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Straits Times
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Straits Times
Tough talks ahead but McLaren want drivers to race each other
Formula One F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - June 15, 2025 McLaren's Lando Norris walks to the pit lane after crashing out of the race Pool via REUTERS/Shawn Thew Formula One F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - June 15, 2025 McLaren's Lando Norris walks to the pit lane after crashing out of the race Pool via REUTERS/Shawn Thew Formula One F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - June 15, 2025 McLaren's Lando Norris walks to the pit lane after crashing out of the race Pool via REUTERS/Shawn Thew TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Jun 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; McLaren driver Lando Norris (4) walks away from his car during the F1 Montreal Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images REUTERS Tough talks ahead but McLaren want drivers to race each other MONTREAL - McLaren will continue to let Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris race freely for the Formula One title but there will be some tough talks back at the factory after Sunday's collision in Canada. Norris accepted the blame after hitting the rear of his championship-leading Australian teammate's car while trying to overtake in a battle for fourth place three laps from the finish. The incident between the title frontrunners, with Piastri extending his lead to 22 points while Norris failed to score, was the talk of the paddock at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and had been long predicted. McLaren principal Andrea Stella said the team would discuss once the dust had settled how to prevent it from happening again. "Definitely there will be good conversations, but they will happen once we are all rested and calm," the Italian told reporters. He said the team would seek to "preserve our parity and equality in terms of how we go racing at McLaren between our two drivers. "The being free to race and the being clear as to how we go racing is a value of racing," he added. "It is a value of racing that we want to try and exercise and respect as much as we can, rather than every time we have a proximity between the two cars then having control from the pit wall. "We want to give Lando and Oscar opportunities to race and opportunities to be at the end of the season in the position that they deserve to be in." Stella said the points should reflect the drivers' performance rather than any team orders. "This is not necessarily a simple and straight exercise but we want to try and do it as best as we can," he said. "So I don't foresee that today's episode will change our approach from this point of view. "If anything it will reinforce and it will strengthen that the principles we have require more caution by our drivers." Stella said the incident was a simple misjudgement of distance rather than an aggressive statement of intent and he appreciated Norris' ownership of responsibility. He recognised the Briton's confidence could be dented, with the driver always open in his emotions and prone to blaming himself in a title battle increasingly going Piastri's way, but Norris could count on every support. "On this one I want to be completely clear," said Stella. "It's full support to Lando. We will have conversations and the conversations may be even tough. But there's no doubt over the support we give to Lando. "Lando himself will have to show his character to overcome this kind of episode. Make sure that he only takes the learnings, he only takes what will make him a stronger driver." Piastri has won five of the 10 races so far to Norris' two with 14 remaining. The next race is in Austria on June 29. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Much improved Haas Racing ready for challenge at Miami Grand Prix, its first home race of season
Haas driver Esteban Ocon of France steers his car during the Sprint race at the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) Haas driver Oliver Bearman of Britain, left, walks through the pit area after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Haas driver Esteban Ocon of France steers his car during a practice session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) Haas driver Oliver Bearman of Britain, left, walks through the pit area after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Haas driver Oliver Bearman of Britain, left, walks through the pit area after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Haas driver Esteban Ocon of France steers his car during the Sprint race at the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) Haas driver Oliver Bearman of Britain, left, walks through the pit area after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Haas driver Esteban Ocon of France steers his car during a practice session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) Haas driver Oliver Bearman of Britain, left, walks through the pit area after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Oliver Bearman considers the Miami Grand Prix a highlight on the F1 calendar for many reasons: The sunny South Florida weather. The fanfare. It's the first of three United States races for his American-led Haas Formula 1 team. But Bearman, Haas' 19-year-old rookie who will be racing at the Miami International Autodrome for the first time on Sunday, acknowledged that it will be a challenge for his team. Advertisement 'I expect a difficult weekend,' Bearman said, 'considering the circumstances, particularly that I haven't been here and it's a Sprint weekend. But I also had that in Brazil last year. I also had that in China this year. And I wouldn't say those are particularly simple shots either. I don't really know how it's going to go, but I expect that if I have a good feeling with the car, I hope to be able to get as much as I can out of it.' The Miami Grand Prix is the first opportunity of the season for Haas — the only American-owned team in F1 — to compete in front of its home fans, but the weekend got off to an uneven start. Bearman, in his first ever action at the track, caused an early end to Friday's practice with a crash, and his teammate, Esteban Ocon, was given a warning for impeding McLaren's Lando Norris during the session. In Saturday's Sprint race in Miami, Bearman started at the back of the grid but zipped through the field for what would have been an eighth-place finish and a point for Haas, but he was hit with a five-second penalty after the race for an unsafe release and stripped of the point. That was followed by a disappointing showing in qualifying later that evening, where the British driver again finished last in the field. Advertisement 'I don't know (what happened)," Bearman said afterward. "Just didn't have the feeling. Too messy of a lap. ... It was a messy session overall." Still, Haas will have a good chance at scoring points on Sunday. Ocon qualified ninth in his first top-10 qualifier since joining Haas this season. He said it was his best qualifying session of the year, but the team still has work to do after Bearman's surprising outing. 