Edd Straw

Formula 1

Wolff leads new calls for F1 team partnership rules ‘reform’

As Haas thrives and personnel switch between teams amid the budget cap, there’s fresh scrutiny on rules over alliances, with Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine arguing Formula 1 needs to tighten up

Formula 1

Mercedes’ latest F1 porpoising woe ‘most severe’ yet

George Russell described the porpoising of the Mercedes W13 on the run to Turn 9 during Friday practice for Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix as “the most severe I’ve experienced”, with he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton frustrated that set-up changes didn’t impact car performance

Formula 1

Vettel was ‘definitely’ too ill to race in opening grands prix

Sebastian Vettel says it would not have been possible for him to race in the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix and that it was “definitely the right decision” to miss the first two Formula 1 races of the season

Formula 1

‘Jinxed’ but very fast – Haas’s bizarre Australian GP history

Haas has a remarkable record of two sixth places and six retirements in its eight starts across four Australian GPs. Edd Straw explains the team’s bizarre history in Melbourne

Formula 1

F1 stars Alonso and Perez drive an Australian Supercar

Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez sampled an Australian Supercar for the first time at Albert Park on Thursday

Formula 1

Melbourne track and DRS tweaks could make cars ‘quite loose’

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen expects Formula 1 cars to be “quite loose” when running with the DRS open in the new zone through the flat-out left-hand kink on the run to Turn 9 in Melbourne

Formula 1

No spare Haas F1 chassis in Melbourne after Schumacher crash

The Haas Formula 1 team will not have a spare chassis for the Australian Grand Prix following Mick Schumacher’s Saudi Arabia qualifying crash

Formula 1

Alpine hopes to be ‘easily underweight’ by mid-season

Alpine hopes to be at to the minimum weight with its 2022 Formula 1 car before the end of May and “easily underweight” by the middle of the year

Formula 1

F1’s expansion exposes its flawed ‘positive messaging’ defence

Opinion: Formula 1’s strategy of deflecting criticism about where it races it to talk up the benefits it can bring to those territories, but that one-size-fits-all defence is too hit and hope, and only a vague admission that it doesn’t like some aspects of the places it sometimes visits

Formula 1

How unprecedented four DRS zones will impact F1’s Australian GP

Four DRS zones in Australia may seem a bizarre choice after how the 2022 season started, but Melbourne is a very different type of F1 circuit

Formula 1

Steiner: F1 car upgrades can be ‘overrated’

While Haas is back to developing its F1 car after hitting pause in 2021, Guenther Steiner warns that upgrades are “a bit overrated sometimes”

Formula 1

Perez is doing the job Red Bull asked – and making a 2023 case

A single fourth-place finish may be less than Sergio Perez would have wanted from the first two races of the 2022 Formula 1 season, but his performances in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were just what Red Bull wants from him

Formula 1

Ricciardo ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if McLaren won in 2022

Daniel Ricciardo has backed McLaren to overcome its poor start to the F1 season, saying he “wouldn’t be surprised” if it won a race this year

Formula 1

What next for ‘keen but not desperate’ Hulkenberg in F1?

Nico Hulkenberg won’t be losing any sleep if the Saudi GP proves to be his last in F1. But that’s far from a given

Formula 1

Saturday F1 races aren’t as uncommon as you might think

Formula 1’s return to Las Vegas in 2023 will be the first time a full world championship grand prix race has been held on a day other than a Sunday in 38 years. But the Sunday race day tradition wasn’t always so solid

Formula 1

What six-digit Schumacher crash bill means for Haas F1 budget

Mick Schumacher was thankfully uninjured in his monster Jeddah F1 crash, but it will eat into Haas’s “contingency” budget

Formula 1

‘Miscommunication’ led to Zhou’s bizarre double F1 penalty

A stellar Formula 1 debut led to a point for Zhou Guanyu in Bahrain, but things didn’t go quite as well for him in Saudi Arabia. Edd Straw explains why

Formula 1

Edd Straw’s 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix driver ratings

There’s no full marks, but plenty of high – and some very low – scorers in Edd Straw’s second F1 driver ratings of the 2022 season from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Formula 1

Alfa Romeo’s costly F1 start problem is likely to linger

The clutch vibration problem that nearly wrecked Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa Romeo Formula 1 debut won’t be cured for some time. And Gary Anderson has a theory about it

Formula 1

‘We need a rethink’ – Mercedes’ Saudi GP misery explained

That George Russell qualifying sixth represented a good result, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton not even making it to Q2, tells you everything you need to know about the extent of the difficulties faced by Mercedes during Formula 1’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend

Formula 1

Drivers split on ‘most dangerous’ F1 layout after more crashes

Formula 1 drivers have expressed mixed feelings about the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after an incident-strewn Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying session.

