# The Race > Stay ahead with The Race – the world’s largest independent motorsport channel. Get the latest news, expert analysis, videos and podcasts across F1, MotoGP, Formula E and more. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### As it happened: Verstappen wins, Haas protests Australia result URL: https://www.the-race.com/live-f1-2023-australian-grand-prix-race-day/ Last updated: 2023-09-15T16:34:43.000Z _No content available._ ### COMPETITION: The Race Members' Club signed cap giveaway URL: https://www.the-race.com/the-race-members-club-giveaway/ Last updated: 2025-05-19T11:17:52.000Z - This competition is open exclusively to all active members in The Race's 'Racers', 'Racers (F1-only)' and Champions tiers on Patreon and not the general public. - Entries will only be accepted via the competition post on Patreon. - Each member can only enter once. - The closing date for entries is 23:59 BST on May 31. - The two winners will be drawn at random and contacted by email using the email details attached to their Patreon account. - Each winner will receive one signed cap. - Should the winner not respond within 10 days an alternative winner will be drawn. - There is no cash alternative for the prize. The prize is not negotiable or transferable. - All participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by these Terms and Conditions. ### Welcome to The Race Live Hub URL: https://www.the-race.com/live/ Last updated: 2024-11-21T14:40:45.000Z ![Australian Grand Prix 2024 race start](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/04/XPB_1268548_HiRes.jpg) ## The latest Formula 1 live updates Welcome to The Race Live Hub homepage – the place for all the latest live updates, paddock insight, and expert answers you need from each Formula 1 grand prix weekend. **The 2024 F1 season is here! Follow every session as it happens right here on The Race Live Hub.** ### Coming up next: Las Vegas GP [Las Vegas GP qualifying](live-f1-2024-las-vegas-grand-prix-qualifying) [Las Vegas Grand Prix](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-las%20vegas-grand-prix/) ## Brazilian GP November 3 2024 [Brazilian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-brazilian-grand-prix/) ![Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, Brazilian GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/11/XPB_1317264_HiRes-1.jpg) ## Mexican GP October 27 2024 [Mexican GP race day](f1-mexican-grand-prix-live-race-updates-2024) ![Mexican GP winner Carlos Sainz](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/11/XPB_1314347_HiRes--1-.jpg) ## US GP October 20 2024 [US GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-united-states-grand-prix/) ![Charles Leclerc, US GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/11/XPB_1312211_HiRes.jpg) ## Singapore GP September 22 2024 [Singapore GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-singapore-grand-prix/) ![Singapore GP podium](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1309198_HiRes.jpg) ## Azerbaijan GP September 15 2024 [Azerbaijan GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-azerbaijan-grand-prix/) ![Charles Leclerc Azerbaijan GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1306395_HiRes.jpg) ## Italian GP September 1 2024 [Italian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-italian-grand-prix/) ![Italian GP podium](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1303876_HiRes.jpg) ## Dutch GP August 25 2024 [Dutch GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-dutch-grand-prix-race/) ![Austrian GP race start](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1301364_HiRes--1-.jpg) ## Belgian GP July 28 2024 [Belgian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-belgian-grand-prix/) ![Austrian GP race start](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1299262_HiRes.jpg) ## Hungarian GP July 21 2024 [Hungarian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-hungarian-gp/) ![Austrian GP race start](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1296875_HiRes.jpg) ## British GP July 7 2024 [British GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-british-grand-prix/) ![Austrian GP race start](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/09/XPB_1293828_HiRes--1-.jpg) ## Austrian GP June 30 2024 [Austrian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-austrian-grand-prix/) ![Austrian GP race start](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1282535_HiRes.jpg) ## Spanish GP June 23 2024 [Spanish GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-spanish-grand-prix/) ![Spanish GP F1 podium](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1282535_HiRes.jpg) ## Canadian GP June 9 2024 [Canadian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-canadian-grand-prix/) ![George Russell Max Verstappen Lando Norris Canadian GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1282535_HiRes.jpg) ## Monaco GP May 26 2024 [Monaco GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-monaco-grand-prix/) ![Charles Leclerc Ferrari Monaco GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1282535_HiRes.jpg) ## Emilia Romagna GP May 19 2024 [Emilia Romagna GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-emilia-romagna-grand-prix/) ![Max Verstappen Red Bull Emilia Romagna GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1279036_HiRes.jpg) ## Miami GP May 5 2024 [Miami GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-miami-grand-prix/) ![Lando Norris McLaren Miami GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1276304_HiRes.jpg) ## Chinese GP April 21 2024 [Chinese GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-chinese-grand-prix/) ![Max Verstappen Red Bull Chinese GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/XPB_1273309_HiRes.jpg) ## Japanese GP April 7 2024 [Japanese GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-japanese-grand-prix/) ![Max Verstappen Red Bull Japanese GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/04/XPB_1270717_HiRes--1--1.jpg) ## Australian GP March 24 2024 [Australian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-australian-grand-prix/) ![Carlos Sainz Ferrari Australian GP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/04/XPB_1268684_HiRes--2-.jpg) ## Saudi Arabian GP March 9 2024 [Saudi Arabian GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-race-day/) ![4 Gp Italia F1/2023 Domenica 03/09/2023](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/03/XPB_1266349_HiRes.jpg) ## Bahrain GP March 2 2024 [Bahrain GP race day](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/live-f1-2024-bahrain-grand-prix-race-day/) ![4 Gp Italia F1/2023 Domenica 03/09/2023](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/03/XPB_1263415_HiRes.jpg) ### Members’ Club URL: https://www.the-race.com/members-club/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T00:25:00.000Z ![Motor Racing Formula One World Championship Bahrain Grand Prix Race Day Sakhir, Bahrain](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/05/members-club-block-b.jpeg) # Welcome to The Race Members’ Club ### Thank you for your support You are playing a key part in ensuring The Race continues to produce world-class independent motorsport coverage. As well as unlimited access to The Race stories, in a reduced ad environment, you can get a whole host of exclusive content. If you have any questions or need assistance with your account please email: [members@the-race.com](mailto:members@the-race.com) ## MEMBERS-ONLY PODCASTS As part of The Race Members’ Club, you get early access to our much-loved Bring Back the V10s podcast, a special members-only podcast from Edd Straw and Gary Anderson where they answer your questions, plus a couple of extra exclusives too. [RSS FEED](https://www.spreaker.com/show/6482699/episodes/feed?key=hHSXmCzscBnJ&ref=the-race.com) The RSS feed will allow you to add our podcasts to either Apple or Google Podcasts. To add to Apple Podcasts: - Open the Podcasts app. - Tap Library. - Tap Edit in the upper right corner, and then tap “Add a Show by URL...” - Enter your RSS feed URL. - Tap Follow. To add to Google Podcasts: - Click the "Activity" icon (bottom-right of your screen). - Click the "Subscriptions" link at the top-right part of your screen. - Click the "···" menu (upper-right). - Select "Add by RSS feed". - Paste in the RSS feed URL. - Click "Subscribe". [![2023 08 29 Trs 1180x350px Trmc](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2023/09/2023-08-29_TRS_1180x350px_TRMC.png)](https://shop.the-race.com/?ref=the-race.com) ## YOUR 15% OFF CODE FOR JULY IS: FYJMVAMQJUIY ### The Race Memberships URL: https://www.the-race.com/membersclub/ Last updated: 2024-03-06T12:13:05.000Z _No content available._ ### Results URL: https://www.the-race.com/results/ Last updated: 2024-04-09T14:27:40.000Z _No content available._ ### Race Events URL: https://www.the-race.com/race-events/ Last updated: 2025-04-24T14:28:21.000Z _No content available._ ### All-Star Series URL: https://www.the-race.com/all-star-series/ Last updated: 2023-09-15T16:36:20.000Z ### Race format For each category the race format is the same, although the race length and number of laps depends on the circuit: 1x qualifying session 1x race 1x reversed grid race (the starting order is the inverse of the qualifying times) ### Points Points are awarded by this system. \[therace\_allstar\_points\] ### Where to watch The Race All-Star Series is shown live and in full on The Race’s YouTube channel – [the-race.com/youtube](https://www.the-race.com/youtube) It can all be viewed live on [ESPN2](https://www.espn.com/watch/player/%5F/type/live/channel/espn2/country/us?ref=the-race.com) in the US and on the [ESPN app](http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn?ref=the-race.com). ### How to get involved #### Simracers You can race in the All-Star Series! If you think you have what it takes to battle with the best sim racers, there are places on the grid up for grabs. To enter, you need to go through the Hot Lap qualifiers – which take place between 10 am and 10 pm (UK) time on the Friday ahead of each race. For details on how to enter the Hot Lap qualifiers, click here [click here](https://rfactor2.studio-397.com/competition?ref=the-race.com) (you will need a Steam account) #### Real-world Racers If you are a currently an active racing driver who wishes to take part – or a icon from motorsport’s rich history who fancies competing in the the Legends Trophy – please send an email to [drivers@the-race.com](mailto:drivers@the-race.com) [Download the Season 2 Competitor Handbook](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/05/The-Race-All-Star-Series-Competitor-Handbook-Season-2.pdf?ref=the-race.com) ### Advertising and sponsorship To discuss commercial opportunities regarding The Race All-Star series, please contact [advertising@the-race.com](mailto:advertising@the-race.com) ### Media and broadcasting For media information (including photos) or broadcasting opportunities, please email [contactus@the-race.com](mailto:contactus@the-race.com) ### Our Partners \[therace\_partners id=”” note=”Do not edit this shortcode”\] [Learn more about rFactor2](https://www.studio-397.com/?ref=the-race.com) ### Podcasts URL: https://www.the-race.com/podcasts/ Last updated: 2024-05-13T12:05:55.000Z _No content available._ ### Terms & Conditions URL: https://www.the-race.com/terms-and-conditions/ Last updated: 2025-10-09T13:55:22.000Z ## Introduction These terms and conditions apply between you, the User of this Website (including any sub-domains, unless expressly excluded by their own terms and conditions), and The Race Media Ltd, the owner and operator of this Website. Please read these terms and conditions carefully, as they affect your legal rights. Your agreement to comply with and be bound by these terms and conditions is deemed to occur upon your first use of the Website. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms and conditions, you should stop using the Website immediately. In these terms and conditions, User or Users means any third party that accesses the Website and is not either (i) employed by The Race Media Ltd and acting in the course of their employment or (ii) engaged as a consultant or otherwise providing services to The Race Media Ltd and accessing the Website in connection with the provision of such services. You must be at least 18 years of age to use this Website. By using the Website and agreeing to these terms and conditions, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years of age. ## Intellectual property and acceptable use 1\. All Content included on the Website, unless uploaded by Users, is the property of The Race Media Ltd, our affiliates or other relevant third parties. In these terms and conditions, Content means any text, graphics, images, audio, video, software, data compilations, page layout, underlying code and software and any other form of information capable of being stored in a computer that appears on or forms part of this Website, including any such content uploaded by Users. By continuing to use the Website you acknowledge that such Content is protected by copyright, trademarks, database rights and other intellectual property rights. Nothing on this site shall be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any trademark, logo or service mark displayed on the site without the owner’s prior written permission 2\. You may, for your own personal, non-commercial use only, do the following: a. retrieve, display and view the Content on a computer screen b. print one copy of the Content 3\. You must not otherwise reproduce, modify, copy, distribute or use for commercial purposes any Content without the written permission of The Race Media Ltd. 4\. You acknowledge that you are responsible for any Content you may submit via the Website, including the legality, reliability, appropriateness, originality and copyright of any such Content. You may not upload to, distribute or otherwise publish through the Website any Content that (i) is confidential, proprietary, false, fraudulent, libellous, defamatory, obscene, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, infringing on intellectual property rights, abusive, illegal or otherwise objectionable; (ii) may constitute or encourage a criminal offence, violate the rights of any party or otherwise give rise to liability or violate any law; or (iii) may contain software viruses, political campaigning, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of “spam.” You may not use a false email address or other identifying information, impersonate any person or entity or otherwise mislead as to the origin of any content. You may not upload commercial content onto the Website. 5\. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all the rights to the Content you post; that the Content is accurate; that use of the Content you supply does not violate any provision of these terms and conditions and will not cause injury to any person; and that you will indemnify The Race Media Ltd for all claims resulting from Content you supply. ## Prohibited use 6\. You may not use the Website for any of the following purposes: a) in any way which causes, or may cause, damage to the Website or interferes with any other person’s use or enjoyment of the Website; b) in any way which is harmful, unlawful, illegal, abusive, harassing, threatening or otherwise objectionable or in breach of any applicable law, regulation, governmental order; c) making, transmitting or storing electronic copies of Content protected by copyright without the permission of the owner. ## Registration 7\. You must ensure that the details provided by you on registration or at any time are correct and complete. 8\. You must inform us immediately of any changes to the information that you provide when registering by updating your personal details to ensure we can communicate with you effectively. 9\. We may suspend or cancel your registration with immediate effect for any reasonable purposes or if you breach these terms and conditions. 10\. You may cancel your registration at any time by informing us in writing to the address at the end of these terms and conditions. If you do so, you must immediately stop using the Website. Cancellation or suspension of your registration does not affect any statutory rights. ## Password and security 11\. When you register on this Website, you will be asked to create a password, which you should keep confidential and not disclose or share with anyone. 12\. If we have reason to believe that there is or is likely to be any misuse of the Website or breach of security, we may require you to change your password or suspend your account. ## Links to other websites 13\. This Website may contain links to other sites. Unless expressly stated, these sites are not under the control of The Race Media Ltd or that of our affiliates. 14\. We assume no responsibility for the content of such Websites and disclaim liability for any and all forms of loss or damage arising out of the use of them. 15\. The inclusion of a link to another site on this Website does not imply any endorsement of the sites themselves or of those in control of them. ## Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy 16\. Use of the Website is also governed by our Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy, which are incorporated into these terms and conditions by this reference. To view the Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy, please click on the following: https://the-race.com/privacy-policy/ and . ## Availability of the Website and disclaimers 17\. Any online facilities, tools, services or information that The Race Media Ltd makes available through the Website (the Service) is provided “as is” and on an “as available” basis. We give no warranty that the Service will be free of defects and/or faults. To the maximum extent permitted by the law, we provide no warranties (express or implied) of fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy of information, compatibility and satisfactory quality. The Race Media Ltd is under no obligation to update information on the Website. 18\. Whilst The Race Media Ltd uses reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Website is secure and free of errors, viruses and other malware, we give no warranty or guaranty in that regard and all Users take responsibility for their own security, that of their personal details and their computers. 19\. The Race Media Ltd accepts no liability for any disruption or non-availability of the Website. 20\. The Race Media Ltd reserves the right to alter, suspend or discontinue any part (or the whole of) the Website including, but not limited to, any products and/or services available. These terms and conditions shall continue to apply to any modified version of the Website unless it is expressly stated otherwise. ## Limitation of liability 21\. Nothing in these terms and conditions will: (a) limit or exclude our or your liability for death or personal injury resulting from our or your negligence, as applicable; (b) limit or exclude our or your liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (c) limit or exclude any of our or your liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law. 22\. We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of events beyond our reasonable control. 23\. To the maximum extent permitted by law, The Race Media Ltd accepts no liability for any of the following: a) any business losses, such as loss of profits, income, revenue, anticipated savings, business, contracts, goodwill or commercial opportunities; b) loss or corruption of any data, database or software; c) any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage. ## General 24\. You may not transfer any of your rights under these terms and conditions to any other person. We may transfer our rights under these terms and conditions where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected. 25\. These terms and conditions may be varied by us from time to time. Such revised terms will apply to the Website from the date of publication. Users should check the terms and conditions regularly to ensure familiarity with the then current version. 26\. These terms and conditions together with the Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy contain the whole agreement between the parties relating to its subject matter and supersede all prior discussions, arrangements or agreements that might have taken place in relation to the terms and conditions. 27\. The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply to these terms and conditions and no third party will have any right to enforce or rely on any provision of these terms and conditions. 28\. If any court or competent authority finds that any provision of these terms and conditions (or part of any provision) is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part-provision will, to the extent required, be deemed to be deleted, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of these terms and conditions will not be affected. 29\. Unless otherwise agreed, no delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other, right or remedy. 30\. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted according to the law of England and Wales and all disputes arising under the Agreement (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts. ## The Race Media Ltd details 31\. The Race Media Ltd is a company incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 12232793 whose registered address is 201 Borough High Street, London, England, SE1 1JA and it operates the Website www.the-race.com. You can contact The Race Media Ltd by email on [editorial@the-race.com](mailto:editorial@the-race.com). ## Attribution 32\. These terms and conditions were created using a document from Rocket Lawyer (https://www.rocketlawyer.co.uk). ### Contact URL: https://www.the-race.com/contact/ Last updated: 2024-05-02T20:12:24.000Z _No content available._ ### Join Our Newsletter URL: https://www.the-race.com/newsletter/ Last updated: 2024-03-06T13:50:31.000Z _No content available._ ### Privacy Policy URL: https://www.the-race.com/privacy-policy/ Last updated: 2026-02-18T16:33:41.000Z This privacy policy applies between you, the User of this Website and The Race Media Ltd, the owner and provider of this Website. The Race Media Ltd takes the privacy of your information very seriously. This privacy policy applies to our use of any and all Data collected by us or provided by you in relation to your use of the Website. This privacy policy should be read alongside, and in addition to, our Terms and Conditions, which can be found at: www.the-race.com/termsandconditions Please read this privacy policy carefully. **1: Definitions and interpretation In this privacy policy, the following definitions are used:** **Data** Collectively all information that you submit to The Race Media Ltd via the Website. This definition incorporates, where applicable, the definitions provided in the Data Protection Laws; **Cookies** A small text file placed on your computer by this Website when you visit certain parts of the Website and/or when you use certain features of the Website. Details of the cookies used by this Website are set out in the clause below (Cookies); **Data Protection Laws** Any applicable law relating to the processing of personal Data, including but not limited to the Directive 96/46/EC (Data Protection Directive) or the GDPR, and any national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, for as long as the GDPR is effective in the UK; **GDPR** The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679; **The Race Media Ltd, we or us** The Race Media Ltd, a company incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 12232793 whose registered office is at The Race Media Ltd., 201 Borough High Street, London, England, SE1 1JA; **UK and EU Cookie Law** The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 as amended by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011; **User or you** Any third party that accesses the Website and is not either (i) employed by The Race Media Ltd and acting in the course of their employment or (ii) engaged as a consultant or otherwise providing services to The Race Media Ltd and accessing the Website in connection with the provision of such services; and **Website** The website that you are currently using, www.the-race.com, and any sub-domains of this site unless expressly excluded by their own terms and conditions. **2: In this privacy policy, unless the context requires a different interpretation:** a) the singular includes the plural and vice versa; b) references to sub-clauses, clauses, schedules or appendices are to sub-clauses, clauses, schedules or appendices of this privacy policy; c) a reference to a person includes firms, companies, government entities, trusts and partnerships; d) “including” is understood to mean “including without limitation”; e) reference to any statutory provision includes any modification or amendment of it; f) the headings and subheadings do not form part of this privacy policy. ## Scope of this privacy policy **3.** This privacy policy applies only to the actions of The Race Media Ltd and Users with respect to this Website and any associated web properties owned and managed by The Race Media Ltd. It does not extend to any websites that can be accessed from this Website including, but not limited to, any links we may provide to social media websites. **4.** For purposes of the applicable Data Protection Laws, The Race Media Ltd is the “data controller”. This means that The Race Media Ltd determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which your Data is processed. ## Data collected **5.** We may collect the following Data, which includes personal Data, from you: a) name; a) date of birth; b) gender; c) job title; d) profession; e) contact Information such as email addresses and telephone numbers; f) demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests; g) IP address (automatically collected); h) web browser type and version (automatically collected); i) operating system (automatically collected); j) a list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on this Website, and the site you exit to (automatically collected); k) Device settings including access to your WiFi or GPS location/settings related to the location of your device. Additionally, we may collect the following information indirectly from partners: a) We may enhance our knowledge of you, from other companies who have obtained your permission (through their own privacy policies) to share information about you. b) If you log-in to our websites through a social media site, such as Facebook, you are granting permission to Facebook to share your user information with us. This will include your name, email address, date of birth, location, plus any other information you have permitted Facebook to share with third parties. If you remove the app from your Facebook account, we will no longer have access to this information. In each case, in accordance with this privacy policy. ## How we collect Data **6.** We collect Data in the following ways: a) data is given to us by you; and b) data is collected automatically. ## Data that is given to us by you **7.** The Race Media Ltd will collect your Data in a number of ways, for example: a) when you contact us through the Website, by telephone, post, email or through any other means; b) when you register with us and set up an account to receive our products/services; c) when you complete surveys that we use for research purposes (although you are not obliged to respond to them); d) when you enter a competition or promotion through a social media channel; e) when you elect to receive marketing communications from us; f) when you use our services; In each case, in accordance with this privacy policy. ## Data that is collected automatically **8.** To the extent that you access the Website, we will collect your Data automatically, for example: a) we automatically collect some information about your visit to the Website. 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You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer. ## Transferring data outside of the EU If data is transferred outside of the EU due to dealing with organisations who have access to your information in the course of providing services on our behalf to you will be governed by contractual restrictions to make sure they protect your information and comply with applicable data protection legislation. Where these organisations are based outside of the EEA in a jurisdiction that has not been deemed adequate by the EU, we enter into EU approved model clauses with them to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. ## General **37.** You may not transfer any of your rights under this privacy policy to any other person. We may transfer our rights under this privacy policy where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected. **38.** If any court or competent authority finds that any provision of this privacy policy (or part of any provision) is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part-provision will, to the extent required, be deemed to be deleted, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of this privacy policy will not be affected. **39.** Unless otherwise agreed, no delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other right or remedy. **40.** This Agreement will be governed by and interpreted according to the law of England and Wales. All disputes arising under the Agreement will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts. Changes to this privacy policy **41.** The Race Media Ltd reserves the right to change this privacy policy as we may deem necessary from time to time or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on the Website and you are deemed to have accepted the terms of the privacy policy on your first use of the Website following the alterations. You may contact The Race Media Ltd by email at contactus@the-race.com. ### COMPETITION: Win an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 MM93 Edition URL: https://www.the-race.com/competition-win-an-insta360-ace-pro-2-mm93-edition/ Last updated: 2025-07-01T12:16:29.000Z - Entries will only be accepted via the question submission form linked to in The Race’s posts. - The closing date for entries is 23:59 BST on July 10 - The winner will be chosen by The Race MotoGP Podcast panel and contacted by email using the email details submitted in the question form. - The winner will receive one signed Insta360 Ace Pro 2 MM93 Edition - Should the winner not respond within 10 days an alternative winner will be drawn. - There is no cash alternative for the prize. The prize is not negotiable or transferable. - All participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by these Terms and Conditions. ### The Race Fan Census 2025 terms and conditions URL: https://www.the-race.com/the-race-fan-survey-2025-terms-and-conditions/ Last updated: 2025-09-10T14:08:04.000Z - To qualify for 1-month or 3-month access to The Race Members' Club, entrants must have completed Part 1 or Part 2 of 'The Race Fan Census' as explained in the introduction of the survey. - The Race will verify in Typeform, the software used to host the survey, that the entry is marked as 'Partial' for respondents having answered Part 1, and 'Completed' for respondents having answered Part 2\. Proof of this status will be available on request. All entries that satisfy either 'Partial' or 'Completed' status will be eligible for a 1-month or 3-month access to The Race Members' Club on the Patreon platform. - The Race may use anonymised responses in editorial output in the future. - The Members' Club access will be sent via a code in an email to all respondents within 7 days of their entries in the survey. This email will be sent only once. Proof of this email send will be available on request. - Respondents who are already part of the Members' Club are not eligible to any benefit. - All survey respondents will be deemed to have accepted and be bounded by these Terms and Conditions. - There is no cash alternative. - The survey will run until September 15 but The Race reserves the right to shorten or extend the end date. ***\*Terms and conditions updated on September 10 2025.*** ### Patreon content test URL: https://www.the-race.com/patreon-content-testsdf-1999376462-unkonwn-url/ Last updated: 2025-11-10T11:39:48.000Z _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### COMPETITION: The Race Members' Club Singapore GP giveaway URL: https://www.the-race.com/competition-the-race-members-club-singapore-gp-giveaway/ Last updated: 2025-09-29T14:50:40.000Z - This competition is open exclusively to all active members in The Race's 'Racers', 'Racers (F1-only)' and 'Champions' tiers on Patreon and not the general public. - Entries will only be accepted via the competition post on Patreon. - Each member can only enter once. - The closing date for entries is 23:59 BST on October 6. - The two winners will be drawn at random and contacted by email using the email details attached to their Patreon account. - Each winner will receive a bundle of Singapore Grand Prix merchandise. - The image at the top of this post is an example of some of the items that will feature in each bundle. - Any clothing included in each bundle is likely to be a mix of small, medium and large sizes. - Should the winner not respond within 10 days an alternative winner will be drawn. - There is no cash alternative for the prize. The prize is not negotiable or transferable. - All participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by these Terms and Conditions. ### Motorsport coverage that cannot be beaten URL: https://www.the-race.com/about/ Last updated: 2026-03-02T15:45:19.000Z The Race started in February 2020 as a digital-only motorsport channel. Our aim is to create the best motorsport coverage that appeals to die-hard fans as well as those who are new to the sport. ## Posts ### The mystery Mercedes F1 problem 'infuriating' Russell URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mystery-mercedes-f1-problem-infuriating-george-russell/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T18:48:04.000Z George Russell has labelled mystery speed losses on the straights compared to team-mate Kimi Antonelli as “infuriating”, with Mercedes still chasing an answer as to what is going on. Russell has been on the back foot throughout the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, as he has had no response to the impressive pace Antonelli has shown. Although there is a sense of damage limitation after qualifying, as he lines up third on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps behind Antonelli and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Russell is well aware that a 0.508-second deficit is not something he can simply brush aside. What is triggering most angst for Russell is that a lot of the gap to Antonelli seems to be out of his hands, as he is losing most of his time on the straights. It is a theme that has run throughout the last few grands prix, and was exposed already in Friday practice in Belgium when Russell was a whopping 1.285 seconds slower. But the quest for an answer as to what is happening has not been successful yet – and has left Russell obsessing over trying to work out what is happening. “My whole focus for the last 36 hours has been on straightline speed,” he said. “It hasn't been focused on the set-up, tyres, or anything, because we're all trying to solve what is going on. “Even my last lap, for some reason, I lost another tenth and a half to myself, just on the straight. And you're watching on your steering wheel, \[you're\] losing speed when you're full gas on the straight. “You feel powerless. We don't know what's going on. I don't think it's the power unit, to be honest. My team are really, really on it now, to try and solve it.” ### What the data says ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Antonelli-v-Russell.png) Despite Russell and Mercedes having been trying to get to the bottom of things, a particularly confusing picture in qualifying in Belgium has only served to add to the mystery. Looking at a comparison of telemetry data between Antonelli and Russell’s best laps in qualifying, the top speed differences between them is not exhibited on all parts of the track. Russell’s top speed is nearly identical to his team-mate on the run up the Kemmel Straight to Les Combes – with him having been quicker through Eau Rouge. Carrying higher top speed in the corners, Russell is even ahead of his team-mate for a bit – and they have virtually identical lap times as they exit Turn 8. It is from here onwards, however, where Antonelli is able to stretch his legs as he gets more deployment on the run down to Pouhon and then carries more speed through to the Fagnes Chicane. By this stage – over what is essentially a flat-out section of track - Russell has lost more than two tenths of a second. He then loses a further two tenths on the long run down through Blanchimont and to the final chicane, where the speed difference between them opens up to as much as 10km/h at times. Russell recovers a bit of time through the chicane, but loses what he gains as both drivers perform their qualifying trick in lifting off before the line – with Russell coming off the throttle slightly later than his team-mate today. ### A question of energy The Race understands that Mercedes is not planning any component changes to see if there is a problem with a specific part on Russell's car, as it believes the answer lies somewhere in deployment management. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told Sky: “I think the cars are so on the edge to drive in terms of how you deploy the energy, but also the tyres. “You can see that sometimes it's just a few hundredths between the cars, like it was in at the end of Q2\. And then the gaps are a little bit bigger again in Q3. “But fundamentally, whoever drives faster, whoever is able to manage the energy more clever, is going to be ahead.” This idea of deployment usage being the root cause has been strengthened by the fact that Russell’s top speed down the Kemmel Straight was so strong – so there cannot be a problem that manifests itself around the whole lap. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Russell-v-Russell.png) While there is no firm answer yet as to what is going on for Russell, the chase for a conclusion could be helped by the fact there was also such top speed variation between Russell’s own laps in qualifying. In particular, his first effort in Q3, a 1m45.156 seconds lap that was slower than his final effort of 1m44.869s, resulted in him having a top speed on that run to the final chicane that was only a couple of kilometres behind Antonelli. Getting to the bottom of what the difference was between Russell's own laps that resulted in such a speed difference could be key – and may well lie in how he took the previous corners. Russell says previous suspicions of it being related to his braking style or how he treats the throttle have proved to be wide of the mark - something confirmed by trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin as he reflected on what was happening. "We're investigating what's causing this as a priority, as there is a clear loss that we cannot explain by driving style," he explained. Russell suggests that something else is likely in play. “We saw this from Silverstone, we thought we found the problem,” he said. “We thought it was something with the brakes, it wasn't the brakes. Then we thought it was my driving style, with the throttle. “I convinced myself that it was something with me, the driving style. Now we're very confident it's not the driving style, and that there's a serious issue at play here. “The team are working so hard to resolve it. But, you know, every lap I do I see I'm down anywhere from two tenths to six tenths on the straights. It's pretty infuriating.” Some of the answers could come from the way that the computer algorithms used by teams to manage deployment self-learn over a lap - so they adjust energy management patterns based on how the car is being driven. McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, who saw a similar top speed deficit pattern as Mercedes between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, felt that live adjustments were a big factor in what was being witnessed. "To operate these power units, you don't operate them in an open-loop way, whereby I would be able to have an offline simulation and say, ‘oh, that's how the electrical power will be deployed, and it will always be identical to itself’," he said. "There's a large component of the controller that operates the power unit that happens with live calculations, and the power unit kind of forwards thinks, forward calculates what it has to do based on some… I don't want to get into too much technical description or technical IP…but there's a lot that happens as the car goes. This is why it's not so easy to understand what kind of calculations have been made as the car was going." He added: "This is not only for the influence it has in the power-limited sections, on the straights, but also because it affects the braking points, because if you have an additional amount of harvest with a super clip before braking, then you are approaching the braking 10km/h slower, and your braking point changes. So this is quite difficult to master, I would say, for the drivers." ### Praying for a solution While deployment variation seems to not be as big in races, so Russell should not suffer as much on Sunday, he admits he is “praying” that a solution comes in time for the next event in Hungary. If he gets on top of what is happening then he maintains faith he can properly challenge his team-mate. He told Sky: “The truth is, battling against my team-mate, who's such an incredible driver, doing such a great job at the moment, in the best of times is a tall order. But I feel confident head-to-head I can achieve it. “But when it feels like you're battling with one hand behind your back, it's a challenge. But we had the issue in Silverstone and we ended up P2 on the podium. “So I pray I'm going to try and endure the pain of this issue tomorrow and hope for a great result and try to find a solution for next weekend.” ### F1 drivers left with 'F3 power' at Spa - Verstappen URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-says-f1-drivers-left-with-f3-power-at-spa/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T17:19:07.000Z Max Verstappen feels the 2026 Formula 1 drivers have comparable levels of horsepower to Formula 3 drivers in the middle sector at the Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen, who has been critical of this year's rules, wasn't dramatically lambasting the regulations at Spa - even saying he didn't want to keep saying negative things about them - but couldn't hide his displeasure when asked what they've done to one of his favourite circuits. As has been the case previously in 2026, a strong result - second in qualifying at Spa - did little to soften Verstappen's view of the regulations. "For most of sector two, you run just on the engine. So, what is that? 450bhp, 500bhp? Something like that, which is, I guess, less or more or less what a Formula 3 car has but with F1 downforce," Verstappen said. "So, you can imagine, of course, that that is not very exciting to drive. "But honestly, I don't want to sit here and complain again, because probably someone will shoot me outside the door. "But like I said before, I'm mentally just adjusting to it. I'm trying to make the best out of it. "Even though, of course, it's not what I like, not what I love to do in Formula 1\. But I can also sit at home and drive nothing. But that also doesn't do anything. "So, I'm just trying my best." The 2026 F1 cars can theoretically produce around 1000bhp in ideal conditions, though when energy-starved, as they are for much of the lap at Spa, they are more akin to Formula 2 (620bhp) cars. Verstappen's F3 car comparison - they have around 380bhp - would be on the extreme end. Ahead of the weekend, Lando Norris said "you are not even driving a Formula 2 car, you are driving a Formula 4 car" when the F1 cars transition from straight mode to corner mode at Spa, unrelated to the power unit. That makes the active aero wings closing at Blanchimont particularly painful for the drivers, as there's a sudden speed drop between the two straight mode zones that sandwich it despite there being no braking zone. Norris's team-mate Oscar Piastri was asked about Blanchimont after qualifying but he pointed to another corner that he felt had been ruined. "Pouhon was pretty nasty as well, or it's probably more appropriate calling it 'the bend in the straight' because it's not a corner anymore," Piastri said. "\[It's\] a shame because one, it's always been a great corner, and \[two\] it's always been a good corner for me as well. "It's strange just with how different things are this year, and also the power you have out of the corners. "A lot of the places now, we only have the combustion engine giving us power, so you come out of some corners with close to 1000bhp, you come out of others with 550bhp, 600bhp, whatever it is, so getting your head around that is pretty tough. "So it's definitely been more challenging in some ways, but it's been a pretty different Spa to years \[previously\]." Ollie Bearman was more diplomatic, saying: "It was a classic and fun track \[previously\], this year it's a bit less interesting and fun to drive, but that's what we have." ## Sainz wonders how F1 got here Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz said "no one out there is enjoying the qualifying lap as much as we did last year". Like Verstappen he expressed restraint: "Having said that, I don't want to keep belittling my own sport because it's not going to do any good. "I think we all know this is not good enough. That needs to change. It will change. It will evolve. But yeah, hopefully next year is a step better and the year after another step better. "But whoever saw these simulations in 2022, 2023 and didn’t look at it and say, 'How can we even accept that?' needs to review what happened there because it should have never happened. "But now we're here, we're having some exciting races, the sport is still growing, so time to move on." ### Winners and losers from F1 qualifying at Belgian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-from-f1-qualifying-at-belgian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T17:58:02.000Z Even if it's a verydifferent challenge with the 2026 cars, Formula 1 qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix remains a fascinating spectacle. And it was a spectacle that produced a broad mix of winners and losers. ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st) Antonelli has had his share of challenging(-ish) moments this weekend - FP1, Q1, first run of Q3 - but always looked to have plenty of spare capacity to restore himself in his increasingly familiar first place before too long. The Red Bull tow strategy means this is, on pure performance, an even more imperious pole than the 0.317s gap to Max Verstappen suggests. After an underwhelming run through the downforce-y sector two at his first Q3 attempt, he ran riot in that section the second time by, matter-of-factly telling media afterwards that he simply carried more speed through every corner. Expect the run to Les Combes tomorrow to be another challenge to overcome, but even if he's second or third coming out of it, Antonelli will remain a monumental favourite to take the chequered flag first. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: George Russell (4th) Russell has looked a step behind Antonelli all weekend really. On Friday, Mercedes trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin was saying Russell "might have underestimated the grip level" in a few of Spa's corners. Come Q3 on Saturday that pattern appears to have repeated to an extent, with Antonelli gaining a chunk of time on Russell, particularly through the dog leg after Pouhon and at Stavelot, where the cars are super clipping and running only on the combustion engine. Antonelli appears to have carried superior speed through these corners. But the straight-line deficit is more stark - particularly along the short stretch from Pouhon to the dog leg, and also again on the run from Stavelot to the final chicane. Russell appears to be spiking his engine's rpm more than Antonelli here, and also through the section after Les Combes. Russell has recently pointed to a straightline speed deficit on his car, and that does appear to be present, but it's not really there in sector one, only in sectors two and three. Is this a function of downforce levels/drag or Antonelli's different technique giving him superior deployment at the end of the lap? Or is it simply a case that Russell's power unit is not working as it should? "Yesterday, I was losing eight tenths in the straights, today I'm losing four tenths," said Russell, who also added: "I don't think it's the power unit, to be honest. “We saw this from Silverstone, we thought we found the problem. We thought it was something with the brakes, it wasn't the brakes. Then we thought it was my driving style, with the throttle. I convinced myself that it was something with me, the driving style. "Now we're very confident it's not the driving style, and that there's a serious issue at play here. And the team are working so hard to resolve it. Every lap I do and I see I'm down anywhere from two tenths to six tenths, straights, it's pretty infuriating. "I was pleased with my lap. When I look at the corners, there's a lot of corners that I was faster. There were definitely corners that we needed to improve. The corners look like a normal fight you'd have for a pole. The straights... it's not. I don't know what the solution is. But I'm praying ahead of Budapest \[next week's Hungarian GP\], we'll find it." **\- Ben Anderson** ## Winner: Red Bull (2nd & 10th) Thanks to the major grid penalty Isack Hadjar has for numerous power unit component changes for Sunday's grand prix, Red Bull (rightly) used him to tow Max Verstappen around in Q3\. The drivers and Red Bull absolutely nailed this - we've seen it mismanaged in F1 many times before - to give Verstappen what he reckoned was an advantage of three tenths, which is the difference between being second instead of sixth. Fundamentally, like McLaren, there hasn't been a magic bullet that has turned the Red Bull into a victory threat. But the execution on show here shows why this team has been so successful in the past, and Hadjar played the dutiful number two role perfectly as well. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Loser: Nico Hulkenberg (14th) With Hulkenberg's team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto scoring ninth in Q3 while he could only qualify 14th, whether it was his fault or the car's, it was an opportunity missed. Hulkenberg reckoned it was the latter as he felt an issue earlier in qualifying where his gearshifts weren't syncing up correctly. It was also a messy session by his own admission across the board, as he stopped on track on his way back to the pits. Even if Bortoleto's pace is encouraging, with the knowledge that Racing Bulls' new upgrade looks like it's pushing that team even further forward at the head of the midfield, this was seemingly a missed chance to pile the pressure on. **\- JB** ## Winner: Arvid Lindblad (8th) Lindblad hailed his lap at Spa as "definitely our best qualifying of the year” and even after all the highlights he's already had in his short career, it's hard to disagree. The Racing Bulls driver posted the fastest first sector on his final flying run, after which he was just a whisker away from outqualifying McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Being self-critical, Lindblad conceded "maybe there was a tiny bit left" after braking a bit early into the final corner, but it was nonetheless still another impressive performance in the bank. Lindblad also admitted to "dreaming a little bit" about picking off some of the big hitters despite Racing Bulls not quite being at the level of the top teams just yet. Dreaming or not, being just over a tenth away from a McLaren is still a mega feat for a rookie in their first F1 experience at a track like Spa. **\- Eden Hannigan** ## Loser: Esteban Ocon (18th) This was another heavy qualifying defeat for Ocon against team-mate Ollie Bearman, and again one he attributed to Haas's lingering parts inconsistency issues - which have been acknowledged by the team (with the caveat that it doesn't generally seem to believe they are affecting one side of the garage more than the other). Ocon said there was both a loss of rear downforce - that had been tackled at Silverstone but returned here - and a deficit on the straights that more than doubled compared to Friday, from "0.2-0.25s" to "0.45-0.5s". The gap to Bearman was seven tenths in the end. And Ocon insisted the laptime loss in the straights was neither connected to the intended drag level of the set-up nor any deployment difference to Bearman. "If the car is healthy, we are \[still\] missing some performance. We want to get closer to the top 10," Ocon said. "But \[first\] we are just looking on my side for car consistency, getting the maximum out of the package. We have big inconsistencies from race to race. "The cars are the same \[in spec\]. But it's not the same parts, obviously. It's the same config. But one car is 4km/h faster than the other one in the straight line, you know what I mean?" **\- VK** ## Winner: Gabriel Bortoleto (9th) A "we don't give up" mentality was the difference between Q2 and Q3, according to Bortoleto, who was rather downbeat despite finishing inside the top 10 in qualifying. Admittedly an unsuspecting competitor in Q3, Bortoleto insisted Audi was missing the top speed, brake temperature and just the general idea of being "put together" to fight at the front. Whether this is a bizarre way of making his session sound even better or not, he was still one of the standout performers by outqualifying team-mate Hulkenberg and sneaking into ninth in the final part of qualifying. Bortoleto's performance has undoubtedly been a boost to Audi's chances of points this weekend. He admitted "it's not going to be easy, but we \[will\] try" to stay inside the top 10. If the mentality helps in the same way as it did in qualifying, that should bode well for his chances in the race. **\- EH** ## Loser: Ferrari (5th & 6th) Even without the yellow-flag issue at the last corner, which clearly irked Charles Leclerc, that didn't explain why Ferrari was half a second off Antonelli's pace and behind a Red Bull and a McLaren, respectively - even if Verstappen's time comes with the caveat of the tow he got. Ferrari hopes it will be competitive in race trim, and Leclerc feels grateful after Ferrari finally solved a power unit issue which had been perplexing the team earlier in the weekend. Lewis Hamilton felt his rear suspension wasn't quite the same as before his big crash in FP3, and that he did decent laps in qualifying but the balance wasn't quite the same. All in all, Ferrari will be disappointed, but at least its drivers immediately move up to behind Max Verstappen and George Russell with Norris's penalty, and presumably expect to be able to challenge for a podium on Sunday. Looking at Kimi Antonelli's form, everything is damage limitation versus him, as things stand. **\- JB** ## Loser: Aston Martin (21st & 22nd) We're accustomed to Aston Martin being at the back of the grid by now, and even the drivers admit their position is "not surprising". But to finish over two seconds away from its nearest rivals surely still has to sting a little? Lance Stroll admitted he "didn’t get the perfect tow" he was looking for to gain a few tenths, but no amount of slipstream was ever going to wipe out that gap to the cars ahead. Alonso was slightly more positive, insisting the team will stick to its "professionalism" despite its difficult situation and that he will try to "nail the start, the strategy, the first lap, driving side, pitstops" as he has done in the grands prix before this one. If both drivers can make that work, it will be a relatively positive end to the weekend given the circumstances - with the only missing piece being the speed of the car. Based on the accounts of both drivers, however, they unsurprisingly don't expect to find those extra two seconds in another day's work. **\- EH** ### F1 2026 Belgian GP starting grid after four grid penalties URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-belgian-gp-starting-grid-after-four-grid-penalties/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T15:32:46.000Z Four grid penalties mean the starting grid for Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix looks quite different from the qualifying result at Spa. Lando Norris, who qualified third, drops 10 places to 13th place because he's taken his fourth battery of the season. Lance Stroll has a 10-place grid penalty, so even though he qualified 22nd and last, he's set to actually start 20th, as Fernando Alonso (20 places) and Isack Hadjar (30 places) both have bigger penalties. So here's the starting grid as it stands, once those penalties have been applied. ### Belgian GP starting grid 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3 George Russell (Mercedes) 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 11 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 13 Lando Norris (McLaren) 14 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 16 Alex Albon (Williams) 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 21 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) ### Antonelli smashes opposition to take Belgian GP pole URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/kimi-antonelli-pole-position-belgian-gp-f1-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T15:24:00.000Z Kimi Antonelli smashed the opposition in qualifying to take pole position for Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Antonelli was the clear pole favourite, having topped FP2 and FP3, but it was the McLaren of Lando Norris that led the way after the first runs in Q3. Norris wouldn't have taken pole position had he remained fastest because he's taking a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race for taking his fourth battery of the season. But Antonelli got it done on the road anyway with an impressive 1m44.361s, taking pole position by 0.317s ahead of his closest competitor, Max Verstappen. Verstappen benefitted from a tow from his Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar, who sacrificed his Q3 as he has a 30-place grid penalty for multiple engine component changes. Norris qualified third as he made a mistake at the Turn 13 left-hander and had to abandon his final run (which wouldn't have beaten Antonelli's lap anyway), but he'll start 13th with his penalty. That means George Russell should start third in the second Mercedes, although he was 0.508s slower than Antonelli. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth in qualifying ahead of Oscar Piastri's McLaren and Arvid Lindblad, who led the midfield for Racing Bulls in eighth. Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was ninth ahead of Hadjar and Liam Lawson, who was the quickest driver knocked out in Q2. The Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto qualified behind him in 12th and 13th. Nico Hulkenberg couldn't match Bortoleto's pace in Q2 in 14th and stopped on track on his way back to the pits because of a suspected hydraulic problem aboard his Audi. Carlos Sainz was 15th for Williams, just 0.002s ahead of Ollie Bearman's Haas. Albon and Ocon out in Q1 with usual suspects Bearman pipped the Williams of Alex Albon by just 0.007s for the final place in Q2, marking Albon's sixth Q1 elimination in 10 weekends. "You’ve been pretty strong all weekend; we just need to give you a better car," James Vowles told Albon over the team radio. Esteban Ocon was almost seven tenths slower than Bearman in 18th, and only 0.022s faster than Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac. Bottas's team-mate Sergio Perez was 20th, two seconds clear of Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who were split by 0.175s. Stroll has a 10-place grid penalty but is set to start 20th - ahead of Alonso, who has a 20-place grid penalty, and Hadjar, who has a 30-place grid penalty. ### Belgian Grand Prix 2026 F1 qualifying results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/belgian-grand-prix-2026-f1-qualifying-results/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T15:19:13.000Z Full results from qualifying for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. ### Result **Q3** 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m04.361s 2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.317s 3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.440s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.508s 5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.532s 6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.534s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.655s 8 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.782s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.267s 10 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) No Time **Q2** 11 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.978s 12 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.189s 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.250s 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.529s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.635s 16 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.637s **Q1** 17 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.255s 18 Esteban Ocon (Haas) + 1.936s 19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +1.958s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.106s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +4.137s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.312s ### Three more drivers get grid penalties for F1's Belgian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/two-more-drivers-get-grid-penalties-for-f1-belgian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T12:32:01.000Z Isack Hadjar and Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will both take grid penalties at Spa for Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Hadjar has taken a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger and exhaust, meaning his penalty is the most severe of the drivers in Spa so far as he'll start from the back of the grid, unless the team elects to start him from the pitlane and make more changes. Like Lando Norris, who has taken a fourth battery of the season, which was confirmed on Thursday, Aston Martin’s Stroll will get a 10-place penalty from where he qualifies. He has a new MGU-K for the weekend, although his penalty is perhaps less severe than Norris’s given Aston Martin’s combined lack of pace and expectation that Spa will be the toughest event of the year for the team. Stroll's best qualifying so far this season is 18th in Miami. His team-mate Fernando Alonso has a back-of-the-grid penalty drop like Hadjar as he took multiple new engine components on Saturday morning. ### What happened in final F1 practice at Belgian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-happened-in-final-f1-practice-at-belgian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T11:46:22.000Z Kimi Antonelli laid down a huge marker in final practice ahead of qualifying at Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix while Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari into the barriers in the dying moments of the session. In an almost carbon copy of Pierre Gasly’s incident at the Turn 13 left-hander on Friday, Hamilton ran wide through the gravel and, by his own admission, “destroyed” the rear of his Ferrari against the barriers. > Crash for Hamilton! > > He’s ok - it’s a very similar incident to Gasly yesterday. [pic.twitter.com/aOYGDlQYbv](https://t.co/aOYGDlQYbv?ref=the-race.com) > > — The Race (@wearetherace) [July 18, 2026](https://x.com/wearetherace/status/2078442724529701042?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) Hamilton briefly continued before stopping his wrecked Ferrari on track a few corners later, giving his team a time-pressured repair job before qualifying starts two and a half hours later. Antonelli topped FP2 on Friday and continued his strong Spa form on Saturday by setting a 1m45.990s, which was over seven tenths quicker than the next-best car at the midway point in the session. No driver on their final qualifying runs could beat Antonelli’s benchmark with Lando Norris’s McLaren the closest, as he was in FP2, this time 0.139 seconds adrift of Antonelli. He won’t be a threat for pole position as he has to take a 10-place grid penalty for taking a fourth battery of the season. Max Verstappen was third quickest for Red Bull, 0.148s slower than Antonelli’s best. Even Antonelli couldn’t beat his earlier benchmark as he had to abandon his first lap of his final run because he “didn't get the gear in”, and he then had a moment out of Les Combes on his second tour and had his laptime deleted for track limits, one that was over two tenths off his best anyway. George Russell struggled to match the pace of his team-mate, initially over 1.2s off before he improved to being 0.367s behind Antonelli. Before his late-session crash, Hamilton was the faster Ferrari in fifth place, 0.392s off the pace but 0.368s faster than Charles Leclerc in sixth. Oscar Piastri was seventh for McLaren, six tenths adrift of Norris and just ahead of Audi drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, who led the midfield battle. Isack Hadjar, who will start the Belgian GP from the back of the grid due to multiple engine component changes, rounded out the top 10 ahead of the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson. ### FP3 result 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m45.090s 2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.119s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.148s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.367s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.392s 6 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.760s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.795s 8 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +0.934s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.059s 10 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.106s 11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.186s 12 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.700s 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.914s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.930s 15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.959s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.000s 17 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.654s 18 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.702s 19 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.740s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.000s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +4.165s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.641s ### What F1 2026 has actually done to Spa's best corners URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-f1-2026-has-actually-done-to-spas-best-corners/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T08:46:07.000Z These past two circuits, Silverstone and Spa, are completely iconic and so there's been a fair bit of working through gritted teeth as energy-starved Formula 1 has overlapped with the sort of long, fast track layouts that most expose its weaknesses. Pre-Silverstone there was a lot of driver chat about how bad the cars were in the simulators, and then the reality - they later claimed - was not quite as bad as they feared. I wasn't sure myself if this wasn't just a bit of the F1 PR machine at work, telling Lewis Hamilton et al to back off a bit with the criticism and put on a brave face. Others, like Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, continued to maintain it was a bit rubbish and that Spa would be "painful" (Max) and "sad" (Piastri). --- *Get more trackside analysis and paddock insight in* [*The Race Members' Club*](https://www.patreon.com/c/TheRace?ref=the-race.com) *\- and listen to a sample episode of our exclusive Members' Club F1 weekend podcast In-Car Insights from Spa below for more from Ben, Edd and Val on their Belgian GP practice learnings* --- And then Gabi Bortoleto basically told us all to shut the f\*\*\* up: "I don't think it lost the magic of the sport. We are still driving f\*\*\*ing quick through Copse. It's 280km/h \[174mph\], so I'm still lifting to do that corner. It's not that easy flat that you are like, oh, you are not using up the grip we have." This quote was on my mind at Spa as I ventured trackside for my first up close and personal experience of F1 2026\. Having been a consistent and vociferous critic of its battery-dominated car performance profile, I wanted to know if the In Real Life experience would defeat what I've seen - and hated - of the cars on TV and watching onboards. My conclusion after spending two sessions wandering one of the very best F1 circuits ever made, is that… I'm conflicted. They do look properly quick through Eau Rouge. I saw Verstappen hit 316km/h (196mph) here in FP1, and Kimi Antonelli was topping out at 327km/h (203mph) in FP2! - and they have this very cool skittish look to them as they change direction up the hill. If this was your only snapshot, you would leave Spa thinking this is easily the best F1 you've ever seen. But then you walk around Raidillon and up the hill to the Kemmel Straight and you're met with the underwhelming bit: rear lights flashing, the dimmer switch engine note winding down, drivers decelerating a car running on less than full power - and then doing the weird thing Valtteri Bottas mentioned to me of needing to downshift to lower gears than you'd ideally want in order to help recharge the battery. Through Les Combes they're disappointing things to watch. They've arrived doing nearly 20km/h (12mph) less than they were the last time I was here - and that was in 2019! The following left-right sequence is fine, but doesn't look as on-the-limit as it used to. Everything just feels a bit contained by the MGU-K being deliberately under powered for sector two. The drivers are able to alter their lines almost at will and don't ever seem properly limited by the grip level. "We're obviously out of energy already, pretty much just past Eau Rouge," confirmed Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. "And then we have to charge through the whole middle part of the lap so we just have no power from turn five \[Les Combes\] to turn eight \[the right-hand hairpin\]." That said, if you stand on the outside of the no-name left-hander before Pouhon, the cars are only briefly fully off-throttle through here as the track grips up for FP2\. They are about 10km/h (6mph) down on last year but you can't tell that from the outside. Watching them here, up close to the barrier, is genuinely impressive and exhilarating. These cars change direction so well and it's the same story at Pouhon - a fearsome corner that we thought might be ruined by this formula. I'm almost certain it doesn't feel as challenging to the drivers as it once did, because again they're not using full power when they arrive, but Antonelli on his quickest lap was entering not far off the speed Lando Norris was doing in last year's ground-effect McLaren. To the watching eye, to the spectator, they look incredibly fast as they turn in here - with only a partial lift off the throttle and maybe a snatched lower gear for battery recharging. Again, the direction change and sense of speed is really truly impressive. "We have no power from turn nine to turn 10 (between no-name and Pouhon) and we have no power from 11 to turn 12 (between Pouhon and the right/left where Pierre Gasly crashed in FP2) just to make sure we get as much battery as we can," added Lawson. "And then we obviously run it down again towards Blanchimont and then we're out of energy again. It's a very different Spa to previous years, this one feels for me the worst so far even compared to Silverstone. "It's just not the same Spa to any other year that I've driven here, even in junior categories and stuff like that, it's a track that you can attack and this year it's very hard to do that." So that disconnect remains - between how F1 looks from the outside and how it feels from the inside; and between those parts of a circuit where the car performance is being sacrificed to battery harvesting and those other parts where all that power is being fully unleashed (as it is when the cars approach Eau Rouge). As Hamilton said after Friday practice: "It's still amazing to drive, through corners and everything, it's good. It's just the straights where the engine dies." And so I'm left with a strange feeling ultimately: isolated moments of genuine exhilaration and joy, interspersed with snapshots of frustration and disappointment. This is F1 2026 in a nutshell I suppose: divisive, imperfect, annoying, but at the same time still incredible and capable of taking your breath away. And it's safe to say Spa is not completely ruined for F1, but it certainly is different. ### How Mercedes' qualifying trick exposes where Russell is losing URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-mercedes-qualifying-trick-exposes-where-russell-is-losing/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T08:39:33.000Z Even taking into account that the current generation of Formula 1 cars do not suit George Russell's driving style, the 1.285-second gap to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in Belgian Grand Prix practice was unusual. While Russell has benefitted recently from some misfortune on the other side of the garage to close the championship points deficit to his team-mate from 68 points to 25, he is well aware that unless he starts putting himself at the front of the field there is little hope of marching on to the crown. So to face such a sizeable pace gap on the opening day of practice in Belgium, especially at a venue where 12 months ago Antonelli himself had appeared to be totally lost, was not the start to the weekend Russell needed. While wiping away such a deficit in pace is never the work of the moment in F1, a dive into the data of the two Mercedes cars from Friday has offered some insight into what may be going on. And a potential clue about just where Russell may be losing out the most to Antonelli has come thanks to the team continuing to use its much talked about [qualifying trick to maximise deployment](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-finds-legal-way-to-revive-banned-f1-qualifying-trick/) across the timing line. ## Maximum deployment Just like at Silverstone a fortnight ago, both Russell and Antonelli were lifting off the throttle at Spa-Francorchamps before the end of their quickest laps to avoid the need to follow the typical ramp down rates. Analysis of their fastest laps from free practice, however, shows a huge divergence in when the pair of them come off the throttle – which is at a point when their battery pack is as close to 0% as Mercedes is comfortable with. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-18-at-09.28.55.png) As this graph from GP Tempo shows, Russell comes off the gas around 70 metres before Antonelli – which costs him heavily as the gap between them expands by 0.4 seconds (which is one third of the overall deficit around the whole lap) in the remaining time it takes them to cross the line. The offset here is interesting because of the circumstances in play. Because both drivers will have arrived at the final chicane with empty batteries, and run at the full 350kW coming out, their points of lift off before the line are directly related to how much energy they have managed to harvest through the final chicane – so it is clear Antonelli has done a better job here. And that snapshot given to us by the exit from the final corner may well explain what is going on around the rest of the lap where Russell is clearly losing time on the straights. ## Straightline losses If we look at Russell and Antonelli's fastest laps using the F1TEL graph below, Antonelli's top speed is a step ahead – and most of Russell's time is lost when at full throttle. From the exit of La Source up to Les Combe, Russell goes from being three tenths up to 0.175s down. Is a clue to this the wheelspin that Russell encounters on his way out of the hairpin at the start of the lap? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/f1tel.com-2026-belgian-grand-prix-practice-2-chart-speed-telemetry-chart--1-.png) Another 0.175s is lost between Turns 6 and the entry to Turn 8 (where again there seems to be a lift off correction), and then between the entry of Pouhon and the entry of the Fagnes Chicane, where a speed deficit of up to 8km/h loses him nearly 0.2 seconds. More time then bleeds on the run down through Blanchimont and towards the chicane where again the speed differences are notable. That so much time is lost on the straights fits in with what we saw out of the final corner – that Russell has less energy at his disposal because he has not harvested as much as Antonelli. This was made clear in radio conversations with his engineer Marcus Dudley who pointed out that Russell had not got to the top of his battery pack at Turn 14 – the final chance to harvest before the long run down to Blanchimont where a lack of energy gets punished with a lack of top speed. The key then is for Russell and Mercedes to understand why the difference is there? In FP1, Mercedes discovered a problem with one Russell's fuel flow meters, which had left him down on power compared to Antonelli. That matter was sorted for second practice. The FP2 deficit appears more to be down to something else – which could be related to the characteristics of the current generation of cars that Russell does not like. ## Judging the grip Thanks to F1 2026's rules, energy deployment on straights is so interlinked with how a car performs in a corner. The cars do not like sliding around a lot, with wheelspin and an aggressive driving approach. All that does is needlessly waste energy. Being smooth and consistent is the key, and that requires a mastery of perfectly judging grip levels to maximise energy harvesting. Fall outside the window, you don't recover as much or you deploy too much on the way out and the lap is ruined. Shovlin admits this was an area that Mercedes had got wrong across both cars in FP1\. The team had anticipated there being more grip than there was in reality – and contributed to its struggles as it was not running as much downforce as it needed. In the afternoon, Russell was not as on top of the change of grip as Antonelli, which helped compound some of the problems he was facing. Straight after his soft tyre run, Russell complained about sliding a lot. Shovlin explained: "If the corners are slower, it affects the deployment. And, when you're at an energy-starved track like this one, like Silverstone, those differences are really magnified." Get those corners more under control with the entries and exits and then the straights that follow after will be better too. ## Context matters too ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1425481_HiRes-1.jpg) There is another important element in play in putting that 1.2 seconds deficit into context as well. It is that Russell's sizable deficit to Antonelli is based on just a single soft tyre run that had gone wrong even before it had really got going – so was not properly representative. Shovlin said: "It was only one lap - so if that doesn't go well, you look like you're off the pace. "He felt he didn't have the tyres ready for the start of the lap, which leads to a bit of a loss. "There's a few corners where it looks like he might have underestimated the grip level - but given the first session that we had it's not a big surprise." The answers then to Russell's straightline deficit and the top speed gap to his team-mate may well then come in how he approaches the corners and getting on top of the changing grip levels. And the perfect snapshot for us to see if he has mastered it on Saturday will be in spotting just where both Mercedes drivers lift off the throttle at the end of their laps. ### Winners and losers from Belgian GP F1 practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-belgian-gp-f1-practice/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T18:02:03.000Z Formula 1 returns to Spa-Francorchamps for the 71st Belgian Grand Prix but 2026 brings harvesting woes and worries. Friday practice was therefore prime time to test harvesting strategies - and trial new parts, of which [there were many declared](https://www.the-race.com/404/) in Belgium. Here's who we thought won - and lost - over Friday's pair of practice sessions. ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli Mercedes' relatively low-key performance in FP1 hinted at a harder weekend than anticipated, but certainly on Antonelli's side of the garage, there was already a major course correction come the second session. "It was a messy first session where we didn't have the car in the right place, we thought there'd be a bit more grip than there was - but it looks like other people pitched theirs a bit better. But then we had a chance between sessions to reposition it all and drivers were a lot happier with the car in the afternoon," explained Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. But it's very obvious Antonelli was the happier of the two drivers. He was in the expected spot in the qualifying simulations, and the [standout in long runs](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/belgian-grand-prix-f1-long-run-friday-practice-analysis/) \- at least as far as can be gleaned from the red flag-limited data. There was a strange - needless - [bit of angst against Williams driver Carlos Sainz](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/sainz-lambasts-antonelli-over-idiot-spa-practice-spat/), but it seemed more evidence of youthful hot-headedness rather than any sort of title pressure. "Long run felt very strong as well \[as the single lap\], but obviously the car changed quite a bit between the two sessions so a lot of work to do overnight in order to be ready for tomorrow and on Sunday," Antonelli summed up. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser - George Russell Well off the pace in both practice sessions, the Mercedes driver is set for a long Sunday if this pace continues. He was three-tenths behind Antonelli as Mercedes took P6 and P8 in FP1 - where a power unit was partly to blame for that deficit. In FP2, Russell was 1.285s off his leading team-mate even though that FP1 issue was fixed. Our long-run analysis implies that Russell might be suffering on the straights compared to Antonelli, and it's an issue he needs to get on top of swiftly, given Spa-Francorchamps's long straights. **\- SK** ## Winner: Max Verstappen Verstappen topped a practice session for the first time in 2026 with his FP1 performance, and then finished third in FP2\. The Dutchman had his usual gearbox gripes but the positives were clear: long run pace sufficient to put him in contention with Mercedes, at least at this early stage, and short runs that could put him in pole contention too. "The car has been in a good window. Probably in FP2 you see a little bit more of the real gap still, but that's nothing shocking, just expected," Verstappen said, alluding to the half-second gap between him and FP2 leader Antonelli. Although he was a respectable margin off Verstappen, team-mate Isack Hadjar has a back-of-grid engine penalty to contend with. **\- SK** ## Loser: Aston Martin Aston Martin knew it was in for one more humbling weekend at Spa before its B-spec car, and so it's proving. Team representative Mike Krack insists the pace is not worse than expected, and he may well be right, but it's still quite something to see the timesheets so merciless, both cars over five seconds adrift in both sessions and both the regular drivers aware they're fighting for nothing. "We knew this track was going to be probably the hardest of all, but we did not get demotivated by that," Krack said. But he also said: "We need to be realistic. We are quite far off. The positions you gain are from attrition, but there's nothing to fight for in terms of result. I think it would be quite naive to think you can do something. For that, we are too far off. "But we still have two cars. We try to do our best, try to execute well, make the right decisions." **\- VK** ## Winner - Franco Colapinto Alpine’s Colapinto sprung the biggest surprise in FP2 as he went seventh for Alpine, ahead of Mercedes’s struggling George Russell. Colapinto was 0.15s ahead of the fastest Racing Bull, and more reassuring will be the six-tenths gap to next-best midfielder, Haas’s Ollie Bearman in 12th. The Argentinian also beat team-mate Pierre Gasly in both practice sessions, by three-tenths in FP1 and then by 1.8s in FP2 - where Gasly had a big crash before Stavelot and had his fastest laptime deleted (which was slower than Colapinto's best anyway). “I think generally I've been feeling comfortable with the car this year. In general I felt much better than last season and it's showing in the results and showing on track,” said Colapinto. He attributed his turn of pace to the cooler conditions and to some of the “lower-speed” corners at Spa-Francorchamps. **\- SK** ## Loser - Pierre Gasly A crash exiting the Fagnes chicane tore off Gasly’s rear wing and damaged his tyres at the end of FP2, while the fate of the gearbox and drivetrain is unknown. A snap of oversteer exiting the chicane led Gasly to lose the rear and smash the barriers. Perhaps it was a more spectacular-looking crash than the mistake deserved, but Alpine now have a long evening ahead - and Gasly has to work out why he’s behind Colapinto. **\- SK** ## Winner - Haas A decent showing from Haas, with Ollie Bearman saying the car “felt strong” on Friday. The [team back-to-back tested a new front wing](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-teams-declare-21-upgrades-for-belgian-gp/) with Bearman and the Briton said it represented a slight improvement - despite conceding the team was “nowhere near” Racing Bulls and Alpine. Better balance and behaviour represent a good foundation to build on for Haas as it seeks to close that gap to Williams. Esteban Ocon was under two-tenths off Bearman in FP2, after being four-tenths off in FP1 where the Frenchman finished 16th to Bearman’s 13th. Q3 and points might be a stretch, but Haas is set to capitalise if any of the usual top-10 runners falter. **\- SK** ### What we took from disrupted Belgian GP long run picture URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/belgian-grand-prix-f1-long-run-friday-practice-analysis/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T18:06:33.000Z Pierre Gasly sliding off the track into the gravel and into the barriers at Spa ruined many drivers’ long runs during second practice at Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix. That’s led to an incomplete long-run picture, but there are still some clues we can take from Friday’s running… ## Single-lap pace Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m45.944s Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.190s Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.472s Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.747s Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.770s Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.982s Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.203s George Russell (Mercedes) +1.285s Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.350s Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.490s Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +1.524s ## FP2 long runs Antonelli 1m51.511s (4 laps) Verstappen 1m51.876s (7 laps) Russell 1m51.980s (3 laps) Hadjar 1m52.449s (6 laps) Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes continues to look in fine form with a short but consistent long run, with all four laps separated by less than three tenths of a second. He was complaining of an edgy car in FP1, but Mercedes made “massive changes” between sessions and he felt much better in FP2. Team-mate George Russell looked a step behind on both single-lap and long-run pace. He was down on power because of an issue in FP1, which was fixed for FP2. The Mercedes deployment trick The Race revealed at Silverstone appears to be back at Spa with both drivers lifting off just before the start/finish line - but Russell’s lift on his quickest FP2 lap was much bigger than Antonelli’s, and he lost half a second there. Russell is shipping much of that 1.285s laptime loss on the straights versus Antonelli, in line with a straightline deficit he’s previously complained of, and something that would suggest he’s not harvesting energy as efficiently as Antonelli. Red Bull might have had to park its flamboyant ‘Macarena’ rear wing this weekend, but the RB22 looked solid in the hands of Max Verstappen, despite complaints of “unacceptable” gear shifts. Verstappen explained those complaints after FP2: “I'm always very sensitive to these things because I want to work on that and improve it. “There was a software update, or downgrade, that took a bit of time for the shifts to learn, and it got a bit better again at the end.” Verstappen completed the longest long run, yet he split the Mercedes duo and looked solid over a single lap too. Team-mate Isack Hadjar was a clear step behind, although his weekend’s already been massively compromised by a back-of-the-grid penalty for multiple engine component changes that exceed his 2026 allowance. Lando Norris says the McLaren is “still very, very difficult to drive” and said while McLaren seems “relatively competitive” at Spa “we shouldn’t expect anything different from normal”. Norris faces a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday anyway due to taking his fourth battery of the season. Ferrari remains the big unknown as Charles Leclerc was only a lap into his long run when the red flag was flown, while Lewis Hamilton hadn’t even properly started his. Its single-lap pace wasn’t great, but there have been plenty of underwhelming Fridays that have turned into very good Saturdays and Sundays for Ferrari. Team boss Fred Vasseur also pointed to another big variable on Friday at Spa - vastly different energy deployment strategies. “Without disclosing any secret, but if you have a look on the race trace, we were 20km/h slower than some of our competitors before Les Combes, but we were 20km/h faster in the last straight line,” Vasseur said. “It's a trade-off for sure. It's not that you can do a plus 20\[km/h\] and plus 20\[km/h\].” The run to Les Combes is the perfect example of how differently Mercedes and Ferrari are approaching those deployment strategies right now (as this intertwining GP Tempo shows, with Hamilton’s fastest FP2 lap in red and Antonelli’s FP2 benchmark in green). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-17-at-18.28.36.png) You’d expect strategies to converge more by Saturday, and that means there’s plenty of room for the pecking order to shift. As McLaren said in its post-Friday summary: "At a circuit where differences in energy deployment and maximum performance extraction play a key role, the current pecking order remains far from fixed, and today's result does not portray the true competitive standing." The midfield long runs were disrupted too, so it’s hard to validate whether Alpine is back in the fight with a Racing Bulls team that’s now only one point behind it for fifth in the constructors’ championship. Franco Colapinto certainly feels Alpine has “found a little bit of performance this weekend” and is benefitting from the cooler Spa conditions. ### Red Bull finds fix for Macarena wing it ditched for Spa URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-has-fix-for-its-parked-macarena-wing/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T15:35:38.000Z Red Bull expects to have mechanical fixes for its Macarena rear wing in play in time for it to return at next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Following the crashes suffered by Max Verstappen at the British GP and in qualifying in Austria that were linked to problems with the squad’s trick rear wing, Red Bull [elected to remove it](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-ditches-macarena-revolving-wing-spa-verstappen-crashes/) for this weekend’s event in Belgium. This also followed intervention by the FIA, which sought assurances from Red Bull and Ferrari that there were no wider safety concerns with their upside-down wings. Speaking at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache said that the issues had been traced back to a mechanical problem with its wing design. Work was now ongoing at its Milton Keynes factory to implement solutions that would ensure no repeat trouble in the future, with hopes high that the revamped design would be ready for next weekend’s race at the Hungaroring. “It's a mechanical problem that we spotted after the accident in Silverstone,” said Wache. “We fix it. We are trying to prove that we are bulletproof before we put on the car, and it should be ready for Budapest.” Wache was clear that Red Bull would not bring the wing back until it was convinced that it would be problem-free, although he did not elaborate on the specifics of what had caused the issues at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone. However, he said some elements of the wing – most likely related to the activation mechanism – were being made “stronger” and that its discussions with the FIA had left the governing body happy with what it was planning to do. “We’ve proved it to them, what we've done,” added Wache. “I think it's on our side that we make it cautious now. We don't want to take any risk, and we want to be 100% sure.” ### Ferrari: no problems in 10,000km While Red Bull chose to remove its Macarena wing for Belgium, Ferrari has continued with its design, which has not caused it any trouble this year. While there were talks with the FIA that wanted to check on the robustness of its concept, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur insisted his squad has never had any doubts over what it is doing – especially because its design works in a slightly different way to Red Bull’s. “It's not a similar concept, because it's not rotating in the same way,” he said. “We didn't have any issue. “We were a bit slow at the beginning \[to get it to work\]. It's why we didn't race the wing in the first two or three events. And we raced it after race four. “So far we did 10,000km without any issue.” ### 'That's forbidden' - Why Sainz wants Antonelli to 'calm down' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/sainz-lambasts-antonelli-over-idiot-spa-practice-spat/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T08:52:59.000Z Carlos Sainz says Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli needs to "calm down" after being branded an "idiot" by the Mercedes driver during Belgian Grand Prix practice. Antonelli felt compromised by Sainz on the run out of Stavelot and rolled off the throttle before cutting in front of the Williams, while saying "Sainz, what an idiot!" over team radio. For his part, Sainz said Antonelli "threw the car into me". He then got back ahead of Antonelli on the run down to Bus Stop, where it briefly looked like the pair might have another side-by-side encounter before Antonelli pulled into the pits instead. Sainz was unimpressed with Antonelli's comment on the radio. "I think he felt like I impeded him - I don't feel like I did," he said afterwards. "I guess nowadays with the SM \[Straight Mode\], if you don't get out of the way exactly like \[the other driver wants\]- you cannot turn because you have no downforce with the wings open. "Maybe he felt like I could have got out of the way in a better way. "But I don't think he should call me an idiot either, on the radio, I think that's forbidden, to swear and insult a rival - so I think he should calm down a bit." There was no investigation into the matter - and no specifically profane comment from Antonelli that would be expected to trigger some sort of inquest. "I mean, he backed off out of a fast corner, you exit in seventh gear, and I had to abort and it was quite risky," Antonelli said afterwards. "So of course I was not happy with it and of course what I said probably, in the heat of the moment, is not the best - but it was quite dangerous." ### Two red flags disrupt Belgian GP second practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-that-happened-in-disrupted-second-spa-f1-practice/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T18:05:15.000Z Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli took the top spot in second practice for the 2026 Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix with Lando Norris second for McLaren and Red Bull's Max Verstappen third. All of the fastest times were set on soft tyres after a red flag flew for gravel at Stavelot around 20 minutes into the session. A longer stoppage came with 14 minutes left when Alpine's Pierre Gasly hit the barriers on the exit of Turn 13. Gasly went wide exiting the corner and then slid, hitting the barriers just before Stavelot. Second-place Norris was 0.190s behind Antonelli while Verstappen, who led FP1, was just under half a second off the leading Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari and Isack Hadjar, who faces a grid penalty on Sunday, was fifth for Red Bull. Oscar Piastri was kept in the McLaren garage with a technical issue but emerged after the first red flag to go sixth overall, ahead of surprise top-10 inclusion Franco Colapinto. Colapinto's Alpine team-mate Gasly finished 18th and 1.8s away, as his team now having to rebuild the car overnight. George Russell struggled to put a flying lap in and finished eighth. The Racing Bulls pair rounded out the top 10 with Arvid Lindblad around a tenth ahead of team-mate Liam Lawson. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was an anonymous 11th ahead of Haas's Ollie Bearman, who was in turn 0.15s ahead of team-mate Esteban Ocon in 14th. Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was 13th and just over three tenths ahead of his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, 17th. Alex Albon was just over two-tenths ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz as the Williams finished 15th and 16th. Also lining up in pairs on the leaderboard were Cadillac - with Valtteri Bottas 19th and four tenths ahead of Sergio Perez - and Aston Martin, whose 21st-placed driver Lance Stroll was just under 0.3s ahead of Fernando Alonso. The 22 drivers were covered by 5.474 seconds. ## FP2 results 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m45.944s 2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.190s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.472s 4 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.747s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.770s 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.982s 7 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.203s 8 George Russell (Mercedes) +1.285s 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.350s 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.490s 11 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +1.524s 12 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.848s 13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.008s 14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.014s 15 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.075s 16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.312s 17 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +2.389s 18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.011s 19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3.255s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.652s 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +5.187s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +5.474s ### F1 2026 Belgian Grand Prix practice results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-belgian-grand-prix-practice-results/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T11:37:40.000Z Below you'll find the practice results for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. ### FP3 result 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m45.090s 2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.119s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.148s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.367s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.392s 6 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.760s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.795s 8 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +0.934s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.059s 10 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.106s 11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.186s 12 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.700s 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.914s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.930s 15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.959s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.000s 17 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.654s 18 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.702s 19 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.740s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.000s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +4.165s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.641s ### FP2 result 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m45.944s 2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.190s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.472s 4 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.747s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.770s 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.982s 7 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.203s 8 George Russell (Mercedes) +1.285s 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.350s 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.430s 11 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +1.524s 12 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.848s 13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.008s 14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.014s 15 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.075s 16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.312s 17 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +2.389s 18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.011s 19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3.255s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.652s 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +5.187s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +5.474s ### FP1 result 1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m47.070s 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.145s 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.207s 4 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.252s 5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.452s 6 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.533s 7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.861s 8 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.889s 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.164s 10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.336s 11 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.362s 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.892s 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.940s 14 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.267s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.333s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.379s 17 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +2.642s 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.769s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.156s 20 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +3.792s 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +5.738s 22 Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) +6.129s ### The unusual way a Belgian GP car spec split was decided URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-midfield-leaders-unusual-upgrade-shootout-explained/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T14:48:33.000Z Racing Bulls has a brand-new upgrade package at Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix, but only Arvid Lindblad has the full package because he won an unusual shootout for it. Racing Bulls currently has the standout car in the midfield and is the only team to score points with both drivers in each of the last four grands prix. It’s now only one point behind Alpine, which it has outscored 24-5 in the last three weekends. In an effort to strengthen its position, Racing Bulls has introduced another upgrade package at Spa, including a revised engine cover, roll hoop, updated brake drum assembly and new upper rear wing assembly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/highlighted-comparison-sidepods-Racing-Bulls-SPA.jpg) But, specifically on the cooling side of the package (that visibly smaller roll hoop), Racing Bulls only had enough parts to introduce it to just one of its cars. It will have the capacity to get both cars level on spec again in Budapest one week later. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/comparison-front-view-roll-hoop-Racing-Bulls-SPA--1-.jpg) Lindblad, despite being 19 points behind Liam Lawson in the drivers’ championship, received the full upgrade, while Lawson has to wait until the Hungarian GP. Racing Bulls team boss Alan Permane explained he sat down with both drivers to discuss the matter on Saturday evening after qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix, where Lawson and Lindblad qualified ninth and 10th, a ‘one-two’ in F1’s midfield. “Honestly, we don't like bringing updates for just one car. It was impossible for us to do it to two cars \[as\] it's a chassis modification, we had to shrink the roll hoop,” Permane explained. “I sat down with both drivers in Austria on Saturday evening. We had a very good qualifying. So okay, while everyone's in a good mood. I'll give some bad news: ‘We got a good update coming but we can only do one car for Spa, and the next car will be done for the race after in Budapest’. “So I first suggested the very simple option that makes it fair is we upgrade no cars for Spa and then both of them for Budapest. Of course, they looked at me like I was crazy - and I wouldn't have ever done that \[anyway\]. We didn't really seriously consider that. "The next thing we can do is flip a coin - or we can make it a little bit of fun and we'll say whoever qualifies in front in Silverstone gets the upgrade, and they both signed up for that. That's what we did.” Lindblad beat Lawson in Q3 to qualify ninth at Silverstone and earned the right to have the full upgrade package at Spa. But that shootout won’t occur if Racing Bulls finds itself in a similar situation later in the year. “I think what we'll do if it happens again later in the season, and it may happen later \[as\] we've got another big thing coming at some point, it will go to Liam,” Permane added. “So we won't do that again.” ### F1's 2027 under-the-radar car changes explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/significant-aero-rule-changes-for-f1-2027-explained/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T14:48:57.000Z Formula 1 teams are bracing themselves for what has been called a “significant” change to car aerodynamics next year as a result of what initially appeared to be minor rule tweaks. The revisions that are coming for 2027 are the consequence of a push by the FIA, and [first revealed by The Race](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-already-pursuing-downforce-reduction-plan-for-2027-cars/), to keep downforce levels under control in a bid to help minimise forces being put through the tyres as well as improve energy management. Early analysis with the new 2026 cars has shown that how much energy cars have down the straights can be heavily influenced by how fast they go through corners. So any progress being made by teams in improving downforce to lift speed through turns means more energy starvation to make the racing worse. Following talks with teams over recent months, tweaks were approved to the chassis regulations that will go hand-in-hand with a shift away from the 50/50 split between internal combustion engine and battery power. The changes are mainly in three key areas of the car – the floor edge, the plank and the rear wing – and all appear to be relatively minor in terms of a few dimensional changes. But as teams have begun to dig into the details, they have realised that there are some wider consequences playing out. Speaking to Sky F1 at the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday, Williams team boss James Vowles said the fallout from the rules was playing into his team’s consideration of its chassis design plans over both this year and next. “They are fairly significant,” said Vowles about the rule tweaks. “As a result of that, it isn't really as \[much of a\] carryover as I think everyone would like. “We've already said we're doing a new chassis, and the purpose behind that is it will form part of next year's chassis allocation, but it's a very different way of doing chassis, a very different way of digging into the roots and getting into the performance of the car.” ## What is changing Several areas of the car have been targeted as areas where tweaks can be made. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/TR-COMPARISON-REAR-WING-2026---2027.jpg) At the back of the car, the rear wing dimensions are changing to make them less effective. The wing will be slightly shallower by around 20mm, while the ‘rotation brackets’ that a host of teams are running above the upper element will no longer be allowed. Not everything is being taken away though, with a new rear wing pylon brace allowed for next year that will sit between the supports. This will likely be used to create some monkey seat-style wings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/TR-line-art-rear-comparison-2026-vs-2027-disegno--1-.jpg) Included as part of the changes for 2027, although not directly related to improving energy management, is a ban on exhaust wings as well as some tidying up of the diffuser rules. The exhaust wing concept was pioneered by Ferrari and copied in a different way by other teams over the course of this season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/TR-COMPARISON-UNDER-FLOOR-BIB-2026-2027.jpg) Towards the front of the car, the FIA is also reducing the maximum allowance of what is known as floor leading edge devices from five to three. Underneath the car, there is going to be a big reduction in the length of the plank – with the front section being reduced from 900mm in length to 600mm. This change has been partly fuelled by concerns the FIA had about the length of the bibs underneath the nose section this year, which it felt risked penetrating the area inside the halo if a car was lifted up in a crash. ### Why the changes have such an impact While the revisions to the rear wing and the floor leading edge devices will involve new design work, it is the change that cannot be seen – to the plank – that could trigger the biggest headache for teams. The reduction of the leading area of the plank will result in the bib tray being pulled back – and that will have implications when it comes to ride height. The plank is used as a means of dictating ride heights, as teams know they cannot run too low in case they risk wearing it out. So under the current rules, with a long front plank area and bib tray, teams have to be relatively conservative in terms of how they pitch things. That may not be the case next year when the plank is shorter and Aston Martin technical director Adrian Newey recently used the same “significant” word when referencing the rule change's impact. “The leading edge has been moved by about 300 millimetres, which allows you to run the front of the car lower,” he said. “That brings a different set of aerodynamic characteristics. "The key one for us is that front‑of‑floor change. It gives everyone a different aero challenge to solve.” With Aston Martin not having got things spot on with its 2026 car, Newey sees some clear opportunity for his team in potentially exploiting a different aero window for next year. “Because we've effectively been forced to grow up quickly as a team over the last 12 months, we're in a much better place to capitalise on the regulation changes than we would have been a year ago,” he said. ### What happened in F1's Belgian Grand Prix FP1 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-tops-f1-practice-at-spa-for-first-time-in-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T13:49:39.000Z Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace in opening practice at Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix ahead of the two Ferraris. Red Bull parked its ‘Macarena’-spec rear wing for the Spa weekend after back-to-back crashes for Verstappen in Austria and Silverstone. But it made a strong start to Spa as Verstappen and team-mate Isack Hadjar took turns at leading FP1. Verstappen ultimately ended up on top with a 1m47.070s, the first time he’s topped a practice session in 2026. He was 0.145s clear of his closest competition, Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. The British GP winner Charles Leclerc was third, 0.207s off Verstappen. Hadjar, who will [start from the back of the field](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/two-more-drivers-get-grid-penalties-for-f1-belgian-gp/) due to multiple engine component changes beyond his allowance, was fourth fastest ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. Piastri hit drama in the closing moments of FP1 as he had to tour very slowly back to the garage, having suddenly encountered an issue on the Kemmel Straight. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was sixth fastest for Mercedes ahead of Lando Norris’s McLaren, another driver facing a [10-place grid penalty](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/norris-gets-f1-grid-penalty-for-belgian-gp-spa/) this weekend for taking a new battery. George Russell was eighth quickest ahead of the midfield leaders, Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls and Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi. Jak Crawford took Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin for the session and ended up with a fastest lap 6.129s off the pace, but was within four tenths of Lance Stroll's best effort. ### F1 teams declare 21 upgrades for Belgian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-teams-declare-21-upgrades-for-belgian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T13:38:50.000Z Formula 1 teams have brought a combined 21 upgrades to Spa as the relentless development of the new 2026 cars continues. Ferrari, unusually for the 2026 season, and Aston Martin, *very* typically for the 2026 season, are the only teams not to bring upgrades. Mercedes has an interesting tweak to keep an eye on, while the midfield-leading Racing Bulls might have the most intriguing package to view, and Haas has a very unusual-looking development. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Mercedes-W17-front-wing-comparison---Highlighted.jpg) Starting at the front with Mercedes, it’s brought a tweaked front wing endplate with increased top-edge camber, with the aim of improving airflow to the rear of the car. Cadillac has also made a similar change - but has also revised the footplate surfaces and added the typical horizontal vane that sticks out from the endplate - to its front wing, the team’s sole change here. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7963.JPG) Back to Mercedes, it has also tweaked its rear drum winglets to help those work in a wider performance window, and it's one of many teams to make a Spa-specific rear-wing change to reduce downforce and drag for Spa’s long straights. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/comparison-roll-hoop-Racing-Bulls-SPA.jpg) All four of the Racing Bulls tweaks are not labelled as circuit-specific. These include modified sidepod bodywork, a revision to its bulbous roll hoop inlet, front brake drum changes for airflow purposes and a new upper rear wing assembly. The latter is aimed at improving the efficiency of downforce on the car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7865.JPG) Two of Haas’s four changes are also not labelled as circuit-specific. The front wing gets a revised endplate, pylon geometry and changes to the actual profile of the wing are all aimed at improving downforce efficiency across its operating window. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7918.JPG) It's a very unusual-looking upgrade with an intricate design where the nose meets the wing assembly, with a sort of J-shaped assembly that rival teams will surely be looking to investigate, as it looks like a unique development as far as these rules go. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Haas-VF-26--front-wing-comparison.png) A geometry change to the deflector on the front end is also available, and a lower downforce rear wing, which are both aimed at Spa. Haas appears to have removed the exhaust wing tip cover. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7995.JPG) Williams has a rear brake duct winglet tweak and a trim for the floor, which are both Spa-specific, but it has also altered the floor profile generally, adding volume to the central part of the diffuser. We already knew McLaren would have a new rear wing assembly to try at this race, and it has also made a revision to the endplate to improve airflow. Audi has tweaked a diffuser winglet as part of what it calls an “ongoing aerodynamic development programme”. It also has the customary Spa rear wing tweaks. That leaves Alpine, Cadillac and Red Bull with one update apiece. Red Bull had already confirmed its ‘Macarena’ wing would be dropped for this event. It has also revised the pylons to extract more load. Alpine is the only team to make a halo change, adding a winglet to improve airflow to the rear of the car. ### Number of declared changes Haas 4 Racing Bulls 4 Mercedes 3 Williams 3 Audi 2 McLaren 2 Alpine 1 Cadillac 1 Red Bull 1 Ferrari 0 Aston Martin 0 ### F1's painful cost cap odd one out URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/haas-has-now-become-a-painful-f1-odd-one-out/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T11:06:23.000Z Haas is a budget cap outlier in Formula 1 and it's "not fair on our guys", according to team principal Ayao Komatsu. The American outfit is widely recognised as F1's smallest team and Komatsu said it is now "absolutely" the only F1 squad not spending at the budget cap but below it. "I wish we could," he said at the Belgian Grand Prix media day. "We're not. "It's one of the top priorities on my job list. To be able to fund this team so that we can operate at the budget cap. Because that's the baseline, right? We should be achieving that first off." Haas's status and spending level is a topic of conversation again as its lively start to the season with its VF-26 has cooled off considerably as midfield rivals brought more upgrades and more potent upgrades. "If you looked at last year, the regulations were incredibly mature - and across the year, we didn't really add much performance to the car, but we brought them \[the upgrades\] at the right time and everybody was adding small amounts," said driver Ollie Bearman. "But now if you look at the gradient of development, it's much higher. People are bringing massive overhauls to their cars almost on a weekly basis. If you look at the front teams, it's quite impressive how much they're able to bring and the rate of development they're able to achieve. "First of all, that's something that we simply couldn't do. But second of all, I think looking compared to our competition, we've just been overtaken in terms of development. We haven't bought enough to the car compared to them. On top of that, what we've bought to the car hasn't really worked, let's say. "I think this type of new era, where the \[development\] rate is very high, it exposes us a little bit in terms of our weaknesses. Last year, that wasn't the case, because the development rate was not even a quarter of what it is now." Komatsu disputed Bearman's suggestion that the upgrades haven't worked - but not the wider point that Haas is being outdeveloped. "That's not a reflection of, let's say, the incapability of our guys. I think our guys are doing, honestly, a fantastic job," he stressed. "Anybody who knows about Formula 1, knowing our size and resource of the team, and then producing what we are producing, I think they will understand this statement. "I think they \[Haas staff\] are very capable. They work as a team. The communication is clear. No-blame culture. I think the culture is getting there and the capability is there. "But I'm not, so far, being able to give them enough ammunition for our guys to show what they're capable of. "What they produced at the beginning of this year is completely… what's the right word? 'Unexpected'. You cannot expect the smallest team to be performing the way that we've been performing at the beginning of the season in the year of the biggest regulation change. "And that's not sustainable for us. So it's not a reflection of our guys. It's more a reflection on my side. I need to be able to get better revenue to this team and provide a better environment for our guys. Then once we've done that, we've got the guys to do it. We've got the drivers to do it. So I'm sure we can come back. But those things take time." The biggest question surrounding Haas, which debuted in 2016 under a slimmed-down model of taking as many components as permissible from Ferrari, had long been whether team owner Gene Haas was investing enough. It was the catalyst for Haas's split with previous team principal Guenther Steiner, who Komatsu succeeded. Komatsu said he planned for the team to operate at the budget cap "as soon as possible". "It's not like I just started working on it. We've been working on it. So we're having some very good conversations. But really, honestly, it's not fair on our guys to have that constraint. "It's like they're fighting with both hands tied. But then when they see our lack of performance or struggles in places like Miami, Barcelona, Spielberg, Silverstone, nobody's hiding from it. Everybody's just talking, 'OK, what's the problem? How have we missed it? How have we got into this situation? How are we going to improve?’ And that's something I really respect. "So I'm really just determined just to give them the environment they deserve." ### Verstappen's curious McLaren junior signing is a big statement URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/team-verstappen-actual-mclaren-signing-is-a-big-statement/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T07:30:48.000Z Amid all the hullabaloo about a theoretical future with McLaren and meetings with Zak Brown, Max Verstappen has signed up for co-patronage of maybe the highest-upside driver asset McLaren has in its Formula 1 junior programme. The timing is surely a coincidence, but the announcement is fascinating - and unusual - all the same. Dries Van Langendonck, a 15-year-old Belgian who currently races in Formula 4, is now a member of 'Verstappen Racing' in addition to being part of McLaren's junior programme. Van Langendonck is as prized an asset as drivers get at that phase of their career - a ludicrously prolific and highly successful karter (world champion and European champion) turned immediate success in car racing (he won the F4-spec Formula Winter Series in the off-season and is currently on track to be this year's British F4 champion). His entry under the Verstappen Racing umbrella is intended to offer him "additional support and guidance" from Verstappen himself, complementing his McLaren-led development. "He has been a big talent for a long time already in go-karting, and I think you can spot quite quickly when someone is a little bit more special than someone else," Verstappen said of Van Langendonck during the Belgian Grand Prix media day. "That has carried on with what he’s doing right now in Formula 4, and that’s why it’s just very exciting to try and help him and guide him, of course hand in hand with McLaren’s side as well, to make the right decisions for his future. "He wants to get to Formula 1, and I’m just trying to make sure that will happen in the future. It’s honestly a very exciting project to be part of." This kind of co-operation over a protege between a top F1 driver and a team they're not part of is not unprecedented in recent F1 memory, as Gabriel Bortoleto was a McLaren junior and then signed with Audi while remaining part of Fernando Alonso's A14 Management stable (with Alonso himself not affiliated with McLaren nor Audi). But it is a new venture for Verstappen, as part of a continued expansion of his Verstappen Racing efforts. Its driver roster otherwise comprises the simracer squad, simracer-turned-GT3 driver Chris Lulham, GT3 driver (and son of Verstappen's manager) Thierry Vermeulen and Verstappen's father Jos (specifically his rally efforts). In Van Langendonck, for the first time, Verstappen has taken a driver under his wing whose sole career ambition is clearly to make F1. "We're just going to try and help him achieve that," Verstappen added, "by making, hopefully, the right calls and decisions in terms of where he has to race, what he has to do, help him on the simulator side as well, and just try to give him more and more experience. "He’s only 15, so there’s still a lot to learn naturally, but luckily, I think, in terms of raw speed, that’s there." It is important to note this will not have been a McLaren-led initiative, so it in no way reflects anything about Verstappen's future aside from the apparent growing independence of his overall racing ambitions from Red Bull and specifically Red Bull's F1 team. There is thought to have been a connection between the families before this announcement. However, there is no indication that McLaren is in any way unhappy about this - as Van Langendonck is getting the added benefit of access to the Verstappen Racing Pro Simulation resources. "He’s very good for a 15-year-old," Verstappen said of Van Langendonck's simulator prowess. "Compared to myself when I was 15, he’s very, very good." ### Leclerc and Russell have bonded over struggle confusion URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-george-russell-have-bonded-over-struggle-confusion/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T18:07:27.000Z George Russell and Charles Leclerc have been relating to each other over their performance struggles during the 2026 Formula 1 season. Leclerc and Russell finished one-two in the British Grand Prix and were visibly laughing with surprise in the post-race cooldown room. Leclerc said “Who would've thought?" to which Russell replied: “Who would've thought? Not me!” Russell revealed at the Belgian GP the exchange had its roots in conversations with Leclerc earlier in the weekend about their predicament. “Charles and I were texting after FP1 on Friday ahead of sprint qualifying,” Russell explained. “So I'm not going to go into detail about our conversation, but then when we finished 1-2, and it was like ‘who would have thought \[it\] not us’, and that was sort of in reference back to what we were talking about on the Friday. “Our lives are just constantly being filmed, and it just feels like quite an organic moment, to be honest, in that cooldown room, because there are just so many emotions, and even though you know there's a camera there, you are just quite open and free.” Leclerc has faced far stiffer intra-team competition from Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari this year, and his Silverstone victory marked a much-needed turnaround in an otherwise tricky season. Russell is 25 points behind his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the championship, having finally got the title-challenging Mercedes he’d wanted since he joined in 2022. Despite finishing second and gaining 18 points on Antonelli, Russell admitted after the race, "I'm not going to fight for a championship if the performances continue like that”. On Thursday at the Belgian GP, Russell was asked to expand on what he has to improve. Russell replied: “Just going faster. To be honest, it's as simple as that. “The good thing is I've not left a single tough weekend confused where the pace is. It's been so clear on the data. Sometimes it's been so obvious that our chief engineer, almost called it a car problem. It's so clear on the data and it can be solved. “Whereas I've seen in the past from other drivers or previous team-mates where if you're off the pace, it's kind of like scratching your head to understand why. "I know exactly why. If I don't win or if I'm not on pole, it's clear on the data why that is and what I need to do to improve that. “When I am on pole, it's clear why that is. It's not a case of I've forgotten how to drive one day and I'll remember the next. It's just not getting the car in that sweet spot. “Last year, I felt I had a very high hit rate of how often I could get the full potential for the car, the set-up, the tyres with my engineers. This year, that hit rate is far lower and that's what I'm working on to make it more consistent.” If the reasons for Russell’s struggles are so clear, then why can’t they be rectified? “It's like if somebody asked you to draw the Mona Lisa and you've got the Mona Lisa next to you, do you think you could achieve it straight away? Maybe with practice, you will,” Russell explained when The Race asked him that. “With these new power units, with these new tyres, with these new cars, I'm having to set the car up in a way that is not suited to my driving. “I'm having to drive in a way that I haven't driven in my whole career and I'm having to adapt to this. “I know exactly what I need to do, but going out and then achieving it when I've driven for 20 years in a certain way, and even more so, it's been working for 20 years and now suddenly it's working 50% of the time, but 50% of the other time it's not working. “Trying to recognise, ‘OK, is it going to work this weekend my normal way or do I need to adapt my approach?’. "If I need to adapt my approach, ‘how do I do that and how do I do it and be quick?’. “When I've performed at my very best, I've just been performing subconsciously, not even been thinking about driving and now you're having to think, trying to make these new techniques become subconscious techniques and that is the challenge. “Everyone here is at the top of their game and it goes back to this conversation with Leclerc and also some of the challenges he's having. “It doesn't make a lot of sense one day why we’re so competitive and the next day we’re not?” ### Leclerc wants to validate breakthrough ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1421373_HiRes.jpg) Leclerc remains understandably guarded on exactly what changed during the Silverstone weekend, but he clearly found something mid-weekend. He alluded to "a moment on Friday night at Silverstone where I saw a detail and I was like, 'OK, this is very difficult to quantify, but if I happen to change that and make it more to my liking, then my feeling will most likely be a lot better'." He said: "There were just a few things that I changed at Silverstone to try and fit this generation of cars and to try and help my driving with it, that made it quite a lot better. "But as I said at Silverstone, this is something I want to prove on multiple racetracks. It’s not only with one race win - and I’m very happy with the race win - but it’s not only with one race win that now everything is fine and I’m relaxed. "There’s a lot of work in order to try and keep that form and keep that feeling, most of all, because if the feeling is there, as I was saying earlier, it has been the case that when I feel good with a car, normally the laptimes and the performance come. "So I’ll just try and work as hard as possible to try and keep that feeling for the rest of the season and on different track layouts." ### Everything we learned from day one at F1's Belgian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-from-thursday-at-f1-belgian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T18:11:44.000Z Formula 1's penultimate race before the summer break has already told us plenty. Here's everything we learned from Thursday's media day at the Belgian Grand Prix. ### Bearman 'flattered' by Red Bull rumours Sky F1 commentator David Croft's highly-publicised claim that Red Bull was keeping an eye out on Ollie Bearman as a potential signing took, as expected, about 0.05s to come up during Bearman's Thursday debrief. "I mean, first of all, it's quite flattering to hear things like that, with a team like Red Bull who are incredibly successful," Bearman said. "And to be connected with them in any way, even if it's just rumours, is very nice. But like I said, it's just rumours and I'm fully focused on what I'm doing here with Haas at the moment." It wasn't exactly 'come and get me' but wasn't the opposite of that. Bearman subsequently said he "hopes" it's long-time benefactor Ferrari that he makes the next step with as "Ferrari have trusted me from the very beginning in Formula 3 and put me in \[Carlos Sainz's\] car in \[Jeddah\] 2024 as well, really the reason that I'm here right now". But he acknowledged, with Ferrari's line-up potentially set for the medium term with Charles Leclerc and a resurgent Lewis Hamilton, that he doesn't "have a full say" in ensuring his future is with Ferrari. "At the moment I don't have a contract for next year. So, yeah, just waiting in the dark." Asked by The Race whether he was a true free agent for 2027, he quickly corrected: "No-no, that's not what I said." **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ### Why Verstappen isn't engaging future rumours Max Verstappen took just 30 seconds and 16 words to kill off the latest wild rumours that had got ahead of themselves in the build-up to the Belgian Grand Prix. There had been a fair bit of stabbing in the dark from some quarters since the British GP that the Dutchman was on the verge of a shock switch to McLaren next year. But in Belgium on Thursday, Verstappen showed himself not in the mood to engage with all that had been whipped up about him being Woking-bound. “No”, he said when asked if there had been any update. His thoughts on the speculation? “Nothing.” A date for a decision? “Nope. There’s nothing to say from my side.” And then asked if that means he is fully committed to Red Bull for 2027, he added: “I said there’s nothing to say.” Verstappen’s situation has really not changed since Austrian GP time. Yes, the four-time champion does have an exit clause in his current Red Bull contract that could make him a free agent at year’s end; but he wants nothing more than to stay at the team with a quick car. If the latter element cannot be achieved, then options are obviously going to be looked at elsewhere. However, competitive options are shut for next year, whereas 2028 could be a more open book (which is why the original approach to McLaren happened). In the meantime, Verstappen won’t commit fully to Red Bull as it is important to keep the pressure on the squad to deliver him the quality of car he so wants. The speculation probably won’t stop, even if McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – whose seat Verstappen was most strongly linked with – backed up the view that nothing is going to happen. “I’m very comfortable with where I am and where I sit,” he said. “Zak \[Brown\] and Andrea \[Stella\] and the whole team have been great through all that. Very reassuring – and I’ve been the same to them!” **\- Jon Noble** ### Yo-yo racing might not feature Heading into Spa, the likelihood of rapidly draining batteries meant the prevailing view was that there would be a lot of yo-yo racing, with cars blasting past one another when the other had used its battery power, as had been the case before in F1 2026. However, for those who are not fans of these motorway-style overtakes and this kind of racing, there's a glimmer of hope in the shape of George Russell. Despite the track seemingly offering the opportunity for different strategies with high speeds in sectors 1 and 3 sandwiching the tight and twisty sector 2, Russell reckons we’ll see convergence in energy strategy. “No, to be honest, simple answer,” said Russell when asked about the prospect of different energy strategies. “Because a circuit like Silverstone, with four straights, kind of split evenly across the circuit, you could divide your energy across different straights, and it would work out maybe laptime neutral. “Here, you go from the top of the battery at Turn 1, to the bottom at Turn 5, and then again the top at Turn 14, to the bottom into Turn 18, so everybody's going to be on that same strategy, which actually means it's not going to be that straightforward to make the overtakes. “Similar to Japan, in a way, that everyone is on the same strategy, but maybe I'm wrong, but that's my thought.” A glimmer of hope then, that we could see some proper, opportunistic overtaking at this classic venue...if Russell is right. **\- Jack Benyon** ### Cadillac has one more race to 'survive' brake issue Cadillac may have impressed with many aspects of the job it has done in its debut Formula 1 season, but there are still some areas where it has fallen short. One of these is in mastering its brake cooling, with both its drivers having struggled with overheating problems during the early part of the campaign. The nadir came at the roasting hot Austrian Grand Prix when Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez both retired because brake temperatures had gotten out of control. Efforts have gone on to improve things since, but Bottas admitted in Belgium that a proper upgrade solution is not going to come until the next race in Hungary. It means one final race weekend of having to manage things as best as possible from the cockpit – although at least the temperatures and track layout of Spa-Francorchamps should mean it is not too much of a headache. “We knew it would be an issue in Budapest if we didn’t have updates, so that is why we are going to have them there,” added Bottas. It’s all part of the learning experience that every team has to go through, and you cannot be expected to get everything spot on at the first attempt. “Some things we've had to learn the hard way,” admitted Bottas. “We’ll survive with it \[for now\].” **\- JN** ### ...and it has revived an upgrade Cadillac has a new front wing for Spa, expected to confer a small increase in downforce. However, it's not entirely new. During pre-season testing in Bahrain, Cadillac first trialled a version of the wing but found it required some more work. That's led to the new front wing introduced here, which will include a reprofiled vane on the outside of the endplates on both sides. While it won't transform the performance of the car, provided it works, it should mean a useful bump in performance. "Yeah," said Perez when asked by The Race if the new front wing was a version of the one previously tried. "I think we are all in a similar boat where things don't work as much as expected, so you try a different concept and hope that it will make the difference." Cadillac has one new wing available for each driver, meaning any wing-crunching exploits would likely mean reverting to the old spec. **\- Edd Straw** ### Williams is turning to 2027 already While Williams still has hopes that an upgraded and (more importantly) lighter B-spec car due to arrive at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix can turn its season around, the first hint of thoughts turning more long-term has emerged. Off the back of a campaign that so far has fallen short of expectations, driver Alex Albon retains faith that the ingredients are there for the squad to move forward from its eighth spot in the constructors’ standings. But equally, there is a realism emerging that keeping the sole focus on rescuing 2026 may not be worth it – and instead, bigger returns could come from getting a head start on next season. Speaking in the official FIA press conference on Thursday, Albon said that early work on the 2027 car had begun at Grove – although there was no sense yet of it abandoning its current challenger. “We are already transitioning quite early into next year's car,” he said. “We're starting to do more and more simulator work on next year's car. “That’s not to say that we'll leave this car behind, but we are thinking long term as well for the best of the team.” **\- JN** ### Where F1 drivers stand on safety car change After the disappointing ending of the safety car finish at the British GP, there was plenty of talk on media day about whether a rule change was needed to avoid it. Asked about whether the race director should have more freedom to throw a red flag to ensure there’s a racing finish, Hamilton said: “Yeah definitely. It happened in Australia I think one year \[in 2023\] it was one of the best races. “In those experiences, ideally when you're in the lead it's not a great thing, but it really gives the fans the maximum experience. “I think they have the power to do it and they've done it before. Definitely finishing under the safety car, I would be disappointed - I am disappointed as being in the car and as an athlete so I can only imagine how the fans would feel.” Pierre Gasly sarcastically clapped inside his Alpine cockpit when the British GP didn’t restart. “I was a little frustrated with the situation. I didn't have all the information at the time,” Gasly explained at Spa. “Afterwards, I think I understood why all the events \[happened\] and why things happened that way. “But I think we will agree in the future, ideally, we don't have a safety car ending the race in that fashion.” He said it’s likely to be discussed in the drivers’ briefing on Friday night but Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director George Russell said there’s “no major conversations as yet”, so this is something very much still in the ideas phase. Russell said he has “conflicted views” as he doesn’t think it’s fair if a driver has done everything right until a last-minute red flag, but he doesn’t like the anti-climax of finishing under the safety car. He called it a “niche” issue that doesn’t happen all that often so it is unlikely to even be a topic again for a while. **\- Josh Suttill** ### There’s parts fears for Aston Martin’s crucial B-spec car There’s a lot riding on the arrival of Aston Martin’s huge upgrade at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but whether it has [enough spare parts](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/aston-martin-b-spec-2026-f1-car-spare-parts-concern/) for its arrival is "the $1million question" for Aston Martin right now. That’s according to chief trackside officer Mike Krack, who said “you always try to push the deadlines as far as you can”, especially when the team is in such dire need of a leap forward. He said “everybody has done a good job in trying to put mitigations in place, but also have plan Bs for if one or two components can't make it”. Lance Stroll hopes Spa will be “hopefully the last painful weekend for us” before that upgrade arrives. Asked by The Race if there’s any strengths from the ‘A-spec’ that need to carry into the ‘B-spec’, Stroll said: “It’s been pretty terrible: there's nothing we like about our car, there's no strengths, so we can only get better”. **\- JS** ### ...meanwhile, Alonso's finding joy elsewhere Fernando Alonso is among the loudest critics of the current, battery-dominated version of F1\. He says he’s trying to find and cling to any positives where he can, but ultimately is having to turn to museum pieces to find pure joy in driving again. Much of this depends on your frame of reference, of course. For a rookie like Arvid Lindblad, this is the only F1 he’s ever really known. It’s still a significant step up from what came before and that’s probably enough for him. But Alonso has experienced so many different versions of F1 over the past quarter century that he can’t help but hold the underwhelming current version against the harsh light of what came before. He described the most recent ground-effect cars as “pure attacking mode and driving to the limit of the cars and the physics and pushing the tyres to the limit, all these kind of things. We don't do that anymore” and said the joy left for him in F1 is that “I do enjoy competing and I do enjoy racing against the rest of the field. So when I close the visor, I don't really notice anything new on the rules. I'm just fighting against the car alongside and I'm still having fun and I'm still enjoying what I do”. “If I was alone on track, I probably would not enjoy much driving these \[2026\] cars.” Of course Aston Martin is currently cut adrift at the back, so the clear implication here is that Alonso isn’t enjoying F1 at all right now, and probably won’t want to stick around unless the team can haul itself into the midfield fight soon, so he can actually race with those other cars. Alonso had a few stabs at trying to be positive about this generation of F1, mentioning the loss of weight, added dexterity in slow speed corners and across kerbs, and setup directions that have moved away from the excessively low and stiff requirements of ground-effect. But in terms of pure driving satisfaction, he revealed he dips into his personal collection of old F1 cars to find that feeling. “Apart from all the cars that I have in my museum, I have old cars, 2007, 2012,” he said. “I have my own Formula 1 cars that I drive from time to time and I do enjoy it a lot.” **\- Ben Anderson** ### Only Lindblad has full Racing Bulls upgrade Racing Bulls is looking to strengthen its position at the head of F1’s midfield with the debut of another upgrade package at Spa - but the full package will only be on Arvid Lindblad’s car. That’s despite Liam Lawson being the highest Racing Bulls driver in the championship in 10th place, with 39 points to Lindblad’s 20\. Chief technical officer Tim Goss explained an upgraded “cooling system will feature on one car here in Spa, with the second car converted for Budapest. “If it all goes well, we are capable of continuing our recent run of top 10 finishes." Lawson said of Racing Bull’s Spa prospects, “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be strong. Obviously, we have new parts on the car, more on Arvid’s side, but let’s see what they do. Hopefully they work for us.” **\- JS** ### Red Bull ditches 'Macarena' wing for Spa after Verstappen's crashes URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-ditches-macarena-revolving-wing-spa-verstappen-crashes/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T11:49:55.000Z Red Bull has removed its version of the revolving 'Macarena' wing for Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix after back-to-back high-speed crashes for Max Verstappen. Verstappen was critical of the "super dangerous" rear wing issues that led to him crashing in qualifying for the Austrian GP and out of a potential podium finish at the British GP. The problems occur when the moveable Red Bull rear wing switches from straight mode to corner mode, although exactly what's been going wrong with the design isn't yet clear. Red Bull debuted its revolving rear wing at the Miami GP alongside the race debut of Ferrari's version, which had raised so many eyebrows when it first broke cover during pre-season testing. But in the wake of Verstappen's British GP crash at Copse, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies promised Red Bull would conduct a thorough analysis of the issues and did not rule out ditching that wing solution. On Thursday at Spa it emerged that Red Bull has parked its revolving wing for this weekend. The Race understands it could return after modifications are made to it. Ferrari's version wing needed extensive on-track testing before it was raced on the car - it has since stayed on since that Miami debut - while McLaren had to abandon plans to trial its own version of the wing in Austria. McLaren has a new rear wing assembly for the Belgian GP, but it has nothing to do with its revolving flap, which could also reappear in a modified form later this year. ### Aston Martin's parts fear for its 'B-spec' 2026 F1 car URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/aston-martin-b-spec-2026-f1-car-spare-parts-concern/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T10:44:21.000Z Aston Martin has admitted that it is going to be tight on spare parts for its 'B-spec' 2026 Formula 1 car's debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The team will unleash an overhauled AMR26 at the Hungaroring next weekend, which it hopes will help it move off the back of the grid. As well as the new car featuring changes to the rear suspension, nose, and other aerodynamic surfaces, there has been a big effort to reduce car weight too. With team principal and technical director Adrian Newey throwing everything at ensuring the revised car is as good as it can be, Aston Martin has been aggressive in terms of waiting for as long as possible before signing off on parts production. That has resulted in deadlines being pushed to the limit, which means it may not be in as comfortable a spot as it wants to be in terms of having the necessary spare parts ready for the car's first outing. Speaking ahead of the Belgian GP, chief trackside officer Mike Krack said that confirmation over whether it would have enough spares for both cars was "the $1million question" for Aston Martin right now. "Everybody works flat out to get the parts, to get the cars ready," he said. "It is a big undertaking if you decide to do it like that, because you always try to push the deadlines as far as you can. "So it's a big effort going on at AMRTC \[Aston Martin's factory\] at the moment, and I'm a positive thinker, so I think we will have two cars ready to go. Now I don't think we will have five spares of each, to be honest." Krack's comments suggest that there is a degree of uncertainty about how complete its package may be, which is why he said that there was some contingency planning in place to ensure that the whole upgrade effort was not derailed by a few parts not making it. The Hungary package is the first part of a two-step plan, with the second due to arrive at the Dutch GP after the summer break, alongside engine partner Honda's sole 2026 upgrade. "You always have to put scenarios in place or if you have this \[part\] but not this \[part\]," he said. "You cannot make yourself dependent on one part missing and then you cannot do it. "So there are plans in place. It is like: if we don't have that, can we run this? "Again, you will not have the full back-up for everything. But I think everybody has done a good job in trying to put mitigations in place, but also have plan Bs for if one or two components can't make it." ### Norris gets grid penalty for Belgian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/norris-gets-f1-grid-penalty-for-belgian-gp-spa/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T11:29:30.000Z Lando Norris will have to take a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix for taking his fourth battery of the season. Two different battery failures meant neither McLaren driver could start the Chinese GP and Norris's next battery then failed during practice at the Japanese Grand Prix, putting him on his third and final allowed battery before triggering an automatic grid penalty. The Japan battery was repaired but then failed during second practice in Monaco. So a grid penalty was essentially inevitable, but by taking the fourth battery now, it's been delayed to Spa and the hope is this fourth battery will last the rest of the season. "We have chosen to do this in Belgium, a circuit where overtaking is relatively more prevalent, as opposed to the following two events in Hungary and Zandvoort," McLaren said. "We now plan to use this fourth power electronics unit for the remainder of the season, in order to maximise reliability while minimising sporting penalties on Lando." That fourth battery is the first time Norris will get the benefit of the updated battery that [debuted on the factory Mercedes](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-brings-f1-battery-upgrade-to-austria-after-reliability-woes/) and Oscar Piastri's McLaren in Austria. It has reliability fixes after the early-season issues. The McLaren drivers are also both switching to a new specification of Mercedes power unit this weekend, which has a number of reliability improvements and debuted on the factory Mercedes cars in Austria - with Alpine and Williams receiving it one week later at Silverstone. The McLaren drivers weren’t swapped onto the new power units there as they still had mileage available on many of their components, having faced multiple reliability issues early in the season. Norris will be moved back 10 places from wherever he qualifies this weekend. McLaren also has a new upgraded rear wing to trial in practice at Spa. ### Ducati loses top concession status for first time URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ducati-loses-top-concession-status-for-first-time/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T09:21:06.000Z Ducati has lost its top-rank place in the MotoGP concession status system for the first time since the current model's introduction at the end of 2023. It has dropped back to a 'rank B' grading, only just missing out on scoring enough points across the past 12 months to remain in the top A tier for the final six months of the current iteration of the series' rules. Ducati has scored 657 points since last year's summer break out of a total available of 777, meaning it enters this year's break with 84.56% of the total available, just four points and 0.44% shy of the 85% rank A cutoff. Joining Aprilia in the second rank until the end of the 2026 season, Ducati is now able to gain a few minor benefits that are unlikely to give it a significant advantage as much of the development focus moves onto next year’s new 850cc machines. Able to benefit from an extra 20 Michelin tyres for private testing, that's likely to be of minor concern to technical boss Gigi Dall'Igna given MotoGP's looming Pirelli switch. But rank B status does give Ducati the opportunity to make three wildcard appearances, something that could well be utilised to help get likely 2027 VR46 Ducati racer Niccolo Bulega up to speed if and when he secures the World Superbike title for the manufacturer's factory production racing effort. --- ### Mid-season concession status **Ducati**: ≈ 657 points (84.56%; rank B) **Aprilia**: ≈ 561 points (72.20%; rank B) **KTM**: ≈ 387 points (49.81%; rank C) **Honda**: ≈ 247 points (31.79%; rank D) **Yamaha**: ≈ 183 points (23.55%; rank D) **Concession ranks** A: 85% or more of total points available B: Between 60% and 85% of total points available C: Between 35% and 60% of total points available D: Less than 35% of total points available --- Behind Ducati, Aprilia's strong end to 2025 and even more impressive start to 2026 means it has moved from rank C up to rank B, reducing the number of tyres it has available for testing. More importantly, it also cuts its number of available wildcards from six to three, a move that is likely to affect test rider Lorenzo Savadori's plans for the remainder of the year. He has already made one appearance in 2026, at Jerez, and is potentially planning another when the series returns to action at Silverstone after the summer break. KTM remains at rank C, while Honda drops back to D, where it rejoins fellow Japanese brand Yamaha. Honda's promotion at the end of last season was lauded by the team but, after a less-strong-than-expected start to 2026 it has now regained its bottom-rung status. That will however give Honda the opportunity to both use its racers in a testing role (a move likely to help ease Johann Zarco's return from injury) and allow it to continue to make changes to the current bike's aerodynamic package ahead of the introduction of smaller wing packages and frozen rear aero rules next season. ### Best challenge ruined? Why F1 drivers fear Spa will be 'painful' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-f1-drivers-feat-spa-will-be-awful-belgian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T09:43:25.000Z Many Formula 1 drivers have been raising concerns about how the 2026 regulations will affect the driving challenge at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. Spa is a concern partly because of its length as, at 4.352 miles, it's the longest track on the calendar. But its configuration is also a problem, with heavily power-dependent first and third sectors sapping the battery. It means that the middle sector, which runs from Les Combes to Stavelot, is effectively a part of the track where you will deploy little or no electrical power. Accordingly, that's going to be a power-limited part of the track where the maximum 350kW electric power isn't accessible even if you wanted to use it. "If you deploy in those two straights, which is the optimal deployment, then there is a one-minute sector two with no deployment at all," said Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso. "And with no deployment at all, we have significantly less power than last year, and less power than F2 \[because\] that is the case when you cut the deployment." Max Verstappen said "I love Spa, but Spa is going to be another painful one just because of the energy", while Oscar Piastri predicted that both "Spa and Monza are going to be sad". In particular, the no deployment concern is for Turn 10/11 - the famous Phouon double left-hander - which now creates an opportunity to harvest. The impact on that corner could stand or fall on the overall downforce limits, and while there's a risk that drivers may end up sat within the limit of grip thanks to harvesting there, if the downforce levels are at the low end of what is expected at Spa, as has been the trend in recent years, then it's less of a concern. However, the active aero package introduced this year may allow more downforce to be carried given the drag can be shed on straights. Regardless, the fundamental problem is that there is, as always, not enough energy to go round. A fully charged battery is spent in 11.5s if deploying at the maximum 350kW, and this track is simply too long and power-sensitive to have the maximum power available for all of the lap. This was a known problem going into the season, but accommodations have been made to mitigate the problem. First, the per-lap energy harvest limit in qualifying has dropped from the planned 8MJ to 7MJ. That should ensure that the amount of lift-off of superclipping charging is kept to a minimum, perhaps as little as two seconds. Around 12% of the lap is spent on the brakes, so dropping that limit reduces the deficit between the amount that needs to be harvested and how much of that can be done on the brakes. It's a sensible move, one that has been made following feedback from teams, but it does sacrifice a little laptime with the pole pace expected to be up to four seconds slower than in 2025. That limit increases to 8.5MJ for the race, meaning there will be more such harvesting in those conditions. That means there could be plenty of yo-yo racing on Sunday, with this track particularly punishing for anyone being too profligate in spending energy. The second measure is the fact that there are five straight modes: the start/finish straight, the run from La Source to Eau Rouge, the Kemmel Straight, then two zones on the run from Stavelot to the Bus Stop with the Turns 16 and 17 - which encompasses the famous Blanchimont corner - separating those two zones. There had been talk pre-season about there being no active aero deployable on the run from Stavelot, which would have made that part of the lap particularly painful. While none of this is ideal, the changes made for the Spa weekend do mitigate the problems. And longer term, the FIA has already put in place measures to change the balance of electric to conventional power in two distinct steps, with the potential switch to V8s for the next-generation engine, currently in 2031, offering the reset F1 ideally needs to eliminate all the limitations of the power units. Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto think it's time to move beyond the complaints when he was asked if the magic of special circuits had been lost. "I don't think it lost the magic of the sport," Bortoleto said. "I think we should turn the page. We cannot spend three years talking about the same problem. The cars are still fun to drive. It's different. We need to adapt to that." Ultimately, Spa won't be as painful as the worst predictions from teams and drivers would have it, even though it will be a race weekend where performance is dominated by energy management. ### Williams's transformation from $200m takeover to $2.5b valuation URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/williams-f1-transformation-dorilton-200-million-dollar-takeover-two-billion-value/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T12:29:42.000Z When Dorilton Capital purchased Williams in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Formula 1 was in a completely different place. So was Williams. Dorilton's chairman, Matthew Savage, spearheaded the purchase of the Williams F1 team for around $200million back then. Five years on, it's valued at around $2.5billion. And Savage insists it's not for sale. "This has always been a long-term investment for us," Savage tells The Race co-founder Darren Cox in an exclusive interview at the Williams Heritage Centre. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/DSCF1270-1.jpg) "We recognised it would be a long road...it was always a 10- to 20- to 30-year investment horizon for us, and we're still on that pathway." That patience is being tested by suitors. Savage says he fields calls something like twice a week from parties keen to buy in - institutional investors, high-net-worth families, and the occasional car manufacturer - drawn by a sport he believes now sits alongside the NFL, NBA, Premier League football and Indian Premier League cricket as one of global sport's five biggest league properties. In Savage's words, Williams was "up against the wall" in terms of finances, which made for a daunting prospect. He says that 154 teams have folded across F1's history. Without the F1 cost cap - which was ratified in the Concorde Agreement just days before Williams announced the buyout - Dorilton's takeover might never have happened. Savage estimates the gap between a midfield team such as Williams and the big spenders once ran to roughly $5bn over a decade - a deficit no amount of investment could realistically close. The cap, he reasons, did narrow the field: at certain tracks last season the grid was covered by under a second. Off the track, another deficit was laid bare. Williams was lacking "basic processes and systems", and Savage says that it wasn't even immediately clear what the F1 car cost to build. He estimates around two-thirds of a modern F1 team's revenue comes from partnerships, forcing Williams to compete for sponsorship dollars not just with rival teams but with Goliaths from franchises often in other sports. But the one thing that has stayed the same is Williams's identity. Savage says he was adamant about keeping the team's name, regardless of who was to run it. It was a commitment he made directly to then team principal Claire Williams. The performance is still unworthy of such an illustrious team - Williams is currently eighth in this year's standings with just 11 points - but Savage and Dorilton are hoping it returns to some sort of form. With constructors' points comes sponsorship. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/DSCF1214-1-1.jpg) "If you're in the top three, or Mercedes right now, you're structuring five-year-plus deals at top dollar," he says. On valuation, Savage sees further upside. With NFL and NBA franchises trading at 10-12 times revenue against roughly seven or eight for F1 teams currently, he expects Williams and its rivals to close that gap in the future. The on-track performance rears its head repeatedly - and, ultimately, The Race Business asks: how many championships does Savage expect Williams to win in the next six years? Savage's reply? "Great question. Two." --- ***Listen to the latest, honest, and exclusive, 'In Conversation With...' podcast from The Race Business in which Dorilton Capital chairman Matthew Savage uncovers the business strategy behind transforming the Williams F1 Team, laying bare the team's fortunes then and now.*** [On Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/race-business-how-williams-went-from-%24200-million-sale/id1495557562?i=1000776453686&l=en-GB&ref=the-race.com) [On Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4c49M3N5bpXoIzbW7mrHwT?si=07e9a445302f4050&ref=the-race.com) [On The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/podcast/269-the-race-f1-podcast/episode-498/?ref=the-race.com) ### The $215million war that will decide F1 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-f1s-upgrade-war-is-so-unusual-in-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T07:40:18.000Z Formula 1's top teams agree on one thing: that the outcome of this year's title battle is going to be decided by the car upgrade war. But there are several reasons why this year's development race is shaping up to be quite different from what F1 fans have grown used to. The evidence from the first half of the season points to teams finding huge chunks of performance when they upgrade their cars. Under the previous ruleset, diminishing returns at the end of the cycle meant new parts were bringing a few hundredths of a second each time. In 2026, the laptime boost, in a regulatory era that is still so immature, is proving much more powerful - delivering "two to three tenths of a second", according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella. Steps of that magnitude are proving to be decisive in the fight for podiums and wins. Ferrari's Barcelona upgrade helped Lewis Hamilton beat George Russell to victory, while an extensive Red Bull revamp for Austria put Max Verstappen in the thick of the battle there. Coming out on top in F1's development war has always been crucial to success, and has never been easy - but in 2026 is made extra difficult with a cost cap in place, plus complex technical regulations where the performance of the chassis and the power unit have never been so closely intertwined. It's even led to a fresh war of words between Ferrari and Mercedes, over the impressive rate at which Ferrari has brought upgrades to its car - which led Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur to call out his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff for insinuating that Ferrari is somehow cheating. Wolff has described Ferrari as being a team that "seems to be limitless" in the way it delivers upgrades, a remark Vasseur interpreted as a suggestion his team is somehow circumventing F1's cost cap. Vasseur said Ferrari is employing a deliberate strategy of upgrading its car aggressively early in the season so it can enjoy the uplift in performance for the greatest number of races. Some teams, such as Aston Martin and Williams, are taking the opposite approach, because their initial cars are so slow and overweight that they need more time to develop the right parts at the right cost efficiency to make a material difference to their competitive situation. Vasseur also feels the way the FIA classifies car upgrades officially in its documentation to the media can create a false impression of how much a car is actually changing based on how the different teams interpret that documenting process. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/upgrades-list.jpg) Since 2022, teams have been required to declare any changes to the shape of any aerodynamic surfaces publicly to the media, and it could be this has potentially created a system whereby different teams classify their changes differently and can give the impression they are either upgrading more parts than they are in reality or vice versa. ## Cost cap domination F1's cost cap means teams have to come up with a detailed upgrade plan before the start of the season: there's a finite amount of money to spend on improving the car, and it has to last the whole year. Teams have to work to a $215million spending limit in 2026 and need to figure out how best to spread their resources over the full campaign. You could opt to front-load your spending and develop the car aggressively early on, as Ferrari is doing, but then have to accept a reduction in upgrade frequency later in the season. Or, much like with the approach Aston Martin and Williams are taking with their overweight cars, hold off spending money early in the season to 'back-load' the spending on what basically amounts to a B-spec car. Aston Martin's is due to arrive at the Hungarian Grand Prix, just before F1's summer break. Williams will bring its to September's Azerbaijan GP. The budgetary considerations go hand-in-hand with performance gain targets, so it's now literally about how much bang for your buck you can get. Efficiency is the name of the game, and a successful upgrade plan requires a detailed understanding of the car and how specific parts will influence others. Top teams used to be able to spend their way out of aerodynamic cul-de-sacs, as they once operated on budgets two or three times the value of the current cost cap. Now, you have to be much more considered and sure of yourself in the development path you choose. There's almost no space left anymore for trial and error, and so teams ruthlessly target specific areas where they estimate the most laptime can come from the least amount of money spent. Bigger teams have still gained from investing heavily in their infrastructure and processes before the cost cap came in, but now all the teams have to trade off car development against factory development - as both are capped. For a team such as Williams, which is still trying to recover from decades of underinvestment, the cost cap is critical for ongoing survival but makes the process of actually clawing back the ground lost to the top teams quite challenging. As Williams chairman Matthew Savage told The Race Business in a rare interview: "We're still making trade-offs between: do we put in a new accounting system or parts of an accounting system, or do we put an upgrade on the car?" When it comes to car upgrades specifically, there is a key performance indicator used that is based on cost versus performance. In simple terms, a formula will decide how much every dollar of spending should be worth in terms of laptime gain - and any aerodynamic, mechanical and weight-saving changes that fall on the right side of this equation are pursued. So a super-expensive lighter floor that delivers one tenth of a second performance boost might have to be sacrificed for three minor winglet modifications that deliver four hundredths of a second each, because those three smaller developments adding up to 0.12s might prove more cost-effective. Smaller teams might also be boxed in by their lack of relative sophistication and have to target smaller, incremental updates. Haas team boss Ayao Komastu said the scale of the upgrade Red Bull brought to Austria would be totally beyond his team. But whether your F1 team is big or small, the ultra-discipline that comes as a result of this cost versus performance metric means you have to be strategic when it comes to choosing how to unleash upgrades - and especially what to spend the money on. ## Simulators more crucial than ever Simulation still doesn't beat testing in the real world, but simulators and dynos have progressed to such a degree that the cost efficiency of precise simulation far outweighs whatever inaccuracy remains compared to cost-intensive real-world testing. Simulators are improving day by day, especially in this era of artificial intelligence that is helping teams make gains in finding more accurate models. They are also increasingly useful for assessing driveability and the real-world impact of tyre degradation. (Though some F1 drivers, such as seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, will tell you simulators are still not as good as the engineers think they are.) But there is a growing view that technological advancements, particularly in computational fluid dynamics \[CFD\], mean simulation is becoming even more accurate than windtunnels - especially because CFD can more accurately mimic the behaviour of cars when they are transitioning through corners, or experiencing changed tyre dynamics. Though it must be said, even though CFD has taken on an increasing burden in F1 car development, teams are still committing to building new windtunnels. McLaren and Aston Martin have both recently opened new facilities on their campuses, while Red Bull is in the process of replacing the ex-Arrows and Jaguar facility it's used throughout its life as an F1 team for an all-new tunnel at its Milton Keynes base. ## Correlation matters more than laptime What F1 teams dread most is an upgrade that hasn't produced what the simulation models said it would - because that means the correlation is off. That is something engineers do not like at all. And we've seen teams run into trouble in this regard in 2026, with McLaren and Williams both bringing front wing updates that haven't delivered an immediate performance boost. Correlation problems mean a mismatch somewhere in your development process that is leading to car parts promising more than they deliver or vice versa. Either way, that fault must be traced or else you will end up lost. As one team member told The Race: "The main reason why something isn't working as expected is normally as the result of the accuracy of CFD, windtunnel and simulator. "The priority then will be to go back and work out what has happened. You need to urgently understand what went wrong, fix it, and then you start again. "If you keep going then you can end up walking blind. If you lose trust in your process, you are done." This process can be further complicated by how you decide to implement your upgrades: either bringing incremental developments on a race-by-race basis to keep chipping away at improving the car, or hanging fire and delivering a major development package that brings a sizeable performance step in one move. On face value you'd think the small incremental upgrades would be the low-risk approach, as a team can evaluate every new part that comes on the car to better judge if it's an improvement or not. But this approach has some big downsides, one of which is that bringing lots of new parts frequently is not that cost-efficient. It also creates the risk of drift. Smaller upgrades are much harder to measure in terms of the amount of performance they can bring to the car, so you can end up changing too much in a short space of time and then lose a proper sense of what's working and what isn't. As one F1 team member told us: "If you change things little by little, there is a risk you end up slower compared to the others than you were originally - and you don't know why. "Do a big step all at once, you know if you are slower or faster. Do something 10 times that you cannot assess properly, it's a slow drift." ## Energy starvation complication There's a different reality F1 teams are facing in 2026 too, in that the speed profile of the cars through corners can have a direct impact on energy deployment on the following straight. So a through-corner gain in taking a turn flat-out rather than with a small lift could end up costing you more laptime if it means you have not been able to harvest energy into the battery. That means chasing downforce isn't only about the drag penalty it might bring, but also how it might change your entire power unit energy deployment strategy. Is spending money chasing that extra downforce actually going to be worth it? The pre-season upgrade plan is only a starting point, and teams need to build in a degree of flexibility. Some of this will be linked to how quickly competitors have come out of the starting blocks and the usual thing in F1 of needing to evaluate alternative concepts or brilliant ideas from rivals that need studying. Just think of how teams have subsequently introduced exhaust wings this season after Ferrari caught everyone by surprise with the design that appeared in pre-season testing. Novel ideas are always more likely at the start of a brand new rules cycle, and the FIA will ban these particular exhaust appendages for 2027, so for some teams it won't be worth pursuing at all. But for those in the championship fight, it might become an essential unplanned spend that has to be given the green light even though it only offers a short-term benefit. There can also be some unexpected external developments, like this year when the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs were called off because of the US/Israel-Iran war. That forced a reshuffle of upgrade plans for a lot of teams. The living process of the upgrade plan will also need to be adjusted heavily if a team starts the year with a clear and obvious problem. If the car is not working and has a particular issue, then the priority moves away from upgrading and instead shifts to sorting it. As one engineer told us: "Until you fix it, the rest is irrelevant." It's a complicated picture at the best of times, but uniquely so with the added complexities of F1 2026. ### McLaren gets latest Mercedes F1 engine two races after works team URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-mercedes-f1-engine-new-specification/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T23:46:11.000Z Both McLaren drivers will get the latest specification of Mercedes Formula 1 engine at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, two rounds after it debuted aboard the factory Mercedes cars. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell received a new specification of Mercedes power unit in Austria, which featured a number of reliability improvements. Its other customers Alpine and Williams ran the new version at Silverstone one week later. McLaren did not swap to it at the Red Bull Ring or Silverstone because it still had mileage to use on its existing power units, having already cycled through many components because of reliability issues in 2026 so far - including the two distinct battery issues that prevented Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from starting the Chinese GP in March. For the Belgian GP, both McLarens will have the latest power unit for the first time along with a brand-new rear wing that will be "tested and evaluated in Friday's practice sessions". McLaren previously brought its version of a revolving 'Macarena' wing to Austria and intended to trial it in practice, but it abandoned plans to run it on track. "Our preparation has been thorough, using extensive simulation work to get ahead of what we know will be a very demanding weekend for energy management," McLaren's technical director of applied engineering Neil Houldey said. "We're arriving at Spa with a new rear wing assembly, an upgrade we've had in the pipeline as part of the car's development pathway. "We're confident that this update will add a bit of performance to our car, but we are fully aware that after a difficult British Grand Prix, mainly in terms of pure performance, even this round won't be that easy, so we won't be expecting any big change in terms of competitiveness." McLaren has planned what it describes as a "significant" package for the Hungarian GP, having admitted [it is now "redirecting"](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-mclaren-2026-f1-car-has-ended-up-three-months-behind-mercedes/) from its original concept choices. ### The deficit that explains Russell's big F1 title admission URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-deficit-that-explains-george-russell-big-f1-title-admission/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T07:18:10.000Z You probably heard George Russell's self-critical comments after taking a somewhat fortuitous second place at the British Grand Prix. His words made it very clear he's a troubled man at the moment as his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli - 25 points clear at the head of the Formula 1 drivers' championship - is delivering consistently stronger performances. "I'm not going to fight for a championship if the performances continue like that," said Russell who in a straight running of the race, before Antonelli's late technical problem and Max Verstappen's crash, would likely have finished a distant fifth, well over half a minute adrift of Antonelli and beaten by two slower Ferraris and a slower Red Bull. "It is important just to keep on fighting, but the truth is, there's been a lot of things this weekend we don't really understand," Russell continued. "Straightline speed issues yesterday \[on Saturday\] and on Friday, I think it was better today but the performance wasn't good enough. "I'm not coming away from this weekend satisfied. I'll take the result, but I would have been more satisfied leaving Canada when I broke down from the lead than I am today standing P2\. Just because I probably deserved the win in Canada, and today I didn't deserve to stand where I stood." That self-assessment may, on the surface, sound excessively scathing given that he won the previous grand prix, in Austria, just a few days earlier. But even in victory, the doubts were there. "I drove in a different and abnormal way to protect the tyres," he said at the Red Bull Ring, "and it worked well. But I need to understand it. I don't have the handle I had on the tyres in previous seasons." The 2026 tyres are smaller and tend to need higher pressures to support the loads, robbing them of potential grip, especially the fronts. A key Russell strength has always been just how keyed-in he is to high-grip surfaces; he has always been able to fully commit in his braking and corner entries. The higher the surface grip, the more impressive he tends to look relative to others. It's not that he's usually had a problem on low-grip tracks. After all, this is the driver who put a Williams on the Spa front row in the wet in 2021 with an absolutely sublime lap. But his best performances have tended to be when the track grip is high. This year however, with these tyres, he [struggles to get a flowing rhythm](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-driving-style-f1-2026-struggles-kimi-antonelli/) from the car in low-grip situations. Compare his inputs around the super-hot Miami track to those of Antonelli and they are more jagged, correcting more emergencies, reacting rather than feeling. This has further implications under the 2026 power unit regulations - especially at an energy-starved track such as Silverstone. Energy starvation and a hot, low-grip surface really exposed Russell's difficulties, even magnified them. Comparing his final Q3 lap with that of Antonelli, they are quite even until they arrive at Hangar Straight relatively late in the lap. They enter that straight at the same speed (250km/h), but Antonelli's car then accelerates harder immediately, peaking at 303km/h compared to Russell's 298km/h. Being slower all the way down Hangar loses him 0.157s. They go through Stowe at the same speed, but in the short run from there to Vale, Russell loses another 0.067s - and then bleeds further laptime under acceleration between Club and the start/finish line, ending up 0.364s slower over the lap. So it's a power issue then, running out of electrical power sooner towards the end of the lap? Yes, sort of. But the shortfall is derived from what he's doing in the corners. Brooklands-Luffield is a good example. Although they get through that section in much the same time, Russell's run through Brooklands is clearly not as good as he drops an extra 10km/h on the exit, meaning he has more accelerating to do between there and Luffield, using up more of the battery's store. They deploy very similarly through Woodcote and along the old pit straight to Copse and at this stage their laptime is near-identical. But through Becketts, the same pattern: Russell brakes more, loses more momentum, which has to be re-accelerated on the exit. Hence he runs out of deployment earlier on the Hangar straight and is bleeding laptime every time there's a straight stretch for the rest of the lap. Russell has been on the brakes for over 11% of the lap, Antonelli just over 9%. All that lost momentum from the extra braking has to be re-accelerated, and that costs battery power. The extra braking arises from that lack of feel from the front tyres. He does not have the confidence needed to fully commit because he isn't getting the messages he needs on a low-grip surface. The time loss of that compounds in this regulation set - and really compounds on an energy-staved track layout like Silverstone. But that's just the technicalities. The effect that has on his psyche when his team-mate is quick on any surface, anywhere, can only be imagined. But that's what sports competition is; intense mental pressure. Antonelli was probably going through it last year when Max Verstappen was said to be interested in joining Mercedes just when Russell was consistently outperforming the rookie. Russell is good enough to bounce back from this, but he has to decode the mystery first. It's all in there in the data, just as Charles Leclerc's difficulties at Ferrari were. Antonelli is special - as I've maintained from day one - but that doesn't mean he's impossible to compete with. ### What's troubling MotoGP's 2026 championship leader? URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-troubling-motogp-2026-championship-leader/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T05:40:18.000Z Jorge Martin's MotoGP 2026 points lead actually doubled in the most recent round at the Sachsenring, from seven points to 14. But the lead, though better than the alternative, is fool's gold - and Martin himself is as aware of this as anybody. The superb baseline competitive level of the Aprilia RS-GP has kept his championship challenge afloat even through ordeals like his crash into several title rivals at Balaton, but it's clear he has really laboured. Trackhouse Aprilia riders Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez have both outscored him in each of the last four rounds. Marc Marquez, who trailed Martin by 85 points coming out of Mugello four rounds ago, is now 18 back. Factory Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi has had a brutal stretch of his own, but when asked whether Bezzecchi's Sachsenring withdrawal through injury influenced his title prospects, Martin said: "There are a lot of riders for the championship, and they are all doing better than me, so I need to improve myself." He admitted after just fighting off Pecco Bagnaia for an attrition-aided fifth place in the German Grand Prix: "I'm happy to be leading, it's always a nice feeling - but I think it's anecdotal now. "We need to find the speed because I can be leading now, but if I continue making races like this one, I won't be in the lead too much longer." It is, of course, imperative for Martin to find the answer to his struggles in the summer break - and for Aprilia, too. It is, right now, in real danger of putting the entire weight of its championship aspirations onto the shoulders of second-year MotoGP rider (and Martin's future Yamaha team-mate) Ai Ogura. Ogura has been very good, but it would be a tall ask. But Martin, who had come into the season with minimal championship buzz given another compromised pre-season and the total disaster of his 2025 with Aprilia, did prove this year already that he can make the bike work. Hence the championship lead. "I know that the potential is high. I was super confident the first part of the season, then the last few races, I've been struggling with the speed. So we need to analyse well what happened and maybe go back to that bike \[set-up\] because I was feeling much better." Martin had revelled in the front end of the Aprilia when he first tried an RS-GP in the 2024 post-season test - but the bike has obviously changed much since, and as of late, the front end is not his friend, proving too precarious for him to manage. "I think now we are quite far away from the bike we used in the first part of the season - in Austin, in Brazil, in Le Mans," he said. "What I can see is that the other riders are more stable with their bikes. They know what they have and they just go. From my side of the box, we are always trying to adapt the bike to the different tracks to try to help me, but maybe this is not the way for the Aprilia, so we need to understand this. "I think \[we need to\] just analyse when I was fast, what was working, and when I'm slow, what is not working. And then start the second part of the season in that direction. That's it. "Hard work during the summer, not a lot of rest days, honestly, and try to be stronger in the second part of the season." To figure it out, though, Martin and Aprilia need to trace the moment things took a wrong turn - and whether it's one moment, whether it's a change to the set-up, a change to a component, or perhaps a change to his physical condition. The Race put to him that it feels like the downward trend can be traced to Barcelona (a weekend where he crashed time and time again, before also crashing hard in the Monday test) and the following weekend at Mugello - a suggestion that left Martin quizzical. "Mugello was second \[place in the sprint\] and second \[place in the grand prix\], so it's not bad," he insisted. Certainly, he'd sign up for those kinds of weekends now. But Mugello, even at the time, felt like more of a reflection of Aprilia's supremacy at the circuit, and Martin was third of four Aprilias in qualifying, then in both races largely capitalised on stellar opening-lap work. It's fair to wonder whether he still wasn't quite right after the Barcelona calamities at that point - and whether he still somehow isn't quite right. Or maybe it's a back injury - reported as totally minor at the time, but perhaps more significant - sustained in that Balaton pile-up. "Barcelona, maybe, after so many crashes, something clicked \[in the wrong direction\] - but then Mugello I was super strong! "Hungary was a difficult weekend, then I had this problem in my back, and maybe from that point I started to lose a bit of confidence. "But today was not about confidence, it was about the limit. We need to move a bit forward the limit, because...it's not that I don't feel confidence, it's that I lose the front. We need to work on that, and maybe work on my style, and try to understand how to be faster." There's time to understand now, but obviously no RS-GP mileage to check the homework until MotoGP returns from its current July break at Silverstone. Aprilia should have a prime opportunity to re-establish its 2026 buffer over Ducati there, but it really needs Martin specifically to be at or near the forefront. ### McLaren to stage live London event featuring F1 stars and team bosses URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/mclaren-to-stage-live-london-event-featuring-f1-stars-and-team-bosses/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T12:39:02.000Z McLaren is offering fans a glimpse behind the scenes with a live O2 Arena event later this year featuring drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri alongside its Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown. The one-night-only *McLaren Racing LIVE in Conversation* show will take place in London on December 14 and promises a look at the team's story from "inside the garage", with the four current McLaren stars joined by special guests from across the team's history. The event, organised in partnership with live show promoter Fane, will combine discussion of McLaren's past, present and future, including its achievements in F1 and beyond. McLaren says fans will hear directly from Norris, Piastri, Stella and Brown as they reflect on recent seasons and look ahead to the challenges facing the team under F1's sweeping 2026 regulations. The evening will also celebrate McLaren's wider motorsport heritage, from founder Bruce McLaren through to a roll call of world champions including Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen. As part of the event, McLaren will revisit milestones from its history, including its 1000th grand prix, while also discussing its current involvement in IndyCar and F1 Academy, and its upcoming entry into the World Endurance Championship. The team has also promised appearances from additional guests connected to McLaren's past, although no further names have been announced as of yet. Priority ticket sales (through [Fane](https://www.fane.co.uk/friends-of-fane?ref=the-race.com)) begin on July 16, 2026, with general sale opening a day later. ### German GP 2026 MotoGP rider rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/german-gp-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T08:38:26.000Z Marc Marquez and Ducati ran the show as expected at the Sachsenring, but was Marquez's latest MotoGP triumph at the German venue definitely more impressive than what some of his peers lower down the order managed? Here is our rider ranking for the Sachsenring weekend. --- **Agree or disagree?** Leave your comments on Val's rankings [on this post in The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/quiz-val-on-his-163671962?utm%5Fmedium=clipboard%5Fcopy&utm%5Fsource=copyLink&utm%5Fcampaign=postshare%5Fcreator&utm%5Fcontent=join%5Flink) and Val will reply in a Q&A later this week, exclusive to [The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-DUCATI_MM.png) **Qualifying:** 1st **Sprint:** 1st **Grand Prix:** 1st Marquez did not dominate the intra-Ducati battle to the same extent as a couple of his peers representing other manufacturers, but for once, this doesn't affect his position in the rankings. From the start, but especially once Marco Bezzecchi went down with injury, it felt like the promise of a 37-point weekend was both a fantastic opportunity to steal the oxygen from his title rivals - and a burden to overcome. But after an early crash on the Turn 3 bump in the opening practice - which he attributed to having not paid attention to practice in the lighter classes (as Moto2's Celestino Vietti and Milan Pawelec and Moto3's Hakim Danish had all gone down there) - he seemed in total control. In the end, a pair of champion rides to leave his rivals fretting and stewing as they go into their July vacations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-TRACKHOUSE_AO.png) **Qualifying:** 5th **Sprint:** 4th **Grand Prix:** 2nd Ogura probably will not win the 2026 riders' title, but we now have a significant sample set of weekends that suggests he can - with Sachsenring among the most convincing examples. He didn't look great at the outset of the weekend, but found the lap he needed on Friday, then again in Q2 on Saturday (using team-mate Raul Fernandez as a handy reference), then pulled off two crucial high-quality starts. Those opening laps are still a question mark, as he had nothing for Fabio Di Giannantonio in the sprint and fell behind Fernandez in the grand prix - before lunging his way past in a fantastic move later on, the race coming back to him as it always does. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-YAMAHA_FQ.png) **Qualifying:** 6th **Sprint:** 9th **Grand Prix:** 7th On Friday, Quartararo was bewildered to be 0.4s off Miller with what he'd felt was a pretty tidy lap. From Saturday onwards, he was back in the position of total supremacy over the other Yamaha riders - something both he and Miller confirmed was connected to a set-up shift more towards Miller (but also a set-up shift that Quartararo insisted he had already asked for on Friday and had been turned down). This ranking will seem high. I don't think it's high at all - there is little doubt in my mind that Quartararo, a rider not too long ago accused of throwing in the towel on this season, got everything out of this weekend for Yamaha and remains an asset of exceptional value (though maybe not to Yamaha's current situation). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-KTM_PA.png) **Qualifying:** 10th **Sprint:** 8th **Grand Prix:** 4th In classic Acosta fashion, he assessed his own performance so far this season as a 7/10 - which I cannot abide by, for he has been much more impressive than that, and again so this weekend. KTM seemed to have a tougher time than expected at the Sachsenring, and perhaps Acosta's own situation was a factor here. He rocked up with a big fresh scar on his arm for carpal tunnel surgery and was only just ahead of his fellow KTMs on Friday (though he snuck into Q2 while they did not). His Q2 performance seemingly left a lot to be desired (there's a huge difference between his 'ideal lap' of the four best sectors and his actual best lap). And the sprint was good but in a par-for-the-course sort of way. But his grand prix effort was mighty, as he used the fact that the medium rear is more gentle on the front to stay in touch with the podium battle for more than half the race, which had looked highly implausible earlier in the weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-TRACKHOUSE_RF.png) **Qualifying:** 4th **Sprint:** 5th **Grand Prix:** 3rd Ultra-productive and well-put-together weekends by Fernandez are now the norm rather than the massive rarity they were in his earlier seasons in MotoGP. Having a superb Aprilia RS-GP at his disposal is part of this equation, but it can't be the only part. Fernandez is becoming dependable. A "compression shock" during a moment in Saturday morning practice, leaving him with back trouble, could've so easily destroyed his weekend - and maybe would've in the past - but his production on track was such that he could've kept it secret if he wanted to. Ogura was better and the picture within Aprilia is a truly weird one right now, but Fernandez is using his opportunities to shine. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-GRESINI_AM.png) **Qualifying:** 2nd **Sprint:** 2nd **Grand Prix:** DNF The younger Marquez soured what up to then had been a really fantastic weekend with an early exit from the grand prix on Sunday - but it is difficult to judge him too harshly, and his pace looks ominous for favoured venue Silverstone after the summer break. His pace had caught the eye on Friday, he'd mounted a genuine pole challenge in Q2 and he was a threat to his brother in the sprint - soaking up all the wake and temperature into the front tyre but unable to find an opportunity to strike, with Marc too strong in the final two corners and Alex anyway not "100% confident with myself" at this point in his injury recovery. Marc reckoned Alex would've beaten him on Saturday without the injury. But Sunday's race did look second-place-at-best before the crash. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-HONDA_LM.png) **Qualifying:** 14th **Sprint:** 11th **Grand Prix:** 8th Marini has been deemed surplus to requirements at Honda, but weekends like these show why he is set to stick around on the grid for 2027 (via a Tech3 KTM gig). Ideally he will have beaten Quartararo in the Yamaha, but going wide at Turn 1 on Friday and encountering traffic meant no direct passage in Q2 - and a weekend-long struggle in the final sector ultimately left him trapped on the fifth row of the grid. It was unsurprisingly a bit of an uphill battle from there, but eighth on Sunday was a rock-solid finish given the package, and it should not be overlooked that he's the primary reason why Honda doesn't have to worry about being beaten by Yamaha's first-year V4 bike in the constructors'. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-LCR_DM.png) **Qualifying:** 15th **Sprint:** 10th **Grand Prix:** 11th He could've done without the grid penalty for impeding - but if Honda really is continuing to deliberate whether to place Moreira or David Alonso in the factory team in 2027, it's 'one point to Moreira' this weekend. The long corners at the Sachsenring proved a bugbear of the Hondas, and the rookie was no different - and his usual 'towing' magic was absent, as he latched on to eventual Q1 pace-setter Pecco Bagnaia on both of his Q1 runs and yet didn't seem to get too much out of it. But both race performances - especially the sprint, in which he overtook Luca Marini and then kept him at bay - go in the plus column here. I really like this rookie season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-APRILIA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 9th **Sprint:** 6th **Grand Prix:** 5th The mystery of Martin's vanished front-end confidence, and what Martin and Aprilia are able to do to solve it, could be the defining topic of the 2026 title battle from here. Given how off the pace he looks (he couldn't outqualify team-mate Bezzecchi in Q2 despite the latter's massive crash, and even his best lap seemed to owe itself much to track position), he has been doing a pretty sensible job bringing home points. Here, he twice outperformed the real picture of his performance in races by beating Bagnaia, in the sprint specifically via a Turn 11 overtake that a very honourable-in-defeat Bagnaia gleefully described as perhaps the best of the season. But the performance outside of that instinctual early-lap magic is worrying, and Martin knows that better than anyone. In a show of impressive self-awareness, he described himself as an "anecdotal" championship leader right now. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-PRAMAC_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 12th **Sprint:** 13th **Grand Prix:** 12th A combination of some towing but also genuinely good pace allowed Miller to star on Friday, at the track where he'd made his grand prix debut 15 years back. But once Quartararo bridged the set-up gap, Miller was relegated to second fiddle, starting with the fact he was 0.4s back in Q2 (after being 0.4s up on Friday) despite latching on to the back of Marc Marquez. He did run well in the top 10 for most of the grand prix, Quartararo in his sights, before having to switch engine maps to cope with fading tyre life and immediately dropping like a stone. "Whether or not we messed up the calculations, it's too early to tell," he said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-TECH3_EB.png) **Qualifying:** 17th **Sprint:** 14th **Grand Prix:** 9th Here is a weekend that largely followed the Bastianini KTM blueprint (which is probably a big part of the reason why he's moving on to different pastures in 2027). He crashed trying to make Q2 on Friday, but anyway admitted he probably wasn't "ready" for a top 10 - and proved not ready again in Q1, the lap not coming together and the second of two runs a write-off. The sprint was a struggle with a turgid start and persistent understeer, but as always, the grand prix was a step up after a tentative first 10 laps (battling with the familiar issue of bike instability when the grip is at its highest). Despite having saved his best for last, he admitted he was "not really happy" about his weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-LCR_CC.png) **Qualifying:** 21st **Sprint:** 18th **Grand Prix:** DNF He can't rank too highly because the battle for 15th against Toprak Razgatlioglu ended in a crash, but this is the best Crutchlow has looked in this MotoGP return of his so far - and, I would argue, by far. It's not showing up in qualifying - "when they really go for it, I realise I'm 40 years old," he joked - but as a couple of the regulars toiled here, he was there to pile on the misery, while the other Hondas were less distant than ever. 'Unc still got it', as the youths allegedly say, and while a sooner-than-expected return for Johann Zarco will be cause for celebration, there will be just the tiniest smidge of frustration that Crutchlow will be stepping aside just as he's finally becoming actually competitive. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-DUCATI_PB.png) **Qualifying:** 11th **Sprint:** 7th **Grand Prix:** 6th Bagnaia was fourth of five Ducatis here, and closer to the fifth one than the 'big three'. He clearly felt a bit of trepidation coming into the weekend, and struggled as he expected - lamenting a familiar lack of rear grip (he said it felt like flat track) all throughout. Perhaps 11th in qualifying was the best on offer to him - because he'd set identical times in Q1 and Q2\. Both races were exercises in damage limitation from there, but while working past Quartararo in the sprint, he dropped behind an opportunistic Martin, and it turned out that both of his races would be fully defined by following the Aprilia rider around. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-VR46_FD.png) **Qualifying:** 3rd **Sprint:** 3rd **Grand Prix:** DNF A lot has been made of Di Giannantonio swapping to new rear aero mid-weekend, Saturday-to-Sunday, despite an already high level of performance. And it could indeed be more than correlation that his weekend unravelled. He described the grand prix crash as puzzling given the data suggested a "photocopy" of the previous laps in all the metrics, but it was also clear he was injury-compromised after a fall in the Sunday morning warm-up - which came as he experimented with a different line while also adjusting to the new aero. Di Giannantonio himself seemed to see the aero change as a red herring, and was keen to emphasise his pace over the weekend - which was indeed potent, but which really should have yielded more than seven points. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-KTM_BB.png) **Qualifying:** 16th **Sprint:** 12th **Grand Prix:** 10th Binder declared after Friday that, despite some struggles managing front tyre temperature, Q2 felt realistic "for the first time in a while" going into Q1 on Saturday. But come Q1 it looked business as usual, and both of his races were thoroughly unremarkable. As he himself admitted after the sprint, "f\*\*\*ing hell, I thought I had much more" - and his tyre drop-off was so steep in the grand prix that he thought he'd had an engine issue or a flat tyre. There is something to be said for finishing both races in reasonable positions, but Binder's season continues to cry out for any kind of flashy result. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-YAMAHA_AR.png) **Qualifying:** 19th **Sprint:** 16th **Grand Prix:** 14th Largely poor but more so extremely anonymous, Rins only made an impression in two parts of the weekend - in Saturday morning practice when he crashed (ultimately inconsequential) and in the sprint when he was alone to go with the medium rear, which seemed to work out. There was a real chasm to both Quartararo and Miller over one lap, and for once it wasn't being meaningfully recovered through race pace - which was probably inevitable at such a minimal-overtaking track. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-PRAMAC_TR.png) **Qualifying:** 18th **Sprint:** 17th **Grand Prix:** 15th Razgatlioglu's last visit to the Sachsenring 12 years ago yielded his sole Red Bull Rookies win by 0.018s over Mir (Di Giannantonio was P8, Martin was P12, but won the other race). But if it was a high point of his season then, it was a low point here, repeatedly acknowledged by the Turk as the worst weekend of his campaign. He just really-really struggled in all facets of the game here, losing time through the Turn 5-6-7 left-handers, hamstrung by tyre degradation and battling an apparent minor cold. Though he had hoped a lack of established World Superbike knowledge at the track would help him get up to speed easier with a clearer mind, in the end, it sure looked like the opposite was true. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-HONDA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 13th **Sprint:** 15th **Grand Prix:** DNF Points per weekend this year so far: Marini - 7.2; Zarco - 5.7; Moreira - 4.4; Mir - 2.4. OK, yeah, points don't really matter in Honda's current situation, whatever - but this is an ungodly return for a rider who has a genuine claim for being Honda's fastest more often than not. He could've been Honda's fastest this weekend, surely (and was in qualifying), but ultimately this was another total mess. He was boxed at the start in the sprint due to an admittedly unorthodox line by Miller, but the pace anyway was a big negative surprise (with overheating on the rear), while on Sunday, he crashed while running behind Marini for a mind-numbing 38th grand prix DNF in four seasons at Honda. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-VR46_FM.png) **Qualifying:** 7th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** 13th Morbidelli snuck into Q2 on Friday and was, by his own admission, "lucky" to find team-mate Di Giannantonio on track and use him as a reference en route to a solid grid position. But the positives of his weekend ended with the switch to race running - and it had already been slightly compromised anyway by then, Morbidelli picking up yet another impeding penalty, in Friday practice against Pedro Acosta (although in this case he swore he was pushing as hard as he could on his outlap and Acosta was simply much faster). He tucked the front in the sprint while trying to make up for lost ground early on, then was badly off the pace in the grand prix - "not fast in any part of the track, not performing at all". ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-Rankings--1-TECH3_MV.png) **Qualifying:** 20th **Sprint:** 19th **Grand Prix:** DNF It was unthinkable to pick any other rider for this spot. I have no shortage of sympathy for Vinales, who - in every weekend of his for about eight or nine months now - sounds like a rider confused and let down by his body, which had held up super well over the first 10 seasons of his MotoGP career. On Sunday, Vinales finally admitted that "obviously I am not recovered", that he has "no idea why", that this recovery is "taking forever". But for now, this is his new normal, and he can only be judged on those merits as a MotoGP rider and contributor to his team, and that judgment is not a favourable one. A great rider is still obviously there. Vinales went off at speed at the waterfall corner in FP1 but was still genuinely fast in that session - then brutally slow for the rest of the weekend as track grip (and seemingly stamina) caught up with him. ### What time is F1's 2026 Belgian Grand Prix? Full weekend schedule URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/what-time-is-f1-2026-belgian-grand-prix-full-weekend-schedule/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T08:27:06.000Z **Presented by** [**Apple TV**](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) The 2026 Formula 1**®** season moves onto the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix. It's the penultimate race before F1's month-long summer break, and this legendary circuit is a big test for both car and driver, even if it might be very different in this new regulation cycle. Below you'll find the all-important session times for the weekend, as well as all the information on where to watch the action on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com). ## Belgian GP schedule (US times) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1363481_HiRes.jpg) *PDT = Pacific daylight time, EDT = US Eastern daylight time* **Friday July 17** **Practice 1**: 4.30am (PDT), 7.30am (EDT) **Practice 2:** 8am (PDT), 11am (EDT) **Saturday July 18** **Practice 3**: 3.30am (PDT), 6.30am (EDT) **Qualifying**: 7am (PDT), 10am (EDT) **Sunday July 19** **Belgian Grand Prix**: 6am (PDT), 9am (EDT) --- Watch The Moët & Chandon Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), July 17-19\. U.S. only. --- ## Belgian GP schedule (local time) **Friday July 17** **Practice 1**: 1.30pm **Practice 2:** 5pm **Saturday July 18** **Practice 3**: 12.30pm **Qualifying**: 4pm **Sunday July 19** **Belgian Grand Prix**: 3pm ## Belgian GP schedule (UK time) **Friday July 17** **Practice 1**: 12.30pm **Practice 2:** 4pm **Saturday July 18** **Practice 3**: 11.30am **Qualifying**: 3pm **Sunday July 19** **Belgian Grand Prix**: 2pm ## How to watch the Belgian GP [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) is the new home of F1 in the US from 2026\. Fans can view every minute of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend live by signing up to [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) and accessing [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com)'s new dedicated F1 channel. [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) has every F1 2026 practice, qualifying and race live, as well as a full catch-up and highlights catalogue in case you miss any of the action live. As well as pre and post-race programming, there are additional live feeds to follow the action, including 22 onboard driver cameras, live timing, driver trackers and more. --- Watch The Moët & Chandon Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), July 17-19\. U.S. only. ### Challenging the F1 record? Formula E's Goodwood mission explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/challenging-the-f1-record-formula-es-goodwood-mission-explained/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T06:19:17.000Z Formula E never overtly communicated it was going for any particular records or objectives at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend. Yet, it was clear that beating Nick Heidfeld’s legendary 1999 effort of 41.6s (in McLaren's 1998 F1 car) was very much in their sights last weekend. And Formula E was right to take that cautionary approach. Because the Gen4 is very much in the early development phase and its absolute potential is nowhere near fully tapped yet and won’t be until well into the first racing season in 2027\. Ultimately, Ticktum came close to Heidfeld’s time, with a 42.4s best. By the time Gen4 reaches Monaco next May, it will be quicker than F2 and potentially within eight or nine seconds or so of F1\. When you weigh up the discrepancies in budget, and in particular aerodynamic development between F1 and Formula E, then that in itself is an impressive step. The future beyond that is as exciting as it is relatively unknown for Formula E. Yet there is an element of certainty already coming via its original spark of genius. Alejandro Agag. Last week Formula E founder, now chairman Agag, told CNN that “the fastest lap in Monaco, is 1m9 seconds. We're hoping to do 1m08 seconds. So, one second faster than Formula 1\. It's enough for us to show that electric cars can beat that, and then I'm sure that Formula 1 will do 1m07s. “Our target is to beat Formula 1 in Monaco as soon as possible,” he continued. Agag has a track record of over-amplification and disregard for some key principles of reality. It’s partly how he’s made such a remarkable impact on motorsport with Formula E. Agag is a showman. A charismatic driver of business. An inspirational visionary of sporting opportunity, he certainly is. A rational and pragmatic stable force that assesses absolute facts, he’s not. Agag’s words to CNN are, whether people like them or not, very much a part of the Gen4 sales pitch to the world. They came without specifics or details on dates, of course. And they were designed to hit home hard that Formula E is on a steep trajectory of pace and technology that will ultimately be capable of getting really close to F1\. But that won’t happen in Gen4\. What Formula E really needs to do is prick the bubble it’s been in since its birth in 2014, so that any hyperbole naturally ascends. The sporting and technical components of Formula E are sound and strong, but it has struggled to gain a genuine and true following beyond the multi-collated and multi-embellished fan and TV numbers it often boasts of. Goodwood therefore, was rightly targeted as being a key part of Gen4’s communication to the world, and what better way than to get into a competitive pitch to grab attention with its phenomenal acceleration and power. That left some asking if the new Gen4, with Dan Ticktum at the wheel, would have any chance of breaking Heidfeld’s previous record, or even getting close to the absurdly fast McMurty Spierling and its astonishing 2022 record of 39.08s. ### What happened at Goodwood? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/unnamed--27-.jpg) The Race has learned that Ticktum’s preparation for his Goodwood exploits in the development Gen4 car included a secret test at the Ales-Cevennes track in the south of France last month that he told The Race it was “very useful and I got up to speed fairly quickly” and was “another reason why I've been chosen to do Goodwood because I'm quite good at sort of finding the limit quickly". On Saturday afternoon, Ticktum set a 43.87s best after losing time on the dusty surface in the second sector. That effort was 0.8s off the Romain Dumas-driven Ford Super Mustang Mach-E, which peaked at a best of 42.99s. Ticktum then put in a 42.2s run in the ‘untimed’ run on Sunday lunchtime before the shoot-out on Sunday afternoon, where he went toe-to-toe with the ludicrously powerful Ford Super Mustang Mach-E driven by Le Mans, Pikes Peak and Goodwood legend, Roman Dumas. Ultimately, the Mach-E went half a second faster than the Gen4 but has had vastly more development than the Formula E machine. When probed by The Race last Friday on whether a crack at the record could be on, Ticktum was forthright, saying, “Well, we're about three seconds off,” he said. “I think I lost about a second in the practice shootout today at Turn 2, because there's a lot of dust on the track, and I got a s\*\*\* exit up the hill, and up the straight. So, I'd say that's certainly half a second to a second. “Then we've run the same set of tyres for all the runs. There'll be more time in a new set, and the track just being generally more rubbed in a bit cleaner. I think it's going to be close.” ### Why was Ticktum in the car? Ticktum loves power and he loves a challenge. So, Goodwood was a welcome respite from a difficult Formula E season in which he languishes 16th in the standings, 30 points in arrears of team-mate Pepe Marti. “There are a lot of electric cars, like Pikes Peak stuff that's here, the Super Van that has 2000 horsepower, but you know it weighs a lot more than this (the Gen4),” Ticktum told The Race. “So, I think the fact that this is still relatively light, ok yes, it's heavy for a single seater, but it's still light, about 1000 kilos, so with the power we're running, I think 940, 950 horsepower, it's very quick. “I've driven some fast cars, and I'm very rarely surprised by something, but it is just so fast.” Ticktum ran the Gen4 car in France on the specially made Bridgestone slicks. He’s been bowled over by the Japanese manufacturers’ commitment and engineering support for the Goodwood runs. “It does make a big difference \[having slicks\],” added Ticktum. “Obviously there's rumours for Gen 4 Evo that we might move to slicks. Bridgestone have been fantastic. I mean, they've been great to work. “They were very good at the (Ales) test, and they developed a few compounds to try, and we picked what we thought would be best for Goodwood. It's great.” Should Ticktum have been Formula E’s Gen4 poster boy for the weekend? Why not. He’s got more than a bit of box in the office. And whether loved or loathed, he’s a noise generator of such renown that even his own zeitgeist out-accelerates itself, almost by the week. Like Formula E in a way with Gen4, Ticktum is at a crossroads. Now or never, it's time everyone grew up a bit. *Additional reporting:* *Anthony Rowlinson* ### How McLaren's 2026 F1 car has ended up three months behind Mercedes URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-mclaren-2026-f1-car-has-ended-up-three-months-behind-mercedes/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T12:32:23.000Z In just over half a year, McLaren has gone from having Formula 1’s benchmark car to lagging three months behind the development curve of the factory Mercedes team. McLaren’s hopes of defending either of its championships are now slim without a serious turnaround, one that won’t start to arrive until just before the summer break. So what exactly has gone wrong and when can McLaren recover? ## Title fight impact and design errors McLaren’s technical department was effectively walking on water in the second half of the ground effect era, having risen from being one of F1’s slowest teams at the start of 2023 to winning back-to-back constructors’ championships and the drivers’ championship last year. But it was during that 2025 championship success that the seeds for McLaren’s 2026 deficit were sown. “Definitely, I would say that having been in the championship so tight with Red Bull, and Verstappen in particular, in the drivers’, needed some of our attention in terms of keeping working on the car,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said. “Even if we didn't bring big upgrades, we definitely needed to keep paying attention from a technical point of view at the MCL39 because we needed to make sure that we maximised our performance race by race, because the challenge from Verstappen was becoming more and more material.” McLaren also made missteps with the early development choices it made for 2026 last year. “During the \[2026\] development, I think we adopted some directions, from a conceptual point of view, that, as we learn more about the 2026 regulation, I would say that we are redirecting,” Stella said. “And this, like everything, especially from an aerodynamic point of view, is not something that you can get to converge in the space of a week. It normally takes one or two months. “This couple of months is the delay that we have at the moment. We see that it's probably two, three months, the space between which we see upgrades from the top teams.” It’s put McLaren “out of sync” with its F1 rivals in terms of upgrades, meaning it appeared closer to the pace when it debuted a big upgrade across Miami and Montreal, but then fell back as the other top teams brought their own upgrades, with Stella estimating each big upgrade is worth three tenths. *And* there were setbacks with what McLaren has brought as a new front wing debuted in Montreal didn’t race until two rounds later in Barcelona (with modifications). Plus it had to [abandon plans to trial its version](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-drops-plans-to-debut-upside-down-rear-wing-in-austria/) of Ferrari’s upside-down rear wing in Austria because it wasn’t confident it would work properly. Every team is restricted to the same $215 million cost cap for 2026, so McLaren not only has to match its rivals in the development race, it has to *out-develop* them significantly to overturn that three-month deficit. ## Where the car is lacking Silverstone gave us the first proper hints of frustration among the McLaren drivers. Having qualified nearly eight tenths off pole position on Saturday, twice the deficit he had in sprint qualifying, Norris said: “I'm not an engineer. I just drive the car,” when asked why the deficit had grown. After finishing fourth in the grand prix, Norris said “everything but the result, pretty shocking. I don't know how we finished P4, honestly. “A big part of it nowadays is just not making mistakes and reliability. We got that bit right today, but the pace was pretty poor. “Not nice, not a nice car to drive, maybe one of the hardest cars I've ever driven in Formula 1\. Many things we need to do better.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/MCL-pace.png) Asked by The Race how McLaren could be so competitive in Miami in early May but only fourth-best at Silverstone, Norris said: “I don't know why. Other people didn't do a good job, I guess. “There's no way we can finish P2 in Miami and have a car like this today, you know? “Other people have brought a lot of upgrades and updates since, and we kind of haven't. Nothing that's brought us that much performance. “I don't know, the car was just undrivable, honestly.” One of McLaren’s biggest weaknesses is that it has a really draggy car. It’s why it was so keen to deliver its own version of Ferrari’s upside-down rear wing that could help reduce the impact of it when in straight mode. That draggy car will be feeding into its straightline speed weakness too, but McLaren has also been lacking downforce compared to the Mercedes since the start of the season. It’s why Stella split the gap into “probably 70% in the corners and 30% in the straights”. Silverstone “exposed” where McLaren is weak, according to Oscar Piastri, as McLaren’s more vulnerable than the Mercedes to tough conditions, such as unpredictable wind direction. The car also struggles to generate temperature with harder tyre compounds on colder tracks like at Silverstone. Piastri said: “We clearly seem to struggle when things are a bit more difficult, we saw in Canada and Monaco when the tyre temps were difficult and tricky to get in, we struggled, when the wind is high we struggled, when everything is just a little bit out of our comfort zone we seem to struggle a lot at the moment, so that's probably our biggest focus.” McLaren even has to make improvements in how it estimates fuel consumption as it miscalculated the fuel Norris’s car needed for the Silverstone sprint, having done the same in Austria. McLaren’s Mercedes power unit has proved thirstier than expected over the past couple of weekends, so it needs to get on top of what Stella admitted is a “relatively simple matter”. ## McLaren’s knowledge gap McLaren’s customer team deficit to Mercedes in terms of power unit exploitation was well-documented at the start of the season. But much like car development, while McLaren has made strides to match where Mercedes started the season, the works team has continued to raise the bar. The Race revealed during the British Grand Prix weekend that Mercedes had found a new legal way of utilising the benefits of an engine trick that had previously been banned by the FIA. Mercedes was practising and perfecting this on the simulator ahead of the Silverstone weekend, but it came as a surprise to McLaren, which only found out when Mercedes started doing it on Friday at Silverstone. McLaren’s also scratching its head around its straightline speed weakness. It’s partly explained by that draggy car but not solely. Stella’s always very keen to complement the “brilliant” Mercedes product, but at the same time he said there are “question marks” over how exactly McLaren is so far off on the *straights*. The data shows Lando Norris being 11km/h slower than Antonelli on the flat-out run to Copse corner in qualifying at Silverstone. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Antonelli-vs-Norris-Silverstone_.png) While Norris was 9km/h slower than Russell on the run to the Turn 4 right-hander in qualifying in Austria. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Russell-vs-Norris-Austria_.png) Stella wondered whether some of those gains could be explained by McLaren being on an older specification of power unit, as a consequence of the reliability problems McLaren suffered earlier in the year, including two different battery problems that left neither driver able to start in China. ## A step behind That upgraded Mercedes power unit - which both works Mercedes' drivers, the Alpine drivers and Carlos Sainz's Williams has, but McLaren's drivers don't (yet) - has added reliability improvements across a number of components. It wasn’t a performance upgrade, but stronger reliability means Mercedes can run its power units more aggressively, unlocking an extra edge that McLaren currently doesn’t have. Anotherelement of the power unit that McLaren’s behind on is gear ratios. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Gear-ratios-.png) McLaren has opted for slightly shorter gear ratios than Mercedes this year, which means its drivers are reaching the higher gears more frequently and shifting up earlier than the Mercedes in many corners, as this example from Montreal clearly shows. Those gear ratios are locked in before the season starts and are chosen based on the estimate of the expected power unit performance and energy deployment. Again, Mercedes, as the engine constructor, will have the best idea of where to pitch their gear ratios; McLaren’s was a best-case estimate, but it’s proven to be sub-optimal. Teams are allowed to use a joker and change their gear ratios mid-season, but we understand McLaren won’t do that because of the cost involved. Changing the gear ratios would essentially cost McLaren some development budget that it then can’t put towards the car - and more development for its car is sorely needed. ## Recovery timeline Stella says the team now has a “clear development direction” to pursue, but it will take “a couple of months” to be realised. It’s why the Belgian GP will likely be more of the same as McLaren’s Silverstone struggles. The ‘first results’ of the redirected approach will appear just before the summer break at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but McLaren doesn’t expect the truly transformative upgrades to arrive until after the summer break. Stella is also wary of how successful the upgrades of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have been, all instantly delivering an improvement in performance. Stella even picked out new team Cadillac and its successful Austrian GP upgrade as evidence that F1 teams are “operating at a level that has never been the case before”. So McLaren knows it has to be at the top of its development game if it's to have any hope of rescuing its defence of either championship. ### Marc Marquez cruises to dominant German GP win as rivals crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/mmarquez-takes-record-win-as/ Last updated: 2026-07-12T13:03:17.000Z Marc Marquez dominated Sunday’s German Grand Prix to claim his 10th Sachsenring MotoGP victory, with a full points haul putting him firmly in title contention. The factory Ducati rider led from start to finish, completing a stunning weekend at the German circuit after also taking the [sprint win](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-wins-german-gp-sprint/) on Saturday. He took victory by two seconds on Sunday ahead of the two Trackhouse riders, with Assen race winner Ai Ogura ahead of team-mate Raul Fernandez. The podium hands Ogura second place in the championship standings heading into the summer break, 14 points behind leader Jorge Martin. Marquez is now third, 18 points behind Martin, having closed down a 102-point deficit over the past four events. Fellow title contender Fabio Di Giannantonio had hoped to continue his title fight, having been third in the standings. But he dropped behind both Trackhouse riders off the line before crashing out on lap four at Turn 10 for his first Sunday DNF of the season. It came after he also crashed in warm up while testing new aero parts. Gresini’s Alex Marquez also crashed out while running second to his brother, this time on lap nine at the final corner, a turn which also claimed Honda’s Joan Mir. Though Ogura was the quicker of the two Trackhouse Aprils off the line, Fernandez passed him at the final corner on lap one to take second place. The pair continued to tussle throughout the race, but Ogura’s superior pace in the final 10 laps gave him his first chance on lap 24/30. That bold move failed, but he made it up the inside of his team-mate next time round, and was able to build a 2.5s lead to Fernandez by the chequered flag. Pedro Acosta was fourth for KTM, having challenged the Trackhouse riders for third before fading late on. Championship leader Martin took fifth for Aprilia, ahead of Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia, having mounted a staunch defence from his former title rival late on. Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was seventh, having started sixth and fallen to ninth before battling back up the order. Luca Marini was eighth for Honda, with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder of KTM completing the top 10. Cal Crutchlow crashed out late on his LCR Honda while battling with Toprak Razgatlioglu, while Maverick Vinales capped off another difficult weekend with Tech3 by retiring to the pits with four laps to go. ### Newey admits Aston Martin guilty of not consulting F1 drivers enough URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/adrian-newey-admits-aston-martin-guilty-of-not-listening-to-its-f1-drivers/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T06:26:44.000Z Aston Martin team principal and technical director Adrian Newey feels the outfit has been guilty of failing to consult with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll adequately during the process of developing its Formula 1 car. The works Aston Martin-Honda package has been the slowest on average at the start of the 2026 season and the new rules era, and has scored only one attrition-assisted point from the opening nine rounds. Aston Martin is effectively in a holding pattern having elected to hold back upgrades - chief trackside officer Mike Krack accepted this meant "it is a fact" that the opposition "have moved on" in performance terms - a decision that was partly due to cost-cap considerations. Two-time champion Alonso, who is yet to decide whether he will extend his F1 career into a 24th season, has voiced frustration at that strategy and a lack of incremental upgrades. Speaking at Aston Martin's Silverstone factory prior to the British Grand Prix, Newey acknowledged it had been "extremely frustrating" for Alonso and Stroll "to not be able to race competitively with all the problems we've had, reliability and performance". He added he'd felt compelled to spend time "going through with both Fernando and Lance exactly what we're doing, what we have planned with the upgrade package, what we have planned through going into the '27 season". "Whilst it might not seem like it, we are very much listening to their comments and trying to act upon it," Newey insisted. "If people don't feel as if they're being heard then they of course get very frustrated; it's human reactions. "So perhaps we've been guilty of not spending enough time with Fernando and Lance, Jak \[Crawford, reserve driver\] here, kind of going through exactly what we are trying to achieve with the upgrade package." The car upgrade is due to debut at the Hungarian GP before the summer break, with a second step planned for the first race after the summer break, the Dutch GP, the same race at which Honda will bring its sole planned engine upgrade of 2026. Aston Martin's upgrade should result in a car that is heavily revised aerodynamically and also significantly lighter - it is currently believed to be in the region of 10-15kg overweight. Explaining the development timeline, Newey said the decision to forego more granular upgrades was part of a reflective process that began when it became clear at the start of the season that Aston Martin would be significantly off the pace. He hoped that would mean the team's current difficulties - which extend to unreliability as well as poor performance - would become a "distant", albeit "painful", memory. "Our learning curve was behind, but it became quite obvious very quickly that we were not going to be competitive in the early races," Newey said. "So we took the painful, but I believe correct, decision to not do any development through the first half of the year, knowing that would actually mean, as everybody else develops of course, the gap to the front would actually get bigger. "But with the view to then really getting ourselves better-organised, putting a lot of different systems into place for the future and then really doing our research properly because the '26 car was done in a very compressed timescale. "So it's enabled us to step back a bit, take a bit of pressure off ourselves - because I think we actually put ourselves under too much pressure over the winter - and take a deep breath and really understand our problems: what we need to achieve both medium term - which will be with this upgrade package that we hope to have ready in Hungary as a first stage, a second stage in Zandvoort. "I've classed that \[as medium term\], now of course it's short term - at the time it was medium term and we made that decision - and then long term meaning decisions that will put us in a stronger place through this coming winter and into the '27 season. So that's what we've done. "As I say, thank you everybody for their patience and understanding because it's very painful for us and for everybody, our partners, to see our current performance but hopefully this will soon be a distant...painful; painful still, but distant memory." ### New MotoGP grid format 'terrible' for some - but riders approve URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/new-motogp-grid-format-terrible-for-some-but-riders-approve/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T15:55:45.000Z The changes to the MotoGP grid layout implemented at this weekend’s German Grand Prix after a number of high-profile opening corners in recent months, most notably in Barcelona and Balaton Park, have been broadly welcomed by the riders forming up on the grid, even as a number admitted that it’s likely to make racing less entertaining. The new rules, introduced after Johann Zarco was badly hurt at the Catalan GP and Jorge Martin took out a number of other Aprilia riders at the Hungarian GP, space the rows of the grid further apart, with one metre extra added between each space on the grid to increase it from three to four, and the distance between rows growing from nine metres to 12. Another proposal was to move to an F1-style format and cut the number of riders on each row from three to two, something that was quickly rejected by riders. The last significant change to the layout was in 2004, when grids were reduced from four to three racers. “Definitely it’s the first thing we’ve done about safety that is more safe,” enthused Red Bull KTM racer Pedro Acosta when asked about the changes after Saturday’s sprint. “You arrive to the first corner after making a good start, and you can pass the guys off your line \[on the grid\]. Maybe to pass the guys in the line in front is much more difficult, but you’ve only got one guy alongside you, not five around you. For this, I think we’ve made a good step.” That view was broadly supported by the rest of the grid when asked about it at the Sachsenring, with even Acosta’s KTM team-mate Brad Binder, one of the series’ best race starters, admitting that the new rules were the right move despite the effect he expects them to have on him personally. “It’s terrible for me,” he said, “because I can’t pass as many people! Even if you get a good start, you get a row but you don’t get two. “For safety it’s the right idea, for sure, but for the show, let’s see.” That view was echoed by another of the grid’s stronger starters, rookie Diogo Moreira, who also conceded that it’s a disadvantage for him but nonetheless the right call for safety. “I think it’s better,” said the LCR Honda rider. “I mean, it’s too early to say because it’s the first one, but we saw today it was a clean start, so it should be good for the future. “Today I made a good start, but we saw that it’s difficult to pass now in these first metres. But it’s for everyone, and I think it’s more safe and better like this.