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The Independent
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Independent
Kimi Antonelli reveals ‘really nice' words of wisdom from Lewis Hamilton
Kimi Antonelli has revealed the advice Lewis Hamilton gave him amid an emotional weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix. Antonelli, the 18-year-old Italian who replaced Hamilton at Mercedes this season, has endured a difficult run of F1 races since finishing on the podium in Canada last month, retiring from two grands prix and finishing 16th at Spa on Sunday. Prior to Sunday's race, Hamilton was spotted leaving the Mercedes motorhome as he paid Antonelli, 22 years his junior, a supportive visit. Antonelli was emotional in the media pen after being knocked out in Q1 of qualifying on Saturday and, a day later, the Italian revealed what Hamilton said to him amid a tricky period. 'He came to say hi to the team and definitely we had a couple of words,' Antonelli said. 'He was telling me to keep my head up and that it's normal to have bad weekends. 'And to just keep believing. It was really nice.' Hamilton, who was arguably the last driver to make his F1 debut with a top team with McLaren in 2007, threw his support behind the teenager. 'I can't imagine what it's like at 18, or try to imagine what it's like at 18, to do what he's doing,' Ferrari driver Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. 'He's been doing fantastic. But to be thrown in at the deep end at 18… he hadn't even had his driving licence when he first started racing. 'I think it's a lot on someone's shoulders. He's doing a great job and he's got a great group of people around him. So, I think you've just got to take it in your stride, which I think he is. 'And he's got Bono [Peter Bonnington, who used to work with Hamilton] by his side. He doesn't have anyone better.' Hamilton joked in Thursday's press conference that he could help Antonelli 'work' Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, as the Italian eyes a new contract with the Silver Arrows. Wolff, with Max Verstappen set to stay at Red Bull for 2026, admitted it is now his 'priority' to keep his current driver line-up of Antonelli and George Russell for next year. Antonelli is seventh in the world championship after 13 races, 94 points behind teammate Russell.
News.com.au
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- News.com.au
F1 great Martin Brundle's belated praise for Oscar Piastri GP win
F1 commentator Martin Brundle has belatedly praised Oscar Piastri for his latest Grand Prix victory and made a call on the 2025 world title battle. Starting from second on the grid, Piastri won the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris, with the Aussie extending his championship lead to 16 points. 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? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Many fans were left fuming, however, as the Sky Sports broadcast once again focused predominantly on Englishman Norris, rather than his race-winning stable mate. With Norris making a series of crucial errors in the closing stages as he attempted to catch Piastri, Brundle instead highlighted his compatriot's 'brilliant charge' on the broadcast. Perhaps the criticism that rained down upon him was fresh on 66-year-old Brundle's mind when he penned a post-Spa opinion piece for the Sky Sports website. Brundle, who picked up nine podiums in his 12-year career in the premier category, ultimately had some lofty comparisons when assessing Piastri's drive in Belgium. 'It was a champion's drive from Oscar Piastri in the main race on Sunday at Spa,' he wrote. 'The kind of performance reminiscent of the likes of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen in this modern era. 'A small error at Stavelot cost him pole position to teammate Lando Norris, who had impressively homed in on peak performance overnight. 'But then Piastri read and stalked his championship rival from the eventual rolling start, exited turn one La Source more cleanly, followed closely through Eau Rouge and Radillion, and kept momentum to sweep past into a lead he would not relinquish. 'This also gave him the all-important pit stop priority between the two.' Horrendous conditions delayed the start of the race on Sunday, with it finally getting underway behind a safety car. While Piastri jumped his teammate and grabbed the lead in the early stages, Norris was on the better compound tyre for a one-stop strategy. It left the Aussie with a huge fight on his hands to retain the lead, particularly in the closing stages. Brundle had high praise for the Victorian's effort, stating he 'made it look easy'. 'Because we waited so unnecessarily long to get underway, the race was much drier than expected, and this meant managing intermediate tyres through their compound destruction phase into a tread-less bald contact patch,' Brundle continued. 'The other McLaren side of the garage cleverly agreed with Norris to opt for the hard dry compound tyre, after Piastri's medium compounds were already fitted the previous lap, which meant Lando wouldn't have to pit again. 'Piastri then had to completely reset and coax his tyres for the remaining 70 per cent of the race, which he did with utter calmness and without error despite Norris coming back at him with increasing chunks each lap. 'Basically, he needed to deploy all the driving tools in the toolbox on the day and made it look easy. 'Lando was unlucky with having to go an extra lap on the intermediates because they were too close to do a double stack pit stop and then to compound that his stop was slow. 'As he said in the cooldown room post-race, 'I just thought bye-bye Oscar'.' Norris threw away any chance at victory due to those three costly mistakes as Piastri oozed class and kept his cool. As Norris began to close the gap to Piastri, he ran wide at turn 10 and lost more than a second before losing another half a second thanks to a big lockup. With only three laps to go and the margin down to three seconds, Norris once again locked up at turn one and saw the margin blow back out to 4.7 seconds. Those miscalculations ultimately allowed the Aussie to hold off his teammate and secure his sixth win of the season. But fans were left furious at the commentary, which seemed to downplay the Aussie's masterclass and instead hinted Norris was somewhat unlucky not to win. Piastri's win was put down to 'superior race management', while Norris' fate was sealed by 'unfortunate miscalculations'. Fans vented their feelings towards the commentary online. 'Insufferable dribble coming from Crofty. Piastri, no mistakes on higher degrading tyres with something left in the tank at the end not mentioned at all. Let's talk about his race management skills, which are superior to Lando's. The bias of Crofty is oozing out of him,' one fan wrote. 'As an Aussie, the absolutely anti-Piastri commentary from Sky Sports has been disgraceful. Brundle and Crofty normally love listening to both of you every race, but today's obsession with Lando was incredibly biased, English or not,' another said. 'Tell Crofty his sh** British Lando bias is getting out of hand! Lando is making mistakes left, right and centre and Croft still has him winning! Even after Oscar crossed the line and won, Croft was STILL crapping on about Norris. It's time for him to go,' a third added. Brundle noted those errors again when stating his belief – and hopes – for the remainder of the season. 'Once again in certain phases we saw the McLarens a second or two clear of the field every lap,' he wrote. 'Lando threw caution to the wind, he had nothing to lose, and he had to somehow disturb Oscar's tyre economy run, but three errors we saw on TV meant he came up short and had to settle for second and a further loss of eight points. 'I've felt the same way all year, when all the stars align I believe Lando is marginally the faster, but Oscar is more consistent, makes fewer errors, and is more clinical in combat. 'And his head is always rock solid. He'll take some beating in the closing stages now. 'Lando will need absolutely all he's got, all the time, to win this. 'We've very often seen two championship combatants find an overdrive and move to a scarcely believable level of delivery, it will be interesting to see if that happens over the next three Sprints and 10 GPs.' The Formula 1 season moves to the Hungaroring circuit this weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix and the only place to see every F1 race live is on Kayo Sports and Foxtel.
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Does FIA need to rethink approach to wet race conditions? - F1 Q&A
Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris to a McLaren one-two at the Belgian Grand Prix, extending his drivers' championship lead by 16 points. Formula 1 heads to Hungary for round 14 next weekend before the summer break. BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions. In both races this weekend, it almost seemed to be a disadvantage to qualify on pole because of the slipstream on such a long straight. Is there anything that can be done on this specific track to ensure pole is actually an advantage? - TomIt's true that both the pole winners at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend lost the lead on the run up to Les Combes on the first lap, and that lost the them the race - Oscar Piastri to Max Verstappen in the sprint, and Lando Norris to Piastri in the Grand though, they were two different sprint was a standing start in the dry. Piastri did all he could, but Verstappen followed him through Eau Rouge and slipstreamed past him up the knew before the race that this was a likely eventuality. That's partly because of the layout of the track, but also partly because Verstappen was running lower downforce than Piastri and so had an advantage on the straight was visible thereafter in the sprint, when Piastri, despite a quicker car and a significant advantage in the middle sector of the lap, could never get close enough to have a go at Grand Prix was different. It was wet, and it was a rolling start. That should have made it a lot easier for Norris to keep the there are questions about his restart, which were even raised by McLaren team principal Andrea Norris went early, and Piastri went with him, so Norris did not have the lead over the start line that would have been helpful in keeping his Norris made a mistake at La Source and that allowed Piastri to get even closer, which pretty much guaranteed Norris was a sitting duck. Piastri then guaranteed he'd pass by going as fast as he dared - faster than Norris dared - through Eau Rouge."Oscar deserved it," as Norris it's not a given that the pole-winning driver will lose the lead at Spa at Les Combes - Charles Leclerc managed to retain it last year, for example. It depends on the for the remark about pole, yes, it's meant to be an advantage conferred on a driver as a reward for qualifying fastest. But it's no more than that. It does not mean the driver who secures it has a divine right to lead at the end of the first lap. Of course they don' why should anything be done about this at Spa in particular? Doing so would mean changing a historic, charismatic and demanding layout. And no one wants to lose that. Safety should and will be always be paramount in F1, but do you feel the FIA needs to recalibrate how to manage wet race conditions? Do you think the FIA's overly-conservative approach is hampering F1 drivers truly demonstrating their all-weather driving abilities? - HarjThere was a feeling after the Belgian Grand Prix that the race director had erred on the side of caution a little too much in deciding when the race should be Verstappen said he felt the race could have been run on schedule at 3pm local time, and that there was no need to red-flag it if they had just let the cars run for a couple more laps to clear some water from the he had a vested interest because Red Bull had changed his car to have more downforce than the McLarens and Leclerc's Ferrari exactly because they were anticipating Lewis Hamilton said he felt that even after the delay they could have started all the drivers acknowledged that they had asked race officials not to start a wet race too early, after an incident at Silverstone where they after a safety-car restart, Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar smashed into the back of Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes at Copse simply because he could not see it before he hit also have to factor in the dangers of Spa, and the incidents that killed Anthoine Hubert in 2019 and Dilano van t'Hoft in 2023 in junior category of them crashed and then bounced back on to the track, where they were hit at high speed by another car, suffering fatal Piastri put it after the race: "Maybe we could have done one less formation lap. But in the grand scheme of things, if that's one lap too early, is it worth it? No." Is Lewis Hamilton's drop in performance caused by trying too hard and overthinking everything in the whole organisation? Surely there's only so much one person can do? - EdLewis Hamilton's Belgian Grand Prix weekend was actually an anomaly in what had been an encouraging run of form in recent a difficult start to the season, his average qualifying deficit to team-mate Charles Leclerc has been just 0.05 seconds since the Miami Grand Prix in May, and he had out-qualified Leclerc in three of the previous four by Hamilton's own admission, his driving in both qualifying sessions in Spa was "unacceptable".There were, though, extenuating circumstances. There were new braking characteristics on his car in Spa which Leclerc had been running since Canada, and Hamilton had chosen not to until Belgium. And Ferrari introduced a new rear suspension aimed at allowing them to run the car changes to car behaviour caught Hamilton out when he braked hard for the Bus Stop chicane in sprint also had a new data engineer, someone he had previously worked with at Mercedes, last weekend."It's not easy to switch engineers within the middle of a season," Hamilton said. "It's someone that I've known for years. He was actually on my previous team with me. But not in that position. So we're getting used to each other. Having to learn super, super quick."The changes that we had really caught both of us out."And he simply made a misjudgement in just exceeding track limits at Raidillon in qualifying for the grand prix. There was nothing wrong with his pace - he was within a smidge of Leclerc on that lap before it was nothing bigger behind the events of last weekend than that. If Red Bull's new engine next year is clearly down on performance and not likely to be a front-runner that season, how long will Max Verstappen hang around? When will we be able to form an impression of what next year's engine might be able to give him? - GeoffThe first thing to say here is that there is simply no way for anyone to know whether Red Bull's 2026 engine is "clearly down on performance".What can be said is that the F1 grapevine suggests Mercedes have a small advantage over the other manufacturers on their internal combustion engine performance for 2026 so manufacturers are working in isolation, and they will reject any suggestion they might be behind, figures creep out in various even if that's true, next year is not just about internal combustion engine performance. There is the electrical part of the engine, which provides about 50% of the total power output, and the new sustainable fuels, which will also have a significant relative performance levels will only become apparent next are also questions about Red Bull's car design group, of course, after their slump in form in the past 18 months following Adrian Newey's for Verstappen's future, you can pretty much take it as read that he will be staying at Red Bull in 2026. My sources tell me he doesn't want to leave, for a whole raft of given the above explained uncertainty, the logical decision anyway is to stay. That way, Verstappen can see how the land lies in 2026, and if Red Bull are struggling it will be contractually easier to move in that case as well.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Lando Norris: You are the biggest loser of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix
The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps delivered a thrilling and consequential race, marked by a significant shift in the championship standings and numerous strategic gambles. After an 80-minute rain delay and a rolling start behind the safety car, the action unfolded with impressive overtakes and costly errors. Let's break down who came out on top and who left feeling disappointed. Related: Belgian Grand Prix Biggest Winner: Oscar Piastri | McLaren Oscar Piastri secured a spectacular and dominant victory at the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, holding the race lead from his brilliant first-lap move to the checkered flag. After qualifying on pole for the sprint race, his strong form in dry sprint qualifying on Friday suggested a win was possible. Despite Lando Norris starting from pole in the main race, Piastri pounced at the start, showing immense pace and being the furthest ahead when conditions were sketchiest. He executed a gutsy move on Norris out of La Source on Lap 1, using the slipstream to slingshot past and take the lead. Piastri then managed his more brittle medium tires perfectly to the finish, never putting a wheel out of place. This victory was his eighth Grand Prix win and doubled his lead over teammate Norris to a whopping 16 points in the drivers' championship as they head to Hungary. Biggest Loser of Belgian Grand Prix: Lando Norris | McLaren Lando Norris had a frustrating day at Spa, converting a convincing pole position into a mere second-place finish. He admitted that Piastri 'did a good job' and deserved the win. Despite Norris's reputation for strong performances in wet conditions, Piastri's excellent run from the start allowed him to seize the lead early on. Norris overcompensated for having to wring lap time out of the slower hard tires, leading to three mistakes totaling over four seconds in the second half of the race. Being second on the road also forced him to do an extra lap before pitting, which cost him over six seconds. Ultimately, finishing second is a loss, and it significantly widened the points gap to his teammate Piastri. Read More: Winner: Charles Leclerc | Ferrari You might think Charles Leclerc's third-place podium finish was down to a good qualifying and setup choice, but that would understate his tenacious drive. Boosted by the track drying quickly and a setup leaning towards dry conditions, Leclerc's biggest challenge was fighting off Max Verstappen in the early wet stages. He managed his Ferrari expertly, even admitting he told his engineer to 'leave me alone' at one point due to the pressure. A clean pit stop, combined with Verstappen losing time, allowed him to manage his cushion to the finish. This marks his fourth podium in six races, and Ferrari's latest upgrades, including rear suspension changes, appear to be working, helping them secure a more stable second place in the constructors' standings. Related: Loser: Max Verstappen | Red Bull Max Verstappen had a disappointing Sunday, powerless to repeat his sprint race heroics. Red Bull had anticipated a full wet race and set up their car with significantly more downforce, which proved costly when the majority of the Grand Prix was held in dry conditions. Verstappen was stuck behind Charles Leclerc's more slippery Ferrari for the entire race, unable to make a pass. He expressed frustration after the race, blaming his peers for urging race control to delay the start due to visibility. This strategic gamble backfired significantly, contributing to his fifth-place finish and allowing Piastri to extend his championship lead. Related: Winner: Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari Despite a 'disastrous' qualifying that saw him start from 18th position and then opt for a pit lane start, Lewis Hamilton delivered a flawless comeback drive at the Belgian Grand Prix. He gained an impressive 11 positions, finishing in seventh place. Hamilton was the only pit lane starter to move up the order significantly. His rush through the field was thanks in no small part to a decisive move to be the first to pit for slicks, and he passed more cars than anyone else on track. Ferrari's updated suspension, which addresses ride height issues, seems to have provided a positive step forward. His performance was a 'brilliant day's work' and a 'glimmer of better things soon to come' in his first year with Ferrari. Read More: Loser: Aston Martin Aston Martin had a dreadful weekend at Spa. The sight of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll battling for second-to-last place in the early stint pointed to their predictable outcome. A lack of qualifying pace was the biggest culprit, setting up an underwhelming race. Similar to Red Bull, Aston Martin's car had been set up for a wet race, but the dry conditions exposed their compromise, leading to them looking about as competitive as they had all weekend. Stroll failed to move up the order significantly, and pitlane starter Alonso never looked like he was making any progress throughout the slog. Their struggle on various circuits, which require both high top speeds and firm medium-to-high-speed cornering grip, was evident.
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Automotive
- Khaleej Times
Piastri and Norris racing like champions in F1 title battle
McLaren boss Andrea Stella says teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are racing like champions and the Formula One title will probably be decided by fine margins and individual brilliance. The pair are 16 points apart in a two-horse race, with Australian Piastri leading McLaren's sixth one-two of the season in Belgium on Sunday and taking his sixth win of the campaign. Red Bull's Max Verstappen is third but 81 points behind with his hopes of a fifth successive title fast receding. There are 11 races left and the intra-team rivalry will be the major focus with McLaren set to retain the constructors' crown with ease as they now a massive 268 points clear of second-placed Ferrari. Norris won in Britain after Piastri was penalised for braking erratically behind the safety car but the Australian triumphed at Spa by slipstreaming past from second on the grid. "There is very, very little between our two drivers and this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level," Stella told reporters. "I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution," added the Italian, who worked with champions at Ferrari and said Piastri and Norris were both operating at that level. At Spa, the regular grid lineup was replaced by a rolling start in wet conditions after four laps behind the safety car, with Norris finding pole position was no real advantage once the race got going. Piastri had discovered the same during the Saturday sprint, when Verstappen won from second on the grid after seizing the lead on the opening lap. "We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar, during the safety car restart and the consequent penalty cost him the race," said Stella. "Here we saw that, somehow related to the circuit characteristic, it would have been very difficult for Lando to keep the position, starting first at the safety car restart." Stella discounted a battery problem that appeared to be an issue initially, saying a slight anomaly had occurred on both cars and Norris should not have been any worse off. "It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart, but at the same time I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap...," he said. "So I think the execution is what is going to make the main difference." Piastri was not unhappy after qualifying second, observing that Spa was probably the best place not to have the best lap and planning his next move already. "The move through Eau Rouge, I knew it was going to be by far my best opportunity to try and win the race. I'd been thinking about it for a while, put it that way," said the Australian.
