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Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
Ryan Reynolds' F1 team to emulate Wrexham success with 2026 race win promise
Alpine F1 team boss Flavio Briatore expects a title challenge within two years, helped by the team's "glamorous image" including co-owners, Ryan Reynolds, Patrick Mahomes and Rory McIlroy Despite being co-owned by a swathe of A-list stars and sporting greats, the Alpine F1 team has recently been more accustomed to chaos than to success. But Flavio Briatore is back in full command and has promised that will soon change. The controversial Italian was brought back in as a special adviser to team owners Renault last year and, this month, assumed full command after team principal Oliver Oakes resigned. And he has promised that Alpine will be competing for race wins next year and challenging for the title in 2027. "In 2026, we can win races, I guarantee it, and in 2027, we want to be title contenders," he told French outlet Le Monde. "In 2026, there will be no excuses: we must be competitive. We owe it to Renault, to Alpine... we're in this sport to win, and with the new regulations coming in 2026, the teams that interpret them best will have the edge." That would be a remarkable turnaround for a team which sits ninth out of 10 constructors' so far this year, heading into the Spanish Grand Prix. And also one which has seen much upheaval in recent years with a swathe of high-profile departures. Sign up to our free weekly F1 newsletter, Pit Lane Chronicle, by entering your email address below so that every new edition lands straight in your inbox! Former Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi was axed in July 2023, shortly before team principal Otmar Szafnauer was sacked in the middle of that season's Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Sporting director Alan Permane also left while technical chief Pat Fry quit to join midfield rivals Williams. That was only 18 months after previous team principal Marcin Budkowski had left the role, around the same time as legendary former F1 driver Alain Prost quit as a director. Szafnauer's replacement, Bruno Famin, lasted barely a year in the job before he was moved into another role with Oakes coming in. Several high-profile drivers have also left, including Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri and, last year, Esteban Ocon. But there have also been plenty of famous faces joining the outfit as investors over the last 18 months with around a quarter of the team now owned by Otro Capital, which has some very notable people on board. That includes Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who'd love to emulate the success they've had since taking over Welsh football club Wrexham. Another actor on board is Michael B. Jordan, while there are also a swathe of sporting stars involved, such as footballers Trent Alexander-Arnold and Juan Mata, former boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, recent Masters golf winner Rory McIlroy and Kansas City Chiefs pair Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Getting such names on board was an idea which pre-dated Briatore's return to Renault, but he has been making the most of it. He said: "In the past, I tried to develop F1. I understood that to find major sponsors, you didn't just have to be an engine manufacturer, but also have a glamorous image. "With Benetton and Renault, we found very important sponsors, and I remember that the engineers were reluctant to this idea. They told me, 'You shouldn't have too many sponsors, because the stickers you stick on the car are too heavy.' We were the first to have someone who dealt exclusively with marketing. Today, it's almost the opposite excess, as the marketing teams are so extensive."
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
Inside Sauber's Audi F1 transformation as new boss opens up in new interview
Jonathan Wheatley sat down with Mirror Sport at Imola to discuss his first six weeks in charge, how the transformation to Audi is going and gave the inside track on Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg This weekend's Imola race marks 600 appearances in Formula 1 for Sauber. And, yet, the team finds itself once again at the very beginning of its story. A rebirth will take place next year, as the Switzerland-based outfit slowly turns into the Audi works team. It marks the first time the world-famous German carmaker has entered in F1. And preparations have been ongoing for years now, since long before the public announcement at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix that Audi had decided to grab a slice of the pie. Plenty of things have already changed. Hinwil, near Zurich, will continue to be home to the outfit, but engines are being designed and built in Neuburg, Germany, while a satellite base is planned for the UK later this year to leave, of all the teams on the grid, only Ferrari without a presence in 'Motorsport Valley'. And then there's the top personnel. Jonathan Wheatley joined as team principal in April this year, after almost two decades as a key player in the success of Red Bull Racing, while a recent restructure saw former Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto named head of Audi's F1 project. "Very clearly, we're going to look like a very different team from the moment the garage doors open next year," Wheatley told Mirror Sport at Imola. If that includes from a performance perspective, then that will be very welcome. Last year was a chastening experience for the most part and saw Sauber score just four points, when Zhou Guanyu finished eighth in Qatar – the penultimate race of the 2024 season. They have already bettered that tally with the six points scored by Nico Hulkenberg on the opening day in Melbourne. But still Sauber sit bottom of the constructors' championship with 18 rounds still to go in what looks set to be another transition year before the Audi era officially begins. Despite that, Wheatley seems convinced that he won't have to work too hard to keep staff motivated. He said: "I ask myself, how do I keep motivated, how do I keep pushing forwards? If you look at this Audi F1 project, I mean, honestly, is there a better news story in sport full-stop at the moment? Is there a more exciting project to be a part of? Everyone should be excited, it's a great brand, this is a great team with a great history that we're celebrating this weekend. "It's an exciting time, honestly, so you just have to look at the future, you have to relentlessly look at continuous improvement, you have to relentlessly look to the positives and feel those incremental changes as they come along and just continuously improve. And then I think the focus is so far forwards, what's happening at the moment is just, you know, happening." One key decision already made is who the first Audi drivers in F1 will be. Nico Hulkenberg was signed early in 2024, having enjoyed a very successful return to the sport with Haas, and it was later confirmed that he would be joined by rookie Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, after they missed out on top target Carlos Sainz. "I'm completely comfortable with our driver selection," said Wheatley, who joined after both had already been signed. "They work brilliantly together, they look each other in the eye, they have a great relationship with each other. Gabi is like an open book, he's trying whatever he can to learn." Hulkenberg is not a bad driver to learn from at all. Sunday's Imola race will be his 234th start in F1 making him the third most experienced driver on the grid behind only Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Assuming he sees out his Audi contract, which runs for now until the end of 2026, he will break into the top 10 of drivers with the most race starts in history. 'I've known Nico for a long time... I've always liked him from the very beginning, actually, as a character, as a person, the way he's presented himself," said Wheatley. "That time he turned up in Covid and just jumped in a Formula 1 car. When he jumped in at Le Mans and won. He's an extraordinary talent – we don't need to talk about that. "But what he's doing here is being a mentor for Gabi in many ways. On one side you've got this tremendous experience, also this incredibly level-headed approach. And Gabi's learning from that. "I really think we've got an incredibly strong driver pairing in that respect. We've got all of the experience and proven speed of Nico, plus we've got this raw talent in Gabriel, who's learning from the right side and with a tremendous work ethic. The team is benefiting as a result." Bortoleto has yet to score a point since stepping up to F1, but the general consensus is that he is a promising young driver who has not yet been given a car in which he can show what he can do. "Hopefully we'll have a car soon where we can do him justice," Wheatley said, adding that the Brazilian driver is "not at all" being judged on the number of points he scores this year. "I think our car's capable of Q2 and I think hopefully we can prove that. I think with Gabriel, you're just going to see more and more and more come out of him in terms of performance. "But more than that, the way he can read a race, he has that capacity in the car to be able to read the race, look at the situations, look at the timing, look at the video screens. And that's a great sign, isn't it? All the great drivers are capable of doing that. It's either natural or not." It's not necessary to ask what the long-term aim for the Audi project is – the answer would be the same for every team up and down the grid. They are all licking their lips at the prospect of using the 2026 rule changes to fast-track their progress to the front of the grid, though the reality remains that someone still has to finish last. Everyone at Sauber is a bit fed up of doing that, and Audi have an excellent record when it comes to success in every form of motorsport they have ever entered. "Our goal is ambitious but clear. We're not here to mess around – we're here to win races and win world championships," said Wheatley. "We need to put ourselves on that path. We need to, as Audi have it every time they've entered any form of motorsport, do it slightly differently to everyone else, and we're looking at ways of doing it differently because we know we've got a very ambitious target, you know, and we need to deliver on it. "So we're trying to straighten the corners and find the shortest route there. But as I've said at the beginning, we're not underestimating the task and there's no arrogance or ego here. We know what we're up against and we're going to be pragmatic and we're going to make the steps we need to make to get there." "I am genuinely tremendously excited about what we can achieve. I've seen so many things that we can do differently already and it's a case of just getting on that journey and getting the team on the journey there. The difficult thing would be if the team wasn't ready to change or wasn't looking to change, but there is, there's a capacity to and there's an energy to."
Dubai Eye
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Dubai Eye
Former F1 racer and Le Mans winner Jochen Mass dies at 78
Former Formula One driver, Jochen Mass, who won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix has died at 78, as announced by his family on Instagram. The German's death was due to complications from a stroke suffered in February. Mass won for McLaren in a 1975 Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Montjuic circuit that was cut short with half points awarded after compatriot Rolf Stommelen's Lola left the track and killed four spectators. Mass was also involved in Canadian Gilles Villeneuve's fatal 1982 accident that occurred due to a collision while qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, when Villeneuve's Ferrari made contact with the rear of Mass's slower-moving car as the German moved aside to let him pass.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
F1 and Le Mans winner Mass dies aged 78
Jochen Mass, who won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix for McLaren, has died at the age of 78. The German passed away on Sunday because of complications following a stroke he suffered in February, his family announced. Mass, who competed in 114 Formula 1 grands prix and secured eight podium finishes, also won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Switzerland-based Sauber in 1989. "Today we mourn the loss of a husband, father, grandfather and a racing legend," his family said in a statement. "Beyond mourning his death, we also celebrate his incredible life. A life that he loved sharing with all of you. A life that he lived to the absolute fullest. "He is racing with all his friends again." Mass was the other driver in Gilles Villeneuve's fatal accident during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. Ferrari's Villeneuve came across Mass' March going slowly and a misunderstanding led to a collision. Mass was a mentor and driver coach on the Mercedes young driver programme during his final three years at Sauber, and helped Michael Schumacher before the future seven-time world champion entered F1. Mass finished his career with 32 world championship victories in sportscar racing with Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Sauber-Mercedes. From 1993 to 1997, Mass was a co-commentator on F1 for the German broadcaster RTL.
BBC News
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
F1 and Le Mans winner Mass dies aged 78
Jochen Mass, who won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix for McLaren, has died at the age of 78. The German passed away on Sunday because of complications following a stroke he suffered in February, his family announced. Mass, who competed in 114 Formula 1 grands prix and secured eight podium finishes, also won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Switzerland-based Sauber in 1989. "Today we mourn the loss of a husband, father, grandfather and a racing legend," his family said in a statement. "Beyond mourning his death, we also celebrate his incredible life. A life that he loved sharing with all of you. A life that he lived to the absolute fullest."He is racing with all his friends again."Mass was the other driver in Gilles Villeneuve's fatal accident during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. Ferrari's Villeneuve came across Mass' March going slowly and a misunderstanding led to a collision. Mass was a mentor and driver coach on the Mercedes young driver programme during his final three years at Sauber, and helped Michael Schumacher before the future seven-time world champion entered F1. Mass finished his career with 32 world championship victories in sportscar racing with Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Sauber-Mercedes. From 1993 to 1997, Mass was a co-commentator on F1 for the German broadcaster RTL.