'This is what we need to work on, our consistency,' Ocon said. 'The window of our car is really, really small. And even though you try and put the cars together in the same setup, we still see big differences in those cars. We need to work on that.' Mostly inconsistent since its debut season in 2016, Haas improved its on-track performance the past year under Ayao Komatsu, who replaced longtime team principal Guenther Steiner for a change of direction after several dismal seasons. Advertisement Haas finished seventh in the constructor standings in 2024 with 58 points, its best result since finishing fifth with 98 points behind drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in 2018, and up from a last-place finish in 2023. Haas still has never won an F1 race or scored a podium finish, but there is excitement about its trajectory behind the new lineup of Bearman, the prodigy who raced as a substitute for Ferrari last year before joining Haas as a fulltime driver, and Ocon, winner of the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine and the only Grand Prix winner to race for Haas. 'Esteban and Ollie have been instrumental in providing direction and working with the team every day," Komatsu said, "not to mention some of the incredible race drives they've produced already.' In a busy start to the 2025 season with five races in six weeks, Haas has placed in the top eight in three races and is currently sixth in standings with 20 points. Bearman has accounted for 13 points. He and Ocon jointly accumulated 14 points at the Chinese Grand Prix in late March, when disqualifications boosted Ocon from his seventh-place finish to fifth and Bearman from 10th to eighth. Advertisement Bearman has already established himself as a solid points scorer for Haas as the team continues its climb. His season debut at the Australian Grand Prix was spoiled by a crash, but the British driver grabbed points in three straight races after that. 'He's a super quick driver,' Ocon said of his teammate. 'Super talented, very professional, very detailed on the car set up. I think that's straight away the thing I saw (at first). Technically, he's above any rookies that I've seen in the past. He's much more prepared than I was when I arrived in F1.' Ocon has taken points finishes in all three of his races in Miami, with his best coming at the inaugural race in 2022 when finished eighth. Sunday will be his first Miami race with Haas. ___ AP auto racing:
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New father Max Verstappen wins pole in Miami, his third through six F1 races this season
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain reacts after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia is wheeled in to the garage during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands gets a pit stop during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands prepares to start a practice session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands prepares to start a practice session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain reacts after being eliminated during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia is wheeled in to the garage during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands gets a pit stop during the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands prepares to start a practice session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Max Verstappen celebrated the birth of his first child with a pole-winning run at the Miami Grand Prix. The four-time defending Formula 1 champion edged Lando Norris of McLaren by .065 seconds to take the top starting spot for Sunday's race. It was a rebound for Verstappen, who was penalized earlier Saturday in the sprint race and finished 17th. Advertisement 'It's been a great qualifying, it worked out well and I'm very happy to be on pole,' Verstappen said of his 43rd career pole. It is his third pole through six races this season and second consecutive. It wasn't the result Norris hoped for from F1's newest father. There's a myth that having children can slow drivers because they suddenly become a bit more conservative. Verstappen and his partner, Kelly Piquet, announced the birth of a baby girl on Friday. 'Nod to Max, especially being a dad now,' Norris said. 'I was hoping it was going to slow him down a little bit, but it clearly didn't.' Verstappen agreed. Advertisement 'Clearly it didn't make me slower, being a dad. We can throw that out the window for people mentioning it,' he said. And although he didn't reveal when Lily was born, he indicated the reason he skipped Thursday activities in Miami was to 'spend a few days at home to make sure everything is OK.' He also said the myth that parenthood can change a driver's style is ridiculous. 'I don't really listen to these kinds of silly things, you know,' Verstappen said. 'I just do my thing. There are enough racing drivers in the past that they became world champion after having kids. I don't even know where that (myth) comes from.' Norris is both the defending race winner — his Miami victory last year was the first of his F1 career and ended Verstappen's two-year winning streak at Hard Rock Stadium — and the winner of Saturday's sprint race. Advertisement Kimi Antonelli, who at 18 years old became F1's youngest pole winner in history when he started first in Saturday's sprint race, qualified third for Mercedes. It is the first time he qualified higher than teammate George Russell, who was fifth behind current F1 points leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren. Williams qualified sixth and seventh with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alex Albon, while Charles Leclerc rebounded from crashing before the sprint race started to qualify eighth. He did not compete in the sprint race as his team worked to repair his Ferrari in time for qualifying. Esteban Ocon qualified ninth for Haas and Yuki Tsunoda was 10th to give Red Bull both its cars in points-paying position. Lewis Hamilton failed to carry momentum from his third-place finish in the sprint race held four hours before qualifying as the Ferrari driver was eliminated in the second round. His 12th-place effort was his lowest qualifying run since joining his new team. Advertisement 'I don't feel in my heart that I'm — I mean, as I said, I'm trying everything, we're trying everything, I mean like the smallest, the smallest (margin) of time today I was out,' Hamilton said. 'It doesn't make a huge difference, but the fact is, you know, we are trying.' It rained early Saturday — hard enough to delay the sprint race — and the forecast calls for more weather issues on Sunday. The uncertainty on if it will be a wet or dry race has made it impossible for drivers to predict how the event will unfold. ___ AP auto racing:
