Latest news with #F1GrandPrixofSaudiArabia
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Senior Red Bull Engineer Still 'Shocked' After Christian Horner's Departure
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Red Bull Racing's chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, has played a key role within the team since its inception in 2005, and he was left shocked by the departure of former boss Christian Horner. Horner hired Monaghan as a key official within Red Bull, developing several race-winning cars. Red Bull won eight drivers' titles and six constructors' championships under Horner's leadership. Despite the achievement, after months full of controversy over the last couple of years, the successful team principal was removed from his post. Red Bull Racing CEO and Team Principal Christian Horner eats his lunch on the deck of the hospitality suite with Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Consultant Dr Helmut Marko and Oracle Red Bull Racing Team... Red Bull Racing CEO and Team Principal Christian Horner eats his lunch on the deck of the hospitality suite with Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Consultant Dr Helmut Marko and Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 20, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. More Photo byAfter a whirlwind series of events at the team, Monaghan addressed Horner's departure. "To tell the truth, it was a shock to me. Sad. Christian has put a large chunk of his working life into the team, and altogether as a team, we've enjoyed a huge amount of success, perhaps unwarranted to some views," Monaghan told the media at the Belgian Grand Prix. "But anyway. What is done is done. So thank you to Christian for everything he did, personally for me and for this team. "Laurent's got a difficult situation to be dropped in," he said. "I've known him for many years. Very personable. Smart chap. "So now it's up to us to pull together as a team, because nine other teams can't wait to fight us. So if we're going to stand up to them, we're going to have to stand as a team. "We are prepared to stand as a team. Laurent is doing his utmost to ensure that is what we are aiming to do. And yeah, we'll do so." Just last season, the chief engineer signed a contract extension which will see him stay at Milton Keynes, along with technical director Pierre Wache, head of aerodynamics Enrico Balbo, and head of performance engineering Ben Waterhouse. Monaghan is a part of the Red Bull technical team, which is under fire for the car's recent performances. More news: Max Verstappen Backed Christian Horner Days Before Red Bull Sacking The energy drink racing team dominated the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but midway through the 2024 season, McLaren made notable strides while the Red Bull car started to stagnate in terms of development. This season, Max Verstappen is firmly out of the running for a title challenge, and the team's other driver, Yuki Tsunoda, struggles to get the car consistently into Q3. Assuming Monaghan stays for the post-Horner era, he will need to help turn around an engineering setback if the team wants to return to glory. More news: Sebastian Vettel Provides Update On F1 Future Amid Red Bull Rumors For more F1 news, head on over to Newsweek Sports.
Newsweek
21-07-2025
- Automotive
- Newsweek
McLaren CEO Breaks Silence on Christian Horner Ousting: 'Lot of Drama'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown admitted that he wasn't "surprised" by Red Bull Racing's decision to part ways with Christian Horner, seemingly suggesting that his ousting was imminent. Brown highlighted that there was "a lot of drama" at Red Bull that kept getting "worse." Horner's Red Bull split arrived after he had served the team for twenty years, shocking the world of F1. However, Brown likely saw it coming, given the controversies that made headlines when the 2024 season had just begun. The former Red Bull team boss was accused of inappropriate behavior by a female colleague, which led to an internal investigation. However, he was cleared of any wrongdoing by Red Bull GmbH. Horner reportedly received flak from Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, for what had unfolded. This followed reports of an internal power struggle between Horner and senior advisor Helmut Marko. High-profile exits from Red Bull, such as Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, soon followed, leading to a management shuffle. McLaren CEO Zak Brown walks in the paddock during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 18, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. McLaren CEO Zak Brown walks in the paddock during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 18, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Bull's RB20 F1 car also began to suffer from balance problems, which, combined with McLaren's resurgence, led to Red Bull losing the top spot in the 2024 Constructors' Championship. While Red Bull didn't reveal the reason for Horner's immediate departure, Brown suggested that he saw it coming. In an interview with TSN, the McLaren boss was asked if he was surprised by Horner's exit. He said: "Maybe the timing, but not the result. There's been a lot of drama there the last couple of years and it doesn't seem like that drama has been calming down, maybe even been getting worse. So, I'm not surprised, anytime in the middle of the season." Brown revealed that he was more focused on the F1 season ahead, with both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris leading the Drivers' Standings in the same order. Verstappen is placed third in the championship, 69 points adrift of Piastri. Brown added: "But, we're head down on our Championship. They've got Max still knocking on the door, so we've got to pay attention to that. But, tremendous amount of success they had." With Horner linked to Ferrari and Alpine F1 teams, Brown predicts he could return to motorsports in the future. He said: "I think given his age and his history in motor racing, I'd be surprised if he didn't show up somewhere in motor racing. "But I don't know his other interests, whether he wants to go run a football team or what have you. We'll see." Asked if he was following news about Horner, Brown said: "Yeah. But couldn't be happier with Oscar and Lando. So, sure to be the interested spectator. I'm very happy with my driver line-up. So, I don't want to spend any time on other than what pops up on my phone."
Forbes
21-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
The 2025 Formula One Season After Five Races
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - APRIL 20: Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 battle for track position ahead of George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 and the rest of the field during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 20, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. That's what we used to say about my home state of Connecticut and the greater New England area. A similar sentiment applies to this year's Formula One season. If you don't like how it's going, just wait until the next race. F1 pundits have certainly had their hands full this season. After the first race in Australia, they were certain McLaren's Lando Norris had the World Drivers' Championship (WDC) locked up. Then Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton surprised everyone with a China Sprint pole and win. Look out, Ferrari was back and Hamilton could win his eighth championship! Then Oscar Piastri won the Chinese Grand Prix from pole. So the WDC would certainly come down to a fight between the two McLaren drivers. Then Red Bull's Max Verstappen won from pole at Suzuka, triggering headlines that the Dutch driver would win five in a row. After back-to-back wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Piastri now leads the championship by 10 points with 19 races to go. As one of my investors was known to say, he invests in lines not dots. Which is to say he invests in trends of positive results as opposed to any single data point. And that's the only way to accurately analyze the 2025 F1 season. With at least five data points to play with, let's review the season to date in the context of my initial predictions. TOPSHOT - McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri celebrates winning the 2025 Saudi Arabia Formula One Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on April 20, 2025. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images) This has been a theme of my coverage since Monza last year, and it was one of my key predictions for 2025. Last year, I stated that Piastri was a cold-blooded assassin behind the wheel and that Norris lacked the killer instinct to be World Champion—at a time when Norris had a commanding lead over Piastri. How correct was this analysis? Norris admitted exactly this in a recent interview, though he wrongly believes one doesn't need killer instinct to win the WDC—such is the nature of his privilege. While I've never hired a racing driver, I've hired for all key roles at venture-backed tech startups, and this is the key quality I look for. You don't need to hire killers for Fortune 500 companies; in fact, they don't fit in. But startups can only be successful if the founder(s) and leadership team are all killers (also known as A-players). As with F1 and winning the WDC, the margin for error in startups is too small to accept anything less. We know that Verstappen is a killer, and we saw two killers go head-to-head in Saudi Arabia. Verstappen got the best of Piastri in qualifying, but Piastri hit back with a brilliant start that led Verstappen to miss the corner entirely and incur a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Any objective analysis will conclude that Piastri's superior start put him ahead of Verstappen and in a position to take the corner. Where was Verstappen supposed to go? He's a big boy. He should have braked sooner in order to make the corner, which meant he had to slot in behind Piastri. That's what's dictated by both the rules and physics. But Verstappen doesn't think the rules apply to him, and Piastri was under no obligation to give Verstappen room. The corner was his. It's quite possible Verstappen has finally met his match with Piastri, and he does not like it. Despite Piastri's and McLaren's formidable challenge, I still believe Verstappen will prevail. His brilliance at Suzuka and Saudi Arabia are two dots in the line of this trend. Granted, these are two high-speed tracks that put the Red Bull on par with the McLarens. Whereas the McLarens will be fast pretty much everywhere. However, this advantage will be offset by the infighting at McLaren, which will see Norris and Piastri taking points off of one another under 'papaya rules' while Verstappen gets the full support of Red Bull and his new teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, who is showing some promise compared to Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez. Plus, Red Bull will continue to develop the car. So while a win for Verstappen at Saudi Arabia would support this prediction, I call 'em like I see 'em. The penalty was deserved and even somewhat forgiving. We couldn't get a read on this after Australia, and then it looked as though I might have missed this one in China. But after five races, it's clear that Hamilton is not keeping pace with Charles Leclerc. One could argue that he's still getting up to speed with a new team and car. However, the delta to Leclerc is similar to what he had with George Russell at Mercedes, and I think Russell and Leclerc match up quite well. Hamilton's gap to Leclerc hasn't come to the point that it's glaringly uncomfortable for the team or his fans, but we'll certainly get there before the summer break if things don't improve before then. Leclerc's podium in Saudi Arabia deserved Driver of the Day, and Hamilton actually deserves some credit for holding Norris up in their back-and-forth DRS games. The Williams team currently sits fifth in the World Constructors' Championship (WCC), which is two ahead of where I predicted they'd finish. While Carlos Sainz took five races to get up to speed, the team has been scoring consistent points with both drivers in the top 10 at Saudi Arabia. This is despite the fact that the Alpine appears to be the faster car. Which brings me to Alpine. Gasly is at the top of his game, extracting 100-percent of the potential from the car. Doohan is struggling. There are plenty of races left to catch Williams and claim fifth, but a decision needs to be made before Miami.
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025: Race, Qualifying, Practice Start Times And How To Watch Live
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 09: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL38 ... More on track leads the group during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on March 09, 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by) Formula 1 wraps up its first triple-header of the 2025 season this weekend at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, running from April 18-20. After four rounds into the 24-race season, McLaren is dominating both championships, sitting pretty at the top of the constructors' standings with 151 points – 58 points ahead of Mercedes and 80 points clear of Red Bull. On the drivers' front, Lando Norris has stretched his lead to 77 points after finishing third last time out in Bahrain. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, has jumped Max Verstappen for second place after pocketing his second win of the season last weekend, now sitting at 74 points – just five points ahead of the Dutchman. While McLaren is clearly the team to beat right now, Mercedes is demonstrating considerable strength after netting three podium finishes in the first four races through George Russell and could very well challenge the Woking squad in the upcoming rounds. Round five of the season at Jeddah Corniche Circuit kicks off with FP1 on Friday, April 18 at 4:30 p.m. local time, followed by FP2 later in the day at 8 p.m. On Saturday, April 19, drivers will climb into their cars for the final practice run (FP3) at 4:30 p.m. before they fight for grid positions in qualifying at 8 p.m. The 50-lap race will get underway at 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 20. All below start times are on Friday unless stated otherwise. All below start times are on Friday unless stated otherwise. All below start times are on Saturday unless stated otherwise. All below start times are on Saturday unless stated otherwise. All below start times are on Sunday unless stated otherwise. Fans in the United Kingdom can enjoy extensive coverage of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sky Sports, while viewers in the United States can watch the live action on ESPN and ESPN+. In select regions, F1 TV Pro subscribers can tune in for live coverage on any device, along with the opportunity to catch up on full session replays and highlights afterward. Below is the broadcast information for some key territories: Highlights from each day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend will be available on F1's YouTube channel.
