Latest news with #FormulaOneF1
The Star
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Motor racing-Mercedes upbeat after binning suspension upgrade
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 3, 2025 Mercedes' George Russell in action during the race REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) -Former champions Mercedes hope to be challenging for wins again when they return from Formula One's August break after binning a rear suspension upgrade that made the car slower. The upgrade was introduced at Imola in May after George Russell had finished in the top three in four of the first six races. The Briton finished only seventh in that Italian race and Mercedes dropped the upgrade for the next two rounds before bringing it back for Canada, a race Russell won. That proved misleading, and Russell struggled in the following four races until Mercedes reverted to the old package for Hungary last weekend and he finished third. Rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli was also back in the points at the Hungaroring, finishing 10th after three races without scoring. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the upgrade would "be ending up in a bin somewhere. "We were misled a bit by the Montreal win... we came to the conclusion it needed to come off, it went off and the car's back to solid form," said the Austrian. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said in a Hungarian GP debrief on Wednesday that the car was now easier to work with and the drivers more confident in attacking the corners. "If we make a new suspension, we're doing it to make the car go quicker... and clearly there's something that wasn't right," he added. "And it's not something that was dead obvious. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had the issue in the first place." Shovlin said the learning would help Russell in his battle with Red Bull's Max Verstappen for third place overall behind the McLaren drivers, and Mercedes chasing second in the constructors'. "Budapest showed that we've got a good car when we land it in the right place," said Shovlin. "And then hopefully there'll be an opportunity to build on our tally of race wins. "We had a great time in Montreal. There's other circuits that are a bit more like that coming up over the remaining 10 races and hopefully we'll have a few more highlights." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
The Star
4 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Motor racing-Colapinto reported OK after crashing in F1 tyre test
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 1, 2025 Alpine's Franco Colapinto in action during practice REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/ File Photo (Reuters) -Argentine racer Franco Colapinto crashed in Formula One tyre testing at the Hungarian Grand Prix circuit on Wednesday and was reported unhurt after being taken to the medical centre, his Alpine team said. Renault-owned Alpine, Ferrari, McLaren and Racing Bulls are taking part in the two-day Pirelli test at the Hungaroring that followed on from last weekend's grand prix, the last before the sport's August break. Alpine said in a statement that Colapinto, who took over from reserve driver Paul Aron for the final day, had "an incident" at turn 11, a right-handed curve that can be taken at 220kph. "Franco was assessed on site at the medical centre and is OK," they added. The team gave no details about how the crash happened or damage to the car. Colapinto, 22, replaced Australian Jack Doohan at Alpine after the first six races but has yet to finish higher than 13th for the team in seven starts. He did not start in Britain, after crashing in qualifying and then suffering a gearbox issue, and there has been speculation he could also be replaced before the end of the season. Teammate Pierre Gasly has scored all of last-placed Alpine's 20 points, with three scoring finishes in his last six races. Colapinto told reporters last week that he was lacking confidence in the car and struggling to turn into the corners in the way he would like. "I didn't have this issue last year (in nine races for Williams), I could go straight in and be quick straight away. Now I'm struggling a bit more with that," he said. "Generally the car is a bit tricky on entries and that's what we are working on, on my side." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge)
The Star
5 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Motor racing-McLaren must also deal with disappointment amid runaway success
Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 3, 2025 McLaren's Lando Norris celebrates on the podium after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix with second placed McLaren's Oscar Piastri REUTERS/Marton Monus LONDON (Reuters) -McLaren boss Zak Brown is preparing to deal with disappointment at the end of the Formula One season, even as the team enjoy one of their most dominant years and a 200th grand prix win at the weekend. As the title battle between Oscar Piastri and teammate Lando Norris heats up, the McLaren pair separated by just nine points after Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, the American conceded he was thinking also about how to handle the aftermath. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen, the McLaren drivers' closest rival, is now 97 points off the pace and told reporters at the weekend that he may not win again this year given his car's issues. Even before the weekend, both Piastri and Norris cast caution aside and called it a two-horse race. One of them will surely end the year celebrating a dream come true. The other will rue what might have been, with a new engine era next season shaking everything up again and chances potentially disappearing. Losing always hurts, doubly so when it is to a teammate with the same car, and Brown said McLaren would have to deal with the situation sensitively when -- although he still insisted on saying if -- the time came. "Eventually... we'll just sit down and actually have a conversation and go 'right, one of you is going to win and it's going to be the best day of your life. One of you is going to lose. How do you want us to handle that?'," he told a select group of reporters. "We'll actually sit down and go 'Right, you want us to jump up and down and celebrate? This guy won'. So we're fully aware and sensitive to 'how do you celebrate that situation?'." Australian Piastri has won six races to Norris's five but the Briton has momentum going into the August break, with three wins from his last four starts. The pair have had seven one-two finishes from 14 races, including the last four, and have left rivals trailing. McLaren are so far ahead in the constructors' standings -- 299 points over Ferrari -- that the crown is a given. Much has been made of the potential for a falling out between friends, for clashes on track given what is at stake, but Brown was sanguine and said the relationship was only growing stronger. When Norris ran into the back of Piastri as he challenged for the lead in Canada in June, the Briton defused the situation by immediately taking responsibility. Piastri locked up behind Norris in Hungary on Sunday, in what could have been a repeat of that Montreal accident, but no contact was made. Brown said there was no 'elephant in the room' at McLaren, with the drivers having complete transparency on strategy and how the team go about racing, and he expected more close calls in future. "There's competitiveness brewing... as the championship builds, I'm sure that tension will grow," said the boss. "We're fully anticipating them 'swapping paint' again at some point, I'm very confident it won't be deliberate, which is where you then get into the problems. "They will have racing incidents in their further time here at McLaren, we know that and they know that, so we're not afraid of that. "I'm positive they're never going to run each other off the track, and that's where you get into bad blood. So they're free to race... there are rules around our racing, which is respect your teammate, they know that." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Straits Times
McLaren must also deal with disappointment amid runaway success
Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 3, 2025 McLaren's Lando Norris celebrates on the podium after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix with second placed McLaren's Oscar Piastri REUTERS/Marton Monus LONDON - McLaren boss Zak Brown is preparing to deal with disappointment at the end of the Formula One season, even as the team enjoy one of their most dominant years and a 200th grand prix win at the weekend. As the title battle between Oscar Piastri and teammate Lando Norris heats up, the McLaren pair separated by just nine points after Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, the American conceded he was thinking also about how to handle the aftermath. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen, the McLaren drivers' closest rival, is now 97 points off the pace and told reporters at the weekend that he may not win again this year given his car's issues. Even before the weekend, both Piastri and Norris cast caution aside and called it a two-horse race. One of them will surely end the year celebrating a dream come true. The other will rue what might have been, with a new engine era next season shaking everything up again and chances potentially disappearing. Losing always hurts, doubly so when it is to a teammate with the same car, and Brown said McLaren would have to deal with the situation sensitively when -- although he still insisted on saying if -- the time came. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Singapore launches review of economic strategy to stay ahead of global shifts Singapore A look at the five committees reviewing Singapore's economic strategy World Trump says he will 'substantially' raise tariffs on India over Russian oil purchases Singapore Strong S'pore-Australia ties underpinned by bonds that are continually renewed: President Tharman Singapore All recruits at BMTC will be trained to fly drones and counter them: Chan Chun Sing Sport Singaporean swimmer Gan Ching Hwee at 'crossroads' after World Aquatics C'ships display Singapore Ong Beng Seng to be sentenced on Aug 15, prosecution does not object to fine due to his poor health Singapore Pritam Singh had hoped WP would 'tip one or two more constituencies' at GE2025 "Eventually... we'll just sit down and actually have a conversation and go 'right, one of you is going to win and it's going to be the best day of your life. One of you is going to lose. How do you want us to handle that?'," he told a select group of reporters. "We'll actually sit down and go 'Right, you want us to jump up and down and celebrate? This guy won'. So we're fully aware and sensitive to 'how do you celebrate that situation?'." Australian Piastri has won six races to Norris's five but the Briton has momentum going into the August break, with three wins from his last four starts. The pair have had seven one-two finishes from 14 races, including the last four, and have left rivals trailing. McLaren are so far ahead in the constructors' standings -- 299 points over Ferrari -- that the crown is a given. Much has been made of the potential for a falling out between friends, for clashes on track given what is at stake, but Brown was sanguine and said the relationship was only growing stronger. When Norris ran into the back of Piastri as he challenged for the lead in Canada in June, the Briton defused the situation by immediately taking responsibility. Piastri locked up behind Norris in Hungary on Sunday, in what could have been a repeat of that Montreal accident, but no contact was made. Brown said there was no 'elephant in the room' at McLaren, with the drivers having complete transparency on strategy and how the team go about racing, and he expected more close calls in future. "There's competitiveness brewing... as the championship builds, I'm sure that tension will grow," said the boss. "We're fully anticipating them 'swapping paint' again at some point, I'm very confident it won't be deliberate, which is where you then get into the problems. "They will have racing incidents in their further time here at McLaren, we know that and they know that, so we're not afraid of that. "I'm positive they're never going to run each other off the track, and that's where you get into bad blood. So they're free to race... there are rules around our racing, which is respect your teammate, they know that." REUTERS
The Star
6 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Motor racing-Brown hails McLaren's 200th win as close to perfect
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - McLaren event in London - Trafalgar Square, London, Britain - July 2, 2025 McLaren chief executive Zak Brown during an interview with Reuters at the McLaren event in Trafalgar Square Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo BUDAPEST (Reuters) -McLaren boss Zak Brown hailed the team's 200th Formula One win, with Lando Norris ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri in a one-two finish in Hungary on Sunday, as close to perfect. The win was Norris's fifth of the season and McLaren's seventh one-two in 14 races as well as the team's fourth in a row. "You're never perfect in a race but I think that was as close to perfect as you can get," Brown told Sky Sports television. "The drivers were awesome, pit stops amazing, strategy was great to get Lando up there, Oscar drove brilliantly. I couldn't be prouder of this racing team." Norris and Piastri crossed the finish line 0.698 of a second apart, with the pair almost touching when the Australian tried to make a move on his British teammate on the penultimate lap and locked up. Team principal Andrea Stella said it had been 'firm' racing but also fair between rivals now separated by just nine points. "We had a bit of a lock-up with Oscar but at the same time Lando left some space because he knew that Oscar would have been at the limit of braking," said the Italian. "We keep being very proud of our Lando and Oscar for racing. I think this is a great way of honouring Formula One racing. These are the value of McLaren." Despite celebrating his ninth career win, Norris said he needed to improve because he was making life too hard for himself. He won from third on the grid, after dropping to fifth at the start and then making a one-stop strategy work with Piastri on two. "It's going to be a good and tough battle probably until the end. It takes a lot out of you trying to focus so much for every single session, race, everything. So, it's going be a long second half of the season, I'm sure," he said. "There are those things I need to improve on and want to improve on. I'm not giving myself the best opportunities. Even though the results have looked great, I'm not making my life very easy for myself at the minute. "So if I can work on those things, then I'll be in a better place." McLaren are only the second team to chalk up 200 grand prix wins since the world championship started in 1950. Ferrari, yet to win this season, are on 248. Mercedes, next after McLaren, have 130. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
