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Max Verstappen "was aware" of the risk of receiving a potential Formula 1 penalty in the Spanish Grand Prix during his fastest lap push, according to Christian Horner. The Red Bull driver was on course for a Grand Chelem in Barcelona, just needing the fastest lap bonus point - which he ultimately secured with a 1:16:330 on Lap 61 of 66 - to secure the rare feat of winning from pole and leading every lap. Verstappen's dominance was so great in Spain that the only session of the weekend he did not lead was Q1 - but was on the verge of a penalty in the race after receiving a black and white flag for track limits. He was warned about this by his race engineer, but continued with the push for the extra point regardless, and Horner says Verstappen judged the risk. Viewed by others: Lewis Hamilton Hamilton confirms Merc...

Zak Brown says he wants to see McLaren fighting the so-called "top four" teams in Formula 1 by the end of 2023, but acknowledges that the squad won't be challenging them for position. McLaren have endured a slow start to 2023, with their launch MCL60 design being hobbled until a upgrade package arrived in Azerbaijan, improving the floor of the car. Lando Norris finished 'best of the rest' in Baku in ninth behind the eight cars from Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes, and while Brown admits the team won't catch this group in the standings, he does feel catching them on track is possible. Viewed by others: McLaren McLaren bring striking 'triple crown' livery to Monaco ...

There was a period in Formula 1 where drivers struggled to remain competitive beyond their mid-30s, but Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have continued to show that it is possible past that peak and into your 40s. While this could be put down to some aspects such as F1 cars getting aids including power steering, and that the races are less about putting in qualifying laps in between refuelling stints, driving the perfect lap has now become more precise than ever. Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough puts it down to Alonso's mentality and self critical nature that enables him to keep up with the rest of the grid. "I still think they're pretty tough to drive, Singapore for a couple of hours for example. I think Fernando's really hungry. He's working and training really hard," said McCullough. "When we met him at the back end of last year, we obviously worked with him in Abu Dhabi and he's so self-critical and so wants to push ...

Fernando Alonso says he will ignore Sergio Perez 's Formula 1 request of taking the start of the Miami Grand Prix easy and would "love" to lead. Perez and Alonso will share the front row for the second time this season in Miami, with the Aston Martin driver taking the lead at the start in Saudi Arabia. In Miami, Perez has a golden chance to lead the Drivers' standings for the first time with title rival and current points leader Max Verstappen only down in ninth following a mistake in qualifying and then being caught out by the Charles Leclerc red flag. Should Perez win the race, he will climb to the top of the points, regardless of what Verstappen does - but Alonso is not set to make things easy for the Red Bull driver. Viewed by others: Alpine F1 Team 'Amateurish' Alpine under attack: That is no...

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...

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has warned F1 teams they must "do a better job" in order to end Red Bull's dominant start to the sport's new technical era or else face another change in the regulations . But the Austrian, who spearheaded Mercedes' own monopolisation over Formula 1 with eight Constructors' titles between 2014 and 2021, has insisted he would not wish to pursue any tweaks to the technical regulations. Sergio Perez led Max Verstappen home for Red Bull's third one-two finish in the opening four races this campaign, with pole-sitter Charles Leclerc powerless to resist the pace of his rivals, eventually finishing 20 seconds behind in third. The form has continued from the first year of the new era of F1 in which Red Bull finished 205 points ahead of Ferrari, whilst Verstappen defeated Leclerc by 146 points. The pecking order of the chasing pack has fluctuated since the season-opener in Bahrain, with Aston Martin, Ferrari and M...

Sergio Perez claimed a second Formula 1 victory of the season in a comfortable drive in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, to eat into Max Verstappen 's points lead. The Mexican benefited from the timing of a Safety Car to leapfrog Verstappen and built a healthy gap when the race resumed, going onto claim his sixth Grand Prix victory. Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc took a first podium of the season for Ferrari in third, with Fernando Alonso fourth, Carlos Sainz fifth and Lewis Hamilton in sixth. Check out the full results from the F1 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix below! Result Race - Azerbaijan Pos. Driver Team Time Results are being loaded... View full results ...

Fernando Alonso has conceded he cannot see past an " unbreakable " Max Verstappen and Red Bull domination of F1 until new regulations are introduced in 2026. The Milton Keynes-based outfit secured both championships last season in commanding style and has shown no signs of slowing down this campaign, with Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez claiming each of the first three pole positions and victories. Asked if he was eager to take on Verstappen in on-track combat, Alonso - who has taken podiums in all three races and was Red Bull's nearest challenger in the opening two rounds of the season - warned such a battle was a distance away. "I am looking forward [to fighting Verstappen] because at the moment he is on the top of the Game . He is driving better than everyone else, he has the fastest car, everything is perfect," Alonso told select media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "So to beat that perfection, you need something really special and you...

Former Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat says Max Verstappen's sustained success at Red Bull in recent years stems from the team accommodating all of his needs. Verstappen has won the past two F1 Drivers' Championships and looks well-placed to add a third title in 2023, with Red Bull's RB19 proving the class of the field. But while Kvyat acknowledged Verstappen's undoubted talent, the Russian added that the World Champion has everything at Red Bull set up exactly as he wants. "Of course, you have to give [Verstappen] credit," Kvyat told the Track Limits podcast. "He's doing an amazing job. Very strong wheel-to-wheel, probably the strongest wheel-to-wheel. "But I think everyone's beatable in certain conditions, and the team has given him everything he needs, everything he wants." After dominating in 2022, Red Bull have eased to victory in the first three races of 2023, and Kvyat alluded to several other teams looking towards ...

Daniel Ricciardo will drive a Red Bull Formula 1 car around the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife later in 2023. The Australian rejoined the team after being dropped by McLaren for this season, with his third driver duties involving commercial responsibilities as well as playing reserve for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. As part of his role, Ricciardo will complete a number of show runs across the year, with the latest announcement confirming his participation a the Red Bull Formula Nurburgring event in September, which will help support the 12H Nurburgring. The eight-time Grand Prix winner will become the first driver to take to the Nordschleife in modern F1 machinery in a decade, following Michael Schumacher's run as part of the 24-hour event. Nick Heidfeld also completed a lap of the 'Green Hell' in 2007. Ricciardo's other duties this year include attending a number of events as Red Bull's reserve driver, as well as the potential for taking part...

Max Verstappen has given his reaction to George Russell 's claim that Red Bull are still masking their true pace. The Milton Keynes-based squad have taken victory at all three opening rounds of the 2023 F1 season, but Russell believes that there is still more to come from the championship leaders. "For sure they’re holding back," said Russell to the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast. "I think they are almost embarrassed to show their full potential because the faster they seem, the more that the sport is going to try and hold them back somehow." However, Verstappen has suggested that this is not the case, with the Dutchman arguing that he did not deem it necessary to push too hard and risk wearing out his tyres in Melbourne. Verstappen: No need to destroy your tyres "I think anyway, there’s nothing really they can do," Verstappen said. "I mean, we just try to do the best we can with the development of the car, but ...

Lewis Hamilton has set out the criteria by which he could know when it may be time to consider retiring from F1. The seven-time World Champion endured his most difficult season in the sport in 2022, with Mercedes struggling to match the pace of rivals Red Bull and Ferrari due to issues with the W13 car. This does not seem to have dented Hamilton's motivation, though. The Briton has previously declared that he hopes to sign a multi-year contract extension beyond his current deal, which expires at the end of 2023. Despite this, Hamilton feels he will know when it is time to think about walking away from Formula 1 . Hamilton reveals criteria for considering F1 retirement When asked if the struggles of 2022 had had any impact on his thoughts over his future in the sport, Hamilton admitted that it is "difficult to say". "If we'd had a year like [2021 in 2022...

Carlos Sainz believes that Ferrari can be optimistic of their chances of overhauling Red Bull next season, despite their rival's convincing championship win in 2022. Ferrari's championship challenge failed to materialise despite a strong start to the 2022 season. Two wins in four races gave Charles Leclerc and Ferrari the early leads in the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. However, Red Bull's development, along with Ferrari errors, meant that the Milton Keynes team ultimately dominated the year with 17 out of 22 Grand Prix wins. Sainz, who had his own pace deficit issues, was asked how big the challenge would be to get ahead of Red Bull in 2023, with the Spanish driver pointing to Ferrari's superior qualifying pace. "I feel we have chances," Sainz told media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "Red Bull has been dominant, but they've been dominant without being clearly ahead in pure qualifying pace and race pace. So I don...

McLaren boss Zak Brown feels confident that battery issues that have arisen in Formula E have been solved. The sport is set to be the next premier motorsport category to enter a new era, as it introduces the all-new Gen3 cars for the 2022/23 season. So far the launch of the Gen3 car has been plagued with issues, namely with the return to the single-spec battery designed by Williams Advanced Engineering. The battery cells have been overheating, causing degradation and derating, which led to a change in design of the packaging prior to the latest test in Valencia. McLaren Chief Executive Officer, Zak Brown, spoke positively in an exclusive interview with TheFOXposts.Com about the reliability shown in the pre-season test ahead of McLaren's first season in the category. "I was pleased with testing in Valencia," said Brown. "We showed pretty good reliability and good pace. I think we're all concerned when you have new regulations come in that are with...

One of the standout performances from 2022 came in the form of Nyck de Vries making his Formula 1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix. Substituting in for regular driver Alex Albon who was suffering from tonsillitis, the Dutchman already ran in an FP1 session for Williams earlier in the year at the Spanish Grand Prix. This was followed by practice runs with Mercedes at Paul Ricard and Aston Martin at Monza, which meant De Vries had enough experience in 2022 machinery before his race debut. Following the impressive run to P9 and scoring points for the team, fellow compatriot Max Verstappen revealed in an interview on Viaplay that he told De Vries to contact Red Bull Advisor, Helmut Marko, about a seat for 2023. "I told him call Helmut," said Verstappen. "I saw Helmut after the race, he was very happy and impressed. And if you call him at the right time..." Viewed ...

Max Verstappen has revealed that he hopes to take part in endurance racing, possibly in "two or three years ", alongside father Jos. The Dutchman is contracted to remain with the Red Bull F1 team until the end of 2028, meaning that he will be 31 years old by the time that his deal ends. While the likes of Fernando Alonso have continued racing far beyond this age – with Alonso set to turn 42 in 2023 – Verstappen does not see himself staying in Formula 1 until that stage. He would, however, like to try his hand at other categories of motorsport at some point in the future. Verstappen reveals endurance racing hopes When asked on Viaplay F1 Talks about the age he intends racing in F1 until, Verstappen said: "Definitely not [Alonso's age]! Not in Formula 1, who knows what else. "But I definitely want to do endurance at some point. Maybe still a few more...

McLaren is competing in more championships than ever before, with the team adding IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E in recent seasons. The team is set to field four cars in IndyCar next year, as they attempt to compete with big teams such as Chip Ganassi and Andretti for the championship. But with a record three races in the US in Formula 1 next season, why does the team need an IndyCar team? According to Chief Executive Officer, Zak Brown it is all about exposure in the North America market. "When we look at what gets our fans excited, where we sell our beautiful road cars, and what our corporate partners want, as far as market penetration goes, North America comes right to the top of the list," he said in a recent interview for McLaren. "It wasn't long ago, F1 wasn't very popular in North America. It's amazing what's happened in a short period of time, a lot thanks to Drive to Survive - the Netflix show. "But we felt we wanted to hav...

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he struggle d with return ing to Abu Dhabi for the 2022 season finale following the controversial ending to the 2021 race. The Briton infamously lost out on a potential eighth World Championship at last year's Grand Prix when Max Verstappen overtook him on the final lap after a contentious Safety Car ruling, with the race victory handing the Dutchman the title. Hamilton disappeared from public view in the weeks after the event, leading to speculation over whether he would even return for the 2022 campaign. It was not until February that the seven-time World Champion reemerged via a social media post, and he was soon back in action as the new season got underway. However, 2022 proved to be a challenging year performance-wise for Mercedes , with Hamilton arriving into the final race in Abu Dhabi without a win to his name. Viewed by others: ...