Latest news with #LewisHamilton
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Axed F1 boss Christian Horner linked with bombshell move
Christian Horner is jobless for the first time since 2004 after his brutal Red Bull sacking last week. The 51-year-old is now on gardening leave for the rest of the year and will be weighing up his options from January 2026. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. Rumours have been swirling around over the Brit's potential destinations - including a shock move to Ferrari, The Sun reports. Reports in Italian and German media begun claiming in May that Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur's position is under threat. Vasseur hit out at the reports and said they were 'disrespectful' and 'very harsh'. But German outlet BILD has added fuel to the fire, claiming that Ferrari had made 'informal' contact with Horner. Horner dismissed the report - but speculation will continue to grow as the weeks go by with him sitting on the sidelines. Come the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, Horner will be missing from the F1 paddock for the first time in nearly 21 years. And Horner, who won six constructors' championships and eight drivers' titles with Red Bull, will no doubt be getting itchy feet soon. If Horner did pen an unlikely move at Ferrari it would see him form a wild pairing with his old rival, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has a Ferrari contract until at least the end of 2026 and is already a huge voice within the Italian team. It is likely he would not be impressed if Horner replaced Vasseur, given he is a big fan of the Frenchman and has thrown his support behind him in public. When Vasseur's future was under speculation, Hamilton said: 'I love working with Fred – Fred's the main reason I'm in this team and got the opportunity to be here, for which I'm forever grateful for, and we're in this together. 'We're working hard in the background, things aren't perfect but, for me, I'm here to work with the team but also with Fred. 'I want Fred here. I do believe Fred is the person to take us to the top, so that's that. So it's all nonsense.' Hamilton took a strong take on Horner's alleged 'inappropriate behaviour' with a female colleague last year. The ex-Red Bull boss was twice cleared from it by an independent investigation but Hamilton said it was 'hanging over the sport' and said the outcome was 'important for the future of F1'. He also hit out at Horner in 2023 for 'stirring' when he claimed Hamilton tried to join his team after leaving Mercedes. At the time Horner said that a member of Hamilton's team had been in touch over a possible switch to Red Bull earlier in the year. Hamilton rebuffed it and said Horner had actually been the one to text him and try set up a meeting. Obviously there was bad blood going back between the two during Hamilton and Max Verstappen's fierce and controversial title fight in 2021 which reached its crescendo in the contentious season finale in Abu Dhabi. Recently, with Horner still at Red bull, Hamilton admitted he regretted referring to Red Bull as a 'drinks company' in 2011. His comments suggested that he is previous beef with Horner was water under the bridge. At Silverstone he said: 'Many, many years ago, I remember saying something about Red Bull being only a drinks company. 'I always regretted it because I was just saying that Mercedes at the time were great. 'I was really just trying to gee up my team. But the truth is, Red Bull have been an incredible team. There are so many people there that are exceptional and they've dominated for years.' Horner makes his feelings on Hamilton known It feels like Horner would have no qualms working with the British 40-year-old, who he has praised in public this season. Speaking earlier in the year, Horner said of Hamilton's Ferrari move: 'I've seen some pictures, I think it [Ferrari red] suits him. 'It's great for Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari – that really is box office. 'I think it's just another dynamic for this year that could be super exciting.' Back in 2023, Horner was asked whether he would sign Hamilton for Red Bull. He replied: 'What Lewis has achieved in F1 is second to none, but we're very happy with the drivers that we have – they're committed as a pair for not only this season but the next season as well. 'I can't see where we would be able to accommodate Lewis, but I'm sure they're (Mercedes) going to sort their issues out and we're certainly not writing him off yet.'