“ ### Winners and losers from MotoGP's German GP sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/winners-losers-from-motogp-german-gp-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T16:57:11.000Z MotoGP had its first Marquez one-two of the 2026 season at the Sachsenring in a sprint race that produced plenty of winners and losers. ### Winner: Marc Marquez Marc Marquez described his physical condition as his “biggest rival” ahead of the weekend, and it’s hard to disagree because nobody else was stopping him from winning the sprint race at one of his favourite circuits. The victory has brought him to 32 points of the championship lead, and if he stays on the Ducati, then further erosion of that deficit on Sunday feels near-inevitable. Most worrying of all for his rivals, Marquez hinted things could be even easier in the grand prix on the medium tyres. ### Loser: Aprilia Perhaps the RS-GP is still superior to the Desmosedici in general - and perhaps it's stronger than it looks here - but this was perhaps the bleakest day yet for Aprilia's title hopes. Bezzecchi's crash and injury speak for themselves in terms of the significance. And team-mate Martin just doesn't look or seem right right now, in any condition that isn't the opening lap, the front feeling absent since his crash-strewn weekend in Barcelona. It was a telling answer from Martin - who wished Bezzecchi to "come back stronger" from his injury - when asked whether his team-mate and title rival's absence from the short race made it less tense given the championship picture. "No, there are a lot of riders for the championship, and they are all doing better than me, so I need to improve myself." ### Loser: Maverick Vinales It was a horrendous race for the paddock's biggest newsmaker this weekend, Vinales finishing a hopeless 31s back from the winner and 8s back from stand-in Crutchlow. And it wasn't a fitness thing, he insisted, but a bike feeling thing. Unable to make the RC16 work for him at all when the grip level picks up (hence why he starts weekends well and ends them terribly), Vinales again struggled to simply hit consistent lines and laptimes, and so basically treated the race as a practice session for on-bike experimentation. The on-track situation is sour. The off-track situation... uhm, well, here was Vinales's response when told that KTM boss Pit Beirer was seeking a clear-the-air chat given his explosive comments from earlier in the weekend. "To be honest, I don't have to talk with no one. What I would like is to close this chapter - I already understand that I'm out of MotoGP - so I would like to change the chapter and concentrate on coming back from the summer at the maximum, trying to enjoy the last races." ### Winner: Alex Marquez Alex Marquez’s impressive return from injury continues as he now looks close to where he left off. There might still be even more in the tank, though, as brother Marc believes Alex would have won the sprint race had he not been sidelined in Barcelona. That’s hard to judge, given we didn’t know how much more Marc had in reserve if he needed it or if Alex would have had more pace in clean air. But there’s no doubt Alex Marquez is back in the kind of form that (along with Fabio Di Giannantonio’s most impressive season so far) will ease KTM’s fears for its post-Pedro Acosta era. ### Winner: Fabio Quartararo On paper, slipping back from sixth to ninth in a 15-lap race makes you a ‘loser’, but in the context of the Yamaha only scoring points in three of the 10 sprints this year (all thanks to Quartararo), then even a single point is a victory for Yamaha and Quartararo. It wasn’t a points finish reliant on attrition either, like some of Quartararo’s other 2026 sprint scores, with only Franco Morbidelli falling while in 10th, right behind Quartararo. And Quartararo’s overnight work clearly paid off - which included a big set-up pivot - as he jumped well ahead of Yamaha’s surprise Friday benchmark, Jack Miller, who finished down in 15th. ### Loser: Pecco Bagnaia On a weekend where Ducati has been the standout benchmark, Pecco Bagnaia simply hasn’t had the pace of the Marquez brothers and Di Giannantonio. But it might have been better in the sprint than seventh place if it hadn’t been for how the start of the race shook out. He made a good start and was up to seventh, but he knew he needed to clear Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha quickly. Bagnaia did so with a tidy move into Turn 11, but he found himself passed by Jorge Martin’s Aprilia in the same corner and spent the rest of the race stuck behind him. Bagnaia even admitted Martin passing him was probably the best overtake of the season. It continues Bagnaia’s frustrating 2026 sprint trend of either being in the top two or fighting for the last few points-paying positions. ### Winner: Ducati There is a minor unknown in how much of a boost Aprilia will get from switching to the medium rear tyre tomorrow - but the expectation is that this will also benefit Marc Marquez (and probably Di Giannantonio). Aprilia's lead rider Ai Ogura disagreed that the Desmosedici is showing up the RS-GP here, arguing that simply "today Marc, Alex, Diggia were better than me" - but whatever the route to it, Ducati's performance, even outside of the greatest-ever Sachsenring rider, looks shockingly robust, more akin to 2022-2025 than the 2026 season it's had so far. ### Loser: Honda The results from the sprint suggest that the Honda - which is clearly feeling the effect of a development priorities pivot to the 850cc project, perhaps more so than any other manufacturer - is the worst bike here at the Sachsenring. That probably isn't true. "I think if we could've started in the same position as Fabio \[Quartararo\], we can be better than Yamaha. We can finish ahead. "The problem is that Fabio did an amazing lap in qualifying, and this makes a difference, especially in the sprint race, but also in a race track where it's difficult to overtake. "Qualifying is not our strongest point at the moment." Ultimately, nothing came together for Honda's full-timers. Diogo Moreira had latched on to Bagnaia in Q1 but couldn't draw a Q2-level laptime out of it, and Joan Mir got squeezed to the inside at Turn 1 at the start, before anyway struggling badly with turning and rear temperature. ### Winner: Cal Crutchlow Amid all that, Honda's fourth rider - Johann Zarco's injury stand-in Crutchlow - had probably his best showing so far, working his way past a badly limited Maverick Vinales (more on that later) and closing in on Razgatlioglu. Crutchlow was nearly on the ground in the race - he said he'd come close to replicating Marco Bezzecchi's Q2 crash, but on entry into Turn 12\. "I closed my eyes and thought, 'Right, well, that's that,' and then suddenly I opened them and I'm still on the bike, so I thought best carry on," he recalled. Q1 had been a disappointment, but the sprint makes up for it. "I was happy, the team were happy, Honda were happy." ### Marquez wins German GP sprint as Ducati dominates Aprilia URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-wins-german-gp-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T13:34:21.000Z Marc Marquez took another step closer to returning to the top of the MotoGP standings with a supremely controlled sprint victory at the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. Marc Marquez led from his brother Alex at the start, and while he never bolted clear, he looked comfortable in the lead throughout. It marks Marc's third sprint victory of the season and brings him eight points closer to Jorge Martin's championship lead, down from 40 to 32. Second place is easily Alex Marquez's best result since he returned from injury. VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio slipped behind Ai Ogura at the start but quickly reclaimed a third position, which he remained in until the chequered flag. Ogura finished fourth ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia team-mate Raul Fernandez and points leader Martin. Marquez's factory Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia moved from 11th on the grid to finish seventh ahead of KTM's Pedro Acosta. Fabio Quartararo made his sixth place in qualifying look more like an overachievement as his Yamaha slipped back to take the finish points-paying position in ninth - the first time Yamaha has scored points in a sprint race since Le Mans. Franco Morbidelli crashed out of a potential points finish when he slid off the road at the first turn at half distance. ### Sprint race result 1 M Marquez (Ducati) 2 A Marquez (Gresini) 3 Di Giannantonio (VR46) 4 Ogura (Trackhouse) 5 Fernandez (Trackhouse) 6 Martin (Aprilia) 7 Bagnaia (Ducati) 8 Acosta (KTM) 9 Quartararo (Yamaha) 10 Moreira (LCR) 11 Marini (Honda) 12 Binder (KTM) 13 Miller (Pramac) 14 Bastianini (Tech3) 15 Mir (Honda) 16 Rins (Yamaha) 17 Razgatlioglu (Pramac) 18 Crutchlow (LCR) 19 Vinales (Tech3) DNF: Morbidelli (VR46) ### Bezzecchi suffers 'complete and displaced' collarbone fracture URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marco-bezzecchi-suffers-complete-and-displaced-collarbone-fracture/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T15:01:13.000Z MotoGP title hopeful Marco Bezzecchi has suffered a significant collarbone injury in his crash during German Grand Prix qualifying at the Sachsenring. Though it hasn't been officially communicated yet, Bezzecchi will now miss the remainder of the Sachsenring weekend - though any risk of further absences can only be speculated upon, as MotoGP heads into its summer break after the Germany round. Bezzecchi, who is seven points off championship leader Jorge Martin, was injured in a long-slide-turned-abrupt-highside crash in the downhill Turn 7 at the Sachsenring. His Aprilia team has now revealed that an X-ray at the circuit's medical centre has found a "complete and displaced" break in his left collarbone. "Under the supervision of MotoGP medical director Dr. Angel Charte, \[Bezzecchi\] underwent an X-ray examination which revealed a complete and displaced fracture of the left clavicle," Aprilia wrote. "The type of fracture requires surgical intervention for optimal recovery and it will be performed by Dr. Giuseppe Porcellini in Italy. "Marco Bezzecchi is planning to return to Italy as soon as possible. We will keep you updated." A return to Italy means Bezzecchi will definitely vacate eighth place on the grid for the sprint later today, and the nature of the injury means starting the race on Sunday is likewise an impossibility. After Sachsenring, MotoGP will return to track action in the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone on August 7-9 - before another multi-week break in the lead-up to the Aragon Grand Prix. ### Marquez 1-2 as Bezzecchi crash adds fresh MotoGP title blow URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-1-2-as-marco-bezzecchi-crash-adds-fresh-title-blow-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T09:43:52.000Z Marc Marquez led a Marquez family 1-2 and a Ducati 1-2-3 in MotoGP's German Grand Prix qualifying at the Sachsenring, as title hopeful Marco Bezzecchi suffered a fast crash. Bezzecchi was on his second flying lap in the session, in a group of riders that also included the elder Marquez, when he was caught out going downhill through the fast Turn 7 left-hander. His Aprilia slid for a long stretch and then found grip again suddenly, leading to an abrupt highside and Bezzecchi rolling through the gravel. He needed a bit of time to get back up after the crash, and ultimately didn't rejoin the session, before heading to the medical centre for checks on an apparent arm injury. Out front, it was a close and twisty battle for pole - and though heavy Sachsenring favourite Marquez prevailed, he needed the three separate runs he had decided to do. He ultimately delivered a 1m19.041s, the new MotoGP record lap of the Sachsenring, with brother Alex 0.061s back and Fabio Di Giannantonio another tenth down as the third rider on an all-Ducati front row. Raul Fernandez held provisional pole at one point but was relegated to fourth in the end, still as the best of the Aprilias, with team-mate Ai Ogura right behind him in fifth. But the 0.151s gap between pole and Fernandez was smaller than the 0.156s gap between Fernandez and fifth-placed Ogura. Fabio Quartararo advanced through Q2 and then found a well-timed Trackhouse tow for the sixth-best time of the session, while his former Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli followed team-mate Di Giannantonio to the seventh-best time. But Morbidelli will serve a three-place grid penalty on Sunday for impeding Pedro Acosta in Friday practice. Despite his early exit from Q2 Bezzecchi is set to line up eighth in the sprint and seventh in the main race, on both occasions one place ahead of team-mate and points leader Jorge Martin. Acosta, Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller rounded out a Q2 order covered by 0.740s. ### Provisional German GP grid 1 M Marquez 2 A Marquez 3 Di Giannantonio 4 Fernandez 5 Ogura 6 Quartararo 7 Bezzecchi 8 Martin 9 Acosta 10 Morbidelli 11 Bagnaia 12 Miller 13 Mir 14 Marini 15 Binder 16 Bastianini 17 Razgatlioglu 18 Moreira 19 Rins 20 Vinales 21 Crutchlow The three full-time Honda riders all came up just short in the fight for Q2, with Joan Mir in 13th ultimately heading up team-mate Luca Marini and LCR rider Diogo Moreira. Marini had been up on Bagnaia's Q1-topping lap after three sector on his final lap, but had laboured in the final sector all weekend and was again stymied here, dropping a quarter of a second. Moreira, who had latched on to Bagnaia on both of his Q1 runs but couldn't match the Ducati man's laps, will like Morbidelli, drop three places on the Sunday grid after impeding Marini on Friday. ### Gary Anderson: F1's customer engine idea is doomed to fail URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-customer-engine-idea-is-doomed-to-fail/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T14:49:35.000Z Whenever someone with authority makes silly statements out of the blue, it brings to mind the old saying ‘always remember to engage the brain before the mouth’. That was my reaction to the idea of [introducing a ‘customer’ engine in Formula 1](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-plan-for-new-independent-v8-engine-builder-revealed/)**,** because it’s a good example of something that sounds logical at first thought, but throws up a lot of complicated questions to answer**.** I fully agree with the idea of a future V8 Formula 1 engine formula. That, together with a token electrical-recovery system used simply as an overtaking aid, would mean we could get the noise everyone is craving back into F1 and wouldn’t need any assistance from DRS or even active aero. I also welcome the idea of lighter cars. A 100kg reduction might be a bit ambitious, but I’m sure the design talent within each team would rise to that challenge. However, having a customer engine alongside what is now basically a manufacturer power unit formula, which F1 has been pursuing for many years, is a major change of direction. It needs very careful thinking before any rash decisions are made, or even before public statements like the one made by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been around long enough to see this all happen before. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. Remember when a tender process was launched for spec engines and gearboxes to power all cars for 2010-2012? Probably not, which in itself shows this sort of thing isn't a good idea even though that was all part of a wider political battle. The world of F1 engine suppliers has never been stable. Ferrari is the only team that has stuck with its own engine and continued through my 53 years in and around the championship. We always used to listen to the Ferrari warming up in the morning because the noise was distinct from all the others. Way back in 1973, engine-wise, we had the Ferrari 312 boxer, the BRM P142 and the Tecno Series P. The rest of the teams were what we would call privateers, all using the Cosworth-Ford DFV. Other than Ferrari and BRM, they were also all using the customer-available Hewland FG400 gearbox. Most of those Cosworth-Ford DFVs were rebuilt by various engine rebuild companies, many of them involving ex-Cosworth personnel. As the years passed, the privateer teams were squeezed out of F1 by the manufacturers amid rising costs. Cosworth was the last of them, last competing in 2013 as supplier to the Marussia team. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_633871_HiRes.jpg) F1 is a very different beast now, but we must always remember that manufacturers like Toyota, BMW, Peugeot and Honda, to name but a few, came and went at the drop of a hat through a boardroom decision. We also need to remember that, in my view, the problems we have now with the power units are 99% generated by the governing body, the FIA. It wrote the regulations that put us in this situation. The other 1% is probably at the request of one or more of the manufacturers. Many people were against this hybrid concept well before it was introduced in 2014, but it was railroaded through. Even more were against the changes to the power units for 2026, stating publicly that the balance of harvesting and deployment was flawed. But again, all this fell on deaf ears. You can argue that having this customer engine is a sound idea, given it means there’s always an F1 engine available, so the manufacturer influence is reduced. That’s true, but if the FIA allowed the introduction of one built by an independent company at a reduced price, it would immediately divide the championship into the haves and have-nots. Remember, some of these discussions are driven by Red Bull owning and running two teams, and by other power unit manufacturers supplying customer teams. Some teams are worried that if they don’t toe the manufacturer’s line, they will get second-best treatment. That’s just paranoia. Get on with what you have, get the best out of it and you will improve your results. Don’t start blaming others for your problems. However, you can be absolutely certain that there will be pressure from the manufacturers for the customer engine to be inferior. After all, why would they spend all this money if there’s a cheap option that beats them? This would run counter to the attempts to even up the teams through measures such as the cost cap, the fairer Concorde Agreement payments and aerodynamic testing restrictions that need to stay in place for many more years before we truly have 11 teams with similar potential in F1\. So why create a haves-and-have-nots formula? The V8 formula is a good idea, but the FIA should not dismiss an increased-capacity V6 without a turbo. A 2.4-litre normally aspirated V6 would just about achieve the horsepower and noise levels F1 fans are crying out for. As Ben Sulayem says, the turbo is a bit like a silencer, it muffles the exhaust noise. I believe the best solution is for the FIA and Liberty Media to sit down with the power unit manufacturers and a couple of high-end independent engine manufacturers to come up with a power unit concept that isn’t as definitive as the current one. A maximum customer price needs to be set for the season's supply of that unit and if those two high-end independent engine manufacturers want to pursue designing, building, developing and marketing their product, then they should be welcome - if they can drum up customers. Also each engine manufacturer should be in a position to supply at least two teams and a maximum of three. In the case of a participant that means themselves plus one or two other teams. For that independent engine manufacturer it means two teams. At the moment we have Mercedes supplying four teams, including itself. Ferrari supplying three teams, including itself. Red Bull supplying two teams, including itself. Honda supplying one team, effectively itself. Audi supplying one team, itself. If all of those were required to supply a minimum of two teams to a maximum of three, it would mean that at least 10 to 15 teams would be covered with engine supply without going to outside suppliers. That is, other than if they were able to create a rocket ship that everyone wanted. This should allow a little more scope for concept deviation and give the manufacturers a little more head-scratching in the early stages. Even if the battery pack, harvesting and deployment control system, and MGU-K were standard issue, it wouldn’t take away from the challenge of building the best normally aspirated V6 engine. If any current power unit manufacturers don’t want to play with that newly defined ball, then so be it. Keep the hybrid system as it is, with harvesting from the rear axle under braking and deceleration, but limit its usage to an overtaking aid. Use it only if you are within one second of the car in front when you cross the start/finish line. Then you can use your, let’s say, 4MJ battery capacity on that lap in one burst or split it up as requested by the driver pressing a button. Either way, it would mean you have more power for an overtake. Yes, that is artificial, but at least it is the least artificial of all the overtaking scenarios that have been introduced in the past. If you don’t use it on that lap, it gets dumped and you start all over again. We can all come up with many different suggestions. But as we all know, they fall far too often on deaf ears. ### What happened on MotoGP practice day at German GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-happened-on-motogp-practice-day-at-german-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T14:20:20.000Z Sachsenring expert Marc Marquez was quickest to end the opening day of MotoGP practice at the German Grand Prix. Marquez led the way with a 1m19.394s - three tenths short of the record lap set in the equivalent session by Fabio Di Giannantonio last year - as Ducatis and Aprilias led the way again. The anticipation is that the scales could be tipped in Ducati's favour by the track layout here, and Marquez was joined by Di Giannantonio and brother Alex towards the sharp end in a Ducati 1-3-4. But Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) was his closest rival, 0.166s off, while Jack Miller delivered a stunning top-five for Yamaha, having masterfully capitalised on a tow from a pair of KTMs. Fernandez's Aprilia stablemates Ai Ogura, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin all slotted in from sixth to eighth. The final places guaranteeing Q2 participation tomorrow went to Pedro Acosta - the sole KTM in the top 10 - and Franco Morbidelli - who is under investigation for baulking Acosta earlier in the session. --- **Advancing to Q2:** M Marquez, Fernandez, Di Giannantonio, A Marquez, Miller, Ogura, Bezzecchi, Martin, Acosta, Morbidelli **Will contest Q1:** Bastianini, Binder, Bagnaia, Marini, Quartararo, Mir, Moreira, Vinales, Razgatlioglu, Rins, Crutchlow --- Enea Bastianini, Pecco Bagnaia and Joan Mir are among those who will fight through Q1 tomorrow. Bastianini crashed in the final moments of the session at Turn 8, while Mir had a trip through the gravel moments earlier - with team-mate Luca Marini the fastest of the Hondas instead, but also missing out on direct passage to Q2. **Session results** 1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m19.394s 2 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.166s 3 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.280s 4 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +0.317s 5 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.447s 6 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.512s 7 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.602s 8 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.617s 9 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.632s 10 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.638s 11 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +0.651s 12 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.674s 13 Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.738s 14 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.820s 15 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.824s 16 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.834s 17 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +0.928s 18 Maverick Viñales (Tech3 KTM) +1.157s 19 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +1.467s 20 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +1.620s 21 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +1.727s ### Monaco date change could save champion's Formula E career URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/monaco-date-change-could-save-sebastien-buemi-formula-e-career/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T12:15:49.000Z One of the two calendar clashes between Formula E and the World Endurance Championship could be averted next season with a possible change to the Monaco E-Prix date - and that has big implications for one of the series' biggest names. The Monaco date could be put back to the first weekend of May, over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of that month. This could mean that a clash with WEC's 6 Hours of Spa would be resolved, but the back-to-back element of the calendar would remain as the Berlin E-Prix stays on the weekend of 8/9 May. The Race understands that the possible change is not in deference to resolving the clash explicitly but more a practical change, as there is another big non-sporting event in the Principality over the weekend of the 15/16 May, the original date that was submitted to the FIA last month. Should the move be confirmed, it could mean Sebastien Buemi is able to continue his Formula E career with Envision Racing. The 2016 champion was set to miss as many as four races with the initial schedule, as he has to give priority to his long-term WEC employer, Toyota Racing. Buemi said in Shanghai last week that he was hopeful of a potential change to the calendar. Envision and its managing director Sylvain Filippi, are believed to consider sticking with Buemi if there is only a single clash next season, as the Shanghai FE and Interlagos WEC congestion in July could allow Buemi to reprise his 2025 stance of racing for Envision and skip one WEC round, and Toyota run two drivers only, as they did that season, or possibly call up a junior driver. Speaking to The Race in Shanghai last week, Formula E CEO, Jeff Dodds, insinuated that an amendment to the Monaco race could transpire. “The process for approving a calendar is this: we submit a calendar to the FIA, it goes to the World Motor Sport Council for approval,” said Dodds. “The calendar we announced last month had been sent to the FIA and was approved by them. If we wanted to change the Monaco date, and perhaps that is a live conversation, that change would not be ratified until it was sent to the FIA and approved by the World Motor Sport Council. “They only just met; I think the next one is September or October time. So, even if we wanted to, and perhaps there has been a suggestion that there’s potential to move something, it still needs to be ratified. So, until that happens, there is no move.” Nyck de Vries, who could also be compromised by the clashes, is believed to have less pressure via his Formula E employer, Mahindra Racing. The 2021 Formula E champion is highly likely to stay at the team for the Gen4 period. ### Who stood out in first German GP practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/who-stood-out-in-first-german-gp-practice/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T09:44:12.000Z Raul Fernandez led Sachsenring master Marc Marquez in the opening MotoGP practice session of the German Grand Prix weekend. Marquez crashed exiting Turn 3 on just his third lap of the session, but shrugged off the low-speed fall - and soon took over in the top spot. Only a run on fresh tyres, soft front and medium rear, from Fernandez at the end of the session denied nine-time Sachsenring MotoGP winner Marquez. But Ducati stablemate Fabio Di Giannantonio was just half a tenth back from Marquez in third for VR46, without equipping a fresh set of rubber. And Gresini's Alex Marquez - who likewise stayed with the same tyres - ended up just 0.173s off the pace in sixth, behind the fresh-tyred pair of Joan Mir (Honda) and Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha). In addition to Marc Marquez, there were crashes for Franco Morbidelli (at the same corner) and Maverick Vinales (at the high-speed 'Waterfall' Turn 11). But both rejoined the session, Morbidelli placing within the top 10 and Vinales the top KTM in 11th. ## Session results 1 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) 1m20.829s 2 Marc Marquez (Ducati) +0.051s 3 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.107s 4 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.115s 5 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.171s 6 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +0.173s 7 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +0.488s 8 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.541s 9 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.552s 10 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.663s 11 Maverick Viñales (Tech3 KTM) +0.671s 12 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.756s 13 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.760s 14 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +0.764s 15 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.856s 16 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +0.897s 17 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.921s 18 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +0.921s 19 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.936s 20 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.960s 21 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +1.754s ### Steiner has bad news for two MotoGP veterans URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/steiner-revelation-on-vinales-binders-futures/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T09:52:22.000Z Tech3 MotoGP team boss Guenther Steiner has all but ruled out both Maverick Vinales and Brad Binder from riding for the team in 2027. Both incumbent KTM-contracted Tech3 rider Vinales and KTM factory rider Binder have long been viewed as prime candidates to ride for Tech3 next year, but Steiner has now confirmed that he will favour signings without the 'baggage' of prior KTM association. He said he "cannot have an opinion" on the sensational remarks Vinales had made about his '27 contract dealings with KTM on Thursday, as "I don't know his contract, I've never seen it" and so "I'm happily keeping out of it, I've got enough on my plate". He did confirm, however, that Tech3's 2027 riders will now be contracted directly to the team rather than bike supplier KTM. "In future, going forwards, we go our own way," he said, confirming that this decision was taken also to have greater influence on the team's rider line-up. "That's a part of it!" he added, "Obviously, you know there is a good saying in German, 'wer bezahlt, schafft an' \[who pays, decides\]." Asked whether he could rule out Vinales, Steiner said: "Somehow, I think, with the situation that we just discussed, it's very difficult to fix that situation. It's not a good situation - if you go in the press against each other. "We are still working with KTM in the future, I don't think he feels happy in the \[KTM\] stable." Steiner was also able to confirm the impending exit of Vinales's team-mate Enea Bastianini, who is expected to be announced as a Trackhouse Aprilia rider - and whose mind, Steiner indicated, was just too set on leaving the KTM fold. "We were too late to the party, as Tech3," Steiner said."I actually had a sitdown with his father, because I get on with these guys very well - it's more of their decision than mine." Asked about Binder as a candidate, Steiner said: "Again, there's a long history there - and somehow, sometimes you need to start afresh, not to carry too much over. "We speak all about these difficult situations, and in the end we need to be a happy team going forward. We don't want any, what do you call it, old baggage. "We want to start afresh and therefore, maybe it doesn't fit in, people that were associated with the group - not only with Tech3 and KTM, but with the group - for too long. Because you always go back to how it was in the old days. Sometimes you need a fresh start." ### Who will join the team? Steiner said that a decision on the line-up has not been taken yet but that it should come "hopefully soon" - as "we then need crew chiefs and all that good stuff". It is known that Steiner's preference is a line-up featuring a rookie and a veteran, and he reiterated that Intact GP Moto2 duo - Manu Gonzalez and Senna Agius - are the two primary 'rookie' options. "They are my candidates. If you know somebody else, maybe it would make my decision easier! But I think you all know the two Intact riders, they're both very good. "I don't think there are any big cons to either of them - but who has more pluses at this point?" But Steiner made it clear he is not interested in an all-rookie line-up when asked by The Race. Of the veteran options, Luca Marini - who seemingly wasn't on the radar earlier in the season - has increasingly been touted as the favourite. "I spoke with quite a few riders because I want to get to know them, if they join the team, because you not only get a guy who rides the bike, you get a person who needs to be part of the team and they need to fit in also. "So I met with a few people. I didn't know Luca before - and I think he's a very pleasant guy. And obviously he's got lots of experience and maybe he can help us get better - but we have not made the final decision, just to be clear about that one. "But as a human being and as a rider - you know as much as me, how he is at riding - but could he be an asset to the team? Maybe yes." ### Why Williams is worrying Sainz so much URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-williams-is-worrying-carlos-sainz-so-much/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T07:13:03.000Z Carlos Sainz is concerned Williams’s Formula 1 team might be going backwards, rather than properly recovering from its miserable 2026 start. Sainz had high expectations that Williams would make a strong start to F1’s new regulation cycle, having been one of the first teams to switch its full focus to 2026 development last year. Yet in reality Williams is only eclipsed by Aston Martin Honda’s woeful start when it comes to the biggest disappointments of the season. Williams’s biggest initial weakness - a horrendously overweight car, up to 28kg over the weight limit - has been well-documented, but now that the team is removing some of that weight, Sainz has raised fresh concerns about the state of the team, even with a lighter car. Sainz had [already said in Monaco ](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/sainz-started-to-doubt-williams-project-after-poor-start-to-2026/)that the team’s tricky start to 2026 tested his faith in the project, but the Silverstone weekend prompted Sainz’s most damning criticisms yet. Sainz made a good start in the grand prix to rise from 14th into the top 10 on the opening lap, but the Alpines and Audis - remember, the teams Sainz rejected for Williams two years ago - were “simply too quick for us”, dispatching Sainz with ease. “Concerning, frustrating because it starts to be a bad trend this year that we don't seem to really find a lot of laptime when the upgrades are coming,” Sainz said. “We need to have a good sit-down now this week and analyse what's happening because unfortunately, we've shed a lot of weight out of the car by now. But the gap to the front keeps increasing and the gap to the leader of the midfield keeps increasing. “So we don't seem to be finding the laptime that we expected in the winter.” Williams fast-tracked a new front wing for Silverstone that was originally targeted for Spa. The 2026 car’s problems went well beyond the weight, with both drivers complaining of significant aero balance issues throughout the season, as well as a general lack of good old-fashioned downforce. The new front wing was supposed to deliver a small step forward, following on from a big package in Miami, which took a chunk of excess weight out of the car. “We definitely felt that this front wing was a big step forward in the windtunnel and the simulator, and we expected definitely more, more of an uplift from it in performance,” Sainz explained. “Unfortunately we haven't been very competitive this weekend.” Sainz is baffled at Williams’s apparent in-season regression. “I don't know if with this set of regulations we're not understanding the flow dynamics and the flow aerodynamics well or what is happening,” Sainz said. “But my feeling is that at Suzuka we were 1.6, 1.8 seconds with a very overweight car. \[At Silverstone\] we're two seconds off with a much better weight. “It means that something is not going into the car. There's some load there missing somewhere. “We need to go find why and we need to be serious about finding the issues and create some bounce back from here.” ### Is Sainz’s claim right? One way to measure Williams’s performance in 2026 is to look at the F1 supertimes, the fastest lap of each team’s weekend expressed as a percentage, where 100% is the fastest time of the weekend. Williams started the season just over 3% off this in Melbourne, something it brought down to 1.984% in Miami, where it debuted a sizeable upgrade package and achieved its only double points finish of the year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Williams-pace.png) But Sainz is right that Williams seemed to go backwards thereafter, dropping to a low of 3.235% off the pace in Austria - further off than it had been all season! Austria was the worst-case scenario for Williams. Hot conditions at a circuit like the Red Bull Ring compromise an overweight car even more because of the drag/downforce and cooling trade-offs you have to make. *And a* heavier car works the tyres harder, so your tyre degradation is worse. So the deficit improved at Silverstone, but Williams was still further off than it was in Miami, several rounds prior. That’s despite being the lightest it's been all season, according to Sainz’s team-mate Alex Albon and yet “the performance is still not there”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Gap-to-midfield.png) Williams’s gap to the midfield was also worse than ever in Austria and while better at Silverstone, it was even worse there than in the Melbourne season opener and the Japanese GP, as Sainz pointed out. It’s why Sainz described himself as “upset” and “worried” on Sunday at Silverstone because once again he’d made a strong race start, but found himself powerless to defend against midfield cars, relegating him back to Williams’s natural position. The other teams aren’t standing still, so even though Williams has made genuine progress since Melbourne, F1’s a relative game, and Williams hasn’t made massively meaningful progress so far. ### What’s gone so wrong? One of Williams’s biggest problems is that the 2026 car build exposed where its F1 operation is still lagging well behind where it needs to be. Team principal James Vowles has spent much of his three and a half years at Williams trying to metamorphose the team from one that used outdated and inefficient processes into a frontrunning outfit. But that process is nowhere near completion. Vowles spoke of not being able to trust the data during the 2026 design process, so key problems were identified far too late by Williams’s overloaded internal systems. Vowles said by the time that data got flagged up, “It was far too late in the process to make corrections” so it fell three weeks behind. That’s “unrecoverable” without ending up with a massively overweight car as Williams did, a necessary, painful “compromise” to ensure Williams was ready to start the season. Vowles said further changes will be made to Williams’s processes, but he admitted “they won’t fix everything”. He contrasted the situation to his former Mercedes team. “In Mercedes, when you do structural work, you have 20 years' worth of data to the right level, data to the right way that gives you material science and ways of working and information. That didn't exist in Williams. It had two years worth of data in it, effectively, so you have to fill that in,” Vowles said. “Understanding what capacity you can push through your operations facility is data that's built up in Mercedes for at least 10 years. It wasn't great before 2010 in Mercedes, to be completely clear. It wasn't Mercedes before then anyway. That data we built up in one year, which was this winter. And you can sort of see why. “Is it just around the processing systems? No, it's ways of working and expertise that go with it at the same time. So there's an amount of learning that you're trying to do whilst building a car at the same time, and not at the rate required this winter.” In terms of that expertise, Williams couldn’t attract the talent that it wanted to until it started delivering on track, something it did effectively in 2025, becoming F1’s clear midfield leader. But Vowles said there’s often a two-year lag with personnel arriving, so a lot of the new arrivals couldn’t have a direct impact on the 2026 car. Williams’s new supply chain is also in its early days compared to Mercedes’, the latter of which has formed decade-long relationships with many of its key suppliers. Vowles also spun a positive out of the painful 2026 build. “But never let a good crisis go to waste,” Vowles said. “The amount of changes we have made have put us into a very good situation for the future, and I don't think we would have made them if we'd partially succeeded this winter. “So as painful as it's been, I believe we have to go through it as well.” That’s spun well, but Sainz will need convincing that Williams was hitting a necessary blip rather than this being something endemic. After all, Sainz is still fully committed to helping Williams turn things around: he was even doing the hard yards in the simulator early on Thursday morning at Silverstone before arriving for media day. In theory, the changes being made *should* help its 2027 and 2028 cars, but what of the progress Williams can make *this* season? The task of fixing an overweight and slow car in the middle of the season is a challenge Vowles compared to “flying the plane and rebuilding it at the same time”. And Williams hasn’t mastered how to do that in the most effective way under F1’s cost cap, admitting, “Our efficiency level is not at the level of a Formula 1 team that has an established way of working for 10 years.” He summed it up as “it will cost more money and take more time in order to produce parts” compared to the top teams. So making big gains on them in-season with much of the same infrastructure is difficult, but Williams has its hopes pinned on a huge upgrade arriving in a couple of months. ### A B-spec car Williams is planning to debut what Vowles calls a “B-spec” car for F1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of September, currently the fourth race after F1’s summer break. That will be a sizeable revision of the FW48 with a redesigned chassis and plenty of other changes. It’s not just about weight but about curing some of the aerodynamic deficit and the nasty vices the drivers experience with this car. Albon locking up and spearing into Ollie Bearman’s Haas at Silverstone was driver error, but it was also a consequence of a key weakness of the 2026 Williams worsening. That’s the [three-wheeling issue](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/yet-another-williams-car-problem-might-be-its-most-troubling/%C2%A0) in which one tyre is lifting slightly from the track surface, making the drivers feel like “passengers”, something that is “10 times worse” when fighting other cars, because the Williams is prone to locking up and cars positioned to the outside are then hard to avoid. Albon said they’re having to “take a lot of caution in lap ones, especially with our car, for that reason”. It’s why Williams’s problems go so far beyond the weight issue and why a B-spec car was necessary to start properly addressing them. That B-spec car will no doubt be a crucial factor in convincing Sainz that Williams is still the right project for him. “He and I talk, not daily, but probably every two days,” Vowles said when asked about Sainz’s future. “He came out \[on Thursday at Silverstone\] and said this is where he wants to be, this is where he wants his career to be. “He and I are aligned on it. Is he frustrated by where we are today? Yes. Being candid, I'm frustrated as well. “Is what he's looking for, do you have the ability to put this in the right perspective, turn it around, add performance at the right rate? That's what we have to demonstrate to him. I'm confident we'll be able to do this. “He has the ability to go not anywhere necessarily on the grid, but to a number of other locations. He wants this to be his because he wants to put his DNA into it the same way I do as well, making it his own. My job in this is just to demonstrate to him some basic elements which we're nearly there on.” Only a Max Verstappen bombshell would open up a spot in those top teams where there's currently no space for Sainz - but he could be a target for a number of the midfield teams he snubbed for Williams in the first place. So Williams has to prove it can get the basics of car development right, and the Baku upgrade must reverse the worrying stagnation, delivering Sainz with the kind of car he thought he was getting when he signed up. ### How George Norris became Formula 1’s tiniest team principal URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/how-george-norris-became-formula-1-tiniest-team-principal/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T16:00:12.000Z George Norris may only be eight years old, but he already knows exactly what it takes to lead a racing team. The young Formula 1 fan has been named the UK’s first-ever Hot Wheels Tiniest Team Principal after impressing judges including 2009 world champion Jenson Button and F1's CEO Stefano Domenicali with his creativity, racing knowledge and passion for the sport. “I couldn’t stop smiling!” George said when he found out he had won. “I didn’t think I’d win it because it was a very difficult competition. I spent days planning and designing my video, so I was very shocked. The competition was amazing and lots of people made really good videos.” > [@ryan.norris02](https://www.tiktok.com/@ryan.norris02?refer=embed&ref=the-race.com "@ryan.norris02") [#hotwheelstiniestteam](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/hotwheelstiniestteam?refer=embed&ref=the-race.com "hotwheelstiniestteam") [#contest](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/contest?refer=embed&ref=the-race.com "contest") George’s entry for Hot Wheels Tiniest Team Principal 2026 🏎️ 🏁Can you spot the Jenson Button Easter egg? 👀 @Hot Wheels [♬ original sound - Ryan Norris](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7650224645136403222?refer=embed&ref=the-race.com "♬ original sound - Ryan Norris") The competition, which launched in May, invited young fans aged five to 10 to show why they had what it took to be the Tiniest Team Principal, with entries judged on imagination, engineering skills and a love of racing. Ted Wu, general manager and global head of vehicles and building sets at Mattel, said George stood out immediately. “When we launched the search for our first Hot Wheels Tiniest Team Principal, we were looking for a kid who wasn’t afraid to think big, make bold decisions and bring plenty of imagination to the world of racing,” Wu said. “George captured all of that from the moment we saw his entry. His passion, creativity and confidence made him a standout, and we can’t wait to see him step into the role and experience F1 and Hot Wheels from the inside.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Hot-Wheels-Tiniest-Team-Principal---George-Norris_4.JPG) **George at the 2026 British Grand Prix* Selected from entries from around the world, George earned the chance to step into the role and experience F1 as a VIP. His prize included a trip to Silverstone, where he met drivers and team principals, explored the paddock and got a glimpse of what it takes to run a team at the highest level of motorsport. According to his dad, Ryan, George has been obsessed with both Hot Wheels and F1 since he was three years old, building tracks, racing toy cars and following the sport whenever he could. “I absolutely love Hot Wheels because you can build really fast tracks and race all of your cars on them,” George said. “At the same time, I’m obsessed with F1, it’s just so exciting.” The competition win gave George the opportunity to attend his first F1 race weekend ever at Silverstone, where he met lots of famous faces from across the paddock. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Hot-Wheels-Tiniest-Team-Principal--George-Norris--Lando-Norris--Henry-Norris-LR.JPG) **George and his brother meeting Lando Norris* Among the highlights was meeting McLaren driver Lando Norris and team principal Andrea Stella. “I met so many drivers and team principals during the weekend but Andrea and Lando were the best,” George told The Race. “I love McLaren. My second name is Norris, so it was great to meet Lando. “It was just amazing to see his car up close and Andrea was kind to take his time to show me and my family around the McLaren garage.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Hot-Wheels-Tiniest-Team-Principal-George-Norris-and-Andrea-Stella.JPG) **George and McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella* But despite all the glitz and glam of the Paddock, it was the race itself that stood out as the highlight of the weekend. “My favourite part of the weekend was probably the race,” George said. “It was very exciting. It’s the first time I’ve been to a Grand Prix in real life.” Back home, news of George’s victory quickly spread through the school. “My teachers showed my Hot Wheels video to the class,” George said. “They were shocked and also happy. My classmates couldn’t stop asking me questions for two days!” However, his time as the Tiniest Team Principal has only just begun. As part of his prize, George will travel with his family to California later this year to work with Hot Wheels designers to create a one-of-a-kind Hot Wheels F1 car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Hot-Wheels-Tiniest-Team-Principal---George-Norris_2.JPG) Ryan said: “The experience has been so special. He’s loved every minute of his time at Silverstone and can’t wait to visit Hot Wheels in California. I know he will have plenty of ideas on car liveries to share. “We’re grateful to Hot Wheels for the chance to be part of something so memorable.” Although Silverstone is over, George's role is far from over. However, that’s all in a day’s work for F1’s tiniest team principal. ### Six things we learned from a revealing Sachsenring MotoGP media day URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/revealing-sachsenring-motogp-media-day-six-things-we-learned/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T15:17:24.000Z MotoGP has convened for its final weekend before a near month-long summer break, with four riders in with a chance to go on holiday as points leader - and Sachsenring master Marc Marquez bearing down on all four. But the title picture wasn't the only thing in discussion during the usual Thursday media day at the German Grand Prix, with several riders speaking for the first time after major contract developments (or announcements). Here are five things we learned on Thursday at the Sachsenring. ## 'Accordioned' Bezzecchi set for survival weekend Ex-championship leader Marco Bezzecchi fortuitously avoided significant injury in his big tumble at Assen - but is still feeling the after-effects a week and a half on. "Apart from the arms, all the rest is in pain," Bezzecchi said. "Because I rolled - head, feet, head, feet - so my body is compressed. You know the musical instrument? Accordion? Yeah, I was this." Bezzecchi expects to soldier through with the weekend, but is aware he won't be able to bring his A-game - which is also why having lost the championship lead at Assen is much less of a consideration in his head. "In a normal situation, for sure the pressure and the kind of approach can change. For my case, at the moment, it's not a normal situation because realistically, physically, I'm very far from 100%. "So the target for me at the moment is not like a normal weekend, where I hope to perform good, I hope to fight for the podium or the win - \[instead\] for my case, I hope to see day by day or even more session by session. "I couldn't try the bike. I couldn't train at all. I really couldn't do almost anything apart from medical checks. "I will have to manage overall my energies, my everything, for the whole weekend." Another rider whose fitness is a question mark for the weekend - Pedro Acosta - had to pass a fitness review after surgery to address carpal tunnel, but says the operation was "quite easy" and expects immediate improvement without his German GP being compromised. ## Bulega seat in the crosshairs No new teams and an estimated five rookies joining in 2027 (David Alonso, Dani Holgado as guarantees, Izan Guevara and Nicolo Bulega as 'highly-likelies', and a rookie spot at Tech3 that will most likely go to Senna Agius) means serious turnover that will impact established MotoGP veterans. Most of them had been holding out for a premier-class lifeline, but it's now time to face reality and start looking at the other big paddock: World Superbike. "I don't have anything in this paddock for next year. We are trying to find something in Superbike," admitted Alex Rins, ousted from Yamaha. "We are just trying to find a good bike. We have been struggling a lot these three years \[at Yamaha\] and it's missing a little bit, staying there in the front, finishing in the podium, fighting for big positions." Right now it's something only Ducati can offer in World Superbikes. And though there's still an array of options on paper, both factory and satellite and even rumoured projects not currently on the grid, the one prized asset, which isn't expected to be particularly lucrative in terms of finance, is the Ducati works seat runaway points leader Bulega is expected to vacate. "Actually there are, like, apparently around four riders that aren't having a seat next year here in MotoGP," added Rins. "For sure they are going to move, or they are moving in the same way as me with my manager. "As a rider, what you don't want, and when you feel competitive with yourself - what you don't want is to step back and to finish your career. So yeah, for sure, this place, this Ducati place, if Bulega came here, it will be a really in-demand place, no?" ## Why Alex Marquez didn't stay in Ducati camp Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio (KTM) and Ai Ogura and Jorge Martin (Yamaha) all had their first public media sessions after the announcements of their 2027-28 deals, though the actual deals had obviously been signed long in advance. The latter three were in the press conference - and chose not to go too deep into the details of their contract decisions, though Di Giannantonio did allude to his age playing a factor (he will turn 28 later this year, and believes now is the right time to try to be the spearhead for a manufacturer programme). But Marquez, who will have had his opportunity to stay at Gresini, went into the most detail. "It's true that I signed a few months ago," he said. "When I started to speak with KTM, they were really convinced to have me in the project. They were showing me everything and that passion, that eagerness that a rider needs. "It was not an easy decision, but in all the moment, Nadia \[Padovani, Gresini owner\], Michele \[Masini, Gresini sporting director\] and Carlo \[Merlini, Gresini commercial boss\], they were informed. "From the first day that I started to speak with KTM and all that - because I made a promise to Nadia that, 'If somebody comes, I will explain to you first of all'." Could he have stayed at Ducati as a factory-contracted rider? "I don't know, if I waited a little bit more, would it \[the offer\] arrive or not? But in that moment they were quite focused already to sign Pedro \[Acosta\]. "It's something that I accept, it's something normal. Pedro, I think, is the future champion of the MotoGP, and really young and all that. I'm already 30 years, you know? "So I'm in a different situation than Pedro. So maybe if I waited a little bit more, maybe it would arrive, but in that moment, I said, 'OK, I want this'. I was really convinced. "Also, I'm lucky that I know many people inside the KTM project, that they worked for me or with me in the past. So, you know, I just did some calls and I decided." ## Mir enticed by crew chief reunion MotoGP 2020 champion Joan Mir says that one of the key factors in his move to Ducati satellite Gresini next season is the chance to reunite with his title-winning crew chief Frankie Carchedi, and the benefits that he expects to come from once again working with the British engineer. Carchedi was at Mir's right-hand side during his entire time at Suzuki, from rookie to world champion, and the pair only went their separate ways when Mir moved to Honda. Since then, Carchedi has worked with Di Giannantonio and Fermin Aldeguer, stewarding both to maiden MotoGP race wins as Gresini riders. "That played, honestly, an important role to move," Mir said when asked by The Race about working with Carchedi again in 2027. "Because we've been very successful in the past, and we understand each other very well. I think you know how good we understand - and for this change, you don't have a lot of time. "So this is time that \[between us two\] is already done. To understand your crew chief and everything - I understand Frankie, I know what he's doing perfectly, the other things that he's not doing perfectly, same for me! It's going to be fun." That ties with what Mir says are his goals with the move from factory Honda to satellite Ducati, as he made it clear that his target for 2027 is now to get back to winning ways after four seasons earning comfortably at Honda on a largely uncompetitive bike. ## Vinales and KTM are at point of no return Neither KTM nor its satellite team Tech3 have officially suggested that incumbent rider Maverick Vinales is out of the running for a 2027 contract. But Vinales has grown more and more hostile publicly over KTM's approach to his future, and at the Sachsenring he effectively indicated there would be no further conversation between the parties - seemingly after KTM didn't pick up his option for 2027. While KTM and Tech3 have been unconvinced by the scope of Vinales's recovery from his injury struggles - which began at this very track, Sachsenring, last year - Vinales feels he hasn't been "trusted" by his employers and that the way the situation has played out has cut off his alternative options. He also revealed that he had agreed a new KTM deal to race at Tech3, a deal he claimed was "really against my benefit", only for KTM to back out anyway. "I think in this \[MotoGP\] world, at the moment, I'm burned out. So I don't think I will continue." ## The Marc Marquez expectation Marc Marquez's win at the Sachsenring last year was his 12th in grand prix races at the track - but also his first after a three-year winless run. Nevertheless, that 2025 triumph unsurprisingly restored expectation that this race, first and foremost, is Marquez's to lose. This is also because this isn't a track that plays to Aprilia's usual high-speed corner excellence. "We need to understand that this weekend will be more difficult than Assen," insisted Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez. "Here maybe Ducati are a little bit stronger than us. "For sure Marc and Ducati will be the reference here. As we were the reference at Assen, here is the time for Ducati and Marc. "In the stop-and-go compared with Ducati, maybe I can say that they have something more than us. And this is a track where we don't really have too many fast corners, and also a track where you have to save the tyre well." Within Ducati, too, there can't help but be expectation of Marquez supremacy. "He's the man to beat by far," insisted Pecco Bagnaia. But this is framing Marquez himself isn't very fond of. "It's true that, when you arrive to this kind of circuit, if you win, 'OK, it was his circuit', if you don't win, 'It's a disaster'. "There are three to four riders in front of me, especially three riders that are riding in a very good way and very fast - Martin, Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio. And, yeah, I continue with my mentality. "I was over \[in the title race\] three races ago, I am in the game again \[now\] - so let's see if here we can do a great weekend." ### What's changed one year on from F1's biggest team boss bombshell URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-has-changed-one-year-on-from-f1-biggest-team-boss-bombshell/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T14:40:01.000Z Exactly 12 months ago, Laurent Mekies found himself thrust into the most difficult days of his job so far as he took over from Christian Horner at the head of Red Bull's Formula 1 team. When the energy drink company's senior management sacked Horner after more than 20 years at the helm, Mekies was barely given time to catch his breath as he was pulled across from Racing Bulls. The rushed transition was hard in itself, with zero time to properly prepare for his new environment. But added on top of the complexities was the shellshock from the factory floor in dealing with the departure of Red Bull's long-time leader. "It was unexpected for the team, unexpected obviously for me," says Mekies, speaking in an exclusive interview with The Race to discuss his first year in charge at Red Bull. "I'm not going to lie. If you have somebody you know driving a company, like Christian has been for 20 years, it's a big shock for the people. "Forget what you feel \[yourself\]. What you feel is nothing compared to what the people there feel, because if you think you don't have much certainty, they have a lot less certainty than you at the stage. "So, certainly thinking back to the full year, day one, day two, day three, were probably the most difficult ones." ## Protector rather than disruptor While Horner's dismissal came because Red Bull's bosses wanted things run in a different way, it would be wrong to say Mekies was brought in to rip everything up and start again. In fact, when you step back and analyse how Red Bull has evolved under Mekies' leadership, the direction of travel is not radically different to what would have been expected under the previous regime. And, as he says, the job description was not to rip up everything Horner had done. "I've never felt I had to unpick things," says Mekies. "The priority was really in front of the fact that you have to get into somebody else's shoes. "It was how can you meet the people and build your own picture as quickly as you can?" Mekies' conclusion from this was that there was not much wrong with what he found at Red Bull; there was plenty of talent on board and it was certainly not lacking in any area that needed some urgent addressing. Instead, it was more about playing around the edges and making sure that nobody was unnecessarily distracted by such a big change. "When you have the raw material, the talent, you try simply to reduce the noise around them so that they can really focus on what they are good at," he says. "The feeling is there was nothing to unpick. It was increase the empowerment. "I'm not here to change Red Bull Racing DNA. I'm here to protect it. That's really how I felt through the months." ## What has Mekies changed? Mekies says the focus for him has been in following a simple principle: that if the car is quick, then every other problem that impacts an F1 team falls away. "We do things if it makes the car faster," he says. "If it doesn't make the car faster, we are not interested in it, because we believe that if you make the car faster, everything that is surrounding it will get sorted automatically." To achieve this, Mekies' approach has been very much about enhancing what is already in play rather than trying to do things in a different way. Success rests on letting his staff shine and freeing them up from complications. That is what formed the basis of some repeated claims last year that his own impact on the success the team was achieving was 'zero'. "All you do is try to put your people in the best possible conditions," says Mekies. "They are the ones making the car fast. They are the ones making the PU. \[power unit\] fast. That's what I mean by zero impact. Our people are the ones chasing laptime. "It is their talent making the car faster. What we do is work on the environment, work on the flow, keep the company without noise, keep the company simple, direct. As a pure racing team should be: try to keep it on pure racing." ## A different style ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/SI202606270450.jpg) There is little doubt that Mekies' management style is different to his predecessor's. He seems more collaborative than confrontational; he is not as outspoken in public, he does not appear on the TV cameras as much; nor does he seem to enjoy playing the paddock politics game to try to destabilise rivals. Mekies suggests, however, that some of this impression of being more reserved comes simply from him having been head down in getting up to speed with his new role. "In that first year, certainly the priority is to look toward our people, \[offer\] the support toward our people, compared to the outside world," he says. "If that means spending more time with them - chassis side, PU side - as opposed to perhaps time available to the rest of the ecosystem, then it's probably a fair reflection of the first 12 months." But he also offers a fascinating insight that perhaps too much is made by outsiders of the impact of different management approaches. "I always thought, right or wrong, that management style did not matter," he argues. "I've been extremely lucky in my life to work with incredible leaders with completely opposite management styles, and this somehow made me feel that leadership style was irrelevant. "Leadership was what matters. So I'm really not attached at all to a given style or another. "What I think we are measured by is how much our people are able to express themselves at their very best under your clock. How you achieve that, with what style you achieve that, doesn't matter." Mekies also suggests that what is seen on the outside, and in front of the media, is not necessarily a full reflection of what is going on behind the scenes. "The 'reduce the noise' approach means that we want our people to be concentrated on getting the car faster," he explains. "Of course you can be very vocal out there, and get a lot of good or bad publicity. But ultimately you must not underestimate the impact it has on your own people. "We think we have the best talent, we think that if they have a chance to concentrate on making the car faster they will be very, very competitive out there, and that's the priority we have chosen. "So you can do all of the same meetings and alliances and brainstorming and arguments in the public eye or outside of the public eye. You decide if you want to make them public or not. "So, ultimately, I don't think there is a shift there in terms of the interactions you have. It's just whether or not you want to make them available to the media or not...which is a shame for you!" ## Dealing with the bad and the good Despite six wins under his tenure, and taking last year's championship fight to the finale in Abu Dhabi, Mekies has had his share of difficult challenges as well. One has been the inevitable consequence of a team losing an established leader; in that it becomes a reflection point for all staff to decide if they stick it out for the future or it becomes a good time for them to leave as well. But while there have been some high-profile figures who have decided to step away - including Gianpiero Lambiase (heading to McLaren), while more recently Paul Monaghan has been linked to Cadillac - the churn has not been as great as some have suggested. And from Mekies' perspective, while the exits are not great, equally there is no sense of panic. "We had very, very little to deal with in terms of do people want to be on board for these two cycles?" he explains. "People wanted to get the car back to \[a place where Red Bull can\] win, that's the only thing that they were interested in. "So you are completely right in saying that these sort of nearly unavoidable moments are where you have chapter changes. "In our case, looking back into it, it has been different. It has been about, we want to focus on getting that car back on the pace, and that's ultimately what happened." Beyond any staff upheaval, there are also the current competitive struggles; Red Bull's RB22 hasn't proved to be the platform that the squad (and especially Max Verstappen) would have wanted as it remains winless so far this year. Is Red Bull in the place that Mekies wants it to be? Certainly not. And is that is triggering some external headaches, including convincing Verstappen to stay? Absolutely. But if there is one thing learned from observing Mekies throughout his F1 career, which began in 2001 with engine supplier Asiatech, it is that he understands outcomes have logical causes. So if things go wrong, blame only falls on the shoulders of those responsible. "We are not a team that hides behind excuses, so nobody does that," he insists. "Pierre \[Wache, technical director\] doesn't do it, Ben \[Hodgkinson, Red Bull Powertrains technical director\] doesn't do it. None of our people do it, so I'm not going to do it." Mekies sees a reality that with a power unit project that is in its first year, and the potential improvements coming from a new windtunnel being built at Milton Keynes, there is reason to feel that right now things are at the bottom of a performance curve that is only going to go up. "What is very clear is that the power unit \[programme\] will develop into a further advantage for us, having gone through year one," he says. "What is very clear is that the new windtunnel will develop into a further advantage for us. "These are the pillars of the future strength of the team. We certainly do not see them at all as an excuse for the present." In fact, while it has been a mixed season so far for Red Bull in terms of overall results, Mekies says what is important to look at is the trend. "We are chasing race-winning pace right now," he says. "The team has managed to erase the best part of a one-second deficit to start with, in eight races. "So we are not looking for excuses. We are only interested in to getting that car fast." ## The 30-minute rule But even when success arrives, Mekies half-jokes about there being a mantra that he follows: the joy of wins is only allowed to last for a very short time. "We all get up in the morning to feel that Sunday afternoon feeling," he explains, speaking about the highs of delivering victories when they come. "We have a little joke between us, that a win is 30 minutes of enjoyment. "When the car crosses the line, for 30 minutes you are going to enjoy it. So it's the time for the driver to get the lap, get the interviews, get onto the podium. By the time you finish the podium, you have done a couple of interviews yourself. "So you are left with five to 10 minutes in the garage to say well done to the guys. And then 30 minutes, finished, turn the page, fight as hard as you can for the next one. "You know there will be many things you haven't done or you have not done perfectly. So even if you won, you know the competition is going to react anyway." For Mekies, 12 months in as team principal, the job never stops. ### This part of 2026 F1 car designs will change massively for 2027 URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/this-part-of-2026-f1-car-designs-will-change-massively-for-2027/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T13:12:30.000Z *Promoted by Brembo* So much of the focus of the 2026 Formula 1 regulation changes has been on what the radically different engines and the moveable aerodynamics meant for designs, driving styles and the nature of the racing. The knock-on impacts on other car components and their design trends have gone relatively under the radar but are still considerable, having a big influence on car performance, and are the subject of frantic behind-the-scenes development work. For instance, the emphasis on energy harvesting under braking has prompted a huge change in the role of the rear brakes. The energy harvesting effect under the 2026 regulations is so powerful that last year some teams wondered whether they’d even need traditional rear brakes at all. To avoid things being taken to extremes on this front, the FIA put a maximum brake disc thickness in the rules and mandated that the system itself must produce a minimum amount of power - 2500Nm of torque at each rear wheel without assistance from the power unit or MGU-K. But the lower usage of the rear brakes has a big influence on their temperatures, as Brembo F1 race engineer Pavan Stefano explains. “This year the temperatures on the rear are very, very low compared to the past,” he told The Race. “An optimal range of the temperature for the carbon material is from 200-250 degrees to 500-550 degrees for the starting temperature of the braking. This year, on the rear, we noticed a lot of braking under 100 degrees, especially some races. And the average is 150. “So it's not easy for the carbon material, because at that temperature it’s difficult to have consistent behaviour of the material.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/00CBarni_113_CB2D6995.jpg) That feeds into drivers’ comments through the season - in particular championship contender George Russell - about unpredictable behaviour from the brakes when they’re running cool. “For the driver it's difficult to find a good feeling of the brakes because there is no chemical behaviour but it's more abrasive, so it's mechanical behaviour from disc to pad,” Stefano said. “This also doesn't help for the wear rate because our material has characteristics of a very, very low wear rate, but we see that in races that are very cold this wear rate increases.” Adding to this challenge is that Brembo is working across different design choices among all the teams it supplies, and the teams themselves have learned far more about the brakes’ behaviour in real life over the opening 2026 races than could be ascertained through simulation. “It was a little difficult at the start of the season to imagine the temperature,” said Stefano. “We had our thinking about the temperature, but we saw a lot of different designs from one team to another team, and a different dimension of the discs, a different dimension of the pads, also for the callipers. “It was very difficult also for the team to predict the torque, the pressure, the temperature that they had to face at the back. “Since the first day of the test in Barcelona, some teams requested some changes on their braking system in order to solve the different temperatures compared to the past.” Teams’ differing energy recovery strategies plus drivers’ and cars’ different sensitivities to brake warm-up, and how all of that has evolved with more and more on-track experience of these cars means Brembo’s work has been relentless. Some of it will only come to fruition in 2027. “We are trying to develop new material,” said Stefano. “We are constantly studying new material, in order to apply in a better way to the conditions that we see on the track. “If we have to rework some discs, some parts, in order to change the geometry, it's easier. But if we have to produce new material, the lead time is longer. It's difficult to put in place new material in two to three months. It's more something that we study for the future.” One definite change Stefano is expecting is around the size of teams’ brakes. There was an expectation last year that many would go for extremely small rear brakes given their reduced role. Now many feel they are actually still oversized. “This also happened in 2022 when there was a big change of the regulations,” Stefano recalls. “Considering that it's a safety component, we and the teams prioritised safety at the start. So like in 2022, some components were oversized, because we had to work only with the simulation. It's not easy to simulate one year before the car and the performance that we see at the track. “Because of this, at the start of the season, with the new big changes, we take a safety point of view. “And then, when the season goes to the races, for sure we have changes of the geometry, and we are already studying the components for the future, for the next year. “It's also a process of continual improvement for us.” ### 'I'm burned out' - Vinales's time in MotoGP looks over URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/burned-out-vinales-done-with-ktm-expects-to-leave-motogp/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T13:42:27.000Z Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales expects to leave MotoGP at the end of the season - and says he is burned out by the series after his contractual impasse with KTM. Vinales had grown increasingly vocal in recent weeks in his dissatisfaction with how KTM handled negotiations over his future, as his lingering struggles with shoulder injury soured what at one point looked a rock-solid plan to continue their collaboration. While neither KTM nor Tech3 have publicly ruled him out as an option for 2027, it has been reported KTM has allowed a '27 option in his contract to lapse - and Vinales made it clear speaking to media at the Sachsenring that he does not view staying with KTM as a possibility anymore. Asked by The Race whether he'd spoken to KTM recently, he said: "Not anymore. I think last week were the last terms. So after that I dont' talk anymore. Obviously... yep, I don't talk anymore." Asked about racing for someone else, he said: "I don't know. I think in the motorcycle \[world\] I did everything I could do. I'm not sure. Obviously maybe there are good opportunities - or not. I don't know. I don't even look for it. "Maybe I want to race and enjoy the racing. But at the moment I'm looking for nothing. I'm looking for huge holidays. "I'd love to, maybe in the future, do different races. I was watching Jack \[Miller\] in the Suzuka 8 Hours, and I think this is really fun." Vinales had been earmarked as a heavy favourite to join the factory KTM team in 2027 alongside Alex Marquez, but while the Marquez deal was done at the start of the year, KTM didn't proceed with the Vinales 'promotion'. Fabio Di Giannantonio was subsequently announced, earlier this week (although the deal was done well before that), as Marquez's KTM 2027 team-mate, while neither Tech3 nor KTM have publicly shied away from the fact they want to see results from Vinales to at least keep him on in his current spot. But Vinales has felt this is a breach of "trust", and that it is misaligned with his injury recovery timeline - with appears to differ from KTM and particularly Tech3 boss Guenther Steiner in terms of the certainty of his return to 100% fitness. Asked by The Race what he has instructed his management to do, Vinales recounted: "The thing is, after \[Barcelona\], KTM told me that- well, no, they didn't tell me, I learned from the media that Di Giannantonio was going to take my place \[in the factory team\]. "Then KTM, when I arrived in Mugello, they sent me a contract. So, let's say, on the email, I signed it. OK, it was not really good \[terms\], but in any case I wanted to race. I really believe in the engineers that are in KTM. "So that's why, even if it was really against my benefit, I signed it. "After two weeks, they said it was completely not valid. So after that, what can you expect? I don't want to stay here. This was not really serious from their part. "So that's why I'm really burned out of this world." He added later: "I would like to do something different. I think in this world, at the moment I'm burned out. So I don't think I will continue." ### 'Every driver has done it' - Stroll's unusual steering inputs explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/every-driver-has-done-it-lance-stroll-unusual-british-gp-f1-steering-explained/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T12:18:01.000Z Lance Stroll's unusual driving during Formula 1's British Grand Prix weekend raised plenty of eyebrows. Clips of Stroll putting on full steering lock exiting the high-speed Copse right-hander and through the subsequent Maggotts-Becketts complex at Silverstone quickly circulated on social media. They also didn't escape the attention of experienced IndyCar driver Conor Daly, who was a guest on the latest episode of The Race F1 Podcast - which you can [watch here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNDf7rE-OqU&t=1s&ref=the-race.com) or [listen to here](https://shows.acast.com/the-race-f1-podcast/episodes/was-leclercs-silverstone-win-a-turning-point-or-one-off?ref=the-race.com). "It's one of the funniest clips I think I've ever seen in a race car," Daly said. "The best part is one of the fastest corners, it's a corner that I remember driving. It's a great corner, love it. "But if you have that much rear stability, and you're able to just turn the thing like that…I think every driver's had that moment in their lives at one point where you get so frustrated with the understeer that you've got or whatever the balance issue that you've got is. "There are many times in my career, certainly in IndyCar, where you do tell your engineer, 'Hey, when I get to the middle of the corner, I could literally input everything and nothing happens'. "I guarantee you, you can ask every driver and at some point they're like, 'Yeah, I've done that just to try it' because you so desperately want the car to turn. You so desperately want it to do what you want it to do, and it won't. So you're like, 'Look, that's what it's doing'. "I think that is just a compounding of frustration. Obviously, that team is struggling. It's tough to see because I feel like I expected more out of Aston Martin overall this year, and especially with the people that they've got lined up there. The experience of Fernando \[Alonso\] as well. "But yeah, that was something that I believe every driver's done at least once. But because F1 is on the scale that it's at and every car has a camera and it's always going and people are always looking at the onboard clips, something like that was definitely going to get out. "I'm sure Lance was just like, 'Told you, we need more front grip'. Probably not necessary. Doesn't help the tyre, but it's tough to see those guys struggling so much with the balance of the car." ## 'Hard to watch' Daly also spoke of how painful it's been to watch Fernando Alonso wasted at the back of the F1 grid in an uncompetitive Aston Martin-Honda. "He's still so good, but he doesn't get any younger," said Daly. "It's got to be tough for him because I believe that - \[and\] he clearly thinks - he is still able to deliver whenever he is able to compete. "But I can't imagine how frustrating \[it is\] because I have so much respect for Fernando, for all of the racing that he's done. "He's come to the Indy 500\. I was lucky enough to get to race against the guy, awesome dude and a great competitor and someone, again, like Max \[Verstappen\], who just wants to be the best that he can be and do and win and compete. "I respect that and it's hard to watch because I'm a Fernando fan. I like Fernando a lot." [Watch the full episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNDf7rE-OqU&t=1s&ref=the-race.com) of The Race F1 Podcast to hear Daly's views on whether British GP winner Charles Leclerc has made a genuine turnaround, what needs to change about F1 safety car finishes, and Max Verstappen's safety concerns. [Or listen here](https://shows.acast.com/the-race-f1-podcast/episodes/was-leclercs-silverstone-win-a-turning-point-or-one-off?ref=the-race.com). ### Zarco given penalty for his eventual MotoGP return URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/johann-zarco-given-penalty-for-his-eventual-motogp-return/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T10:35:10.000Z Johann Zarco has been formally given a double long lap penalty for whenever his next MotoGP race happens, for causing a pile-up in which he was injured. LCR Honda rider Zarco crashed into Luca Marini and Pecco Bagnaia at the restart of May's Catalan Grand Prix and sustained multiple injuries when he became entangled in Bagnaia's Ducati as it tumbled through the gravel. The most concerning element was the damage to his left knee, which it was feared would affect the ligaments and require surgery that would end his 2026 season. It could not be fully assessed until the swelling subsided. It's standard practice in MotoGP that in a case where a rider is injured in a crash, they could be liable for a penalty, which is not assessed until that rider is fit to return. That's not quite the case for Zarco, but just days after the news came out that his knee damage was [not as serious as feared](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/johann-zarco-motogp-return-prospects-significant-boost/), the MotoGP stewards convened at the start of the German GP weekend and awarded Zarco the expected double long lap for triggering the Catalan GP crash. That means the penalty has been awarded two months after the accident, and probably around two months before it will be served - as the current expectation for when Zarco might be fit to return is the Misano/Red Bull Ring double-header in mid-September. Cal Crutchlow has returned to MotoGP for now as his stand-in. ### O'Ward asks to 'politely be fired' from McLaren F1 reserve duties URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/pato-o-ward-asks-to-step-back-mclaren-f1-reserve-driver-duties/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T08:38:58.000Z McLaren IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward says he has asked to be relieved of his Formula 1 driving duties. O'Ward, last year's IndyCar runner-up with McLaren, has made five FP1 appearances for McLaren - three in Abu Dhabi, and two more at his home grand prix in Mexico - as well as four official outings in post-season tests at Abu Dhabi. He has also served as one of the F1 team's official reserve drivers since 2024. But O'Ward, who is in his seventh IndyCar season with Mclaren, said he now felt he was at a "different point of my life" and did not "really get to dictate my schedule at all" around those F1 commitments. He said he therefore spoke to McLaren CEO Zak Brown and "politely asked to be fired" from his F1 services to prioritise his IndyCar career. Speaking on the Speed Street podcast with Conor Daly - who appeared on [The Race F1 Podcast this week](https://shows.acast.com/the-race-f1-podcast/episodes/was-leclercs-silverstone-win-a-turning-point-or-one-off?ref=the-race.com) himself - O'Ward said: "I haven't had an off-season in the last five years. I want to enjoy my life outside of racing because it does consume me and it has consumed me in the last five years. "Recently, actually, I obviously went to Zak \[to speak about this\] because he's the guy that calls the shots. I'm grateful for the experiences and all the things that I've been able to learn in the world of Formula 1\. And obviously, driving those race cars, especially the last few years, has been just an amazing experience just to feel what they're capable of. "But I really think I'm just in a different point of my life now and I really don't care anymore. There's really nothing in me that is aching to keep on as a reserve in Formula 1 because I'm in a great place in IndyCar. I love the series. That's where I want to be." O'Ward added that he had not been enticed by the latest F1 ruleset and cars that feature a notional 50/50 split between internal combustion engine and electrical power. "Looking at what the race cars are currently, I'm not really excited to drive one," said O'Ward, who won IndyCar's most recent race at Mid-Ohio last weekend. The 27-year-old also referenced a desire to have adequate time to prepare for the 2027 season, one where he will be part of a refreshed McLaren line-up that includes the landmark signing of six-time champion Scott Dixon and the rehiring of this year's Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist. --- [**Listen to Conor Daly discuss Max Verstappen's current mood, F1's British GP safety car mess, and Lance Stroll's peculiar Silverstone driving style on The Race F1 Podcast**](https://shows.acast.com/the-race-f1-podcast/episodes/was-leclercs-silverstone-win-a-turning-point-or-one-off?ref=the-race.com) --- Put to him by Daly that dropping those commitments would allow him to focus on "being the best you can be in the job that you have", O'Ward added: "Exactly. It's all about maximising where you're at, right? "I can't tell you the amount of times that people are like, 'When Formula 1, when Formula 1?' And obviously that's been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid. "But also being around that world for many years and inside of it - I know I wasn't a full-time racing driver there, but I have enough of a whiff of what that world is like - and I genuinely don't think that is for me. It's not a place where I can say I've enjoyed \[myself\] more than IndyCar. It's not really somewhere where, at this point in time, I don't see my future there. I genuinely just don't. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1393205_HiRes.jpg) "I think goals can change as life goes on, as you experience. And I think my experience and just being able to see how that world works, and then also getting to experience what the IndyCar world is like, even in a more personal level, because I am more involved in it. Man, IndyCar is the best place for motor racing. I think many others can have a different opinion, but for me, that's where I'm happy. "I don't need to be more famous. I don't need more money. I'm already in a position that I never thought I was ever going to be when I was younger. I'm very lucky. I'm very grateful to be where I'm at today. And it really is a privilege to be able to race and experience what it is like to be in IndyCar and to be an IndyCar driver. "Because I know F1 is put on a pedestal, but just because the plate looks like gold doesn't mean what you're eating is healthier for you." ### The high-stakes risk in copying Mercedes' new F1 qualifying trick URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/high-stakes-risk-copying-mercedes-new-f1-qualifying-trick/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T07:44:49.000Z The intriguing qualifying trick that Mercedes resurrected at Formula 1's British Grand Prix caught its rivals by surprise. The game was only given away when telemetry traces from track action were pored over after sprint qualifying on Friday. At first glance, the unusual lifts that Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were doing as they approached the timing line at the end of their qualifying laps seemed a very weird thing to do. Especially when you consider that Antonelli missed out on sprint pole position to Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton by just 0.011 seconds - a gap that would conceivable not have been there if he stayed flat-out. But it did not take long for the opposition, nor The Race, which [first revealed what was happening](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-finds-legal-way-to-revive-banned-f1-qualifying-trick/), to work out exactly why Mercedes was backing off to go faster. In doing so, both drivers were able to deploy more power earlier on the straight than others. With clear laptime benefits, and the FIA happy it is legal, other teams are now almost certain to start copying that trick at future events where it could deliver gains. But, as The Race has learned, it is a complex trick to get right, and there are some high-stake risks in deploying it because if you get it wrong the danger is not losing laptime, it is disqualification. ## The trick The qualifying trick revolves around the super complex energy management rules in F1 this year. A key element is what is known as the ramp down rate, which demands batteries steadily deplete their energy down a straight rather than have a cliff edge drop that could be dangerous for cars behind if those ahead suddenly slow. This was brought into play because it is well understood in this energy-starved formula that the fastest way down a straight is to burn maximum power early on, because that gives you more top speed that you can keep hold of for longer. If teams were left free to their own devices, they would be on maximum 350kW deployment straight out of a corner for as long as possible before dropping instantly to zero when the battery runs out. The ramp down rate dictates that at tracks such as Silverstone, battery power can be reduced by no more than 50kW every second until the battery is nearly empty. This means that, if a car is heading out of a final corner and towards a timing line that is at a distance that cannot be reached at full 350kW before the ramp down has to begin, then it will start reducing power beforehand. In this case, as cars approach the timing line they will back off from 350kW, to 300kW, to 250kW to 200kW and so on to comply with the ramp down rules. The Mercedes trick is in getting around that ramp down rate and approaching the line at the full 350kW allowance for as long as possible before hitting zero. Deliver that and you get a higher top speed earlier on the straight, which can translate into a laptime benefit of around 0.05 seconds. It is achieved through some exemptions in the rules where the power can be cut by greater than the 50kW per second if certain criteria are in play. Earlier this year, Mercedes and Red Bull had achieved this through an allowance to avoid the ramp down requirement if the MGU-K was shut down in an emergency. So at some of the early races, teams were employing this tactic at the end of qualifying laps to comply with the rules. Although this emergency shutdown locked them out of having any battery power for 60 seconds, it was not a performance impediment as it would only happen on a cooldown lap going back to the pits. But in the wake of cars running slowly on track, and some even stopping at times in practice in Japan, the FIA stepped in and told teams they could not use the MGU-K shutdown route for anything other than genuine emergencies. That appeared to have killed off the qualifying trick before Mercedes cleverly brought it back into play for the British GP. This time around, instead of using the MGU-K shutdown route, the exploit is in using an allowance in the rules to avoid the ramp down requirement if the driver fully comes off the throttle. The theory behind it is simple. Pulling it off is not. Although it is quite straightforward for teams to programme their power units systems to run at the full 350kW allowance, rather than be in ramp down rate, getting the drivers to back off at the right point is not. And there are some big consequences if they get it wrong. ## A high-risk game ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Spacesuit-AS-F1-BGP-02-07-26-530-2.jpg) Image: Alex Stefan / Spacesuit Media Executing the lift-off qualifying trick perfectly is not the work of the moment as it requires plenty of practice from the drivers and an execution that leaves little room for error. This is why Russell and Antonelli spent a decent amount of time in the simulator before the British GP practicing the technique to be sure that they could do it. Key to nailing it is in lifting off the throttle before the battery hits 0% - because if it gets there and the MGU-K cuts off in an instant because there is no energy left, then that will be in breach of the ramp down rules. Getting it right therefore requires intimate knowledge from the drivers about the state of their battery in its final few percent, which can fluctuate lap to lap. So it is not a case of finding a set spot on the track, like a distance marker or sponsor board, to come off the accelerator to comply with the rules. Instead, where drivers lift off depends entirely on what the battery energy level is. The Race understands that Mercedes created a system whereby the drivers were given a tone in their ears when the battery got to a designated level above 0% where they had to lift off. Having been comfortable with the process in the sim, and happy with it throughout practice, Russell and Antonelli committed to it throughout sprint and normal qualifying at Silverstone. With rivals now aware of what is in play, and the trick potentially powerful at some tracks coming up such as the Hungaroring, it is obvious that others will explore adopting it themselves. Key to making it work though is in making sure drivers lift off at the right moment, which can be achieved through audible messages or a visual notification on the dashboard about battery life remaining. But anyone who uses it will be well aware that while the laptime benefit is clear, so too is the downside of getting it wrong. Lift off too late and hit 0% battery, then that means a breach of the technical rules - so likely exclusion from qualifying and starting from the back of the grid. It is the perfect example of a no risk, no reward tactic. ### Steiner's rapid lessons in picking a MotoGP rider line-up URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/how-picking-motogp-rider-line-ups-differs-from-f1/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T10:34:56.000Z Guenther Steiner's arrival as a MotoGP team boss has created a fascinating experiment in placing a seasoned Formula 1 decision-maker in grand prix motorcycle racing - and his team's rider line-up will be the biggest and most visible expression of this experiment. Though the decisions over who will ride for Steiner's Tech3 team - which his group formally took over in the previous off-season - are being made in conjunction with manufacturer partner KTM, it is clear Steiner's preferences and assessments will be playing a major role in the outcome. Steiner was generally reticent in his time as the Haas F1 team principal to take on a rookie - also because of the different financial pressures that existed on Haas, with maximising payouts for its constructors' finish crucial to its continued existence and prosperity. MotoGP doesn't work like that, and Steiner has made it repeatedly clear he sees real additive value in introducing a rookie to his line-up in 2027. But how does he decide which one? And how does he settle on the identity of the experienced team-mate, who should spearhead the team in 2027 and also act as a relevant benchmark for the rookie? When The Race asked Steiner about this and pointed to the lack of built-up knowledge over MotoGP's rider landscape that he will have enjoyed when it came to F1's driver pool in the past, he joked: "Bet you think, 'You know f\*\*k all about this!' Yeah, thank you!" He then acknowledged that he is naturally having to lean more on others with more of that built-up knowledge. "You speak with as many people as you think you should speak with and get information together and make up your own mind," he said. "Because for me just saying, 'He told me this and now it's wrong', in the end I'm responsible. And I have to sit in front of you saying, if it goes wrong, why it went wrong. "And you need to be honest about it, you know? Also in F1, you have got these \[talent\] scouts, some of them are very good, you know? There's very good people. \[Whereas\] I think this industry is not as sophisticated. "There is a lot of, 'I know this guy, therefore I push him'. And you have to weed the politics and the bulls\*\*t out." The particular limitations of the MotoGP formula when it comes to talent scouting are inherently obvious, too. A modern F1 team has the tools, funding and opportunities to put a driver through an extensive 'trial' of sorts without them turning a lap in racing conditions. These junior drivers will run countless laps in extremely sophisticated simulators (which MotoGP has no equivalent of whatsoever), participate in test days with older cars (which MotoGP does not do), and drive in the mandatory rookie free practice sessions during actual F1 weekends and in the traditional end-of-season rookie test. Introducing such a test to MotoGP is something Steiner said he "never thought about" but does reckon "wouldn't hurt". "For sure it would help to paint a picture," he said. "All this stuff helps. You cannot say that would be the solution to find out if he's good or not. But I think it would be actually not a bad thing, also for the kids in Moto2\. As an opportunity, to show, instead of just saying, 'You don't have any evidence how I can do, because you cannot put me on the bike'. "Put him on the bike. You learn also how the people work. It wouldn't be a bad thing." Technically, nothing really stops MotoGP teams from doing exactly that independently of an official test - but that is a massive rarity. Moto2 riders, who represent the vast majority of MotoGP rookie prospects, occasionally get a short MotoGP runout as a reward, or can get called up to a test as an injury replacement, but (unlike their Formula 2 counterparts) are usually too busy and too bound by their existing Moto2 contractual arrangements and title hopes. A true MotoGP test also carries a much higher injury risk. But Steiner is convinced the value of such opportunities is not the be-all and end-all. "Also in F1, until you put these guys in an F1 car in a race, you don't really know. And you need to go back a long time. "Therefore, I say, the scouts, they see these people coming up. Also, their character, their personality, all that counts as well. How they deal with difficult situations. And that is a lot less sophisticated here than in F1." So how is Steiner himself dealing with it at his first try? "I try to make a picture for myself. Will it be a perfect picture? Maybe not. Because of what you said, this is not what I did the last 20 years or the last 30 years, you know?" he said. "But again, I think I can judge what people say. And then just come together and obviously I can look at results. "And, you know, I've got people actually helping me. Analysts, which normally do financial analysis - they do a proper analysis of the riders, what they did before. And that helps you. "You cannot base your decision only on that one. But it helps you to create a picture. And again, will I get it right? I don't know. Hopefully!" ### The Ferrari fan who turned his mobility scooter into an F1 car URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/ferrari-fan-turned-mobility-scooter-into-f1-car/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T13:24:46.000Z At Silverstone, it takes a lot to stand out but throughout the British Grand Prix weekend, one of the biggest crowd-pullers wasn't on the track. The vehicle drawing attention looked every bit like a Ferrari Formula 1 car but instead of Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton, it was being driven by Simon Tutte, a Grimsby-based Ferrari fan who had painstakingly transformed his mobility scooter into a replica of the SF-26\. The vehicle comes complete with smoking brake effects, safety lights, sponsor decals and active aero front and rear wings, including Ferrari's distinctive 'macarena' rear wing. It currently tops out at 8mph, although Tutte said upgrades are already planned. What started as a few Ferrari-inspired modifications several years ago has evolved into a full-scale passion project that now attracts attention everywhere it goes. "I've always had a passion for Ferraris," Tutte told The Race Extra. "I'll probably never own my own one, so that's as close as I'm going to get to it." Tutte uses a mobility scooter after a serious back injury forced him out of work a couple of years ago. "I can get about without it but I can't walk distances, hence having the scooter for distances." That makes a venue the size of Silverstone particularly challenging. While many fans rack up tens of thousands of steps over a race weekend, Tutte relies on his scooter to get around the sprawling 5.891km circuit. It all started a few years ago when Tutte added some Ferrari-themed touches to an earlier scooter and was surprised by the reaction. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_3139.jpeg) **Tutte's 2025 Ferrari mobility scooter* "Everybody loved it," he said. "It was just a few bits to start with. So I went further and further." This year's version is his most ambitious creation yet. Starting with a brand-new scooter, Tutte rebuilt it from the ground up. "Basically, you take the mobility scooter and strip it down to its bare essentials," he said. "Once I've designed what I wanted, cut the frame, re-weld it so that it's all lowered and then changed the batteries to lithium. "Then it's a process of sketching out the body shape, building a mould for that, making that in fibreglass and aluminium, spraying it and getting the labels printed up for me." Apart from a 3D-printed front wing, virtually every part of the project was completed by Tutte himself. Despite the complexity of the build, Tutte has no formal engineering background. Instead, he credits a lifetime of picking up practical skills through a variety of jobs, including car bodywork. "I'm sort of a jack of all trades, master of none," he laughed. The build took around four months, although physical limitations meant progress often came in short bursts. "Normally a couple of hours a day," he said. "Some days I just can't do anything." The finished product is packed with details that F1 fans will instantly recognise. "The rear of the car, it sparks as well," Tutte said. "When a car pulls into the pits and the brakes are hot and they smoke, the same happens on the scooter." The active rear wing proved to be the most challenging aspect of the entire build. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_4340.jpeg) **Tutte's 2026 Ferrari mobility scooter* "It was getting the right motors and then getting the programme just to get the wing to flip the right amount," he explained. Tutte estimates the project cost around £1300, a figure that surprised many people who saw it over the weekend. "A lot of people were saying, 'You want to make them and sell them'," he laughed. He even sold last year's version to a man who bought it for his son. Despite the attention his creations receive, Tutte insisted the real enjoyment comes from building them. Yet the reaction from fans has become an unexpected bonus. "I'm not normally one for attention," he admitted. "But then when you go to the race and everybody's commenting on the car, it just sort of blows me away that people think it's that good." Throughout the weekend, crowds gathered around the scooter, stopping for photographs and conversations. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaVaEYLq7n7/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Dr Jemeema Kareem (@doctor.jems)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaVaEYLq7n7/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) For a lifelong Ferrari supporter, there was another reason to celebrate too. Tutte follows Ferrari above all else and counts Charles Leclerc as his favourite driver. So seeing Leclerc win at Silverstone capped off a great weekend. But there was one moment that almost made the weekend even more special. After spotting the scooter at Silverstone, Ferrari got in touch. "Ferrari contacted me on Saturday," Tutte said. The team attempted to arrange a meeting with Leclerc and invited Tutte to the circuit's inner area, but access restrictions ultimately prevented it from happening. "They wanted me to go to the inner track, but you have to have a pass to get there," Tutte explained. "Silverstone said there wasn't a pass available." The opportunity slipped away. "I was absolutely gutted," he admitted. But Ferrari promised to stay in touch and hoped to arrange something special for the 2027 British GP. For a fan who has spent months painstakingly recreating his favourite team's F1 car, that recognition alone felt like a victory. And with plans already forming for next year's upgrade, there's every chance Ferrari won't be the only ones keeping an eye out for Simon Tutte when Silverstone returns. ### The solution to F1's big anti-climax problem URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-safety-car-race-finish-anti-climax-solution/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T14:47:29.000Z I've always had a fairly uncomplicated view on Formula 1 races ending behind the safety car. If that's what the regulations demand, then so be it. F1 isn't always supposed to produce a dramatic finish. Sometimes a late accident leaves insufficient time to restart safely within the rules and those circumstances simply deny us one final lap of racing. While it's never satisfying, I've always been comfortable with the thought that sport doesn't owe anyone a Hollywood ending. To me, F1 has always been a sporting spectacle first and entertainment second. Sometimes the driver who deserves to cross the finish line first doesn't. Sometimes the weather intervenes. Sometimes a mechanical failure decides everything; that's the nature of racing. The moment you start manipulating races to manufacture entertainment, you risk losing what makes F1 worth watching in the first place: pure competition. But sitting at Club on Sunday at the British Grand Prix changed something. When the safety car was deployed, you could almost see the cogs turning: How many laps remained? Could Max Verstappen's car be recovered quickly enough? Everyone was speculating whether we'll get a single lap of racing to end the race. Then the message appeared on the timing screens: "Safety car in this lap." The reaction from the crowd was instant. Grandstands that had gone silent suddenly came alive. At least, for a moment. As we watched the safety car come past Club again, what should have been an eruption of cheers was instead replaced by a wave of boos, and the realisation that we would see this race finish under the safety car set in. The atmosphere completely disappeared. Was the disappointment driven more by the mixed messaging around a potential restart, or by the perception that, from our view, racing could have resumed but the regulations left race control with no way to make it happen? Personally, it was the latter. People who had spent hundreds of pounds on tickets and travelled across the country (and the world, in some cases) to watch what is always an exciting grand prix at Silverstone from start to finish had nevertheless hoped for a more fitting conclusion to round off the weekend's excellent on-track action, but were instead left watching the field circulate in formation until the chequered flag. No, I don't suddenly believe that F1 should abandon its integrity. But I believe that F1 has reached a point where it can protect its sporting principles while doing a better job of delivering an actual sporting finish. It's not an argument for gimmicks; it's an argument for removing unnecessary delays that stop racing from restarting. The obvious answer is the handling of lapped cars. Under the current regulations, allowing backmarkers to overtake the safety car often adds another lap before racing can resume. It's understandable, to an extent, why this rule exists. But it's also incredibly inefficient when only a handful of laps remain. Ultimately, it means prioritising backmarkers over both the leaders and the fan experience. It's hardly a revolutionary concept, but could those cars instead be directed through the pitlane? They would still rejoin behind the lead-lap runners, the order would still be corrected and, while those lapped cars wouldn't have the opportunity to unlap themselves and bring themselves back into contention, it could be argued that those cars have effectively driven themselves into that disadvantage by being lapped. Valuable time could be saved and it would give race control every possible opportunity to restart the race without creating artificial drama. I'm sure purists would argue that this is entertainment taking priority over sport, but being in the crowd at Silverstone made me realise that perhaps we've been treating these outcomes as unavoidable when they're increasingly a product of procedure. We don't need to choose between sport and spectacle; we don't need to settle for anti-climaxes, not if F1 can give itself every possible chance to deliver both with a practical solution. ### Lotus Formula E team? Latest manufacturer interest explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/lotus-formula-e-team-latest-manufacturer-interest-explained/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T09:36:52.000Z Geely is taking an increasingly serious look at Formula E, possibly for the second stage of the Gen4 era in 2028, with discussions continuing with possible partners for a project at the Shanghai E-Prix last weekend. And a green light on such a programme could result in a return to top-level motorsport for the Lotus name. The Race can reveal that Geely's executive vice president and spokesperson from the Geely Holding Group, Victor Young, was present at Shanghai and spoke with senior Formula E leaders and several team principals at the event. Formula E, although having a Chinese-entered team with Envision, has not had a Chinese manufacturer in the championship since 2023 when NIO was still involved with the then-named ERT team. However, there was no overt technical connection on that occasion, meaning that NIO's actual involvement from an engineering perspective effectively ended in the Gen2 period. BYD has activated at some E-Prixs in the past, notably Mexico City and Sao Paulo, but is thought much more likely to enter Formula 1 in 2030, with former Red Bull boss Christian Horner in talks with the company to try to form an entry. Should Geely take the plunge into Formula E in the future it has a variety of brands to choose from that might include Zeekr, Polestar, Lynk & Co, Lotus or Maple, although the company could run under the Geely name too. Polestar, which is 66% owned by Geely, was acquired by the Chinese business in conjunction with Volvo in 2017, with Geely having already acquired Volvo from Ford in 2010. The Polestar brand was a part of the Manufacturers Advisory Board (MAB), which was formed in 2016 and included active racing manufacturers in Formula E as well as Volvo/Polestar, M-TEC Mugen, McLaren and Williams Advanced Engineering. Since that time Geely has promoted Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, who sat on the MAB, to the role of managing director of Geely Group Motorsport International AB, which will ultimately have sign-off on any potential move in to Formula E. Geely is presently racing in the TCR World Tour with Thed Bjork, Santiago Urrutia, Yann Ehrlacher and former Formula E driver Ma Qign Hua driving works Geely Preface touring cars. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-WT-Le-Castellet-FP1-155-Ma-Qing-Hua-181-Santiago-Urrutia-168-Yann-Ehrlacher_001.jpg) That is a new enterprise for the 2026 season, as Lynk & Co was previously its preferred brand - with programmes at the top level operated by Cyan Racing, the former factory Volvo team and Geely Motorsport Group's official motorsport partner. It was Schedvin who played a central role in Volvo's championship-winning campaigns in the World Touring Car Championship and is tasked with managing the Geely Group's motorsport strategy. Formula E is believed to be a serious consideration for the future of the company. Speaking to The Race at Shanghai last week, Formula E CEO, Jeff Dodds, said that he "knows Victor at Geely well and have spoken to him many times, and I think they do an impressive job, whether that’s through Lynk & Co, Zeekr, or perhaps Lotus or Polestar might be more recognisable for us, but they have a wealth of brands and have been hugely successful. You can read between those lines". While Geely would have a host of brands to introduce to Formula E, the one that has by far the most motorsport heritage is Lotus. Following a restructuring, Lotus UK (the sports car manufacturer) and Lotus Technology (the division handling electric vehicles) were reunified under Geely's umbrella with the company continuing to be headquartered at the historic former RAF airfield in Hethel, Norfolk. A Lotus-branded Formula E effort was given a feasibility study in late-2020 as Formula E had licences to spare following the withdrawal of Audi and BMW. Now, Formula E is close to full on its franchises for the grid with 24 currently expected should Penske continue and the second Porsche factory team come to fruition. That would mean a likely hook up for Geely with an existing team. Although not completely nailed on, that would assume a tie-in with an existing manufacturer, with Mahindra and Formula E's newest winner Lola probably the most likely to form a partnership. Lotus's last motorsport programme was its GT4 racing efforts, where it supported the Lotus Emira GT4 car that was released in late-2023. ### Why F1 is becoming one of Lego's most important partnerships URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/why-f1-is-becoming-one-of-lego-most-important-partnerships/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T08:14:42.000Z Lego has said Formula 1 has quickly become one of the most important parts of its global partnership portfolio, as the toy giant doubles down on a relationship it believes can continue delivering growth across multiple demographics. The latest stage of that partnership took place at F1's 2026 British Grand Prix, where drivers raced around Silverstone in miniature Lego-built karts. Despite some initial criticism from a handful of drivers before the event, the activation ultimately appeared to deliver exactly what Lego was hoping for. The parade generated significant attention across social media and became one of the weekend's most widely shared moments, with Fernando Alonso taking the victory in the unofficial race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/CR2_4086_bnsxOz3p_20260705123012-1.JPG) But for Lego chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin, the trackside activations are only one part of a much broader commercial strategy. "It's playing a very significant role in our portfolio," Goldin told The Race when asked where F1 now sits among Lego's extensive list of licensed partnerships. "It has proven to be exactly what we expected, which is very important from a portfolio standpoint, very multi-generational, also multi-gender." Lego announced its multi-year F1 partnership in 2024 and has since launched products spanning everything from affordable collectible mini race cars to premium Lego Technic sets aimed at adult enthusiasts. It has also expanded into F1 Academy through a separate partnership. According to Goldin, the original rationale for the partnership was straightforward: Lego and F1 already shared a significant overlap in their fanbases. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/KG1_4863_t01kjhts_20260702110708.JPG) **Lego chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin* "We saw that a lot of Lego fans were also fans of F1," she said. "We have a very broad audience, not just kids but also adults. And we saw this as an opportunity to bring more and more people into the brand by tapping into something they're super passionate about. "And vice versa for F1, they see their audiences growing the other way, from adults down to teens and kids. So it was kind of a great opportunity, very symbiotic for us to increase our audiences." But Goldin said she believes the partnership's success has come from creating value beyond a traditional licensing arrangement. "The second element, that I think is the most critical, is: what kind of value can you bring together to something?" she said. "I think we have proven that together we do something really unique." That thinking has shaped Lego's F1 product strategy, which deliberately targets different types of fans rather than focusing solely on high-end collectors. While the miniature blind-box cars introduced younger consumers and collectors to the range at a low price point, the company has also developed more detailed City and Technic products that serve different audiences and use cases. "It's super important from different perspectives," Goldin said of offering products across a wide range of price points and complexity levels. "Some people really love to collect. So we really wanted to offer that collectability. "For children, understanding the F1 racing principles, what actually happens, is also very important, which is why in our City sets we brought in the pitstop, the preparation, the F1 truck. "And then for the Technic fans, those are very authentic representations of the cars." Goldin argued that approach differentiated Lego from many of F1's other commercial partners. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/1R6A6794_589rLYEe_20260705123600.JPG) "There are many different sponsors and collaborators with F1," she said. "But we play a very different role because we give people an opportunity to get a hands-on experience and build something that they really love and express themselves and their passion in a way that's really natural for them." The breadth of F1's audience has also been central to its value for Lego. While motorsport's appeal to boys and men is well established, Goldin said the category's performance among female audiences has been particularly notable. "It would surprise you to say it's actually in the top 10 of teen girls and women," she said of F1-themed products. "Our partnership with F1 Academy was super well received, so there's a lot of dimensions that are bringing different audiences into it." That broad demographic reach helps explain why Lego sees F1 as more than simply another licensing deal. "It always manifests itself usually in something that becomes very important for the brand," Goldin said. The company can also see significant room for further expansion. "We think of this as a long-term partnership," Goldin said. "We see the F1 fandom continue to expand, and we also see that we are able to continue to come up with very creative ways to play into different dimensions of the sport. "I think we still have a tonne of potential and opportunity to surprise and delight our fans." F1 also taps into one of Lego's most established strengths. "I think that we have demonstrated over the years that our ability to tap into motorsports and passion for cars has been tremendous," said Goldin. "We are probably the biggest tyre manufacturer in the world, so it tells you something!" Behind the joke is a serious point: cars have long been one of Lego's strongest categories, making F1 a natural fit for the brand. That is also why, despite previous collaborations across other forms of motorsport, Lego's immediate focus remains firmly on F1. "We're very deliberate and choiceful about what we tap into," Goldin said. "Right now our number one priority is F1, F1 Academy, and continuing with that." ### Gary Anderson: The real reason Red Bull has a high-speed crash problem URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-real-reason-red-bull-has-a-high-speed-crash-problem/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T07:40:16.000Z Now that the [FIA is looking](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-red-bull-fia-safety-talks-macarena-f1-rear-wings/) into the style of rear wings used by Red Bull and Ferrari, analysing the data to understand the differences between the conventional DRS-style larger slot gap concept and the flip-over versions, it’s time to separate the fact from the fiction as I see it. Red Bull’s flip-over rear wing isn’t the main problem causing Max Verstappen’s offs. Instead, it’s about the working window that Red Bull is designing its car to operate in aerodynamically. That’s not to say that the way the rear wing closes isn’t increasing the problem, albeit only fractionally, but simply that it isn’t the origin. That lies in how it’s behaving aerodynamically in a transient condition, so what happens in those last few milliseconds between the wing being more or less mechanically shut and the airflow doing what you want it to do, which is attach to the wing. You open the rear wing to get rid of drag. Unfortunately, with that reduction in drag, downforce disappears as well, but it gives you more straightline speed. Then you close it to maximise downforce and get the best cornering grip possible. That happens automatically when the driver lifts the throttle, hits the brake pedal or presses the button to shut the wing. We’ve seen in the past with DRS that drivers have had problems with airflow reattachment, so they would press the button a little bit earlier, just before braking, to make sure the wing was working again before they turned in. That’s something you can do to tackle the problem, but it doesn’t solve it, and the temptation is to press it later and later with each lap. Although the exact cause of the problem that caused the Austria qualifying crash and the one in the race at Silverstone might be fractionally different, it is basically the same problem. The rear wing shuts mechanically, and from the outside it looks as though everything has happened as it should. But that does not mean the airflow has reattached. That is the critical point. Putting some rough maths to this closing procedure, we get the following: The regulations require that the wings go from one mechanical position to another in less than 0.4 seconds. If we assume that the normal system - as the DRS used to do by simply opening up the slot gap, which is what the majority of the grid uses - rotates 45 degrees, then that means that the wing rotates one degree in 0.0088 seconds. If we assume that the Red Bull and the Ferrari systems rotate 225 degrees from fully open to fully closed, then their systems rotate one degree in 0.0017 seconds. I believe that it is the last five degrees of slot gap closure that is critical to airflow reattachment. This means that with the normal larger slot gap opening system, it will take 0.044 seconds to travel those five degrees, while for the Red Bull and Ferrari system, for that same final five degrees rotation, it will only take 0.0085 seconds. This means that one system is required to travel five times faster than the other to comply with the regulations. If you look at it the other way around, then with the same hydraulic pressure and actuator size, etc the DRS-style system would close five times faster than the Red Bull or Ferrari system. I'm pretty sure the actual closing rate lies somewhere between those two extremes. Turn 9 in Austria, where Verstappen crashed in qualifying, and into Stowe at Silverstone, where he spun into the gravel in the race, are basically very fast corners with high-speed entries, with a minimal braking requirement of let’s say 0.5 seconds. This means that with the normal larger slot gap opening, you have 0.4 seconds from hitting the brake pedal, which closes the wing, giving you all of that 0.4 seconds plus another 0.1 seconds of wing stability before you turn the steering wheel into the corner. And with the flap assembly, even in the open position, it would still be creating a very small amount of positive downforce. This should be easily long enough for the airflow to fully reattach. For Red Bull and Ferrari, if you are braking at the same point and turning the steering wheel with relatively the same delay after braking, then that would mean you would be turning the steering wheel more or less immediately the rear wing has closed. Remember it has to rotate 180 degrees before it gets to the same position as the other wing designs start to close from, and that has to happen before any positive airflow attachment starts to take place. This gives no time for airflow stability and/or reattachment. When the wing is open, the objective is to minimise drag. When it is closed, the objective is to maximise downforce. You work the aero surfaces as hard as physically possible when closed, because that means you get the maximum downforce out of it. But if you work those surfaces too hard, the airflow reattachment on the flaps becomes more dramatic and also more critical, and more critical to the influence of turbulence. Yes, you could go back to a DRS-style system, and as with the other teams, that would give the airflow more time to reattach before the steering input. Mechanically, the wing would effectively be shut earlier. But in all of that, you are losing performance; we are only talking about thousandths of a second, but we are always trading something. The big question is what you do about it. Do you go back to a wing that is not as efficient? Do you increase the speed of the rear wing closing? Do you open the slot gap fractionally? Do you reduce the angle of the flaps fractionally so it is not as hard to reattach the airflow? There are many ways of doing it, but what you have to find is the best compromise. If it were me going to Spa, I would be looking very closely at the speed of the rear wing closing and, somehow, the detail of how the airflow attaches. That is very difficult because it is a transient condition. It is those last five degrees of wing angle, when the slot gap is going from maybe 20 millimetres open to 12 millimetres, where you want the flow attachment to start. We have seen rear wings close hundreds, probably thousands, of times during these races, and basically they all function pretty well except for Verstappen on two occasions. So Red Bull needs to look at its own design and at how far it is pushing the limits. I wouldn’t be surprised if this same problem were also contributing to the lack of consistent balance that Verstappen is suffering from from time to time. For example, on low fuel in qualifying, the first thing the driver does is brake later - ie the Austria crash - while at Silverstone on low-fuel late in the race and running third, he probably also got a little over-enthusiastic on the entry to Stowe. Red Bull, by its own admission, has a problem. To understand this, it needs to look at that very closely in CFD, with a lot of different wing angles, and then look at the theoretical transient effect between them. The key thing is how close to the limit Red Bull is actually running the rear wing, as in, are you trying to work that surface a bit too hard. To test this, you take the rear wing assembly you have now, either in the windtunnel or in CFD and you increase the angle of the flap assembly in small increments, say half a degree at a time, until you get to the point where it stalls. If you only have say only one degree of margin before it stalls, then you are pushing it far too near the limit. In that case, you reduce the flap angle relative to the mainplane by a degree or two. Yes, you lose a little bit of downforce, but you gain a bigger working window where the flow will reattach, or at least has time to reattach before you need it. That is what I suspect this comes down to. Red Bull is working the aero surfaces on the rear wing too hard. Red Bull has always pushed the limits to the maximum possible, and that is part of why it has been so successful. But you still need to give the car, and every component on it, a working window. Right now, that working window is just a little bit too small. And perhaps the risk of pushing it too far is a justification for the FIA to outlaw it. ### Two 'Macarena' F1 wings subject to FIA safety probe URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-red-bull-fia-safety-talks-macarena-f1-rear-wings/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T18:43:09.000Z The FIA is in discussions with both Red Bull and Ferrari over the designs of their 'Macarena' revolving rear wings, following safety concerns prompted by Max Verstappen's crash at Formula 1's British Grand Prix. Verstappen spun off into the gravel at Stowe late in the race at Silverstone last weekend as the result of a problem with his rear wing. While the exact details of what happened to trigger the incident have not been revealed, Verstappen was [far from impressed](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-calls-out-red-bull-very-dangerous-f1-wing-issues/) \- especially because it came a week after an airflow reattachment issue in Austria pitched him off the track at the penultimate corner in qualifying. Speaking after the British GP about his angry radio messages in the wake of his crash, Verstappen explained: "Well, at that point it's super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times! I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that's why you get really fed up with it." ## Chasing answers Red Bull is looking into what happened at Silverstone, and team principal Laurent Mekies vowed it would do "whatever is necessary to be on the safe side" for the next race in Belgium. That could even mean, if Red Bull cannot be convinced its revolving rear wing is fault proof, going back to the [more conventional design](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-could-park-trick-wing-for-spa-after-verstappen-incidents/) that it used at the start of the season. A decision on that would rest on whether there is a link between the Austria and Silverstone incidents related to the wing concept, or if other factors were in play. Mekies added: "We have raced this \[concept\] since Miami. There have been a number of races, so it's too early in the analysis to establish whether it's an issue with the concept or something else. "But we are going for sure to leave no stone unturned when it comes to it, and we have all the options open." But The Race has learned that Verstappen's latest incident, and his concerns about the situation being dangerous, has prompted the FIA to get involved. ## On the FIA's radar Motor racing's governing body always prioritises safety, and the Verstappen crashes have now prompted it to chase a better understanding of the revolving wing designs from the two teams that are running them. That is why it is involved in talks with technical chiefs at both Red Bull and Ferrari to better evaluate the situation and see if any action needs to be taken. The Ferrari and Red Bull designs are very different to what other teams run as the upper flaps rotate much more - with Ferrari's believed to move roughly 225 degrees clockwise when it switches into straight mode. The idea behind the wing is that by effectively flipping upside down, it dramatically reduces drag and can even induce a tiny amount of lift to help pull back on rolling resistance. Both Ferrari and Red Bull had their design ideas approved by the FIA beforehand and will almost certainly have had to prove that there were no safety risks from the outset. The latest talks will be reviewing the behaviours of the wings, which must transition between straight mode when open and corner mode when closed within 400 milliseconds. ## Next steps Those the safety talks will determine whether the FIA is satisfied the teams can guarantee there will be no repeat rear wing troubles in the future, or if it needs to step in and take action. The governing body could in theory demand that extra safety measures are put in place by the teams to ensure that the wings cannot fail - which could either be through mechanical aspects or adjusting their behaviour on the entry to corners. The rules are already clear that: "The design is such that failure of the system will result in it returning to its corner mode position." One extreme option, however, could be for the governing body to decide that the recent crashes are enough for it to decide that wings that open in such a way need stamping out on safety grounds. With other teams, including McLaren, pursuing such low-drag rear wing solutions, the use of them is likely to become more prevalent so it could make sense to outlaw them either now or for 2027 if the FIA feels the risks are too great. The FIA has the power to ban any car from entering an F1 race if it is deemed to have a part that it considers unsafe. Article C1.2 of the technical regulations states: "The stewards may prohibit the participation of a vehicle whose construction is deemed to be dangerous. Should the relevant information become apparent during a session, such a decision may apply with immediate effect." While Red Bull has suffered two high-profile incidents with its wing, Ferrari has had no major problem with its design since it first started racing it. The wing first appeared in pre-season testing then ran in practice at the Chinese GP, but was not carried through into the rest of that weekend because the team was not 100% sure that it would work flawlessly the first time out. It subsequently reappeared at the Miami GP and has stayed on the car since. ### One-of-a-kind F1 helmet to be auctioned in aid of Make-A-Wish URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/one-of-a-kind-f1-helmet-to-be-auctioned-in-aid-of-make-a-wish/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T09:28:16.000Z A custom Disney-themed Formula 1 helmet signed by drivers during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone is set to be auctioned to raise funds for Make-A-Wish. The helmet forms part of a new collaboration between Disney, F1 and Make-A-Wish, with proceeds supporting the charity's work granting wishes for children living with critical illnesses outside the United States. Designed by Bret Iwan, the voice of Mickey Mouse, alongside Disney consumer products global creative director Bobby Kim, the helmet combines Mickey Mouse artwork with F1-inspired design elements. It was produced in partnership with Bell Racing and features a matte black finish with red and yellow accents, F1 branding and a Make-A-Wish star integrated into the artwork. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Signed_Disney_Helmet.jpeg) The helmet was signed by all of the current Formula 1 drivers, bar Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, across the Silverstone weekend. The helmet will be auctioned off through [F1 Authentics](https://us.f1authentics.com/products/disney-x-formula-1-2026-helmet?utm%5Fsource=disney&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=disney-formula1&shpxid=35ade4a6-663b-4945-b98b-ebed62946dc6), with registration opening on July 7, 2026 and bidding taking place from July 15-24\. Net proceeds from the sale will benefit Make-A-Wish International. Several Make-A-Wish children and their families attended Silverstone as part of the initiative, where they were given the opportunity to see the helmet up close and meet Make-A-Wish France ambassador Pierre Gasly during the race weekend. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaVUoTlgJ9m/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Disney UK (@disneyuk)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaVUoTlgJ9m/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) The project builds on a relationship between Disney and Make-A-Wish that stretches back more than four decades. The first official Make-A-Wish experience at Disneyland took place more than 45 years ago and, according to the organisations, Disney has since helped fulfil more than 175,000 wishes globally. A second version of the helmet will go on public display at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California, from August 14-16. ### Ferrari to get early run on new Madrid F1 track with filming day URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-to-get-early-run-on-new-madrid-f1-track-with-filming-day/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T11:25:20.000Z Ferrari will get a head start in its understanding of the new Madring Formula 1 circuit in Spain by holding a filming day at the Madrid track later this week. The new home of the Spanish Grand Prix is to be closed on Thursday to allow Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to conduct some testing with its current car. Both drivers are scheduled to run with an SF-26 for the day, which is understood to have been organised by race promoter as a way of checking everything is progressing as hoped. - [**Everything we learned exploring the Madring**](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-we-learned-exploring-f1-newest-track/) While F1's rules restrict how much running Ferrari can do (see below), even the short outing with the current car will be hugely valuable in giving Ferrari real world data of the Madring track layout and its surface. Even though the speeds will not be as high as at the actual race weekend, such early knowledge can be especially helpful with the current rules set, as grip levels through corners can have a significant impact on energy management. The Madring layout also throws up a unique challenge with the La Monumental banked corner, which could prove critical in terms of car set-up and ride heights depending on the racing line taken and how heavy the vertical and lateral loads are. The Spanish GP is due to take place on September 11-13. ## What the rules say The Ferrari filming day is classified under the regulations as a Promotional Event – of which teams are allowed to run two during the year. Ferrari burned the first of its allocation at Monza in April prior to the Miami Grand Prix, so the Madring run will be its second. The rules put a ceiling on running at 200km, and the car must use tyres that are specifically designed for such filming days. Other than the mileage and tyre limit, running it as a promotional event comes without restrictions that would have prevented Ferrari testing there with an older car. Under F1's Testing of Previous Cars regulations, there are some stipulations that restrict running at new tracks, or circuits that have been heavily modified. This is aimed at preventing teams getting an unfair advantage by gathering data at new or modified venues prior to an F1 race weekend. So limits that prevent TPC running if the circuit did not host an F1 event "the year falling immediately prior to the year of the championship" would outlaw teams from doing TPC running in Madrid. F1's testing regulations have even been further tightened up for 2027 to prevent TPC running at circuits that did not feature in the two years prior. F1 teams are not allowed any TPC running at tracks in the 60 days before the start of a competition. ### What's unique about MotoGP's newest winner - and his big decisions URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ai-ogura-unique-motogp-decision-yamaha-honda-aprilia/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T11:06:07.000Z Since coming into MotoGP as the reigning Moto2 world champion, Ai Ogura has trodden a somewhat unconventional path - given just how different he is from most of the rest of the grid in terms of not just riding style but also character and attitude. Yet, as his incredible win at the Dutch TT showed, it’s clearly a strategy that has worked so far for the Japanese racer - and has put him on the path to future superstardom as he heads into 2027 signed up to race a full-factory Yamaha [alongside MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/jorge-martin-ai-ogura-yamaha-factory-motogp-line-up-2027-28/). But what exactly is it that makes Ogura a standout among his rivals? Well, without resorting to lazy national stereotypes, it’s very clear that Ogura is very much the quintessential Japanese racer, with all the benefits that that brings to the way he doesn’t just race but also prepares for racing. That’s not something that he’s only just discovered in MotoGP, of course. He’s always been a racer, very fixated on doing things to his plan, even to the extent of rejecting his initial promotion to MotoGP with Honda, which had up until then nurtured his career. ![Ai Ogura](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/GnG_896852_HiRes.jpg) A product of the Asia Talent Cup, when he moved into grand prix racing, it was with Honda Team Asia, spending five years with the squad and ending up third in the Moto3 championship in 2020 and second in Moto2 in 2022. With Ogura in line to replace Taka Nakagami at satellite Honda MotoGP team LCR, we got a first glimpse in 2024 of how Ogura operates when he turned the chance down, instead eventually switching to the MSI team and its Boscoscuro bike - and immediately winning the championship. Again offered a MotoGP chance with Honda for 2025, he again turned it down, instead joining the Trackhouse squad on what looked then like a rapidly ascending Aprilia machine - a prophecy that very much proved to be correct. Since then, it’s been a rise to the top, stopped only by an injury sustained at Silverstone midway through his rookie season. Already battling for top-five performances in his opening rounds (and, in fact, P4 in his very first sprint race in Thailand), it’s very clear that he is already wholly at ease in the premier class - and that Sunday’s win was only ever a matter of time. Of course, that’s absolutely no surprise at all if you’ve spent even a few seconds in the presence of the notoriously quiet racer. Very much a man of few words, he’s perhaps most reminiscent of peak Kimi Raikkonen in how little he bothers engaging with the media - except, perhaps, that in Ogura’s case it feels like it’s happening not because of bored contempt, but rather because he genuinely doesn’t really like talking about himself. When he is put on the spot by the media, it’s more common to hear him mildly critical of his own performances (even on the good days!) than it is to hear him engaging in self-praise. One-word answers, dissatisfaction with not extracting his full potential, and quiet amusement at long-winded questions are Ogura characteristics, rather than the extensive explanations and pontifications some of his counterparts favour. There’s a hint in that of what makes Ogura so special, too, though. Speaking to some of his training partners, his whole style is best characterised as slow-and-steady, using the minimal amount of energy to extract the maximum performance. Rivals have even admitted to being quite jealous of how the 25-year-old manages his races, with his very old-school smooth style meaning that he’s never expending unnecessary effort - something that allows him to thrive in high temperatures and extend tyre life. "Ai is simply amazing," VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio raved earlier this year. "His skills on \[corner\] entry are amazing. Since Moto2, if you see, he has massive control on entry. He's super precise. "And how he is on the bike, I think, is the perfect compromise to make the bike turn the most and also not stress the tyres. So, on my side, I really like how Ai is riding." And while many are questioning what on earth has led him to a Yamaha deal in 2027, rejecting the chance to stay with Trackhouse and keep winning on a sure-thing Aprilia, it is a sensible bet to make in the medium term. There’s no way at all, of course, that Yamaha isn’t going to return to winning ways in MotoGP at some point. Right now, Ogura joins a project in a development phase, with a chance to steer it in his way - and an attitude that means he’s going to be able to deliver considered feedback to Japanese-speaking engineers in a way that’s likely to be both direct and polite. Whether it ends with title success or not is still a question to be answered, but one thing is for sure: Ogura has more potential than any compatriot since the childhood hero whose number he still carries on his shoulder - Daijiro Kato - to do something incredible for a Japanese manufacturer in MotoGP. ### 'No value' - Renault boss criticises celebrity Alpine F1 investors URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/no-value-renault-boss-criticises-celebrity-alpine-f1-investors/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T10:44:12.000Z The Alpine Formula 1 team's owner Renault says its partnership with minority shareholder Otro Capital was "not successful", which is why it wants to bide its time to find a future partner that is better aligned with its ambitions. Otro has been looking to offload a 24% stake it has in the Alpine F1 team, and there was interest from a host of parties - including Mercedes and former Red Bull boss Christian Horner - in taking over the shares. However, Renault has a right of veto until September over any change of ownership. So, when Mercedes elected to pull out of negotiations with Otro in May, [Renault intervened](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-renaults-intervened-over-f1-team-sale-talks/) to stop all discussions over the sale for now. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Race at the British Grand Prix, Renault CEO Francois Provost said that the French manufacturer was fully committed to a long-term future in F1, and the priority was ensuring that whoever takes over the shares is the right fit. And, with Otro having no say in the day-to-day running of Alpine, Provost said this was why there was no critical need to sort things quickly. "We manage the team," he said. "Otro has no right, and no added value, to help us to operate. So we are fully responsible. "We are doing the job. The partnership with Otro was not successful. "I think we are capable to assess together this. They want to sell, they will get the good benefits. "They need our agreement to sell, and we'll do this maybe sooner or later, but from an operation standpoint, \[there is\] no impact, and this is for me the most important." Renault is understood to have been interested in the potential benefits that could have come with involvement from Mercedes, while the arrival of someone such as Horner could have delivered personal benefits. What Provost said was essential is being sure that whoever comes in does bring added value. Provost added: "For me, there is no urgency. There are two principles. The first one is Renault will keep the control. We do not intend to sell shares. "The second principle is, if ever Otro sells the shares, I want to be sure that with the new one \[minority shareholder\] we have some intimacy, common goal, and common interest. So it's why I'm not in a hurry." ## Renault's commitment to F1 Provost arrived at Renault as its CEO in July 2025 shortly after his predecessor Luca de Meo had departed to join Kering, the luxury group that owns Gucci. The change of leadership prompted questions about whether Renault's F1 plans would remain in place, or whether Provost would look for a change of direction. He was clear, however, that F1 remains a core pillar for Renault's motorsport activities and that there was no consideration for turning its back on grand prix racing. "F1 is by far the biggest sporting event, all categories included," he said. "You have more than 800 million followers, an additional 100 million a year, and a lot of young people everywhere in the world. "So when we have the chance to be one of the veterans there, it is common sense that we need to stay and we need to recover the position I think we deserve." Provost said that his target was to bring some stability back to Alpine, which has been impacted over recent years by several changes of management and finished 2025 at the bottom of the constructors' championship. It has made a better start to 2026 and is fifth in the constructors' championship, albeit only one point ahead of Racing Bulls. "We want to stay in F1," he said. "This for sure will not change the strategy. "The issue now is to recover, because the \[Alpine\] team was destabilised. The performance was really bad. "So it's why I set as a unique first priority for the team to stabilise and set new strong foundations. This is our objective for this year." Provost said the target for now was to score points at every race, which he believed would set some "strong foundations" for the future. The priority for him was setting the right direction of travel rather than hitting milestones in a rush. "For me the most important is not the speed of the recovery, but is robustness of the recovery," he said. "I think we are progressing. "We know also we stay humble, we know also what we have still to do. So my unique priority is to set strong foundations this year on the performance side, on the sponsorship side." ## No works engine U-turn Provost arrived at Renault in the wake of a bold call to shut down its F1 works engine project in favour of a customer partnership with Mercedes. A potential move to cheaper V8 engines in the future could offer an opportunity for it to resurrect an engine programme, but Provost said this is not on its radar. "I support the V8 direction, but it's not because it could be an opportunity for Renault to come back as an engine manufacturer," he said. "It's not our strategy. "We can never say never. Yeah. But again, my unique priority is short-term recovery, and strong foundation from this to set up a vision for the team, a new ambition. This is my unique priority, not to come back with an engine." Provost said he was fully supportive of a planned move by the FIA and F1 to switch to V8 engines from 2031 at the latest. "I would like to keep a slice of electrification, because all our customers worldwide, they want electrification, and as Renault, we are leader in EV in full hybrid," he said. "So if we can keep a slice of electric would be good, but overall I support the direction of F1 and FIA." Asked if keeping the turbo element, which manufacturers like Audi think is essential, was important, Provost said: “No. It's not important. What is important is to continue the great journey of F1. “Always putting challenges, always competition, new events, new things, and if we can get every year again, 100 million plus followers. This is our common goal." ### F1's plan for new independent V8 engine builder revealed URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-plan-for-new-independent-v8-engine-builder-revealed/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T16:00:40.000Z That V8 engines are coming to Formula 1 is not in doubt. Both the FIA and Formula One Management have been clear that the current turbo hybrids are to be consigned to history because they are too expensive and too complicated. So, with F1's next rules era coming into play for 2031 and the FIA having a blank canvas to create the regulations, the direction of travel is clear. But the devil remains in the detail, as there are still plenty of elements that need to be put in place. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been continuing to lay the groundwork behind the scenes in formulating the plan. And, during a conversation with select media including The Race, at the British Grand Prix, he offered some fascinating insight about key developments that could change the nature of F1. This includes moves to reduce the influence of manufacturers on customer teams, and also the possibility that F1 could get refuelling back for the first time since 2009. ## Reducing manufacturer influence One fascinating new element has emerged as work progresses on the V8 idea. That is of a guaranteed independent supply that would help customers escape being under the influence of manufacturers. The idea being looked at is for the FIA to appoint an independent engine manufacturer, such as Cosworth, for example, to provide an off-the-shelf and cost-effective V8 that any team can buy. Ben Sulayem feels this move would end the authority that car makers can have over their partner teams. "There will be no control over the teams, A team over the B team, that's supplied with their engines," he said. "If it is affordable, then we will have one engine for the rest of the B-teams, so nobody can leverage them and tell them to 'Vote this way, or we are not going to give you a good engine'." Ben Sulayem said the independent engine would help empower independent teams. "It will be an FIA-selected engine that would be allowed to the teams," he said. "Then we control the neutrality, we control the power and the money. We cannot just give it away and say go and do it to X, Y, Z. Prices might go up and down, but the FIA will always be the judge." Ben Sulayem believed that, if the cost of producing an engine was brought down to a reasonable level, then current big squads could even go as far as doing power units themselves. "McLaren said they will do it, then you have Alpine, they will do their own engine," he said. "It's already two of them saying, well, thank you. "Then you will have \[new\] power unit manufacturers, maybe more than the \[current\] numbers. That's good." Ben Sulayem did not elaborate on how his idea would work for teams that are closely aligned, such as Red Bull and Racing Bulls, but he also said the whole dynamic of co-ownership could change too. "We are discussing what is a second team and what is another team," he said. "It depends on ownership." McLaren CEO Zak Brown has said several times this year that if it was financially viable for McLaren to do its own F1 engine, then it is something that it would consider. From Alpine owner Renault's perspective, however, there does not seem to be much interesting right now. Renault CEO Francois Provost said at the British GP: "I support the V8 direction, but it's not because it could be an opportunity for Renault to come back as an engine manufacturer. It's not our strategy." Renault's in-house engine project was shut down at the end of 2025, and Alpine has taken on a Mercedes customer supply deal instead for this season. ## Simpler, cheaper and lighter engines Ben Sulayem is not wavering in his determination to reintroduce V8s, because he thinks there are multiple benefits of having them. "It's the right thing to do," he declared. The arguments are that if F1 wants to make itself more attractive and its business model more sustainable, then it needs power units that are less complicated and cheaper. Of the current V6 turbo engines, Ben Sulayem said: "It's a very complex engine, and it's very expensive, and it doesn't sound as good as everybody wants." Ben Sulayem believes a cheap V8 solution could reduce R&D budgets by around 50%. Simpler engines will also be lighter, as they can get rid of heavy battery backs and energy recovery systems. "We're targeting 100kg less for the car," he added, in a move that he thinks will also improve safety. "It's not the \[F1\] business, it's the lives of the drivers that are the most important." ## The battery and turbo question Ben Sulayem has said several times that the new generation of engines will feature a hybrid element, but it will be nowhere near as powerful as what's in use right now. With F1 accepting that the notional 50/50 split between internal combustion engine and battery power has not worked, the ratio shift for the V8 era will be much greater than the 60/40 rebalancing being planned already for 2028. Manufacturers have been insistent that some form of electrification is essential to keep them committed, so this is why the battery power ratio is likely to be somewhere in the low double digits as a percentage. "Could be 10%, it might be 15%," said Ben Sulayem. "But it won't come to what we have now, that the electrification is at 46% or something. "We don't want to go through the current issue where some drivers are lifting off in a straight line. This is not what we want - so lesson learned there." Another topic of debate has been whether the V8s will be naturally aspirated or will feature turbos. Audi said recently that having a turbo was essential for it when it came to the rules. Ben Sulayem suggested that discussions on the technical specifics would likely head down giving manufacturers a choice of either the hybrid element or turbos. "A turbo means a lot of weight and a lot of money," he said. "And then you have a battery \[that is heavy\]. "And what does a turbo do? It removes the sound. "So for me today I believe a turbo or a battery, one of them. And the FIA should lead. If we just go in circles, we will not decide things." ## Refuelling being evaluated One of the questions that has emerged amid the early discussions about a V8 return is whether the arrival of the new power units will require a return of refuelling. As mentioned above, a primary target with the next regulation set is to dramatically reduce car weight by up to 100kg. However, it is well understood that one of the downsides if F1 moves towards a naturally aspirated V8 is that it will require more fuel to complete a race distance than the more efficient turbo V6s that have been a part of F1 since 2014. Some have argued that there is little point making a big effort to cut back 100kg in the car if the engine rules then force teams to run almost as much mass of fuel instead. During the previous refuelling era with V8 engines that ran until 2009, the fuel tank capacity was around 90-100 litres, which is roughly 70kg. When refuelling was banned for 2010, tank size had to increase to around 200 litres - which is roughly 150kg. When the turbo hybrids were introduced, the maximum fuel allowance was 100kg, which was around 130-135 litres, and it has now settled with the 2026 rules on being around 105kg. Ben Sulayem is well aware of the weight issue, and potential fuel consequences of a naturally aspirated V8, which is why he has commissioned a study within the FIA to evaluate the pros and cons of refuelling. "How much you start with, how much you fill, this is what we are studying right now," he said. "Of course, if you want to run the whole race, you have to have a bigger tank, or you have to stop. So this is something that we are going to look into." Elements being looked at include the impact refuelling has on racing, as well as team budgets - with estimates suggesting it could cost each team around $4million per year for equipment and freight. There is also a safety issue in play, although Ben Sulayem played down any fears on this front. "It's not a concern if you do it in the right way," he said. "We are studying this and nothing has been done yet." ### Everything we learned from F1's British Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-british-grand-prix-everything-we-learned/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T14:49:42.000Z A record-breaking 564,000 people packed into Silverstone for a British Grand Prix that produced a plentiful mix of joy and despair throughout the Formula 1 field. Here's everything we learned from the British GP weekend. ## Red Bull's 'dangerous' wing issues aren't the only problem An angry Max Verstappen had plenty to say about the ["super dangerous" rear wing issues](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-calls-out-red-bull-very-dangerous-f1-wing-issues/) Red Bull is suffering, which have caused back-to-back high-speed shunts for him in Austria and at Silverstone. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said Verstappen is "right not to be happy" and the team will assess its 'Macarena' wing ahead of the Belgian GP to ensure a failure doesn't happen again. It hasn't ruled out [parking that wing for Spa](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-could-park-trick-wing-for-spa-after-verstappen-incidents/) if it's deemed necessary. But that's not the only reason why Verstappen was annoyed. Silverstone proved to be a huge comedown from the victory bid in Austria. He was suffering with such an ill-handling set-up and complaining of deployment issues that he was willing to sacrifice his seventh position on the grid to make wholesale changes and start from the pitlane. But Red Bull rejected Verstappen's request, believing it would compromise his potential race result. Asked if he was a bit fed up with everything at Red Bull right now, Verstappen said: "It would \[take\] a very zen person to be optimistic at the moment with what's happening again this weekend. "I'm sorry, but it's just like that. I need a few days to reset and try again." Verstappen said "I want to just finish races first of all" when asked if Red Bull could repeat its mid-2025 turnaround and emerge as a championship challenger. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Leclerc's digital detox pays off F1 drivers are fond of telling us they don't pay attention to social media and don't read or watch stuff about what's happening in F1 - but we all know that's baloney! F1 drivers are just as egotistical as any of us, and they definitely pay attention. They are only human after all. And just like the rest of us, when it all gets a bit too much, they occasionally have to take a break from their phones and doomscrolling social media in order to get their lives back on track. Leclerc was asked (naturally) in the post-race press conference what victory in the British GP meant to him, considering 624 days had passed since his last win, at the 2024 United States Grand Prix. In response, Leclerc almost immediately referenced the "negativity around me in general with the narratives being created". Asked to expand on this later and whether he used these negative stories - that he’d clearly been reading! - to fuel his way out of the rocky spell he'd been enduring since Canada, Leclerc replied: "Honestly, I think anybody that says that would lie. I think whenever there's so much negativity around, it's not something so nice to see. "So no, you try to cancel the noise as much as possible. I try to not look at my phone and focus on what is relevant. And in order to also have the right picture of the situation, because things are said and you go from hero to zero, from zero to hero in, like, two days in this sport. And it can influence the way you see a situation. "My job was really to just try and cancel that noise, to not look at anything, to not listen anything and to just know that I didn't become a bad driver from one day to the other. It was just a matter of finding that feeling with the car." **\- Ben Anderson** ## Mercedes hasn't fixed its biggest weakness You can make a borderline iron-strong case that Kimi Antonelli would have overhauled Leclerc for victory had he not encountered the unusual wheel shield problem that removed him from contention. But his demise highlighted how Mercedes still hasn't fixed its biggest weakness of 2026: reliability. If we presume Antonelli would have passed Leclerc and won the race, that's 68 points lost to reliability issues for Mercedes, far more than any other team. It's why team principal Toto Wolff calls reliability the "predominant issue" for Mercedes, one "everybody in the factory is fully on it to solve". The team needs to conduct deeper analysis before fully understanding the problem that wrecked Antonelli's race, but it's obviously different to the shutdowns experienced by Antonelli at Barcelona and George Russell in Montreal. Mercedes has been the clear benchmark team of 2026 and is still the odds-on title favourite but its margin in both championships (32 points in the drivers', 78 in the constructors') really should be a lot more comfortable. **\- JS** ## Baffling driving tactics still a part of the formula F1 drivers have regularly moaned about the need for some counterintuitive driving in order to be quick under the 2026 ruleset. More often than not, this has meant going slower in corners to be faster on the following straights because extra harvesting means more energy. The British GP threw up something very different, though. Mercedes drivers Antonelli and Russell made use of a [resurrected trick](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-finds-legal-way-to-revive-banned-f1-qualifying-trick/) to help give them a speed boost across the timing line at the end of qualifying laps - as long as they lifted off the throttle before they got there. Exploiting an allowance in the regulations to ignore the ramp-down rate that steadily reduces power as long as they came off the accelerator before their battery was empty, both drivers found themselves going quicker because they were backing off! For now the FIA is happy with things, and it is an exploit that could prove to be quite powerful at some upcoming races, so others are now likely to follow suit. **\- Jon Noble** ## McLaren's being punished for being out of sync In F1's fast-paced 2026 development race, you'd have to say right now it's McLaren among the top four teams that's a step behind its rivals. That's reflected not just in the results, but also in the driver feedback. Lando Norris was scathing in his review of McLaren's performance at Silverstone, saying "everything but the result" - fourth place - was "pretty shocking" and that his MCL40 was "just undriveable". "Not a nice car to drive, maybe one of the hardest cars I've ever driven in Formula 1," he concluded. Trouble is, this pain might continue for a while. Team principal Andrea Stella - who's said he's never seen a development race quite like this year's - said at Silverstone that the next round of McLaren upgrades, after its staggered but substantial Miami-to-Montreal package, will come in Hungary, with another due after the summer break. That means the next race at Spa "will still be a bit of a difficult event for us", in Stella's words, and even if he was hopeful of "an acceleration in our competitiveness" from the Hungaroring round onwards there's no escaping the fact that McLaren's out of sync with its rivals. Ferrari's regular suite of upgrades has caught the eye and Red Bull's consistently been bringing upgrades, too. And while McLaren's approach is - or perhaps was, at the start of the season - not dissimilar to Mercedes', it's a fundamental truth that Mercedes has started the year with the better package. This might be more of a deep-rooted philosophy than it appears - remember McLaren starting its 2026 running on the third day of the pre-season 'shakedown' test to maximise its development time? - but there's growing evidence to say that was the wrong tactic considering how much progress is being made as teams get to grips with these new rules. **\- Jack Cozens** ## A 'harsh reality' of 2026 overtaking 'Yo-yo racing' is a topic that has served to divide fans. Some absolutely love the entertainment value; others lament it as a fake way of fighting for position. Energy-starved Silverstone exposed perhaps one of the most frustrating consequences of it, though - as time and again we saw brilliant wheel-to-wheel efforts ultimately count for nothing. Pulling off a great, on-the-edge move into one corner brought little benefit as, on the following straight, the driver behind would simply hit his boost button for an easy motorway pass. The battle between Lewis Hamilton and former team-mate Russell on lap 29, as the Ferrari swooped around the outside of the Mercedes at Copse before they fought side-by-side into Maggotts, was the perfect case in point. It was spectacular through the turns as Hamilton robustly got and kept himself in front; only to find himself easily passed on the run down Hangar Straight. As Haas driver Ollie Bearman said: "That's F1 2026 unfortunately. It's a shame, but that's the harsh reality right now." **\- JN** ## Williams's lack of progress is worrying Sainz Even within a disappointing season, this was a particularly sour weekend for Williams - and not just because it was a poor showing in its home race. A new front wing had promised "a big step forward in the windtunnel and in the simulator", but this didn't seem to translate to the real world. Williams will be hoping to unlock more performance with the help of what turned into an extended front wing set-up testing session for Alex Albon after he'd ruined his race by clattering into Bearman's Haas. But team-mate Carlos Sainz is anyway worried that there's a pattern now of Williams struggling with development. "Concerning, frustrating because it starts to be a bad trend this year that we don't seem to really find a lot of laptime when the upgrades are coming," he admitted. "My feeling is that at Suzuka we were 1.6, 1.8 seconds \[off\] with a very overweight car. Here we're two seconds off with a much better weight. And it means that something is not going into the car. There's some load there missing somewhere. "It's clear to me now that we're having serious issues when developing this car." - **Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Alpine's in damage limitation mode It's not that long ago that we were talking about Alpine being not just the class of the midfield, but in its own territory between the big four and the rest. That's emphatically not the case now. That midfield-leading mantle has been assumed by Racing Bulls in recent weeks - its cars have been in Q3 on five of the previous six opportunities - to such an extent that there's now just one point in it in the fight for fifth in the constructors' championship, with that scoreline still in Alpine's favour (for the time being). Both Alpine drivers spoke of "damage limitation" after the British GP - Pierre Gasly in the context of both cars ending up in the points, and Franco Colapinto, after a fine recovery from 19th on the grid to ninth, with a wider view of the competitive picture. "They were stronger than us these last two weekends," said Colapinto, presumably referencing Racing Bulls. "The Audis as well. "We scored and that was all we could have achieved. I'm happy with the result as a team. We have to keep pushing and understand how to improve the car more." That sentiment, echoed by Gasly, might seem like an obvious one. But it's vital that Alpine - more than any other team - does find those improvements, arguably for its very existence. Ditching its own, in-house engine in favour of Mercedes customer ones was supposed to set Alpine free to go after F1's big four. These have been a couple of middling weekends, so we're nowhere near this stage yet, but if all this season amounts to is a strong start that gradually unravels, then you really do have to start questioning what the point of this project is. **\- JC** ## Aston Martin's car is 'aerodynamically broken' Expectations are in the Mariana Trench for the current version of the AMR26, left to circulate weekend after weekend without substantial upgrades due to Aston Martin's preference to keep its powder dry for a 'B-spec' of sorts, scheduled for the Hungaroring. In the meantime, the A-spec has got better at finishing races. You'd think that would also be accompanied by it becoming a more malleable, refined package, even if it's still slow. But when a clip of Lance Stroll from team-mate Fernando Alonso's onboard camera behind went semi-viral on social media after the British GP, it was not because the Astons are slow, but because they look evil to drive. Stroll was dinged for six separate track limits violations, converting into three separate (meaningless) five-second penalties. "We had a lot of understeer in the race and the car is very broken, so it's even hard to stay within the track limits," Stroll shrugged. "The car is doing a lot of different behaviour every lap, every corner. "Just aerodynamically very broken, so we have just a lot of issues out there." **\- VK** ## Red Bull's 'other' driver headache While the Verstappen future doubts are a persistent headache, at least Red Bull has no huge questions to answer over the rest of its F1 roster - Isack Hadjar is performing at the appropriate level in one of F1's most daunting seats, Liam Lawson is a consistent midfield benchmark, Arvid Lindblad looks like a rookie should. No reasons to rock the boat, as long as there aren't any junior drivers making a strong case in Formula 2- ohhhh. Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov has now won three races on the trot, and six in total, as an F2 rookie. He's taking control of the title race - so putting himself at 'risk' of being ineligible to return in 2027 as series champion. This doesn't have to be a problem, as if Red Bull decides Tsolov isn't quite F1-ready, it can probably stash him in a reserve role or send him to Super Formula. But the likelihood is that Red Bull will be feeling the pressure to give him an F1 race drive immediately. Someone would have to make way. And it would be a nice problem to have - but it would, indeed, be an actual problem. **\- VK** ### Edd Straw's 2026 British Grand Prix F1 driver rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-british-grand-prix-driver-rankings-edd-straw/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T10:19:04.000Z For only the second time in the 2026 Formula 1 season, Mercedes was beaten on a Sunday as Ferrari and Charles Leclerc triumphed at the British Grand Prix. But how did the twists and turns of the Silverstone weekend affect Edd Straw's F1 driver rankings - and which home driver ended up in top spot? Take a look below. **Want to quiz Edd on his driver rankings?** [**Sign up to The Race Members' Club**](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) **to do exactly that - and ask your questions** [**in reply to this post**](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/ask-edd-about-f1-163048562?ref=the-race.com)**.** **Champions-tier members can also try their hand at** [**putting their own driver rankings together**](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/champions-tell-162983216?ref=the-race.com) **for Edd to react to in a separate feature!** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/McLAREN_LN.png) **Started**: 6th **Finished**: 4th **PROS** \- Had the edge over Oscar Piastri on pace throughout. \- Overachieved with third place in the sprint after early gains. \- No obvious opportunities missed. **CONS** \- Hard to stand out given McLaren's performance level. **Verdict**: Couldn't have done more given the car limitations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/MERCEDES_KA.png) **Started**: 1st **Finished**: 15th **PROS** \- A clear cut above team-mate George Russell. \- Executed the sprint race well, taking a calculated and patient approach to passing Lewis Hamilton in a way that allowed him to stay clear. \- Was driving a superb race that would have yielded victory when he sustained damage, and while he was fractionally wide at Copse the damage wasn't a foreseeable outcome. **CONS** \- Had the car to have taken sprint race pole position, but left a little time on the table. \- Perhaps could have reduced the time loss and track-limits violations with a slightly calmer head, but that's an understandable reaction. **Verdict**: Mostly hugely impressive, but slight rough edges cost him top spot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/WILLIAMS_CS.png) **Started**: 14th **Finished**: 17th **PROS** \- Wasn't in any way responsible for the penalty lap he was given for unlapping himself given the team instructed him to do it and it would have been impossible for him to be aware of the mistake. \- Was the stronger Williams driver all weekend. \- Excellent start in the grand prix briefly got him into the points before competitive gravity set in. **CONS** \- Having briefly held 13th, was shuffled back to 17th on the first lap of the sprint, spending the rest of the race stuck there. \- Being hyper-critical, perhaps could have picked off Ollie Bearman in main qualifying with a perfect lap. **Verdict**: Another weekend where the positives are many and the negatives minor. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/FERRARI_CL.png) **Started**: 2nd **Finished**: 1st **PROS** \- Leclerc played a big part in the turnaround facilitated by overnight work that modified the set-up "philosophy" for qualifying proper. \- Made a good start then showed race pace that was a step ahead of Hamilton. \- Outqualifying and outracing Hamilton showed how big a step he'd really made. **CONS** \- Struggled in the sprint element of the weekend relative to Hamilton, 0.327s off in qualifying showing he was "missing that final bit". \- Relied upon Antonelli hitting trouble to be able to win, but given the Mercedes had a pace advantage that's no criticism of him, just of the fact that the difference between first and second wasn't within his power to make. **Verdict**: Reignited his season with a spectacular turnaround, but sprint struggles count against him. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/RB_LL.png) **Started**: 10th **Finished**: 6th **PROS** \- Made the most of the car to dominate 'Class B' in the sprint. \- Although he did get a warning for a late move at Stowe, overachieved in the sprint by holding off Hadjar. \- Had the underlying pace edge over Lindblad. **CONS** \- Although he reached Q3, he appeared to have the underlying pace to have beaten Lindblad and had a poor lap amid balance struggles. \- Was fortunate to escape moving over on Piastri on the run to Brooklands on lap one, which broke the McLaren's front wing, without damage or a puncture. **Verdict**: Other than Saturday qualifying, maximised the results achievable. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/AUDI_GB.png) **Started**: 11th **Finished**: 8th **PROS** \- Seemed the more comfortable of the two drivers in an Audi that at times looked a little unstable. \- Drove a strong grand prix to the best possible result - effectively 11th in the sixth-best car once you factor in the three frontrunners whose troubles he gained from. **CONS** \- Although his overall qualifying result was good, a small wobble at Brooklands cost him a place in Q3. \- Finished just behind Hulkenberg in the sprint after having an even worse launch than his team-mate. **Verdict**: Good, but a few rough edges are reflected in his ranking. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/FERRARI_LH.png) **Started**: 3rd **Finished**: 3rd **PROS** \- Excelled in sprint qualifying, taking pole in a Ferrari that had marginally less performance potential than the Mercedes. \- Did what he could in the sprint race, but was always destined to fall behind Antonelli. \- Would have finished second in the grand prix but for the unfortunate safety-car pitstop and lack of restart. **CONS** \- Grand prix jump start was costly, even though it was a minuscule error. \- Didn't seem to have an answer for Leclerc's renewed turn of pace for Saturday qualifying and the grand prix. **Verdict**: Sprint elements outstanding, but thereafter solid rather than spectacular. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/RED-BULL_MV.png) **Started**: 7th **Finished**: 20th **PROS** \- Overachieved in sprint qualifying by maximising the machinery, before inevitably slipping back in the race. \- Held third when he crashed out late on, which would have been a superb result. **CONS** \- Was outqualified by Hadjar on Saturday and threatened by him on Friday, although the team confirmed he was down on power. \- While his crash was primarily down to the lack of rear downforce, given the tyre condition and the known concerns, it wasn't as clear-cut a case of being outside of his control as it was in Austria. \- Poor sprint start cost third-place shot. **Verdict**: A slightly uneven weekend, even though he so nearly got a great result. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/RB_AL.png) **Started**: 9th **Finished**: 7th **PROS** \- Had a great start to the race, but then lost out partly thanks to having to run wide at Turn 3 and Brooklands, with a loss of deployment that wasn't of his making also playing a big part. \- Delivered a better lap than Lawson in Q3 to take 'midfield pole'. \- Did a good job through the first pitstop sequence to cover undercut threats. **CONS** \- Was the second-best Racing Bulls driver, but it wasn't by much. **Verdict**: Backed up Lawson superbly, and without the first lap problem might have beaten him in the grand prix. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/RED-BULL_IH.png) **Started**: 5th **Finished**: 5th **PROS** \- Outqualified Verstappen on Saturday. \- Picked up a good result in the grand prix, at times showing the pace to have done better. \- Seemed a little more comfortable with the car at times than Verstappen. **CONS** \- Although his qualifying pace was good, his race pace was at times not so strong. \- Only finishing ninth in the sprint was an underachievement, although the terrible start was largely down to the power unit. \- Good on-paper results bely the fact that they were both de facto last places in the top-four team group. **Verdict**: A mixed bag in a tricky car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/HAAS_OB.png) **Started**: 13th **Finished**: 12th **PROS** \- Outqualified Ocon in both sessions, with the caveat that yellow flags in Saturday's session made it an uneven fight. \- Wasn't to blame either for the start losses in the grand prix, or the clout from Albon that spun him, which dropped him to 20th on the first lap. \- Recovered well in the grand prix and generally showed good all-round pace in a limited car. **CONS** \- His pass on Ocon in the grand prix wouldn't have been possible without his team-mate's time loss, although he'd also had earlier misfortune. \- Could have made SQ2 on Friday, but for not maximising the pack level for the lap - although that was partly circumstantial. **Verdict**: A decent weekend in a car that wasn't up to challenging for the points. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/HAAS_EB.png) **Started**: 17th **Finished**: 13th **PROS** \- Had he not caught a yellow flag at the end of Q1, which cost him two tenths, he would have easily made it to Q2. \- Great first lap in the grand prix meant he leaped from 17th to 11th, which was thanks to a blend of a good launch, some canny racecraft and Piastri's problem. \- Showed good race pace, finishing directly behind Bearman in the sprint and only finishing behind him in the grand prix thanks to a slow first pitstop that cost him around 13 seconds. **CONS** \- There were still complaints about downforce deficits early in the weekend, although that seemed to improve later in the weekend. \- Didn't execute sprint qualifying well. **Verdict**: Showed a clear upturn in performance from previous weekends. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/McLAREN_OP.png) **Started**: 8th **Finished**: 11th **PROS** \- Wasn't to blame for being sandwiched between the Racing Bulls on lap one, damaging his front wing and ruining his points chances. \- His underlying pace deficit to Norris was only marginal. \- Generally extracted close to the potential of the car. **CONS** \- Tiny pace deficit in sprint qualifying and at the start made the difference between the third place Norris showed was achievable and Piastri's seventh. \- Lacked that last tiny edge of pace compared to Norris, which added up to a substantial difference in outcomes. **Verdict**: Second-best McLaren driver. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/ALPINE_FC.png) **Started**: 19th **Finished**: 9th **PROS** \- Had a good sprint race, finishing directly behind Pierre Gasly. \- Although he struggled with the car, describing it as "digital" in terms of grip (as in, either it had grip or it didn't with no progressiveness), in qualifying, was better in race conditions. \- Although he was fortunate to end up ahead of Gasly in the grand prix, did a good job to ensure he maintained his advantage. **CONS** \- Had a marginal underlying race pace disadvantage relative to Gasly, beating him in the grand prix thanks to being given the undercut advantage and his team-mate's slow stop. \- Although the qualifying spin was definitely not his fault, with an unexpected loss of rear downforce explaining it, he struggled for single-lap pace across both sessions. **Verdict**: Struggled in qualifying, better in the race, but the second-fastest Alpine driver overall. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/MERCEDES_GR.png) **Started**: 4th **Finished**: 2nd **PROS** \- Responded well to the puncture that compromised his race. \- Showed good racecraft in the grand prix in particular. **CONS** \- Despite complaints about straightline speed disadvantage, he was the slower Mercedes driver. \- While his wing-crunching off at Luffield in Q1 was unusual, it appeared to be his error. \- Contributed to the poor prep for his Q3 lap. **Verdict**: As he put it, "the performances need to be better, I need to be better". ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/ALPINE_PG.png) **Started**: 15th **Finished**: 10th **PROS** \- Recovered well from a poor FP1 to perform well across sprint qualifying and the Saturday race. \- Maximised the pace of the car in qualifying. \- Would have finished ahead of Colapinto but for the team (justifiably) pitting Colapinto first to protect against the undercut then having a slow stop. **CONS** \- Although he was unfortunate given a radio failure meant he couldn't hear warnings, impeding Stroll in Q1 earned him a three-place grid penalty and compromised his race. \- A minor point, but he couldn't turn his small pace advantage over Colapinto into a pass - but then again, the team didn't need its drivers battling. **Verdict**: A good weekend, with qualifying impeding the main negative. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/ASTON-MARTIN_FA.png) **Started**: 21st **Finished**: 18th **PROS** \- Strong performance across the sprint elements of the weekend, catching and passing Lance Stroll after being booted into a spin by Sergio Perez on lap two. \- Had a pace advantage over Stroll in race conditions, which also showed once he was ahead in the grand prix. \- Certainly on long runs, coped better with the major limitations of the Aston Martin than his team-mate. **CONS** \- Qualifying pace was unremarkable, shading Stroll in sprint qualifying but lapping 0.162s slower in main qualifying. \- As always for the Aston Martin drivers, the lack of competition (for negative reasons) and car troubles make it difficult to impress. **Verdict**: That 'winning' the Lego 'race' was the highlight of his weekend says much about his situation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/CADILLAC_SP.png) **Started**: 20th **Finished**: 14th **PROS** \- Drove a particularly strong grand prix, in which his underlying pace was stronger than Bottas's. \- Significant car problems that were only really fixed for the race mean his 0.782s qualifying deficit to Bottas was in no way representative. **CONS** \- Clattering into Alonso after a lock-up on lap two of the sprint was entirely avoidable. \- Car problems made it difficult for him to show his pace for much of the weekend, and while not his fault this means there's less evidence to gauge it on. **Verdict**: Sprint collision costs what would have been a higher ranking. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/CADILLAC_VB.png) **Started**: 18th **Finished**: 16th **PROS** \- Had perhaps one of his cleanest weekends for Cadillac, and showed good pace at times. \- Although the comparison with Perez wasn't representative, Bottas still produced a strong performance in main qualifying. \- Couldn't have finished any higher in the sprint race. **CONS** \- Grand prix pace was disappointing relative to Perez - although the gap that built up before the safety car was exaggerated by strategic offset. \- When all things are equal, still appeared to be the second-best Cadillac driver. \- Could have been slightly sharper when the safety-car pulled in and gained a position when Antonelli's penalty was applied. **Verdict**: A good, solid weekend but nothing extraordinary. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/ASTON-MARTIN_LS.png) **Started**: 22nd **Finished**: 19th **PROS** \- Single-lap pace was good, outqualifying Alonso in main qualifying. \- Started both races well before slipping back. \- Battled on and registered two race finishes in a car that looked terrible to drive. **CONS** \- While track-limits violations were understandable given the understeer and downshift problems, Alonso avoided such errors - and picking up three five-second penalties was excessive. \- Race pace wasn't at Alonso's level. **Verdict**: Good on one lap, but struggled badly on longer stints. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/AUDI_NH.png) **Started**: 12th **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Had a decent sprint part of the weekend, qualifying only 0.028s off Bortoleto then leading him home in the race. \- Wasn't to blame for his retirement from the race, which was a hydraulic-related gearbox problem. **CONS** \- Had an untidy main qualifying, with a laptime deletion for track limits then an untidy final attempt in Q2 that left him almost seven tenths off his team-mate. \- Overall, seemed slightly less at home with the tricky-at-times Audi than B. \- Spun at Luffield while running between the two Alpines through his own error on lap two, which would have cost him a points shot had the car lasted. **Verdict**: Decent in the sprint components, but disappointing in qualifying and the race proper. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/WILLIAMS_AA.png) **Started**: 16th **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Qualifying pace deficit to Sainz wasn't massive, with the 0.132s gap in main qualifying representative. \- While race pace is difficult to gauge versus Sainz because of circumstances, also wasn't disastrous. **CONS** \- Locking up and clattering into Bearman at Brooklands on lap one was effectively a race-ruining mistake. \- Lacked the edge of pace that Sainz had. \- Underachieved significantly in sprint qualifying. **Verdict**: Pace deficit and first-lap blunder adds up to a poor weekend. ### KTM unveils 2027 MotoGP factory line-up URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ktm-unveils-2027-motogp-factory-line-up/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T10:08:25.000Z KTM has announced Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio as its MotoGP 2027 factory team line-up. It becomes the fourth factory to formally shore up its works team roster, these deals being announced in quick succession following the signing of the 'Concorde' deal for 2027-31 between MotoGP and its manufacturers. So both the Marquez deal and the Di Giannantonio deal have been open secrets for a long time; Di Giannantonio's current team VR46 posted a video earlier today of Di Giannantonio saying his goodbyes to the outfit, [which was dated May 9](https://x.com/VR46RacingTeam/status/2074025554173682071?ref=the-race.com) \- and Marquez's KTM agreement was thought to have been reached as early as the pre-season. Marquez, who was runner-up in the standings last year but whose 2026 has been compromised early on by injury in Barcelona, will return to a factory team environment for the first time since his rookie MotoGP season - when he raced for Honda's works team before being moved to its satellite outfit LCR. KTM's Pit Beirer described him as an "exceptional talent" who "brings not only outstanding skill and race intelligence but also determination and a winning mindset that perfectly matches our DNA". Both Marquez and Di Giannantonio will have had opportunities to stay with their current teams (Gresini and VR46 respectively) but have been won over by the opportunity of a works seat, which in Di Giannantonio's case appears to have trumped a new Ducati contract to continue in a satellite ride. The two riders - already team-mates in the past for a single season at Gresini - have been announced on "multi-year" agreements. ![Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, MotoGP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/GnG_1330952_HiRes.jpg) "Fabio has clearly made a step to become one of the consistent frontrunning guys in MotoGP," said Beirer. "We cannot question his speed and commitment to delivering the best performance. He is a strong team player and a good guy, that we know will fit easily into our project." KTM has been able to use Marquez's likeness in his announcement, but not yet Di Giannantonio's - presumably due to contractual specifics, perhaps due to his status as a Monster Energy athlete for now (with KTM and Marquez being sponsored by Red Bull). Only Honda now remains without a confirmed two-rider line-up for its factory team for 2027. It is known it is moving on from both Joan Mir and Luca Marini, but while Fabio Quartararo will definitely take one of the factory bikes, there remains the question of whether his team-mate will be current LCR rider Diogo Moreira or Moto2 graduate David Alonso. ### The crucial Ferrari tweaks that made Leclerc an F1 winner again URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-crucial-details-leclerc-took-from-hamilton-to-end-his-f1-win-drought/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T10:21:00.000Z A much-needed victory in the British Grand Prix for Charles Leclerc provided a clear signal that he might have at last cracked the problems that have been holding him back in Formula 1 recently. Leclerc has been through a rough patch of form, retiring from two out of the three races prior to Silverstone and crashing twice in that time, while watching team-mate Lewis Hamilton become increasingly assured and assertive inside Ferrari. Just as Hamilton has grown increasingly confident after taking Ferrari’s first win of 2026 at Barcelona - talking of changes inside the Ferrari team and to the car that he has pushed for - so Leclerc has had to face a barrage of negative questions about his own form as the bad weekends piled up. “Obviously there's a lot of negativity around me in general with narratives being created,” Leclerc said, “and it's never a nice environment to work in.” So the first thing Leclerc had to do was try to block out that negativity and “keep our heads down” while trying to figure out how to get his season back on track. Step one was to “cancel that noise” and remember that “I didn't become a bad driver from one day to the other”. As is often the case in this modern age, that process began with what you might call a ‘digital detox’. Leclerc basically stopped doomscrolling and put down his phone in order to have what he calls “the right picture of the situation” and not be unduly influenced by those negative storylines. The irony is not lost on us here at The Race that we are now pumping Leclerc up into ‘hero’ status, after his drought-ending win! But even though he ultimately owed it in part to the wheel shield failure that befell championship leader Kimi Antonelli late-on, the real significance of this result is what it means for Leclerc’s self-confidence and what it says about the evolving internal dynamic at Ferrari. ### The details that made the difference The Silverstone weekend actually began with Leclerc once again on the backfoot. As Hamilton took sprint pole by just 11 thousandths of a second over Antonelli, Leclerc qualified more than three tenths down on Hamilton in fifth - and finished the 17-lap sprint race almost 10 seconds behind his team-mate. It was at this point Leclerc said he spotted something in Ferrari’s data that made him think he needed a change of approach: “Just a few things I saw on the data on Friday night, and I was like, OK, that might be things that just don't fit with my driving style.” Obviously we don’t have access to Ferrari’s rich layer of data, but from this GP Tempo trace we can get a general sense of where Leclerc was shipping that time to Hamilton in sprint qualifying. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Leclerc-vs-Hamilton-GPQ.png) The delta shows there’s basically nothing to choose between them across the first part of the lap - Hamilton was quicker through the Village/Loop complex; Leclerc gained that time back through Brooklands and Luffield. But Hamilton gained time on the following straight, through Copse - where he barely lifted off the throttle and used a higher gear than Leclerc did - and a massive chunk through the final chicane, where Leclerc arrived slower - presumably related to battery depletion - but also used significantly more throttle than Hamilton through the crucial exit phase of that sequence. Leclerc also had spells through the lap where his engine’s RPM was higher and he was using a gear lower than Hamilton. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Leclerc-vs-Hamilton-SQ.png) Come grand prix qualifying (data above), the picture shifted. Leclerc’s engine RPM and gear pattern was a close match for Hamilton’s, Leclerc gained on the straights he was previously losing time on, he gained on Hamilton through Copse and the Maggotts/Becketts sequence, gained a fraction through Stowe and was much better than before through the final chicane, with a throttle trace that more closely matched what Hamilton was doing. Qualifying on the front row, alongside Antonelli and almost two tenths clear of Hamilton, was the foundation upon which Leclerc built his first F1 victory in more than 20 months, and this data suggests Leclerc made a fundamental adjustment to the way he was attacking these corners. After grand prix qualifying, Leclerc spoke about facing a choice: between completely adjusting his driving style to replicate what Hamilton’s been doing recently, or trying to find a way to bring the Ferrari set-up into a place where Leclerc can do what comes naturally to him without paying a price. “I went towards the second route,” he confirmed, “which was to stick with what I know worked in the past and try to find a way around with the car and with the tools I have available inside the car.” Leclerc describes his own driving style as “quite aggressive” and we know in the past he has conjured some magical qualifying laps by attacking corner entries, overlapping the brakes and throttle to load up the outside tyres more progressively and carry huge corner speed without paying a penalty on the way out. But he says he has found it “incredibly difficult to put things together” in these 2026 cars, with their smaller tyre profiles, reduced downforce and oddball, battery-dominated power units. What’s noticeable from GP Tempo graphs is that Leclerc’s GP qualifying traces indicate a driver who was much more confident applying the throttle. Between Village and The Loop he was much more aggressive than the day before; the same between Brooklands and Luffield. There was no visible lift off the throttle at Copse and he was generally just being much more decisive with his inputs. This would suggest that Leclerc had more confidence in how much rear grip his Ferrari was producing, and also that maybe Ferrari dialled in a set-up that allowed him to rotate the car better through those corners, so he could apply the throttle more aggressively without worrying he was still holding too much steering lock, or risking a sudden snap of oversteer. ### Hamilton's role in Leclerc's turnaround ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1424444_HiRes.jpg) Leclerc described this process of improvement through the Silverstone weekend as “intuition mixed with feeling”, rather than a case of something “black and white” jumping out from the data, but it’s interesting to note how much closer his basic data trace was to Hamilton’s come grand prix qualifying - and Hamilton himself suggested he had played a major part in how Leclerc’s race winning weekend came together. Hamilton has spoken recently about how essentially ignoring Ferrari’s pre-race simulator predictions has been helping him dial in better for race weekends. At Silverstone, Hamilton suggested it was this same approach that was key to him being so strong in sprint qualifying, where everyone came into that session with only one practice session with which to judge reality against their expectations. He said Ferrari’s simulator indicated “we should start in a much different place with the set-up” for Silverstone, but he and his team “decided to stay with the direction we would normally go”. And Hamilton says crucially, having followed the direction of the simulator initially, Leclerc then diverted to Hamilton’s set-up direction for the rest of the weekend. “Charles started at where the sim would say to go,” Hamilton said. “The direction I was taking was ultimately the right one, and he migrated that way.” Leclerc has already, since crashing out of his home race in Monaco, migrated to the Carbon Industrie brake material favoured by Hamilton - and that Hamilton says he had to push extremely hard behind the scenes for Ferrari to introduce. The front suspension too is another area Hamilton says Ferrari has adjusted for this season according to his preference. But it’s also true that Ferrari has ultimately decided these directions are in the best interests of the entire team, not just Hamilton, and so Leclerc has had to adjust. Team boss Fred Vasseur reckons what we’ve seen in Leclerc’s wayward form recently are the blips that can come while having to make these adjustments, before a driver finds their confidence with the changes. When it came to the British Grand Prix itself, it was Hamilton paying the price for diverging from Leclerc’s preferred set-up direction - with Hamilton adjusting his front wing angle to reduce front grip, feeling the car was oversteering too much in qualifying, while Leclerc went in the opposite direction. “I had the biggest understeer at the beginning of the race,” Hamilton said. “So he just pulled away from me. I couldn't even turn the car.” Hamilton says he made some alterations to his car’s differential settings through the first stint of the race, to make it turn better, but by then “the gap was already huge”. Had he not made that false start, where he says an involuntary movement of his hand on the clutch caused the car to move before the red lights went out, Hamilton would have finished second to Leclerc even with the late pitstop under the safety car that ultimately dropped him behind George Russell’s Mercedes. But regardless of those mistakes, this was very much a race where Hamilton was made to look second best by Leclerc - for the first time since before F1’s enforced April hiatus. As Hamilton said pre-weekend, “people tend to listen to you less” when you’re getting bad results, so this win should give Leclerc a much-needed boost in confidence. The question now, as Leclerc well knows, is whether he can translate this marked improvement elsewhere. ### Red Bull could park trick wing for Spa after Verstappen incidents URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-could-park-trick-wing-for-spa-after-verstappen-incidents/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T08:12:06.000Z Red Bull has not ruled out going back on its 'upside down' - or 'Macarena' - rear wing in the wake of a second rear wing failure in as many races. Max Verstappen crashed on his final flying lap in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix when his rear wing didn't close properly, and the result was the same while Verstappen was running fourth and crashed at Stowe in Sunday's British Grand Prix, although both Red Bull and Verstappen say the exact cause was different. [Verstappen was understandably angry](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-calls-out-red-bull-very-dangerous-f1-wing-issues/) at his back-to-back failures resulting in high-speed crashes, saying: "It's super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times. I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that's why you get really fed up with it." Red Bull's team boss Laurent Mekies cut an apologetic figure as he faced the media following the race. "Look, he's right not to be happy," said Mekies. "It is very unpleasant for drivers to be let down by the car in the high-speed corners in two consecutive races, \[whether\] it be for two different reasons \[or not\]. "And it is, in a much lower scale, also extremely unpleasant for us as a group to send our drivers to the gravel trap. "I have no doubt that as a team we'll put in place what is necessary for that not to happen again, even if we fail to do that today. "And we take that as seriously as one can do, and therefore the minimum that Max can feel today is being unhappy." Mekies refused to discuss the details of the failures, but did confirm that the wing failed to close properly again in Silverstone, adding: "Whether or not the failure is different doesn't really matter - we are going to review the full area to make sure we leave zero chance for that to happen again". The Race's Jon Noble asked Mekies if ensuring that 'zero chance' could mean reverting to the more conventional rear wing used by all teams apart from itself and Ferrari, which also uses the upside-down wing. McLaren has a version - but is yet to race it. "The answer, Jon, is that we will do whatever is necessary to be on the safe side," Mekies insisted. He added: "We have raced quite a few races with that concept now. "We have raced this since Miami. There have been a number of races, so it's too early in the analysis to establish whether it's an issue with the concept or something else. "But we are going for sure to leave no stone unturned when it comes to it, and we have all the options open." Red Bull has until July 17 to solve its issue, when F1 returns to the track at Spa. An ill-functioning rear wing is never ideal but Spa presents a particular stress test with its high speeds. ### 'Penalty lap'? F1's weirdest penalty of 2026 explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/penalty-lap-f1s-weirdest-penalty-of-2026-explained/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T20:33:12.000Z Williams Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz was assessed a rare one-lap penalty following the British Grand Prix, due to an unusual chain of events under safety car conditions. The sanction did not impact the points allocation from the race, as Sainz had finished 12th on the road, so had already scored nothing before this penalty relegated him to 17th. But it could have easily been much more impactful had the race restarted for a late dash to the flag (as seemed likely at one point), and it has revealed a curious quirk of the current rules. Sainz had already been put a lap down before Max Verstappen's rear wing issue at Copse pitched the Red Bull into the gravel and triggered a safety car intervention. Leader Charles Leclerc took the opportunity to pit at the end of what for him (and thus for the race as a whole) was lap 48\. Upon rejoining the track, he cycled out in front of the lapped Sainz in the neutralised race. Sainz hadn't pitted by then, but he took the opportunity next time by. And in diving into the pits, because of the particular shape and markings of pit entry at Silverstone (see below), he beat Leclerc to the start-finish line, so had in that moment temporarily unlapped himself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Silverstone-pit-entry.png) F1 regulations give lapped cars the opportunity to unlap themselves during a safety car interruption. But, in slightly convoluted wording, F1's sporting regs - specifically Article B5.13.4 c) states cars eligible to unlap themselves are those that "were lapped at the time they crossed the \[start-finish\] line at the end of the \[same\] lap during which they crossed the first safety car line for the second time after the safety car was deployed." "The first safety car line" is located on pitlane entry, and Sainz crossed it for the relevant "second time" right as he was diving into the pits, which meant that for the purposes of the rule he was a non-lapped driver at the start-finish line. It meant he was ineligible to unlap himself - even though after his pitstop he returned to running a lap behind Leclerc. This was reflected in race direction messages. Sainz's number was not among the seven named as drivers eligible to unlap themselves (and of those seven only Oscar Piastri was ahead of him in the classification at that moment, meaning if Williams followed the rules to the letter of the law Sainz would forfeit five places and end up trapped a lap down with the Aston Martins). "The stewards noted that, after completing its pit stop, Car 55 once again was a lapped car when it re-joined the track," mentioned the stewards' verdict. "Given the exceptional track layout at this event, the stewards understand how the sequence of events may have contributed to the team's confusion. "The team representative acknowledged that the team nevertheless made two errors: firstly, by failing to recognise that Car 55 was not a lapped car at the relevant reference point under Article B5.13.4 c), and secondly, by failing to note that Car 55 was not included in the race control message identifying the cars permitted to overtake the safety car. "The team representative accepted that they inadvertently gained a lap when they were not entitled to do so." That "gained lap" was thus taken off Sainz in the classification, via the mechanism of 'one penalty lap', with no further sanctions - and he remained classified ahead of Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. ### Winners and losers from F1's 2026 British Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1s-2026-british-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T19:24:42.000Z A charged British Grand Prix delivered another unexpected blow to Kimi Antonelli's Formula 1 points lead - but not a one-lap showdown for victory that everyone was briefly, accidentally promised. Here are our winners and losers from the Silverstone contest. ## Winner: Charles Leclerc (1st) Needed. That. Precious little in the sprint portion of the Silverstone weekend suggested Leclerc was on the cusp of breaking out of what had clearly become a sustained rut. "Obviously there's a lot of negativity around me in general, with narratives being created," he lamented - and the truth is the sample size of his struggles hadn't been massive, but they had come just at the moment as Ferrari emerged as a credible title threat again. The scrutiny was always going to be intense, and he just hadn't looked himself on track... until this Sunday, which laid bare a newfound 'comfort' with the SF-26. "I'm very happy to get out of this situation in this way. However, it's still the beginning," he cautioned. "It's only one race and I must not get carried away thinking that the war is over. I mean, the battle with this car has been quite a lot recently - and I cannot take it for granted that now it's behind me." **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: Kimi Antonelli (16th) Antonelli was probably winning today. Let's say, conservatively, he was on course for second in Spain before retiring there. That's 43 points gone. If he does lose the title this year, I would be stunned if he loses it by more than 43 points. The tiniest silver lining is that he will have endeared himself, to fans around the world but also presumably his own team, with his headstrong insistence on trying to save a point or two. It's the kind of iconic moment his title campaign had arguably lacked so far, because his sheer speed was making things straightforward. Another silver lining? -ish? "We lost a lot of points, but I think the momentum is there," he insisted. It's true - he seems very fast all the time - but that's also why there must be an extra urgency to translating that momentum into points. **\- VK** ## Winner: Ferrari (1st and 3rd) ![Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1424507_HiRes.jpg) Lewis Hamilton escaping with a mere reprimand for the [yellow flag situation](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-keeps-british-gp-f1-podium-yellow-flag-infringement/) puts a neat bow on top of an exceptionally productive day for Ferrari, at a track where it expected to suffer pace-wise (but really didn't, even before Mercedes' misfortune aided it). A more optimal outcome would've been keeping the 1-2 that was lost by that late Hamilton pitstop. Arguably the most optimal outcome, points-wise, would have been Hamilton in first and Leclerc in second, though it's probably a touch too early to declare Hamilton Ferrari's definitive best title hope over the next 13 rounds given what Leclerc showed today. In any case, Ferrari continues to stay in range, and buy itself more time to overcome its lingering but increasingly small performance deficit to Mercedes. **\- VK** ## Loser: Max Verstappen (DNF) By his own admission, Max Verstappen finishing on the podium at Silverstone would have been “lucky” given Antonelli’s issue, but he’d done a great job to stay ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes until another rear wing drama struck. He [called it “super dangerous”](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-calls-out-red-bull-very-dangerous-f1-wing-issues/) to have back-to-back car failures causing high-speed crashes after his Austria qualifying shunt, and was frustrated at how many issues the team is having. And asked about the impact of his frustration with the team on his future, Verstappen replied: “I'm not going to say anything about that. It's not fair to say anything about that also right now.” Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Red Bull’s post-race debrief…**\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: George Russell (2nd) This wasn’t a second place on pure pace for Russell, but it’s one that still pays 18 valuable points regardless and gets him closer to the championship lead. Russell was struggling all weekend relative to team-mate Antonelli, with this probably on par with Monaco for his toughest event, pace-wise. That leaves him with even more answers to find before Spa, but this bit of fortune at least means he’s now only a race win's worth of points behind Antonelli. **\- JS** ## Loser: The fans ![British GP fans](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1424075_HiRes.jpg) Was it the 'safety car in this lap' bait-and-switch that inspired the most visceral of the reactions, or just the fact that a restart looked totally viable yet didn't happen for regs reasons? We can't know, for sure. What we do know was that the first was an unlucky accident, but the second is by design. F1 regulations are such that you cannot 'force' a restart even when there really feels like there should be one. Which, uhh, obviously didn't stop that from happening in the past - but it stopped it here. Will it prompt any soul-searching from F1, to improve its chances of leaving a good last impression from a grand prix? Maybe. I'm not sure it should. But it's easy to sympathise with the spectators - and particularly with the attending fans - if they're feeling short-changed. **\- VK** ## Winner: Racing Bulls (6th and 7th) There were elements of this race that maybe weren’t perfect, but Racing Bulls maximised its result in a tricky and somewhat attritional British Grand Prix. Arvid Lindblad hurriedly urging his team to tell Liam Lawson ahead to speed up was prophetic as the pair were almost undercut by Gabriel Bortoleto, and might have been under attack from the Audi on fresh tyres at the end if the race had restarted. But they weren’t undercut, the race didn’t restart, and this team gets the spoils. The only blotch here is for the Lawson incident with Oscar Piastri, which warrants more investigation if any blame is to be attributed. Benefit of the doubt awarded for now. But Racing Bulls is the fastest car in the midfield currently and is maximising the results as an effective operator. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Loser: Alex Albon (DNF) Alex Albon has had a horrible run of luck in F1 this year, but the best drivers negate that by delivering the highest level of performance on the days where outside factors don’t intervene. Sadly, Albon - admittedly not likely fighting for anything today as even a fairly flawless Carlos Sainz could ‘only’ score 12th, despite many drivers who should have finished in the top 10 falling out of it - effectively put himself out on lap one. An easy mistake to make. Locking up into Brooklands, he slammed into Ollie Bearman’s Haas - and, his race ruined, then did a bit of testing before retiring. You’ve got to maximise the good days in F1, especially when the bad ones are as woeful as Williams’s right now. A poor day at the office. **\- JB** ## Winner: Franco Colapinto (9th) Franco Colapinto benefitted from Pierre Gasly’s slow pitstop, but he still drove a brilliant comeback race from his qualifying off - one he said was down to a floor problem that lost him 25 points of downforce from one second to the next. He started down in 19th, picked his way through the opening lap chaos, jumped Gasly at the pitstop and then was lifted to ninth place when Antonelli’s penalty was applied. A tidy Sunday drive to salvage what was looking like a fruitless weekend after qualifying. **\- JS** ## Loser: Oscar Piastri (11th) ![Oscar Piastri, McLaren, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1424099_HiRes.jpg) Piastri’s race was basically over after aforementioned contact with Lawson on lap one which cost him his front wing. In the footage - admittedly from a distance - I’ve seen, it looked more like Lawson’s fault, but the stewards didn’t penalise him, and Piastri seemed calm about it speaking after the race. With the level of attrition and strong pace Piastri might have claimed a top-10, but sadly fell one position short. Even so, it’s little consolation for a driver who should have finished higher but whose team has struggled more this weekend than in any weekend in recent memory. But you can look forward to Spa and Monza, right, Oscar? “Spa and Monza are going to be sad.” Someone’s not got a lot of hope for these regulations at those tracks with long straights… **\- JB** ## Winner: Gabriel Bortoleto (8th) Gabriel Bortoleto cursed a mistake at Turn 6 and an energy management-related issue at Turn 9 on Saturday, which stopped him from snatching Lawson's Q3 spot. Fast forward 24 hours and it was the ‘aborted’ restart at the end of the race which cost him the chance to beat Lawson - and Lindblad - again. Bortoleto stopped for fresh tyres in a bid to overcome the Racing Bulls - which he had run close anyway with a very well-played undercut strategy that saved him a lot of race time even if it didn’t quite help vault both of those cars in the end. Bortoleto’s first points since Melbourne left him buoyant after the race, and while the sister car of Nico Hulkenberg retired in another sign of poor Audi reliability, its recent pace has been more encouraging versus the head of the midfield. **\- JB** ### Mercedes won't challenge Antonelli penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-wont-challenge-antonelli-penalty-f1-british-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T18:59:27.000Z Mercedes won’t attempt to overturn Kimi Antonelli’s track limits penalty that cost him two points in Formula 1’s British Grand Prix. Antonelli was fighting for victory at Silverstone when an issue with the wheel shield on his W17 left him struggling to turn the car. Despite some calls to retire from his team, Antonelli persevered and, via a pitstop whereby his Mercedes mechanics removed the stricken wheel shield, Antonelli was still running in the points when a late safety car emerged for Max Verstappen’s stricken Red Bull. That safety car remained until the end of the race, so Antonelli crossed the line in ninth place but had picked up a five-second time penalty for track limits abuse caused by going off track due to the wheel issue. He was found to have left the track at the Turn 6 \[Brooklands\] left-hander “without a justifiable reason” by the stewards. Their report read: “The stewards accepted that \[Antonelli\] was experiencing a mechanical issue. “However, that did not amount to a justifiable reason for leaving the track. “In accordance with the penalty guidelines, the standard penalty for a fourth track limits infringement during the race is a five-second time penalty. The stewards therefore imposed the standard penalty.” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff did suggest after the race that “we're definitely looking at the situation, whether we can avoid that penalty for track limits”. But that was part of Mercedes' regular post-race checks, and it found nothing untoward with the penalty, so it won't challenge it. It elected not to take any action, such as pursuing the right of review route that Alpine used to great success to regain Pierre Gasly’s Monaco podium (something McLaren and Red Bull are now taking action to overturn). Mercedes would have needed to submit new, significant and relevant evidence and do so within 96 hours of the end of the race. Asked if there should be more leniency for track limits offences while the car is damaged, Wolff said: “I think for the FIA, it's always difficult to judge ‘is the car so damaged that it should actually come in?’. “In that case, I think the car was fine. It was just this one feature that was really difficult to turn." Antonelli said: “These are the rules, so I cannot do anything about it, but of course, I was trying my best to stay on track…to get a penalty for that, it hurts, but these are the rules, and nothing I can do about it.” ### Antonelli’s issue Mercedes isn’t yet sure of the exact cause of the wheel shield issue and will need to return the wounded W17 to its Brackley base. “It looks like it's a brake duct…caketin…wheel shield, but something got stuck in there, that’s why it wasn't able to turn,” Wolff said. “Now I've seen the car, it's not yet clear really what...We're going to take the whole car back to the factory in order to take it apart there to really see where it happened, how it happened, and why we had \[such\] severe consequences of him not being able to turn.” Wolff says Mercedes has had “too many DNFs” and that reliability is the “predominant issue” of the 2026 car. ### Why Hamilton avoided British GP penalty he expected to get URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-keeps-british-gp-f1-podium-yellow-flag-infringement/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T19:11:19.000Z Ferrari Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has kept his British Grand Prix podium after he was only reprimanded for a yellow-flag infringement. Hamilton took third place on the road in the Silverstone race but anticipated a post-race penalty, saying he "went through a yellow flag" that he had not seen. This was on lap 38 at Copse-Maggotts-Becketts, shortly after Nico Hulkenberg's Audi had come to a halt at the side of the track. Hamilton - who served an in-race five-second penalty for a false start - had seen the FIA stewards by the time he spoke to media and left that hearing under the impression he would not be keeping his podium. "I'm probably going to get a penalty right now as well," he told Sky Sports F1. "I went through a yellow flag and I didn't see it. So it's another \[penalty\] - jump start, yellow flag. When it rains, it pours. "I've just been to see them \[the stewards\]. I don't have an answer yet. But most likely I'll probably get something. I'll probably get a penalty, I'm sure." But Hamilton was mistaken, with the stewards ultimately feeling a driving reprimand was sufficient. This was because the stewards felt he had "very limited" time to react to the information denoting yellow flag conditions, and that there was sufficient mitigation in him being distracted by anticipating a counter-attack from Max Verstappen shortly after having overtaken him. --- *The stewards recounted: "HAM entered the relevant sector before any yellow flag or yellow light panel was displayed, with no such indication present before Turn 9 \[Copse\]. The first light panel encountered after Turn 9 was displaying green immediately before Turn 10 \[Maggotts\]. The yellow indication on the steering wheel display only appeared once the driver was already on the straight towards Turn 10 and close to the end of the yellow flag zone.* *"The evidence showed that there was no yellow light panel warning within the driver’s immediate field of vision and that the yellow indication on the steering wheel display remained visible for only a very short period. The stewards were therefore satisfied that the time available for the driver to react to the yellow flag indication was very limited.* *"The stewards also accept that, immediately prior to entering the sector, HAM had been involved in an overtaking manoeuvre with VER \[Max Verstappen\] and that the driver was expecting a counter attack. As a result, his attention remained directed to his mirrors for most of the straight towards Turn 10, rather than immediately towards the green light panel at the end of the sector.* *"The stewards took this into account when considering whether the visibility of the green light panel should itself have made it clear to the driver that he was still within a yellow flag zone.* *"The stewards nevertheless determine that, after the yellow had been displayed on the steering wheel display and the green light panel was illuminated immediately before Turn 10, HAM did not make a discernible reduction of speed and therefore did not fully comply with the requirements applicable under a single yellow flag.* *"In determining the penalty, the stewards took into account that HAM had entered the sector before the yellow was shown, that the yellow indication reached the driver only when he was already near the end of the sector, that the time and distance available to react were very limited, and that the driver’s attention had, for understandable reasons, been occupied by the immediately preceding battle with another car."* --- Hamilton therefore remained third in the classification, gaining 15 points on championship leader Kimi Antonelli - who dropped out of the top 10 when a five-second penalty for track limits violations was applied to his time. An equivalent or bigger sanction for Hamilton would have dropped him out of the points, too. Hamilton had been on course to finish second behind team-mate Charles Leclerc after Antonelli's late-race issue, but a safety car for Max Verstappen's off prompted Ferrari to pit him. He came out behind former team-mate George Russell on much fresher tyres but never got the chance to reclaim second place as the race never properly restarted. Hamilton said Ferrari "could have predicted that" but "did what we thought was right". ### Verstappen calls out Red Bull over 'super dangerous' wing issues URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-calls-out-red-bull-very-dangerous-f1-wing-issues/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T17:54:39.000Z Max Verstappen has excoriated his Red Bull Formula 1 team after suffering a high-speed, rear-wing-induced incident for a second successive weekend. An apparent moveable aero issue on the rear had pitched Verstappen into the barriers during Q3 at the Red Bull Ring last Saturday, and the same happened during the British Grand Prix as he tipped into Stowe - though this time his Red Bull came to a halt in the gravel rather than reaching the barrier. He didn't mince his words in the immediate aftermath, radioing in - among other things - "f\*\*k this car" and angrily throwing his steering wheel out of the cockpit. Talking to media after the race, Verstappen said the Stowe exit was "like Austria, but different fault that's ended up in the same outcome". "Again, while turning into the corner, the rear wing is not fully attaching. And you lose a lot of downforce for that. Just spin off the track." Of the radio message, he said: "Well, at that point it's super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times! I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that's why you get really fed up with it." Team principal Laurent Mekies said Verstappen was "right to be unhappy" and did not rule out Red Bull reverting to its previous, start-of-season rear wing concept. Asked by The Race's Jon Noble whether Red Bull was committed to its 'macarena'-style wing, Mekies said: "The answer, Jon, is that we will do whatever is necessary to be on the safe side." Attrition at that point in the race - Verstappen went off at the end of lap 47 of 52 - looked set to hand Verstappen a third-place finish. "Even if we would have finished on the podium, you take it, but it's not deserved at all," he said. "On the hard tyres we were really slow. I don't know how I kept George \[Russell\] and Lewis \[Hamilton\] behind for so long. The whole weekend I had a terrible balance, no top speed compared to the other car \[Isack Hadjar's\] as well in the garage. "And then the race was exactly the same, which I already predicted." Verstappen said Red Bull went against his wish to start from the pitlane as "they were maybe confident to fix it - which I was not". "I'm trying my best with everything. That's the only thing I can do. "It would take a very zen person to be optimistic at the moment, with what happened again this weekend. I'm sorry, but it's just like that. I need a few days to reset and try again. "At the moment too many things go wrong. It's as simple as that. Not even speaking about pace." Verstappen is believed to have a mechanism in his contract that would enable him to be a free agent at the end of this season. There are no clear alternatives for 2027, with Mercedes' line-up thought to be locked down and no other frontrunning team possessing the roster flexibility - but it is far from a given that Verstappen will race in 2027 at all, given his dissatisfaction with the current formula. On whether his Silverstone experience impacted his future with Red Bull, he insisted: "Ah, I'm not going to say anything about that. It's not fair to say anything about that also right now." ### Our verdict on F1 2026 British Grand Prix's late drama URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-british-grand-prix-late-drama-our-verdict/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T17:43:24.000Z The British Grand Prix gave Charles Leclerc his first victory since October 2024 - but it might well have been heading Kimi Antonelli's way had it not been for the Formula 1 championship leader's late issue. From how that's shaped the championship, to how well (or not) the [final laps under the safety car](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-british-gp-why-no-restart-final-lap-fia/) were handled, here's our verdict on a bizarre end to the racing at Silverstone. ## These rules need changing **Gary Anderson** We just had a great race weekend at Silverstone, with a great crowd and great weather, but I'm going to focus on the race management. Basically, the regulations created by the organising body the FIA are ruining the racing. There is a huge amount of changes I would suggest and the changes don't have to be dramatic but just taking into account what happened at the end of the race at Silverstone, this would be my suggestion. The FIA's explanation is the following: The safety car period regulation, Article B5\. 