On the eve of their home grand prix, the Austrian team believe a new engine could provide an incentive for their senior driver to remain with themThe Red Bull team owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, must have felt somewhat aggrieved that the timing when he finally secured a race in Austria – under whose flag his team race – proved to be, well, just out. With four drivers’ and constructors’ championships between 2010 and 2013, when Mateschitz brought Formula One back to what had inevitably been rechristened the Red Bull Ring in 2014, a glorious homecoming might have been expected.What transpired fell far short and his team have almost been in transition ever since. As they return to Spielberg a new chapter...
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...
Sport made to look stupid as Australian with two victories this season may be demoted to the back of the grid in MontrealThe unadulterated delight Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo displayed after winning in Monaco was entirely understandable. After finally claiming the Monte Carlo victory he so desperately wanted, riding a wave of ecstatic emotion was wholly deserved. This week at the Canadian Grand Prix, however, the Australian will be brought back to earth with a painful reminder of the realities of Formula One. He will doubtless still be grinning but likely through gritted teeth in Montreal.Ricciardo’s joy in Monaco came in the redemption he had sought after a pit‑stop error by the team cost him a win in 2016. He...
The Monte Carlo race, besides producing dull racing, posed the question: ‘When is a grid girl not a grid girl?’ The answer: ‘When she’s a female sponsorship representative’Before the weekend a representative from Formula One management had been insistent that the race would not host the return of grid girls. In January when they were dropped the commercial director, Sean Bratches, said grid girls were “at odds with modern day societal norms” and “not appropriate or relevant to F1”. Monaco’s “female sponsorship representatives” would not be standing in front of grid slots nor holding boards identifying drivers, therefore they were not, F1 avowed, grid girls. Which on Sunday transpired to be arrant nonsense. Monaco most definitely had grid girls. Standing...
Red Bull driver looks to make amends for team’s blunder two years ago and may succeed after being fastest on the first day of practicePerhaps the most personable driver in the Formula One paddock, even in adversity, Daniel Ricciardo usually has the ability to ease the pain of setbacks with an endearing, self-deprecating humour. Little wonder then that the Red Bull driver’s thunderous disappointment and anger at the pit-stop error that cost him a win at Monaco in 2016 was so arresting and of such import that two years on, back in Monte Carlo, he is still seeking redemption. This weekend he may just find it.In 2016, Mercedes had been dominant in the turbo-hybrid era for three years and Red...