Latest news with #SaudiArabianGrandPrixVenue
BBC News
19-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
'I've let myself & the team down' - Norris on qualifying 'shunt'
Saudi Arabian Grand PrixVenue: Jeddah Date: 20 April Race start: 18:00 BSTCoverage: Live radio commentary online and BBC 5 Sports Extra; live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app Lando Norris says he has a "big job" on his hands to try to recover in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from his crash in Briton, who leads McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by three points in the drivers' championship heading into the race, starts 10th after his accident. Red Bull's Max Verstappen is on pole position, ahead of Piastri and Mercedes' George said: "I don't think it's going to be an easy one because I don't think it's very easy to overtake around here."We have a strong car but clearly not as good as we would like because Max is on pole and George is only 0.1secs behind, so it's not like things are plain sailing at the minute."[I've got] a big job to try and do." McLaren showed extremely strong race pace during the practice sessions in Jeddah but Norris said he was "going to need a bit of luck" in the grand said that to "get close" to Verstappen, Piastri and Norris was "not very realistic"."It's almost impossible to overtake around here, so I'm not expecting anything magical," Norris said."But we have a good car, so if we can work our way up to the top five, six, I will say I'll be happy."Norris lost control on the exit of Turn Four, his car sliding on to the kerb at Turn Five and flicking into the wall on the swore and called himself an "idiot" over the radio to his team in the immediate aftermath of the accident."Makes sense," he later said of his frustration in the car. "I agree with it. I should be fighting for pole and, especially on a Q1 lap, not taking any silly risks like I seem to have done."We will review it but it's not a guarantee we would have been on pole, because Red Bull were quick the whole qualifying."It would have been nice to be in that fight. I was doing well until then and feeling comfortable. I shunted, so I am not going to be proud, I'm not going to be happy, I've let myself and the team down and the guys have a big job to do to fix it."Verstappen, eight points behind Norris in the championship, said he was surprised to have been in the fight for pole after a difficult time through the practice sessions, adding that until taking pole he had been "not very confident" for the race."My long runs weren't particularly great compared to Oscar or Lando," he said. "Naturally, with how the car was reacting today, it will be a bit better. But I don't think it'll be enough to be super competitive."But the car definitely took a bit of a step forward compared to what we were testing yesterday. So I hope that will help our tyre life out as well, but difficult to say that gives an opportunity to fight." Verstappen's pole was his second of the season. After his first, in Japan two weeks ago, he held off Norris and Piastri for the entire grand prix to though, said the three zones in which the drivers can use the Drag Reduction System overtaking aid might make it easier for him to have a try at passing Verstappen than in Australian said: "I'm feeling confident in what we've got. There's a lot of DRS zones around here, which is a nice difference to Suzuka. So, yes, let's see if we can make some said he and Verstappen had agreed that McLaren were still the team to beat."Max and I were just talking now," Russell said. "We both recognise McLaren are the standout favourites and definitely have the pace on everybody else."If Oscar gets into the lead, you'll probably see a repeat of Bahrain. If we stay in the order we qualified, I think it could be a tight race until the pit stops."Russell added that the decision to bring a softer range of tyres for Saudi Arabia this year could also impact the race."The medium tyre this year was last year's soft, which only one driver used in the whole race."We saw the tyres were too hard in Japan. We've all pushed to have softer tyres. Hopefully, it won't make it a slam-dunk one-stop, and there could be a couple of different strategies on the table."
BBC News
15-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Is Piastri now favourite for drivers' title?
Saudi Arabian Grand PrixVenue: Jeddah Dates: 18-20 April Race start: 18:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live radio commentary of practice, qualifying and race online and BBC 5 Sports Extra; live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app McLaren's Oscar Piastri closed in on team-mate Lando Norris in the championship standings by winning Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. Formula 1 now heads to Saudi Arabia for the last race of a triple-header, from 18-20 that, BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions. After two calm, controlled victories compared to Lando Norris' inconsistencies, is Oscar Piastri favourite for the drivers' championship? - MontyIt is, as Piastri said himself after winning in Bahrain on Sunday, way too early to make any conclusions about the way the championship will can be said is that Piastri has had an assured start to the season, and at the moment appears the stronger of the two McLaren Norris won in Australia, but Piastri was right with him until his unfortunate moment on the grass in the late shower of was then excellent in China, probably quicker than Norris in Japan but messed up his final qualifying lap, and was superb in meanwhile, admits to struggling with the McLaren car at the moment and had a scrappy weekend in explored the dynamic between the McLaren drivers, in the context of Norris' current struggles, in our post-race analysis have in the pipeline a development that they hope will solve the problem Norris is having with the car's lack of front grip in mid-corner. If it works, it could be him who moves into the lead position in McLaren, as he was last certainly seems as things stand as if the title fight is between the two of them. As Piastri said on Sunday, a consistent challenger to McLaren has not Australia and Japan it was Max Verstappen. In China and Bahrain, George Russell's Mercedes was next best, and of course Lewis Hamilton won the Shanghai sprint in the it is early days. The first round of upgrades has not emerged yet and that could make a big difference - look at how McLaren's Miami upgrade transformed their season last unlike last year, one driver has not created a massive lead in the championship, so it does remain a lot more open than in 2024 at this stage of the season. Lando Norris moved up from sixth on the grid to third on the first lap in Bahrain and was given a five-second penalty for a false start. Given the advantage he gained, is a five-second penalty enough of a deterrent? – JohnIt's true that Lando Norris did not appear to lose out too much from his penalty. He managed to retain his de facto third position at the first round of pit stops and was not that much further behind George Russell's Mercedes once the race had settled down again than he had been before the penalty was that is just a brief snapshot that does not fully reflect the impact of the have to bear in mind that strategy played a part here, and so did the relative pace of the stopped two laps before Russell, and the undercut is always very powerful in Bahrain because of the track's extreme demands on tyres. That in itself would have gained Norris time - he'd probably have emerged ahead of Russell after the pit stops without the once Charles Leclerc had stopped seven laps later in the Ferrari, he was in a position with a tyre advantage to pass Norris and push him down to fourth race then unfolded as it did with the safety in mind, too, that the McLaren is the fastest car in the field, which will have helped Norris make up any lost would be wrong to tailor penalties to the speed of someone's car or try to second-guess race situations. The penalty should be the penalty, and whatever happens afterwards happens. Why do you think Lewis Hamilton is struggling so much with Ferrari? – SimonLet's take a step back and give this some perspective. In qualifying, Hamilton is 3-2 down so far to Charles Leclerc at an average deficit of 0.166 Leclerc is regarded as perhaps the fastest driver over one lap in the entire sport, that's not too shabby for someone who is finding his way with a new team, even if it is Lewis Hamilton. Bear in mind, too, that Hamilton struggled in qualifying against George Russell at Mercedes last the championship, Hamilton is seven points behind Leclerc after four grands prix and a there is the fact that Ferrari themselves have not had the start to the season they expected to continue where they left off at the end of 2024, but McLaren have made more progress and have a significant advantage. Ferrari are in the mix with Red Bull and Mercedes behind course, Hamilton has high standards and he expects to be the leading Ferrari driver. He may or may not ever achieve that, but this is what he said after the race in Bahrain about this adaptation to the car and team."A much more positive day," Hamilton said. "The middle stint, I felt really aligned with the car. The balance finally was in a spot where my driving style seemed to be working in that moment. We learned a lot this weekend, actually. More than the other weekends."The key is to try to get back to it every weekend. The car really does require a different driving style and I am slowly adjusting to that. And also set-up - I have been a bit all over the place, a long way from Charles the past two weekends and slowly migrating towards him."It just feels so alien. We all get stuck in our ways. (I thought) I needed to keep driving the way I was driving and make the car come to me, but it's not working. "So I am adjusting myself now to the car. It drives so much different with all the controls we have. You have to use them a lot different to what I had in the past."Just one example is I never used engine braking before. Here you use a lot of engine braking to turn the car. They are much different brakes to what I had in the past. In the last stint I had to use the rears to turn the car, and other times you have to put all the weight on the front."Qualifying is not good enough but if I get the car where it was in that middle stint, and start delivering qualifying, fix that, I will have better weekends."I will keep trying. I will get there eventually." What's the fascination with noise and the desire to return to thunderous noise volumes? I went to a GP in the 1990s and the noise was unbearably loud. Why is it held in such high esteem? It's not like the present engines are EV quiet. – AshThis is a very pertinent and perceptive question in the context of the current debate about engines in a nutshell, what has happened is that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem was pushing a return to V10 naturally aspirated engines before the end of the next engine cycle - perhaps even as early as has now been kicked into the long grass because a majority of the engine manufacturers were opposed, as they were always going to be. The manufacturers, FIA and F1 will continue to discuss engines, while waiting to see what the new rules look like next year. These continue with 1.6-litre turbo hybrid engines, but with the electrical component providing close to 50% of the total power output, as opposed to about 20% is the possibility of some form of simplified