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Ex-F1 champion praises McLaren: This is where they should have started!

Former Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill says McLaren 's recent progress means the Woking squad are now at the level they should have been at from the beginning of the season. McLaren struggled badly with pace and reliability in the first two races of 2023, and admitted that they had not hit key development targets set in pre-season, with Technical Director James Key leaving his post. However, a better race at the third round in Melbourne saw drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secure a double points finish, thanks in part to a high rate of attrition. After a major upgrade package to the MCL60 was delivered, Norris came home ninth in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix to add another two points to McLaren's tally, and Hill noted that the papaya outfit have finally caught up to their rivals. "This is where they should have started. They're four or five months behind where they should be," Hill told the F1 Nation podcast. "They are getting...

The #1 curse MotoGP’s world champion hopes to break in 2023

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Listen to this article Though Ducati shot its bolt a day early by accidentally revealing 2022 MotoGP title winner Francesco Bagnaia would be running the #1 on its website, that fact was finally confirmed on Monday morning at the Italian marque's launch event in the Dolomites. And thus the debate over the draw of the #1 plate continues: fans either feel passionate that a world champion must carry the #1 plate, as if it were some sort of birthright or – like this writer – you don't really care either way. The #1 hasn't appeared on the front of a MotoGP bike since 2012, when Casey Stoner rode what would be his final season in the series with the number to mark his second world title. It's fitting, then, that Bagnaia – who ended Ducati's 15-year drought last season since Stoner's first world title in 2007 – picks up the mantle for 2023 on his Desmosedici. T...