Newsweek
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Ferrari Insider Pushing for Lewis Hamilton's Influence on Car Development
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. Sky Sports F1 presenter Simon Lazenby has stated that Ferrari's senior performance engineer, Jock Clear, who also worked with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, must be urging Ferrari to take Lewis Hamilton's feedback seriously for a performance turnaround. Hamilton's journey at Ferrari since his debut this season has been full of ups and downs. The seven-time world champion has been struggling to adapt to the SF-25 F1 car, which is a few tenths off the dominant McLaren MCL39. Ferrari needs to act fast if it has to make up points in the championship. Recent races suggest an improvement, but the tweaks on the car haven't been significant enough to secure a race win. Ferrari's only victory thus far was in the sprint race in China, and the team has yet to win a Grand Prix. Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren drivers have secured race wins this season so far, but Ferrari has yet to catch up with performance. Charles Leclerc, who reportedly contributed to the SF-25's development, registered a best finish of P2 at Monaco, an iconic Grand Prix venue where he secured a win last year. Unfortunately for Hamilton, he is yet to secure a podium finish. Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Ferrari speaks in the media pen during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 29, 2025 in Spielberg, Austria. Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Ferrari speaks in the media pen during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 29, 2025 in Spielberg, suggest Ferrari is testing a new rear suspension design with both drivers at Mugello today during the filming day session. The upgraded component is expected to help Ferrari resolve the ride height problems that reportedly caused a double disqualification in Shanghai. There has been much talk about the positive effects of the new suspension, and simulation results have also been promising. However, the effectiveness of the new suspension can only be assessed during the test. Hamilton's feedback during his 12 years at Mercedes played a crucial role in uplifting the team to its championship-winning form. However, reports suggest Ferrari hasn't been making full use of Hamilton's knowledge, prompting Lazenby to reveal how eager Clear must be in pushing Ferrari to listen to Hamilton. Speaking on the F1 Show Podcast, he said: "Lewis, who since 2008 has won seven world championships while Ferrari in the meantime brought home zero, means accepting and therefore marrying his vision of work in the car. So you know there's a growing body of people saying listen to Lewis. I spoke to Jock Clear, [who] has worked with Lewis with both [teams]. "He's worked with him at Mercedes and he's worked with him at Ferrari on the performance side and getting the best out of things. "If there's anyone definitely shouting from the rooftops [saying], 'Listen to what Lewis has to say', it's him, because apparently his [Hamilton's] feedback is second to none. "There's a reason he's won seven World Championships. His feedback is amazing." Adding to Lazenby's point, 1996 champion Damon Hill said: "I do think that they've got a chance of doing something with Lewis when I don't think they would have a chance of developing with Charles, because Charles has never been anywhere else. "That's the problem. Going from one team to another, it takes a few years."
New York Times
a day ago
- Automotive
- New York Times
F1 at 75: The eight visionaries who shaped every decade of the sport
This article is part of our 75 Years of Speed series, an inside look at the backstories of the clubs, drivers, and people fueling Formula One. Formula One is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its world championship. From the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the series has transformed through technological eras into today's popular, sprawling business. Advertisement As motorsport is a discipline that tests humans alongside machines, many characters have come to enjoy fame and fortune through F1 success. Here, we select eight important figures from across the eight decades of the world championship to this point in 2025, arranged typically from when their influence in the sport began. Some came to prominence immediately. Others bestride multiple eras. All have lingering legacies. These are the F1 characters who really stand out from 75 years of sport and counting. 'Everybody's a Ferrari fan,' Sebastian Vettel said in 2016. 'Even if they say they're not, they are a Ferrari fan.' 'There's just no team and no brand like Ferrari,' Lewis Hamilton said this year. 