-famous oval in readiness for Memorial Day weekendFernando Alonso smiled as he got out of the cockpit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday. That was good to see. A hundred laps of the two-and-a-half-mile high-speed oval had given him all the evidence he needed that driving a racing car could still be a fun thing to do.A couple of weeks ago, fed up with waiting for McLaren-Honda to give him a competitive Formula One car, Alonso announced that he intended to skip the Monaco Grand Prix – a race of supreme commercial importance to all F1 teams and their sponsors – on 28...
McLaren reap the rewards of clever PR but Fernando Alonso punctures the team’s bonhomie; Bernie back in the spotlight; Ferrari have race paceMcLaren’s decision to allow Fernando Alonso to race in the Indy 500 rather than at Monaco was greeted almost universally as a welcome move. Certainly it generated more positive press than the team have enjoyed in a long time. It was clever PR and they followed it by bringing back Jenson Button to replace Alonso in Monte Carlo. Related: Mercedes consider team orders to stop F1 threat of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel I have never raced with less power in my life Continue reading...
The former F1 world champion has ambitions to complete motorsport’s triple crown but the decision is also revealing about his relationship with the teamSo Fernando Alonso is to miss the Monaco Grand Prix to compete in this year’s Indy 500. After McLaren’s shock at the start of this season, when discovering their Honda power unit was woefully underperforming for the third year in succession, the team have turned the tables with a surprise of their own that has rather knocked those travails into a cocked hat. Perhaps that was partly the point but it also informs as to where the team are now, about Alonso, his future and relationship with McLaren. Equally, whatever the motives, it is a decision for...
Max Verstappen shows he can sing in the rain; long live overtaking – it’s now better than ever; Niki Lauda should know better than bet against Mercedes Related: Lewis Hamilton out to make it a friendly F1 title battle with Sebastian Vettel Related: Lewis Hamilton leads from start to finish to win Chinese F1 GP Continue reading...