Formula 1

F1’s Saudi GP gamble has backed it into a corner

Whatever future course it takes, F1 will have been well-aware of nearby conflicts when it signed its 15-year Saudi GP dea

Formula 1

How F1’s ongoing porpoising saga might play out in Jeddah

Formula 1 teams and drivers are split on whether porpoising will be better or worse at the high-speed Jeddah track. Edd Straw explains why there’s so much uncertainty

Formula 1

Hulkenberg to race in Jeddah as Vettel is ruled out

Nico Hulkenberg will continue to deputise for Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin in F1’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Formula 1

What’s changed at Jeddah, and why drivers aren’t impressed

Modifications have been made to the Jeddah Formula 1 street circuit to improve sightlines. But now drivers have been able to take a look at them for the first time – and they’re not sure the changes go far enough

Formula 1

Zhou’s ultra-eventful last-to-10th F1 debut in full

Alfa Romeo F1 rookie Zhou Guanyu dropped to last on the opening lap of the Bahrain GP, but a composed and incisive climb back through the midfield laid his path to a point on his debut

Formula 1

Must-fix Alfa issue nearly ruined Bottas’s dream debut

Valtteri Bottas’s sixth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix was a dream result on his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 debut, but a recurring problem with starts almost derailed his race. Bottas qualified sixth, but dropped to 14th place on the first lap as a consequence of wheelspin off the line. This was caused b

Formula 1

How Haas went from last to F1’s midfield benchmark

This time last year Haas was embarking on a hopeless season that was never going to yield points on merit. Now it’s the “strongest car in the midfield” according to Kevin Magnussen. Edd Straw explains the team’s transformation

Formula 1

Edd Straw’s 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix F1 driver ratings

There are no perfect 10s but plenty of star performers – as well as some underperformers – in Edd Straw’s first driver ratings of the 2022 Formula 1 season

Formula 1

How Albon and Williams overdelivered in Bahrain qualifying

The Williams Formula 1 team headed into qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix expecting both cars to be eliminated in Q1 but reached Q2 with Alex Albon. He ‘really took charge’, but others underperforming helped

Formula 1

There’s so much at stake for F1’s new race direction era

Formula 1’s new race control era kicks off in today’s Bahrain Grand Prix with much at stake given the blow to credibility caused by the handling of last year’s Abu Dhabi finale

Formula 1

F1 evaluating ‘virtual unlapping’ after Abu Dhabi controversy

Formula 1 will evaluate the possibility of introducing a “virtual unlapping procedure” next season as one of the recommendations of the FIA report into the handling of last year’s Abu Dhabi season finale

Formula 1

Alfa Romeo has finally eliminated a limitation it had since 2017

Alfa Romeo believes it never recovered from its poor start to Formula 1’s last rules cycle, when it was in a low ebb in its previous Sauber guise. But it’s already seen enough from its 2022 car to be confident that’s all in the past

Formula 1

F1 2022’s first pacesetter quickly went off the rails

Pierre Gasly was the fastest driver in the first practice session of the 2022 F1 season but his and the team’s day quickly soured thereafter. Edd Straw, who was trackside during FP2, gives his verdict on their struggles

Formula 1

Where F1’s 2022 cars are slower than last year – for now

Formula 1 is heading into the unknown with the first race under the new regulations in Bahrain this weekend, but the three days of testing at the circuit allowed Mercedes to show how this year’s cars compare to last year’s corner by corner

Formula 1

The solution McLaren hopes will fix its F1 brake woes

McLaren has a modified front-brake assembly on its cars ahead of Formula 1’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, which it hopes will solve the overheating problems that blighted its three days of running in the test

Formula 1

Why COVID is a bigger threat than ever for drivers

COVID-19 precautions are beginning to be rolled back worldwide, including in F1 – but as Sebastian Vettel’s absence from the Bahrain GP shows, the virus’s presence is still having an effect

Formula 1

Alpine testing form suggests Alonso set for career crossroads

Fernando Alonso always emphasised 2022 over 2021 when it came to his F1 comeback. But what if 2022 is more of the same?

Formula 1

F1 rules update stamps out Abu Dhabi-style partial unlapping

The FIA has modified the Formula 1 sporting regulations to clarify one of the rules that proved contentious in last year’s Abu Dhabi GP

Formula 1

Reliability risks squandering Alfa’s ‘clear step forward’

Alfa Romeo was the sixth-fastest team in Formula 1’s Bahrain test but will reliability woes hide its ‘clear step forward’ in 2022?