engine format being introduced, but likely not before 2029 at the absolute earliest, and more likely 2030 or 2031, which is when F1 is due for a new engine formula new engine, it is now clear, will definitely be a hybrid. But it remains to be seen what size it is, how many cylinders it will have, whether it will be turbocharged, and how big a proportion hybrid will be of the total power output.A V8, with or without a turbo, and hybrid in the region of 20-30% seems like a reasonable-guess possible compromise as things stand. A turbo would make more sense in terms of efficiency, which is an important consideration, but it would have an impact on the engine's is definitely one of the factors. A certain portion of the fanbase do romanticise the ear-piercing sound of the engines from the 1990s and early what is not clear is whether that is the majority or not, and how important a consideration it should be. F1's fanbase has changed a lot in recent years. There is a new generation of fans and the number of females has significantly increased. On top of that, more and more families are attending grands prix with relatively young this new generation of fans want a return to engines that are so loud you need ear-defenders and cannot have a conversation while the race is going on? What about the corporate guests above the pits?It feels as if certain people were making decisions based on their own prejudices from a time that they happened to find appealing, without properly researching whether it was the right thing to would perhaps be wise for F1 and the FIA to research this effectively before forming any firm conclusions, because it is clear it would be wrong to make example, Fernando Alonso made some interesting comments in this context at the Japanese Grand Prix, which have given pause for thought to the powers that be. Or at least some of won one of his two titles driving a V10 and one driving a V8, and when he demonstrated his 2005 Renault at the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix he clearly had a lot of fun chucking the car around. It was great to watch. You might expect Alonso, therefore, to be in favour of a return to those kinds of engines. But that's not what he said at all."I love the the sound of the V8, V10, and, you know, we all experience that, and it's probably one of the best memories I have from Formula 1 and one of the best cars that I drove," Alonso said."But the world, in a way, has evolved and changed, and there is a different technology now."I will be OK with whatever the sport decides, but we need to be careful not just to take only the romantic side of it and just be, you know, pragmatic, and understand that the world is different now and the future maybe is just what we have now." What are the main differences between qualifying set-up and race set-up and how do teams balance the two? – GlebeUnder F1's so-called parc ferme regulations, set-up changes after the start of qualifying are basically banned, with very few conditions remain the same, teams can adjust front wing angles, and whatever settings are on the steering wheel - such as differential and brake balance - but nothing the weather changes, that all goes out of the window and more changes are allowed.
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Marko has 'great concern' over Verstappen future
Saudi Arabian Grand PrixVenue: Jeddah Dates: 18-20 April Race start: 18:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live radio commentary of practice, qualifying and race online and BBC 5 Sports Extra; live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko says he has "great concern" about Max Verstappen's future with the team in the context of their current four-time champion finished sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, while Oscar Piastri scored McLaren's third win in four races so far this Verstappen is third in the drivers' championship, eight points behind leader Lando Norris of told Sky Germany: "The concern is great. Improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again."We have to create a basis with a car so that he can fight for the world championship."Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028. But Marko told BBC Sport this month that it contains a performance clause that could allow him to leave the team. The wording of this clause is not known publicly but it effectively says that Red Bull have to provide Verstappen with a winning won the Japanese Grand Prix a week before Bahrain but that victory was founded on a pole position lap that many F1 observers regarded as one of the greatest of all overtaking was next to impossible at Suzuka, Verstappen was able to hold back the McLarens of Norris and Piastri and take his first win of the has qualified third, fourth and seventh for the other three races in Australia, China and Red Bull is on average over all qualifying sessions this year the second fastest car but 0.214 seconds a lap slower than the has complained all year about balance problems with the Red Bull, which is unpredictable on corner entry and has mid-corner Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted after the race in Bahrain that the car's balance problems were fundamentally similar to the ones that made the second half of last year a struggle for won just twice in the final 13 races of last season, but managed to win his fourth world title because of the huge lead he built up when Red Bull were in dominant form in the first five races of the also said the team were having difficulties with correlation between their wind tunnel and on-track performance. Essentially, the car performs differently on track than the team's simulation tools say it should. Verstappen had a difficult race in Bahrain including delays at both pit stops, one with the pit-lane traffic light system and one with fitting a front one stage he was running last, and he managed to snatch sixth place from Alpine's Pierre Gasly only on the last said that the hot weather and rough track surface had accentuated Red Bull's said: "Here you just get punished a bit harder when you have big balance issues because the Tarmac is so aggressive."The wind is also quite high and the track has quite low grip, so everything is highlighted more."Just the whole weekend struggling a bit with brake feeling and stopping power, and besides that also very poor grip. We tried a lot on the set-up and basically all of it didn't work, didn't give us a clear direction to work in."Verstappen has said this year that he is "relaxed" about his and his management - his father Jos Verstappen and Dutchman Raymond Vermeulen - have open minds and are waiting longer to see how this season decision about moving teams for 2026 is complicated by the fact that F1 is introducing new chassis and engine rules that amount to the biggest regulation change in the sport's history, and it is impossible to know which team will be in the best it is widely accepted in the paddock that Mercedes are looking the best in terms of engine performance for F1 boss Toto Wolff has made no secret of his desire to sign two parties had talks last season but have yet to have any discussions this season about the future.