'I don't think there's any other brand in the world that encapsulates this passion.' Both drivers were unable to resist the move to Maranello after a series of title-winning seasons at Red Bull and Mercedes, such is the allure of driving for the team that still bears Enzo Ferrari's name. As the only team to have competed in every single F1 world championship, the Prancing Horse squad has long enjoyed a special status. Ferrari himself raced for Alfa Romeo in the 1920s and went on to found Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 under the Alfa banner. It eventually started producing its own race cars in 1947, just in time for the first F1 world championship in 1950, as racing became more formalized after the Second World War. Ferrari's team holds the record for the most constructors' titles (16) and drivers' titles (15), with over half of these trophies coming before he died in 1988. Enzo controlled the manufacturer tightly, but did have to forge an alliance with Fiat in 1969. The two companies separated again in 2016. The success is undeniable, though it is difficult to quantify the full extent of Enzo's influence, as it also lies in the less tangible — emotion, fanhood and aura. But from the ground up, Ferrari built a team that would eventually carry the most revered name in motor racing and command an army of loyal 'tifosi' (fans), with the rest of the Italian nation looking on too. Advertisement One just has to look at the sea of red in a grandstand at any modern race to see how his impact endures to this day. Or take a look at the list of drivers who have raced for the outfit to understand how it attracts the best of the best. There's just something unique about Ferrari. As it quotes its own founder saying: 'Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red.' Here's another well-known Ferrari quip, in response to a question about a windscreen at the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans: 'Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines.' This one hasn't aged quite as well. F1 changed forever once it became accepted that the structure of a car was just as important to its speed as how fast an engine made it go. Chapman understood this better than anybody at the time and founded Lotus Engineering in 1952. The small British manufacturer made its F1 debut six years later. In 1962, Chapman changed the game with the introduction of the Lotus 25, the first F1 car to have a fully stressed monocoque structure (a design where the outer shell bears all the weight and forces, eliminating the need for an internal frame). The car was significantly lighter than its competitors. It took Jim Clark to his first world title in 1963, while the Scotsman won again two years later in the Lotus 33. 'Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere,' is an often-quoted Chapman line, including by the modern Lotus company. The monocoque — also referred to as the 'survival cell' — remains an integral part of F1 cars. It was far from Chapman and Lotus' only innovation. The team helped popularise the use of integrated wings and inboard brakes, while the 1970's wedge-shaped Lotus 72 was the first car to feature radiators mounted in the sidepods. It was this car that really made Chapman the godfather of F1 aerodynamics, even establishing the template of today's cars. Advertisement The Lotus 78, its spiritual successor, debuted in 1977 and swept in F1's ground-effect revolution, producing huge amounts of downforce from innovations, including Venturi tunnels and side skirts. This design was so influential that teams pushed subsequent development to the limits of its safety to extract every bit of performance. This resulted in ground effect designs being banned for the 1983 season. Modern F1 car designs owe plenty to the series' first engineering wizard, who pushed mechanical boundaries when it was all about straight-line speed. At the same time, there is considerable debate in the motorsport sphere about whether Chapman's boundary-pushing designs contributed to the deaths of several Team Lotus drivers. Aside from being the reason that many fans are familiar with the term 'Supremo', Ecclestone is arguably the person most responsible for turning F1 into what it is today. He suggested in 2019 that he had no legacy in F1, a sentiment that even his most ardent critics would struggle to echo. Ecclestone was not some far-removed executive who swanned in and abducted F1 by throwing cash about. He had been moulded by motorsport, initially as a driver and bike racer before fully entering F1 in 1971 when he purchased the Brabham team that subsequently took Nelson Piquet to two drivers' titles. He helped form the Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) in 1974 and became its president four years later. Unimpressed with what he saw as a disjointed sport with clumsy negotiating processes, Ecclestone wielded the united interests of F1's teams as a tool to reinvent things and simultaneously climb the ranks. He took on FISA, then the motorsport subsidiary of the overarching FIA, in a battle that had Ecclestone and FOCA take over F1's broadcast rights within the sport's first binding Concorde Agreement. Under Ecclestone, F1 professionalized rapidly. Today, it's known as the pinnacle of motorsport and a global spectacle. Ecclestone knew that television was the key to making F1 mainstream — and bringing in money — and began agreeing annual deals with broadcasters, rather than negotiating on a race-by-race basis. Advertisement Sponsorship skyrocketed, drivers' salaries ballooned and Ecclestone eventually took full control of F1's commercial rights in 1995 through what came to be known as the Formula One Group, which he owned. This organization still controls F1 today, as Formula One Management. Ecclestone was a polarizing figure throughout his career, unafraid of making enemies or producing controversial remarks. He held a vice-like grip on F1 until Liberty Media's acquisition of the sport's commercial rights was finalized in 2017, an $8 billion deal that would have been unthinkable when the Supremo — a term that reflected Ecclestone's status and level of control within the paddock and global motorsport — arrived on the scene. The family ties of the son of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, meant that a successful career in politics was never realistic for Max Mosley — not that it stopped him from trying. He had qualified as a barrister in 1964, but ventured into motorsport later in the decade. 'I thought to myself, 'I've found a world where they don't know about Oswald Mosley',' he later remarked. Mosley raced cars in Formula Two — his first race was the 1968 Deutschland Trophäe, which took Jim Clark's life in a crash — and later formed the March Engineering F1 team before stepping into motorsport politics. After a brief stint working for the United Kingdom's Conservative Party, Mosley began leaving his mark on F1 in the 1980s while forging a menacing partnership with Ecclestone at FOCA as March's representative. Alongside Ecclestone, he was another driving force behind the first Concorde Agreement in 1981. He unseated incumbent Jean-Marie Balestre as president of FISA in 1991, before taking the FIA presidency in 1993. This gave him the additional remit of road car safety. Advertisement Mosley was unafraid of making bold decisions or navigating complex negotiations in the top job. He steered F1 through public outcry after the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in 1994 and made sweeping safety reforms, mandating the use of the head and neck support system (HANS device) and helping establish and promote crash testing. He facilitated the deal that led to Ecclestone acquiring F1's commercial rights in 1995, despite fierce opposition from the teams. Mosley also waged what were seen as personal wars against figures such as former McLaren boss Ron Dennis, dropping an unprecedented $100 million fine on Dennis' team in 2007 after the 'spygate' scandal. Mosley was an expert in weathering the storm and initially proved as unflappable as ever when he was rocked by a sex scandal in 2008, even surviving a confidence vote. But he eventually stepped down as FIA president in 2009 after four terms and 16 years that had established him as the ruthless, pragmatic face of motorsport governance. Schumacher is truly synonymous with F1. He was voted the sport's most influential person ever in a vote on F1's official website in 2020. A serial record-setter and seven-time drivers' world champion, Schumacher's influence as a sporting role model goes without saying. He has been an idol to many F1 drivers past and present. What he did for the on-track spectacle, though, might be the most interesting part of his legacy. Schumacher didn't invent aggressive racing, but he helped make it the norm in the 1990s and then early 2000s – personifying the 'elbows-out' style and ripping up unofficial 'gentlemen's agreements' between drivers. This infuriated rivals, including former champion Jacques Villeneuve, who believed the German ventured into disrespectful territory during their 1997 title battle. Martin Brundle said in 2003 that his former teammate's 'ruthless' driving sometimes 'went too far.' Advertisement An example of this was the Adelaide 1994 finale collision with title rival Damon Hill, the crash with Villeneuve in the 1997 finale at Jerez, or his infamous squeeze of former team-mate Rubens Barrichello in Hungary 13 years later. But Schumacher, a born winner who would jump at even a sliver of a competitive advantage, was brazen in his attitude. For him, it was all in the name of racing, and saying he found a winning formula would be an understatement. The German also redefined athletic expectations of F1 drivers, possessing a pioneering fitness regimen that was born of his desire to gain an edge over his peers by any means. His former engineer, Pat Symonds, explained to F1 Racing magazine in 2019 how Schumacher would take blood samples during breaks in testing before heading to the gym to replicate the samples in order to guarantee the correct aerobic rate for a race. 'Michael knew fitness was equal to lap time and he broke new ground,' Symonds said, in a testament to F1's ultimate competitor. F1 is no stranger to its drivers attaining celebrity status, but Hamilton is a true household name. He is one of the few individuals to transcend the sport and cross into the mainstream, and just so happens to be statistically the most successful F1 driver ever (with more wins than Schumacher, while each has the same number of drivers' titles). He might be most associated with the Mercedes-dominated turbo-hybrid era of the 2010s, but Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007 with McLaren, when he redefined expectations of rookie drivers by finishing second in that year's championship, missing out on the title by just one point to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. He won his first title the following season and has been an F1 frontrunner ever since. The seven world championships, 105 wins, 202 podiums and 104 poles — all F1 records, with the first shared with Schumacher — speak for themselves, but Hamilton the activist is just as impactful as the driver. He has displayed the words Black Lives Matter on his helmet. Worn a shirt on the podium with the words 'Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor'. Spoken passionately about LGBTQ+ rights and worn a rainbow helmet in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These moments show how his influence also continues to shine in the 2020s. Advertisement And he has done it all while being the only Black competitor in F1 history. 'Don't ever compare me to anybody else,' he told Time Magazine before the 2025 season. 'I'm the first and only Black driver that's ever been in this sport. I'm built different. I've been through a lot. I've had my own journey. You can't compare me to another 40-year-old, past or present, Formula One driver in history. Because they are nothing like me.' Having formerly worked in news media with FOX and News Corp, Carey became F1 chief executive officer following Liberty Media's acquisition of the series and the FOM organization, ending the Ecclestone era in early 2017. F1 was entering a new period of uncertainty, but Carey oversaw its development into the spectacle it is today. The relaxation of social media restrictions in the paddock in 2017 and the 2019 introduction of the Netflix series Drive to Survive were part of a major marketing rebrand that focused on showcasing the sport's individuals and personalities just as much as the racing itself. This morphed F1 into a cultural phenomenon. At the end of Carey's first year in the role, F1 had 11.9 million followers across its social platforms, according to its website and Liberty's annual reports. In 2021, when Stefano Domenicali replaced Carey at the helm, that figure had nearly trebled, to 35m followers. At the end of 2024, the number stood at 97m. Carey also led a drive for parity, working with Jean Todt, Mosley's successor as FIA president, to introduce F1's first cost cap and even out payments to its teams in the 2021 Concorde Agreement. He also introduced the sport's first sustainability strategy in 2019 and worked to revamp the 2020 calendar as the Covid-19 pandemic launched global sport into chaos. Perhaps the biggest indicator of his legacy can be found in the 2025 calendar, which contains three races in the United States (Miami, Austin and Las Vegas) when, for years, only the Texan race had been on the schedule. Carey made it a priority to tap into the vast and previously unfulfilled potential of the American market, with F1 now chasing a new U.S. TV rights deal and attracting interest from Apple TV, and Indiana-based Cadillac entering the series to represent automotive giant General Motors in 2026. His association with F1 goes back over four decades but Newey becomes an exception to the rule here — after all, has anyone impacted the sport in the 2020s more than him? And if we're breaking rules, Max Verstappen is a particularly strong honorable mention, having ended one era of dominance by establishing his own. But it would be fair to argue that it was Newey's influence that positioned the Dutchman for that success. Advertisement Described by former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner as 'the only bloke who can see air,' Newey has been cemented as F1's most successful technical figure in the first half of the 2020s. But he was already a long way down that path after designing some of the most famous title-winning cars of the 1990s for Williams and McLaren. As Red Bull's chief technical officer, Newey has twice led the design of four straight title-winning cars. First came the RB6, which in Sebastian Vettel's hands scored Red Bull's first title in 2010, and the German wrapped up three more by 2013's end. Then there was the RB16B, which took Verstappen to his first drivers' championship and ended the Hamilton/Mercedes' reign of dominance in the memorable 2021 season. In 2022, new regulations had F1 enter its second ground-effect era, after the technology was prohibited in the 1980s. Newey is considered an expert in the field and even focused his university thesis on ground-effect aerodynamics. While many of the other teams struggled to adapt and were heavily affected by 'porpoising' — the car bouncing on its suspension as it is pulled to the ground by the airflow under the floor — Red Bull and Newey hit a home run with the RB18. It delivered Verstappen his second title and the team's first constructors' championship since 2013 and the end of its first era of dominance. The subsequent RB19 broke records as statistically the most dominant F1 car ever, winning 21 out of 22 races in 2023. Although he had long since transitioned to heading Red Bull's technical team, and even spending plenty of time on projects outside F1, Newey was directly involved in producing the car's front and rear suspension parts. The next year, Red Bull was finally reeled in and was toppled in the constructors' championship by McLaren. But nothing could stop Verstappen maximising his potential to win title number four in 2024. Advertisement Newey left Red Bull last year in the aftermath of Horner's behavior scandal, bringing an end to a 19-year tenure with Red Bull. He now serves as managing technical partner at Aston Martin, with a legacy that depicts him as a pioneer and a crucial part of what it takes to succeed in F1. The 75 Years of Speed series is part of a partnership with Shell. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. (Top photos: Benjamin Cremel/AFP, Bernard Cahier, Mark Thompson,; graphic: Demetrius Robinson/The Athletic)
The Sun
2 days ago
- Automotive
- The Sun
Christian Horner could make shock return to F1 with Red Bull's rivals after brutal sacking and have very frosty reunion
Isabelle Barker, Sport Reporter Published: Invalid Date, CHRISTIAN HORNER is jobless for the first time since 2004 after his brutal Red Bull sacking last week. The 51-year-old is now twidling his thumbs on gardening leave for the rest of the year. 6 6 And Horner and will be weighing up his options from January 2026 onwards. Rumours have been swirling around over the Brit's potential destinations - including a shock move to Ferrari. Reports in Italian and German media begun claiming in May that Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur's position is under threat. Vasseur hit out at the reports and said they were "disrespectful" and "very harsh". But German outlet BILD has added fuel to the fire, claiming that Ferrari had made "informal" contact with Horner. Horner dismissed the report - but speculation will continue to grow as the weeks go by with him sitting on the sidelines. Come the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, Horner will be missing from the F1 paddock for the first time in nearly 21 years. And Horner, who won six constructors' championships and eight drivers' titles with Red Bull, will no doubt be getting itchy feet soon. If Horner did pen an unlikely move at Ferrari it would see him form a wild pairing with his old rival, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has a Ferrari contract until at least the end of 2026 and is already a huge voice within the Italian team. It is likely he would not be impressed if Horner replaced Vasseur, given he is a big fan of the Frenchman and has thrown his support behind him in public. When Vasseur's future was under speculation, Hamilton said: "I love working with Fred – Fred's the main reason I'm in this team and got the opportunity to be here, for which I'm forever grateful for, and we're in this together. 'We're working hard in the background, things aren't perfect but, for me, I'm here to work with the team but also with Fred. "I want Fred here. I do believe Fred is the person to take us to the top, so that's that. So it's all nonsense." Bad blood Hamilton took a strong take on Horner's alleged 'inappropriate behaviour' with a female colleague last year. The ex-Red Bull boss was twice cleared from it by an independent investigation but Hamilton said it was "hanging over the sport" and said the outcome was "important for the future of F1". He also hit out at Horner in 2023 for "stirring" when he claimed Hamilton tried to join his team after leaving Mercedes. At the time Horner said that a member of Hamilton's team had been in touch over a possible switch to Red Bull earlier in the year. Hamilton rebuffed it and said Horner had actually been the one to text him and try set up a meeting. Obviously there was bad blood going back between the two during Hamilton and Max Verstappen's fierce and controversial title fight in 2021 which reached its crescendo in the contentious season finale in Abu Dhabi. 6 6 6 Hamilton changed his tune Recently, with Horner still at Red bull, Hamilton admitted he regretted referring to Red Bull as a "drinks company" in 2011. His comments suggested that he is previous beef with Horner was water under the bridge. At Silverstone he said: "Many, many years ago, I remember saying something about Red Bull being only a drinks company. 'I always regretted it because I was just saying that Mercedes at the time were great. "I was really just trying to gee up my team. But the truth is, Red Bull have been an incredible team. There are so many people there that are exceptional and they've dominated for years.' Horner makes his feelings on Hamilton known It feels like Horner would have no qualms working with the British 40-year-old, who he has praised in public this season. Speaking earlier in the year, Horner said of Hamilton's Ferrari move: "I've seen some pictures, I think it [Ferrari red] suits him. "It's great for Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari – that really is box office. "I think it's just another dynamic for this year that could be super exciting." Back in 2023, Horner was asked whether he would sign Hamilton for Red Bull. He replied: "What Lewis has achieved in F1 is second to none, but we're very happy with the drivers that we have – they're committed as a pair for not only this season but the next season as well. "I can't see where we would be able to accommodate Lewis, but I'm sure they're [Mercedes] going to sort their issues out and we're certainly not writing him off yet." 6
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ferrari to test rear suspension update at Mugello F1 filming day
The Ferrari Formula 1 squad is making use of an allotted filming day at Mugello on Wednesday where both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will run the revised SF-25. A new rear suspension will be in place for the 200km of running the team is allocated for a commercial shoot, as Ferrari discovers whether it can look ahead to the second half of the season with more positivity. Advertisement It follows the floor upgrades which heralded improved performance at both the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, with focus now set to shift to the 2026 ruleset with the raft of regulation changes that will see agile, shorter, narrower, and lighter cars. The test at Mugello has been scheduled before all the material for the Belgian Grand Prix needs to be shipped to Spa-Francorchamps and will allow data for the new-look suspension to be collated ahead of the 13th round of the 2025 campaign on 25-27 July. Until the new rear suspension was built, it wasn't possible to send the SF-25 to dynamic testing, even though it had already been carefully evaluated with CFD. The challenge was lowering the front wishbone of the upper wishbone, finding a point of attachment to the gearbox that could withstand the loads. The gearbox of the Ferrari SF-25 The gearbox of the Ferrari SF-25 The transmission's outer casing is made of composite materials to save weight and achieve the most miniaturised shape possible walls, with minimal thickness and ribs designed, while where the suspension arms are to be anchored, attachments are designed that can withstand the stresses generated by a tie rod suspension. Advertisement The simulation results were positive, but Ferrari will be hoping that Wednesday's filming activity will confirm the same indications on track, combining the numbers with the drivers' feedback. The new suspension should make the SF-25 less sensitive to ride height, opening up useful set-up options to improve the operating window of the Pirelli tyres. A combined action of the floor and the suspension could be worth almost a tenth of a second and, if the data collected so far are confirmed, Ferrari can aim to defend second place in the constructors' championship with McLaren running away out front, 238 points clear of the Scuderia. The rear suspension will be modified in the front upper arm The rear suspension will be modified in the front upper arm Ferrari, so far, has never been in a position to exploit opportunities because it has never been the closest pursuer of the MCL39s. Nico Hulkenberg's podium with Sauber at Silverstone proves this with Hamilton unable to chase the German, his Ferrari having serious set-up difficulties on a damp Silverstone track. Advertisement Both Hamilton and Leclerc have spoken about upgrades but now the talking will stop and the running at Mugello will have to decide whether they can at least aspire to a win this season, something which McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes have all achieved at this stage. To read more articles visit our website.