13.5, states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure. This process was followed by race operations. The "safety car in this lap" message was displayed erroneously due to a software error. I'm not saying that anything was done wrongly but everyday is a school day, and if we learn something new then it should be reacted to for the future. And also it's that old 'software error' again. How would the FIA react if Ferrari or in this case Lewis Hamilton blamed a 'software error' for his starting procedure penalty, or even his potential yellow flag error? At a minimum the *rules* need to change to allow a racing finish to the grand prix. The teams, drivers, viewers and spectators deserve that and there was no reason for that not to happen here at Silverstone. Allowing the lapped cars to overtake the cars on the lead lap just wastes so much racing; at any time during the race if a safety car is required this regulation needs to be changed but at the minimum changed immediately to read that 'if there is a safety car required in the last 10 laps of a race, then immediately the cars form up behind the safety car and the lapped cars will be required to drop back behind the cars on the lead lap'. This will simply change their running order but not the race order, and by doing this there is even less of a safety issue as the lapped cars would actually be traveling slower than they are when they try to make up that lost lap, so you could still have marshals on the track sweeping up - so, again, this would reduce the time the safety car needs to stay out for. I'll get onto all the other changes during the week, but in my opinion it's time to get back to basics and realise that it's the millions of viewers that bring in the sponsors - and time to realise actually who pays the piper. ## Mercedes is inviting Ferrari back into this title race **Valentin Khorounzhiy** A frankly transcendental amount of points is being given away by the Mercedes package's various fragilities here. It's affected both drivers through the year, but right now it feels like Mercedes' form man Antonelli is being precision-targeted - his 66 point-lead eroded down to 25 points in just three rounds, across which he still appeared to be the fastest driver. On pure performance Antonelli really should be approaching 'out of sight, out of mind' status in this title race. If he and his W17 maintain this competitive level over the next 13 rounds, it feels virtually unthinkable that he won't be champion. But Mercedes is doing whatever the opposite of 'striking while the iron is hot' is. Though it won Russell three extra points by keeping him out for the non-restart, its frailties are keeping Ferrari in the game and buying it more time to even up the performance picture through the development race. If Mercedes loses the drivers' title, or the constructors', this stretch is where it will have lost it. ## Doesn't match price of admission **Sam Smith** A friend of a friend of mine confessed that as a family they had forked out almost £4000 on a weekend at the British Grand Prix. That came back to me after the one-lap grand finale was called off. I'm sure that overall they had a great time and there was an abundance of entertainment, exceptional amenities - and that they also absorbed memories that will last a lifetime at the best-attended grand prix in F1 history. But on track it must have been a dreadful anti-climax, as the briefly promised crescendo petered out to nothing. From a generational standpoint, it's something we as experts within the industry can digest; not happily, but we can at least understand it. But for those perhaps who are there for the first time or there with specific expectations that match the price tags, potentially this was a crushing disappointment. Live sport is volatile. Without that unpredictability it can be inauthentic, yes. But at the same time F1 in particular cannot embrace showbiz so gladly and gleefully, as it has done over the last decade, and then leave those attracted so much by it that they are then left devoid of a climax. Sport is becoming faster and more bang-for-buck than ever. Comparisons to goalless-draw equivalents in football or occasional rained-off test matches in cricket will happen. But in the case of the 2026 British Grand Prix, there should be a lesson learned that when it comes to finales, the consumer and therefore investor in the spectacle needs much more consideration. ## The best 'worst' result possible **Jack Benyon** Is it OK if I'm simultaneously really happy for a driver in Charles Leclerc who should have won more races in his career and is really affable to take the victory, but also upset it was *him* who won? Antonelli is so, so, so good that there will be limited chances to make up big points gaps on him this year. Unless something changes, the Mercedes or the Ferrari is going to win the title - so with Antonelli non-scoring, the worst-possible winning outcome for a neutral in terms of the title fight being closer was a Leclerc win (as he's the driver furthest behind Antonelli in the points from the top two teams). But as far as 'the worst result possible' goes, this was the best. Because Leclerc deserved to end that winless streak, stretching back to the United States GP in 2024, and the period where he's been relegated to a bit-part player because of his struggles with the 2026 car. That's not reflective of his ability. I know, what you just read was a contradictory mess. But a contradictory mess is basically what following sport is! ### FIA says aborted British GP restart consequence of 'software error' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-british-gp-why-no-restart-final-lap-fia/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T17:29:32.000Z The aborted restart at the end of Formula 1's British Grand Prix was the consequence of a "software error", according to the FIA. Competitors and spectators were treated to a confusing end to the Silverstone race as a single-lap shootout was declared via a "safety car in this lap" message on lap 51 of 52, before being swiftly called off - with a "safety car deployed" message being issued shortly after. The safety car had come out due to an incident for Red Bull's Max Verstappen on lap 48 of 52, and track staff and race control faced a tight time window to get the race restarted. The exact rules governing F1 restarts are a particularly sensitive subject after a race direction call that contravened the regulations swung the outcome of the 2021 title race in that year's Abu Dhabi finale. On this occasion, like then, it ended up that restarting the event would have breached the regulations. A message that lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves and rejoin the queue was sent out, which is required by regulations for the restart to proceed properly. Article B5.13.5 b) of F1's sporting regulations states that "once the message 'LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE' has been sent to all competitors \[...\], the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap". But the message appeared to come mere moments after race leader Charles Leclerc crossed the start-finish line to begin lap 51 of 52. From that moment on, no restart could take place by law until the end of lap 52 - so effectively no racing could take place, with the chequered flag out immediately after the safety car released the pack. The FIA pointed to the regulation in explaining why the restart could not take place. ### Leclerc wins British GP after bizarre safety car finish URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/british-gp-leclerc-wins-safety-car-finish-f1/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T15:59:43.000Z Charles Leclerc survived a rogue umbrella interrupted and an aborted one-lap shootout to win a bizarre British Grand Prix at Silverstone, as championship leader Kimi Antonelli was robbed of a very likely win by an apparent bodywork failure. The Ferraris darted ahead at the start and Lewis Hamilton acted as a buffer in the early running - not by design, but he complained of front left graining - which allowed Leclerc to build a four-second gap at the front. Antonelli cleared Hamilton at Copse on lap 11/52 but was still 2.9 seconds behind when Leclerc pitted, on lap 25. Leclerc emerged 17.3 seconds behind Antonelli and whittled the gap down somewhat by the time Antonelli finally pitted on lap 36. It thus shook out to Antonelli having 10-lap fresher tyres and a 7.5s gap to erase to Leclerc over the closing stages. Antonelli's tyre offset meant he soon had the gap down to just over two seconds and the win looked inevitable - before Antonelli started shouting “something’s broken on the car” and dived into the pits for a new front wing. However, it was actually a front-left wheel shield - the piece of bodywork on the inside of the wheel - which had broken, sticking out and requiring another stop. Antonelli continued to struggle with car handling afterwards, but told the team “I’m going to go for it” after deliberations over whether he should retire. He eventually took the finish in ninth place, but a track limits penalty - the result of aforementioned handling woes - dropped him way down the order and out of the points. As for Hamilton, his early tyre trouble and losing a spot to Antonelli were the least of his worries as he was deemed to have moved before the start, copping a five-second penalty that dropped him behind George Russell as they stopped at the same time. Hamilton put two moves on Russell - around the outside of Copse and then keeping it pinned through Maggotts and Becketts, and around the outside of Brooklands, but in both cases Russell had conserved enough battery to blast past on the following straight in an example of 2026's infamous 'yo-yo' racing. Only a right-rear slow puncture for Russell gave Hamilton the spot back and put him on the back of the early-stopping Verstappen, who had cleared Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar early on. A virtual safety car for Nico Hulkenberg retiring his Audi with a hydraulic issue gave the Red Bulls the chance to try and execute a two-stop strategy, but Verstappen crashed at Stowe on lap 48/52, losing the rear in a very odd accident that was followed by a lot of swearing on the radio. Leclerc and Hamilton pitted, but Russell stayed out to jump Hamilton and try his luck on used mediums against the newly soft-shod Ferraris. Race control declared that the safety car was coming in with a lap remaining - but the restart was effectively cancelled moments later, for a yet-to-be-confirmed reason, and it meant the race finished under the safety car - to the boos of the Silverstone fans. It meant Leclerc ended what had been a barren run of form and a winless streak which dated back to the 2024 COTA race. Team-mate Hamilton faces a post-race investigation for a potential yellow flag infringement, so the order could still change. But as it stands, Norris took fourth ahead of Hadjar and the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad. The latter pair had narrowly avoided being undercut by Gabriel Bortoleto, whose eighth-place finish has tripled Audi's points tally for the season so far. Franco Colapinto survived a half-spin at Club on the first lap to take ninth, ahead of Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly, whose first pitstop was notably slow. Despite contact, seemingly with Lawson, into Brooklands on the first lap that required a front wing change, Oscar Piastri made it all the way back to 11th. Ollie Bearman was another lap one casualty who fought back (to 13th), after being shunted by Alex Albon - who retired later - into Brooklands. Before the late chaos, a virtual safety car had already been triggered on lap 22 by - ironically, given the boiling weather at the often-wet Silverstone - a Norris-branded umbrella on the track, which marshals rapidly recovered without the VSC impacting the order massively. ## Race results 1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.4s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.7s 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.1s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.5s 6 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +2.0s 7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.2s 8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.4s 9 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +3.2s 10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.4s 11 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +4.0s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +4.3s 13 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +5.2s 14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +5.5s 15 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +7.4s 16 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +8.0s 17 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +8.1s 18 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1 lap 19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1 lap DNF Max Verstappen (Red Bull) DNF Alexander Albon (Williams) DNF Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) ### F1 2026 British Grand Prix results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-british-grand-prix-results/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T20:11:33.000Z Charles Leclerc claimed his first Formula 1 win in over a year in the British Grand Prix after a late mechanical failure for championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The race finished under safety car following an off for Max Verstappen, despite the expectation of a last-lap shootout for the win. Antonelli nursed his ailing Mercedes home to ninth place on the road - but was relegated to 11th by a track limits penalty. ## Race results 1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.4s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.7s 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.1s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.5s 6 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +2.0s 7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.2s 8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.4s 9 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +3.2s 10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.4s 11 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +4.0s 12 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +5.2s 13 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +5.5s 14 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +7.4s 15 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +8.0s 16 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +8.1s 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +4.3s 18 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1 lap 19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1 lap DNF Max Verstappen (Red Bull) DNF Alexander Albon (Williams) DNF Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) ### How F1 2026 team-mates are comparing in qualifying URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-f1-2026-team-mates-are-comparing-in-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T17:41:42.000Z The 2026 Formula 1 season will allow each driver to compare themselves to their team-mate in full qualifying trim up to 30 times - 24 in grand prix qualifying, and six more in sprint qualifying. Here's how this year's team-mate pairings are stacking up over one lap so far. \*Right now, this is raw data. We've discounted comparisons only where one driver can't compete in qualifying. Further adjustments will be made with a large sample size to account for outliers. ## McLaren ### Lando Norris versus Oscar Piastri ![Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, McLaren, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1399718_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Norris 10 - Piastri 4 **Average gap:** Norris ahead by 0.046s ## Mercedes ### George Russell versus Kimi Antonelli ![Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, Mercedes, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1399567_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Russell 6 - Antonelli 8 **Average gap:** Antonelli ahead by 0.114s ## Red Bull ### Max Verstappen versus Isack Hadjar ![Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, Red Bull, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/SI202603080062.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Verstappen 10 - Hadjar 3 **Average gap:** Verstappen ahead by 0.241s ## Ferrari ### Charles Leclerc versus Lewis Hamilton ![Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1393502_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Leclerc 7 - Hamilton 7 **Average gap:** Leclerc ahead by 0.010s ## Williams ### Carlos Sainz versus Alex Albon ![Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, Williams, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1382540_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Sainz 11 - Albon 1 **Average gap:** Sainz ahead by 0.319s ## Racing Bulls ### Liam Lawson versus Arvid Lindblad ![Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/SI202603120072.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Lawson 8 - Lindblad 5 **Average gap:** Lawson ahead by 0.143s ## Aston Martin ### Fernando Alonso versus Lance Stroll ![Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1391714_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Alonso 11 - Stroll 2 **Average gap:** Alonso ahead by 0.372s ## Haas ### Esteban Ocon versus Ollie Bearman ![Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman, Haas, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1397848_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Ocon 3 - Bearman 11 **Average gap:** Bearman ahead by 0.248s ## Audi ### Nico Hulkenberg versus Gabriel Bortoleto ![Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1400530_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Hulkenberg 7 - Bortoleto 7 **Average gap:** Bortoleto ahead by 0.071s ## Alpine ### Pierre Gasly versus Franco Colapinto ![Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, Alpine, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1387572_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Gasly 9 - Colapinto 5 **Average gap:** Gasly ahead by 0.268s ## Cadillac ### Sergio Perez versus Valtteri Bottas ![Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/03/XPB_1400368_HiRes.jpg) **Head-to-head:** Perez 9 - Bottas 4 **Average gap:** Perez ahead by 0.149s ### Winners and losers from Formula E's wet Shanghai double-header URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/winners-losers-wet-shanghai-formula-e-double-header/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T11:19:50.000Z A shock - and perhaps final - win for a Formula E veteran was the big talking point from a Shanghai weekend where the momentum in the title race shifted once again. Here's our pick of winners and losers from the double-header in China: ## Winners: Lucas Di Grassi + Lola-Yamaha Abt (18th/1st) As optimistic a notion as Lucas di Grassi signing off his illustrious career with one last win was, could it actually happen? It felt barely credible. But somehow it did in Shanghai, and the romance of it cast a warm and fuzzy glow over the whole paddock. The circumstances were extraordinary. It was a perfect smash-and-grab performance, one where the brilliance of di Grassi, his loyal engineer Markus Michelsberger, and the wider Lola-Yamaha Abt team went their own way with a patient, dry-set-up-calculated gamble that paid massive dividends. This was no inherited win. This was the result of all the above factors filing perfectly into order. It ushered forth a remarkable turnaround for the exalted Lola name, which just four years ago was buried. But not quite dead. Owner Till Bechtolsheimer should be lavished with praise for rejuvenating the Lola brand and allowing this victory to play out. It was the marque's first significant win since Rebellion won the 2012 Petit Le Mans sportscar race in a Lola LMP design. Just a few months prior to that success, the doors had closed at Lola's Huntingdon factory gates and seemingly another great British manufacturer had been lost. "This is a big reward for everyone because when you are at the back, it's easy to be demotivated, but we are the opposite," Lola-Yamaha Abt deputy team principal, Frederic Espinos, told The Race. "When all the \[schedule\] timings were changed, I heard some teams were complaining. But these guys behind me didn't complain, even though they didn't sleep much. It shows their motivation." The way di Grassi navigated the difficult opening half of the race was sublime, though the irony of the full course yellow being triggered by team-mate Zane Maloney's broken car cannot be ignored. It ultimately made di Grassi's task easier, as race leader Joel Eriksson lost some of his time in attack mode, although it would probably have been di Grassi's win anyway - even if Espinos was not so confident. "Would we have won without it? I am not sure," he said. "We still had an attack mode and we were quick. I don't think they \[Eriksson and Envision\] believed we were that quick. Sometimes people see the blue-and-yellow car and they think we are slow. But today we were quick and we had the dry set-up." ## Loser: Mitch Evans (8th/DNS) Just four points across the weekend for Evans. When you consider Pascal Wehrlein's score of 40, this could be a defining weekend for the erstwhile title-chase points leader. At precisely the time he didn't need technical let-downs, Evans got them - with what Jaguar team principal, Ian James, described to The Race as "a suspected DC-DC \[power\] failure". That spec part is then understood to have had a negative knock-on of affecting the traction battery. "It's not dissimilar to that which we saw in Mexico on Antonio's car \[da Costa\]. Our understanding was that issue had been contained, so we need to now go back, let the supplier do the analysis, and work out whether it was the same failure mode or a new and interesting one," added James. For Evans, who was strapped in and ready to start the race at that stage, it was a case of simply watching and hoping for some points-loss damage limitation. "It could have been worse, it also could have been a lot better," Evans told The Race. "We are still in it, but we need a flawless last four races to take it to the end. I am confident, but it's always been in the back of my mind how quickly this championship can change, for good or for bad. "The last three races have been a reminder of that and almost none of that has been in our control. "We can't afford any more issues like the one we had, or getting taken out. But on pure pace, we can still be there." ## Winner: Pascal Wehrlein (1st/4th) Four points scores from his four opportunities, a pole, a win, an extension of the manufacturers' lead, a reclaiming of the teams' points lead, and Wehrlein turning a 19-point deficit to Mitch Evans into a nine-point lead was exactly the kind of weekend that Porsche really needed. Wehrlein was overall positive about his weekend, one in which he showed imperious one-lap and race pace on Saturday. The win and pole was a rare double but there was also some pragmatism from the 2023-24 champion on Sunday. "I think we did well with what was in our hands this weekend," Wehrlein told The Race. "We scored 40 points, which is a very strong weekend. On the other hand, with small different decisions or circumstances, we could have another pole position and another win, so I feel like we also lost 13-16 points \[on Sunday\]. "But if someone had offered me 40 points before the weekend I would have probably signed for it." There was a claim to suggest that after a barren three races in Monaco and Sanya, which were punctuated by getting knocked out by team-mate Nico Mueller and then his own error at Sanya, when he drop-kicked Norman Nato out, that Saturday's Shanghai win might be Wehrlein's most crucial. The plot twists this season are getting more fascinating by the race. Whether it be Wehrlein versus a Jaguar-leaving Evans; Wehrlein versus old nemesis Antonio Felix da Costa; or a combination of all three, the script is dripping with thrill and headlines, even with four races still to run. Wehrlein's win is up there with his first victory in Mexico City in 2022 and the title-defining London one in 2024 in terms of significance. Now, you just get the feeling there might be another one coming along in Tokyo or London, or potentially both. ## Loser: Nissan (13th/8th & 20th/17th) Oliver Rowland largely matched title rival Evans with a difficult Shanghai weekend, one that produced just one more point than the Kiwi - with his eighth-place finish on Sunday backed up by a fastest lap point that provided his only consolation. Norman Nato's Saturday was horribly spoiled by the complete injustice of him being further penalised for an accident not of his making at Sanya. His multiple penalties for component changes above and beyond the regulated allowance ensured he had to make a stop/go pitstop and he was never going to feature strongly. Nissan, and specifically with Rowland, had a vice-versa type weekend as it went for a drier set-up on Saturday - only for the rain to neutralise Rowland's charge to fifth place as he spiralled down the order to 13th. The reverse happened on Sunday as it went for a wetter set-up and got caught out by the rapidly drying circuit. "We were expecting a full wet race, and we were surprised by seeing how fast the track was drying up," Nissan team principal Tommaso Volpe told The Race. "Maybe we need to look at the data as obviously, it's always very easy to give a judgement like this. Maybe we didn't react properly during the race, but we don't know." Rowland at least salvaged some points and was actually rapid at stages despite a scrape with da Costa, as the two cars clashed briefly. Ultimately, the poor performances and paltry points totals had to be digested, as Nato never featured and came home 17th - meaning he now has 98 points fewer than his team-mate Rowland. "The only positive is that on the drivers' championship side we didn't lose that much," was Volpe's summary. "Oliver is still in a position to attack and win the championship, whilst on the team side, obviously the situation is totally not what we were expecting at the beginning of the season, and we need to reset our targets." ## Winner: Envision (7th/3rd & 17th/5th) A real tale of two halves for 'the greens' - which didn’t feature massively on Saturday, but then fought back with an inspired strategy on Sunday as Eriksson went from 18th to third and Sebastien Buemi pushed forward to the front and an eventual fifth. Eriksson, on his first visit to Shanghai, took a solid seventh in race one and then hit the headlines with a barnstorming run to lead in race two, eventually taking his maiden Formula E podium. Some consider the affable Swede to be the revelation of the season. The truth really is that Envision, via a positive push from Jaguar, for which Eriksson was a development and reserve for several seasons, has believed in him greatly since the start of the campaign. He's so far delivered on that trust with a decent amount of points. And in Shanghai he looked nailed on for the win until the full course yellow was deployed for Maloney's crocked Lola. Did that cost him? "The tyres never really came alive when we went green again," Eriksson told The Race. "It was building up nicely until the FCY. I had a bit in the pocket and still had an attack mode. If it had stayed green I think we could have probably kept it \[the lead\] until the chequered flag, as we could have just waited to take the attack until the end. I am a bit gutted, but then again we came from near the back of the grid to score my first podium in Envision's home race." For Buemi, who drove a stellar race from 16th on the grid, there was understandable disappointment as he believed is "great pace" went unrewarded. "The only problem was that I was too high on tyre pressures," he said. "We did not expect the track to dry that much. "We split our strategies with Joel; he had the better strategy in terms of tyre pressure and it paid off very much. Ultimately it's annoying because I feel like I had great pace, but still we scored some decent points for the team." ## Loser: Mahindra (5th/18th & 15th/16th) The Mahindras clearly worked less well at Shanghai than at most other tracks so far this season, despite a strong Saturday performance from Mortara (that ultimately went unrewarded) and fifth-place finish for teammate Nyck de Vries. Mortara, who openly states that it was never expected that he or Mahindra could fight for a title this season, is now out of any serious contention to disprove that assumption. He is now 38 points off Wehrlein - a gap that feels far too big to claw back, despite Tokyo and London looking like favourable tracks for the Mahindra M12Electro. Poor luck did for Mortara on Saturday when a rousing run from 17th on the grid to being in contention for a podium ended up counting for nothing with the hard and brutal deployment of the safety car board, which slightly contentiously arrived as an incoming shower approached the circuit. "The explanation is simple," Mortara, who was eventually classified 15th after losing a point for 10th at the chequered flag for a clash with Vergne, told The Race. "We had the safety car at the worst point for our strategy. "These things also need to go in the right way if you want to score points in Formula E. Unfortunately, today the race director put out the safety car at the worst time, and it compromised our race." On that faint title hope, Mortara was effusive, saying: "The championship was never a goal for us this year. "The goal is more to score points and be competitive in every race weekend. If we can find more pace in the next rounds, maybe we can be back also in the championship." Sunday's race was absolutely abject, with De Vries and Mortara never featuring as they struggled with their set-ups and getting the tyres into any kind of competitive window. The end result was that Mahindra slipped behind Andretti to fourth in the teams' standings and now has Envision as a genuine rival for that position going in to the last two events. ## Winner: Jean-Eric Vergne (6th/2nd) Vergne has appeared a bit of a shadow of his former self this season and has clearly had challenges to deal with - some seen, others not - not least of which has been moving across from DS Penske to Citroën. But despite a clear lack of out-and-out race pace in terms of efficiency in the majority of races this season, Vergne has taken seven points-scoring finishes from 12 attempts. It's just that pretty much all of those have been in the lower reaches of the top 10. Not on Sunday in Shanghai, though. Vergne's dry set-up decision enabled him to fight for the win, although he was ultimately a sitting duck for the charging di Grassi at the end. "I'm actually very happy to be very frustrated with P2," said Vergne, celebrating his first podium position since the corresponding event in China last July. "But, considering the season, having a podium here is fantastic, especially considering where we started \[18th\]." Vergne seriously considered pitting to take different-pressured tyres after the safety car start but elected to plug away, and as the track dried his pace improved. "Both Lucas and I were talking on the grid, saying, 'Let's try and put the dry pressures' \[on\]. Actually, I couldn't follow the safety car at the beginning, so I asked to pit for the right pressures. It's been a rough season, so having a podium is nice." *Additional reporting by Jamie Klein* ### McLaren 'surprised' by revived Mercedes engine trick it can't use yet URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-mclaren-was-surprised-by-revived-mercedes-engine-trick/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T10:16:44.000Z The revival of a Mercedes engine trick came as a surprise to its customer Formula 1 team McLaren - and was an important part of Kimi Antonelli’s [route to British Grand Prix pole position. ](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-beats-the-ferraris-to-pole-in-british-gp-2026-f1-qualifying/) The Race revealed on Saturday at Silverstone that Mercedes had found a legal way to [revive the benefits of an engine trick](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-finds-legal-way-to-revive-banned-f1-qualifying-trick/) that had been banned by the FIA earlier this year. It’s achieved through drivers Antonelli and George Russell bizarrely lifting off the throttle just before they cross the timing line on the start/finish straight. It’s all about ensuring Mercedes' drivers maximise power on the run to the line and avoid being in the ramp down rate – where power normally needs to be reduced by 50kW every second to avoid a sudden drop-off - for the run to the timing line at Silverstone. Mercedes had been planning the somewhat counterintuitive method of driving prior to the weekend, so it came more naturally to its drivers. “It was not easy. It's tricky because with this power unit you need to sometimes drive in a certain way that feels a bit unnatural,” Antonelli said when The Race asked him about the trick. “Sometimes going on throttle later, so in high-speed you carry more speed, then you go on throttle later. Then you may lose a little bit on exit, but then you regain it because by delaying your throttle point, then you get more energy and a bit later into the straight as well. “So, it's just tricky, you need to work your way around. That's why sim work has been extremely crucial, just to make sure that these kind of things become natural. “Because in the first place, you're even like, 'Why do I need to lift?' So it's just tricky at times, but with the team we've done a lot of preparation and luckily these kinds of things have become kind of second nature.” ## The difference it's making With the help of GP Tempo we can see the difference the renewed Mercedes engine trick made in the battle for pole position. Coming out of the final chicane there’s very little separating Antonelli’s Mercedes and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari - in fact, Antonelli is only ahead by a slender 0.006s at one point. ![British GP F1 timing trace](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Graph-1.png) It’s the exit from the corner where the difference is made, with Antonelli rising to a top speed of 253km/h (157mph) - 11km/h or 7mph up on Leclerc. ![British GP F1 timing trace](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Graph-2.png) We then see Antonelli’s throttle trace drop from 100% to 0% as he lifts off approaching the timing line. Their speeds converge towards the line (Antonelli 248km/h and Leclerc 247km/h), leaving a final laptime delta difference of 0.175s - meaning 0.169s of that came on the run out of the final chicane, where the Mercedes trick is deployed. ![British GP F1 timing trace](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Graph-3.png) So the Mercedes trick made a big difference, but it is also worth noting that had Antonelli run a more standard, non-trick deployment pattern, he would have been deploying earlier in the lap, and that 0.006s gap at the chicane would have been larger. So it made Antonelli’s path to pole position more comfortable, but it alone doesn’t explain the difference between Antonelli and Leclerc. ## Why McLaren is surprised The whole paddock was surprised by the revival of the tricks Mercedes has deployed at Silverstone - including its own customer team McLaren. Oscar Piastri said "I didn't even know they did it, which probably says a lot" when asked about the trick after qualifying. McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said: “It kind of surprised us a little bit, because it's not something that we discussed. “I'm not sure at all that it's available to us, because it requires probably some further elements to use the power unit, let’s say. “So, like I've said before, there's definitely conversations ongoing with \[Mercedes\] HPP \[High Performance Powertrains\] at technical level to make sure that we use what is available in this power unit, which is brilliant. It's really a piece of great technology.” McLaren [isn’t yet running the latest specification of Mercedes power unit](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-mclaren-wont-get-latest-spec-mercedes-engine-for-british-gp/) but it’s hoping to do so from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. “There's a lot of performance, which is also in the details of the exploitation,” Stella continued. “We are now waiting to see if we can upgrade our specification and if this helps exploitation somehow. It should be just a reliability upgrade, so I'm not sure that's the case. “But definitely there's some other factors that we need to keep discussing with HPP, because when we look at the performance in the straights, even taking into account the fact that they may have less drag, there's still some question marks.” McLaren wants to improve the optimisation of its Mercedes power unit in many ways versus the factory team, and this latest revitalised trick is further evidence of why engine manufacturers' works teams have an advantage in this still early stage of the current rules cycle. This trick alone does not fully explain McLaren’s own deficit of over seven tenths of a second to Mercedes in qualifying, but getting on top of it when it’s expected to be even more potent in Hungary - as well as knowing of other inevitable tricks that will emerge - will be key to McLaren chipping away at some of that deficit to the benchmark Mercedes. ### Own Mansell's helmet and gloves from his most underrated F1 season URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/own-mansells-helmet-and-gloves-from-his-most-underrated-f1-season/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T05:37:54.000Z If you think of the best Formula 1 seasons not to yield a title, you can make a very strong case for Nigel Mansell’s 1987 season - and you could own a piece of that season thanks to [BUDDS’ Motorsport Icons Auction](https://www.budds.com/auctions/upcoming-auctions/2026-07-07-motorsport-icons-live-auction-at-silverstone-museum-2cd9079e-86db-458c-82ac-645e8370f81d?ref=the-race.com). Mansell is best known for his title-winning 1992 season and the dramatic tyre blowout in the 1986 season finale that led to him narrowly losing out on the title. But when Mansell returned from that heartbreak in 1987, he was arguably even more impressive, taking half of the pole positions that season and six race wins to Williams team-mate (and champion) Nelson Piquet's three. The most famous of those victories came on home soil at the British Grand Prix, where Mansell hunted down and passed Piquet for the win in front of an adoring crowd. Mansell had more than his fair share of bad luck that season and any hope of a last-gasp title was snuffed out by a crash in qualifying at Suzuka that forced him to miss the last two races. It was an impressive season nonetheless, with some iconic moments - and you can get your hands on the helmet and gloves used by Mansell that season. Mansell has hand-signed them and they come directly from Mansell’s own collection, from the Mansell Collection Museum in Jersey, with a letter of authenticity. The lots will be available as part of the Motorsport Icons Live Auction on Jul 7 at 12pm at the Silverstone Museum, adjacent to the Silverstone circuit. The auction will include a number of rare and highly sought-after collectables, racewear, car parts, race-used helmets, and exclusive memorabilia from legendary motorsport icons like Mansell and Ayrton Senna. Get bidding now on Mansell’s helmet and gloves now [here](https://bidlive.budds.com/auctions/9999/srgrah10134/lot-details/64f557fc-90d1-4e8f-b3a4-b47100c2a011?%5Fgl=1%2A10rg5ak%2A%5Fgcl%5Fau%2ANjQzMDQzODY0LjE3ODI4MjkzODU.&ref=the-race.com), or check out the full collection [here](https://www.budds.com/auctions/upcoming-auctions/2026-07-07-motorsport-icons-live-auction-at-silverstone-museum-2cd9079e-86db-458c-82ac-645e8370f81d?ref=the-race.com). ### Di Grassi gives Lola Yamaha shock first victory URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/di-grassi-gives-lola-yamaha-shock-first-victory/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T05:47:17.000Z Lucas di Grassi came from the back of the Formula E field to give the Lola Yamaha Abt combination a shock first victory in the second Shanghai race. A wet start split the field into a group taking their first attack modes straight away after early laps behind the safety car, and a group hanging back, conserving energy and holding off on their attack modes for the final part of the race - and also in some cases gambling on dry set-ups and tyre pressures in what turned out to be the correct call as no further rain came. That meant after a Porsche dominated opening segment in which factory pair Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Mueller led Andretti's Felipe Drugovich and Jake Dennis, the final laps became a victory fight between 17th, 18th and 19th place qualifiers Joel Eriksson (Envision), Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) and di Grassi. Di Grassi still had one attack mode to take when racing resumed with three laps to go after a long full course yellow to retrieve team-mate Zane Maloney's car from the pits straight, where it had stopped with broken suspension. Despite Vergne's best efforts, di Grassi was able to use the extra power to take the lead on the final lap and take his first race win in four years, Lola Yamaha's first ever, and likely his last before retiring at the end of the season. Vergne and Eriksson still completed the podium, with Wehrlein a distant but valuable fourth as it took him into a nine-point championship lead due to Jaguar's erstwhile points leader Mitch Evans missing the race entirely with a technical problem that the team said was caused by a spec component. ## Results 1 Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha Abt) 2 Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) +0.565s 3 Joel Eriksson (Envision) +2.903s 4 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) +11.093s 5 Sebastien Buemi (Envision) +17.373s 6 Felipe Drugovich (Andretti) +19.651s 7 Nico Mueller (Porsche) +22.456s 8 Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +22.539s 9 Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) +22.690s 10 Dan Ticktum (Kiro) +23.685s 11 Maximilian Guenther (DS Penske) +24.248s 12 Pepe Marti (Kiro) +24.362s 13 Jake Dennis (Andretti) +26.722s 14 Antonio Felix da Costa (Jaguar) +26.934s 15 Nick Cassidy (Citroen) +27.138s 16 Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) +29.960s 17 Norman Nato (Nissan) +31.309s 18 Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) +52.032s DNF Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha Abt) DNS Mitch Evans (Jaguar) ## Leading championship positions 1 Wehrlein 141 points 2 Evans 132 3 Rowland 114 4 Da Costa 111 5 Dennis 109 6 Mortara 103 ### British Grand Prix 2026 F1 starting grid after grid penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/british-grand-prix-2026-f1-starting-grid/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T13:59:05.000Z Kimi Antonelli continued his excellent Saturday to take pole position for F1's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The championship leader has Charles Leclerc between himself and closest rival Lewis Hamilton in third while Antonelli's team-mate George Russell is back in fourth. The Racing Bulls led the midfield again, while Audi appears to be its closest challenger, with the usual Pierre Gasly proviso at Alpine. But Gasly has picked up a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll in Q1, so will start 15th. Stroll, meanwhile, will start at the back of the grid - he qualified 21st - after an engine change. ## British GP starting grid 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 4 George Russell (Mercedes) 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) 7 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 14 Carlos Sainz (Williams 15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 16 Alex Albon (Williams) 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### The hunt is on for Formula 1's next season ticket holder URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/the-hunt-is-on-for-formula-1s-next-season-ticket-holder/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T20:02:08.000Z Heineken is offering Formula 1 fans the chance to win the ultimate prize: a 2027 Season Ticket. The prize gives one fan and a guest the opportunity to attend every race during the 2027 season, with travel, accommodation and grandstand access included as part of a year-long global journey following F1 around the world. The programme returned after Brandon Burgess, aka Full Time Formula, became the inaugural holder of the pass. Burgess attracted attention across the F1 community after successfully attending every race of the 2025 season for less than £20,000 while holding a full-time job. Having completed his own season-long adventure, Burgess will now play a central role in selecting the next Season Ticket holder. Speaking to The Race, Burgess explained who he thought would make the best candidate for the role. “We’re looking for an extremely passionate F1 fan to take over the reins next year,” he said. “Someone who is just willing to throw themselves in at the deep end. One of the best things this year is meeting other fans - so someone that’s going to make the most of every opportunity of travelling to every country, meeting new people and making the most of the opportunities you’re given.” Although he is only halfway through his time as the current Season Ticket holder, Burgess is relishing every opportunity, but ultimately it's about the people. “Honestly, meeting other fans and spending time making new Formula 1 friends is the best part about it,” he explained. According to Heineken, the initiative is designed to showcase not only the experience of attending Formula 1 races around the world, but also the connections that can be formed through a shared passion for the sport. “The Heineken x F1 Season Ticket offers fans the chance to experience the sport in a way few ever will,” said Nabil Nasser, Heineken’s global head. “But it’s not just about attending every race on the calendar. It’s also an incredible opportunity to forge new friendships with people all around the world. “Fandom is one of the quickest ways to spark an instant connection between strangers and Brandon’s experience shows how motorsport can create meaningful bonds.” Fans aged 25 and over [can enter through F1 Unlocked](https://www.formula1.com/en/page/discover-unlocked?ref=the-race.com) by naming their favourite team and driver and selecting who they would take to a future race from a list of options provided by F1 and Heineken. The first stage of the competition closes at 11pm BST on August 23\. Fifty entrants will then be selected at random and invited to submit a 90-second video explaining why they should become the next Heineken x F1 Season Ticket holder. A judging panel will narrow the field to five finalists before a public vote determines the winner. ### Winners and losers from F1's 2026 British Grand Prix qualifying URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1s-2026-british-grand-prix-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T17:54:50.000Z The competitive picture in Formula 1's *main* qualifying of the British Grand Prix weekend looked more like the Saturday sprint than the Friday sessions that had previously tested single-lap speed. And that's bad news for the title race. Our regular winners and losers feature reflects that - but it starts on a negative note this time. ## Loser: George Russell (4th) This looked like it was going to be much, much worse when a baffled George Russell skated across the Luffield gravel and nudged into the barriers early in Q1. Starting fourth is much better than starting 22nd. But starting behind his title rival team-mate Kimi Antonelli and two Ferraris is still, particularly when coupled with the underwhelming sprint, a crashing comedown after Austria. Russell just looked puzzled at the end of the session. He believes he's down on straightline speed to Antonelli - and an attempt to resolve it this morning didn't work. He thinks he has no chance of fighting for victory if he goes into Sunday with the same problem. He said the Luffield mini-crash was unlike anything that had happened to him at that corner in 12 years of racing at Silverstone. He sounded simply like a driver whose world championship shot is disappearing up the road away from him and who can't do anything about it. The gap is 43 points. **\- Matt Beer** ## Winner: Charles Leclerc (2nd) Welcome back, Charles Leclerc. Being overshadowed by a team-mate for as long a run as he has been lately has been a very unfamiliar position, but beating Lewis Hamilton to second on the British GP grid and being the man putting Antonelli under most pressure was much more recognisable territory for Leclerc. He feels it's the first tangible on-track sign that the behind-the-scenes work and set-up changes he's been digging into to try to get back on the pace are paying off. If Ferrari has a title contender, it's Hamilton, not Leclerc. But having two cars on the pace will be very useful for its hopes. Leclerc would be a pretty rapid wingman. **\- MB** ## Loser: Max Verstappen (7th) “I just kept losing a lot on the straights, plus a bad balance, so it was just very, very poor,” was Max Verstappen’s matter-of-fact assessment of his qualifying. He reckons he’s been down on power since the start of the weekend, and probably will care less about Isack Hadjar beating him in qualifying and more that Red Bull looks to be locked in a fight for the third-best car on present form despite significant car upgrades in recent races. It’s nowhere near challenging Ferrari or Mercedes at the moment, especially on this type of circuit. Starting from seventh will never make Max Verstappen happy - and rightly so. He's far too good for that. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Winner: Isack Hadjar (5th) ![Isack Hadjar, Red Bull, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/SI202607040175.jpg) There was a surprisingly passionate debate in The Race editorial room over how to classify Isack Hadjar's sprint qualifying performance on Friday. 'But he was within 0.13s of Verstappen!' said some. 'But that translated to eighth on the grid when Verstappen was third, so he's a 'loser' but not through any particular fault of his own,' argued others - and the latter group won that discussion. No debate today: Fifth on the grid, 0.15s and two places ahead of Verstappen. The best the Red Bull was capable of on this track today, reckoned Hadjar. We agree. **\- MB** ## Loser: McLaren (6th and 8th) Lando Norris sounded more annoyed in some interviews than others on Saturday, but it’s clear McLaren’s drivers are not happy with its car at the moment. Norris’s nearly eight-tenths deficit to the pole time in sixth makes his third in the sprint race look even more astonishing. “We just don't have any pace,” said Norris. “I thought my lap was pretty amazing. I improved in every single corner and I felt like I got everything out of the car. We're just slow. The car was slow in the straights and slow in all the corners.” Piastri added: “When \[conditions\] are consistent we look OK and we mask some of our issues, whereas today the conditions were very, very tough.” **\- JB** ## Winner: Gabriel Bortoleto (11th) Like the one referenced in the Hadjar entry above, there was another relatively fervent discussion within The Race's ranks today - on where, if anywhere, Bortoleto was to go in this feature. The 'winner' side proved more fervent, and as that side's unofficial leader I was instantly assigned to make the case to the wider public. That case is: Yes, Bortoleto saw fit to apologise to his Audi team for failing to deliver the Q3 lap that was up for grabs. Yes, he got Brooklands wrong on his fastest lap with a double snap that he estimates cost him as much as 0.15s, more than enough to be the difference between Q3 and no Q3. But Bortoleto acknowledged that the error was also likely a byproduct of a "f\*\*k it, if I crash, I crash, but I have to deliver" approach, partly borne out of a gearbox issue that limited his mileage in Q1\. And at that point you have to take the good with the bad, the good being the rest of that Q2 lap. He had a massive margin over a "not good enough, not clean enough" Hulkenberg lap in the end after being relatively even on the first Q2 runs (and in Friday qualifying). And taking on the Racing Bulls at all has to be seen as overachievement rather than the expectation. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: Franco Colapinto (19th) Franco Colapinto was a step behind Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly in sprint qualifying on Friday, but in the sprint race he finished right on Gasly’s tail. However, that progress was halted in Q1 of grand prix qualifying when Colapinto appeared to be tripped up by a gust of wind and went spinning through the grass at Becketts. That ruined any chance of Colapinto progressing (as well as Esteban Ocon’s Haas, too) and left him 19th, his worst qualifying since he was slowest in the Abu Dhabi season finale last year. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: Valtteri Bottas (18th) ![Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1423606_HiRes.jpg) It’s hard to argue against the conclusion that Sergio Perez has been the more impressive Cadillac driver so far in 2026, so Valtteri Bottas’s first intra-team qualifying victory in seven sessions is well-timed. Bottas was over two tenths clear of Perez at Silverstone. He reckoned he'd left nothing on the table in terms of extracting the maximum. **\- JS** ## Loser: Esteban Ocon (17th) In many ways this was a good session for Ocon but certainly not a good result. A good session because “for the first time in a while, we have a competitive, let's say, a healthy car” - in reference to the parts inconsistency Ocon has complained of at recent races. He added: “We've continued changing parts. We continue going through different floors, different rear wings. We also have a different front wing compared to last event. So it was more healthy.” But the aforementioned yellow flag for Colapinto’s off meant Ocon was denied a chance at Q2. He felt particularly hard done by, saying: “It's been the whole year, really, like this. I mean, I don't have any words anymore.” Ocon’s been cleared of a possible yellow flag infringement, but regardless, Ocon said this “feels like a missed opportunity”. **\- JS** ## Loser: Aston Martin (21st and 22nd) Given the AMR26 wasn't good out of the blocks this year and hasn't been upgraded, there is no particular aberration or surprise in the team being consigned to doing a Lotus/Virgin/HRT tribute act for now, and no need to stick the knife in further (although I guess I just did, with that Lotus/Virgin/HRT comment). In any case, what's striking is the size of the gap. There's talk of Aston Martin expecting a two-second gain from its upcoming upgrade, which is a surreal laptime step to target in modern F1 - but even if that target is accurate, two seconds today would put its cars 18th and 19th, behind the yellow flag-compromised Ocon. **\- VK** ### 'Very very poor' - British GP a harsh reality check for Red Bull URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/very-very-poor-british-gp-a-harsh-reality-check-for-red-bull/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T17:38:57.000Z Formula 1’s British Grand Prix has proven to be a reality check for Red Bull after the high of Max Verstappen contending for victory in Austria last Sunday. Isack Hadjar inflicted a rare intra-team qualifying defeat on Verstappen too, but they were both nowhere near the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers. Hadjar was 0.635 seconds off pole position with Verstappen almost eight tenths adrift - his biggest margin to pole since he was knocked out in Q2 at Suzuka. “Yesterday, of course, was already not great, today we didn't really seem to make an improvement on that side,” Verstappen said after qualifying. “So it was pretty much the same, but at the same time also very slow on the straight. “For whatever reason my side of the garage, from the first lap, was down on power, and of course around here when you're down on power you spend more time on the straight so you burn your battery more and that even has a bigger effect than the last sector where basically out of \[Turn\] 15 there is no power. “So I just kept losing a lot on the straights, plus a bad balance, so it was just, yeah, very, very poor.” Red Bull’s substantial Austrian GP upgrade helped Verstappen finish second there and he was right in the thick of the battle for victory, but in the sprint race at Silverstone Verstappen only went backwards, finishing sixth. Verstappen said: “In the sprint race we were getting destroyed in the very high speed. “I had George \[Russell\] behind me who was catching me in dirty air in the high speed, so that says quite a lot. “But even in the low speed I'm just not happy with how the car has been handling the whole weekend, so it's a clear disconnect.” Verstappen, who admitted he is getting "no enjoyment" from driving the 2026 generation of F1 cars around Silverstone, thanks to substantially reduced corner entry speeds, added he “tried a lot of different things throughout qualifying but it was just always the same”. "There is a clear problem and that's something that also worries me of course for tomorrow, because there's actually no point to race like this.” Will the next round at Spa be more of the same for Red Bull? “Yeah I think it will.” Verstappen replied. It'll probably not be a lot of fun, it's a long straight there." ## ‘Lacking pace everywhere’ - Hadjar ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1423706_HiRes.jpg) Having qualified five places behind Verstappen in sprint qualifying (albeit with a respectable 0.138s deficit), Hadjar qualified 0.147s ahead of Verstappen on Saturday. Hadjar believed fifth place was the “max” achievable for the Red Bull. “I feel good with my car. It's just that we're lacking a bit of pace everywhere,” Hadjar explained. “It's not one place that we are slow or one that we are very fast. It's just a bit everywhere.” And he believes Red Bull’s “done a way better job than the last few weekends” with its power unit deployment. ### Antonelli beats the Ferraris to pole in British GP 2026 F1 qualifying URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-beats-the-ferraris-to-pole-in-british-gp-2026-f1-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T17:56:57.000Z Mercedes' Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli stayed clear of the Ferraris to take pole for the British Grand Prix. Though Lewis Hamilton had managed to upstage Antonelli in sprint qualifying on Friday, this time Ferrari went into the final runs of Q3 two tenths of a second off the two Mercedes ahead. Antonelli raised the bar with his final lap, and though Charles Leclerc and Hamilton improved too they had to settle for second and third - 0.175s and 0.347s respectively off pole. George Russell fell back to fourth, unable to improve on his last lap. He had earlier escaped a Q1 scare in which he went off at Luffield and tapped the barrier. Isack Hadjar outqualified team-mate Max Verstappen and earned fifth for Red Bull, with Verstappen behind Lando Norris's McLaren in seventh. Oscar Piastri's McLaren and the two Racing Bulls (Arvid Lindblad a full half-second faster than Liam Lawson) completed the top 10. While Q3 followed the current trend of being filled by the 'big four' teams and Racing Bulls, Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto came agonisingly close to changing that with a lap just 0.032s off the top 10 and a stunning six tenths clear of the rest of the midfield behind him. Pierre Gasly was next up in 12th, but his Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto didn't make it beyond Q1 thanks to a spin into Becketts. That left Colapinto 19th behind Valtteri Bottas, who inflicted a rare qualifying defeat on Cadillac team-mate Sergio Perez. Perez had a lap deleted for track limits and then reinstated again, all of which made zero difference to him being 20th on the grid. The yellow flag for Colapinto's spin forced a gutted Esteban Ocon into a throttle lift that he estimated cost him 0.25s and left his Haas an eliminated 17th, while the dirt the incident brought onto the circuit meant a delayed start to Q2. There was an intra-team qualifying upset at Aston Martin as Lance Stroll beat Fernando Alonso for only the second time this year. But far more upsetting for everyone involved was the car's atrocious pace - a staggering 1.6s off the best Cadillac time and one second behind Perez ahead. ### British Grand Prix 2026 F1 qualifying results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/barcelona-grand-prix-2026-f1-qualifying-results-2/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T17:57:13.000Z Kimi Antonelli is having a great day at Silverstone, after he took pole for the British Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver beat a resurgent Charles Leclerc, who broke the recent trend to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton. George Russell recovered from an earlier spin in Q1 to take fourth ahead of Isack Hadjar, who beat Max Verstappen - a rarity in qualifying. **Qualifying results** 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m28.111s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.175s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.347s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.370s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.635s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.766s 7 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.782s 8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.921s 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.194s 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.605s **Q2** 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +0.968s 12 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.570s 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.583s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.008s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.130s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.250s **Q1** 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.404s 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +1.951s 19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.045s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.175s 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.587s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.612s ### Hadjar urged F1 stewards not to penalise Lawson for sprint race move URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hadjar-urged-f1-stewards-not-to-penalise-lawson-for-sprint-race-move/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T14:21:16.000Z Liam Lawson has kept his Silverstone Formula 1 sprint point after being let off with a warning for blocking Isack Hadjar - with Hadjar himself having urged the stewards not to give Lawson a penalty. F1 stewards investigated Lawson post-race, after he appeared to move late trying to block Hadjar's Red Bull from passing him into Stowe late on, summoning him to discuss a potential ‘abnormal change of direction’. Lawson argued to the stewards that he was “still at full throttle and had not yet commenced braking, and that the movement of the car was part of deceleration and preparation for the corner rather than a movement under braking”. And Hadjar backed him, saying Lawson had left enough space and didn’t deserve a penalty. “The driver of car 6 \[Hadjar\] stated that the move by car 30 \[Lawson\] was sharp, but also that sufficient room was left and that contact was avoided,” the stewards’ report continued. “In his view, the incident did not merit a penalty. He also referred to the fact that the two cars were on different energy levels, which made the closing speed difficult to judge.” The stewards accepted all those arguments and that a “stronger penalty” was not required. But they still felt Lawson’s move “was sufficiently late and abrupt that it warranted a formal caution”, describing it as “marginally over the limit of what is acceptable when defending into a corner”. Lawson had fended off Hadjar by 0.7 seconds on the road to claim eighth and the sprint race’s final point. ### Winners and losers from F1's 2026 Silverstone sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1s-2026-silverstone-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T13:10:20.000Z After Lewis Hamilton's shock pole, Formula 1's British Grand Prix sprint wasn't quite the fairytale the home crowd hoped for. Here's our pick of the winners and losers from it. ## Loser: Lewis Hamilton (2nd) Second place on home soil is hardly a bad result for Hamilton, especially given how tough the Austrian GP weekend was for Ferrari just a week ago. But he squeaks into the loser category just for the manner in which Antonelli dispatched him, Antonelli "using everything I had" of the battery. Hamilton was utterly powerless to avoid Antonelli easily passing him on the run to Stowe; "halfway down the straight", in the words of Hamilton. It wasn't the epic Silverstone duel Hamilton would have wanted. Instead, he faced a race-long battle to try to break the one-second overtake mode barrier, something he couldn't do. So even if Hamilton can repeat his sprint pole later, Ferrari will need to find something if it wants to challenge Mercedes on Sunday. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st) A three-point extension of the championship lead - though totally par for the course given the sprint allocation - feels like it undersells somehow just how emphatic this was from Antonelli. It felt like Hamilton's early pace that dragged them away from the podium battle was laying down a gauntlet for Antonelli, but even over a 17-lap distance it was over around the halfway point, such was the margin Antonelli seemed to have in hand. In a conventional race, as long as he stays out of wheel-to-wheel trouble and the car holds up mechanically, the British GP is surely his. And, really, with Hamilton and George Russell taking points off each other, he needs just a couple of clean rounds to make the points lead start to feel unassailable. **\- Val Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: Max Verstappen (6th) Max Verstappen was on the right end of some truly fine margins in qualifying (in third, 0.31s behind second but just 0.075s ahead of seventh) - and those margins were immediately cancelled out at the start. The run to Abbey is not conspicuously long by any means - but tipping into the corner Verstappen was already sixth instead of third. He briefly got himself back into the mix in that podium battle, but for him it was a losing battle. The consolation is that even holding third from the start might have led to the same outcome anyway... which, come to think of it, isn't great 'consolation', is it? **\- VK** ## Winner: Lando Norris (3rd) The fastest driver-and-car combo finished first. The second-fastest driver-and-car combo finished second. But Lando Norris and his McLaren feel like they punched above their weight here - and it's Norris who gets the full credit. He was irritated at the finish - "good job... just, f\*\*k me, guys, just get it right for once, please" - seemingly in relation to having needed to fuel-save. But third was the best result on offer, and third was the result he ended up with, maximising a good start and opportunistic driving early in the race that allowed him to run his pace while potentially faster cars behind squabbled for position. **\- VK** ## Winner: Liam Lawson (8th) Given there is such a clear top four teams in F1 right now, any midfield car that scores points in a sprint race is a winner, especially without the assistance of reliability woes. Liam Lawson quickly moved into an eighth place that he wasn't ever going to give up easily - with Lawson putting a big squeeze on Hadjar into Stowe. The stewards will determine whether Lawson went too far when he reports to his summons after the sprint race. It certainly looked like a…*robust* defence. But given that ninth place doesn't pay out any points in the sprint, it may have been a risk worth taking for Lawson. **\- JS** ## Loser: Isack Hadjar (9th) Hadjar hasn't scored in any of the four 2026 sprint races so far, and that won't change without some help from the stewards in their judgment of Lawson's robust defence. Hadjar was in that position because of a poor start (a big weakness of the Red Bull this year), but it was worsened by qualifying slowest of the top four teams. That's always going to leave you vulnerable to the midfield and - as we've seen in the past with second Red Bull drivers - fighting hammer and tongs with the very driver you replaced in the senior team. **\- JS** ## Loser: Sergio Perez (22nd) Sergio Perez's race unravelled badly in the first couple of laps, first dropping behind both Aston Martins at the start then, after dispatching Lance Stroll into Stowe, clattering into Fernando Alonso at Turn 3 on lap two and being hit with a time penalty for causing a collision. It was an unnecessary error from Perez, clipping the left-rear of Alonso's car hard enough to cause the Aston Martin to spin thanks to his vague but uncommitted move up the inside. He brought himself into the pits at the end of the lap despite assurances that the car "looks OK" over the radio, with Cadillac opting for a nose change. Perez also suspected he had suffered brake overheating, although he was able to continue. He finished last, 11.289s behind Stroll once the time penalty was applied. **\- Edd Straw** ## Winners: Fans of yo-yo racing The energy-starved, high-speed nature of Silverstone, especially the long stretch from Copse to Stowe, means we're seeing a see-saw, battery dominated style of racing most reminiscent of the season-opener in Melbourne. For fans of yo-yo-ing, this sprint race must have been a welcome tonic after the more classical style of grands prix we saw recently in Monaco, Barcelona and Austria, which were more driver/tyre/chassis biased. The first half of the race featured plenty of yo-yo-ing among the top order, with Antonelli, Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc all swapping positions until things settled down. Sprint races historically have been quite processional, but this one was pretty lively for the first 75% or so - if you like that sort of thing. **\- Ben Anderson** ## Losers: Critics of battery-dominated racing Not a good day for those who don't enjoy racing that is completely dominated by batteries and energy starvation. The drivers were toeing the PR line much better today, with Hamilton and Norris saying the driving experience through the most energy-starved parts of the circuit were "not as bad as expected" from the pre-event simulations. But that doesn't mean it felt great. The engine notes were still dying horribly from the exit of Copse, towards the Maggotts/Becketts complex, with a brief bit of low-gear assisted energy recovery for the first part of Hangar Straight before it happened again and the cars limped through Stowe and towards the Club chicane. This led to plenty of what Alonso calls ‘accident avoidance' overtakes - witness the race-winning move by Antonelli on Hamilton before Stowe, or Russell's double pass of the McLarens before and entering the Club chicane. Certainly there was action, and it nicely pumps up F1's overtaking stats, but even overpowered DRS passes weren't this easy… **\- BA** ### Antonelli defeats Hamilton in British GP F1 sprint race energy battle URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-defeats-hamilton-in-british-gp-f1-sprint-race-energy-battle/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T11:45:01.000Z Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli reinforced his Formula 1 2026 championship lead with an assertive win in the British Grand Prix sprint race at Silverstone. Home hero Lewis Hamilton had started from pole in the Ferrari, and controlled the early phase of the 17-lap contest - but ultimately had no answer to the race pace of the Mercedes and Antonelli. The Italian had challenged him already off the line, but Hamilton covered off the attack into Abbey, then established an early buffer as Antonelli came under attack from the fast-starting McLaren of Lando Norris on the run to Copse. Antonelli was back ahead on the Hangar straight, but with Hamilton a second clear at that point. Hamilton and Antonelli then established a massive buffer over third as the rivals behind squabbled for the final podium position. But despite Hamilton's efforts in leading the breakaway, around five laps in Antonelli began to close in at speed - and on lap eight the move was done on the Hangar straight. Hamilton briefly kept pace with Antonelli but had to settle for a second-place finish, 2.7s off the leader in the end - with a further seven seconds separating him and third place. Both McLarens - Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri - had got off to good starts, but only Norris could really make it count, fighting off George Russell in the early going and then being aided by Russell coming under attack from Max Verstappen's slow-starting Red Bull. Though Russell was soon able to secure fourth, he ran out of time to mount another attack on Norris. It means he has dropped to 43 points back from Antonelli in the standings, with Hamilton another four back. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) took fifth ahead of Verstappen and Piastri. A difficult opening lap for Isack Hadjar - which dropped him to 12th - opened the door for a 'midfield' car to score a point for eighth, and ultimately Liam Lawson picked up the slack for Racing Bulls. After clearing Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Lawson aggressively fought off Hadjar into Stowe late on - prompting an accusation from Hadjar on team radio of "moving under braking" - and held on to eighth by seven tenths, though his defence of position is under investigation by the stewards. Further down the order, there was contact between Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez early on - Alonso's Aston Martin tapped into a spin by Perez's Cadillac, and Perez forced to serve a 10-second penalty. ### British GP 2026 Formula 1 sprint race results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/british-gp-2026-formula-1-sprint-race-results/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T11:32:44.000Z Here are the results of the 2026 British Grand Prix Formula 1 sprint race, won by Kimi Antonelli after overtaking Lewis Hamilton on Silverstone's Hangar Straight. ## Provisional classification 1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 3. Lando Norris (McLaren) 4. George Russell (Mercedes) 5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 8. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 9. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 10. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 11. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 12. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 13. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 14. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 15. Ollie Bearman (Haas) 16. Esteban Ocon (Haas) 17. Carlos Sainz (Williams) 18. Alex Albon (Williams) 19. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 20. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 21. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 22. Sergio Perez (Cadillac) ### Hospital play charity named F1 Allwyn Global Community Award winner URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/hospital-play-charity-named-f1-allwyn-global-community-award-winner/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T10:28:25.000Z At Formula 1's British Grand Prix, Starlight Children’s Foundation were awarded the F1 Allwyn Global Community Award, an accolade that will help them to further their positive approach to children’s hospital care. Starlight works to protect the childhoods of children in healthcare, recognising the power of play in preventing healthcare-related trauma. They were commended by the panel of judges for their spirit of innovation, which helps children understand, cope, and heal in the face of complex health challenges. Allwyn, a multi-national lottery and gaming company, will donate €100,000 to the charity. Alastair Ruxton, Chief Impact Officer at Allwyn UK, said: “Allwyn is proud to champion this kind of bold, systemic change, and it demonstrates how the impact of our global programme extends far beyond the racetrack.” This donation will fund Starlight’s new project, the introduction of ‘Health Play Practice Educators’ across the NHS, a role that would embed consistent play-informed care. The British GP attracts a huge global audience, and through this Allwyn and F1 have helped to shine a spotlight on the importance of the wellbeing of children and their families - demonstrating that elite sport can be used as a catalyst to raise awareness of issues that matter beyond competition. Starlight’s Laura Walsh, director of play in healthcare, said: “\[Sport\] is a way in which we as adults tap into play, and we have that feeling of everything disappearing, anything stressing us out just isn’t on our radar. “And it can help to remind us as adults of why that’s so important for children.” F1 isn’t just about performance and innovation on track, but also about inspiring positive change in the communities in which it operates. Jonny Wright, director of income generation and engagement for Starlight, said: “It brings people together, even across rivalries - you still get rival teams, rival sports personalities, but they can still come together for good.” The award was brought about as part of a multi-year partnership between Allwyn and F1, with the shared commitment to drive positive change and give back to communities. Ellen Jones, Head of ESG at Formula 1 and F1 Allwyn Global Community Award judge, said: “At Formula 1, we are committed to leveraging our platform to drive transformative change within our local communities.” Starlight was awarded this accolade on one of F1’s biggest stages, receiving a trophy that was a bespoke handcrafted design from the Creative Director of world-renowned Czech glassworks Moser, Jan Plecháč. Starlight Children’s Foundation is the third organisation to receive this recognition across the 2026 F1 season, with four more awards over the rest of the season in the Netherlands, Austin, Mexico City, and Las Vegas. ### What we learned from Aston Martin F1's Technology Forum URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/what-we-learned-aston-martin-f1-technology-forum/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T09:28:43.000Z Nothing underlines the growing importance of AI in Formula 1 more than Aston Martin hosting a Technology Forum centred on it in the middle of its home British Grand Prix. Aston Martin brought together 10 of its partners (CoreWeave, Zscaler, Cohere, ServiceNow, Cognizant, Cognition, NetApp, Xerox, Arm and Eight Sleep) at its Silverstone-based factory on Friday to highlight how its F1 team is trying to utilise AI to aid its performance on and off the track. Aston Martin has invested many millions into a new technology campus, complete with a state-of-the-art simulator and windtunnel. Using AI to process the data they produce has been key since they became operational in 2024 and 2025, respectively. "Most people think of AI as pattern recognition combined with an internet search," Aston Martin team boss Adrian Newey explained ahead of the forum. "What we're doing is using AI and machine learning in very specialised roles that don't rely on the internet at all. "We're feeding in our own data - windtunnel, CFD, track - and using AI to spot patterns, correlations and trends that a human might not see quickly enough. "It helps us make better decisions about how to develop the car." Right now, Newey admits that giving the AI "intuition" remains the hardest challenge, but that's the "frontier we're working on." That doesn't mean Aston Martin is replacing humans with AI, but it's crucial to helping its efficiency with so many moving parts. "In technology, you talk about AI in terms of with AI, we can outsource intelligence \[but\] we can't outsource the experience," Aston Martin's commercial technology ambassador Eric Ernst explained. "The experience is still with the team, the people. The AI helps us to give that team the cognitive scalability to perform a lot more than what would have needed two or three people \[without AI\]." As you'd expect, much like car development, there's a certain level of secrecy about how *exactly* the AI technology is being applied to Aston Martin's F1 team. But we have learned some figures... - Prior to a race weekend, anywhere between 10,000–100,000 race scenarios are simulated to determine the probability of a result based on different strategies, via American data infrastructure partner NetApp. - 50 billion sensor data points are captured per car per race weekend. Those all need processing and storing. - Aston Martin transfers around 1.5TB back and forth with its Mission Control base in its Silverstone factory every race weekend, with only a 0.2 second delay (0.3s for the Australian GP). - A typical F1 engine control unit (ECU) performs 43 trillion calculations every race. - Aston Martin's control systems can have 4000–5000 set-up parameters being tweaked to get the car into the right window. AI is important for making the right decisions. All of those factors potentially improve the performance of the car on track, but there's an off-track battle to get the drivers in the right window too... ## '70% of the F1 grid uses it' ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/BWM_9646_nBuJhKJp_20260703125212.JPG) Eight Sleep is an American tech firm focused on 'sleep fitness', retailing a 'Pod' that sits like a cover on top of your mattress, tracks your sleep, and automatically adjusts the temperature. Each side of the cover can be controlled independently so it will suit whoever is sleeping in the bed. The idea is you fall asleep faster, wake up less in the night and get better sleep. There's also reported benefits for reducing snoring with AI detecting snoring and evaluating the top and/or bottom end of the pod to correct it. Eight Sleep announced a new partnership with Aston Martin at the start of this year, having previously been a partner of Mercedes. Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc was also announced as an investor in Eight Sleep in February 2025. According to Rafael Oliveira, vice president of international marketing & partnerships at Eight Sleep told The Race "over 70% of the grid uses our product". He added: "We have investors in Formula 1\. I think the people in Formula 1 truly see the benefit of the product, which is a great product kind of statement. "Then it made sense that this year we kind of took one step further to create an official partnership with one of the most exciting teams on the grid, with Aston." Eight Sleep and Aston Martin say there's a 34% improvement in deep sleep with the product and 41% improvement in overall sleep quality - and word of mouth has been crucial to the product's prominence in F1 (and the wider world where it leads to 30% of global sales). "In other sports, we call it the locker room effect. When an NFL player starts using it, they speak to their friends or their team-mates, and then in a matter of months, everyone is using \[it\]," Oliveira said. "It's the same in Formula 1 and in most sports, where different athletes will try to find an edge, and when they do, they're vocal about it, and then it just kind of continues." Such a gruelling F1 calendar means good sleep is essential for the drivers and team personnel. "Where we focus the most is the recovery at home, where we all spend most of our time," Oliveira added. "If we're spending the majority of our time there, we should kind of focus on optimising that. And I think that's where the pod is at its best, because it knows you, you know the pod, and you just guarantee that consistent sort of quality night every single night. "Now, when it comes to travel, it really depends on the location. In some or most locations, we try to have the pod available for the team, especially the drivers and so on. I would argue that in locations where the heat becomes a topic, such as in Silverstone, but in most of the European legs too, that's again where the product is at its best. "The pod has many different features, but arguably the most loved one is the cooling. So when you have all of the heat outside, especially during the sessions, your body has a harder time to cool itself to fall asleep. "That's when we aid that cooling to accelerate the time to sleep, and also to allow everyone using it to maximise their time on deep sleep and REM sleep, which is what kind of unlocks that extra recovery and edge at the end of the day." ### Mercedes finds legal way to revive banned F1 qualifying trick URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-finds-legal-way-to-revive-banned-f1-qualifying-trick/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T09:22:13.000Z The Mercedes Formula 1 team has found a legal way to regain the benefits it got from a qualifying trick that was banned by the FIA earlier this year, The Race can reveal. It is being achieved through what seems to be a bizarre behaviour by drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell of lifting off the throttle just before they cross the timing line on their quick laps. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/throttle.png) As can seen above in a Silverstone sprint qualifying telemetry trace from GP-Tempo, which shows Antonelli (light blue) and Hamilton (red) – the Mercedes driver comes off the throttle before the line, in contrast to Ferrari's pole position man Lewis Hamilton who is flat out throughout. The tactic, which only appears to have been employed by Mercedes so far at Silverstone but has now been spotted by rival teams, is aimed at ensuring its drivers maximise power on the run to the line. It is very similar in concept to what Mercedes was doing at the beginning of the year when it achieved the same gains through a more technically complicated route – which the [FIA swiftly clamped down on](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-red-bull-f1-engine-trick-banned-fia/) for safety reasons. ## The original trick Over the first races of the year, Mercedes cleverly [found a way to bypass](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/new-mercedes-red-bull-f1-2026-engine-trick-ferrari-annoyed/) mandated power reduction demands that need to be followed as cars burn through their battery energy in the run to the timing line in qualifying. Rather than being in a ramp down rate – where power normally needs to be reduced by 50kW every second to avoid a sudden drop off – Mercedes and rival Red Bull had found a way to run at the full 350kW for as long as possible. This helped deliver a 50kW-100kW advantage for a short period of time in the dash to the line compared to rivals whose power had started to cascade down. The two squads had been able to employ the trick through an allowance in the regulations that meant the ramp down rate did not need to be followed if the MGU-K was shut down. So drivers had been able to stay at the maximum 350kW for as long as possible before triggering what was known as this ‘continuous offset' mode. But following concerns about safety implications of cars slowing on track, and even stopping, because they were without the MGU-K for a mandatory 60 seconds, the trick was banned after the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of March. The FIA had made clear that it would not tolerate the immediate shutdown of the MGU-K unless it was for genuine emergencies. ## Back in play The FIA's ban appeared to have brought an end to the maximum deployment tactic, but it has been resurrected in a different form at the British Grand Prix. The layout of Silverstone, which has a relatively short run from the final corner to the timing line, means that there can be a gain to be had from not being in ramp down rate for this last dash. The Mercedes drivers are now making use of additional allowances in the technical regulations that means the regular 50kW drop every one second can be avoided if certain criteria are in play. These are if ‘the driver power demand is negative' and ‘the ICE power is negative and the ERS-K power needs to be reduced further to achieve the driver demand'. So as long as the drivers lift off the throttle before the battery is empty after running at 350kW throughout, then they fully comply with the regulations and are not in breach of ramp down requirements. FIA sources confirmed to The Race that the tactic was fully in compliance with the regulations as long as the power never reduced by more than 50kW in one second before the throttle lift. ## The theoretical gains While there will be a speed and time loss from lifting off the throttle before the timing line rather than staying flat, Mercedes will have calculated that the gains from having maximum power earlier outweighs the downsides. Analysis of Antonelli and Hamilton's exits from Club show both drivers have similar speed traces before the extra power gives the Mercedes a 7-8km/h advantage prior to Antonelli coming off the throttle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/speed.png) As they cross the line, Antonelli has fallen back to be 5km/h slower. In timing terms, Antonelli goes through Club around 0.125 seconds behind Hamilton before he closes it on the run to the line to be just 0.002s adrift at one point thanks to the maximum deployment tactic. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-at-10.20.39.png) The difference between them then stretches to 0.011 seconds at the timing line. Had Antonelli stayed flat out then he would likely have taken pole position on track, but would potentially have put himself in a place where the ramp down requirements had not been followed. ### Sainz predicts British GP races will be entertaining for 'wrong reasons' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/entertaining-for-wrong-reasons-f1-yo-yo-racing-tipped-to-return/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T08:02:25.000Z Formula 1's races at the British Grand Prix risk being "entertaining for the wrong reasons", according to Williams driver Carlos Sainz. Ahead of the weekend, drivers feared Silverstone would be the most extreme circuit for these regulations since the mid-season rule changes introduced for the Miami GP two months ago. The cars are particularly energy-starved around Silverstone's high-speed sections, as in sprint qualifying, 2026 pacesetter Lewis Hamilton was roughly 34km/h (21mph) slower than 2025 polesitter Max Verstappen at Abbey, around 20km/h (12mph) slower at Copse and with a top speed through Maggotts/Becketts that was 28km/h (17mph) down. That should herald the return of a staple of the early 2026 F1 races - one limited in recent, more energy-rich races - with a likely comeback for 'yo-yo racing'. There are ample opportunities for drivers to pass and repass each other at Silverstone, particularly with such differing engine profiles among the top teams - only the McLarens are starting next to each other among the top four teams. "Probably one of the most entertaining tracks \[for racing\], in my opinion, for the wrong reasons, because we are very energy-starved," Sainz said. "We will be playing with 'spend \[energy\] here, but then you pass me back'. I think you will see a bit of yo-yo racing again this weekend, which, anyway, is what it is. "The changes are done for next year, but the crowd is amazing." His team-mate Alex Albon predicted: "It might not be legit overtakes, but there will be a lot of them." Another variable will be tyre choice, as while the frontrunners should choose the mediums, Pirelli believes some drivers outside of the points may opt for softs, which should create more overtaking. ## Split opinion on driving challenge The F1 drivers' group chat had been very active ahead of the weekend with drivers' complaints about how neutered Silverstone had become with these cars. "Less enjoyable for sure with the energy management, and we lost some of the special feeling of driving here at Silverstone just with the energy and the energy management," Lance Stroll said after sprint qualifying. "It's not that same kind of fast circuit that we had in the past. It's a shame. Is what it is." Not everyone agreed. Valtteri Bottas, 20th in his Cadillac, called it "a different way of driving, but actually, it's better than I thought. It's still a super track, it's still enjoyable, and let's see tomorrow". Polesitter Lewis Hamilton was very effusive too, though you'd maybe expect that from someone who has just topped qualifying for the first time in over a year - and was buoyed his Ferrari engine performed far stronger than expected versus the benchmark Mercedes. "If you'd even heard me in the press conference, 'ah, the track's not going to be the same', because that's what we all thought, and the track's still phenomenal, the track still feels great," Hamilton said. "The engine drop-off is not anywhere near what we anticipated." ### Win genuine signed parts from McLaren Mastercard Formula 1® Team's MCL36 URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/win-genuine-signed-parts-from-mclaren-mastercard-formula-1-r-teams-mcl36/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T05:13:12.000Z *Presented by* [*VELO*](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.instagram.com/p/DZnDfm-lElR/?img%5Findex%3D1&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1783145179663739&usg=AOvVaw3e3SWjdNFFUcP34diU874b) Critical but rarely seen parts from the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 ®Team’s MCL36, signed by 2025 Drivers’ World Champion Lando Norris and turned into unique, collectable works of art. That's the theme of Principal Partner VELO and McLaren’s latest project together, and they’re offering fans a chance to win some of those collectables for themselves. The 2022 season’s MCL36 was the first McLaren design of the ground effect rules era; an era in which the team rose to become a double championship winning force. The 2022 car was a building block for the progression from podiums to being in the mix for regular wins, and then ultimately the 2024 and ‘25 Constructors’ Championships and Norris’s drivers’ title last year. The parts have been displayed at Future Stores as part of The Ultimate McLaren Mastercard Formula 1® Team London Experience and represent the unseen architecture of the MCL36 car – the components buried beneath the bodywork that quietly determine a car’s performance on the track. Visitors to the London event have already had a chance to enter the competition and to check out another part of the project: ‘The Sound of Speed’, a limited-edition vinyl experience built entirely from the sounds of the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 ® Team. This features everything from mechanics at work in the team garage to engine noise and bursts of emotion from the crowd. The competition to win some of the collectable car parts runs until September 30 2026, and can be entered via [Velo.unitedkingdom on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZnDfm-lElR/?ref=the-race.com)\*. Here’s a full rundown of the signed collectables created for the project and the reason why each was selected. ## Every Edge Counts ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-b0737781-280e-42d7-ba1c-7913b6775e4e.png) **Floor Spate Edge from** 2022 McLaren MCL36 Car Featured in the car driven by Lando Norris - **Material:** Titanium - **Dimensions:** 300x150 mm 2022 marked one of F1's boldest regulation resets in decades, with ground-effect aerodynamics returning to the sport. Under Lando Norris, this titanium Floor Spate Edge was at the very heart of that revolution — millimetres from the asphalt, sculpting the airflow that kept the MCL36 glued to the track. A key to performance, but prone to damage, which is why the team decided on titanium over carbon. ## The Anchor Within ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-255f8e03-361d-4329-8f56-8378026bc906.png) **Fuel System Pump Mounting from 2022 McLaren MCL36 Car** Featured in the car driven by Lando Norris - **Material**: Titanium - **Dimensions**: 100x85mm As McLaren climbed back up the table in 2022, every component had to earn its place. Deep within Lando Norris's MCL36, this titanium Fuel System Pump Mounting was an unyielding anchor, securing the engine's lifeblood through extreme G-forces and relentless acceleration. ## Never Starved. Never Stopped. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-9d2fc08b-221f-4873-bc89-3a78123dd876.png) **Fuel System Collector Bung from 2022 McLaren MCL36 Car** Featured in the car driven by Lando Norris - **Material**: Aluminium - **Dimensions**: 55x55x35mm In 2022, McLaren's MCL36 fought hard through a fiercely competitive field. At every corner, over every kerb, this aluminium Fuel System Collector Bungensured a consistent and reliable power supply for Lando Norris. This crucial component inside the fuel cell sealed a cavity within the fuel collector, ensuring that no matter what the car was doing, there was always fuel to the engine. ## Cool Under Pressure ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-f80c55b9-1e11-4cd4-9a21-109ba3cc1924.png) **Brake Duct Cooling Interface for 2022 McLaren MCL336 Car** Featured in the car driven by Lando Norris - **Material**: DMLS (Titanium) - **Dimensions**: 50x50mm The 2022 regulation reset demanded entirely new thinking.In the furious world of F1, braking isn’t just about stopping; it’s about heat management. Carbon-carbon brake discs can exceed 1,000°C under heavy braking and keeping them within their precise operating window is critical to performance and safety. The complex internal geometry, only achievable through Direct Metal Laser Sintering, channels cool airflow to critical zones within the brake assembly, preventing thermal degradation and brake fade. ## Precision. Circuit by Circuit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-17628105-6044-4274-805d-bd67081561ac.png) **Suspension Shim from 2022 McLaren MCL36 Car** Featured in the car driven by Lando Norris - **Material**: Titanium - **Dimensions**: 80x60mm In 2022, as McLaren chased down their rivals, race by race, circuit by circuit, the fine details mattered more than ever. This suspension shim acts as a spacer, enabling fine-tuning of the suspension geometry, so it could be tailored to each circuit, giving Norris the precision he needed to push the absolute limit. --- And as well as the MCL36 parts, the project also includes a replica of a unique and very special part of the greatest day of Norris’s career so far: ## Replica Front Wing & Nose Assembly MCL39 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-fa18cd22-af69-45f4-9e1d-8e7770524184.png) - **Material:** Carbon fiber - **Dimensions:** 179x179x8 4mm At the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, VELO created a custom livery for the MCL39\. In the ‘Live Your Fandom’ campaign, nine super fans from across the world came to the McLaren Technology Centre to partake in a workshop, highlighting what McLaren fandom meant to them. This was then translated into this stunning livery that was applied to the MCL39, the car that Lando Norris drove to win his 2025 Drivers’ World Championship, marking VELO’s place in McLaren’s history. To enter the competition, head to [Velo.unitedkingdom on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZnDfm-lElR/?ref=the-race.com). *\*Entry open to GB based residents only.18+ and existing nicotine users only. Prize Draw open from 12/06/2026 to 30/09/2026\. One entry per person and no purchase necessary. 3 Winners will be selected at random and notified by 02/10/2026\. For full Terms and Conditions visit linktr.ee/velo.uk* *For adult nicotine consumers only. 18+ This product contains nicotine and is addictive. You should not use this product if you do not already use nicotine.* ### How wet Shanghai opener changed Formula E title fight again URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/wehrlein-revives-porsches-title-bid-with-wet-shanghai-win/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T08:19:46.000Z Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein slashed his Formula E championship deficit to leader Mitch Evans from 28 points to just three with a comfortable win in a wet first Shanghai race. Wehrlein led much of a wild first half of the race as the teams put energy concerns to the backs of their minds to focus on maximising track position before expected heavy rain - with the poor forecast having already prompted organisers to bring the race start forward by three hours. Amid heavy pressure from Jaguar's Antonio Felix da Costa and Andretti's Sanya winner Jake Dennis in particular, Wehrlein managed to hold onto the lead for the majority of the first stint and emerge from the pit boost sequence still in front. The safety car came out (somewhat prematurely in the eyes of many drivers on team radio) at two-thirds distance when the rain intensified, and once racing resumed in fully wet conditions Wehrlein simply stretched away - leading by nearly three seconds for a spell before winning by 1.6s. Da Costa stayed clear of Andretti duo Dennis and Felipe Drugovich for second. Evans never had the pace to get right to the front, losing more ground in the wet part of the race and finishing only eighth. Da Costa and Dennis's podiums significantly bolster their own title hopes, bringing them up to third and fourth, 23 and 24 points off Evans respectively. They were helped by poor days for Edoardo Mortara and Oliver Rowland. Mahindra driver Mortara qualified only 17th, but good pace during the pit window and an early attack mode got him into the top three - yet also left him very vulnerable as he used his attack mode before the safety car and heavier rain. He fell back to 10th as he only had rear-wheel-drive in the worst of the weather, then was later demoted to 15th with a penalty for a clash with Jean-Eric Vergne. Reigning champion Rowland also scored zero points having lacked pace in the wet and fallen to 13th after a mid-race spell in the lower top 10. ## Results 1 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) 2 Antonio Felix da Costa (Jaguar) +1.633s 3 Jake Dennis (Andretti) +4.709s 4 Felipe Drugovich (Andretti) +5.425s 5 Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) +8.407s 6 Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroen) +12.497s 7 Joel Eriksson (Envision) +12.714s 8 Mitch Evans (Jaguar) +14.120s 9 Maximilian Guenther (DS Penske) +14.674s 10 Nico Mueller (Porsche) +15.749s 11 Zane Maloney (Abt Lola Yamaha) +16.375s 12 Dan Ticktum (Kiro) +17.927s 13 Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +18.858s 14 Pepe Marti (Kiro) +20.103s 15 Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) +20.167s 16 Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) +20.684s 17 Sebastien Buemi (Envision) +21.068s 18 Lucas Di Grassi (Abt Lola Yamaha) +21.145s 19 Nick Cassidy (Citroen) +37.715s 20 Norman Nato (Nissan) +1 lap ## Leading championship positions 1 Evans 132 2 Wehrlein 129 3 Da Costa 110 4 Dennis 109 5 Rowland 109 6 Mortara 104 ### 5 elements behind Ferrari's shock Silverstone turnaround URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/5-elements-behind-ferraris-shock-silverstone-turnaround/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T18:47:56.000Z Lewis Hamilton had arrived at the British Grand Prix expecting a bit of a drubbing from Mercedes off the back of a difficult race in Austria. A clear deployment deficit that had hurt Ferrari’s hopes at the Red Bull Ring was set to consign the Prancing Horse to an even tougher time this time out. Hamilton reckoned that Ferrari was losing four tenths on the straight last weekend; and at energy starved Silverstone that gap was only going to grow. “The deficit could be twice as big,” he lamented on Thursday, as Ferrari feared that even on a track that would suit its chassis they would end up six tenths adrift. The reality turned out to be very different, with Austrian winner George Russell not quite understanding why Ferrari's deployment was so much better this time out. “They've been on the back foot with the PU \[power unit\] and energy management, and here they look the best at the moment,” he said. “So that's been a real surprise. We've always known they've had a great chassis, but yeah, I think some things aren't quite making sense.” But while Hamilton’s surprise pole position was certainly against expectations, there are some clear elements that appear to have swung things in its favour beyond championship leader Kimi Antonelli not putting all his best sectors together. ### Power unit not compromised Ferrari’s ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) update at the Austrian Grand Prix had flattered to deceive as the team found itself unable to match Mercedes around the Red Bull Ring. But it has since emerged that its performance there had been heavily compromised by the altitude and heat. The Ferrari engine is known to run hot in normal conditions – so at the heat and with thinner air last weekend it was always going to face difficulties. Ferrari had attempted to help things by opening up its car (and thereby compromising its aerodynamics), but even that was not enough as its engine and turbo still struggled. This was highlighted by the "go to mode TS for temperature reasons” message as Ferrari battled to keep things under control. With Silverstone both much cooler and at a lower altitude, the elements that held Ferrari back in Austria are not factors here. So the full benefits of its ADUO upgrade may be more on display, and perhaps show that it was worth a bigger step than even Ferrari had dreamed of. As Hamilton said: “Yesterday they \[Ferrari\] were scaring me, they were like, ‘you're going to be six tenths off in a straight line’ to these guys \[Mercedes\], and in the last race we were four tenths off in a straight line. “Today, all of a sudden we're kind of there, and I was like, is this real? Are they going to turn up in quali? And we were right there competing with them.” ### Preparation Some teams are better at their simulation and preparation than others – and Ferrari has a bit of history in regularly hitting the ground running. More often than not (and it does not get it right on every occasion) Ferrari finds itself in a good window on a Friday, with other squads sometimes taking a bit longer to chip away and close it down. On a normal weekend, with three practice sessions and a single qualifying, the evolution of the race weekend disguises how the picture can shift as others make use of Friday night to lift their form. On sprint weekends, however, being quick off the mark can be key to a Friday pole and at Silverstone will have helped Hamilton make the most of the opportunity that was put in front of him. Also helping Ferrari is that Mercedes felt that it had not been as on top of things as much as it has been at previous races. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “We've had a good run of landing the start set-up in a decent place in recent races, but it has felt like we've been on the back foot today. “Over the course of the sessions, we've been making changes to put more stability into the car but even by the SQ3 of sprint qualifying, it still felt that the front was still too strong, which is not what you need when it's so gusty.” Saturday's official qualifying will highlight just how much of a factor this preparation will have been. ### Easier car to drive helps on the straights One of the traits of the 2026 cars is that the interaction between how the car handles and how it uses energy has never been more interlinked. While there are times when going slower through a corner can be beneficial for delivering a bit more energy for the following straight, the ultimate truth is that the best approach is still to be faster and smoother through the turns. Doing that means the car needs to burn less power to get up to speed on the way out of the corner, and that means the energy lasts longer. Tiny differences in speed profile here can make big differences with lap time. A well-settled car is also much, much better than one that is nervous and wheel-spinning coming off a corner, which can be disastrous for energy management. That was something that hurt Ferrari in Austria. A look at Hamilton’s sprint pole lap shows that the car seemed very strong on some corner exits which then helped catapult him down the following straights. The differences between a well-settled car and one that is sliding out of corners may only be about 1-2% of power, but in F1 2026 that can translate to tenths. Everyone knows that Ferrari’s chassis is strong (even if some of its choices have compromised its power unit), but here the advantages it gets in the corners has outweighed any losses down the straights. That was not the case in Austria. And Ferrari seems to be well on top of what its car needs, which is in contrast to 12 months ago. Hamilton said after taking pole: “Last year we were kind of stuck in the rut, not a lot we could do. “Now they're finding things, they're adding things to the car, and this weekend, every single weekend, we're bringing small little bits, and adding performance to this car.” ### Tyre temperatures After an Austrian GP where the tyre challenge was entirely about not overheating, Silverstone has so far been an opposite case. The challenge has been, with Pirelli’s hardest compounds in play, to get them fired up. Drivers like George Russell and Max Verstappen complained about difficulties in getting the fronts into the right operating window, and a lack of grip being the consequence of not doing so. It is something that Ferrari has not struggled with this season, as it has often run with its rubber slightly warmer than rivals. It explained why, for example, it was potentially so good in chilly Canada and it almost certainly played a part at Silverstone so far. ### Hamilton's home advantage One factor that also should not be underestimated is that Hamilton is a master of Silverstone. And while home crowd advantage doesn’t transfer to much (if any) real benefit on track, what does is driving to the limit on a track you love where you know the quirks and tricks to be quick. Analysis of Hamilton’s lap shows in particular that he made a lot of difference through the Turn 3 and Turn 4 complex, being much better on the brakes than Antonelli and carrying an impressive corner speed that was up to 10km/h faster at times. Having arrived at the Turn 3 right-hander around 0.12 seconds behind the Mercedes, he briefly turned that into a 0.13s advantage before it settled down to a 0.05s edge on the run out of Turn 4. These are the kind of moments that come from a driver who trusts his car and is in a happy place – which is something that can come from the kind of extra home support that Hamilton witnessed during an appearance on the fan stage on Thursday night. As Hamilton said: “I got back to my room last night, after being on stage, and I'm like shaking with just pure adrenaline.” ### Winners and losers from Silverstone F1 sprint qualifying 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-silverstone-f1-sprint-qualifying-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T17:52:03.000Z Lewis Hamilton defied his and Ferrari’s own predictions to narrowly beat Kimi Antonelli to pole for Formula 1’s Silverstone sprint race. So it was a good day for them. Not so much for almost everyone else. ## Loser: George Russell (5th) George Russell wasn't the only driver in a top team on the end of a three tenths of a second deficit to his team-mate today. But on home ground, having just revived his title bid with Austria victory, this one looked painful. "Story of the year, always on the back foot," said Russell, "very much off the pace to Lewis and Kimi". He says the Mercedes is feeling quite good, and doesn't understand where the deficit lies. I don't think it would be unfair to describe his mood as downbeat or dejected. Ferrari being much better than expected here might explain a bit of Russell's trouble, but it doesn't explain the deficit to his own team-mate and he doesn't have the answers for why as the title battle rages out in front of him. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Winner: Lewis Hamilton (1st) "There's only a few corners to charge the engine, so the \[MGU-\]K will be switched off for a large portion of the lap. "That's where we will struggle probably the most. The deficit could be twice as big." That was Hamilton's pessimistic prediction of Ferrari's prospects for the weekend on Thursday, with a continuation of its Austria struggles expected. But that wasn't the case on Friday at Silverstone as Ferrari beat Mercedes in qualifying in F1 2026 for the first time. Antonelli's Mercedes had the best theoretical lap of anyone, but it was Hamilton - not the fastest in any of the three sectors - who delivered the actual fastest outright lap, with a particularly strong run through Village. Whether that will translate to the Ferrari having the pace to beat the Mercedes over a race distance remains to be seen, but its weekend has already beaten all predictions. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Loser: Charles Leclerc (4th) Leclerc managed to stay within two tenths of his clearly on-form and dominant Ferrari team-mate Hamilton in SQ1 and SQ2, but when it counted, Leclerc was 0.321s off in the third and final segment. This risks becoming the rule instead of the exception for Leclerc. He had Hamilton's number in qualifying and races last year but in recent times Hamilton looks like the go-to for a Ferrari result. Leclerc just doesn't have "the feeling" with this car and acknowledges Hamilton is extracting the maximum, more often. A terrible thing for an elite driver to have to admit. It's only been a short period of Hamilton intra-team dominance, so it's hardly panic stations just yet, but things do need to turn around. He doesn't seem to know where he can find the deficit though. **\- JB** ## Loser: Isack Hadjar (8th) It's rare to hear a driver "happy with my driving" and "on it from lap one" be happy with eighth, but that was just the way Isack Hadjar's day went. He was faster than Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in SQ1, and shockingly, shipped just 0.138s to Verstappen in SQ3. But that was the difference between third and eighth! Hadjar said it was even more frustrating knowing if he "tidied up" a few corners here and there, he'd find that time. He's a loser in the sense that he paid an enormous price for a very, very small deficit. But he's not a loser in the way he drove, nor in his performance versus F1's toughest team-mate. **\- JB** ## Winner: Racing Bulls (9th & 10th) Racing Bulls has now achieved three consecutive ‘one-two' finishes in F1's midfield with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad ninth and 10th in sprint qualifying. They'll need to move forward on Saturday to turn that into points, but it's encouraging for Racing Bulls how routinely it's now leading the way behind the top four. "The car is really good; it's been good all day," Lawson enthused. "We've honestly barely changed anything, so that's something that's been really good for us recently. We've come to these weekends and been quite aggressive, and it's been working." **\- JS** ## Loser: Haas (17th & 18th) A new front wing for Williams at Silverstone may have relegated the Haas to being F1's ninth-best car as both Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon failed to advance to SQ2\. Bearman was 0.010s from safety, and the time lost from having 90% battery instead of 100% at the start of his qualifying lap would have been more than that difference. But it was still a struggle for the Haas duo with Esteban Ocon over six tenths further adrift of Bearman. There's a clear sense at Haas that it has simply been outdeveloped by its midfield rivals, falling from the high of its Red Bull-challenging status in China. "We've got a new rear wing and it seems to be working as expected, which is nice," Bearman said. "But I think it's just too little too late at this stage, if I'm honest. It seems that everybody around us who we're competing with has done more. That's it. "It's a sign of where we are and we need to keep pushing. To be honest, we don't have anything big before the summer break. "So I'm expecting these last few to be a big, big push. That's a shame, but that's how it is." **\- JS** ## Losers: All the drivers from Copse to Club Expectations weren't high among the drivers about the impact of the 2026 power units on Silverstone, and they were right to be concerned. Hamilton's pole position lap was 3.484s slower than Verstappen's 2025 mark. Thanks to the demands of the energy regime it was in the high-speed turns at Abbey, Copse and Maggots that there was a big difference. This year, Hamilton was around 34km/h (21mph) slower than Verstappen at Abbey, approximately 20km/h (12mph) slower at Copse and his top speed in Maggotts/Becketts was 28km/h (17mph) down. While a little of that is down to the reduced downforce, mostly it's because of the lopsided energy demands of this track forcing drivers to be below the limit of grip in these legendary turns. In total, around 1.7s of the year-to-year drop was between Copse (Turn 9) and the entry to Stowe (Turn 15). Lance Stroll summed it up well. "\[It's\] less enjoyable with the energy management," said the Aston Martin driver. "We lost some of the special feeling of driving here just with the energy and the energy management. It's not that same kind of fast circuit that we had in the past. It's a shame." **\- Edd Straw** ### How every F1 car handles at Silverstone - Gary Anderson's insight URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-every-f1-car-handles-at-silverstone-gary-andersons-insight-british-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T17:52:15.000Z Friday at Silverstone was the first time I've seen the 2026 Formula 1 cars with my own eyes, and I have to say I'm impressed. But that's from my view overlooking the Brooklands/Luffield sequence, and I imagine I'd have had a different reaction had I been watching at Becketts. When you're standing trackside you only ever see one little snapshot of the lap. You don't know what's happening over the whole lap, you don't know exactly what they're doing with harvesting and deployment, and you don't know the fuel loads. So you have to be careful not to make a grand judgement from one corner sequence. But all you can do is judge what's in front of you, and through there the cars looked good. And most significantly, all of them looked good. Yes, some looked better than others, but none of them looked like a bad Formula 1 car. --- ***Get*** [***more of Gary Anderson's Silverstone impressions***](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/gary-andersons-162800562?ref=the-race.com) ***exclusively in The Race Members' Club*** --- What you're looking for trackside is balance. It's the grip level, which comes largely from the downforce, how responsive the car is on turn-in, how much it misses the apex by, and how much the driver has to wait for the front end to bite. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7493-1.JPG) The good cars are able to hit the apex most laps and the driver can place the car where they want it. Then you get the others that go a little wide and that can be downforce, weight, or just the way the balance is. Then there are the cars with understeer, and the worst ones are the cars that have understeer and then a little snap of oversteer. That's the hardest thing to sort out because the driver doesn't really have one consistent problem to deal with. The smaller cars are a benefit and you can see that in the responsiveness and the better proportions of the car to circuit. The track looks wider, the cars look more in keeping with everything around them, and at Brooklands and Luffield they didn't look as lazy on turn in as last year. The Ferraris looked impressive. Lewis Hamilton was up there from his first lap and ended up fastest in FP1, so it's easy to say that. But as you'd expect from a car that's currently as good as if not the best in the corners, it was strong. It didn't appear to have a lot wrong with it through that part of the lap. It looked settled, responsive and as though the driver was enjoying it and wasn't having to fight it. The McLaren was much the same in that sense. With the top eight cars, generally, you're not looking at any big problems. One just goes a little faster than another, and a lot of that on a Friday can be 10 kilograms of fuel here or there. That's three tenths of a second, more or less, and you simply don't know what each team is doing until qualifying. The Mercedes looked good, particularly with Kimi Antonelli behind the wheel. He uses more kerb than anybody else on the inside at Brooklands, but that's his norm whenever it's possible to do so. Some drivers do things that look dramatic if you're comparing them with others, but if they do it lap after lap and the car accepts it, then that's just how they drive. He looked committed and comfortable with it. The Red Bull was the one near the front that didn't quite convince me. It either looked heavy, or it looked like it was lacking a bit of grip. On Max Verstappen's fastest FP1 lap he missed the apex by quite a margin. The car didn't look bad, and I wouldn't want to overstate how bad it is, but it didn't look fast through there in the way the Ferrari did. Further back, the differences are more about what sort of problem each team has. The Racing Bulls had simple understeer. It was there every lap, but the driver knew what it was going to do. They only ran medium tyres in practice, and then made it through to the final part of sprint qualifying where they had to go to the soft tyre. A softer tyre normally brings just a little more understeer as you gain rear grip so they need to be careful with the level of understeer they end up with. However that understeer can help for the race, because if you've got a little bit of understeer on a one-lap run, it isn't necessarily the end of the world as in the race the rear tyres are likely to degrade earlier than the fronts. So a car that looks a little bit safe on Friday might not be in a terrible place. The Audi was different. That had understeer, then a rear-end kick, then a bit more understeer two-thirds of the way around the corner. That's the sort of thing that needs set-up work because it's not consistent for the driver. It looked like a handful, and that's where the engineers have to give the driver a platform they can trust. At the back, Cadillac and Aston Martin were interesting in different ways. The Cadillac looked like it lacked downforce. It was reasonably well balanced, but it was just sliding wide all the time. That looked more like downforce than weight to me. The Aston Martin, on the other hand, looked trickier to drive. It didn't look catastrophic — none of these cars do — but it looked more awkward, more like the Audi in its own little way. That's one of the striking things about modern Formula 1\. Even the weaker cars don't look like the old backmarkers you used to see, where something was clearly miles off. They are all very decent racing cars. Some are just less responsive, some need more consistency, some need more downforce, and some are simply midfield cars that need to do more of what they're already doing. It's always useful to watch the step made by teams between sessions, and come sprint qualifying Hamilton and Ferrari carried forward their performance. While it wasn't a surprise to see him having the upper hand over Charles Leclerc, who at least found his feet, it was unexpected to see Isack Hadjar getting one over Verstappen even if it was just in SQ1. It was a similar pattern in SQ2, with Hamilton leading the way, but the shape of the session was clear now with Antonelli the threat - and George Russell well off. But the crucial part was always going to be on soft Pirellis in SQ3. Usually, the softer the tyre the more understeer and that's why you often hear the drivers or teams adding a little front wing. Racing Bulls might have gone a bit too far with Arvid Lindblad. Still Hamilton was on top with Antonelli just 0.011s behind, although Verstappen caught the eye with a strong lap to take third. I'll also give Racing Bulls a pat on the back as it's clearly the fifth-best team consistently now. It just needs that extra grip to close on the big teams. In qualifying the cars all looked more or less the same as in practice through this Brooklands complex, but the drivers were just pushing that bit more. Again, no great vices but there were variations in line and ability to get the car to rotate without the rear stepping out. The difference in fastest to slowest is less about the balance than the overall grip that each team can generate. You can't pick up a major driver difference within the same team, so when it comes to the age-old debate about what makes the difference it is clear that the car is by far the biggest part of the package. Perhaps more so than ever before. That said Hamilton has been fastest in all four individual sessions so far this weekend, so he hasn't lost any of his talent. If he can continue this trend through the weekend then he will definitely become a solid championship contender. I was more encouraged than I expected to be by my first in-person sight of these cars. The cars look properly quick through that sequence, they look more in proportion, and the good ones look like good Formula 1 cars. It's just a shame for the viewers and spectators that are watching from other sections of the track that the power units elsewhere aren't doing what proper F1 engines should do. ### Hamilton beats Antonelli to Silverstone F1 sprint pole URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-beats-antonelli-to-silverstone-f1-sprint-pole/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T16:32:42.000Z Lewis Hamilton continued his Formula 1 renaissance by denying Kimi Antonelli pole for the British Grand Prix sprint race by just 0.011 seconds. With the switch to soft tyres for SQ3, it was always going to be a one-lap shootout for pole as the tyres cried enough after that. With just over three minutes to go the drivers headed out and Hamilton was the favourite given his performance through practice and early in qualifying, and he made no mistake and duly ousted Antonelli at the top. Hamilton called it an "amazing surprise" as he, like many F1 onlookers, thought Silverstone would be even more unfavourable for Ferrari than the Red Bull Ring - where it really struggled in the race a week ago. Whereas some drivers are quite reserved after a sprint pole, Hamilton beamed at the result and partially climbed a fence at pit exit to wave to the fans. It was a day where the gaps between a lot of team-mates told you how difficult a session is to nail here, with Hamilton’s stablemate Charles Leclerc 0.327s off the pace in fourth and two other teams represented in the top three alongside Hamilton, with Antonelli and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. George Russell struggled at times during the session and was fifth, ahead of the McLarens, which were separated by 0.032s. Lando Norris had struggled after damage to his brake duct in SQ1, but changes including a front-wing swap helped him improve when it counted to beat Oscar Piastri, who had spun in practice, in a difficult day for McLaren. Isack Hadjar had bested Verstappen in SQ1 but could only manage eighth when it counted, ahead of the Racing Bull pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, a team which continues to show its Q3 credentials. ## Gasly so close again Just as he missed out by a hair in Austria, Pierre Gasly came 0.081s away from dumping Norris out of SQ2\. At least Gasly appears to be appeased by the balance of his car in qualifying versus practice. The Audi pairing, led by Gabriel Bortoleto, were two tenths shy of Gasly, while Franco Colapinto couldn’t match his team-mate’s pace and was half a second behind. Carlos Sainz was 0.453s clear of Alex Albon to prop up the order in SQ2. ## Williams respite, Haas upset Speaking of the Williams pair, it’s been a dire spell for the team and while it might not want to madly celebrate just scraping through to Q2, it was a better day than it has enjoyed in recent races. Ollie Bearman’s Haas looked to have relegated Albon out of the session, only for Sainz and Albon to both improve at the very last to jump up to 14th and 16th. If Haas is upset at narrowly missing out with Bearman, it won’t be happy with Esteban Ocon being 0.631s slower than Bearman either, although this wasn’t the only big gap between team-mates in SQ1 especially. Sergio Perez was less than a tenth off beating Ocon in the upgraded Cadillac, ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. ## Results 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m28.376s 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.011s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.321s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.327s 5 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.357s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.364s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.396s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.459s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.551s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.991s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m29.482s 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +0.197s 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +0.225s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +0.501s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.715s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.168s 17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m31.083s 18 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.631s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +0.693s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +0.937s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.827s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.905s ### 2026 British GP sprint qualifying results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/2026-british-gp-sprint-qualifying-results/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T16:21:12.000Z Here are the sprint qualifying results for the 2026 British Grand Prix sprint race, with home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton taking pole position for Ferrari. ## SQ3 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m28.376s 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.011s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.321s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.327s 5 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.357s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.364s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.396s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.459s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.551s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.991s ## SQ2 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m29.482s 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +0.197s 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +0.225s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +0.501s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.715s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.168s ## SQ1 17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m31.083s 18 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.631s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +0.693s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +0.937s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.827s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.905s ### What's got Ferrari so wound up over Mercedes' upgrade comments URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/whats-got-ferrari-so-wound-up-over-mercedes-upgrade-comments/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T15:17:51.000Z Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has hit back at Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff for questioning Ferrari's rate of car upgrades in 2026, saying Wolff's insinuations about whether Ferrari's rate of development is affordable under F1's cost cap amounts to accusations of cheating. After the last race in Austria, where Ferrari introduced its first engine performance upgrade, one race on from a major aerodynamic overhaul of its car, Wolff described Ferrari as being a team "who seems to be limitless in that way". At the FIA's team press conference at Silverstone on Friday, Vasseur was asked about the challenge of balancing the introduction of upgrades with F1's budget cap. And a visibly irate Vasseur was clearly annoyed at Wolff's remarks because he gave a pretty firm response. "I found it quite ironic coming from Toto and Mercedes," he said. "But when Red Bull is developing or when Mercedes is developing, they are genius. When we are developing, we are cheating. "I think you have to calm down with this. We didn't bring more parts than Red Bull or another one. I don't know if it was a joke." Asked to clarify whether he thought Mercedes was accusing Ferrari of cheating, Vasseur added: "If you think that we overshoot the cost cap, for me, it's going into this direction." Under further questioning about Wolff's remarks, Vasseur refused to properly engage but gave a clear indication that Wolff's comments had surprised him and, from Ferrari's perspective, went beyond the usual gamesmanship you expect in F1. When asked, given the two are known friends, if he'd had the chance to talk with Wolff, Vasseur replied: "I think it was better to avoid to speak", and when The Race's Jon Noble asked Vasseur why he thought Wolff had singled Ferrari out, considering its upgrade rate matches both Red Bull's and Cadillac's so far in 2026, Vasseur said it should be the Mercedes boss facing such questions. "If you have to ask something to Toto, go to Toto," Vasseur said. "Ask him why he spoke about me. Don't ask me the question. Honestly, I have no clue." ## Front-loading development and misleading declarations Vasseur was also asked whether his team can keep up the rate of development it has shown so far, and he conceded Ferrari is employing a deliberate strategy of upgrading the car aggressively early in the season so it can enjoy the uplift in performance for the greatest number of races. Some teams, such as Aston Martin and Williams, are taking the opposite approach, because their initial cars are so slow and overweight that they need more time to develop the right parts at the right cost efficiency to make a material difference to their competitive situation. Perhaps Ferrari feels Mercedes is in reach if it can chuck as much performance on the car as it can find, as early as it can realistically deliver it, knowing it will have to plateau that rate of development later in the season? "I think the more performance you can bring at the beginning, that we are all in the same boat, that if we can bring something at the beginning, we do it," Vasseur said. "It's better to have a couple of tenths for five races than just a couple of tenths for the last two. "Sometimes it's difficult to find performance, sometimes a bit less. Sometimes you can have the feeling that we are bringing a big upgrade, but it is just a modification of some parts." Vasseur's last point relates to the FIA's declared upgrades document that is released on the Friday of every grand prix weekend. Since 2022, teams have been required to declare any changes to the shape of any aerodynamic surfaces publicly to the media, and it could be this has potentially created a system whereby different teams classify their changes differently and can give the impression they are either upgrading more parts than they are in reality or vice versa. When it was put to Vasseur that the upgrade sheet could be misleading people about the scale of 2026 upgrades, Vasseur replied: "If you have an idea for the next regulation, it's welcome. The FIA is asking us to declare what we are changing as a shape on parts, but not the details, and we are doing it for you to give you something to write or to say. "Now if you \[the media\] don't want to get it, then it's another story, we can stop. But honestly, sometimes it's starting to take proportion a bit…" Sadly, Vasseur refused to finish his thought. Which was typical of this press conference appearance. He clearly had much more to say that he wasn't willing to share publicly. ### What happened in practice at F1's British GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-happened-in-practice-at-f1s-british-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T12:51:29.000Z Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari on top in the sole Formula 1 practice session ahead of sprint qualifying at the British Grand Prix. The driver with the most grand prix wins at Silverstone - nine - Hamilton was fastest of all on the hard-tyre runs that dominated the first 40 minutes of the session, then displaced championship leader Kimi Antonelli once performance runs were conducted. Hamilton was 0.051s shy of Mercedes driver Antonelli through the first two sectors, but appeared to have a step on the competition in the final sector - and duly ended up 0.213 seconds clear on a 1m29.260s. Antonelli was the only driver within half a second of the pacesetting time; Charles Leclerc did back Hamilton up by putting the other Ferrari third in the times, but he was 0.599s behind his team-mate, with George Russell almost seven tenths down as Mercedes and Ferrari locked out the top four positions. An early Oscar Piastri spin at the second part of Becketts - the McLaren driver touched the apex kerb through the fast right-hander - was one of only two moments of real note in FP1, the other being a bit of needle between Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg at Village as Racing Bulls driver Lawson tried to start a push lap. Piastri was fifth but 0.887s down, with Max Verstappen almost a tenth further back in a Red Bull that had looked far more competitive a prospect on hard tyres at the start of the session. Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar were seventh and eighth. Hulkenberg ended the session with 'best of the rest' honours behind the top-four teams, lapping 1.483s slower than Hamilton as the fastest driver on the medium-compound tyre - which will be used in the first and second parts of sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon. Lawson completed the top 10 behind the Audi driver, with Franco Colapinto also using mediums in 11th. ### FP1 result 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m29.260s 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.213s 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.599s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.678s 5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.887s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.980s 7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.028s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.078s 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.483s 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.590s 11 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.706s 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.775s 13 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.079s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.113s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.424s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.424s 17 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.437s 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.890s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.981s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.697s 21 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.759s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.870s ### F1 British GP 2026 practice result URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-british-gp-2026-practice-result/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T13:10:24.000Z Below you'll find the practice results from Formula 1's Silverstone race - with only one practice in this non-sprint weekend. Lewis Hamilton gave the home fans something to cheer by topping the session, ahead of sprint qualifying later on Friday. ### FP1 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m29.260s 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.213s 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.599s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.678s 5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.887s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.980s 7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.028s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.078s 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.483s 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.590s 11 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.706s 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.775s 13 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.079s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.113s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.424s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.424s 17 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.437s 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.890s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.981s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.697s 21 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.759s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.870s ### Why McLaren won't get latest spec Mercedes engine for British GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-mclaren-wont-get-latest-spec-mercedes-engine-for-british-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T15:01:16.000Z McLaren is having to wait at least another race to get hold of fresh Mercedes engines, despite other customers introducing them at Formula 1’s British Grand Prix. Mercedes started rolling out new power units in Austria last weekend, on top of modified batteries, with works drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli the first to get hold of them. While the latest version does not feature any performance upgrades that Mercedes is allowed under ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities), it does include reliability improvements. These allow Mercedes to run it more confidently which, alongside typical gains that come from new engines that are not suffering from end-of-life degradation, were suggested by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to have given it a minor power boost. Speaking last weekend, Wolff said: “With that comes less mileage, comes a little bit more spiciness. But there was no upgrade in it, and at the moment there's no upgrade planned.” Following its successful introduction by Mercedes in Austria, the latest specification power unit has started to be rolled out to Mercedes’ customers at Silverstone this weekend – but will not be running in all cars. Alpine is fitting a fresh internal combustion engine (ICE) and turbo to both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto's cars, which will be their third of the season. At Williams, Carlos Sainz is to have a new ICE following the failure that put him out in Austria last weekend. Williams’ other driver Alex Albon is sticking with what he has for now as he only fitted his most recent power unit in Spain, having been forced into the change as a consequence of a crash he had with Oscar Piastri in Canada. It has emerged, however, that while McLaren had previously been on a similar timeline to the other Mercedes squads in moving onto its second power units in Miami, it will not be following suit in moving onto the latest specification just yet. The team has not explained the reason why, but it is understood to be related to the fact that it has been told there is still mileage left in its current engine so there is no need to swap over just yet. McLaren CEO Zak Brown said his team would have liked to have had it as early as possible, but accepted the reasons behind the call. “You want it as quickly as you can, but you need to run the cycles through the engines,” he said. “Obviously, you can move things in and out. But we'll have it soon. Hopefully, next race.” This is a consequence of its early season reliability woes, including its double 'did not start' in China, which has left it behind on distance covered. Decisions on the timing of the introduction of new power unit components are taken jointly by manufacturers and customers and influenced by a host of factors which includes availability of parts, mileage impact and team desires. There is also an accepted understanding that the works team will get priority over customers. Based on mileage completed during the 2026 season, McLaren is adrift of other squads. Alpine, which has been moved across to the new power units this weekend, has completed more than 1200km extra distance so would be more in need of a change. If McLaren adds a good chunk of distance onto its power units over Silverstone this weekend then it will almost certainly move to its third power units at the next race in Belgium. ## TOTAL DISTANCE COVERED IN 2026 SO FAR 1. FERRARI 12,235km 2. MERCEDES 11,548km 3. ALPINE 11,165km 4. HAAS 10,912km 5. RED BULL 10,486km 6. RACING BULLS 10,327km 7. MCLAREN 10,267km 8. AUDI 10,053km 9. WILLIAMS 10,040km 10. CADILLAC 8121km 11. ASTON MARTIN 7932km ## Works team versus customers ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1419660_HiRes.jpg) James Vowles, Williams team principal The staggered introduction of fresh power units comes in the wake of suggestions earlier in the year about works squads having an advantage with the current rules set. The complex nature of the 2026 regulations has given manufacturers an advantage because they have been much further on with their understanding of exploiting them than customers. And while that prompted some concerns from partner squads earlier in the year, Williams team boss James Vowles thinks differences in knowledge have started to close. “That gap is closing now,” he said. “If you look compared to Melbourne and Shanghai, then probably what you're seeing around other tracks is the gap is closing between what we're able to extract and what they're able to extract as a result of it. “And to be super clear, that is on us as an organisation. It's a matter of learning that we're having to do as a result of it.” Vowles said he fully understood the reliability headaches Mercedes was facing, as he played down any talk of it making life difficult for customers. “Mercedes are the best at doing this,” he said. “I maintain that. I have no questions or doubts about it in this circumstance. The reliability will improve. I'm confident of that as well. And the ways of working will improve as well. “There is not an express interest in making our life difficult. It's just a very complex power unit and it takes a while to understand it all.” ### British GP claims 2026 event will smash F1's attendance record URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/british-gp-claims-2026-event-will-smash-f1-attendance-record/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T10:23:23.000Z This weekend's Formula 1 British Grand Prix will smash the attendance record with well over half a million fans in attendance over the weekend, according to the event. The previous record is believed to be held by the 1995 Australian Grand Prix, the final event at Adelaide before that race moved to its current Melbourne home, with around 520,000 believed to have attended. But at this weekend's British GP it is estimated that around 565,000 people will attend across the weekend (each person's attendance is counted per day, so someone attending Fri-Sun will be counted three times). The British GP has increased its weekend attendance by around 70,000 year-on-year, with a record 175,000 tickets sold for the Sunday alone. "We haven't sort of massively increased the capacity," Silverstone CEO Stuart Pringle explained ahead of the weekend. "The sprint race has worked really well for us. People want to come to the sprint race. "We've priced the tickets in a very thoughtful manner for Friday. If you're a fan of Formula 1, traditionally there's only one opportunity to see a Formula 1 race in Great Britain each year. "This year there are two chances to see a Formula 1 race in Great Britain. So you're getting extra value in the ticket and we've been really committed to trying to put lots of value into the ticket, because the tickets are very expensive, so you've got to put the music in, and the sprint was absolutely a very worthwhile investment for that." The British GP's headline music acts this year are David Guetta, Richard Ashcroft, Chase and Status and James Arthur, who will all be performing once the track action is done. Plus there's a comedy club headlined by Jack Whitehall and Paul Chowdhry. ## A logistical challenge Getting those 565,000 people into one event is a huge logistical challenge, especially given Silverstone is not accessible via public transport. "We can't get enough buses on Friday to meet the demand because double-decker buses have to take people to their place of work in their towns, schools etc," Pringle said. "This year they came from Edinburgh, Exeter, Norwich, Brighton. Last year we rented 600 double-decker buses and we moved 120,000 people this year. I'm very proud to say we've reduced the number of buses by really working on the maths. "That means 35 buses less, only 565 double-decker buses, but we'll move 160,000 people across the weekend on buses. "Trying to persuade petrolheads to get on buses, that's a tough sell, but I think it works. It's really, really efficient, very efficient." ## A changing audience ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/XPB_1421884_HiRes-1.jpg) While Pringle joked about the challenge of convincing "hairy-chested petrolheads" to come via bus, he pointed to the changing audience of the British GP. Nowhere is that more clear than the audience in the dedicated (and expanded for 2026) Lando Norris grandstand. "The Lando stand was a great success last year, I mean that was very visible, so we've invested a significant £9million building a new Lando stand this year, which is significantly bigger than last year," Pringle explained. "We had about 11,500 \[seats last year\], I can't remember the exact number. We put a new one in this year, which is 16,600 seats in the current configuration, with the ability to increase to 20,000. "It's the largest stand that that grandstand \[constructor\] manufacturer, which is one of the big boys, has ever put up, that's 16,600. "The O2 arena in various configurations is 18,000, 21,000, it's basically an arena in itself. "So we know from the Landostand that last year 70% of the buyers were female, under 30, and 70% were new to our database. "And that's mega. I've perhaps slightly later in the day realised that actually, just like most other businesses, we're a data business." On Thursday at Silvertone Norris said: "The Lando stand, it looks amazing. I can't wait, honestly, to see it in the car. "It's a lot bigger, a lot better than it was last season. The grandstand is huge. I went there this morning to already see everyone that was there, with the store, and just a lot more hospitality for people, some music, some DJs, things like that. "I just want everyone that's there, everyone who's here to support me, to have a good time and enjoy it even when we're not actually on track driving. "It's special, because I still see myself as just a kid that wants to go racing and enjoy driving, but at the same time have the whole unbelievable extra, which is a fan base and supporters and all of this. "When I see all of this come together, and feeling like that normal kid, then it's just quite unbelievable, honestly, to see the size of it and see how many people are here to support me. It's something I've dreamt of." For Norris, it's further evidence of how his brand in F1 has grown. "Only three or four years ago, I didn't really have a brand," Norris admitted. "I didn't have design, colour, personality, that was almost shareable through clothing, media. It's hard to tell any story through anything, whereas now we do. "I'm good at the driving part and really that's about it. I leave the rest of it to them. "But I'm always involved in terms of designs and schemes and storytelling and understanding what really the fans want at the end of the day." ### Zarco's MotoGP return prospects get significant boost URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/johann-zarco-motogp-return-prospects-significant-boost/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T08:46:46.000Z LCR Honda MotoGP racer Johann Zarco will most likely not require surgery to repair the damage to his left knee sustained at the Catalan Grand Prix in May. That should considerably speed up his return to action after what has already been an extended period away following the injuries he suffered at Barcelona. Zarco was the instigator of a Turn 1 pile-up on the second start of the race (following an earlier red-flagged incident between Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta) and was left the worst off of the multiple fallers when his left leg became wedged under the seat of Pecco Bagnaia's factory Ducati as they tumbled through the gravel trap. He sustained injuries to his knee as well as extensive burns in the fall, and has been awaiting the results of follow-up checks since to determine whether or not he would require surgery to repair both a torn posterior cruciate ligament and anterior cruciate ligament. However, now that the swelling in his leg has decreased sufficiently and the burns have healed enough to begin the next stage of his rehabilitation, it has been determined that his posterior cruciate ligament wasn't in fact torn in the crash, and will not require reconstructive surgery that would likely have derailed the remainder of the 2026 season for him. "After the crash in Catalunya, the initial MRI scans were performed while the knee was still heavily inflamed, making it difficult to accurately assess the full extent of the injury," the LCR team explained in a statement issued on Friday. "As the inflammation subsided, further examinations provided a clearer picture and a more positive outlook than initially expected, with the injuries first suspected no longer confirmed. "The medial collateral ligament is healing well, while the posterior cruciate ligament, initially believed to be torn, is also showing encouraging signs of recovery. The anterior cruciate ligament, remains torn. "Over the past few weeks, the French rider had been waiting for a burn injury to heal before undergoing surgery. In the meantime, he continued training and made steady progress, making a non-surgical approach a viable option." Now focusing on rehabilitation and physical therapy rather than surgery, it means that Zarco is targeting a return to MotoGP action in September, likely at the Misano-Red Bull Ring double-header before the championship heads overseas for a block of five flyaway races. His replacement in the meantime remains unconfirmed beyond next weekend's German Grand Prix, where Cal Crutchlow will once again step in, but it's unlikely that the team will draft in anyone else ahead of the MotoGP summer break and the next round at Silverstone - the British rider's home race. ### What you need to know about F1's big 2026 calendar decision URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-season-finale-alternative-portimao-that-it-might-not-need/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T08:35:10.000Z Portimao in Portugal is Formula 1's fallback option if it needs to find a replacement event for the final two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. However, with a decision looming about whether the situation in the Middle East has calmed down enough to commit to the current schedule, there are growing indications that F1 will not actually need an alternative solution in place. F1 was forced to call off the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs earlier this year in the wake of the United States-Israel war with Iran. The races were never formally cancelled, though, as F1 left itself some room to get them back on before seeing how the Middle East conflict played out. Amid careful monitoring of the situation over the early part of the year, and ongoing discussions with teams, F1 decided to defer a final call on what it would do until the summer shutdown at the latest. This deadline involved two key decisions that were needed to finalise the plans for the second half of the year. The first was whether the events in Qatar on November 29 and Abu Dhabi on December 6 could go ahead as intended. The second was whether there was any scope to slot back in the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. If none of these were possible then it was long understood that F1 would not want to cut back the calendar to 20 races from its originally scheduled 24, and so would add one extra event. Various options emerged, with even talk of a double-header in Las Vegas to finish the season. However, this idea would have been difficult to sort; the weekend after the Las Vegas GP on November 21 is Thanksgiving. Instead, it is understood that the preferred option that has emerged if F1 needs to slot one more race in is Portimao in Portugal. The venue is already returning to the F1 schedule in 2027 and 2028 as part of a new two-year deal, and already has proven its ability to put on events through its hosting of races during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021. However, F1 may not need to advance thoughts on an alternative as the situation in the Middle East eases. A ceasefire agreement and ongoing peace talks has led to a de-escalation of tensions. If things continue to look positive, then that could not only lead to confirmation that the Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs will go ahead, but may also trigger thoughts on the long talked about idea of getting Bahrain back on. The most obvious slot to hold that race in is in the gap between the Azerbaijan GP on September 26 and the Singapore GP on October 11. If that happens this would mean the season finishes with a gruelling nine races in 11 weekends. ### A driver's take on F1's longest running partnership URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/a-drivers-take-on-f1s-longest-running-partnership/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T04:46:28.000Z **Presented by** [**Shell**](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=the-race&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP this week celebrate 75 years since its first race victory in Formula 1 at the 1951 British Grand Prix. “Seventy-five years… and I've been there for between a quarter and a third of this story, and been able to work with two of the champions - Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen - who won with Shell and Ferrari.” It’s now over 20 years since Marc Gené joined Scuderia Ferrari as a Formula 1 test driver, a role in which he’s had enormous first-hand experience of the team’s partnership with Shell - from sometimes being first to trial its latest F1 race fuel developments, to even driving an F1 car filled with Shell’s road fuel at a promotional event. “Shell was with Ferrari from the very, very beginning,” says Gené when asked what the Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP partnership means to him. “Watch the movie of Ferrari - you can see it’s the first logo that Enzo Ferrari already had on the car when Scuderia Ferrari was created. It’s really nice to see that it’s probably the longest and most successful partnership in the history of Formula 1.” [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-3.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) He puts the partnership’s incredible longevity down to the two companies’ common values. “We are both very loyal companies, and companies that value history,” Gené explains. “I went to a Shell event the other day, and noticed that most of the Shell employees stay in the company for a very long time. Likewise at Ferrari. “And then of course: innovation. At Ferrari we constantly innovate. I’m very happy that this year with our Formula 1 car, we’ve innovated in a couple of areas where other teams copied us! “And with Shell also, innovation is very important.” ## The 'best era' of testing In his work as a test driver - especially in the days of unlimited on-track testing - Gené was often first to try the latest innovations from both Scuderia Ferrari and Shell. “I was the test driver in the best era of test drivers,” Gené smiles. “I was very lucky to live through that. Now test drivers do testing on simulators. In our time, we did just so many thousands of kilometres of \[on-track\] testing. It was the most fun.” He remembers so often hearing of “a new Shell formulation that was going to give you extra power”, and of test days at Monza where that added power or stronger engine response as a direct result of a Shell race fuel upgrade was immediately obvious. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-4.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) “Fuel and lubricants are very important in Formula 1 nowadays to achieve performance, efficiency and reliability,” Gené adds. “These three pillars are very important in a Formula 1 team and Shell are very important for us on those. “There are three main areas where fuel can have an impact. First is pick-up: when you go back on the power, how responsive it is. You can achieve improvement there with the fuel. “Then just power - the power curve of an engine. “And then top end, because on the top end also is when you really need the most, especially when the engines were V10s and you were revving them very, very high - in the era when I was racing, we were reaching close to 20,000rpm.” ## Constant reliability analysis ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-3877bd87-6df6-4048-b052-8a3de1ae6844.png) Gené has the utmost respect for the amount of behind the scenes work done by Shell, including the constant analysis to support Scuderia Ferrari HP’s reliability efforts. Asked what he thought might surprise fans about Shell’s role at Scuderia Ferrari HP if they were simply familiar with the company as a logo on a petrol pump, Gené immediately highlights the Shell Trackside Laboratory - the mobile chemistry suite at a grand prix. “I think that they'll be surprised about the Trackside Lab, the fact that Shell has a big say in helping the technicians on reliability,” he says. “Every time the car goes into the garage, they take a sample, they analyse it. Very few people know that. “I've spent a lot of time in the Trackside Lab. Sometimes I've even done the test just for me to know what they do and how the test is. “And few people know how many hours of work are done back in the laboratories that they have. When the best formulations come to Maranello, there's been a lot of work prior to that - many, many hours of development time.” ## Out of the ordinary events ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-2354afdd-d91f-4d75-88fa-1fdf11798380.jpeg) Gené’s work with Shell and Scuderia Ferrari has always been diverse. Promotional events have taken him to city streets across the world to demonstrate Shell-fuelled Ferrari F1 cars, even on one occasion ‘stopping’ at a normal petrol station to fuel his F1 cars on Shell’s road fuel blend. His work with Ferrari’s Corse Clienti programme has allowed him to drive Shell-fuelled F1 cars from almost every decade in F1 history and all engine configurations. “I've driven the old turbo cars, then the V12, V10, V8\. Actually, I'm probably one of the very few drivers in the world that have driven on the same day V12, V10 and V8-engined F1 cars, because I had to do some shakedowns and it just happened,” Gené recalls. “And it was really nice too, it was like travelling through time, going through different 40 years of history.” ## Evolving with F1's rules He points to how the role of race fuel and lubricants has evolved with F1’s regulations, playing a crucial reliability role as rules restricted component usage, and then ensuring high fuel efficiency as that became an even greater priority for race strategy in the hybrid regulations. “Shell is a partner in three very important pillars: performance, reliability and efficiency,” Gené explains. “Now the engines and gearboxes have to last so long - reliability is very important. And having a very efficient engine is key to success - and Shell can help us with that.” [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-5.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) As far as Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP are concerned, there’s no reason why their partnership couldn’t go on for another 75 years. But what kind of F1 does Gené think Scuderia Ferrari HP will be racing in by then? “Ferrari has two amusement parks, one in Abu Dhabi and there is one close to Barcelona. And there is one attraction there that’s like a 4D cinema, where you sit in a car and you go through time,” he says. “And at the end of it, there is the Formula 1 of the future. Closed cockpit cars - which is safer, more aerodynamic, more modern. And circuits with loop-the-loops. It could go that way, or like the Steven Spielberg movie, Ready Player One!” Given how much F1 has changed since Ferrari and Shell's very first race victory 75 years ago in the 1951 British Grand Prix, that prediction seems entirely plausible. ### Nine things we learned on day one of F1's British Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-o/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T18:00:00.000Z British Grand Prix Thursday featured a horde of drivers lamenting how bad the 2026 Formula 1 car experience will be around Silverstone, and plenty of insight into what’s going on behind the scenes at teams up and down the grid. ## When Honda will bring new engine (and what it's working on) Ahead of the British GP, Adrian Newey revealed the upgraded Aston Martin car will arrive at the Hungaroring, one race prior to the summer break. And we now know when the upgraded Honda power unit is targeted for arrival - one race after the summer break at Zandvoort. While ADUO has granted Honda two upgrades for this year (and two for 2027), Honda's Zandvoort upgrade will be the only mid-season update. "Our focus point is to improve engine performance," Honda's general trackside manager Shintaro Orihara explained. "So we are working on combustion chamber shape. And also we modify the pre-chamber. And also we will change the combustion chamber shape to improve combustion performance. Also we are working to reduce friction by modifying the lubrication system. That is we are working on. "Also to improve reliability because if we increase performance we need to increase reliability. So still we have a quite big list to complete. But we are working hard to achieve that to bring it to the Netherlands." How big a step will it be? "How \[big\] the number from dyno, but I can't disclose the number. But we are aiming to get some reasonable big steps rather than bring a small step". But Honda is being realistic that it can't catch the benchmark engines with this step alone. "We need another step for the future to catch up to the top competitors," added Orihara. - **Josh Suttill** ## (Almost) everyone thinks Silverstone will be a mess The discussion over how F1's 2026 regs have transformed races and individual laps had abated in recent rounds with a more favourable run of tracks. That run is over, with drivers almost-uniformly sounding the alarm (except George Russell, who thinks "it will be great") over how the 2026 formula will cope with an 'energy-starved' Silverstone. The whole sequence between Brooklands and Stowe is widely recognised as a massive problem area, and most are in agreement Silverstone's unique challenge in F1 machinery will be particularly nerfed. There's a whole buffet of quotes to chose from. "Completely different track," said Lewis Hamilton. "Quite sad," said Fernando Alonso. "Most of the drivers feel probably a bit sad," concurred Charles Leclerc. "Not as rewarding and challenging," said Esteban Ocon. "A very different Silverstone, unfortunately," lamented Sergio Perez. And Max Verstappen just laughed. There's a small 'wait-and-see' caveat, and the expectation at least that drivers won't be deliberately lifting - but just clipping on throttle as they run out of power - but if F1 had felt it had weathered the storm of driver disdain, there's clearly more precipitation on the horizon. "But let's not speak too soon," joked Bearman, "because we have Spa next. Maybe Silverstone will feel mega compared to that." **\- Val Khorounzhiy** ## Norris's surprisingly open response to Verstappen rumours You wouldn't blame Lando Norris if he quickly shrugged off Verstappen's talks with McLaren over a potential F1 deal in the future, but instead it prompted some surprisingly open answers on how Norris would approach it. "To be honest, a lot of drivers want to come to McLaren. So I don't know why you just highlight Max!" Norris joked when asked about it in the press conference. "There's quite a few others that I know that want to come as well. I mean, it's a cool thing. "It's a good thing that a four-time world champion wants to come on board and wants to - potentially! - join the team. I don't know how much of it's true, but it's a cool thing. "And if there's an opportunity for me to drive with other people, it's something I've always looked forward to. But it's not a thing for now. It's not a serious thing. And I'm also just excited for my future with McLaren. I'm still going to be here for many, many more years." Norris backed himself to beat any F1 driver in the same car, adding: "I believe, whether it's him \[Verstappen\] or having a chance to go against Lewis or Fernando, any of the drivers that people know are some of the best. "I think it's a cool opportunity for me, at the same time, so excited for whatever may come my way in the future." Verstappen was more dismissive, saying "Yeah, I'm not going to involve myself in that. I've said what I wanted to say already before. "If there is something new or something that changes, you will hear it from me, not from someone else writing it. I just focus on the job that I have with my team." **\- JS** ## Ocon will experiment with repaired floor Esteban Ocon is a driver under pressure. There's at least a three-strong queue of serious contenders for his Haas seat for 2027 and his F1 future is hanging by a thread. Not helping his cause is a lack of consistency of performance from his car that he has been questioning repeatedly, on and off, for the past 18 months. Last year it was the brakes but this year it's the aerodynamic performance of the car and the consistency of performance of certain components. This can and does happen up and down the grid. It's something Valtteri Bottas says has hampered his side of the Cadillac garage until recently - a rogue floor not doing what it's supposed to. It's also the case that sometimes old and patched parts are reused to save money - it happens even at the top teams now F1 runs to a cost cap - so you can very easily end up compromised. For the Silverstone weekend, Ocon revealed he'll be using a patched up version of the floor his team-mate Bearman used at Barcelona, in an attempt to help figure out this rear grip problem that Ocon says has persisted on his car for "quite a few events". "We are going to be scanning through different parts again this weekend - we have a different rear wing, we have a different floor," Ocon confirmed. "It's not a new one. It's one that has been on Ollie's car in Barcelona, I think. It's an older one which has been repaired, but it should be fine. Visually it looks good. We've seen it, the team has chosen it. We'll see." Team boss Ayao Komatsu agrees with Ocon's assessment, up to a point. He says Haas is generally "lacking rear downforce in high-speed corners" but that the team is "not lacking downforce because something is broken, it's just that we haven't delivered in this area". Komatsu there is talking about a lack of aerodynamic performance his team needs to find, not a parts inconsistency problem - but he does accept that Haas has a "parts consistency issue" that manifests on each of the cars at different times. "For instance, Ollie's car in Montreal FP1, rear wasn't working at all," Komatsu added. "And then Ollie's car in FP3 of Barcelona, it was terrible. "And then Esteban had a bit of an issue on Friday in Spielberg, but Saturday was fine. "So, again, in terms of magnitude of issue, it varies. But it's all within, let's say... I wouldn't say noise, but the area, the magnitude that we can measure. "But it's not like Esteban's got an issue and Ollie hasn't. As a team, we have an issue. "It's about the quality issue, in terms of multiple issues on the parts quality on its own. "And also the assembly quality as well. It's very, very sensitive - so our ability to get on top of doing certain things at certain accuracy that other teams can do. "It's including the windtunnel model. Our capability is still not the same as a top level team. So all those small inaccuracies build up." Figuring out this inconsistency is going to be particularly crucial during this summer heatwave, because Ocon says the problem is forcing him to run the lowest front wing flap setting he can - to bias grip away from the front and towards the rear - and yet it's still "killing the tyres". "We are quite a lot more rearward in terms of our balance compared to Ollie's car. And more importantly, in a race with high degradation, I'm killing the tyres, basically, because I need to sustain some pace to be fighting with the other people," Ocon added. "I'm still managing the tyres a lot, but when I want to push, I'm just doing double the damage than what I should be doing." **\- Ben Anderson** ## Sainz has a plan for a new F1 rule Verstappen's Austria qualifying crash and Russell's (legal) pole under yellow was much discussed in the paddock on Thursday. But while many were wondering whether rules around slowing under single yellows need to be tighter, Carlos Sainz had a different priority: penalising drivers who cause red or even yellow flags in qualifying. He plans to raise his proposal for grid penalties for causing stoppages or yellows with the rest of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. And the big motivation for it isn't actually Verstappen's Austria incident - which he accepts the Red Bull driver did lose out from - but what he says is a trend for drivers to deliberately cause yellow or even red flags to disrupt rivals' laps. He says that happens far more than most realise. "You've seen it. The other thing is that you don't know, but you've seen it," he said, somewhat cryptically. **\- Matt Beer** ## Hamilton's had to 'realign' with Ferrari's higher powers Hamilton's always had the support of Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur but when talking about his big year-on-year improvement at Silverstone, Hamilton revealed he'd realigned with the "higher powers" at Ferrari. "One being a car that I really have helped develop. There's items on the car, for example front suspension that I'd asked for last year and had it made for the sim and tested it on that," Hamilton said when asked about the factors behind his turnaround. "This year, I finally got the brakes that I wanted \[in Japan when he switched to Carbon Industrie\], which was a big push. "Engineer changes in my personal team, readjusting some of my team and how they connect with the team. "Realigning myself with the higher powers within the organisation so that we're making sure that we're on the same track and we're allies rather than foes." "So that's just now in a much better place, and that's enabling us now to just move forward in synergy." That would imply it's the senior figures above Vasseur within Ferrari with whom Hamilton has had to realign himself. He said difficult weekends last year meant "naturally when you're having that, people tend to listen to you less. 'Why are we going to listen to you when you're getting these results?' "So that's taken a long time to build that trust, and I think that trust is now there and things that I ask for get done." For Silverstone this year, as a nine-time winner at the circuit, Hamilton feels his opinion has been valued; "My engineers, they have been asking me like, 'How did you do it? What did you do? How do you normally run the car?' "And so, I hope that I've steered them in the right direction." **\- JS** ## But Hamilton expects engine weakness to punish Ferrari here Ferrari's much-anticipated upgraded engine endured an underwhelming debut in Austria, where the high heat forced the team to open up cooling vents on the car and its engine's smaller turbo design was punished by the higher altitude because of how hard it had to work. The Ferrari lacked overall grip as downforce was sacrificed for cooling - and the power unit also had such an unusual energy deployment strategy that Antonelli almost rear-ended Leclerc during their early laps battling in the race. Silverstone won't repeat the altitude problem of the Red Bull Ring but it will punish the Ferrari's overall lack of power, high-drag aerodynamic configuration and the power unit's weak energy deployment at the end of what will be some of the longest full-throttle sections on the calendar. "I think it was like four-tenths of a lap we lose in a straight line," said Hamilton of Ferrari's Austria "reality check". "So it's hard to recover that through corners. "I think this is going to be the most unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment. All us drivers have been talking in the drivers' chat just how poor the power is going to be through this track. We run out of battery power. "There's only a few corners to charge the engine, so the \[MGU-\]K will be switched off for a large portion of the lap. That's where we will struggle probably the most. The deficit could be twice as big." **\- BA** ## An unexpected most polarising topic ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/01_INT26_F1_WOW_Model_Karts_16x9_7542_v02-2.png) Drivers were more or less fully aligned on Silverstone being "downgraded" by the 2026 cars, but interestingly, it wasn't the prospect of the F1 grand prix that proved to be the most polarising topic on Thursday. Instead, that award went to the varying levels of enthusiasm or dread for the return of the Lego Drivers' Parade in which the drivers will battle it out in Lego F1 cars, constructed from 28,000 Lego bricks each. Four-time world champion Verstappen doesn't understand the need for it. **"**No, I just get it overwith it as quickly as possible. Wave to the fans, because they deserve that. Of course, if it's up to me, I would just like a normal driver parade," Verstappen said. "What is wrong with just an electric truck or whatever driving us around? I think that's fine. But it's not in my control." Lance Stroll delivered his deadpan verdict in the press conference to much amusement from onlookers; "I'm indifferent. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I'm not going to wake up super early in the morning excited about it. It's just another one of those drivers' parades". He added: 'I think if they had another 600 horsepower, then it would be interesting. Then we'd be more excited". Hamilton called it "the most dangerous part of the weekend" and suggested he wasn't sure if he'll partake or not - although Ferrari has since confirmed he will. But drivers who missed it last year in Miami like rookie Arvid Lindblad and returnee Valtteri Bottas are excited. Lindblad joked: "I was very excited when I heard that we will be driving the Lego cars. For me, I don't think that race is going to be about winning. It's just about having some fun and maximum damage." That might be why Lego has attached bumpers to the cars this year after a demolition filled 2025 race in Miami. Bottas said "saving distance is my strategy, and using tow" as cars are capped at 25km/h. World champion Norris said: "If it's like Miami, of course, then I think whoever can make it back to the start line will be a winner already. "It's a cool thing to do. It's different. Obviously you're all together and you can have a little chitchat and see the fans when you're on the truck. But I think it's nice to do something different every now and then. "So as long as it's safe and we all behave, which we shall, then it will be a jolly good ride." **\- JS** ## Alonso complicates Newey's wish for his F1 future Speaking ahead of the weekend, Aston Martin team boss Adrian Newey said: "Fernando is really looking forward to the \[Hungary\] upgrade and, if it performs, we hope he'll be in the cockpit for another season". But Alonso laid out why it's not as simple as that on Thursday at Silverstone when asked how connected his future was to the upgrade. "I don't know, I would think over the summer break, but yeah, I don't know, I cannot say that it's really connected, because if the car is good or bad, there are other factors that I need to think about," Alonso said. "Maybe the car is super good and still, feelings that the sport is going in the wrong direction, or I think the next two races are going to be a different experience than what we've been driving in Silverstone and Spa. "I think this year is going to be very different and not fun to drive, the cars, looking at the simulator lap and things like that is going to be quite sad." He added: "it would be nice to have a good race in Budapest, just before the holiday, but it will not be, let's say, the only point". Alonso joked "the rain starts, they are normally in the 14th, 15th of August, so yeah, we look at the sky at night and make the decision…" **\- JS** ### Sainz certain F1 drivers are deliberately causing red and yellow flags URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/3-place-grid-penalty-sainz-proposes-new-f1-red-flag-rule/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T16:46:40.000Z Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz is going to propose a new punishment for drivers who cause red flags in Formula 1 qualifying sessions. Eyebrows were raised at the single waved yellow flags brought out for Max Verstappen's qualifying crash in Austria, which turned to double waved yellow flags 22 seconds later. [George Russell lifted sufficiently](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-russell-kept-austrian-gp-pole-despite-yellow-flag-incident/) for the single yellow in place as he passed it and still took pole position. Asked about Verstappen's crash and the reaction to it, Sainz proceeded to share he's planning on proposing a new red flag rule to his fellow drivers. "I have a very personal idea about this that hasn't been discussed among the GPDA yet, which I will potentially bring forward as an idea," Sainz explained. "Then we can maybe discuss if it should be the case or not. I think this weekend because of being a sprint, maybe we don't have a proper meeting about it. But I think we should. "It's clear to me at least, that situation should have been a double yellow or a red. The way George handled it I think was perfect - for what the rulebook allows you to do. He deserved that pole position, because he played the rules to perfection. "But he should have never been allowed to finish that lap or to close a lap in that kind of dangerous situation. "If Max would have been on pole in the first run, then he produces that crash, and then everyone is on a red flag and no one improves the lap, I think it would be unfair for George, Kimi \[Antonelli\] and everyone, because the guy that is on pole is not letting us improve the laptime." Sainz pointed to his own situation in a yellow and red-flag filled qualifying session in Baku last year, where he put his Williams on provisional pole until Verstappen pipped him at the death. "Like typically in Monaco. I could have done it last year in Baku, when I was on pole and I was the first car out of the pits," Sainz said. "I said 'if I crash now I'm on pole'. We all have these thoughts. We all have these second thoughts. We all know how the rulebook works. "I think that anyone who generates a yellow flag or a red flag in qualifying, it should be three place grid drop. So at least you get penalised for it, and you get disincentivised to go flat out into something, which was not the case for Max, because Max was I think P3 at the time. He obviously crashed through a failure of the rear wing. Or something like this. "But I think we should find a solution for that, and that's my only idea - that if you generate a yellow or a red you should get some kind of penalty." Sainz added: "If you push flat out but you push too far, and you're not letting others improve. You're earning a position by not letting others do a better job than you. Even if it's non-intentional." Sainz was clear that he believes some drivers have been deliberately causing yellow or red flags to their advantage in qualifying situations. "At the same time, you could argue the same thing. You have 10 minutes to complete the lap. Why do we all leave it to the last moment?" Sainz said. "Why don't we all go eight minutes to go, post our lap, and we are sure that a red doesn't disrupt you? Which could be a perfect argument to say we don't need a penalty for producing a red. "But I've seen it in so many cases by now, that in places like Baku and Monaco, people are forcing yellows in Q1, Q2 and Q3. "It's impossible for stewards - unless you are a very clever ex-F1 driver - to know how it works. That for me, shows a solution needs to be found. "I'm not saying Max did it on purpose. I think Max had a failure. Max was not even on pole, so he had zero incentive to do that. But I think we need to come up with ideas to try and solve those situations." Sainz added: "I've seen it multiple times in Baku and in Monaco" and said "you've also seen it in Monaco". He didn't cite examples but Michael Schumacher (2006) and Nico Rosberg (2014) took Monaco pole positions in controversial circumstances, causing a yellow or red flag that stopped their rivals beating them. Sergio Perez (in 2022) irritated then Red Bull team-mate Verstappen when the red flag he caused gave Perez vital track position over Verstappen that helped him win one day later. And Sainz suggested there had been other occasions that the wider world did not know about. "You've seen it. The other thing is that you don't know, but you've seen it," he said. When Sainz's suggestion was put to him, his former Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc said he could see the logic for certain tracks but not as a blanket rule. "I'm not the only one that has crashed in Monaco in qualifying," he said. "It's true that it's one of those races where you can play with the yellow flags a little bit. And I think there are specific tracks where maybe we need to look at that closer. "Whether this needs to be a general rule… I think the person that ends up in the wall, Max for example in the last race, I think he pays enough price of ending up there and not finishing the lap, which would have been good enough for him to be second. So I don't think that, as a general rule, it makes much sense. "But in some tracks, it's something that we've discussed, as drivers. To install that for the whole season, I don't think makes sense." Verstappen said "when someone does it deliberately", causing a yellow or red flag in qualifying "should be an even bigger penalty" than Sainz's proposal. But he said the fact the rules still allowed Russell to go fast enough to take pole under a yellow flag remained his bigger concern. "People are still completing a lap or others are backing out of it," said Verstappen. "Now you, of course, can read the rules really well. You complete your lap and you're allowed to keep it. "But I think, first of all, it should not have been a single yellow. That is at least a double yellow or a red, first of all. "The driver then, of course, optimises around it. I think that's fair play. I probably would have tried to do the same. That's just how it goes. "But it should not even be allowed or be possible to finish your lap like that. "That's, for me, the main concern in all of it." ### Norris's reaction to Verstappen's McLaren links URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/norriss-reaction-to-verstappens-mclaren-links/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T14:11:12.000Z Reigning Formula 1 champion Lando Norris says Max Verstappen isn't alone in [showing an interest in joining](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-mclaren-talks-what-is-really-going-on/) the McLaren team Norris has raced with for his entire F1 career so far. It came out during the Austrian Grand Prix that Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen had had exploratory talks with McLaren CEO Zak Brown - who acknowledged that same weekend Verstappen would be of interest but only if McLaren was forced to replace Norris or Oscar Piastri (which he insists McLaren otherwise has no plans to do). There is no indication whatsoever any change could happen for 2027\. Verstappen has a Red Bull contract through 2028 but has an exit clause he could activate this year - but both Norris and Piastri are known to be under contract through at least next year. "To be honest, a lot of drivers want to come to McLaren. So I don't know why you just highlight Max!" joked Norris when asked ahead of the British Grand Prix about the meeting between McLaren and Verstappen's management. "There's quite a few others that I know that want to come as well. I mean, it's a cool thing. "It's a good thing that a four-time world champion wants to come on board and wants to - potentially! - join the team. I don't know how much of it's true, but it's a cool thing. "And if there's an opportunity for me to drive with other people, it's something I've always looked forward to. But it's not a thing for now. It's not a serious thing. And I'm also just excited for my future with McLaren. I'm still going to be here for many, many more years." Norris also stressed he expected to share the garage with Piastri "for more years". He told BBC: "I know that we both have our names penned in at McLaren for much longer. So it's always funny seeing things come up \[like a Verstappen-McLaren move\] when you're questioning how it's even possible." Verstappen and Norris have had some tetchy on-track moments during their recent title battles, and have exchanged the occasional barb through the media - but are also widely known to be friends off-track. Norris has also never shied away from talking up Verstappen, repeatedly describing him through the years as "probably one of the best ever" to drive in F1. Asked by The Race whether he himself had improved enough to where he would back himself to defeat a team-mate like Verstappen, Norris said: "I do believe I can - I think we just have to just word it carefully - beat any driver. "I think what makes Max so incredible is how he is over the course of a season. Every single weekend, performing to the level that he does, is what's impressive. "I think a lot of drivers on the grid can go out and get a pole and can put in incredible laps. What makes people great and elite is performing at that level, but in every practice, every qualifying, every race, and I think that's something that Max is able to do probably better than almost everyone. "I believe, whether it's him or having a chance to go against Lewis \[Hamilton\] or Fernando \[Alonso\] any of the drivers that people know are some of the best, I think it's a cool opportunity for me, at the same time, so excited for whatever may come my way in the future." ### Why Silverstone will bring out the worst of F1 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-drivers-expect-silverstone-to-bring-out-the-worst-of-2026-cars/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T16:07:31.000Z Formula 1 drivers fear that Silverstone's best high-speed section could bring the worst out of new 2026 cars - with Fernando Alonso saying it could be "quite sad". Lewis Hamilton said the topic was something "all the drivers have been talking about" in the build-up to the race and it would be a "very different" circuit with "the power just dropping" in what had previously been some of the best corners on the circuit. The British Grand Prix track's fast nature and quick corners such as Copse and the Becketts complex have long been standout features, but things could be different this year. That is because the new generation of F1 cars are energy starved, and the layout of the track means there is a long run from the exit of Brooklands down to Stowe that offers little opportunity to recover power. This means that cars will be out of battery energy long before the Hangar straight – with simulator runs suggesting car speeds fall away dramatically through the Becketts complex. To further add to the headaches, this is a section of the circuit where the cars will be fixed in corner mode – which means maximum drag that further slows the cars as they burn through energy quicker. There is a straight mode activation zone on the exit of Brooklands but that ends just before Copse. The recharge limit has been pulled back from 7.5MJ to 6.5MJ for qualifying, with 8MJ in the sprint and grand prix. Early runs in the simulator have left drivers bracing themselves for the worst. "I think this is going to be the most unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment," said Hamilton. "All us drivers have been talking in the drivers' chat about just how poor the power is going to be through this track. "We run out of battery power, there's only a few corners to charge the engine, so the \[MGU-\]K will be switched off for a large portion of the lap." Alonso said that Becketts had now become a "charging station" for the cars. The Aston Martin driver also offered a downbeat assessment of how things will play out both this weekend and in the next race at Spa-Francorchamps. "I think this year is going to be very different and not fun to drive," he said. "The cars, looking at the simulator lap and things like that, is going to be quite sad, I think for drivers, but also for the spectators, and vice versa." Alonso is not alone in having had an eye-opening experience in the simulator. Alpine driver Franco Colapinto said he was keeping his fingers crossed that the cars in real life were improved compared to how they had been during preparation runs in the simulator. "Hopefully it's better than the sim," he said. "It was tough. I think generally it's a track that you always love driving at and that you push the F1 cars to the limit. "Before the year started we already knew that Silverstone, Australia, Japan/Suzuka were going to be tracks that were going to be difficult with energy and that we would be running out with so long straights and with no braking at all almost. "You're flat for 2km or something like that. It's going to be difficult. I think these corners are going to become less of a corner almost. Let's see tomorrow." And both Haas drivers concurred. "A lot of the tracks with the most character in the previous generation, the fast-flowing high-speed circuits now just lack reward when driving them, and that hurts a bit," said Ollie Bearman. "And one of maybe the ballsiest sections of track of the whole year - which was Maggotts and Becketts - this year it seems to be just one corner, and the bits before you're going so slow because you don't have any power that it's not actually a corner anymore." His team-mate Esteban Ocon agreed, calling Silverstone "quite energy-starved, to say the least" in these cars, and suggesting first corner Abbey might be the only high-speed part that could be taken in the way drivers wanted. "The first part of the track will still be a good challenge," said Ocon. "Turn 1, you are still going to have the deployment, which is going to be pushing you quite hard. "But after that, it's not as rewarding and challenging as it was in the previous years." Hamilton agreed that it will be the run from Copse to Stowe that will feel most painful "Honestly, I think it's going to be huge. If you look at the speed traces, we start losing deployment going into Copse," he said. "Normally the engine’s screaming as you're going into Copse, and you're holding on for dear life as you go through there flat out. "This year, the engine will be coasting down, most likely will be downshifting whilst full throttle, trying to keep the engine revs higher. It'll be a long, long straight with no deployment, basically. "And then Maggotts and Becketts is not going to feel the same because I think you have to lift and coast or something through there for a period of time. So it's just a completely different track. "We'll see tomorrow. No doubt we'll still get to enjoy it through certain elements of the track where you're not power limited, but the best part of the track is those Maggotts and Becketts and Copse and Stowe. And in those places, power's just dropping. And so I hope it's something they can rectify for next year." ## Verstappen just laughing A bizarre experience on the sim was something that four-time world champion Max Verstappen had highlighted earlier in the week as he looked forward to the British GP. "Silverstone, I love the track, but I did a few laps on the simulator," he said. "I just started laughing. It felt like a different track." Cadillac driver Sergio Perez reckoned that Silverstone would be a huge challenge for everyone – in spite of in-season rules modifications aimed at making energy management better. "I think it's probably the best test we face so far, since Miami," he said. "The other circuits were not so critical with energy. I think this one is the biggest tests we are facing with these new regulations so far." And while speed drops off on straights were a hallmark of the new generation of cars early on in the season, Alonso suggested the phenomenon is made worse when it happens in corners. "The problem when you de-rate on the corners is also that your drag level is higher, and you have the rolling resistance from the tyres turning the wheels," he said. "So you lose the speed by the pure drag of the car, but you lose extra speed because you are turning the car, so it doubles the effect a little bit on the corner." ## Going slower to go faster The difficulties of the fast section at Silverstone have opened the door for drivers potentially needing to drive in a counter-intuitive way to go faster. F1 could find itself back in a situation where it is better for drivers to lift off in some high-speed corners, to help energy recovery which can be used for a speed boost on the following straight, rather than driving at the limit. Perez said: "It's really what's more optimal for the engine, for the energy. "Sometimes I think we're going to be finding a case where probably going slower through the corner ultimately will be faster. "Delaying the throttle application and doing that sort of game, will be quite critical around here." Honda's trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said that the energy challenge of the weekend would rest a lot on how fast grip-limited corners such as Copse and Becketts can be taken. "The most difficult point for this track is we have a severe high-speed corner and to predict driver throttle application is quite a challenging point," he said. "We have done a few \[simulator\] sessions in the Aston Martin factory and we have some idea, but until we see how the driver drives at the track, it's difficult to predict how the driver drives, and that is very critical for energy management." But Colapinto reckoned that given the way energy management worked at the moment it would be more a case of there being a lot of super-clipping – where cars are running at full throttle to help recover some energy. "I think we will not be lifting because the way that the regs changed help us to stay flat and not gain so much by lifting," he said. "Maybe earlier in the year we had to lift on purpose to gain energy back, and that was a way of maximising more the straights. "I think now with the harvest reduced and all that, it kind of helps us to stay flat. "But on the other hand, because we clip so much, we will arrive slow and that's going to make the corner easier." Championship contender George Russell has been a rare voice in support of the 2026 rules throughout the season, and that continued at Silverstone. He argued that what mattered most is that the fans would get to see better racing, and he doubted the energy management factor would make much difference for them. "I think Silverstone will be great," said Russell. "With these regs, we knew there were going to be some tracks that were more difficult than others for 22 drivers to experience. 600,000 fans here, I don’t think probably care so much about energy management. "And on the flip side, the tracks that are most challenging for the energy, such as Melbourne, China, they have so far produced better racing than we've seen in the past at those tracks. "And there's no doubt that tracks that are energy starved, their racing will be better, and it will be a bit more chaotic, so you could look at that as the positive. "But for sure, a single lap qualifying is not going to be as fast as we've seen it be in the past." ### What Honda's revealed about its 2026 F1 engine upgrade as date is set URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-honda-revealed-about-its-2026-f1-engine-upgrade-as-date-is-set/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T10:32:54.000Z Honda is planning to bring its upgraded Formula 1 engine to the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break and has revealed more about how it intends to improve the performance of what is widely accepted to be the worst engine on the grid. With Aston Martin set to debut its [heavily revamped 2026 F1 car](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-we-learned-about-aston-martins-new-lighter-car-plans/) at the Hungarian GP later this month, the Silverstone-based squad’s plans are now set to get a further boost at the following race. After weeks of Honda saying only loosely that its improved engine would come some time around the ‘summer’, it has revealed it's now working towards a Zandvoort debut - the first race after the August shutdown. Speaking ahead of the British Grand Prix, Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said: "We are working hard to complete our job list to achieve bringing \[the\] new power unit to Netherlands. That is our target." Orihara confirmed the upgrade will not require any new installation work on the Aston Martin chassis, as all the engine modifications are internal – with Honda targeting progress in terms of both combustion and reducing friction. Orihara added: "Our focus point is to improve engine performance. We are working on combustion chamber shape to modify pre-chamber, and also we will change combustion chamber shape to improve combustion performance. "Also we are working to reduce friction by modifying lubrication system. "And also of course to improve reliability, because if we increase performance we need to increase reliability." While Aston Martin is hoping that a combination of car and engine improvements will lift it into the fight for points, Orihara did not want to reveal any details about much more power will be on tap from the new-spec engine. "I know the number from the dyno, but I can't disclose the number,” he said. “We are aiming to get a reasonable big step rather than bring a small step. But I would say there is no magic in Formula 1. "I don't think we're going to catch up Mercedes or RBPT by one step, but we're going to bring a reasonable big step." Honda only plans to introduce a single homologation upgrade this season, even though under F1’s ADUO (Additional Design and Upgrade Opportunities) it is allowed to bring two. The new Aston Martin that will appear at Spa-Francorchamps will include both an aerodynamic overhaul as well as big weight reduction. Speaking earlier this week about those revisions, team principal Adrian Newey said: "The main structural elements remain the same – the chassis and gearbox architecture don't fundamentally change – but we've taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis. "The front suspension is unchanged. The rear suspension is slightly revised. "We've developed a new nose and substantially revised aerodynamic surfaces. So, while the core structure is similar, it's a big aerodynamic package coupled with significant weight reduction. "The target is to get very close to the weight limit." ### F1's Lego drivers' parade returns at Silverstone with a car for every driver URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/f1s-lego-drivers-parade-returns-at-silverstone-with-a-car-for-every-driver/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T10:01:35.000Z Lego will once again take over the Formula 1 Drivers' Parade at the 2026 British Grand Prix, with all 22 drivers receiving their own fully drivable Lego-built car for the first time. The Lego Drivers' Parade will take place ahead of Sunday's F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with the entire grid set loose in miniature single-seater cars constructed from more than 28,000 Lego bricks each. The activation builds on the Lego drivers' parade that debuted at the Miami Grand Prix in 2025, when F1 drivers took to the track in 10 team-themed LEGO cars. For the 2026 edition, Lego and Formula 1 have significantly expanded on the concept. Rather than sharing 10 cars between teams like the Miami GP 2025, every driver on the current Formula 1 grid will drive an individual Lego minicar inspired by their team's 2026 livery. Team colours, logos and driver numbers have all been incorporated into the designs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/01_INT26_F1_WOW_Model_Karts_16x9_7542_v02-1.png) According to Lego, the cars are fully drivable and capable of reaching speeds of up to 25km/h. "We always listen to our fans, and it was clear from the 2025 Miami Grand Prix Drivers Parade that both fans and drivers wanted more," said LEGO Group chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin. "We're back with a 2.0 version in a brand-new format, bringing even more fun and excitement to the parade." Formula 1 chief commercial officer Emily Prazer said the original concept had become one of the championship's most successful race-weekend activations. "Last year, the F1 Lego Drivers' Parade was one of the most memorable and talked-about moments of the season," said Prazer. "This year, we’re building on that moment to create an incredible spectacle for fans attending the British Grand Prix and those watching globally." The 22 Lego Formula 1 minicars took more than 6400 hours to design and build at Lego's Czech facility by a team of 20 designers, engineers and builders. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/05_INT26_F1_WOW_Model_Karts_16x9_7525.png) Each car weighs approximately 280kg, including around 65kg of Lego bricks, and uses standard go-kart wheels beneath the bodywork. The Silverstone appearance is the latest project from Formula 1's growing partnership with Lego, which has produced several high-profile activations over the past two seasons, including special British Grand Prix trophies, the Las Vegas Grand Prix cooldown car and the original Miami drivers' parade. Fans will be able to watch the Lego drivers' parade live at 1pm BST on the [Formula 1 YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB%5Fqr75-ydFVKSF9Dmo6izg?ref=the-race.com). ### Jeremy Clarkson's farm to supply Alpine at the 2026 British GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/jeremy-clarksons-farm-to-supply-alpine-at-the-2026-british-gp/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T10:01:20.000Z Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm Shop is supplying the Alpine Formula 1 team at this year's British Grand Prix. The farm shop has gained considerable fame due to the Amazon Prime show, Clarkson's Farm, in which the former Top Gear presenter attempts to run a farm - situated six miles from Alpine's Enstone factory - and sell his produce. The TV presenter has previously shipped crates of his Hawkstone beer to Alpine to celebrate its Monaco 2023 and Brazil 2024 podiums. Clarkson's partner Lisa Hogan, who appears on Clarkson's Farm, said: "The British Grand Prix is one of the highlights on the British sporting calendar so to have Diddly Squat Farm Shop associated, and to play a small role, with the team this weekend is certainly quite special." The team has said that Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto "will eat some authentic British dishes" at Silverstone. Meanwhile Gasly has appeared in a social media post, picking up some produce from the Diddly Squat Farm Shop. > Diddly Squat Farm Shop 👉 Silverstone 🇬🇧📍 > > Picking up the goods thanks to [@PierreGasly](https://x.com/PierreGASLY?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) and [@AlpineCars](https://x.com/alpinecars?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) 🚙 [pic.twitter.com/5XeDhYiAdA](https://t.co/5XeDhYiAdA?ref=the-race.com) > > — BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) [July 2, 2026](https://x.com/AlpineF1Team/status/2072607518090531067?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) "It's great that we are able to help promote British farming and highlight the importance of farming to the local area," said Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen. "Our base at Enstone is surrounded by farms so we are well aware and full of admiration for what farmers do in bringing food to our tables. It's a special occasion to bring local food to Silverstone to keep our team and drivers well fed this weekend so thanks to Jeremy and the team at Diddly Squat Farm for their on-going support." ### Mir's done much more for Honda than just crash its MotoGP bike URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/mirs-done-much-more-for-honda-than-just-crash-its-bike/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T09:28:33.000Z Over the course of his four-year tenure at Honda's factory MotoGP team - which is [now officially over](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/gresini-announcement-kicks-off-motogps-2027-rookie-influx/) at the end of 2026 - Joan Mir's most notable record has, unfortunately, been his number of crashes. But, while he might have spent more time in the gravel than on the podium, there's an argument to be made that the 2020 world champion's time there has been a success - for Honda if not for himself. He's finished just 23 Sunday races in the points out of the 43 that he has started since joining the team in 2023, and this current season has been a particularly bad one for Mir, with only six points-scoring finishes from 20 opportunities so far. But he's managed to do something that no other works rider except Marc Marquez has done in the past five years: drag the RC213V kicking and screaming back onto the podium. Mir's record of finishes is, admittedly, awful - and yet, his highest finishing positions are considerably ahead of his team-mates most of the time. In 2025, for example, he finished only a few places behind both team-mate Luca Marini and satellite rider Johann Zarco despite Marini in particular being one of the most consistent racers on the grid. His crashes were not as costly in the points as you might expect because they were mixed with highs such as his podiums. And when Mir is questioned about it - as he regularly is - he's adamant about what he believes his role within Honda is, and that it involves pushing the bike to its limits to accelerate development as quickly as possible. "I understand racing as being about chances," he told The Race earlier this season. "I like to start the race knowing I have a chance. "I don't enjoy this if I am only being a part of it. I enjoy it when I have the chance to fight for something big, and that is causing me to have a lot of crashes. I have to do it, and I have zero regrets. "When I'm alone, I'm able to ride very fast and quite safe. But when I follow the others, to stop the bike behind them in the slipstream of the people with this aero, you have to risk, to stop in the same way. "If I have to recover, I have to double risk, and that increases incrementally our chance of being on the ground. That's why I crash." There is a logic to that, as well, given the way in which Honda's machine has developed in recent seasons into a bike that enters 2027's new 850cc era expected to once again be fighting at the front more consistently - ironically a step that the Gresini Ducati-bound Mir is not going to benefit from. The bike has, since the advent of MotoGP's aero wars in the early 2020s, been far from the front. Already struggling before the pandemic to keep up and absolutely exposed during it with the absence of the injured Marquez, it's been a long time now since anyone but the nine-time world champion has looked capable on it. Since the departure of Dani Pedrosa, no rider except Marquez has won on the factory bike. Since COVID, only two other works Honda riders have even scored podiums: a single one at the start of 2022 for Pol Espargaro's, and Mir's two third place finishes in four races at the end of the 2025 season. Even in 2026, among all of Mir's crashes, there has been yet more sparks of brilliance from him, with strong finishes like his fifth at Brno and most of his crashes coming when five places in front of team-mate Marini. And, while his time at Honda might be done, there's got to be light at the end of the tunnel for Mir in 2027, knowing that he's going to jump onto a bike where he doesn't need to take so much risk in order to be competitive. Absolutely still motivated to fight for the top places (otherwise he too could ride around in 15th and take safe finishes with much less risk of injury), he's going to join Gresini Racing on a factory-spec bike and once again be a frontrunner in the class - so much so that it won't be a surprise if he wins two or three times as many races in 2027 as he did en route to the 2020 world championship! ### Gary Anderson's theory on Cadillac's costly F1 problem URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-andersons-theory-on-cadillacs-costly-f1-problem/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T08:19:09.000Z The new Cadillac Formula 1 team’s brake overheating problems led to both its cars retiring early in the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend, and it’s not the first time they it has had problems in this area. This is something that needs fixing as soon as possible, but brake problems are never just brake problems. First and foremost, you need the brake material to work in its operating window. You have to assume Cadillac has disc and pad material on the car that is capable of stopping it, and that it will work from roughly 300 degrees centigrade up towards 1000 degrees. Within that window, the brakes should do the job. Assuming the material itself is not wrong, it’s the cooling that is likely to be the problem. The brake duct is now a very complicated piece of kit, and managing that heat transfer to the tyres is also part of the equation. At the front, it should be less of a concern because there you are often fighting to get front tyre temperature, particularly when you put on new tyres for qualifying. You actually want some heat from the brakes to get into the rim, and from there into the volume inside the tyre. But in the race, and especially at the rear, the objective changes. The rear tyres pick up temperature very quickly. One little bit of wheelspin and the rear tyre temperature can increase by 25 or 30 degrees. So you use the brake cooling flow not only to keep the brake system alive, but also to help manage the rear tyre temperature and keep it at the minimum level. That is where the compromise starts. On the front of the duct, you need an inlet in a high-pressure area. Somewhere on the back or rear side of that duct, you need an outlet in a low-pressure area. Some of that airflow cools the calliper, some goes through the cooling holes in the disc, and a little runs across the inner and outer surface of the disc to keep the surface temperature under control. The more flow you put through there, the more cooling you have. However, that is detrimental aerodynamically, because that brake duct is sitting in a very sensitive area of the car. It can interfere with the front-wing wake, the tyre wake and the flow structures you are trying to manage around the car. This means teams are always keen to minimise the cooling. However, when you go to places like Montreal or the Red Bull Ring - which are big braking circuits - that can cause problems. Sometimes it is better to overcool a little and make sure you are covered. Cadillac’s brake front ducts do look a bit small for those sorts of circuits. For a new team, that is not the right risk to take as its priority should be to finish races. You learn far more from finishing than from squeezing out a tiny aerodynamic gain and then cooking the brakes. And if other cars fall out of the race, you need to be there to pick up a point if it comes your way. There is another problem too. If the pressure at the inlet is not as high as it needs to be, or if the outlet is not sitting in a negative enough pressure area, you can get reverse flow through the duct. Once that starts, it is very difficult to get rid of because the flow does not suddenly decide to change direction again just because you want it to. Then the cooling system that should be feeding the brakes becomes a system that is not really doing its job at all. That is why it was so surprising to see Valtteri Bottas suffering a brake fire on the first lap. They have full fuel tanks, the brakes are critical, and they are at the back, so in those first few laps, if you have brake concerns you should be braking 10 metres earlier than everybody else, just to get the brakes stabilised, burn off a little fuel, and understand where you are. For it to happen that quickly suggests something strange was going on. Given it has happened more than once, this does not look like just an Austria-specific problem, it is more than that. And the team had tried to take action to improve its brake cooling. Cadillac does not need a miracle. It just needs to stop pushing the cooling compromise so hard and ensure it has proper mass flow through the ducts. Then, it will be finishing races. ### MotoGP's 2027 rookie influx begins with Gresini announcement URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/gresini-announcement-kicks-off-motogps-2027-rookie-influx/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T08:58:20.000Z Gresini Racing has confirmed that 2020 MotoGP world champion Joan Mir and Moto2 frontrunner Dani Holgado will join its ranks for 2027. They take the two spots being vacated by the departure of Alex Marquez (for a factory KTM ride) and Fermin Aldeguer's move to fellow Ducati team VR46. Mir will receive a factory spec Ducati as he joins Gresini and becomes a satellite team rider for the first time in his somewhat bizarre MotoGP career. He still only has one MotoGP race win to his name despite winning the 2020 title in only his second season in the premier class and taking third in the standings the following year. He moved to Honda for 2023 following Suzuki's exit but has had a crash-strewn and largely unsuccessful time there. The Gresini news also marks the first confirmed MotoGP rookie signing of 2027, albeit with more expected in the coming days as Holgado's current Aspar Moto2 team-mate David Alonso is joining Fabio Quartararo at a revamped factory Honda squad and Tech3 KTM is choosing between Moto2 title leader Manu Gonzalez and his current Intact team-mate Senna Aguis for one of its seats. Gonzalez's closest current Moto2 challenger Izan Guevara is also expected to graduate to MotoGP with the Pramac Yamaha team, while a rookie signing of a different kind will come when dominant World Superbike Championship leader Nicolo Bulega is confirmed at VR46. Holgado, who has been linked to Gresini for some months and is seen by many as the perfect fit for the team given its past record for nurturing young talent like rookie race winner Aldeguer, steps up after an admittedly somewhat mediocre start to his 2026 Moto2 season. Though a race winner in Brazil at the second round, he nonetheless hasn't yet recaptured the excellent form from the second part of his debut season last year where he consistently fought for wins and podiums. Nonetheless, as 2024 Moto3 championship runner-up (second to Alonso), he's been highly-rated within the paddock for some years and the promotion to the premier class comes as little surprise. ### The factors that have kept Scuderia Ferrari HP and Shell together for so long URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/the-factors-that-have-kept-scuderia-ferrari-hp-and-shell-together-for-so-long/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T08:07:19.000Z **Presented by** [**Shell**](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=the-race&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) That Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP are this season celebrating an incredible 75 years since their first Formula 1 race win together shows the remarkable longevity of this partnership. But what is it about the two organisations that has led to their relationship enduring for so long? Shell's Global Head of Motorsport Partnerships Tom Kassell puts it down to shared philosophies and the sheer value they extract from working together. "Most sponsorships are primarily marketing relationships," he says. "Our partnership is built around technical collaboration. "The relationship has endured because it is based on shared goals rather than short-term commercial objectives. "Both organisations believe in the value of innovation, long-term investment and continuous improvement." ## Shell's role at an F1 Grand Prix For Scuderia Ferrari HP, Shell is a very active partner in the pursuit of both performance and reliability through every Formula 1 race weekend. "At the heart of that collaboration is the Shell Trackside Laboratory, a mobile laboratory located within Scuderia Ferrari HP's garage and staffed by at least two Shell scientists at every Grand Prix,” explains Kassell. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) "Working in a tightly controlled environment, our analysts continuously test and analyse the Shell V-Power race fuel and Shell Helix race lubricant used by the team. "Their role is not only to monitor product performance, but also to ensure every product supplied meets FIA specifications and compliance requirements, working closely with both Scuderia Ferrari HP engineers and FIA stewards throughout the weekend." And that is an even bigger volume of work than fans might expect. "The scale of that operation often surprises people," admits Kassell. "Across a race weekend, Shell analysts assess more than 150 samples, including race fuel and lubricants, while more than 25 fuel samples are tested specifically for compliance. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-Track-Lab-Imagery-1-copy.jpg) "The data generated is shared in real time with engineers both at the circuit and back at our technology centres, creating a constant feedback loop between trackside operations and R&D. "In the 2025 season alone, Shell shared more than 50,000 data points with Scuderia Ferrari HP's engineers. Those insights help the team monitor engine health, optimise performance and make informed reliability decisions throughout the season. "It's a highly integrated process built on continuous communication and a shared objective: maximising performance, reliability and efficiency." ## How F1 fuel informs Shell's road fuels The benefits of the partnership flow both ways. While Shell makes an active contribution to Scuderia Ferrari HP's on-track performance in F1, it also derives huge benefits for its road fuel programme from the work it does in motorsport. Because the fuel used in the Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 cars is what Shell's Principal Scientist of Motorsports Valeria Loreti calls a "highly specialised formulation developed exclusively for Formula 1 and designed to meet a very specific set of technical and regulatory requirements", the motorsport programme feeds into Shell’s road fuels not in terms of direct ingredient comparisons, but through learning and technology developments. "Formula 1 gives us one of the most demanding testing environments imaginable," explains Loreti. "The pressures placed on our race fuels and lubricants are extreme, which means innovations can be evaluated far more quickly than in normal road conditions. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-1.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) "The exact race fuel formulation used by Scuderia Ferrari HP is a bespoke product developed specifically for its power unit, but the learnings gained through developing, testing and analysing those formulations can feed directly into our wider research and commercial programmes. "Over the years, technologies first explored through our motorsport partnership have influenced products such as Shell V-Power fuels and Shell Helix Ultra lubricants. That 'track-to-road' transfer remains one of the most important reasons Shell invests in motorsport today. "Rather than focusing on ingredient comparisons, what is important is that the same performance-focused approach, scientific expertise and innovation mindset underpin both our race fuel development and our Shell V-Power road fuels. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2026-Track-Lab-Imagery-copy-2.jpg) "The partnership allows us to test ideas at the limits of performance and then apply those learnings to products used by millions of customers globally. "That continuous transfer of knowledge is the connection between what happens on track and what customers experience at Shell stations." Those mutual benefits and shared philosophies have endured so strongly since that first win together 75 years ago that Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP's partnership looks set to endure for many more seasons and wins to come. "Across generations of technology and regulation changes, that commitment to solving engineering challenges together has remained constant," says Kassell. "The partnership continues because both sides derive real technical value from it." [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-2.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) ### Formula E's new 210mph car to make public debut at Goodwood URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/formula-es-new-210mph-car-to-make-public-debut-at-goodwood/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T09:46:25.000Z Formula E will showcase its new Gen4 car publicly for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 9-12, and has lined up Dan Ticktum to demonstrate the car's much publicised pace. The car, which is currently being developed by manufacturers in private testing, is capable of 210mph and can achieve 0-100km/h in 1.8s with 600kW power and all-wheel drive. The Formula E Gen4 car will run in the Batch 3 show run category of the entry list at this year's festival. Cupra Kiro driver Ticktum is set to drive throughout the event and The Race has learned that unlike the actual racing version of the Gen4 car next season will use slick tyres at Goodwood. Formula E is being coy about whether it will go for an out-and-out time to see how close it can get to the official hill record set by Max Chilton with the all-electric McMurtry Speirling in 2021. But the fact the car will be fitted with slick tyres indicates that it will go for an attempt to at least get close to Chilton's time, although Formula E has not publicly stated that is an intention. That time of 39.08s over the famed 1.16 mile hillclimb broke the long held record of 41.6s set by Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula 1 car in 1999\. The Gen4 car is not yet fully developed, although with slick tyres it could feasibly get close to Chilton's astounding time. But Formula E is not believed to not be targeting the record, rather taking each run as it comes and seeing what the car is capable of as it demonstrates its torque and acceleration up the hill. Talking of his role in displaying the Gen4, Ticktum said that Goodwood was "the perfect place to show the fastest single-seater Formula E has ever built. "The Gen4 is 50% more powerful in race mode than the current cars, handles like an absolute weapon with that permanent all-wheel drive, and it's ready to fly up the hill. It's going to be wild." Formula E CEO, Jeff Dodds, described the Gen4's outing at Goodwood as "the perfect stage to give the public its first up close look at the Gen4 car in action." This isn't just an incremental step forward, the Gen4 represents a massive performance leap in Formula E history." Formula E has been aggressive in marketing the Gen4 car so far with a private demonstration showing the evolution of its cars across the Gen 1 (2014-18), Gen2 (2018-2022) and Gen3 (2022-26) at Paul Ricard in April. On that occasion official Gen4 test driver James Rossiter did the bulk of the driving, while manufacturers showcased their test cars that were then completing reliability running. Now, manufacturers are concentrating on performance running with Jaguar, Stellantis, Nissan, Porsche and Lola all completing test days in recent weeks. Mahindra is presently facing delays in getting its car on track due to supplier problems for its test car, although it is expected to shake down later this month. Homologations for the Gen4 manufacturer cars is scheduled to begin from the end of September, with the traditional pre-season test pencilled in for Jarama in mid-November. ### Haas's 2027 options as Ocon's F1 future gets bleaker URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-growing-battle-for-a-2027-f1-seat/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T08:47:45.000Z Esteban Ocon's seat at the Haas Formula 1 team may be the most intriguing piece of the 2027 driver market puzzle - with the possibility of a change high. While things aren't totally settled at the top end of the grid, most notably at Red Bull where a Max Verstappen exit hasn't been completely ruled out, Haas is one team where a seat battle is definitively unfolding already. Only a dramatic upturn in Ocon's performances will give him any hope of staying at the team for a third year in 2027\. And there are numerous candidates in contention to take his seat, with one rookie in a particularly strong position. Forget the reports to the contrary; no final decision has been made and Haas won't rush into a deal given the driver market remains unstable and there's the possibility of sudden developments, like in the aforementioned Verstappen situation. The knock-on effects of any move for Verstappen can be guessed at imprecisely but not accurately predicted - for evidence of that just look at how Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari move shaped the 2025 driver market. Haas wouldn't be in play for Verstappen, but its manoeuvrability could well be impacted by how Verstappen plays his cards. What we do know is that, regardless of all that, Ocon hasn't been good enough at Haas. And while there are mitigating factors that have held him back, his future is hanging by a thread. Realistically, the die is probably already as good as cast, and a line of contenders has gathered, waiting for Haas to commit to a change. ## The new favourite Reigning (but not defending, by series regulations) Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli has momentum on his side - emerging from the left-field as the likeliest occupant of the Haas seat come 2027. This is despite (and also, in a way, because of) Fornaroli's existing affiliation with a rival F1 team. The 21-year-old Italian serves as reserve driver for McLaren. --- ### Fornaroli's single-seater CV **2020** 9th in Italian F4 **2021** 5th in Italian F4 **2022** 8th in European Formula Regional **2023** 11th in FIA Formula 3 **2024** 1st in FIA Formula 3 **2025** 1st in FIA Formula 2 **2026** McLaren reserve driver --- Fornaroli made his F1 weekend debut behind the wheel of Lando Norris's McLaren in FP1 at the Barcelona Grand Prix last month. A few days later, he returned to F1 action in a two-day 'testing of previous cars' (TPC) run in last year's Haas VF-25. This test was offered to Fornaroli by Haas to, as team principal Ayao Komatsu described it, "have a chance to look at him". Fornaroli made a big impression in the test with his speed, feedback and professionalism. That's despite not having any opportunity to prepare for the Haas test in its simulator, and adapting to a car with very different characteristics to the McLaren machinery he had previously driven - not only the 2026 car but also the 2023 machine. Crucially, he also showed good pace on the low-fuel qualifying simulation runs. And though he isn't racing right now, Haas has a high opinion of the preparations he is undertaking. "Clearly what McLaren's doing with Leo is a very good programme," Komatsu mused. McLaren rates Fornaroli highly. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella described him as proactive in engaging with engineers, a note-taker who shares ideas willingly. But none of that would matter if he wasn't quick enough. "When he gets in a car, be it a simulator, be it in the TPC car, or in a free practice one session, he is fast," Stella assured. It's understood that should Haas decide it wants Fornaroli, there is a letter of intent in place that will make it possible. That's by no means a done deal, simply something that means if Haas does want to take him on loan then it can happen. When Audi signed Gabriel Bortoleto, a predecessor of Fornaroli's in the McLaren driver development programme (and a good friend and former team-mate of Fornaroli's, who works under the same coach in former Formula 3 ace Roberto Streit), it took full control of him. But Haas is willing to take loan deals. That’s proved by the presence of Ollie Bearman, who is contracted to Ferrari. None of this means Fornaroli will definitely take Ocon's Haas seat in 2027\. But he's certainly a very serious contender who has made a strong case with his test performance. ## The Toyota factor ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2283411401-158.jpg) Haas's partnership with Toyota, expanded for this year to include a title sponsorship, has given it access to a whole new pool of drivers, and fresh incentive to seriously consider them as options. It announced very recently a TPC run for Sho Tsuboi and Nirei Fukuzumi, two extremely credible specialists on the Japanese scene, with Tsuboi already a Super GT/Super Formula legend. But the primary Toyota-side option appears a different, even bigger name right now: Hypercar driver Ryo Hirakawa. A 32-year-old who last raced a single-seater in 2023 (fifth in Super Formula) might seem an unlikely choice. However, he has racked up seven FP1 outings for Haas, Alpine and McLaren, as well as significant TPC mileage for Haas. He's held in high esteem by the team, Toyota is a staunch supporter of his and keen to see him race in F1, and he has also shown good pace - no surprise for a multiple World Endurance champion. Hirakawa carried out aero assessment work for Haas last time out in FP1 at the Red Bull Ring, and - at 1.4s back from regular driver Bearman - was disappointed with a qualifying sim in which he "undershot many corners" on what was "the only lap I was able to push maximum" after the aforementioned development work. He has made no secret of his F1 seat ambition. "I think it's not like 'dreaming' but just being realistic - I'm really grateful to have this opportunity, it's not just to have experience but it's to have some opportunity in the future," he said. "I'm still, of course, 'dreaming' - but the target \[right now\] is to give good feedback to the team." ## Other options There's also the possibility of adding another Ferrari prospect like Bearman. Rafael Camara, 21, is currently third in F2 - and Ferrari is pushing for Haas to take him. That doesn't mean Haas has to or will, because Ferrari has no direct say in that. For example, Ferrari was eager for Antonio Giovinazzi to race for Haas in 2023, leading to FP1 outings in 2022\. However, the team decided Nico Hulkenberg was the better choice. While it's possible Camara could get a TPC outing for Haas, there's currently no plan in place for that to happen. Likely, it would require Ferrari to fund it. Camara is also regarded as needing a little more time to hone his craft - meaning Fornaroli is ahead of him in the queue. Yuki Tsunoda, who was of interest to Haas when it was considering options for the seat Ocon took in 2025, is also a potential target. And Haas reserve and simulator driver Jack Doohan can't be discounted given he's on the team's books. ## Is Ocon doomed at Haas? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/2283546778-251.jpg) None of that is to say that Ocon is definitely on the way out. An option remains on the books for his current deal with Haas to be extended to a third year in 2027. His time at the team so far has fallen short of expectations, but there have been high points when he has performed at something like close to his best. For example, he was fifth on his second grand prix start for the team, in China, qualified eighth and finished seventh in Monaco last year, produced a strong Japanese Grand Prix weekend in 2026 that only yielded a point for 10th, and recovered from a tough Friday to take an outstanding seventh place in last year's Abu Dhabi finale. But those high peaks have been scaled with less frequency during his 18 months at Haas than the rest of his F1 career. They are also outweighed by the lows. On his most recent outing in Austria, he complained about problems with parts inconsistency robbing him of rear downforce relative to the other car. He described this as costing "quite a lot of points of downforce" and suggested this was relative to his team-mate, too. "Apparently it comes from the floor area," Ocon revealed. "He \[Bearman\] has floor 13, I got floor 14, I tried floor 15, and the deficit is still there." It is true that Haas has struggled with components not performing as expected. That's something Komatsu confirmed at Barcelona. However, he stressed that it's afflicted both drivers at times. "Those underperforming components, imperfections, that's having a significant impact. We're not giving both drivers the best chance to perform in qualifying, for instance," Komatsu insisted. Back in January, Komatsu said that "nobody is satisfied with Esteban's sporting results last year" and that "we expected more from him". While he included the important caveat that it was not entirely Ocon's fault and it was 50/50 team and driver, it's clear that Ocon went into the season under pressure. He's been comprehensively outperformed by Bearman, who was on average just under a tenth and a half faster than Ocon in qualifying last year. That figure has climbed to well over a tenth and a half this year. In terms of points, he was outscored by the narrow margin of 41 to 38 last year, but this year Bearman is up 18 points to three. The car problems mean that the performance comparison between the two has been distorted, but that doesn't mean that Bearman overall hasn't been by far the stronger driver. And that, fundamentally, is what means Ocon's facing the exit door. Car problems are one thing, and they have happened to Ocon. However, previous teams have also been frustrated by what is regarded as a tendency to blame all deficits on that. Last year, he struggled on the brakes and often cited that as a problem. However, there was a telling case study with Bearman - who tends to brake harder and deal with a little more rear instability on turn-in. Ocon struggled, hence his complaints about the brakes, and sometimes had to dial in a little understeer to settle the car to suit him, costing him time. When things are right, Ocon can be brilliant. That's the brilliance Haas needs to see - and as soon as possible, in the races before the summer break, if he's to have any chance of saving his seat. ### All the F1 British GP special liveries unveiled so far URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-british-gp-special-liveries/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T14:48:23.000Z The 2026 British Grand Prix should again prove a popular occasion for special liveries among Formula 1 teams. While just three of the 11 teams are registered as British, the majority of the squads are either de facto UK-based or at least part-based there, and usually not far from British GP venue Silverstone. Here are the British GP-specific colour schemes unveiled thus far. ## McLaren ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/HMIYuxmWEAAOb4i.jpg) McLaren's Silverstone design showcases the partnership with its major sponsor Google and specifically Google's AI tool Gemini. But it references a specific car from the past, the white-and-green McLaren M2B campaigned by team founder Bruce McLaren in 1966. ## Cadillac ![Cadillac F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/8K_16-9_F3Q_HIGH_RE_RESIZED-1-1.jpg) Though Britain was...a relevant party in the historical event in question, Cadillac's special colour scheme for Silverstone is not British-themed. Instead, the American team will deploy a stars-and-stripes USA colour scheme to celebrate Independence Day, July 4 - which will align with qualifying day and which this year marks 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. ## Williams ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/unnamed--3-.jpg) Williams's Silverstone livery is a minor update to its primary 2026 colour scheme. The British GP version of the FW48 will feature a "Union Jack-inspired" palette on the side of the nose structure - and also on the team kit and racesuits. ### Own one of Ayrton Senna's actual F1 helmets from 1992 URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/own-this-ayrton-senna-helmet-1992-f1-season/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T12:56:59.000Z Williams produced a car capable of dominating the 1992 Formula 1 season, but McLaren's Ayrton Senna was able to keep things interesting with a number of against-the-odds victories. It's one of Senna's actual 1992 helmets, used during the British, German and Hungarian Grands Prix, that is among the standout lots in the new [BUDDS' Motorsport Icons Auction](https://www.budds.com/auctions/upcoming-auctions/2026-07-07-motorsport-icons-live-auction-at-silverstone-museum-2cd9079e-86db-458c-82ac-645e8370f81d?ref=the-race.com) taking place just after the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Museum on July 7. Senna won the Hungarian GP using that helmet, one of his three victories that season, an impressive feat given the might of the Nigel Mansell-Williams machine that season. That season was the last for the famous multi-championship-winning McLaren-Honda partnership of the 1980s and early-1990s. This was the helmet Senna used in Germany when he shared an F1 podium with Mansell and Michael Schumacher for the first and only time ever. The helmet shows signs of race used including marks from stone chippings with distinctive wear and markings that have been matched to corresponding period race imagery. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/e2f3eabe-4e4c-46ef-9b9c-b472013566af.webp) The interior of the helmet even retains the production identification label marked: Production No A / MAR 1992 / Inspector: H Takayama. The helmet also bears its original Snell SA90 label with serial number: SA 0025979. And the helmet is accompanied by an official McLaren Certificate of Authenticity, so you know this isn't just a replica; it's the real thing. The auction will include a number of rare and highly sought-after collectables, racewear, car parts, race-used helmets, and exclusive memorabilia from legendary motorsport icons like Senna and Nigel Mansell. Get bidding now on [Senna's actual 1992 helmet](https://bidlive.budds.com/auctions/9999/srgrah10134/lot-details/180ce8c4-708a-47d8-ba1e-b4720135557b?%5Fgl=1%2A1gphjee%2A%5Fgcl%5Fau%2ANjQzMDQzODY0LjE3ODI4MjkzODU.&ref=the-race.com), or [check out the full collection](https://www.budds.com/auctions/upcoming-auctions/2026-07-07-motorsport-icons-live-auction-at-silverstone-museum-2cd9079e-86db-458c-82ac-645e8370f81d?ref=the-race.com). ### How Girls Across the Grid became a home for women in motorsport URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/how-girls-across-the-grid-became-a-home-for-women-in-motorsport/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T10:54:19.000Z For many Formula 1 fans, attending a race weekend is straightforward. Finding someone to share it with, as a female, is often much harder. This simple challenge is what led to the creation of Girls Across the Grid, a community that has grown from a small social media group chat into a global network of female motorsport fans, with more than 20,000 members in its Facebook community alone. What began as a way to help women connect over a shared love of racing has evolved into something much bigger. Girls Across the Grid is now a support network, a friendship group and, for many members, a place where they feel they belong within motorsport. "Motorsport is more fun when you have people to share it with," founder and director of marketing and community Corryn Banham tells The Race Extra. Like many fans, Banham loved the sport but understood how intimidating it could feel to attend events alone or be the only woman in a friendship group interested in F1. The origins of Girls Across the Grid go back to the 2022 Mexico Grand Prix. A small group of women met in London to watch the race together after connecting online. Banham documented the gathering on TikTok and was overwhelmed by the response. "The comments were full of women who said they wanted the same community," she says. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2212397296.jpg) **Another Girls Across the Grid meet-up at the Formula E* As more fans joined, an Instagram group chat quickly outgrew its original purpose. WhatsApp groups were set up, then regional communities, race-specific chats and organised meet-ups. Four years later, Girls Across the Grid has become a global network helping women attend races together, navigate the sport as newbies and build friendships that often extend far beyond motorsport. "It's gone from racing first, to friendship first," says Banham. "And I think that is really special." One example of how those friendships develop is Soraya Both, who joined the Dutch Girls Across the Grid WhatsApp group and slowly began connecting with members spread across the country, including fellow members Fenne, Daisy, Mandy, Laura, Steffie, Marian and Cleo. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/1000043203-1.jpg) *Soraya, Steffie, Mandy, Laura, Daisy (sitting in front of Soraya), and Fenne (sitting next to Daisy) at Zandvoort* At first, she admitted, she didn't know any of the group members well but that changed after a last-minute trip to Silvegas - an event staged by Girls Across the Grid at Silverstone, featuring a Las Vegas Grand Prix watch party - in 2023, where many of them met in person for the first time. "In the group chat that had been created beforehand, I started getting to know some of the girls better," Both says. "Once we were at Silvegas, those friendships grew even more. We spent a lot of time talking, and I quickly realised that I actually really liked them." From there, the connection moved quickly. Back in the Netherlands, the group stayed in constant contact, before one moment in particular changed everything. "On my youngest daughter's birthday, I suddenly got a phone call," Both recalls. "There they were...all having travelled from different parts of the country to celebrate her birthday with us." What followed were regular meet-ups, shared trips to Zandvoort, long conversations, and weekends spent together - sometimes even sleeping in the same tent at races. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/The-Race-Extra--5-.png) **Soraya and Marian share a birthday and were able to celebrate together this year* Life has since become busier for the group, and they don't see each other as often. But the bond remains. "These girls have helped me gain confidence and taught me how to set boundaries," Both says. "I honestly think that without them, I might never have started my current education, and I certainly would never have become the ambassador for the Netherlands. They have had a bigger impact on my life than they probably realise." Stories like this have become increasingly common within the community. Director of business and events, Hannah Reek, believes one of the key reasons is that Girls Across the Grid removes a barrier many women experience when trying to engage with motorsport culture. "The biggest difference is that nobody is expected to already know someone," she says. Before major race weekends, members use dedicated group chats to discuss travel plans, accommodation and practical advice. Community spreadsheets allow attendees to share where they are travelling from, where they are staying and where they are sitting. For solo travellers, particularly those attending races for the first time, it provides an immediate community. "It's designed to make introductions easy," says Reek. That approach has proven especially valuable as female engagement with motorsport continues to grow. The success of Netflix's Drive to Survive, increased visibility of women across the industry and initiatives such as F1 Academy have all helped attract new audiences to the sport. But Banham believes there are still misconceptions about women in motorsport and lingering assumptions about who belongs in racing spaces. "There are still a lot of negative connotations and historical stereotypes around motorsport generally," she says. While progress has been made, Reek argues that visibility alone is not enough. "For many women, the challenge isn't a lack of interest in motorsport," she says. "It's feeling like they belong within the space." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/unnamed--2-.jpg) **Girls Across the Grid's Corryn Banham and Hannah Reek* That sense of belonging is at the heart of Girls Across the Grid's biggest annual activation: the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Across the F1 weekend, hundreds of members are expected to engage with the organisation's activities, making Silverstone one of the most visible examples of how the community operates in practice. This year's theme is 'Memories' - celebrating friendships already formed through the community while creating opportunities for new connections. Working alongside F1 Academy, Girls Across the Grid will host a special Thursday event for 100 members before running activities throughout the weekend, including its "Glitz on the Grid" activation featuring festival glitter, friendship bracelet exchanges and community games. But perhaps the most important element is the simplest: the Girls Across the Grid stand serves as a meeting point. Whether someone is attending the British Grand Prix alone, feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the event, has become separated from friends, or simply wants to spend time with fellow fans, the stand provides a familiar place to gather. "We want people to leave Silverstone with memories and friendships that last long after the chequered flag," says Reek. For a community that began with a handful of women getting together to watch a race, Girls Across the Grid has come a long way. But according to Banham, the reason it exists hasn't really changed. Banham says the aim has never been to tell women how they should enjoy motorsport. Whether someone is attending their first race alone or has followed F1 for years, the community exists to help women connect with others who share the same passion. Because ultimately, every experience is better if you have someone to share it with. --- **To discover more about Girls Across the Grid and their events, check out their** [**website**](https://girlsacrossthegrid.com/?ref=the-race.com)**.** ### Will signing MotoGP's king of drama work out for Yamaha? URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/jorge-martin-yamaha-motogp-2027-move/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T09:05:50.000Z One of the most volatile riders on the MotoGP grid, with a track record for abrupt team exits, joining a manufacturer that's making little progress and whose departing lead rider has been openly disgruntled about its bike for years. That's one way to look [at Jorge Martin's 2027 Yamaha move,](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/jorge-martin-ai-ogura-yamaha-factory-motogp-line-up-2027-28/) which was finally officially announced on Wednesday morning, over four months after the deal was done. But given the way Martin's career has trended so far, it wouldn't be a total shock if this worked out just fine. After all, he's leading the world championship right now for a team he tried to leave last summer before he'd even really raced for it, and despite having missed a whole pre-season again this year. Martin and his management jumping for Yamaha amid the rapid dominoes of the early 2027 moves in the winter felt appropriate. Yamaha needed to quickly secure a talisman, having lost Fabio Quartararo to Honda. Honda was where Martin was supposed to be going when he tried to quit Aprilia in mid-2025\. Martin + Yamaha = Two rejected parties quickly hooking up in reaction to others' decisions. A lot of question marks that existed around Martin when Yamaha committed to him now feel answered. Back then, he'd just revealed that he wasn't actually going to fit for the start of 2026 after all. His title defence had been a litany of injuries, and his attempt to quit Aprilia while sidelined had done his public standing no favours. And yet by round three of 2026 he was a race winner again. He's now leading the championship. The massive team and bike relationship advantage Marco Bezzecchi should've had over him has been overcome... or at least overcome sufficiently. None of the mess and madness that came before seemed to matter. Maybe it will as the title fight progresses. But right now, Martin and Aprilia are - despite all the obstacles Martin's put in the way - a success. He doesn't feel like he's properly on top of the bike and he's still not completely fit. He's still leading the championship. But if Martin has proved himself all over again since signing for Yamaha, Yamaha's done less to justify Martin's faith - or the faith of his high-powered future team-mate Ai Ogura, [whose signing was also announced on Wednesday.](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/jorge-martin-ai-ogura-yamaha-factory-motogp-line-up-2027-28/) This year was always planned as a semi-write-off, all about developing the new V4-engined bike. Listen to any of its current riders though, and that development process sounds like it's flatlining. Progress is not living up to hopes or expectations. But this is Martin. Someone who contentiously snuck out of a KTM contract to get into MotoGP with Ducati instead, got snubbed for works seats there multiple times, 'rage quit' for Aprilia when snubbed yet again... still won the world championship as a satellite Ducati. Leading the championship now despite all the reasons he really, really logically shouldn't be. He could arrive at Yamaha as a double MotoGP champion - even though he will have only had two injury-wracked seasons as a factory rider. Weird, surprising, generally brilliant, things happen in Martin's career. So don't be too dismissive of what Martin-plus-Yamaha can be. ### Yamaha names Martin and Ogura as factory MotoGP line-up for 2027-28 URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/jorge-martin-ai-ogura-yamaha-factory-motogp-line-up-2027-28/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T08:17:35.000Z Current Aprilia riders Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura have been named as Yamaha's factory line-up for the next two seasons in MotoGP. Both deals are thought to have been concluded a long time ago, but Yamaha - like all its fellow manufacturers - waited for the 2027-31 agreement talks between MotoGP and its factories to be concluded before making rider announcements. Now, a day on from confirming Fabio Quartararo (set to join Honda) and Alex Rins (set to leave the MotoGP grid) would be departing, Yamaha has unveiled both Martin and Ogura. It described its line-up as combining "proven championship-winning experience with one of the sport's brightest emerging talents". "Securing riders of this calibre underlines our ambition and confidence in the project," said Yamaha racing boss Paolo Pavesio. "Jorge has already proven himself as one of the benchmark riders in MotoGP, with the speed, determination, and mindset to fight for wins and world championships. We expect him to play a key role in driving our performance forward from day one. "Ai's progression over the past one-and-a-half seasons has been outstanding. His talent, work ethic, and potential make us confident he can grow into one of the top riders in the championship. At the same time, we are especially proud to welcome a Japanese rider into the Yamaha factory team." Aprilia's strides in bike development have enabled both Martin and Ogura to play leading roles in this year's MotoGP campaign. Despite having had a particularly thorny time at the factory Aprilia team since joining last year, Martin leads the standings - while Ogura, riding for satellite team Trackhouse, has established himself as perhaps the grid's pre-eminent used-tyre specialist and is just 25 points off the championship lead in fourth. Yamaha contracts are likely to be widely regarded as a step down for both. While the 2026 version of the Aprilia RS-GP is perhaps the finest MotoGP bike in history, the 2026 version of the Yamaha M1 - featuring a V4 engine instead of the inline-four engines Yamaha used to specialist in - is the worst bike on the grid. However, with a technical reset coming in 2027, featuring a switch to 850cc engines and Pirelli tyres instead of Michelins, Yamaha's 2026 has been understood as a 'prep year' for the next regulations, much to the ongoing frustration and chagrin of its current riders but perhaps giving encouragement to the likes of Martin and Ogura. The Yamaha-contracted Toprak Razgatlioglu - in the midst of an uneven but promising rookie season - will stay at the satellite team Pramac for 2027, and this announcement means he would have to wait until 2029 at the earliest to step into Yamaha's factory team. But Razgatlioglu and Yamaha are known to have gone well in the recent Brno test for 850cc prototypes and Pirelli tyres - a test the likes of Ogura and Martin, as well as other factories' new signings, couldn't run in due to contractual situations. Moto2 rider Izan Guevara, second in the intermediate class standings, is the heavy favourite to replace Razgatlioglu's current Pramac team-mate Jack Miller for 2027. ### Why F1 2026 upgrade spending is becoming contentious URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-upgrade-spending-cost-cap-development-war/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T07:39:20.000Z Critical to the outcome of the title battle, and running at a level of aggression that one team boss says he has never seen before, Formula 1's 2026 development war is fast becoming a bone of contention in the paddock. Fuelling the unease is a sense of frustration from some teams that, under the cost cap, their hands seem to be tied in being unable to spend on the developments they want to bring - while others seem unbound by budgetary constraints. On Sunday night at the Austrian Grand Prix, after an upgraded Red Bull had pushed Mercedes hard for the win a fortnight after Ferrari had beaten it in Spain, team principal Toto Wolff questioned how some of his main opposition were doing things. "On the chassis, we're always bringing small enhancements here and there because, simply, we're a little bit surprised that Ferrari can throw these huge updates at the car in the way they do," he said. "In my opinion, they need to be running out of money soon - cost cap money - because we can't do that. "We're simply lacking the buffer in cost cap to be able to bring so many parts in the way they do." A quizzical eye at the behaviour of rivals is something not just reserved for the front of the grid, however, with Fernando Alonso reckoning even Aston Martin's nearest rivals also seemed to have more open wallets. Speaking about being told by his bosses that they would not be spending anything on early season improvements, Alonso said: "Apparently there is no money to bring upgrades, unlimited upgrades, like the other teams do. "It is surprising to see the FIA page on Friday every race - because maybe they \[other teams\] have the money machine in the minus one \[floor\] in the factory." ## Cost vs performance equation Of course there is not really a magic money machine that teams have, as the FIA is now well-versed in policing the cost cap and making sure that squads are not finding clever ways to get around things. The issue at play is ultimately one of efficiency of spending and the clever targeting of performance gains, focusing on a cost-versus-laptime boost metric. By being well-planned, methodical and structured in what parts they focus on and when to bring them into play, plus finding gains in areas that are not super-expensive, teams have a route to being able to do more than others that are perhaps not as meticulous. Wolff said there was one clear outlier among the 'big four' teams right now. "The only ones that are not slowing down \[development\] is Ferrari," he said. "Between McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves, you can see we had one big one \[upgrade\] that we introduced in Montreal. "We have small parts that come in-between. I think the same for Red Bull and McLaren. "It's just Ferrari, who seems to be limitless in that way. And then on top, they were expecting ADUO \[Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities allowances\] and come with a new engine already. So they must have started to develop that six months ago." Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said the early ADUO-assisted engine step that has been added on top of the car development was done for cost cap reasons - but in terms of bringing its spending down rather than burning through more of it. Introducing that upgrade in line when the next round of engine swaps were taking place - Mercedes installed fresh, same-spec power units in Austria as well - meant there would not be unnecessary spending later on this year in bringing an extra out-of-sync step. "The lead time on the engine is huge," said Vasseur. "On some components, you have months of delay. "It was very risky for us to launch the ADUO, at least the spec two of the engine, very early for cost cap reasons. We were not expecting at all a big step this weekend." The topic of the cost cap is starting to gather momentum because the evidence from the first part of the year is that upgrades are so powerful these days in swinging the competitive order that teams need to keep them up. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: "I think what we see in 2026 is a Formula 1 operating at a level that has never been the case before. "Cadillac, probably at this circuit, was the car that was most significantly upgraded, actually. The laptimes were more competitive. "If you see the upgrades that Red Bull did, they are quite voluminous. So the overall game in terms of pure performance development, but also performance delivery to track, is to a higher level than I've ever seen before." While the first rumblings over cost-cap spending have not stirred up into a full-blown controversy yet, that could change if the apparent endless spending of some continues unabated over the remainder of the campaign. It is one thing front-loading development and outpacing rivals over a segment of the season before the cash runs out and the developments have to stop. It would be quite another to be churning through the upgrades at a faster speed than others and then continuing to be able to do so as the season winds down while everyone else has to turn off their development taps. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said he had seen nothing too unusual right now, as what has played out so far could be explained by squads choosing to front-load development spending. But the questions will come later this year if those that have made the head start continue to extend their lead. "We've decided to make the big push as early as we could from an engineering and engineering resource perspective," he said. "So yes, we have invested a large amount of our development capabilities to try to diminish that gap as early as we could. "We would like to hope that things will slow down for certainly most of the top teams in the second part. But we may have some surprises." ### Royal Mint unveils first UK motorsport coin for British GP centenary URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/royal-mint-unveils-first-uk-motorsport-coin-for-british-gp-centenary/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T17:16:22.000Z The Royal Mint has unveiled a commemorative 50p coin to mark the centenary of the British Grand Prix, celebrating 100 years since Britain's first Grand Prix race was held at Brooklands in 1926. The coin, revealed at Brooklands Museum in Surrey on Monday, is the first official UK coin to celebrate motorsport and arrives just days before the latest edition of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Its design brings together two eras of grand prix racing, featuring a car from the inaugural Brooklands race alongside contemporary Formula 1 machinery from 2026\. The Royal Mint says the imagery is intended to capture a century of technological progress in top-level motorsport, from the pioneering days of grand prix competition through to modern F1. The launch event took place at the site of Britain's first Grand Prix, held on August 7 1926 and organised by the Royal Automobile Club. To underline the historical connection, the coin was displayed alongside a Delage from the victorious manufacturer that claimed the top three positions in that inaugural race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/733693122_1361599262610476_2821588168282013156_n-2.jpeg) "For one hundred years, the Grand Prix in Britain has captured the nation's imagination, from the thundering engines at Brooklands to the wheel-to-wheel battles at Silverstone," said Rebecca Morgan, director at The Royal Mint. "This coin is a true landmark for us. It is the first time in The Royal Mint's history that motorsport has been celebrated on a UK coin, and we couldn't be prouder to mark such a momentous centenary in this way." Brooklands Museum chief executive Alex Patterson described the 1926 race as "a defining moment" for both the venue and the development of international motor racing in the UK. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Royal-Mint-Grand-Prix-50p---Brooklands-Year-Book--1-.jpg) Visitors to The Royal Mint Experience in Wales will additionally be able to strike their own Grand Prix in Britain 50p coin between July 7 and August 2. The commemorative coin collection will be available from The Royal Mint from June 29\. The collection comprises five versions of the coin, including Brilliant Uncirculated, colour Brilliant Uncirculated, silver Proof, colour silver Proof and gold Proof editions, with prices starting at £15. ### How F1 sponsorship moved on from 'stickers on cars' URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/how-f1-sponsorship-moved-on-from-stickers-on-cars/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:34:46.000Z The Race recently predicted that Mercedes was on course to become F1’s first team [to achieve $1billion in revenue](https://www.the-race.com/business/mercedes-on-course-first-f1-team-to-hit-one-billion-dollars-revenue/) based on the most recent publicly available accounts. During an exclusive follow up conversation with the main architect of that growth, Mercedes F1 Chief Commercial Officer Richard (Rich) Sanders, it was clear that even he is surprised at the size of the growth Mercedes has seen in recent years. “I am often in bewildered awe at the numbers we do,” he says. “I've been predicting that we would reach a ceiling consistently every year for the last five years but the sport keeps surprising me”. Surprising and bewildering perhaps but very quickly he confirms our billion dollar revenue prediction was correct and casually drops in his objectives go even further. “That's a mad number, isn't it? It's a mad number. That’s in dollars. I'm thinking about how we get to a billion pounds. But yeah, billion dollars, it's on the horizon. It's very close. Sanders joined ‘Team Brackley’ in late 2008 just before the Brawn one-off championship year in 2009 and has seen growth of sponsorship and licencing revenue from “literally zero” to “over £500 million next year”. The headline numbers are newsworthy enough but the complete transformation of the F1 team commercial model is why I sat down on the Mercedes Yacht at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity for The Race Business. It’s a story that is only just emerging with the key players up and down the pitlane slowly willing to provide insights into the journey they have been on into the ‘content era’ that the F1 commercial ecosystem has started to embrace. With this background and as the co-founder of the media company behind The Race, I am perhaps overly intrigued on how F1 teams are building their own content channels. But when I asked Rich if Mercedes were now a media company with a race team attached, he corrected me. “I would say we're a marketing agency. We are a very good one that's highly specialised. We often say to some of our partners that you've basically got a 150-strong marketing agency that's only focused on trying to make sure you're successful and happy. “When I joined Brawn, the whole marketing team - and I include everything in that, commercial, partner services, marketing, communications - there were five people. I was one of those five. Today, it's about 150\. It's a big machine”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_293393_HiRes.jpg) The revenue and resource ramp up story is the same one at different scales up and down the grid. So is the strong rebuke to the old adage of sponsors just wanting ‘stickers on cars’. When the subject came up in my conversation with Williams F1 Board Advisor, Peter Kenyon, he was purposefully dismissive as if to highlight how far he has transformed his team away from this focus. Rich echoed Peter’s response and focused on what had replaced said stickers. "I often view us now like a content-generating machine. And long may that continue because through content you can scale quite impressively. Whereas stickers on a car, or on a driver, it's finite, you can run out of inventory. "The comms team now have enormous importance to the commercial team. The content that we create, how we show up, the narratives that we weave into the partnerships. Most of them are very authentic. There are some pure badging exercises, but most of the partnerships have genuine authenticity to them”. With that insight it is clear to see how the team has had to increase from 5 to 150 people and how the self appointed moniker of the team being a marketing agency is difficult to dispute. It is also clear that managing this level of growth in the sport has its issues as well. One of my six predictions for the year in F1 was that there would be the start of public mutterings from sponsors about the lack of value they had received from their hefty investment in stickers on cars, content, hospitality etc. And Rich hints at the difficulties the sport has keeping its nearly 500 associated brands happy. “McLaren have around 54, 55 (partners) which is impressive**.** But I don't understand how it's possible to keep that number of partners truly happy. It's got to be a challenge for them. Because it's even a challenge for us, and we've only got 20 or so." Even the newest of observers of the sport could spout the next of Rich’s observations: "You can sell Formula One sponsorship to any number of brands, that's for sure." But the difference to the ‘old days’ seems to be the ability to identify the right partners within the framework that Mercedes has decided to operate within. From the volume of interest in the sport I opined that Mercedes maybe didn’t need the outbound department I saw Rich so carefully building pre COVID. “Well, you definitely do need an outbound department,” he says. “But the trick is … it's changed slightly. You've got to almost manage the interest to make the right decisions, to choose the right partners and making sure you're providing the right rights and the right amount of value. “We want to build these deeper relationships that are longer, deeper and have a laser focus on delivering for the partner.Whether they want revenue, whether they want exposure, whether they want best-in-class experiences. Having that laser focus to deliver does lead to the partner wanting to stay with you. And that's been a real benefit for us." Rich went on to tell me that Mercedes prides itself on long term relationships with partners which prompted me to ask a question that I hadn’t planned perhaps due to my journalistic duties being newly found and part time. During our Cannes Lions event programme I spoke to Carlos Sainz (see video, above) and asked about the impact of drivers having larger social media followings than the team for which they drive and how that impacted the balance of the relationship. With his answer and the reaction of the team still fresh in my mind I wondered what impact Lewis Hamilton, the most followed F1 driver ever, leaving Mercedes had on the team commercially. Rich’s answer surprised me. "At the time, I found it very stressful," he says. "It was January, just before the start of a new season. I felt the timing was particularly difficult for us. It just had to happen that way, sadly. However that year we made more money, in terms of an increase in revenue, than we'd ever made before. We surpassed our budget expectations that we set with Lewis the September before." The loss of the most famous F1 driver, a seven-time world champion having no impact commercially perhaps shows the strength of that machine that has been built from five to 150 people, the stability of long term contracts and deliverables for partners being wider than ever before, but it does raise a question about the impact of drivers on a team’s off track success. When Hamilton was announced at Ferrari there were clickbait headlines in sections of the F1 press that screamed his move had triggered a $10Bn increase in the Ferrari market cap. It did not. The announcement was made on the same day as Ferrari’s FY2023 earnings release and 2024 guidance which both gave the market significant positive news. Financial commentators such as Reuters were more realistic and referred to Lewis’s move as separate to the share price move. But Rich saw that Ferrari did indeed benefit significantly from the Lewis factor, even whilst he and Mercedes saw no downside. Proving again that F1 in the second half of the 2020s is not a zero sum game. **“**The big impact was Ferrari.I think Ferrari will probably admit this. Lewis moving to Ferrari enabled Ferrari to sign a lot of very, very big deals**.** I think that was very helpful to them. I think they realised quite quickly why Lewis can really move the needle.Ferrari probably felt the biggest impact, in a way that maybe they suspected revenue growth, but not at the level that they had." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/M522593_British_Grand_Prix__Sunday__Richard_Pardon.jpg) Mercedes head towards their billion dollar or even (surprisingly) pounds revenue threshold with a driver that was only a year old when Rich joined the team and yet it seems that can only have a positive impact on the seemingly ‘bewildering’ growth. “We always believed in Kimi. Being truthful, part of the reason Lewis left was because we weren't willing to make a commitment that would make it impossible for us to elevate Kimi at the right time. “I think history has probably proven that was the correct call, given where we are now with Kimi. Kimi and George are great drivers, great ambassadors. It was the right call. But it was tough at the time." Another generational talent on track carrying the team to new heights off of it? Perhaps this is the clearest sign of the ‘content era’ spinning up new heroes quicker than ever. And I had to double check Rich’s assertion that Kimi could equal Lewis commercially. And he was double sure. **DC:** "Do you think if Kimi wins the championship this year that he's as bankable as Lewis?" **Rich:** **"Yes."** **DC:** "Yeah?" **Rich:** **"I really do. I really do."** Now I’m the one in bewildered awe. I’m sure my suggestion of ‘Kimi - Billion Dollar Baby’ as a headline will be rejected by the adults in The Race’s newsroom but it’s sort of true and might just turn up in someone’s vernacular. ### How this historic partnership supports Scuderia Ferrari HP's performance URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/how-this-historic-partnership-supports-scuderia-ferrari-hp-performance/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T16:36:47.000Z **Presented by** [**Shell**](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=the-race&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) The 2026 Formula 1 British Grand Prix marks the 75th anniversary of Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP's first race win together - and a chance to celebrate a partnership that goes much deeper than a sponsorship arrangement. While the famous Shell logos on the Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 cars are the most visibly obvious sign of this incredibly long-running relationship, the two organisations are entwined on a much deeper technical level. Shell plays a constant active role in Scuderia Ferrari HP's performance and reliability, while using its learnings from that work to directly inform its road fuel and lubricants creation - as Shell's Principal Scientist of Motorsports, Valeria Loreti, explains. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) "For us, Formula 1 - and motorsport more broadly - has always been about much more than brand visibility," says Loreti. "While the Shell logo has been a familiar presence on Ferrari cars for generations, the real value of the relationship lies in the technical collaboration that happens behind the scenes every day. "Shell and Scuderia Ferrari HP work together to develop bespoke fuels and lubricants specifically engineered for the team's power unit. "Our scientists and engineers, based at Shell's Technology Centre in Hamburg and across our global R&D network, work closely with Scuderia Ferrari HP's engineers in Maranello and at race weekends, analysing data, conducting testing programmes, developing new formulations and identifying opportunities to improve performance, efficiency and reliability. "That's why we describe it as an Innovation Partnership rather than a sponsorship. "For more than 75 years, Shell has contributed technology, expertise and research that help Scuderia Ferrari HP compete at the highest level. "In return, Formula 1 provides an unrivalled environment to accelerate innovation, generating insights that can ultimately benefit millions of customers through the products and solutions we develop for the road." ## Trackside laboratory's role ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-Track-Lab-Imagery-copy-2.jpg) Shell's F1 programme encompasses more than 38,000 man-hours of work annually across over 110 technical specialists. Some are directly involved in Scuderia Ferrari HP's trackside operations at every Grand Prix via the mobile Trackside Laboratory. "They analyse fuel and lubricant samples, verify product performance and compliance, and work side-by-side with Scuderia Ferrari HP's engineers throughout the event," explains Loreti. "The data and insights generated trackside are shared in real time, helping the team monitor engine health, optimise performance and make informed reliability decisions across the season." ## Shell's new challenges for F1 2026 F1's 2026 rules revolution was headlined by the dramatic changes to the power unit regulations, but within them was a huge new challenge for fuel suppliers with the move to Advanced Sustainable race fuels. "Developing an advanced sustainable race fuel has required us to rethink parts of the entire value chain," says Loreti. "That includes evaluating different advanced sustainable feedstocks, establishing new manufacturing and blending processes, developing segregated supply chains, and implementing robust carbon-intensity tracking and certification systems. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-2.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) "We've learned a tremendous amount about how advanced sustainable race fuel components can be sourced, transported, blended and verified at scale. Those insights are valuable not only for motorsport, but also for understanding how lower-carbon fuel solutions could be deployed more broadly in the future. "From a technical perspective, we've conducted more than two million fuel simulations as part of the development programme. "The challenge was never simply to develop a more advanced sustainable fuel. The challenge was to develop one that delivers the performance, efficiency and reliability demanded by Formula 1 in the new Scuderia Ferrari HP Power Unit design." Those new rules also bring in fresh scope for rapid in-season technical development through the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system. Scuderia Ferrari HP qualified for the upgrade allowance and worked rapidly to bring a revised power unit design for last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. That was also an opportunity for Shell to "unlock additional performance through our fluids", says Loreti. "Both Shell V-Power race fuels and Shell Helix Ultra race lubricants are engineered to meet the precise requirements of the current power unit," she explains. "As the power unit evolves, we continuously refine and optimise our formulations to ensure they deliver maximum performance and efficiency within the updated specification. "This ongoing co-development approach ensures that our fuels and lubricants are always fully aligned with the latest hardware, helping to extract the best possible performance from the overall package." [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/20260625_JN512081_Shell_Motorsport_Ad_300x250px_v2_Ad2-2-1.jpg)](https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/technology-and-innovation/innovation-in-motorsport/shell-and-ferrari/the-first-win.html?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=social%5Fpaid&utm%5Fcontent=motorsports%5Fimage&utm%5Fcampaign=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage&cid=ferrari%5Ff1%5Fwin%5Flanding%5Fpage) ### Why Marvel's Williams F1 comic got the 'quickest yes' of author's career URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/why-marvels-williams-f1-comic-got-the-quickest-yes-of-authors-career/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T14:35:12.000Z Marvel comic writer Ethan Sacks admitted he gave “the quickest yes” of his career when offered the chance to create the storyline to the comic collaboration with Williams F1 team. The F1 team announced it would be collaborating with Marvel in a special one-shot comic ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, with seven different covers expected to launch across the season. After releases for Miami and Monaco, the latest edition has been released ahead of the British Grand Prix weekend, with the comic eventually set to go on sale in specialist stores in October 2026\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CUSTWILLRACINGCOM2026001_DC61-page-00001.jpg) The Marvel x Williams British Grand Prix cover In a first-of-its kind venture in F1’s ever-expanding market, the collaboration marks a special twist to the classic superhero comic book as its characters meet the fast-paced world of motorsport. Sacks, who was tasked with creating the storyline for the partnership, revealed it was a fairly quick turnaround between finding out about the project and getting to work - but was more than delighted to take on a unique opportunity. “It was the quickest yes I’ve ever given,” Sacks told The Race. “Marvel came to me with this idea about their collaboration with the Williams F1 team and said ‘would you be interested in writing this?’ “We went out for lunch, had talks over lunch and after one hour I immediately came away with the idea of a storyline and what it would be like. “I knew immediately that Iron Man would be one of the main characters just because of the characteristics. Especially the technology and the engineering, it’s just so obvious with an F1 partnership. “Then, in the same way, you had to pick one of the bad guys and the first one that came to mind was Doctor Doom. "Both characters funnily enough are played by Robert Downey Jr. and he has that kind of charisma that people would be able to recognise from the movies and recognise in the comic.” It wasn’t just the superheroes that needed to be recognisable - as Sacks undertook hours of extensive research watching interviews of Williams drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and team principal James Vowles to transform them into comic book superheroes. To capture the essence of the team, Albon’s “love for animals” and Sainz’s monologues about food made it into the storyline, while Sacks also attempted to capture Vowles’ “naturally funny” character. After the storyline was complete, the next step of the “assembly line” saw the concept passed on to artists and designers, as if piecing together the body of work in a similar manner to the engineers in the garage over a race weekend. “Just like F1, it really is a team effort - piecing together a comic book is kind of like a factory line,” Sacks explained. “You start with the storyline and then the artist Greg Land did an amazing job of bringing the imagery to the story. “Then the colorists, who really made everything pop and the text designers and everything, it’s not just a one-person job, it takes everyone to drive things forward, if you’ll excuse the unintentional pun there. “We’re just really happy with the way that it turned out and excited for people to be able to read it and see the amazing work that went into it.” With the unique cover designs meant to capture the typical comic fan feeling of being able to pick and choose from multiple special editions, Sacks hopes the collaboration can introduce both sets of fans into a brand-new world. “That’s the goal really. We want to take this amazing sport to as many people as possible, and by working with Williams it’s been a new experience for everyone. “We didn’t use too much jargon so people could follow along and enjoy the story regardless of their knowledge, but we still wanted to highlight all of the things that makes this sport so great.” The project also introduced Sacks himself to a new audience. While he had previously followed NASCAR, the process of creating the comic gave him a much closer look at Formula 1\. “I wasn’t a massive F1 fan before taking this one, I followed NASCAR being American but not so much F1\. But now, listening and following it, I can say that I am a fan and I’m really glad to have taken it on. “It’s the same for Formula 1 fans who may be familiar with the movies but have never read a comic before, we want them to be able to follow along with the characters without having to go back and read different things to make sense of it all. “We want to show them exactly what makes us love comic books and show them our world and why we find so much joy in what we do.” ### Silverstone Museum unveils year-long Ascari immersive exhibition URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/silverstone-museum-year-long-alberto-ascari-immersive-exhibition/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T13:52:06.000Z Silverstone Museum has become the first venue in the UK to host *Black Cats & Chequered Flags*, an immersive virtual and mixed reality experience exploring the life and career of two-time Formula 1 world champion Alberto Ascari. The installation has opened at the museum as a year-long exclusive exhibit, offering visitors an interactive look at Ascari's achievements, his superstitions, and the events that shaped his legacy, including the cursed number 26 and the black cats associated with his career. Created by the Multiverse Institute for Arts and Technology (MIAT), the experience combines virtual reality, mixed reality, archival material and multiplayer gameplay to put visitors inside key moments from Ascari's racing career. Visitors will be able to take part in a simulated 1950s pitstop before racing alongside the Ferrari driver at Monza while experiencing period audio and visual recreations. The project was selected for competition at the Venice Immersive section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in 2025 and previously premiered at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello. Silverstone Museum director of curation and learning Rob Jaina said the installation was a natural fit given Ascari's close links to the track. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Ascari-7.jpg) Alberto Ascari "It was in October 1948 when he first raced on the world-famous circuit, finishing second in the Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix driving for Maserati, at the very first grand prix ever held here," said Jaina. "He returned to Silverstone with Ferrari the following year and won the inaugural BRDC International Trophy, marking one of Ferrari's earliest victories on British soil. "Ascari later won world championship grands prix at Silverstone in 1952 and 1953 on his way to consecutive Formula 1 world titles." Ascari remains the only Italian driver to win multiple F1 world championships with Ferrari and is still the most recent Italian world champion in the series. Silverstone Museum CEO Phil Lawrie described the attraction as another major addition to the venue's offering ahead of what it anticipates to be a record summer visitor season. "We expect this exceptional experience to be extremely popular with our visitors," said Lawrie. "The museum has a strong track record of offering unique experiences that help tell the story of Silverstone and the legends who have raced here." The museum also announced that children aged 15 and under will receive free admission between July 6 and September 1 as part of its summer programme. *Black Cats & Chequered Flags* will run at Silverstone Museum throughout the next year alongside the venue's existing exhibits and its current *Driven by Design* exhibition, which focuses on the designers behind some of F1's most influential cars. ### What time is F1's 2026 British Grand Prix? Full weekend schedule URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/what-time-is-f1s-2026-british-grand-prix-full-weekend-schedule/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T13:35:47.000Z **Presented by** [**Apple TV**](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) The 2026 Formula 1**®** season returns to where the championship staged its first-ever race at Silverstone for the 2026 British Grand Prix. There will be two F1 races at Silverstone this weekend as it's the fourth sprint weekend of the season. Below you'll find the all-important session times for the weekend, as well as all the information on where to watch the action on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com). ## British GP schedule (US times) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1360340_HiRes.jpg) *PDT = Pacific daylight time, EDT = US Eastern daylight time* **Friday July 3** **Practice 1**: 4.30am (PDT), 7.30am (EDT) **Sprint qualifying**: 8.30am (PDT), 11.30am (EDT) **Saturday July 4** **Sprint race**: 4am (PDT), 7am (EDT) **GP qualifying**: 8am (PDT), 11am (EDT) **Sunday July 5** **British Grand Prix**: 7am (PDT), 10am (EDT) --- Watch the Formula 1® Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), July 3-5\. U.S. only. --- ## British GP schedule (local time) **Friday July 3** **Practice 1**: 12.30pm **Sprint qualifying:** 4.30pm **Saturday July 4** **Sprint race**: 12pm **GP qualifying**: 4pm **Sunday July 5** **British Grand Prix**: 3pm ## How to watch the British GP [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) is the new home of F1 in the US from 2026\. Fans can view every minute of the British Grand Prix weekend live by signing up to [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) and accessing [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com)'s new dedicated F1 channel. [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) has every F1 2026 practice, qualifying and race live, as well as a full catch-up and highlights catalogue in case you miss any of the action live. As well as pre and post-race programming, there are additional live feeds to follow the action, including 22 onboard driver cameras, live timing, driver trackers and more. --- Watch the Formula 1® Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), July 3-5\. U.S. only. ### The nasty surprise Formula E's calendar has given teams URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/the-nasty-surprise-formula-es-calendar-has-given-teams/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T13:06:08.000Z For some Formula E teams, the news that there would be [two back-to-back events on next season's calendar](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/brands-hatch-one-of-three-new-additions-to-formula-es-next-calendar/) was something of a nasty surprise last week when the 2026-27 schedule was announced at the FIA World Motorsport Council meeting in Macau. Formula E will undertake concurrent events next season for the first time since the Berlin and Monaco races that were on concurrent weekends in May 2017, back in Formula E’s third season. But this time, each of the back-to-backs will be double-header meetings, meaning four races in a week. The Race has discovered that the moves to have Berlin and Monaco together and then Zandvoort and Jarama in June were a shock to the teams, who were not consulted over the specifics of the plans. A variety of challenges will be provided by the back-to-back events, including human resource allocation, logistics, marketing activation and key questions on new Gen4 suppliers being capable of fully servicing teams. Teams’ needs to service the concurrent weekend events are presently being worked through. Discussions between them and Formula E and the FIA are ongoing on how best to approach them. Back-to-back races in international championships outside of Formula 1 are reasonably rare. Mainly because teams are smaller and activating the events is also challenging for in-house promoters. However, the Monaco event is promoted by the Automobile Club de Monaco, while the Zandvoort races will be marketed by TIG Sports and Sports Vibes, the same promoters who worked on F1's outgoing Dutch GP. They will all work in conjunction with Formula E. But teams are more concerned about the logistical challenges and the capability of new suppliers to Gen4 in being able to fully service and provide components for what will still be relatively new hardware in Gen4\. Andretti team principal and also chair of the Formula E Teams and Manufacturers Association, Roger Griffiths, told The Race that the grouped races were "a little bit of a surprise when we saw it and we're working through what that really means. “We're not like a Formula 1 organisation,” added Griffiths. ‘We don't have garage build crews that come in and get the garages prepared and we don't have huge engineering teams back at base, so it is asking a lot of the team personnel to step up to support back-to-back events. “What we want to ensure is that when we arrive at a venue, the venue is ready, that the teams are ready, that the championship is ready, the supplier bases are ready. Griffiths also expanded on complexities with the new Gen4 car, which is currently in the performance testing phase with manufacturers. “It's a new car, it's a big change, and it's a lot more complex than the current car,” added Griffiths. “So, we want to ensure that we're doing the right thing at all times. We want to ensure that we put on the best show. There's still a lot of work to be done to understand the implications of what's been proposed to us.” Jaguar’s Ian James was slightly more positive about the moves, rationalising that it was part and parcel of the world’s only all-electric world championship growing into something that could become potentially more profitable in the future. “I think it's a challenge for us that is actually a reflection on the growth of the championship,” said James. “So, I take it back to basics. What do we exist to do? We exist to actually make this as good as it possibly can be, and if it's improving year on year, then the interest is growing. “The growth is going to be growing, and it's going to put us in situations where we're not going to have a choice but to have back-to-back races going forward, so would you choose to do that? Probably not, but are we against doing it, given the fact that it underscores the opportunity to grow? Also, not." But James’ pragmatism also had undercurrents of frustration. The fact that the back-to-back races were a complete surprise to the teams, who were not consulted on the decisions at all, will cause some concern among entrants who want more clarity on key decisions within the all-electric world championship. That has left some with a degree of antipathy over the calendar formation because some teams see the back-to-backs as unnecessary and too demanding on teams that are not set up as logistically dextrous as F1 or IndyCar operations. James reckons that a future working group on these specific matters would help improve the communication ahead of schedules being locked in. “If you don't really know for certain where the biggest challenges are going to come from, I think we're already starting to talk about putting a working group together that can pre-empt some of those issues,” he said. “Make sure that we've got mitigations in place to lower the risk, and then put ourselves in the best possible position for success.” Formula E wants to expand the calendar to around 24 races by 2030, when the Gen4 period has matured and when the next generation of cars will come on stream. That will likely mean more back-to-back events because there is widespread agreement that the schedule should cease in July and not spill into the traditional holiday month of August, which it has done in three of the last five calendars. You can’t please all of the people, all of the time. That goes without saying. But as Formula E looks to expand its action, capitalise on its new quicker cars and also integrate much more into permanent circuits, in conjunction with a cost cap and with essentially capped resources for teams, a burnout of sorts can easily start to fray the edges at least, if it is not careful. ### Yamaha announces Quartararo, Rins exits for MotoGP 2027 URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/yamaha-announces-quartararo-rins-exits-for-motogp-2027/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T08:28:12.000Z Yamaha has kicked off what's expected to be the second round of major 2027 MotoGP rider line-up announcements by officially bidding farewell to Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins. Like the majority of 2027 deals, the decisions were an open secret in the paddock for months, but announcements had been held up by the only recently resolved contract impasse [between Liberty Media and the MotoGP team](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-and-its-teams-finally-agree-their-concorde-deal/)s. Quartararo is heading for Honda, while Rins faces the end of his MotoGP racing career. Yamaha has signed a pair of current Aprilia riders to replace them - factory racer and current championship leader Jorge Martin plus Trackhouse's [Dutch Grand Prix](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/dutch-gp-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/) winner Ai Ogura. Official confirmation of those deals plus Quartararo's switch to Honda is expected imminently now Yamaha has made its first announcement. Rins's Yamaha stint has been a painful disappointment. He arrived at the start of 2024 still recovering from the serious leg injury he had suffered while at LCR Honda the previous summer, and at a time when Yamaha's competitiveness was at an extreme low. That uncompetitiveness strained the long-running Quartararo-and-Yamaha relationship, which had begun so well when Quartararo won the 2021 title in his first year as a factory racer after promotion from satellite team Petronas SRT. Quartararo has been an increasingly frustrated presence over recent years, particularly this season with the slow start to the new V4 engine project - a change of direction he will see no benefit from as he'll soon be at Honda. Yamaha MotoGP managing director Paolo Pavesio admitted the team and Quartararo had "shared both great successes and difficult moments" together. "We have grown, celebrated achievements that have shaped our story, and faced challenges that have strengthened us," he said. "Beyond the results, it is this journey that defines our relationship, and in the end, Fabio will always remain one of the true legends of Yamaha MotoGP." As for Rins, Pavesio thanked him for "bringing valuable experience, meaningful insight, and unwavering commitment". Yamaha's satellite team Pramac is expected to keep Toprak Razgatlioglu but to release Jack Miller in favour of Moto2 graduate Izan Guevara. ### The full extent of Aston Martin's brutal 2026 F1 car problems URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-we-learned-about-aston-martins-new-lighter-car-plans/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T08:48:23.000Z Aston Martin's Formula 1 upgrade plans are now taking shape, with a lighter and reworked AMR26 set to debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break. The decision on introducing the new car is also no longer wedded to when a new Honda power unit will be introduced. Previously it had been thought that Aston Martin, which has been F1's slowest team so far this year, would align both the new car and new engine for one significant performance step. It was widely anticipated that the Belgian GP next month was the most likely event for the new engine and new car to run together. However, the timetable for the car and power unit changes has diverged. As Honda continues work on its engine and is unsure about when its upgrade will be ready for introduction, Aston Martin feels that getting its revised car out before the summer break is important as that will help establish a development path over the remainder of the season. The team wants to get itself into a position to be able to fight for points as soon as possible, especially with Audi only just ahead of it, having not scored since the season-opening Australian GP in March despite having the seventh-fastest car on average. ## Track-dictated choice The uncertainty over when the power unit step arrives is understood to have had an influence on Aston Martin's call on when the new car comes, a decision that has been influenced by the nature of the tracks coming up. Without a better engine, Aston Martin knows it is likely to struggle on the long straights at Spa-Francorchamps regardless of which car specification it has - so it does not make sense to rush car parts for the Belgian GP. But an improved car would be better-suited to the tight and twisty layout of the Hungaroring just a week later, so it is a more logical place to bring things. "We are not so far away," Aston Martin's chief trackside officer Mike Krack said, when asked by The Race about the psychological challenges of repeatedly going into battle with its current uncompetitive car. "Let's say there is light at the end of the tunnel. We will get through the next two events with the situation we had already." ## The car changes While there has been lots of talk of the Aston Martin upgrade being a B-spec car, it is understood that the changes being worked on by team principal Adrian Newey do not amount to such a major departure nor a concept shift. The revisions are instead focused more on addressing key weaknesses that emerged with the AMR26, which include a lack of downforce and being too heavy. "The main structural elements remain the same – the chassis and gearbox architecture don't fundamentally change – but we've taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis," Newey told Aston Martin's own website. "The front suspension is unchanged. The rear suspension is slightly revised. We've developed a new nose and substantially revised aerodynamic surfaces. So, while the core structure is similar, it's a big aerodynamic package coupled with significant weight reduction. The target is to get very close to the weight limit." Newey added: "We're predicting a large step, but I'm reluctant to put specific numbers out there because our simulation tools aren't yet as sophisticated or well correlated as they need to be. "Historically, at this team, there hasn't been enough investment in engineering simulation tools – not just project management systems, but the core physics tools themselves. We're putting that investment in now, but you don't rewrite and validate those tools overnight. Correlating them properly with the real car takes time. "At the moment, they're improving, but the real gains from that work will come later in the year." The Race has learned that the decision to go for a car revamp was made as early as before the season opener in Australia, as soon as it became clear how big Aston Martin's troubles were with its new car. The troubled testing period at Barcelona and in Bahrain, which was not helped by vibration issues triggered by the marriage of the Honda engine to the chassis, exposed not only weaknesses with its car but also the Aston Martin organisation. Newey has been known throughout his career for wanting to push things to the limit when it comes to car designs, but this approach within a relatively immature organisation like Aston Martin's triggered some unintended consequences. He explained: "Aerodynamically, we also took a bold direction – which was largely pushed by me – without the luxury of exploring multiple concepts in depth because time was against us. I wouldn't say the direction we've taken is fundamentally wrong, but it has thrown up challenges we didn't anticipate." Newey also revealed he'd suffered some health issues in 2025. "I'm OK now, but it's been a difficult period. It never rains but it pours," Newey said. "In truth, I was not 100 per cent last year. I had to balance health and work much more carefully. "The team handled it incredibly well. I kept a very good relationship with the engineers and I don't feel it caused too much of a blip. That's a testament to how adaptable and supportive everyone here is." ## A 'frustrating' car build Weaknesses with the team's simulator, the need to better understand feedback from its relatively new windtunnel, the requirement to improve design and manufacturing processes, plus staff interaction, all contributed to a car that did not work as intended and that was overweight. "We were relying on tools and processes that had been patched and bodged for years – you could trace some of them right back to the very early days of the Jordan team that was based here in Silverstone, long before Aston Martin returned to the grid," Newey said. "At some point, a system that's just patch‑on‑patch stops being fit for purpose. That's where we had got to. "The result was a very frustrating car build. Parts weren't being ordered at the right time – not because people weren't doing their jobs, but because the underlying system was failing them." While there has been no official word on how far over the 768kg weight limit it is, there are suggestions it is somewhere between 10-15kg too heavy. Once committed to going for a new car - which meant not bringing any significant upgrades to the current AMR26 - Newey's focus at its Silverstone factory has been as much about improving systems and working practices back at base as designing new parts. Once a baseline is established with the revamped car, the team has scope to bring further improvements over the second half of the year. Krack said that Aston Martin, which has fallen away from the pack at the back of the grid, was counting down the days until the improvements arrive. "Everyone is flat-out because we want to get the maximum out of it, obviously," he said. "So you always push the deadlines as much as you can. And we will bring it as soon as it is ready." ## No money to spend Aston Martin's early decision to throw everything at a major car revamp rather than improve its baseline AMR26 in incremental steps was heavily influenced by cost-cap limitations. Teams are now restricted in terms of how much resource they can throw at car developments, and have to be meticulous in terms of balancing out what to spend and when to spend it so they don't run out of money too early. Every part that is introduced in F1 is approved by a team's accountants to make sure that its cost versus performance-gain ratio is good enough. Front-loading development expenses has its advantages in terms of making the most of a car advantage. But for Aston Martin, aware of how far off it was and how much was needed to get itself into a position to score points, any early expenditure made no sense. This view was further embellished by the fact that reducing car weight, one of the big problems with its current car, is an expensive and complicated thing for teams to execute. As an example on this front, it has taken a frontrunning squad such as Red Bull until the Austrian GP - round eight of the season - to [shed excess bulk](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/where-red-bull-stands-in-tackling-overweight-car-problem/) from its RB22 to get itself pretty close to the weight limit. Aston Martin's decision to delay spending may have been annoying for the competitive mindset of its drivers, who want faster machinery immediately - with Fernando Alonso saying he was particularly irked every race weekend when he is forced to see how much other teams were bringing into play while being told by his bosses there is nothing Aston Martin can spend. "\[It\] is surprising to see the FIA \[upgrades\] page on Friday every race because maybe they have the money machine in the minus one \[floor\] in the factory," he said about other teams. However, Alonso understands the bigger picture in play. Yes, spending money on upgrades now would have delivered small gains in performance, but Aston Martin knows that only a truly big step is going to put it in contention to add to its current tally of one solitary point. The hope is clear that once Newey's revamped package finally appears, having not spent money in the first half of the year, that could then allow Aston Martin to keep up a rate of development after the summer shutdown for longer than rivals that have been freely spending more recently and could hit their limit. ## Single Honda upgrade Honda's upgraded power unit, which is believed to revolve around improvements to combustion and friction reduction, may now not come until after the summer break. While the final timetable for its introduction has not yet been set in stone, the schedule of races before the shutdown means there is little point bringing it to the Hungarian GP if it is not ready in time for Belgium the week before. Even after the break, high-speed Monza in September is a more logical place to bring an engine upgrade than the tight-and-twisty Zandvoort in late-August. Honda itself has remained coy about when the upgrade will arrive, with work ongoing on its dynos at its R&D facility in Sakura in Japan. Its repeated line is that the upgrade will appear "around summer". What Honda is more definitive about, however, is that it is not going to make full use of it allowances under F1's Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system (ADUO) to introduce two new specifications this year. Having been deemed to be more than 4% adrift of the benchmark Red Bull engine, Honda joins Ferrari and Audi in being allowed a double step over the remainder of the 2026 campaign, as well as two more upgrades in 2027. However, it has laid out that the upgrade coming later this year will be its only homologation change for the current campaign - with the development focus from then on shifting towards next year. Honda's trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said: "For the first one \[new engine\], we just focused to bring a lot of update points. "Then, after the summer shutdown, we have another strategy for next year rather than put a small update each time. So I have to say, we have a long-term roadmap to improve our performance." ### Mercedes has improved its F1 engine - but not with ADUO URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-has-no-aduo-f1-engine-upgrade-planned/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T08:28:45.000Z Mercedes has ruled out using its Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities token for the time being, with fresh Formula 1 engines introduced at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix already delivering a "bit more spiciness" with performance. The manufacturer's internal combustion engine has been deemed by the FIA to be at least 2% behind the benchmark Red Bull, which means Mercedes will be allowed extra spending and test bench hours to bring one new homologation this year and one in 2027. While rivals Ferrari and Audi have already jumped on their ADUO allocations to introduce power unit upgrades, Mercedes has steered clear for now. So while at the Red Bull Ring George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were given a host of fresh power unit components - including new internal combustion engines, turbo chargers, batteries and control electronics - none of these were actually upgrades. However, it is understood that Mercedes did use the opportunity to introduce a raft of reliability tweaks across the board aimed at addressing concerns that had emerged in the opening part of the season. And on the batteries, in particular, revisions to the control electronics were viewed as an essential step to help avoid repeats of what it thinks triggered the failures that put Russell out in Canada and Antonelli out at Barcelona. The combination of reliability tweaks, which will have given Mercedes confidence to run the power units a bit more aggressively, plus gains that come from new engines that are not suffering from end-of-life degradation, were suggested by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to have given it a small power boost anyway. So, despite the door being open for Mercedes to work on upgrades to further cement its championship domination, Wolff said it is happy to remain with what it has right now. Asked to clarify whether the new power units included performance developments, Wolff said: "No, they were just new power units. "With that comes less mileage, comes a little bit more spiciness. But there was no upgrade in it, and at the moment there's no upgrade planned." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1421617_HiRes.jpg) Mercedes' decision to keep its engine in the same specification will be bad news for Red Bull, which will be unable to qualify for ADUO until one of its rivals has overtaken it by at least 2%. The FIA will be reviewing the performance of all the power units for the period between the Monaco GP at the start of June and the Hungarian GP in late-July to see if there has been any shift in the rankings. Red Bull is still trying to convince the FIA to change its mind on the original ranking from before last month's Canadian GP that put it on top, with a review of the data [nearing its conclusion](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/controversial-fia-aduo-engine-ruling-unlikely-to-change/). Laurent Mekies, Red Bull's team principal, expressed his fears of being put in a trap by rivals where, if they did not improve their internal combustion engines - the only part of the power unit taken into account in the ADUO ranking - then his outfit could be left unable to qualify for any upgrades. Speaking in Austria about the dangers of getting snookered by others who have not made improvements, Mekies said: "You're right. There is a large risk there for Red Bull, so you are completely right in exposing that risk. "It is one of the reasons why it is vital for Red Bull, and more generally for the sport, that we get that picture right. "We are thankful to the FIA for the fact that they are taking the time to release their conclusion. And yes, you always would like to reach an earlier conclusion, but it's more important that we reach the right one, even if it takes a bit more time." Beyond the Mercedes battery and control electronics changes that were [introduced by its customer teams](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-brings-f1-battery-upgrade-to-austria-after-reliability-woes/) in Austria, fresh elements of the other power units components are expected to be phased in by them over the next few races. ### The weaknesses Ferrari's disappointing engine upgrade debut exposed URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-weaknesses-exposed-f1-engine-upgrade-debut-race/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T17:20:20.000Z Ferrari and its rivals were caught out by a deeply underwhelming debut race for its much-anticipated engine upgrade at Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix. Qualifying in Austria promised so much, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton getting between the Mercedes duo, potentially setting up a Barcelona rematch. But Sunday in Austria proved to be nothing like Barcelona. Ferrari was well-beaten by Mercedes, jumped by the upgraded Red Bull, and even pipped by McLaren, leaving it fourth-best as Hamilton was almost half a minute adrift of the victory in fifth. Things were even worse for second-place starter Leclerc, who was another 19 seconds down the road from Hamilton in eighth. Both drivers were baffled at that day-on-day downturn, something Leclerc described as being "difficult to understand". So what exactly went so wrong for Ferrari? How did it go from race winner to fourth-best at the very next round despite successfully upgrading its power unit? ## A deceptive Saturday First off, there was the deceptively good qualifying, in which Leclerc ended up only two and a half tenths off George Russell's polesitting Mercedes and ahead of Kimi Antonelli's. This gap should have been closer to four to five tenths, but Russell had to lift for single-waved yellow flags for Max Verstappen's crashed Red Bull. The fact that Russell was still two and a half tenths clear with such a lift into the Turn 9 right-hander on such a short circuit was overlooked evidence of Mercedes' superiority over Ferrari. Had Antonelli not mistaken the yellow flag for a double-waved one, it would have almost certainly been an all-Mercedes front row. And had Verstappen's RB22 not malfunctioned transitioning from straight to corner mode at Turn 9, then Verstappen wouldn't have speared into the barriers and would also have been a threat to the Ferraris. That alone doesn't explain why Sunday was so disastrous, but a weaker-than-it-looked Saturday consequently made the downturn look more dramatic than it was. But while the signs were there in qualifying, Ferrari's biggest weaknesses were exposed in the race. ## A big power issue The only reason Ferrari was able to bring an engine upgrade to Austria in the first place was that it knew F1's first Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) rankings would determine its internal combustion engine to be over 2% adrift of the benchmark, therefore entitling it to a mid-season engine upgrade. In fact, the Ferrari power unit was judged to be over 4% off, so it's been granted two mid-season upgrades and two for 2027\. And The Race's sources believe Ferrari's internal combustion engine was actually 6-8% off the Red Bull Powertrains benchmark. Ferrari's Austria engine upgrade worked as expected, but it was never going to be enough to bridge the large power unit deficit it has. It's particularly exposed at a circuit such as the Red Bull Ring, but hidden somewhere like Barcelona, where there are plenty of opportunities to recharge. You only have to look at the GPS traces to see the Ferrari deployment tailing off before the end of the straights versus the Mercedes and the Red Bull. For example, the Ferrari was routinely losing 20km/h to them on the run to the Turn 4 right-hander. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image--40-.png) Or for another visual example, F1's own ghost car comparison between Russell and Leclerc's qualifying laps showed how the Mercedes pulled well clear on the run to Turn 4. > Russell 🆚 Leclerc > > Heading onboard with Charles Leclerc in our Ghost Car comparison from their quickest runs in Q3 😮‍💨[#F1](https://x.com/hashtag/F1?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [#AustrianGP](https://x.com/hashtag/AustrianGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [pic.twitter.com/J6KVwMnLL6](https://t.co/J6KVwMnLL6?ref=the-race.com) > > — Formula 1 (@F1) [June 27, 2026](https://x.com/F1/status/2070974952493473974?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) The recovered energy comes from the internal combustion engine, and Ferrari's can't produce enough during super clipping in Austria, with only a couple of big braking zones and protracted full-throttle sections. In fact, even third-place finisher Antonelli was caught out by the Ferrari's weak deployment, saying in the post-race cooldown room: "They were deploying so weirdly, I almost crashed with Leclerc in Turn 1." Antonelli was also able to make an unusual pass at Turn 9 early in the race as Leclerc's Ferrari ran out, desperately harvesting energy well before the braking zone. While it's the internal combustion engine that matters for the ADUO rankings, Ferrari is clearly lacking in the strength of its electrical components, too, compared to the market-leading Mercedes. Hamilton said Mercedes had "far more power than everybody else this weekend" and did not know where it was coming from. He said he was "grateful" to Ferrari for delivering an engine upgrade in Austria, but he knows his team needs another step from its power unit if it's to be a match for Mercedes. That second upgrade, likely to be an improvement to the Ferrari's turbo, won't arrive until after the summer break at Zandvoort or Monza. A small turbo gives Ferrari a good kick off the corners, but it is arguably contributing to why it's lacking by the end of the straights. It's also particularly punishing at high altitude, so at tracks such as Austria, because the turbo has to work even harder, which can lead to overheating issues. That's likely why Hamilton was being told to switch to "mode TS" for temperature reasons. Of course by the time that improved turbo arrives, there's no guarantee Mercedes won't have raised the benchmark even further. Mercedes brought a number of reliability fixes for its engine to Austria, potentially eliminating the big Achilles' heel of its 2026 power unit with improvements to its previously vulnerable battery, and also sured-up its internal combustion engine. As it was judged to be more than 2% off the benchmark engine in the FIA's ADUO findings, Mercedes can also bring a performance upgrade mid-season, as well as an extra upgrade for 2027. The power unit deficit isn't Ferrari's only headache either as Austria exposed another shortcoming that is likely to resurface. ## Another weakness exposed Austria was another extremely hot race with track temperatures soaring to around 50°C for a second successive race weekend, but the picture was very different to Barcelona. The Red Bull Ring is much tougher on rear tyres, while Barcelona is far more balanced between front and rear degradation. Plus, at Barcelona things were much more finely balanced between two and three pitstops. So Ferrari, with its poorer tyre degradation, could somewhat bail itself out by committing to a three-stop strategy, reducing the need for tyre conservation. In Austria it was clear that the two-stop was the quicker strategy, but Ferrari had to use the slower three-stop strategy because its tyre degradation was that bad. It could live with Verstappen's Red Bull over a single lap, but so much damage was done to its rear tyres over a race distance that it was only the third- or fourth-best car on Sunday. Leclerc called it an "incredibly difficult race" and complained of "very, very low grip" at the rear. Neither driver was likely helped by the large cooling inlets Ferrari required atop the engine cover, which were bigger than those on the Mercedes and Red Bull. They're a necessary evil to cool the power unit, but would have only added to Ferrari's rear tyre degradation because of the aerodynamic efficiency penalty it carries. And to make matters worse for Ferrari, mistakes were made because it ended up racing the wrong cars. Team principal Fred Vasseur admitted the Ferraris pushed too hard in the opening laps, reacted too aggressively on strategy and erroneously focused on the Mercedes. Vasseur admitted "realistically, that wasn't our race" as Ferrari was instead fighting McLaren and the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. Hamilton felt he could have beaten McLaren's Oscar Piastri to fourth had the team granted his request to start on the softs rather than the mediums he and Leclerc used in the first stint. Hamilton explained: "I thought the deg was going to be massive for us. So I wanted to start on the soft, but the team were nervous." ## A 'reality check' ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/13austria-gp-2026-sat_44f3fcff-ee36-4b0c-ba44-051d3974f79b-1.jpg) Piastri probably was beatable for Hamilton, but as Leclerc said: "You can always do slightly better with hindsight, but I think whenever the pace is not good, whatever strategy you do, it doesn't look great." Ferrari was certainly never going to end up anywhere near the podium, whatever strategy it was on. It's why Hamilton called it a "reality check" for the team, and part of the problem is Ferrari doesn't fully understand why it was so strong on Sunday at Barcelona, as well as why the pace disappeared in Austria. If you looked closely enough, the signs were there at Barcelona that Ferrari's tyre management wasn't a match for Mercedes'. And with hindsight, you might suggest Barcelona was simply a perfect storm of factors. Hamilton could run four aggressive stints with minimal tyre conversation on a track where the impact of Ferrari's energy deployment shortfall is lessened. That Mercedes-beating weekend could still well be repeated, but it does suggest Ferrari isn't yet a title contender, if its challenge falls so dramatically off at circuits such as the Red Bull Ring. And next up is Silverstone, a track with similar energy demands to Austria; not good news for Ferrari, or for Hamilton's hopes of challenging for victory on home soil. As Hamilton was at pains to point out whenever he was asked about his hopes for Silverstone in Austria: "There are a lot of straights at Silverstone. Lots of straights and lots of deployment, and not many places to recover the power." And there are very few big braking zones where the Ferrari can recover the energy it needs to avoid tailing off quicker than the Mercedes and Red Bull at places like the run down to Copse. Silverstone is going to be a really tough energy challenge as Verstappen's early sim review showed; he said he started laughing when driving his first laps in a 2026 car in the virtual world on it. He said "you can't really charge the batteries", that it was basically "constantly flat", and that there is very little energy to spend on the next straights. And that sounds like Ferrari's worst nightmare. The title dream is still far from over. Ferrari's car is still great in the corners, but its current straightline speed deficit means it's hard to see how it can be a regular Mercedes-beater - at least until its all-important next engine upgrades arrives after the summer break. ### 'I didn't deal with it very well' - Norris on handling social media URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/i-did-not-deal-with-it-very-well-lando-norris-handling-social-media/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T13:25:42.000Z Lando Norris has opened up about the pressures of Formula 1 fame, admitting he "didn't deal with it very well" as he adjusted to life in the spotlight. Speaking to Axios Media Correspondent Sara Fischer at the Axios x The Race Cannes Lions panel, 'Full Throttle Fandom', the reigning world champion reflected on the challenges that came with becoming one of racing's biggest stars after joining F1 in 2019. Norris said the attention that came with his rise to fame was difficult to manage, particularly on social media. "I'm one who cares a lot about people's perspectives of me. Whenever I saw something that wasn't positive, it would affect me quite a bit," he said. "I kind of had to deal with that for a few years and I didn't deal with it very well." Norris said criticism intensified during difficult periods on track, particularly at the start of the 2025 season when he felt he was "getting a lot of crap from a lot of people" and being told he was letting McLaren down. He explained that much of the pressure came from a desire not to disappoint the people around him. "I want to perform for everyone who supports me," Norris said. "I never want to let my fans and my supporters down. So there's this pressure from all angles." Norris described F1 as "a big circle", with success on track helping attract more fans, supporters and partners to the team. "The better I can go out and do, the more fans, the more supporters, the more partners we can get on board," he said. "But that's a tough job to do." ## Partners, not sponsors ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/AXIOS_LIONS_D3S4_063-1.JPG) McLaren's Lando Norris and Louise McEwen McLaren chief marketing officer Louise McEwen said that an interconnected approach is central to how the team operates. "I think that's what makes McLaren quite unique actually in how we build our partnerships," McEwen said. "They are definitely not sponsorships. We're not allowed to use that word because ultimately they mean so much more." McEwen said that at McLaren, the business side of the team is built around the same goal as the racing side: performance. "We have to be as competitive on track as we are off it," she said. Norris said winning the world championship has fundamentally changed his mindset. "I feel like I've come out the other side feeling obviously a lot more confident because of how last year went," he said. "Now, no matter what situation I'm in, I can just go, 'Well, I did it last year and I came out on top'." That confidence has helped him cope with the demands that come with competing at the front in F1. "I just feel pressure from everything," Norris admitted. McLaren's focus on performance also shaped the team's approach to F1's major 2026 regulation overhaul. Norris revealed the team knowingly sacrificed some preparation time for the new regulations because it wanted to be fully committed to its 2025 championship campaign. "Some of the teams last year who were a bit out of the fight could shift a lot more focus to this season," Norris explained. "We had a big fight on last year and we're proud to say we're world champions. "But we knew that would make the start of this season a little bit tougher because we're just a couple of months behind everyone." McEwen said F1's rapid growth means McLaren is now engaging with an entirely new generation of supporters, with half of its audience having entered the sport recently. "50% of my audience is brand new," she said. "I'm marketing to a completely different demographic of people." The challenge, she said, is connecting with fans who consume sport differently and may never attend a race in person. "Only 1% actually ever go to a track in their lifetime," McEwen said. ### Edd Straw's 2026 F1 Austrian Grand Prix driver rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/austrian-grand-prix-f1-2026-driver-rankings-edd-straw/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T12:02:14.000Z There was a high standard throughout the field at the Austrian Grand Prix feeding all the way through from top spot in Edd Straw's Formula 1 driver rankings through to last place. Find out who secured those spots - and all the positions in-between - below. **Want to quiz Edd on his driver rankings?** [**Sign up to The Race Members' Club**](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) **to do exactly that - and ask your questions** [**in reply to this post**](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/ask-edd-about-f1-162384889?ref=the-race.com)**.** **Champions-tier members can also try their hand at** [**putting their own driver rankings together**](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/champions-tell-162325749?ref=the-race.com) **for Edd to react to in a separate feature!** --- How do the rankings work? The 22 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration. It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend. And with each of the 11 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/1f9e070f9fa3486c9d30a51e41b8ca0d/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=v7UpWX5ZZyj00Hr5j8dJccCKKoFYJUVLYbvG7E8C1Mc%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 1st **Finished**: 1st **PROS** \- Produced a superb final Q3 lap to take a crucial pole position despite sacrificing a tenth-and-a-half for yellow flag. \- Razor-sharp and, by the rules established by the FIA for F1 legal, reaction to qualifying yellow flag allowed him to close out pole. \- Managed his lead well to keep the Max Verstappen/Kimi Antonelli threats just out of reach. **CONS** \- Race pace looked fractionally weaker than Antonelli and Verstappen's, but with the caveat that he was managing a lead. \- Antonelli and Verstappen's Q3 setbacks gave him a more straightforward race than he might otherwise have enjoyed. **Verdict**: Final Q3 run, in terms of speed and yellow flag reaction, clinches him top spot. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/d472eec6a0994cb9aa43ef677ebfa223/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=ZGS6QOL00jB8ua--fHARkNSkvBdQreyTc4v6aI21lN4%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 5th **Finished**: 2nd **PROS** \- Reaching Q3 having run only a used soft in Q2 was a superb effort, giving him two fresh sets for the final stage of qualifying. \- Had similar race pace to the Mercedes drivers, coming close to getting within striking distance of Russell at the end of the second and third stints. \- Incisive in battle in the early laps to climb from fifth on the grid to give him a victory shot. \- Red Bull took responsibility for a rear wing problem that cost him rear load and caused his Q3 shunt, exonerating him for what ostensibly was a major driver error. **CONS** \- Last Q3 lap wasn't that quick even before his crash, although that may have been down to aero problem. \- Couldn't quite get himself into a position to attack Russell despite his pace. \- Final stint wasn't quite as quick as it should have been, but with the caveat that "something felt off on the rear of the car" **Verdict**: Came close to pulling off an unexpected win. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/724761f1153f416f95562283a6f60021/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=WJ94GYprCo3dOuECgSK9GE0avT6aHJiAwDTWKFv42mM%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 12th **Finished**: 11th **PROS** \- Produced arguably the lap of qualifying to put the Audi 12th at a track that didn't play to the car's strengths. \- Had a clear single-lap pace advantage over Nico Hulkenberg, with three-tenths edge relatively evenly-distributed around the lap. \- Drove a strong race to what was probably the best-possible position given the pace of the Racing Bulls. **CONS** \- Falling behind Esteban Ocon on the second lap meant he couldn't hang onto the Racing Bulls. **Verdict**: Excelled again at the Red Bull Ring. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/7a10a98e1d3a4d318b5180ab5f33602e/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=c_znDB-o9lLtUTvhuj0D5sXHdS6IkRQjvHQmQ2ysXc0%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 9th **Finished**: 9th **PROS** \- Had the edge on Lindblad throughout the weekend. \- Responded well to his team-mate flouting team orders to pass him while he was lifting and coasting in the second stint in terms of his driving. \- Got the best-possible result both in qualifying and the race. **CONS** \- The pace of the Racing Bulls meant that a "Class B" win was the par result versus the rest of the midfield. \- While qualifying was strong, lap didn't look as strong relative to car potential as rival midfielder Bortoleto's. **Verdict**: Couldn't have done more with car that was class of the midfield. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/2dfea37640e14853b4f708a77f8a0a6c/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=2DpwaW0zjW1z8V73SjDtHbxrkGPDMmh7QAxSXi5SbAY%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 7th **Finished**: 4th **PROS** \- Fourth in the race was the best that could have been achieved by a McLaren after a well-executed race. \- Had an underlying pace advantage over Lando Norris. \- Showed he's made gains in these conditions after low-grip struggles last year both with pace and consistency. **CONS** \- Didn't execute his final Q3 lap as well as he should have done, meaning he fell behind Norris when he should have been just ahead. \- Path to fourth was eased a little by Ferrari's strategy troubles. **Verdict**: Bounced back superbly from Barcelona struggles. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/3f4497e5c58d4ccebd94b3cb52e28f37/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=9g4pg3pNUf6T3S71cxcji6LIq8zhsIeXNwMoff29vBc%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 3rd **Finished**: 5th **PROS** \- Was more at home in the Ferrari than Leclerc despite qualifying just behind. \- Fifth in the race was about all that was possible for him given the strategy he was on, beating two cars that had the potential to beat him, even though Ferrari's race pace was comparable to McLaren and made fourth achievable. \- Performed well in battle versus Charles Leclerc and in his short-lived scrap with the quicker Verstappen. **CONS** \- Q3 execution let him down, with mistakes on the first run, then a little time left on the table on his second run, putting him behind Leclerc. \- Strategy went awry, although Hamilton said he was pushing for a soft-start that he felt would have made finishing fourth possible. **Verdict**: Slight Q3 execution shortfall the main criticism. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/b8cf8e8d97d74fbba74a975c53c938c8/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=jqDEv4o9V82MxvYJSLFl664OD1I8vl0cJN-M1aQ3LDY%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 13th **Finished**: 14th **PROS** \- Produced a good lap in qualifying, putting what was the eight-fastest car slightly higher than it merited thanks to beating Hulkenberg, Ocon and Franco Colapinto. \- Didn't finish behind anyone he shouldn't have done. \- Had the edge on team-mate Ocon. **CONS** \- Being the only midfield driver to make his first stop under VSC allowed him to jump Ocon. \- Lost a couple of places to a bad start. **Verdict**: Good weekend in only the eight-best car. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/fe8bdcf8f95f4942a0e6ae63ad25332d/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=OuFcNDFS88ehYnTeZQTE3Rnemb9ZAXN3VThbfGo7w3s%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 17th **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Produced a good lap at the end of Q1 despite a last-corner moment after carrying a little too much speed into the corner to put Williams about where it could be. \- Was running ahead of Albon in a net 13th place at the point he retired with an electrical problem in the power unit. \- Would probably have finished about as high up as was possible had the car lasted. **CONS** \- Could have picked off Ocon in the slower Haas and slipped into Q2 given he was only 0.021s behind. \- Didn't have the opportunity to let the race play out after retiring in the second stint. \- Struggled at times in practice before rallying at the end of Q1 - but given he missed FP1 and had a compromised FP2, that's no great criticism. **Verdict**: Doing a good job in the ninth-best car. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/dd5067b02642491692d679ceaf8b9ac3/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=EaSdI0OKpxwrNqCaCmvsISyDWMZ9nvX8Jq8IRr6WZqE%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 4th **Finished**: 3rd **PROS** \- Even allowing for the tyre offsets he had in the second and third stints (five and eighth laps respectively) his underlying race pace seemed fractionally quicker than Russell's. \- Strong second and third stints got him to within a few tenths of catching Verstappen. \- Looked slightly more comfortable than his team-mate through practice before the final Q3 run flipped the script. **CONS** \- Failing to differentiate between single and double yellow, which he described as "my mistake", cost him a likely second on the grid. \- Had already lost initiative to Russell on the final qualifying lap. He was already just under 0.17s off on the last Q3 lap before his team-mate's lift. \- As he put it, "was a bit too excited in the first few laps and definitely didn't drive well", with off-track moments on the opening lap shuffling him back to fifth at the start of a difficult first stint. **Verdict**: Q3 yellow flag mistake and early laps cost him. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/8541ce8873fa4adaa430d6328e738dd0/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=06_NixTvKvItpiU5iqq6FhmKYHcROiJLle0uxIp8qCE%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 11th **Finished**: 13th **PROS** \- Produced a good effort in qualifying to come within a few hundredths of slipping into Q3 ahead of Verstappen. \- Losses on the first lap appear to be more down to unexpected power deficit than anything he did wrong. \- Outperformed Colapinto over the weekend. **CONS** \- Car's balance and degradation problems meant his race was a painful one of containing struggles. \- Almost but didn't quite make the strategy work to beat Hulkenberg. **Verdict**: A decent weekend that presented limited opportunities. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/6b0b43ae02a14d0289c510fe24bea23c/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=ufHW7x9cu4xu6kKUbL7diViA1LszDHfPJ5cSn3ROkYk%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 6th **Finished**: 7th **PROS** \- Produced a good lap at the end of Q3 to string together his three best sectors and pip team-mate Piastri by just nine thousandths. \- Could have beaten Hadjar but for being passed by an undercut at the first stops as McLaren flirted with extending the stint. **CONS** \- Piastri seemed to have an underlying pace advantage, which did show in the race. \- Didn't have a great first lap, slipping behind Piastri. \- Beating Leclerc was largely down to Ferrari's strategy missteps. **Verdict**: A difficult weekend where Piastri had the edge. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/11992dc88e7145e38ce29760e9e9c09f/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=KgSzzXLYzfivE46ei7pxKfjOe4CPQJT10xGrJilOCOQ%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 2nd **Finished**: 8th **PROS** \- Outqualified Hamilton by 0.089s, with that advantage partly down to his better Q3 execution and also a set-up that gave him a little more front end. \- Pace was not as bad as he suggested after the race, with more time compromised by traffic than Hamilton. **CONS** \- Outwitted by Hamilton early on then spent the rest of the race working his way back from fourth, which was an achievable position, to eighth thanks to deg struggles and poor strategy. \- Still had signs of brake troubles and wasn't as comfortable with the car as Hamilton. **Verdict**: Not quite as bad as it looked given Ferrari's pace struggles. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/45850290eafc48e9a8440619ca01924e/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=ZbahAJgzOtUXSXUnlFM7nLA1lnGaIZhkmnruu7IEfvs%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 8th **Finished**: 6th **PROS** \- Qualifying 0.157s off Verstappen was a respectable effort, albeit with Verstappen's qualifying crash potentially skewing this. \- Race pace relative to Verstappen was better than the 28s gap at the chequered flag suggested given his more complicated race and greater time in dirty air. \- Gained two places across the race. **CONS** \- Struggled more with the brakes than Verstappen. \- Didn't get as much out of the Red Bull as his team-mate. \- Wasn't ever a threat for the top three, primarily thanks to being, as he said, "not fast" in Q3. **Verdict**: Solid weekend, but not at Verstappen's level. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/f4739e6b488548b8a5f544cddbbaa5fc/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=lu5hUfP9e6B3nNLBPzCL-FnRQCzVBwE841MWnsTZd14%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 21st **Finished**: 18th **PROS** \- Had the edge on Lance Stroll in qualifying pace, even if the gap on the final timesheets was bigger than it should have been. \- Couldn't have done much more with the Aston Martin, considering he had to dial back his push level in the race for management reasons. \- Pitlane speeding error appears to be attributable to overheating sensor rather than driver error. **CONS** \- Not his fault, but the erratic and difficult Aston Martin is difficult to benchmark performance in and there's little to race for. \- Did fall behind Stroll in the race, although based on radio traffic that seemed dictated by management levels. **Verdict**: Did what he could with poor car. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/55dca5c8d1154070b5d896b3f6e214d5/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=AnVzTeoMJjUOoiSso4nqUf7XtKradmxBOtIGn9C1bic%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 14th **Finished**: 12th **PROS** \- Drove a decent race to 12th, backing up his team-mate and showing decent pace relative to him in the final stint in particular when on comparable tyres. \- No significant errors meant he brought the Audi home roughly where it should be, which required him getting ahead of Ocon (with an on-track pass in the first stint) and Gasly (via strategy). **CONS** \- Felt "on the edge" on single-lap pace and couldn't live with Bortoleto in qualifying. \- Ultimately, wasn't as impressive as his team-mate, making this a good, workmanlike weekend rather than his best work. \- Needed a strategic assist from Alpine to beat Gasly. **Verdict**: Second-best Audi driver this weekend. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/d6ae3dd98b0b48309de1917823777c74/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=euCmB-rDIdNHwkO3eu7PYsmN7C0pIczF2BRl0JGwzO8%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 10th **Finished**: 10th **PROS** \- He was very close to Lawson's pace in qualifying, just half a tenth off, and was with him throughout the race. \- Made no driving mistakes and closed out a 'midfield 1-2' for Racing Bulls. **CONS** \- Disregarding an explicit team order while both drivers were ordered to lift and coast to deal with critical brake temperature concerns to overtake Lawson was a significant misjudgement. \- Was the second-best Racing Bulls driver, but only by a small margin. **Verdict**: Would have been significantly higher without team orders nonsense. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/add72b5be0364cbb9e57c397c929d5f8/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=7CWy8uYg_HCbuz0KQ1yfh1PiiglkysktgqjhxSfz-x4%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 19th **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Continued to lead the line for Cadillac. \- Recovered well from Friday disruption to show good underlying pace in qualifying. **CONS** \- Made a mistake on his final qualifying lap trying to push the braking for Turn 3 for harvesting gain, which ultimately meant he didn't improve. \- Race was too brief to make an impression with brake overheating setting in immediately. **Verdict**: Early retirement cost him the chance to impress in race after inconclusive Q1. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/77dcd8a32c1e4061bfbd0adb3d1ed3f3/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=OlZH4ZNdU1D0M-SXIvfrVZ7tSIy7CH2e8MMh72zOFeU%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 20th **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Would have outqualified Perez had he not picked up the dirty air from his team-mate at the end of the lap and shipped time in Turn 9/10, which meant his final attempt wasn't an improvement. \- More comfortable with the car, when it was working and the floor was properly attached at least, than earlier in the season. **CONS** \- Still seems his underlying pace isn't quite as good as Perez's, although he qualified within a tenth. \- Brake disaster in the race meant there was no opportunity to impress. **Verdict**: His season is at least gathering momentum in personal performance terms. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/2618911702d740ee8cb57473072e8098/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=A_hawynWrLWEvkHq65j0Red6Y0W08uoSfLb1F_TKGg8%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 15th **Finished**: 16th **PROS** \- Given his complaints about missing rear downforce compared to the sister car (and the team admits there are parts inconsistencies), that perhaps explains some of the three-tenths deficit to Bearman in qualifying. \- Drove a tidy race and was unfortunate to fall behind his team-mate initially because of the VSC. \- Had a strong first lap-and-a-half to get up to 11th. **CONS** \- Some of his disadvantage to Bearman was in his hands. \- Slow second pitstop cost him around three and a half seconds. **Verdict**: Second-best Haas driver, but with some mitigations. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/e3a9c24486e346fc8aaad0f01b805a21/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=cw-8jkuD0K7kXawbhKtgYVpulluLsPgQQ2Tl34iLe-c%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 18th **Finished**: 17th **PROS** \- Qualifying pace was better than the 0.257s deficit to Sainz suggested given "changes I was unaware of" caused tyre problems and compromised his final lap. \- Considering car pace and degradation problems, didn't finish behind anyone he shouldn't have done. \- Ran ahead of Colapinto for part of the race, although inevitably he fell behind and was dropped given the significant Williams pace disadvantage, even factoring in the tyre deficit. **CONS** \- It's not clear how he would have stacked up against Sainz on the final Q1 run with a fair comparison. \- Williams's weaknesses meant the race was a difficult one to shine in. **Verdict**: Another weekend where problems made life difficult. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/88e4f1583971434197ecd908b7727b8f/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=WdGr3CGcltH8oddFnikYS98DRCST00xHaGUuoX-yvDM%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 22nd **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Underlying pace deficit in qualifying was not the 0.421s that the final Q1 result suggests, as it would likely have been more like a tenth and a half. \- Lost a few seconds to Alonso late in the first stint, but caught him and got ahead in the second stint thanks to his team-mate's greater level of management. \- Didn't make any major errors. **CONS** \- Lock-up in Turn 4 on final qualifying lap cost him time, but didn't change his position. \- Was the slower Aston Martin driver on underlying pace. **Verdict**: A respectable weekend in a difficult car. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/162384889/c11f598767024f14beab5ed0d47d23e7/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=OBXveNoNRtalzxjYuVvY8d-4YmdFRlGoh36vORb0KK8%3D&token-time=1783987200) **Started**: 16th **Finished**: 15th **PROS** \- His qualifying pace was much stronger than the near-one-second gap to Gasly suggests, given he lost the rear in the entry to Turn 1 and ran wide, aborting the lap after violating track limits. \- Had a solid race in the circumstances given track position disadvantage at the start cost him. **CONS** \- Struggled a bit more with the tricky Alpine than Gasly. \- Didn't nail it when he needed to in qualifying. **Verdict**: As strong a 22nd in the rankings as you'll see. ### All the free fan events happening ahead of F1's British GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/all-the-free-fan-events-happening-ahead-of-f1s-british-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T11:07:59.000Z As Silverstone prepares to host Formula 1's biggest race weekend, fans don't need a grand prix ticket to get involved in the action. Across London, teams, drivers, brands and creators are hosting a series of fan events, ranging from driver appearances and merchandise launches to show cars, simulators and interactive experiences. The Race Extra has pulled together a guide to all the free activations happening around the 2026 British Grand Prix, so you can make the most of race week. (While all of the events are free to attend, some may require advance registration.) ## Williams F1 **The event:** Williams F1 Team Fan Zone **Where:** [The Venue, Piccadilly Circus, 48 Regent Street, London, W1B 5RA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/zqa4dZPHyWufEqNJA?ref=the-race.com) **When:** Tuesday June 30 - Sunday July 5 **Opening Hours\*:** Tuesday June 30 - 10:00am – 8:00pm Wednesday July 1 - 10:00am – 7:00pm Thursday July 2 - 10:00am – 7:00pm Friday July 3 - 10:00am – 8:00pm Saturday July 4 - 10:00am – 8:00pm Sunday July 5 - 10:00am – 4:00pm **\***Last entry: 30 minutes before closing **What's happening:** Williams is bringing back its Fan Zone for British GP week, giving fans the chance to get closer to the team away from the track. Visitors can explore interactive displays, experience racing simulators, shop exclusive merchandise and take part in a range of team activities throughout the week. ## Aston Martin F1 **The event:** Celsius x Aston Martin F1 Team Experience **Where:** [Outernet London, Charing Cross Rd, London, WC2H 8LH](https://maps.app.goo.gl/5tYnyf43Bb2E6Bvi8?ref=the-race.com) **When:** Sunday July 5 **What's happening:** Energy drink Celsius is partnering with Aston Martin for an immersive race-day experience in central London. Fans will be able to see an Aston Martin show car up close, test themselves in an F1-inspired reaction challenge and sample drinks from the Celsius Explore Bar. The activation will also feature personalised merchandise engraving, photo opportunities and giveaways of exclusive Celsius x Aston Martin merchandise. ## Drivers Club x Team Gasly **The event:** Drivers Club x Pierre Gasly Pop-Up **Where:** [12 Dray Walk, Old Truman Brewery, London, E1 6QR](https://maps.app.goo.gl/4ZkFB7rcrdrJ6LDcA?ref=the-race.com) **When:** Wednesday July 1 - Sunday July 5 **Opening Hours:** 10am - 7pm **What's happening:** Automotive-inspired clothing companyDrivers Club is heading to London for its first-ever pop-up in partnership with Pierre Gasly. Fans will be able to shop the full Pierre Gasly collection before it's released online, while Carburettor Coffee will be on-site throughout the week. Gasly himself is expected to make an appearance during the activation, with further details set to be announced by Drivers Club. ## Arvid Lindblad x Esses Meet & Greet **The event:** Arvid Lindblad x Esses Meet & Greet **Where:** [Foreign Exchange News, 22 Leinster Terrace, London, W2 3ET ](https://maps.app.goo.gl/UrgW2pUzXSz6QywR8?ref=the-race.com) **When:** Monday June 29 **Opening Hours:** 8am - 4.30pm (meet-and-greet from 5.30pm - 6.30pm) **What's happening:** Esses, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls and Airtasker are teaming up for a special pop-up event featuring Racing Bulls's 2026 F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad. Fans will be able to purchase copies of the Esses Issue 06 magazine, get them signed by Lindblad and see the special-edition helmet he will be wearing for his home British Grand Prix weekend. The pop-up opens at 8am, with the meet-and-greet beginning at 5.30pm. Entry is free, although RSVP is required and does not guarantee access to the signing session. ## Quadrant **The event:** Quadrant London Pop-Up Store **Where:** [Pop-Up One, The Now Building, Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 8LH](https://maps.app.goo.gl/eq5SoPjnUXFDqB7q7?ref=the-race.com) **When:** Tuesday June 30 - Saturday July 4 **Opening Hours:** 10am - 7pm **What's happening:** Lando Norris-founded lifestyle brand Quadrant is returning with a London pop-up store for British Grand Prix week. The activation will give fans the opportunity to shop Quadrant's apparel collections in person, including a customisable Silverstone-exclusive item. Visitors will also be able to try Quadrant's racing simulators and meet some familiar faces from the brand throughout the week. ## Disney x F1 **The event:** Disney x F1 City-Wide Retail Takeover **Where:** Multiple locations across London **When:** Monday June 29 - Sunday July 5 **What's happening:** As part of the Disney x Formula 1 "Fuel the Magic" campaign, Disney is extending its British Grand Prix celebrations beyond Silverstone and into central London. The flagship Disney Store on [Oxford Street ](https://maps.app.goo.gl/XpUvZC11Nwh6RAym7?ref=the-race.com)will receive a dedicated Formula 1 takeover featuring exclusive products, while Uniqlo will stock the Disney x Formula 1 collection across four London locations, marking the first time the range has been available in UK stores. Additional activations will take place at [Uniqlo's Oxford Street flagship store](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Uniqlo/@51.5146273,-0.1480226,595m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x4876052b4a724717:0xe73530e95a606058!4m6!3m5!1s0x4876052b37b9b6df:0x3061fd11aadfc07e!8m2!3d51.514624!4d-0.1454477!16s%2Fg%2F1tnmr5wh?entry=tts&g%5Fep=EgoyMDI2MDYyNC4wIPu8ASoASAFQAw%3D%3D&skid=fb05440c-074d-4314-9dc1-558745ef29e8&ref=the-race.com). ## F1 Hub **The event:** F1 Hub London **Where:** [529 Oxford St, London, W1K 7JA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1NMCAN43RxyJkcc79?ref=the-race.com) **When:** Saturday June 20 - Sunday July 26 **What's happening:** Formula 1's official F1 Hub returns to London during British Grand Prix week. Fans can browse official merchandise, discover exclusive product drops and take part in a range of Formula 1-themed experiences, with several teams and partners also activating within the space throughout the week. ### Everything we learned from F1's Austrian Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-from-f1-austrian-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T11:01:04.000Z A scorching Austrian Grand Prix delivered another big Formula 1 title twist, an under-the-radar team orders spat and plenty of pecking order surprises. Here's everything we learned from the Red Bull Ring. ### Russell's experience is paying off (for now) Experience may have won the Austrian Grand Prix for George Russell, remarkably his first Sunday victory since the Melbourne opener three and a half months ago. Russell felt this was a triumph for his new approach; focusing on driving rather than endlessly worrying about overthinking the data, his driving style or any deficits to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Russell explained: “Coming into this race weekend, I think maybe my previous approach, it would have really hurt me on a track like this. “I drove the race very different and quite abnormally, to be honest, to manage the tyres, and it worked quite well.” As for Antonelli, he admitted he “just felt a bit tense, driving-wise” ahead of qualifying. “We were still up there, but I felt like I wasn’t driving that well and not as free.” That was compounded by his mistake in misidentifying the single-waved yellow flag for Max Verstappen’s crash as a double - something that relegated Antonelli from the front row to starting fourth. He couldn’t get the brakes into the right temperature window at the start of the race (with uneven brake temperatures left-to-right) and made more mistakes, running off the track multiple times. That likely cost him second place to Verstappen and a shot at beating team-mate Russell - because you can make a strong case that Antonelli once again had the strongest underlying pace. Even Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies ranked the pace order as Antonelli, Verstappen, and then Russell third-best. While Russell did everything he needed to keep both drivers at bay, there has to be some level of concern about the laptimes Antonelli is reaching. So right now, Russell is relying on his experience to get ahead in the title fight, because on raw pace, it looks like he may need to find another level to see off the Antonelli threat. **\- Josh Suttill** ### Ferrari title talk was premature Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the upgraded Ferrari at Barcelona made it very easy for Ferrari fans to dream of a title challenge. It looked *incredibly* convincing, but Ferrari’s disappointing Austrian GP weekend has put things into perspective, exposing the existing weaknesses the Barcelona upgrade didn’t solve - and the Austrian GP engine upgrade didn't either. That engine upgrade worked as expected, but in deployment terms the Ferrari is still lacking versus the Mercedes and Red Bull power units on the straights. It was routinely 20km/h slower on the approach to the Turn 4 right-hander because of the deployment tail-off. Its small turbo was having to work overtime in the Austrian heat, on a circuit where there are far fewer recharging opportunities than Barcelona. Plus, Ferrari chewed through its rear tyres at a worrying rate, forcing it onto a three-stopper that the rest of the top 10 avoided. Team boss Fred Vasseur said Ferrari was too focused on racing the Mercedes, so its strategy was sub-optimal, but whatever strategy it used, it was always going to be beaten by the Mercedes and Verstappen’s upgraded Red Bull. Silverstone this coming weekend is expected to be a similar story. Ferrari can be a Mercedes-beater again elsewhere on the right circuit, but without upgrades (the next engine upgrade should arrive after the summer break) it’s difficult to see how Ferrari or its drivers can put together a championship push. **\- JS** ### Red Bull's most competitive race couldn't be better timed Red Bull openly admitted that the major upgrade it brought to the Austrian Grand Prix was a crucial one, amid all the uncertainty over Verstappen’s future. Verstappen and his management team have long been clear that key to them staying at Red Bull over the long term is a quick car - as manager Raymond Vermeulen told Dutch media at the weekend that there was no interest in fighting in the "midfield". So with a potential exit clause window opening up at the summer break, the fact that the revamped and lighter RB22 put Verstappen back in the fight for wins will have been a huge relief for Red Bull’s chiefs. While options for a Verstappen switch elsewhere in 2027 look limited (with Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren now all locked down), so Red Bull is not at risk of an immediate Verstappen loss, thoughts are already looking to the even longer term. Amid the emergence of [Vermeulen having spoken to McLaren](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-mclaren-talks-what-is-really-going-on/) to check on future options there, with a potential door open for 2028, Verstappen is clearly keeping his options open. Ultimately, though, Red Bull knows that Verstappen’s mind is clear: he wants nothing more than to stay at Red Bull with a quick car. Right now, it is delivering on the latter point. **\- Jon Noble** ### McLaren's straightline speed has been exposed McLaren knows the key to getting in the fight for wins this year is in out-developing its rivals to bring more downforce to its car. As the 2026 season finally gets some momentum, it is clear that upgrades on this front – like Ferrari did at Barcelona and Red Bull in Austria – are having a big impact on the battle at the front. But it is not just in the corners where McLaren is behind because the Red Bull Ring has exposed how the MCL40 is losing out quite a bit on the straights. Close analysis of the GPS traces of Lando Norris versus George Russell in qualifying showed that of the 0.389 seconds gap between them – almost half of that came from the straights. To highlight its problem, on the run from Turn 3 to Turn 4, the gap between the Mercedes and the McLaren was as much as 8km/h (5mph). The reasons behind the deficit are multiple - with a combination of its car being too draggy, energy deployment not fully optimised and too short gear ratios all playing their part. The drag issue can be addressed (especially when its 'Macarena' wing finally appears later this year, [having abandoned a plan to trial it in Austria](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-drops-plans-to-debut-upside-down-rear-wing-in-austria/)) and improvements can come from better energy management. On gear ratios, while the door is, in theory, open for a mid-season change, the reality is it is too complicated to commit to for the gains it would bring. **\- JN** ### What Ocon's floor problems are costing him Esteban Ocon spoke after both qualifying and the race about missing rear aerodynamic load, costing "quite a lot of points" of downforce. While there's always the risk with Ocon of car characteristics being framed as genuine part misbehaviour, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu was frank heading into the weekend that there is a parts consistency problem. However, he stressed that "sometimes it's on Ollie's car, sometimes it's on Esteban's car". So this is very much a Haas problem rather than an Ocon-specific one. "Apparently, it comes from the floor area," said Ocon of the problem. "He \[Bearman\] has got floor 13, I got floor 14, I tried floor 15 and the deficit is still there. We changed the rear wing in the beginning of the weekend, that was also not making any improvements. We changed the front wing, that also did not make any improvements. We can't seem to find it at the moment - but it's clear on data, it's there." This is something Haas is working hard to get on top of. And Ocon certainly believes it's holding him back in his fight to hang onto his race seat in 2027\. **\- Edd Straw** ### Alpine needs answers behind 'toughest' weekend Alpine had harboured hopes of a Barcelona repeat coming out of qualifying, as it was outmatched by Racing Bulls over a single lap again, but believed its car might come alive in race trim and protect the tyres better. Obviously, that didn't happen. Both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, who had already underperformed in qualifying, were compromised by bad starts, but that was secondary to the deeply underwhelming, traction-limited race pace that followed. "Honestly, toughest Sunday of the season, by far," Gasly summed up. "It felt extremely difficult out there in terms of grip, the balance, extremely hard. It was a bit all over the place in terms of car balance - and a lot of degradation. "I had to do three stops because my tyres were falling apart in no time. Very different to every race we've had so far this season. And yeah, there's quite a lot for us to understand." One element to "understand" as a priority is the performance of Alpine's Red Bull Ring upgrades, headlined by a new front wing. Neither Gasly, nor Colapinto sounded particularly convinced by the revised aero's debut performance. "For sure, there is more for us to understand about exactly what these parts are providing - and how to rebalance around it," said Gasly. **\- Val Khorounzhiy** ### Clear midfield winners survived a messy team orders debacle Uncharacteristically bulletproof reliability from the 'big four' meant Racing Bulls' emphatic weekend was only its sixth-best of the season in terms of points, with the impact on its points gap to non-scorer Alpine fairly negligible - just down from 16 points to 13 in the chase for fifth in the standings. But you can only play the cards you're given, and by and large, the VCARB 03 was gliding through the weekend in the hands of both drivers - both in Q3 with a bit to spare, both under no serious pressure on Sunday, unlike at Barcelona. Perhaps a bit of complacency set in on one side of the garage as a result, amid a [minor team orders row](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-unseen-ignored-team-order-that-caused-austrian-gp-angst/) en route to deciding which driver finishes ninth and which settles for 10th. Arvid Lindblad spurned a 'hold position' instruction early on in the second stint to put a relatively elbows-out Turn 4 move on lift-and-coasting team-mate Liam Lawson, who was bewildered given the attack came moments after a reassurance no attack would be coming. Racing Bulls ended up 'undercutting' Lawson ahead to restore the order. Lindblad saw it coming - and knew he had pushed his luck - but also insisted in the end: "We finished P9 and P10, I mean, it worked out pretty well. There was no threat from behind." The question is whether Racing Bulls - and owner Red Bull - will feel the same, or whether there will be an onus on Lindblad to show a much greater level of 'greater good' obedience in the coming races. **\- VK** ### Cadillac has an urgent priority Cadillac has done an awful lot of things right in its first F1 season, but right now, it needs to urgently fix a fundamental weakness. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez managed just six laps between them before terminal brake problems ended their Sunday. That prevented any kind of result from its new upgrade package, which looked like a promising step forward when the car wasn’t on fire. “We were really in the mix and had the pace to fight with the Williams — I overtook Alex \[Albon\] on track, so it’s a massive shame that we couldn’t make the most of it today,” Perez said. Team-mate Bottas has borne the brunt of the reliability issues in 2026: “It's now the third DNF in a row for me, so this is the number one thing we need to get on top of as a team. We need to finish the races to learn more, so this will be our focus going forward.” Cadillac knows it’s taken a step forward in performance, but as team boss Graeme Lowdon says: “We need to ensure we have the reliability to demonstrate it”. **\- JS** ### Dutch GP 2026 MotoGP rider rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/dutch-gp-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T07:12:20.000Z From the moment MotoGP's 2026 Dutch Grand Prix weekend began, the sweet-turning Aprilia looked miles faster than anything else around Assen. So those who made the best use of that bike - and those who managed to threaten its superiority with lesser bikes - score pretty well in my book as I step in for Val on rankings duty for one event only while he's at Formula 1's Austrian GP. And those who didn't capitalise on the RS-GP's pace don't fare so well. --- **Agree or disagree?** Want to see if Matt can go off down as many tangents as Val? Leave your comments [on this post in The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/quiz-matt-on-his-162370104?pr=true&ref=the-race.com) and Matt will reply in a one-off stand-in Q&A appearance later this week. --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsTRACKHOUSE_AO.png) **Qualifying:** 2nd **Sprint:** 2nd **Grand Prix:** 1st An Ai Ogura grand prix win has seemed inevitable for so long now, it's easy to forget he's only a season and a half into his MotoGP career. He does still lose too much time in the opening laps, and that probably cost him a double win given how quickly he gained on victorious Trackhouse team-mate Raul Fernandez once he'd cleared Fabio Di Giannantonio for second in the sprint. The main race showed what would've happened with a longer distance - as low as sixth at one point, Ogura simply hacked past everyone ahead and left them behind. His momentum is massive right now. A title bid really isn't a mad idea. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsVR46_FD.png) **Qualifying:** 6th **Sprint:** 3rd **Grand Prix:** 4th The only rider to give the Trackhouse Aprilias a proper headache all weekend. There's no shame in not being able to hold off Ogura in the sprint - the impressive thing was staying clear of the works Aprilias and being comfortably best Ducati. Di Giannantonio was wrong-footed into Turn 1 on Sunday and had to scrap hard to regain ground - one and a half times in fact, given his (fair enough, under the wording of the rules) long lap penalty for not giving up enough time after cutting the chicane while divebombing Marc Marquez. He still came back from that to be top Ducati again, and show race pace that suggests he could've hung with the Aprilias had he been with them on lap one. Maybe a Diggia title bid isn't a mad idea either... ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsTRACKHOUSE_RF.png) **Qualifying:** 4th **Sprint:** 1st **Grand Prix:** 2nd I'm with Fernandez in his "sometimes they're making our sport very boring" stance on the track limits lap deletion that cost him pole, and he certainly used the resultant "bad energy" well with an incisive ride to another sprint victory. There really wasn't a lot wrong with his weekend at all, and he gets credit for outperforming the works Aprilias too. He just wasn't as fast as Ogura when it really mattered. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsKTM_PA.png) **Qualifying:** 8th **Sprint:** 9th **Grand Prix:** DNF Pedro Acosta spent much of the weekend not knowing when his KTM might next abruptly cut out on him, or when - as he revealed after his Sunday retirement - he might lose feeling in his hand. "Every day is a surprise," as he said after the sprint. His recovery from 15th to ninth after his early error in the sprint was neatly accomplished and the battle he had with the works Ducatis for the portion of the grand prix in which both his arms were functional was classic KTM era Acosta elbows-out overachievement. Imagine what he'll do when the carpal tunnel syndrome he's kept under the radar is resolved. Imagine what he'll do when he's on a bike that he can trust to keep running. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsGRESINI_AM.png) Qualifying: 12th Sprint: 13th Grand Prix: 5th Fifth in the grand prix would be a remarkable result for Alex Marquez if all he was battling was being in his first full race weekend back since a savage crash and horrible injury that happened just a month and a half ago. But to add to that challenge, he also left a large chunk of his arm skin in a gravel trap in his very nasty Friday crash. Marquez and Gresini managed the weekend very well from there. He proved his pace and sufficient fitness with his times in Saturday morning practice, sat out qualifying to save energy then went into the sprint just with the intention of lapping safely and finishing. Yet he picked his way through the midfield and still got 13th on a day when no one would've criticised him for being far lower. He wasn't sure if his Sunday activity would last beyond the warm-up. Mid-race, he wasn't sure he'd be able to finish. Yet there he still was, battling with (and beating) his brother, advancing up the field like it was a totally normal race weekend, and only losing fourth to Di Giannantonio on the final lap. Heroic. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsTECH3_EB.png) **Qualifying:** 11th **Sprint:** 8th **Grand Prix:** 6th When you see a KTM tagging along with a lead pack, it's usually Acosta's. But after Acosta's Saturday error and Sunday retirement, KTM was still in the hunt for 'best non-Aprilia' honours with Enea Bastianini. Eighth in the sprint was the more impressive ride than sixth in the grand prix in terms of how close he stayed to the lead train, with attrition playing more of a role on Sunday. Definitely one of his stronger KTM weekends, though. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsYAMAHA_FQ.png) **Qualifying:** 9th **Sprint:** 10th **Grand Prix:** 8th "Long, difficult, not really enjoyable," was Fabio Quartararo's summary of a grand prix in which he was battling arm pump that he blamed on having to wrestle an uncompetitive Yamaha into fast corners. But thanks to a qualifying performance that was a thing of angry beauty (and an incisive first lap), Quartararo was high enough up the field that he could still hang on to a top 10 finish even when in discomfort. If you're among those who feel Quartararo only bothers to give his best in 2026 when he thinks it's a slightly better track for Yamaha, you can definitely file this one under 'gave it a good go'. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsDUCATI_PB.png) **Qualifying:** 5th **Sprint:** 6th **Grand Prix**: DNF A combination of making slightly heavy weather of his situation and being a bit unlucky meant Pecco Bagnaia didn't actually come away with much from a weekend on which he was generally faster than team-mate Marc Marquez. Marquez certainly didn't make life easy for him in the sprint when Bagnaia was trying to regain ground lost at the start, and dropping back behind his team-mate in the final results due to a track limits penalty was annoying. He was on course for fourth and 'best non-Aprilia' honours on Sunday after another big dice with Marquez when he hit brake problems that at least gave him chance to race home to his newborn baby 15 minutes sooner. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsAPRILIA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 1st **Sprint:** 5th **Grand Prix:** 3rd A weekend on which Jorge Martin finally took his first Aprilia pole, and in which he took the championship lead, and yet he never really looked like a convincing pacesetter at any point. He still feels he lacks both affinity with this bike and fitness, and that was obvious in the way that whenever he led a race, it looked like only a matter of time before he lost that lead. Fifth and third just isn't really a good enough haul from a weekend when the Aprilia was this good, though. Damage limitation and salvaging solid results won't keep him in the points lead for long with properly fast opposition looming behind him. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsDUCATI_MM.png) **Qualifying:** 7th **Sprint:** 7th **Grand Prix:** 7th A rare Marquez off-weekend on a track he doesn't really enjoy and at which he never looked super-comfortable or competitive all weekend. He called the sprint a "safe mode" race and it was clear the savage outcomes from crashes this weekend - including for his brother - were on his mind. He slides down the rankings because he was the third-fastest Ducati rider at best, and that's below the standard he's set for himself. As much as this was a big opportunity wasted for the factory Aprilia riders, Martin's lack of pace and Marco Bezzecchi's crash meant you could call it a wasted chance on Marquez's side to take more points out of them. And yet he's still comfortably in the top half of these rankings because on an ostensibly off-the-pace weekend, and while allegedly riding in "safe mode", he used plenty of feisty racecraft to launch himself higher up the order than his pace really merited and then made anyone who wanted to pass him really, really work for it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsYAMAHA_AR.png) **Qualifying:** 16th **Sprint:** 15th **Grand Prix:** 9th There wasn't actually much between Quartararo and Yamaha team-mate Alex Rins in race pace this weekend, and the Sunday attrition meant Rins got ninth place from the sort of quietly decent race that might usually only be worth a point or two. He couldn't produce anything like Quartararo's magic in qualifying, though. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsPRAMAC_TR.png) **Qualifying:** 22nd **Sprint:** 17th **Grand Prix:** DNF Until Sunday, Toprak Razgatlioglu was right down near the very bottom of these rankings. A track limits lap deletion played a role in him being last on the grid, but wasn't the only reason. Struggling to get the right electronics set-up and therefore ending up with a Yamaha that neither braked nor accelerated very well, Razgatlioglu looked on course for one of his least convincing MotoGP weekends yet. The grand prix was a very different story. A storming first lap got him on the cusp of the top 10, right with Quartararo, and he looked absolutely capable of staying there until extreme chatter ended his race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsHONDA_LM.png) **Qualifying:** 17th **Sprint:** 12th **Grand Prix:** 10th Only the third-best Honda in qualifying and a long way off team-mate Joan Mir's pace there. But as Luca Marini was capable of completing a lap without throwing his bike down the road, he was able to rise up the order a little in the races and come away with two respectable results - especially considering he picked up some aero damage in the first-lap traffic jam in the GP. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsLCR_DM.png) **Qualifying:** 14th **Sprint:** 11th **Grand Prix:** 14th Diogo Moreira cost himself a chance of another impressive weekend with the Q1 crash that prevented him from taking Mir's place as the Honda in Q2 And then he was robbed of a chance to do much over the Sunday race distance when Franco Morbidelli wandered into him at the first corner and left the LCR Honda short of plenty of aero. His sprint pace was decent, though. He just needs a clear run to have a chance at the kind of starring early-race cameos he's managed lately, and that didn't happen at Assen. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsLCR_CC.png) **Qualifying:** 21st **Sprint:** 19th **Grand Prix:** 16th Another physical track where it's hard to make an impression if you're a 40-year-old veteran returning unexpectedly after three years off the grid just to help out some old friends. Battling with Augusto Fernandez in the sprint at least stopped Crutchlow from being lonely, even if the Yamaha tester did beat him right at the end. Sunday's race was brewing nicely though with his first-lap progress up to 17th, but once a so-far unspecified technical problem kicked in, he simply got out of everyone's way and headed for the pits for repairs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsAPRILIA_MB.png) **Qualifying:** 3rd **Sprint:** 4th **Grand Prix:** DNF Friday's pace suggested Marco Bezzecchi was the clear favourite for the Assen weekend. Yet he was only third in qualifying, ended the sprint off the podium (and having never looked like he'd make it on there) and then had that horrible high-speed crash early in the grand prix. Even amid the Friday optimism, Bezzecchi did argue that his bike wasn't as stable as it might appear from the outside. But ultimately, there's a strong chance that for all the mixed-up championship positions right now, this is still basically a Bezzecchi vs Marquez title fight at heart. And on a weekend when Marquez was off the pace - but with a weekend at the Sachsenring that he's expected to dominate coming up next - Bezzecchi scored zero on a Sunday again and was kept off the podium by satellite bikes on Saturday. And that's an undoubted championship blow. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/augusto.png) Qualifying: 20th Sprint: 18th Grand Prix: 15th Fernandez's wildcard races are all about testing for Yamaha not results, but it didn't feel like he got much value out of this one at all - unless you're really excited by his one inherited grand prix point. With wildcards soon to be banned, maybe it'll go down in history as the last wildcard point. But in which case, an underwhelming way to earn it. Unable to pin down a set-up he felt good with all weekend, beating Crutchlow in their close battle for 18th in the sprint was either a highlight because at least Fernandez had some company on track to race with or a lowlight because given how rusty Crutchlow still must be, Fernandez should've been well clear of him. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsKTM_BB.png) **Qualifying:** 15th **Sprint:** 14th **Grand Prix:** 11th Brad Binder was absolutely raging at the tyre pressure penalty that dropped him from ninth to 11th in the grand prix, because he hadn't seen the pressure warning because his dash was blocked by a track limits warning message that wouldn't go away. On paper, ninth was one of his best results of this miserable year. But regardless of the result, he was just a long way off what KTM stablemates Bastianini and Acosta were finding from the bike this weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsPRAMAC_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 18th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** 12th Pretty underwhelming outcomes for Jack Miller from a weekend when all the other Yamahas ended up in or very near to the top 10 at different points. That he didn't get a similar chance to shine was mostly out of his hands - a broken brake bracket very early in the sprint and chatter in the grand prix - but having to qualify on his spare bike after a crash didn't do him any favours either. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsTECH3_MV.png) Qualifying: 19th Sprint: 16th Grand Prix: 13th "You can't say ‘oh I'm fit, but I'm not performing because I'm not fit'. It's one or the other," mused Maverick Vinales' Tech3 team boss Guenther Steiner. "‘Oh, I'm fit.' So why isn't the performance there like when you were fit? ‘Oh, because I'm not fit.' This is a contradiction." Cue a weekend of being off the pace and putting it down to lacking the strength and fitness to handle particular changes of direction. But then Vinales, in the next breath, ruled out pausing racing again because he feels being on the bike is a good measure of his fitness and the best way to get better. That's not a strategy that's going to get Vinales a 2027 seat, judging by his boss's comments. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsHONDA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 10th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** DNF Battling into Q2 and then 10th on the grid on a weekend when none of the Hondas ever really looked competitive was a great achievement. Shunting on lap one of both races was a staggering waste of that effort. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-05-29-The-Race-MotoGP-RankingsVR46_FM.png) **Qualifying:** 13th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** DNF At least Morbidelli got further into the races than Mir before crashing. Struggling to find any other positives, though. Slowest Ducati rider, and penalised for dangerously dawdling on the racing line in front of Bastianini during the important bit of practice, Morbidelli clattered into Moreira at the first corner of the main race and then got some assertive treatment back from Miller further around the lap. Then he made a bit of progress before chucking it away with another crash. ### What's really going on with Verstappen's McLaren F1 talks URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-mclaren-talks-what-is-really-going-on/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T12:03:11.000Z The next few weeks will be crucial to deciding Max Verstappen’s immediate F1 future, and while Red Bull was focused on successfully introducing its new car concept at the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen’s management was busy holding talks with a rival team. British news outlet The Mail Online published a story on the Thursday of the Austrian Grand Prix reporting that Verstappen’s management had engaged in “preliminary talks” with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown about a potential deal. The Race understands those talks certainly took place - and Brown took the meeting after being approached because after all, that’s his job to do so - but this is not about some power play to lever Oscar Piastri immediately out of McLaren and get Verstappen into that seat for 2027. Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull running into 2028, but Verstappen’s contract also contains a clause that allows him to exit the team if he’s not inside the top two in the drivers’ championship at some unspecified point in August 2026\. There’s also believed to be a mechanism that means Verstappen does not have to notify the team that the clause is being activated until October. But where does Verstappen go if he activates this clause? All the alternative top seats - at Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren - are all but locked down for 2027. Charles Leclerc [recently extended](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-new-ferrari-f1-contract-could-run-into-2030s/) his mega-deal with Ferrari into the 2030s; Lewis Hamilton has a contract for 2027 and is understood to hold an option for 2028 too; reigning world champion Lando Norris and McLaren team-mate Piastri are both understood to be under contract for next season at least, and George Russell is staying put at Mercedes. When Mercedes announced Russell and Kimi Antonelli as its driver lineup for 2026, it was curious that there was [no reference](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-2026-f1-driver-lineup-russell-antonelli-contracts-verstappen/) to the lengths of the deals, or even a vague confirmation they were signed up to ‘multi-year contracts’. This was widely understood to be Toto Wolff keeping his options open in case Verstappen became available, but Mercedes and Russell insisted there was a multi-year agreement in place beyond the end of this season. Antonelli will certainly be on some kind of long-term agreement, likely dating back to his graduation to F1 in 2025, and his performances so far in 2026 certainly merit him remaining in place regardless. Whatever mechanism that existed to ensure Russell remains at the team beyond this year appears to have been triggered, closing off the only realistic short-term option for Verstappen that isn’t staying at Red Bull. This should also mean the players further down the priority order in F1’s driver market can start locking in their own plans. Flavio Briatore, for example, was recently quoted as saying he was waiting on any potential [Mercedes driver availability](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-f1-2027-line-up-mercedes-driver-admission/) before deciding Alpine’s 2027 lineup. ## Where Verstappen stands ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1421455_HiRes-1.jpg) The bigger question is: where does all this leave Verstappen? And those tentative McLaren talks are a big part of that equation. This is about the longer term picture of F1’s driver market in 2028 *and* maintaining pressure on Red Bull in the meantime. Verstappen’s often said he wants to remain at Red Bull as long as he’s racing in F1\. But that loyalty only extends so far as Red Bull’s competitive standing. Verstappen’s average qualifying position so far in 2026 stands at 7.4, though that is in large part down to the first three races of the season, when Verstappen’s best qualifying was eighth in China. Since the enforced April break and Red Bull’s first major upgrade of the season for round four in Miami, Verstappen hasn’t qualified outside the top six and has twice made the front row of the grid. So performance has markedly and consistently improved, even though the power unit continues to be troublesome - particularly off the startline. Verstappen’s management was quoted in the Dutch press ahead of Austria saying Verstappen wants to remain at Red Bull for life but “wasn’t born to race in the midfield”. How do they define where the midfield begins? That remains unanswered. What’s most likely happening here is the Verstappen camp utilising what leverage it still holds in the driver market to prevent Red Bull from becoming complacent. Red Bull knows Verstappen lacks viable options for 2027, the rest of the grid knows that too, and certainly Verstappen’s management does. But what happens after that is a completely different question - and there’s a realistic potential scenario here where Verstappen activates his exit clause this summer and then tries to squeeze Red Bull for a better deal over the long term to prevent the possibility of him joining a rival for 2028. Team Verstappen's priority is definitely for Max to remain at Red Bull - but only if the car is good enough to fight for titles. That remains the primary driving force here. And they know the driver market for 2028 is a *lot* more uncertain - so in the meantime, Verstappen wants to maintain pressure on his current team to get back to the title-contending level that he expects. After battling the Mercedes drivers for pole position in qualifying in Austria, The Race asked Verstappen what he wanted to see from the team to be convinced about its longer-term potential. He replied: “They know what I want” and we understand he visited Red Bull’s headquarters in Milton Keynes prior to the Barcelona GP to deliver that message. ## Successful upgrade is well-timed Red Bull has been on an upward performance trajectory since Miami in early May, but the Austrian Grand Prix was a significant further levelling up for Verstappen - a race in which, for the first time this season, he felt that he could legitimately compete for victory. The fact he finished sandwiched between the two Mercedes, with less than two seconds blanketing the three cars, tells you this was a tight battle - and Verstappen’s race pace was unquestionably a match for what has usually been the dominant force in 2026 so far. Race winner Russell even admitted afterwards that Verstappen’s pace had made his life “uncomfortable”. It was clear to see that Verstappen’s early Q3 pace in qualifying on Saturday - where he lapped within a tenth of both Mercedes before a problem with the rear wing transitioning from straight mode to corner mode threw him into the barriers - was genuine. He was a proper threat to Mercedes in this race and very likely could have won it had he not started down in fifth and had to spend the early laps battling past Lewis Hamilton’s energy-starved Ferrari. Even with that delay Verstappen forced himself into contention but then felt his pace in the second half of the race fell away - owing to an unspecified problem on the Red Bull’s rear axle. One of the most pleasing aspects for Red Bull will be the fact it was able to get this [major Austria upgrade](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-red-bulls-f1-upgrade-shows-its-shifting-aero-ideas/) working properly after a difficult time in Friday practice. An overnight simulator shift from 2015-16 Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi helped Red Bull knock the car into shape for Saturday and then what Mekies called Verstappen’s “magic” did the rest. The RB22 is also understood to now be running close to the regulation weight limit, after previously giving away an estimated two tenths of a second to being overweight. You have to be wary of getting carried away with just one strong race. We only need to consider the fact Ferrari went from race winner to abject disappointment in the space of one high-altitude circuit to realise how quickly the picture can change in F1\. And Verstappen also feels Red Bull has some work to do to rediscover its former title-winning edge. But there’s no doubt Red Bull has suddenly taken a massive step forward in the short term - and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect just as Verstappen’s management team fired its first major driver market warning shot for 2028. ### The unseen ignored team order that caused Austrian GP angst URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-unseen-ignored-team-order-that-caused-austrian-gp-angst/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T17:55:31.000Z An unseen team-mate controversy played out in Formula 1's midfield at the Austrian Grand Prix, with a team order to hold position ignored. Liam Lawson - though he finished ahead in the end - was irked after the race by rookie Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad attacking him during the second stint against express instructions. With Racing Bulls in control of the midfield this weekend, Lawson and Lindblad ran ninth and 10th in the initial phase of the race ahead of their planned first pitstops. The undercut threat from Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto meant Lindblad was brought into the pits first, and so ended up in an inadvertent position to attack Lawson a lap later as the latter rejoined the race. Making his way past a yet-to-stop Ollie Bearman on the run to Turn 3, Lindblad ended up clearing Lawson into the braking zone in the same move - before Lawson (who had been told to lift off into Turn 3 "straight away" out of the pits for brakes management) responded emphatically on the run out of the corner with a fairly risky thread-the-needle overtake between the two cars. This, however, was not the main source of strife. Several corners later, Lindblad was explicitly ordered by race engineer Pierre Hamelin not to overtake Lawson. PH: We need to hold position. Lift off \[for brake temperature management\], please. AL: Why? PH: Lift-off is critical. Lift-off remains critical. The following lap, as the instruction to keep up with the lifting-off was maintained, Lawson specifically queried with his race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos whether - given the previous overtake - he would again be at risk of an attack from Lindblad. LL: Am I going to be attacked? AI: Negative. AI: Arvid will hold position, we are not fighting. This proved inaccurate. Instead, Lindblad picked off Lawson braking into Turn 4 next time by, in a forceful-if-legal move that squeezed Lawson to the outside, and prompted bewilderment from the latter. LL: Dude. Alex? AI: I told you what I \[myself\] was told. LL: \[Later\] Last f\*\*\*ing time I'm listening, man. LL: \[Later still\] I lift off 50 metres and I get attacked. Once the final stint began, Lindblad received another, firmer "hold position" instruction, and showed no sign of flaunting it. "We had a strategy, and executed it in the first stint, and then we were trying to manage- or I was told to manage brakes, and that I wouldn't be attacked, and then I was," Lawson said after the race. Asked whether it was something to discuss internally, he acknowledged: "Probably, I would say. Yeah." Lawson had complained later in that stint about being "stuck" behind Lindblad. He was then enabled to move back ahead with a one-lap undercut of his own. When quizzed after the race, Lindblad had no reaction to being informed of Lawson's comments, saying: "OK, in the end, I'm happy with the race, it's double points for the team. "I gave it a good go at the start of the second stint, and got ahead of him, I was ahead for the whole of the second stint, and then the team boxed him a lap earlier for the last one - so he came out, he undercut me, came out ahead because of the new tyres. "I kind of saw that coming, I thought they were going to do that, but that's fine, it doesn't really matter. I had some fun, I got stuck in, I think I did a good race." He acknowledged the instruction to hold position but, when queried again about Lawson's suggestion, he didn't adhere to the team's plan, said: "We finished P9 and P10, I mean, it worked out pretty well. There was no threat from behind." ### How Ferrari explained its bafflingly underwhelming Austrian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-explanation-underwhelming-f1-austrian-gp-engine-upgrade/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T17:02:32.000Z Ferrari's engine upgrade made a bafflingly underwhelming debut at Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix as both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc went backwards. Leclerc and Hamilton split the Mercedes in qualifying in second and third, but they quickly dropped out of podium contention as the only two drivers who needed to three stops, while the rest of the top 10 stopped twice. That came amid the debut of Ferrari's engine upgrade and off the back of Hamilton's startling victory at Barcelona, where the three-stop strategy worked to great effect. In Austria, the three-stop strategy was more out of necessity than a strategic masterstroke as both drivers chewed through their tyres. After the race, team principal Fred Vasseur suggested Ferrari might have been suckered into fighting Mercedes too hard in the opening stint. "It was a tough weekend, especially coming after Barcelona," Vasseur accepted. "I don't think we got the weekend off on the right foot on Friday, as we struggled a lot in FP1 and FP2 and weren't able to complete proper long runs in representative conditions. "In the end, we managed to recover some performance over a single lap in qualifying, with P2 and P3, which was a good result. But we probably didn't prepare the race as well as we should have. "Looking back, we were probably too focused on Mercedes today. We pushed too hard in the opening laps with both cars and then perhaps reacted too aggressively with the strategy, trying to stay with them when, realistically, that wasn’t our race." As for eighth-place finisher Charles Leclerc, he believed: "You can always do slightly better \[strategy\] with hindsight, but I think whenever the pace is not good, whatever strategy you do, it doesn't look great." Even McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believed Ferrari's downturn was a lack of performance rather than strategy. "I think for them it was more a matter of pace," he said when The Race asked about Ferrari's backward slide. "And I'm not sure - we will have to look at the numbers - if it's just absolute pace in the race, or probably some additional tyre degradation compared to some other competitors." Leclerc was once again a step behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was 19 seconds ahead in fifth. "An incredibly difficult race. Very, very low grip overall. Just struggled to have the car and the tyres, especially in the right window, especially the rears," Leclerc said. "Just missing a lot of rear grip. There's still a lot of work to be done. I think I've been working very hard in the past weeks because there was always one reason or another that made me struggle on the Sunday or on the Saturday. "But at the moment, there's always a reason why there's a struggle. That probably means that I don't really have a clear picture of what I want from this car. Yeah, I've got to find that." When it was put to him that it was difficult to understand how Ferrari had gone from second-best in qualifying to fourth-best on Sunday, Leclerc said: "It's difficult for us to understand as well. "On Saturday, I think with low fuel, the car was quite nice. The front end was quite strong, and I like this. But in the race, the front end stayed strong, and the rear had no rear. "So it's a balance that you've got to find that on this car is particularly difficult." ## Power deficit exposed? While it debuted an engine upgrade here, Ferrari's internal combustion engine was found to be more than 4% off the benchmark (Red Bull's) by the recent Additional Upgrade and Development Opportunities (ADUO) ruling. The full extent of its deficit was never expected to be solely fixed by this engine upgrade, with a second one likely coming later this year. And Hamilton believed Austria exposed Ferrari's current power shortfall. "On Friday we were down six tenths just in straightline speed and I have to go and see what the case was today, but I'm sure it was not insignificant," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "We're going to have to push really really hard to see when we can get the next power upgrade but yeah, when you're around these guys...it's deployment. "It doesn't necessarily feel so much as power because when you come out of the corner it feels like you've got the grunt. "It's just deployment at the end. Ours tails off. Particularly \[compared to\] Mercedes, they just keep going, so got a look at why and how we can improve that but that's not going come for a while." ### Bezzecchi released from hospital after violent crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/bezzecchi-released-from-hospital-after-violent-crash/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T16:07:33.000Z MotoGP championship contender Marco Bezzecchi will be released from hospital having escaped injury in his violent Dutch Grand Prix crash. The Aprilia rider lost control in the fast Ramshoek left-hander on lap two of the race and had a violent tumble through the gravel that left him in “extreme pain” according to his team. But CT scans and x-rays showed no injuries and he will be discharged to travel home on Sunday evening. Bezzecchi’s retirement from the race meant he lost the championship lead to team-mate Jorge Martin, whose third-place finish moved him seven points ahead. The Assen weekend was littered with violent crashes that became more serious as the riders hit the gravel traps. But there was no consensus in the paddock over a common cause. Both Gresini Ducati riders were hurt in Friday practice crashes that developed in similar ways, with Fermin Aldeguer ruled out of the weekend with a fractured vertebra and Alex Marquez sustained a gouge to his arm but racing on and finishing fifth in the grand prix. Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales said the Bezzecchi crash was particularly shocking to watch. “I've seen it, my goodness. I've seen it on the replay, and kind of like Aldeguer, when they hit the gravel, they fly so high,” he said. “From the Bezzecchi crash it's hard to understand, but it can be the possibility that he's going really quick when he enters the gravel. “But Aldeguer was not fast into the gravel, it was a little high side, but a normal crash \[until he hit the gravel\].” ### Austrian Grand Prix F1 winners and losers 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/austrian-grand-prix-f1-winners-and-losers-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T15:40:02.000Z Our pick of the stars and flops of an Austrian Grand Prix that featured some big form turnarounds compared to the previous race. ## Winner: Max Verstappen (2nd) Verstappen might have come up 1.6s short of victory in the end, but it was his and Red Bull's most competitive Sunday of the season so far. Verstappen has had to watch Mercedes and Ferrari bring big upgrades that have taken them further away from Red Bull, but Austria was finally Verstappen's turn to be buoyed by a big development package. Whether the RB22 can be *this* strong at every circuit remains to be seen, but the Red Bull is certainly closer, and that gives the team an important 'pull' factor in its fight to keep Verstappen. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Loser: Kimi Antonelli (3rd) If not the definitive quickest driver of the weekend then at least definitely in the conversation - so only getting third place will sting. Antonelli seems quite aware this was a winnable grand prix, as evidenced by his rather self-flagellating post-race reaction that referenced mistakes driven by some sort of brake discomfort in the first lap and further into that first stint. Had he ended up at least third rather than fifth following that opening sequence, the grand prix would have opened up to him. But it wasn't to be, and the time lost there was enough to consign him to a hopeless chase in the final metres. Still. 40 points clear and not lacking pace. Could be worse! **\- Val Khorounzhiy** ## Winner: George Russell (1st) Russell is still missing that 'total control' dominant win that would psychologically tip the momentum of the year. This weekend wasn't really it - his qualifying, even the whole yellow flag situation aside, was a work-in-progress until the very final runs, and the win looked under serious threat in the second phase of the race. But it was also more comfortable than the 1.986s covering the top three made it look, and ultimately there will be no regrets whatsoever coming out with a 10-point swing in his favour over his team-mate, a round after an 18-point swing. Russell - who has leapfrogged Lewis Hamilton to second in the standings here - still feels like he's rebuilding his season brick-by-brick but he's buying himself time in the process, and putting things back into his own hands. **\- VK** ## Loser: Ferrari (5th & 8th) "They didn't look at all like they did in Barcelona" was Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff's summary of Ferrari, and it's hard to disagree. We [didn't expect Ferrari to be able to pull off](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-austrian-gp-f1-win-chances-strategy-masterstroke-more-difficult/) its Barcelona strategy masterclass again pre-race, but nobody expected Ferrari to be *this* far off, with lead Ferrari driver Hamilton 26.3s behind winner Russell. That's despite the major engine upgrade Ferrari brought to Austria. Its debut fell flat, killing any momentum gained from its Barcelona victory. And Charles Leclerc looked especially off-colour, a further 19s behind Hamilton, without any of the obvious braking problems that explained his miserable Montreal and Monaco weekends. **\- JS** ## Loser: Lando Norris (7th) Norris fell somewhere between nonplussed and disinterested in his immediate reaction to a seventh place in an Austrian GP where he was upstaged by team-mate Oscar Piastri. The near-10-second gap between the two McLaren drivers isn't anything like the 35-second drubbing Norris dished out on Piastri last time out at Barcelona, but it was ultimately big enough for two cars - Hamilton's Ferrari and Isack Hadjar's Red Bull - to slot into. And you'd probably say based on the way Ferrari's challenge wilted and Hadjar's general deficit to Verstappen that those positions were recoverable. Norris, for what it's worth, felt his race was lost in the pitstop phase when McLaren had to stop Piastri first to cover Hadjar, but accepted that's the way it goes sometimes - and that there was "not a lot to complain of otherwise". So this wasn't the scale of defeat that the positional difference between the McLarens suggest, but the subdued tone of his answers was probably in keeping with the way his race played out. **\- Jack Cozens** ## Winner: Oscar Piastri (4th) Piastri admitted he had a lot of "homework" to do after a difficult Barcelona GP in which he finished 35 seconds behind McLaren team-mate Norris. But it was Piastri's turn to deliver a thumping intra-team victory in Austria with a really solid drive to fourth. McLaren clearly didn't have the pace to match Verstappen's Red Bull or the Mercedes duo, so Piastri did a good job to beat one Red Bull, both Ferraris and Norris (convincingly). **\- JS** ## Loser: Cadillac (DNF & DNF) The extent of Cadillac's technical issues on Friday, which then bled into Saturday morning on Valtteri Bottas's car, probably indicated a double-DNF might not have been the greatest surprise ever. Even so, failing to get either car past five laps before overheating brakes curtailed their progress was a pretty galling showing. **\- JC** ## Winner: Racing Bulls (9th & 10th) This was about as 'no notes' a performance as you could ask for. Racing Bulls repeated its best-of-the-rest trick from qualifying in the race and was never troubled by the opposition - as the 11-second gap between Arvid Lindblad and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto behind him in 11th showed. In truth, once Liam Lawson had stopped reporting that his car was on fire, the only real moment of note was the team's decision to undercut Lawson back past Lindblad at their final stops. (And then order the two to hold position.) So on a sweltering hot day, the only real downside was that the potential for unreliability didn't mean there were more points up for grabs for such a well-executed race. **\- JC** ## Losers: The rest of the midfield Great reliability from the 'big four' and controlled execution from the Racing Bulls meant points were an impossibility for the Bulls' midfield rivals - whichever way the strategies turned and however they were able to utilise the virtual safety car periods as pitstop opportunities. The Alpine, which had come alive on Sunday at Barcelona after a subpar qualifying, steadfastly refused to do that here and appeared to get precious little out of an upgraded front wing. The Audi was OK but just outmatched. Haas plainly did not have the car all through the weekend. And while Williams has to be considered an honorary member of the midfield by virtue of its position and points tally in the constructors' standings, the FW48 is only a true 'midfield' car when it feels like it. Underdeveloped, draggy and still overweight, its only true contributions here was creating the VSCs through Carlos Sainz's pit straight stoppage and Alex Albon's assault on the Turn 3 bollard. **\- VK** ### Will strong Austrian GP help Red Bull keep Verstappen? Our verdict URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/will-strong-austrian-gp-help-red-bull-keep-verstappen-our-verdict/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T15:39:20.000Z The Austrian Grand Prix weekend featured a massive Red Bull upgrade, fresh rumours about Max Verstappen's Formula 1 future, and then his best result of the 2026 season. After all that, is Verstappen - who's on the brink of being able to trigger a Red Bull contract exit clause if he wants - more or less likely to stay on at the team with which he's won all his titles? Here are our team's thoughts: ## Engine still a question mark ### Josh Suttill There's no doubt Red Bull's chassis has passed a crucial test. If the upgrade failed this weekend and the team remained fourth-best, I can't see how Verstappen could have faith that this Red Bull 2.0 has what it takes to develop a championship-winning car. The biggest question for me is whether it can develop its engine to be a match for the Mercedes. We know its internal combustion engine has been rated as F1's best, but it's all the other electrical-related components where it appears to be lagging behind. Given there are [fears it could be 'trapped' by its rivals](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-fears-f1-rivals-will-trap-it-unless-fia-rethinks-aduo/) into not getting the ADUO upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari are enjoying, there is a proper question mark over a crucial part of the package Verstappen will have. If Red Bull can't sufficiently answer those fears, I can see why a move to a Mercedes-powered McLaren team would be an appealing alternative. ## A promising race - but Ferrari flattered Red Bull ### Gary Anderson I'm pretty sure that whatever parts Red Bull actually had left and raced after Verstappen's qualifying shunt must have put a smile on his face. He was competitive and looked like he was having fun - and that his car was at least best of the rest behind the two Mercedes cars. He was helped a little by Ferrari going a bit off-piste with its strategy. It's easy to be critical in hindsight but pitting Lewis Hamilton early on lap 13 for hard tyres and then softs 13 laps later on lap 26 (even if it was under a VSC) was declaring to all that Ferrari was on a three-stop. When taking advantage of that VSC why not fit another set of hards and at least try to run to the end? Even if you couldn't achieve it you then had the option near the end of the race when everyone spread out a bit to fit those softs. On another note, while it was a fun race, we did see a bit of the old 'after you, no after you' racing coming back as each driver made best use of their deployment and harvesting strategy. Let's see how Silverstone pans out, it's a real drivers' circuit. Hopefully we will see a race where the drivers can really influence the end result and it doesn't come down to the electrical deployment strategy. ## Pace really helps Red Bull's contract talks ### Ben Anderson It certainly won't hurt Red Bull's chances, especially considering it threw a massive upgrade package at the car for this race and that could just have easily backfired as paid off. It was interesting to see that Q3, run one, pace - where Verstappen was within a tenth of the two Mercedes before that straight mode problem threw him into the barriers - was genuine. He was a proper threat to Mercedes in this race and maybe could have won it with a better grid position. Obviously everyone needs to be wary of getting carried away with one strong race. We only need to consider the fact Ferrari went from race winner to abject disappointment in the space of one high-altitude circuit to realise how quickly the picture can change. But that works both ways too. Red Bull, and Verstappen in particular, took a massive step forward in Austria. If that can translate to Silverstone, Spa and Hungary before F1's summer break, then there's a much better chance Red Bull will be able to hang on to its prized asset without having to hand him the universe. He's highly unlikely to be inside the top two in the standings by then, so is most likely to hold the trump cards when it comes to any contract negotiations and leveraging that exit clause the world knows he holds. Talks with other teams - like those that have been reported to have taken place between his management and McLaren, for instance - are all part of that same game. Red Bull is almost certainly going to have to barter with Verstappen regardless to keep him. But none of that really matters if the car is simply no good. Regardless of whether Max is minded to leave or not, this sort of performance step puts Red Bull in a much better position than it was two weeks ago. ### Russell resists Verstappen for first victory since season opener URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russell-resists-verstappen-for-first-victory-since-season-opener/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T15:43:03.000Z George Russell kept a charging Max Verstappen in the upgraded Red Bull at bay to win Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix, his first Sunday victory since the season opener in March. Verstappen quickly appeared to be Russell’s biggest threat as Ferrari, which started second and third, didn’t show the pace that took Lewis Hamilton to victory at the Barcelona GP a fortnight ago. Red Bull put Verstappen on an offset strategy to Russell with an extended second stint, meaning he had a six-lap tyre advantage in the final stint over Russell. Verstappen came out of the pits 11s behind Russell with 22 laps to try to wipe that out. He ultimately came up short, crossing the line 1.6s behind Russell. It marked Russell’s first grand prix victory since he won the Australian Grand Prix in March and moves him back into second in the drivers’ championship, now 40 points behind Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli looked to have the pace to challenge for victory, but he lost too much time early in the race. He, like Verstappen, had fresher tyres than Russell in the final stint but ended up just 0.3s short of Verstappen and 1.9s off Russell. Oscar Piastri drove a quiet but effective race to fourth for McLaren, having struggled for race pace at Barcelona. He finished ahead of the lead Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, who was battling Verstappen early in the race, but ended up on a three-stop strategy along with team-mate Charles Leclerc (but unlike the rest of the top 10). Isack Hadjar was sixth in the second Red Bull ahead of Lando Norris and Leclerc; all three were a step behind their team-mates on Sunday. The Racing Bulls dominated the midfield fight with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounding out the points scorers in ninth and 10th. Lindblad was running ahead of Lawson before Lawson was able to undercut Lindblad at the final pitstop. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto finished 11.2s away from a point in 11th. Both Cadillacs quickly wilted in the extreme Austrian heat, with their brakes overheating (and catching on fire in the case of Valtteri Bottas), leading to a double retirement within the first five laps. Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin retired with a suspected ERS issue, while Carlos Sainz’s Williams broke down on the start/finish straight with a suspected electrical issue. ### Austrian Grand Prix F1 race results 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/austrian-grand-prix-f1-race-results-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T14:31:27.000Z George Russell boosted his 2026 Formula 1 world championship hopes by staying clear of Max Verstappen's Red Bull and Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli to win the Austrian Grand Prix. 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +1.611s 3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.986s 4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +21.809s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +26.393s 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +29.399s 7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +31.505s 8 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +45.659s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1 lap 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1 lap 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1 lap 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1 lap 13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1 lap 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1 lap 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2 laps 17 Alex Albon (Williams) +2 laps 18 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3 laps DNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) DNF Carlos Sainz (Williams) DNF Sergio Perez (Cadillac) DNF Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) ### Ogura takes maiden MotoGP win, Bezzecchi hospitalised after crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ai-ogura-takes-maiden-motogp-win-as-hospitalised-bezzecchi-loses-points-lead/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T15:44:11.000Z Marco Bezzecchi lost the MotoGP championship lead and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks after an early high-speed crash in a Dutch Grand Prix won by Ai Ogura. Bezzecchi's Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin couldn't hold off Trackhouse pair Ogura and Raul Fernandez as they repeated their sprint 1-2 but in the opposite order after a successful late dive on his team-mate by Ogura. Ogura's victory makes him the first Japanese race winner in MotoGP in 22 years. Bezzecchi lost control of his Aprilia early in the race and became yet another rider this weekend to take a violent high-speed tumble through the Assen gravel. Aprilia said he was "fully conscious and displays normal mobility in all four limbs, with no immediate signs of major neurological or systemic complications" but that because of "severe pain resulting from the high-energy impact" Bezzecchi will go to Groningen Hospital for "comprehensive diagnostic imaging and specialised scans to definitively rule out any underlying injuries and ensure a safe recovery path". Martin had won an early lead battle with Fernandez but couldn't shake off the Trackhouse pair and was passed by them in quick succession mid-race. Ogura then passed Fernandez and stormed away to take his first win, while third for Martin gives him a seven-point lead now over Bezzecchi. Marc Marquez was only seventh. He ran third on lap third but couldn't maintain that pace. He lost particular ground via Fabio Di Giannantonio dive at the chicane that took them both into the gravel, and for which Di Giannantonio was given a long lap penalty. Di Giannantonio recovered from that to take fourth from Alex Marquez, who put in a remarkable performance to finish fifth given the gouges in his arm from his Friday crash and that he is only just back in action after his horrific Barcelona accident last month. Marc Marquez was sixth on the road but a last-lap track limits penalty cost him a place to Enea Bastianini. ### Final Austrian Grand Prix F1 starting grid URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/austrian-grand-prix-f1-starting-grid-2026-as-russell-keeps-pole/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T12:50:29.000Z Austrian Grand Prix qualifying pacesetter George Russell kept hold of his pole position after the Formula 1 stewards ruled he had not breached yellow flag regulations on his best lap. The yellows came out for Max Verstappen's penultimate-corner crash as other drivers were finished their final Q3 laps, but the officials agreed with Mercedes that Russell had only been shown a single yellow as he arrived at the scene and lifted off sufficiently to stay within the rules. 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 18 Alex Albon (Williams) 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### The 'suffering' that will make repeat Ferrari masterstroke difficult URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-austrian-gp-f1-win-chances-strategy-masterstroke-more-difficult/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T08:44:58.000Z Ferrari's front row slot and the high tyre-degradation scenario in play for Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix has inevitably triggered intrigue about whether it can pull off another strategic masterclass to beat Mercedes. After all, two weeks on from Lewis Hamilton's three-stop charge to overcome Mercedes' George Russell on a two-stop in Spain, the fight for the victory is once again going to all be about tyre management. But while it was Ferrari's aggressive choice at Barcelona that pushed Mercedes out of its comfort zone, the reality of the demands of the Red Bull Ring means that such an approach may not work this time. Yes, the tyres are suffering in Austria from a high level of degradation as they were in Spain, and yes it is going to be another blisteringly hot day, but there are some key characteristics of the Red Bull Ring track that means the route to doing something different is not as easily in play. So while a three-stopper is on paper a few seconds faster, based on degradation being 0.1-0.2 seconds per lap, in reality when battling other cars it falls out of favour. Run through the infamous Monte Carlo simulation that factors in strategy against other cars on track, the three-stopper ends up five seconds slower. Key to the three-stopper not really working is that overtaking is so much harder at the Red Bull Ring than it was at Barcelona when there is a tyre offset. The current generation of cars seem to be easier to race closely through high-speed corners than the low- and medium-speed turns that make up much of the Red Bull Ring. Furthermore, the ways that boost has been tamed to pull back on excessive overtaking means that diving past on the straights is not as easy as it was earlier in the year when the rules were untamed and yo-yo racing was the norm. As Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra said: "Here, compared to Barcelona, you can suffer a little bit more with traffic management. "If you go for a three-stop, so quite aggressive, then you have to overtake more cars on track if they are on the two stops already. In that case I think it could be less effective." The fundamental technical demands for the best management of tyres is also different in Austria compared to Spain, which means the characteristics of the different cars may see things play out in an alternative way. Fewer high-speed corners means less lateral load punishing the tyres that way, with the Red Bull Ring being much more about acceleration and traction demands. Berra said: "In Barcelona you have more high-speed corners, so basically while the rear axle was critical, the front axle was important as well. "Here there are fewer high-speed corners, so in general it is more high-traction demand - so it's more the rear axle that you have to protect. So I think it's slightly different compared to Barcelona." So with overtaking harder, the risk of being on the three-stop and coming through traffic is that if you get held up, you slide more, the rear tyres get even hotter, and the degradation is worse. Berra added: "Compared to a car that is in front of you, you are not able to extract your full potential on traction. Then you start losing more performance on the rear and start sliding more." Clean air is going to be king here, which may mean the strategy battle is not about the number of stops but more about gunning for the undercut or being aggressive from the start in going for the soft. ## Pace advantage But there is another factor that is going to be influential, and it is that Mercedes appears to have a bigger pace advantage against Ferrari than at Barcelona. As Hamilton - who starts third, with team-mate Charles Leclerc on the front row alongside Russell - said after qualifying: "I think this weekend we've not been confident that we could fight for a win. "These guys \[Mercedes\] have been six tenths quicker than us most of the weekend. We closed the gap overnight three tenths, but we still are three tenths down, or two-and-a-bit tenths down. It's going to be very tough to challenge them." But despite the pace deficit and the three-stopper not appearing to be in play, the one difference Ferrari has compared to Spain is that it has two cars up in the fight at the front. And that opens options to try different things - such as aggressive undercuts or a compound offset with the soft, medium and hard compounds all in play - which could force Mercedes to make some tough decisions about which car it covers. And if it ends up reacting to the wrong Ferrari, then it could be powerless to stop the other one. As Hamilton said: "It's great having Charles here as well, because we can hopefully work together in a strategy and try to apply pressure to them." ### Winners and losers from Austrian GP F1 qualifying 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-austrian-gp-f1-qualifying-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T20:44:03.000Z Confusion over George Russell's pole-winning lap, and whether it had been set under double-waved yellow flags or not, dominated the headlines from Austria qualifying, which makes a tour through the rest of the order even more valuable. Max Verstappen's crash, the team that joined the top four in Q3, surprise finishes for McLaren and some 'disasterclasses' at the back of the order mean there's plenty to analyse. Here we go. ### Winner: George Russell (1st) The performance picture looked bleak for Russell at several points in this weekend, across practice and the first two qualifying segments, and it took an undeniable stroke of luck for him to find himself with a two-car buffer to Kimi Antonelli. [Russell was fortunate](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-russell-kept-austrian-gp-pole-despite-yellow-flag-incident/) with the sequence of marshal and race direction decisions about how to treat Max Verstappen's accident up ahead. But to say he skated by on pure luck would be incorrect - it was more that Russell was 'extraordinarily lucky to avoid being unlucky', because the vast majority of the time a situation like this would end with him being denied his pole lap. He still had to make the lap itself, and it was a marked improvement on the rest of the weekend, Russell already on course to beat Antonelli even before the latter rolled out. What did Russell change to make that happen? A bit of wing angle, a bit of out-lap strategy, he said. "But it's one of those that, when you nail Turn 1 and you go through fast but the car doesn't slide, it keeps the temperatures a little bit down, so your tyres are cooler approaching the next turn, then you have more grip, you go through there faster and the tyres are cooler once again. "It's this sort of upward spiral - and it just clicked." **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ### Loser: Max Verstappen (5th) This actually turned out to be a pretty decent result in the grand scheme of things, considering Red Bull’s overall wayward form so far in 2026, but Verstappen still lost a chance to fight for pole or even start higher up than fifth. It looked like he'd had carried too much speed into Turn 9 trying to chase that 0.061s gap to Antonelli after the first runs in Q3 when he crashed. Verstappen knew that was where he was giving away the lap time, so was pushing more - “not a stupid amount more”. “Normally you can catch an oversteer,” he said, “but this was not controllable at all, unfortunately.” After the session the cause became clear, as team boss Laurent Mekies explains. "We lost aero performance on the rear of the car and it gave Max no chance to survive," he said. "As a team we take full responsibility for it and apologise to him." Verstappen added the loss of aero performance was down to some damage to the car. [The subsequent yellow flag](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/quite-crazy-verstappen-baffled-by-crash-response/), and Antonelli’s overreaction to it, limited the damage for Verstappen in terms of the final classification here. It’s fair to say up until that point, he was driving the wheels off the car and looking an unlikely contender for pole. **\- Ben Anderson** ### Winner: Ferrari (2nd & 3rd) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1420868_HiRes.jpg) After a fairly abject Friday, when Ferrari appeared to be running that new, upgraded power unit in a detuned state but the drivers were also struggling with what Charles Leclerc called “an open balance” (meaning too much four-wheel sliding rather than a dominant imbalance on one axle), Lewis Hamilton ’s pace in final practice - just 0.115s off the pace - was more in line with what we were expecting to see after Barcelona. Ferrari remained in the mix during the early stages of qualifying, but suddenly behind the McLarens again, then in Q3 it all came together - denied a 1-2 on the grid only by Russell’s stonking final lap and quick thinking through Turn 9’s single yellow zone after Verstappen's shunt. Without Antonelli mistakenly backing off for what he thought was a double yellow zone, that 2-3 result would have likely been a 3-4, but the McLarens were legitimately vanquished anyway and Verstappen crashed trying to keep up with the pace, so this has to go down as a strong result for Ferrari. The car clearly doesn’t have the outright pace of the Mercedes here, but a long, hot race could be a very different story to the single lap blitzes we’ve mostly seen so far. Ferrari will surely feel, from these grid positions, there’s at least a chance to fight for victory again. **\- BA** ### Loser: Kimi Antonelli (4th) Antonelli might not have had the pace to beat that stonking final lap from his Mercedes team-mate Russell, but he certainly had the pace for the front row had he not misjudged the yellow flags for Verstappen's crash. The one upside for Antonelli is how strong things were looking for him prior to Q3\. But he’ll now have three cars to pass ahead of him if he’s to get back to winning ways after his Barcelona frustration. Antonelli has made very few major errors in a brilliant second season, but this might be the most significant so far. **\- Josh Suttill** ### Loser: McLaren (6th & 7th) To finish sixth and seventh in qualifying is surprising given how strong McLaren had been all weekend, a car in the top four in every session and in the top two in all but FP3, leading into Q3. Lando Norris, narrowly ahead in sixth, said the team was “probably expecting a little bit more just from a positions point of view, but \[it's\] just how close it was”. He agreed with Oscar Piastri’s view that only a “dream lap” that only “comes around every few years” would have launched the pair further forward. The fact that they have been so close to each other in terms of times set this weekend and in Q3 shows they are likely extracting the maximum out of the package, and that free practice flattered the MCL40\. **\- Jack Benyon** ### Loser: Williams (17th and 18th) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1420634_HiRes.jpg) Williams was caught off guard by how much it struggled on Friday in Austria and while things improved on Saturday, even a “full beans” lap for Carlos Sainz wasn’t enough for Q2. “No, what I gained on entry, I lost on exit I think,” Sainz said when it was put to him his slide out of the final corner cost him a place in Q2. “I went a bit full beans there in that lap and it was honestly a really good lap, on the limit everywhere and the only proper good lap I've done all weekend because I've been struggling a lot with the balance and with the car. “Unfortunately, we just don't have the pace.” Team-mate Alex Albon couldn’t get that close, two and a half tenths adrift of Sainz: “The car's still on the edge every lap around here," Albon added. “We seem to get tipped over if we have a small difference in balance.” Williams hasn’t scored points in Austria since 2017 and that doesn’t look likely to change on Sunday after a first double Q1 exit since China. **\- JS** ### Winner: Racing Bulls (9th & 10th) They might have propped up the top 10, but given Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren locked out the top eight, Racing Bulls’ drivers convincingly led the midfield with their double Q3 appearance. They were flattered to beat Verstappen in Q2 after the latter’s tyre saving strategy, but worked hard to solve brake issues earlier in the weekend and appeared to avoid the (mostly Turn 3) issues power-unit manufacturer Red Bull had suffered with its works’ team. A job well done, but the team’s form has fluctuated this season from qualifying to the race at times, which means the looming Alpine of Pierre Gasly and its usually impressive race pace means Lawson and the team are “definitely concerned”. **\- JB** ### Loser: Cadillac (19th and 20th) Aston Martin Honda hasn’t upgraded its car while every other team has, so its 21st and 22nd is somewhat expected. Fernando Alonso, in particular, looked to extract the (limited) potential of the car, and was talking up how the team has made “huge steps on drivability, on gearbox, downshift, upshift, and energy consistency” since FP1. But Cadillac, with its sizeable upgrade package this weekend, would have hoped for a bit more from its qualifying, as it ended up seven tenths away from Q2. “In general, I think we seem to be finding not as big steps as we would like, because the next position was still four tenths from us in such a small track, the gap was quite large,” Sergio Perez said. Valtteri Bottas felt there was “a bit more in it today” as he ended “too close” to Perez on his final lap. Team boss Graeme Lowdon thinks Cadillac's Friday technical issues “probably cost us a lot of laptime as we couldn’t really optimise preparation for qualifying”. The team has instead focused on race pace, where it’s hoping to make a step in tyre degradation, having struggled in a baking Barcelona GP last time out. **\- JS** ### Winners and losers from MotoGP's surprising Assen sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/winners-and-losers-from-motogps-surprising-assen-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T17:22:21.000Z An Aprilia 1-2 [in MotoGP's Assen sprint](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/trackhouse-earns-first-ever-motogp-1-2-in-assen-sprint/) as expected - but the ‘wrong' Aprilias for the factory squad's championship hopes. It's a day of nuanced winners and losers, where some have more to smile about than the results suggest but it's the opposite for others. ## Winner: Trackhouse (1st & 2nd) It's not all that long ago that what is now the Trackhouse team was the sick man of the paddock, then running under the RNF banner, underfunded and at war with its own title sponsor. As a result, it absolutely should not be underestimated what team boss extraordinaire Davide Brivio has done, under the banner of NASCAR guru team owner Justin Marks, to turn around the squad and deliver it a MotoGP one-two in what is, in the grand scheme of things, a very short period of time indeed. Assen's sprint race isn't a one-off, either, but something that Trackhouse has been building towards all season long. Sure, the excellent Aprilia RS-GP helps, and no team has ever complained about an influx of extra budget, but it's Brivio's management that has turned what is, at its core, still the same group of people, into race winners. They believed in Raul Fernandez when plenty were quick to dismiss him (even after his extraordinary Moto2 career) and helped transform Ai Ogura into a much more complete racer than he was even a few months ago. The organisation that Brivio will hand over to Francesco Guidotti at the end of 2026 is far removed from what it was when Trackhouse first tore off the RNF Racing stickers and ran in all-black fairings at the 2023 Valencia post-race test! - **Simon Patterson** ## Loser: Factory Aprilia (4th & 5th) You could see this as a tiny win for the works Aprilia team because both Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi inched very slightly further ahead of Marc Marquez in the championship despite their small but costly mistakes and slightly disappointing race pace. But the much stronger argument is that this was a massive missed opportunity. This is a circuit where Aprilia's looked in control from the moment practice started, and Marc Marquez and Ducati are on the back foot. But next time out is the Sachsenring, where you can pretty much hand Marquez the 37 points now. The Assen races have to be Aprilia 1-2s. The sprint was - but it was the wrong Aprilias. The ones actually fighting for a title will rue the wasted points. **\- Matt Beer** ## Loser: Pecco Bagnaia (7th) I mulled this being a Loser entry for the whole Ducati team, but ultimately Marc Marquez - at probably his worst circuit on the calendar - got away with doing a race in what he called "safe mode" and only losing one and two points respectively to his two main title rivals. That's decent damage limitation for leg one of an Assen weekend where he's not at his best and neither is his bike. But for Pecco Bagnaia, this could've been so much better than seventh. He was pretty sure he had the race pace to match Fabio Di Giannantonio's progress through the Aprilias towards the front. He just couldn't use it because he made a bad start and then - on one of the few weekends in their time together when he's been the faster team-mate - got stuck behind a not especially helpful Marquez for too long. And then the track limits penalty he got on the final lap while trying desperately to relieve Martin of fifth dropped him back behind Marquez again after all. **\- MB** ## Winner: Raul Fernandez (1st) Yes it's taken way too long to get to the position where Fernandez is a reliable MotoGP winner and frontrunner. But now that's what he is and maybe none of what (slowly, erratically) came before actually matters. He used the "bad energy" from being enraged at losing pole to a track limits lap deletion ("they are sometimes making our sport very boring") as mental fuel for the incisive sprint performance he then produced to fight through the rest of the Aprilias and fend off Di Giannantonio's mid-race charge. And whereas after his last sprint win at Mugello four weeks ago Fernandez sounded highly downbeat about his chances of staying at Trackhouse for 2027, his mood on that front sounded much, much brighter today. Rightly so - why drop someone performing like this?**\- MB** ## Winner: Fabio Di Giannantonio (3rd) Asked if being top Ducati rider felt special to him today, Di Giannantonio replied "could be at the end of the year". And he's entitled to say that because he's just closed to within 22 points of Bezzecchi's championship lead, and is third in the standings as the top Ducati rider. In terms of reliably awesome pace at race after race, Marquez is obviously still Ducati's best hope. But right now Di Giannantonio holds that spot statistically, and given how often he's right with - or ahead of - the factory Desmosedicis, he's starting to feel like a genuinely realistic title contender. **\- MB** ## Loser: Joan Mir (DNF) When you make it into Q2 against the odds on a weekend when your manufacturer just isn't really on the pace, don't crash by yourself at the first corner of the race. That is all. **\- MB** ## Winner: Enea Bastianini (8th) This is less about the eighth place and more about how long Enea Bastianini hung with what was effectively the lead train as he tagged right along with the factory Ducatis. Add in finishing ahead of KTM's usual lead star Pedro Acosta after his mid-race mistake, no KTMs abruptly cutting out in the race having done so plentifully in practice and qualifying due to what was described as a sensor issue, and seeing the Trackhouse team he's poised to join for 2027 getting a one-two, and it's a pretty decent day for Bastianini. **\- MB** ## Loser: Toprak Razgatlioglu (17th) We've got accustomed to seeing Toprak Razgatlioglu holding his own among the other Yamahas in the MotoGP midfield and looking like he could be a frontrunner on a better bike. But today was a genuinely off the pace day - last in qualifying behind even recent returnee Cal Crutchlow and also three tenths of a second off Yamaha tester Augusto Fernandez, and then 17th and nearly four seconds behind the next-worst Yamaha in the race. He put his woes down to not nailing a good electronics set-up, leaving him with a bike that "wasn't stopping and wasn't good on acceleration". **\- MB** ## Winner: Fabio Quartararo (10th) Fabio Quartararo's 2026 moods are pretty standard and there was no noticeable celebration at his return to the top 10 today. But even if you feel he's not always giving his utmost while waiting for the Yamaha exit door to officially open, either this was a better track for the bike or Quartararo felt it was worth giving it more of a go, and the result was once again a top 10 that no one else on an M1 looked anywhere near capable of. **\- MB** ## Loser: Gresini (13th & DNS) A sad one to end on, as injuries are turning 2026 into such a shadow of Gresini's glorious 2025 even though at its peak it's barely any less competitive despite Ducati no longer being clearly the benchmark bike. Alex Marquez is managing his battered body the best he can, sitting out qualifying entirely, finishing the sprint a careful 13th then displaying the arm gouges from his Friday crash to the media and saying he'll make a pragmatic decision on his participation in the grand prix on Sunday morning. And now Fermin Aldeguer is [back on the sidelines](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aldeguer-ruled-out-of-assen-motogp-with-back-injury/) with fractured vertebra having already had his sophomore season badly compromised by his winter leg break. All of which means Gresini has barely had any races this year with two fully fit riders and definitely won't until at least after the summer break. **\- MB** ### Why Verstappen's crash only prompted single yellows initially URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-max-verstappen-crash-only-prompted-single-yellow-flags/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T17:08:47.000Z Formula 1 race control's preference to avoid an unnecessary double waved yellow flag disrupting qualifying was key to George Russell's Austrian Grand Prix pole lap being preserved. After a crash at Turn 9 for Max Verstappen in the closing stages of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, F1's race control messaging system recorded a 22-second window between a single waved yellow flag and the double yellow flag in the relevant zone of the track. A single waved yellow flag requires a driver to lift off and exercise caution, but a double waved yellow means a driver must slow significantly and be prepared to stop - and in F1 triggers an automatic deletion of the relevant laptime, to avoid any temptation to keep going at speed. Two drivers were on push laps behind Verstappen in that phase of qualifying, and both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were able to complete legal laps as they passed the crash site while it was still covered by single waved yellow. Antonelli rolled out due to an erroneous belief he had seen double waved yellows at that moment, but Russell observed the single waved yellow to the letter of the law - in the eyes of the FIA stewards - and was able to complete a pole lap. Both Antonelli and Verstappen, as well as many outside observers, queried in the aftermath the decision not to immediately introduce double waved yellows to the scene. The Race understands this was a consequence of how race control viewed the incident and the part of the track it took place at. The crash initially triggered an immediate local single yellow from the marshal at the post, alerting race control to the situation. The automatic lap deletions mean significant competitive implications to double waved yellow flags, and there was a desire not to introduce them unnecessarily. Based on the size of the run-off area, the lack of marshals attending to the car in that moment and the fact the car was not visibly damaged beyond restarting, race control elected to wait and see if Verstappen could get going again and return to the pits. Only once it became clear that this would not happen, the status was upgraded to a double waved yellow flag. ### 'Quite crazy' - Verstappen baffled by crash response URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/quite-crazy-verstappen-baffled-by-crash-response/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T16:21:29.000Z Both Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen were left bewildered that Verstappen's crash at the end of Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session was covered off by a single yellow flag. The distinction between a single yellow flag and double waved yellow flag was crucial to the outcome of the Austrian GP pole fight after Verstappen crashed at the penultimate corner of the lap, with the Mercedes drivers coming up behind him. Antonelli erroneously aborted his lap, believing the incident was covered by double waved yellows, while Russell lifted but completed the lap at racing speed. He had enough margin to propel himself to pole position as a result, while Antonelli dropped down to fourth on the grid. Curiously, the site of the incident switched to 'double waved yellow' conditions 22 seconds after the initial yellow flag, according to race direction messages. But by the time that happened Russell had just passed the double yellow zone, as he completed his lap three seconds later. Both Verstappen and Antonelli were incredulous that a single yellow flag was deemed sufficient initially. "I mean, I only heard about that now. That's quite crazy," said Verstappen. "There was a car in the wall in a fast corner," mused Antonelli. "So I think in this situation- I don't know why it didn't go double-yellow straight away, because it's a super quick corner, and if you go off at the same time, it can end up very badly. That was a bit confusing, but it's what it is. "For sure it's something that needs to be reviewed, especially when it happens in a high-speed corner. If it's a slow-speed \[corner\], single yellow can be OK but fast corners should be double yellow straight away." Appendix H to the FIA International Sporting Code prescribes that a driver is to abandon the lap under double-waved yellows (the lap is struck off the timing screens anyway) and also prescribes that this type of flag signifies that "there is a hazard wholly or partly blocking the track and/or marshals working on or beside the track". Asked by The Race about his take on the treatment of the incident, both as the beneficiary of the events and as a director of F1's driver union Grand Prix Drivers' Association, Russell backed the initial decision. "As I said \[prior\] I didn't even see the \[crashed\] car, because the run-off is so far. In that instance, a single yellow was correct," he insisted. "Double yellow is \[signifying\] immediate danger. Lifting 100 metres before a corner or lifting off with a single yellow, you're never going to lose control of the car. "Verstappen, the only reason he was in the wall that far away is because he was attacking and lost the car. So the single yellow was correct, I think I did everything right to be very much under control. Different story to a double." ### Why Russell kept Austria pole + What Antonelli got wrong URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-russell-kept-austrian-gp-pole-despite-yellow-flag-incident/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T20:09:25.000Z Why did George Russell keep his Austrian Grand Prix pole position despite passing yellow flags because of Max Verstappen’s crash in qualifying? That’s a question many were asking when Russell crossed the line in Q3 and denied Ferrari a one-two in what initially appeared confusing circumstances. Some of that initial confusion was over which signal was issued because of Verstappen’s off - with even Kimi Antonelli being caught out by misidentification. A single waved yellow flag was shown for the stricken Red Bull on the approach to the double Turn 9/10 right-hander that ends the lap. So when Russell arrived on the scene, he lifted off the throttle and downshifted two gears. Russell still improved and took pole position; such was the strength of the lap prior to that. “The lap was unbelievable and then obviously I got the single yellow in the last sector but I did a 100 metre lift, lost a huge amount of time…I don’t have the answer for sure, where it came from, but it felt very sweet,” Russell said. “It’s a corner where you can see quite a lot, a huge lift and I was going to assess the situation as soon as I got to the corner, if the car was there. “As it was a single yellow, I was pretty confident there was no danger. As soon as I turned into the corner, I already saw the green up ahead. “I actually thought the car had continued, because I didn’t see the car, it was so far off the track, I didn’t see the car whatsoever. “It was only when I saw the replay after I saw it was well off into the wall. “So yeah, I was glad common sense prevailed there.” This was noted by the race director because Russell unusually improved despite the yellow flag, but a ‘no further action’ was quickly issued when it became apparent Russell had respected the yellow flag. His final sector was only 0.027s slower than his best sector previously, but he’d improved by three tenths in the first two sectors and would have likely found even more time without his lift in the final sector. There was some confusion over the arrival of the ‘lap deleted’ messages shortly after Q3, but these were in reference to the in-laps of the drivers. By the time they’d returned to Turn 9/10 the single waved yellows had been upgraded to double waved yellows, so laptimes are automatically deleted (even in-laps). In fact, there were 22 seconds between the flag being upgraded from single to double, in which time Antonelli and Russell passed through. ## What happened with Antonelli Russell’s team-mate Antonelli abandoned his final lap because of those yellow flags, but that’s because he believed they were double-waved yellows, which would be an automatic lap canceller. His conversation with his race engineer Peter Bonnington, suggested Antonelli interpreted it as a double-waved yellow from his steering wheel dashboard, where drivers are automatically notified of yellow flags. **Antonelli:** "Yeah, Bono but I don't understand, You told me yellow yellow." **Bonnington:** "Afirm, yes" **Antonelli:** "I had double yellow on my dash" **Bonnington:** "It's only showing single yellow here, so we'll have to have a look through that and see what your dash was trying to tell you. It was single yellow" But after qualifying, it appeared the confusion was on the flag being shown at the marshalling post at Turn 9\. Antonelli told media including The Race after qualifying: “It probably was my mistake. “I heard 'yellow yellow', but I was looking at the marshal, and probably, I don't know, I saw wrong, and I just saw two flags instead of one, and I aborted. “Also it was hard to see, because there was the sun in the face, and I just looked at the marshal, because I think the panel, the panel went yellow, but of course you don't know if it's a single or double, so I looked at the marshal, and it was hard to see, and I just saw double yellow instead of one, and I just aborted completely.” ### Russell takes controversial Austria pole as Verstappen crashes out URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russell-takes-controversial-austria-pole-as-verstappen-crashes-out/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T15:19:14.000Z George Russell took pole position in a controversial end to qualifying for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen crashed out on his final effort. Verstappen was pushing for pole in the upgraded Red Bull when he lost control of his RB22 at the Turn 9 right-hander, sliding off the track and into the barriers. George Russell passed Verstappen’s stricken car and the resulting yellow flags and managed to beat the two Ferraris to top the timesheet. While Russell was immediately noted for a potential yellow flag infringement, he appears to have kept the pole position for now. Russell claimed he did a 100-metre lift that cost him half a second - and did a 20.069s in sector three, but that was only 0.027s slower than his best sector previously. He denied Ferrari a one-two as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton showed a strong turn of pace into Q3\. Hamilton made a mistake on his first Q3 run, so he only had one timed effort. Kimi Antonelli abandoned his final lap because of the yellow flags and was fourth ahead of Verstappen, who had narrowly avoided a Q2 exit by just 0.040s as he looked to save soft tyres. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were sixth and seventh ahead of the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. The Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were ninth and 10th ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi was 12th ahead of Ollie Bearman’s Haas, Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi and Esteban Ocon’s Haas. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto ended up slowest in Q2 as he had a big snap at Turn 1 on his final lap. ### Both Williams out in Q1 Williams’s Carlos Sainz missed out on a place in Q2 by just 0.021s in 17th place, potentially the time he lost from a slide coming out of the final corner. His team-mate Alex Albon made a mistake at Turn 1 on his crucial lap, leaving him two and a half tenths adrift of Sainz in 18th. Sergio Perez was the faster of the Cadillac duo, but neither driver improved on their final flying laps, with Perez over seven tenths from a place in Q2 despite a sizeable upgrade package at the Austrian GP. The Aston Martin Hondas propped up the order with Fernando Alonso 1.7s from advancing in 21st, four tenths ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll. ### Result 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m06.113s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.236s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.295s 4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.301s 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.362s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.389s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.398s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.519s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.842s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.894s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 18 Alex Albon (Williams) 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### Austrian Grand Prix F1 qualifying results 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/austrian-grand-prix-f1-qualifying-results-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T16:06:33.000Z George Russell was fastest in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying - but his pole lap was briefly investigated for yellow flag infringement [at the site of a Max Verstappen crash](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russell-takes-controversial-austria-pole-as-verstappen-crashes-out/). But he was [quickly cleared](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-russell-kept-austrian-gp-pole-despite-yellow-flag-incident/), meaning his pole stands ahead of the two Ferraris and his championship leading Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Here are the qualifying results: 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m06.113s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.236s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.295s 4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.301s 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.362s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.389s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.398s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.519s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.842s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.894s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 18 Alex Albon (Williams) 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### Trackhouse upstages factory Aprilias in MotoGP's Assen sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/trackhouse-earns-first-ever-motogp-1-2-in-assen-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T17:08:09.000Z Trackhouse upstaged the factory Aprilias to take its first-ever MotoGP race 1-2 in the Assen sprint, with Raul Fernandez leading home Ai Ogura. Neither works Aprilia even made the podium, as polesitter Jorge Martin slipped right back to fifth behind team-mate Marco Bezzecchi. Despite Aprilia's practice domination and top-four grid sweep, the RS-GPs did not have the race pace to escape. For most of the distance, all four Aprilias, the Ducatis of VR46' Fabio Di Giannantonio and works pair Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia, plus Tech3 KTM's Enea Bastianini all ran together in an eighth-bike lead train. Di Giannantonio was the main early mover in this and looked like he may even come through to give Ducati an unlikely win at one stage. He and the Trackhouse pair were able to break away from the rest when Martin and Bezzecchi lost several seconds in a big intra-team fight over fourth that Bezzecchi won. Both lost ground and positions during the race with crucial mistakes. Though Di Giannantonio got onto leader Fernandez's tail, Ogura had superior pace in the closing laps and was able to demote the Ducati and ensure the Trackhouse 1-2. Bezzecchi's fourth place inched his championship lead back up to nine points over Martin, who fended off big Bagnaia attacks for fifth. Bagnaia had come back through after a bad start and some very tight racing with Marquez - which turned out to be in vain as a post-race penalty for going over track limits in his last lap fight with Martin dropped Bagnaia back behind Marquez to seventh. Bastianini completed the scorers in eighth. Pedro Acosta would have been among this group had he not run wide mid-race. He recovered to ninth. Fabio Quartararo held on after his strong qualifying to complete the top 10 on his Yamaha. With Joan Mir crashing out on lap one, LCR's Diogo Moreira was the best Honda in 11th. ### What happened in final F1 practice at Austrian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-happened-in-final-f1-practice-at-austrian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T15:06:08.000Z George Russell pipped Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli with a late lap to lead the final practice session ahead of qualifying at Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix. Antonelli led the majority of FP3 as he set a 1m07.134s just past the halfway point of the session, a time he couldn’t beat on either of his subsequent runs. But Russell did best Antonelli on his final flying lap in the session with a particularly strong final sector that gave him a 1m07.096s. That was still marginally slower than Antonelli’s FP2 benchmark from Friday, but was 0.038s quicker than Antonelli’s best Saturday lap. Lewis Hamilton was third on a stronger day for Ferrari with its upgraded engine. He was 0.115s off the pace. The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were fourth and fifth. Max Verstappen followed them in the upgraded Red Bull, but had to battle annoying radio interference problems throughout the session in his RB22. He was 0.273s off Antonelli’s benchmark, with Charles Leclerc in seventh, 0.356s off the pace. Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar struggled to get near Verstappen’s pace and ended up just ahead of the Racing Bulls, almost six tenths slower than Verstappen. Liam Lawson was the quicker of the Racing Bulls in ninth with Arvid Lindblad rounding out the top 10\. Pierre Gasly was 11th for Alpine ahead of the Audis led by Nico Hulkenberg. ### Practice 3 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m07.096s 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.038s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.115s 4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.248s 5 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.264s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.273s 7 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.356s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.816s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.935s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.013s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.097s 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.207s 13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.215s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.298s 15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.433s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.611s 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.747s 18 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.896s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.436s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.644s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.325s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.471s ### F1 Austrian GP 2026 practice results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-austrian-gp-2026-practice-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T11:55:24.000Z Below you'll find the results from practice at Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix. ### Practice 3 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m07.096s 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.038s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.115s 4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.248s 5 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.264s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.273s 7 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.356s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.816s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.935s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.013s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.097s 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.207s 13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.215s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.298s 15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.433s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.611s 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.747s 18 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.896s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.436s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.644s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.325s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.471s ### Practice 2 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m07.014s 2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.237s 3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.325s 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.550s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.597s 6 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.623s 7 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.744s 8 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.841s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.221s 10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.286s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.362s 12 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.364s 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.518s 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.545s 15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.816s 16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.817s 17 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.824s 18 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.117s 19 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.530s 20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.684s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4.293s 22 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) no time ### Practice 1 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m07.796s 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.040s 3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.117s 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.281s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.665s 6 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.930s 7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.077s 8 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.166s 9 Dino Beganovic (Ferrari) +1.258s 10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.275s 11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.369s 12 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.685s 13 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +1.725s 14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.750s 15 Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls) +1.841s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.848s 17 Paul Aron (Audi) +2.141s 18 Luke Browning (Williams) +2.183s 19 Ryo Hirakawa (Haas) +2.697s 20 Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) +3.406s 21 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.487s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.537s ### ### Martin takes first Aprilia pole, worst 2026 start for Marquez URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/martin-takes-first-aprilia-pole-worst-2026-start-for-marquez/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T09:39:30.000Z Aprilia carried its domination of the Assen MotoGP weekend into qualifying, where it claimed the top four positions. It was Jorge Martin who emerged on top, taking his first pole for Aprilia as his last pole had come in the October of his title-winning 2024 season with Pramac Ducati at Phillip Island. But Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez had a lap faster than Martin's deleted for a track limits offence, denying him what would have been his first MotoGP pole. Fernandez still managed a legal lap good enough for fourth in the all-Aprilia top four behind his team-mate Ai Ogura and the second works bike of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi. Ducati was not far behind Aprilia on pace but couldn't break through its position dominance. Pecco Bagnaia was its top representative in fifth ahead of VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio, as Marc Marquez lost two laps to track limits deletion and was only seventh - his worst 2026 qualifying position so far. Despite his KTM again suddenly cutting out in both the early practice session and Q2, Pedro Acosta qualified eighth. Yamaha and Honda had underwhelming Fridays but burst through to Q2 anyway thanks to great efforts by Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir respectively. They went on to qualify ninth and 10th. Their Q1 achievements were helped by Diogo Moreira crashing his LCR Honda and VR46's Franco Morbidelli - who has a three-place grid penalty anyway for dawdling on the racing line ahead of Enea Bastianini yesterday - losing time through the final chicane on what looked like a Q1-topping lap. Fermin Aldeguer was ruled out of the rest of the weekend on Saturday morning having suffered a fractured vertebra in his Friday crash. His Gresini team-mate Alex Marquez was passed fit after his own similarly violent crash but having earned a Q2 place yesterday he opted to sit out qualifying and settle for 12th on the grid so he could conserve energy for the sprint race. He had participated successfully in the practice session before qualifying. ### Red Bull fears F1 rivals will keep it in an ADUO 'trap' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-fears-f1-rivals-will-trap-it-unless-fia-rethinks-aduo/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T08:31:28.000Z Red Bull fears a "large risk" of getting trapped in never being able to update its Formula 1 engine if the FIA stands firm in its ADUO rankings. Discussions are ongoing between Red Bull and the FIA over the initial verdict that it is F1's benchmark. The call that was made by the FIA after its analysis of data from the first five races judged Red Bull to be at least 2% ahead of Mercedes with its internal combustion engine, and more than 4% clear of everyone else. Red Bull has queried those findings, and, in response, the FIA has agreed to review its ADUO data to ensure that its analysis was correct. That process has been ongoing for two weeks now and, while no final decision has been reached yet, there has been [no early evidence](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/controversial-fia-aduo-engine-ruling-unlikely-to-change/) that the initial ADUO conclusions were wrong. ## Long term consequences Red Bull is still hoping that the FIA changes its mind, but it is fast facing up to a reality that there could be some major consequences if it does not. One of the worst-case scenarios is that if rivals play it smart they could trap Red Bull in a situation where it is unable to bring any performance developments to its engine. That is because the ADUO process does not force others to improve the internal combustion element that the rankings are based on – as they can instead elect to develop other areas. As Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto said about a change Audi introduced at Barcelona, it was an improvement that had no impact on power figures as it was instead aimed at improving drivability. "I don't think we gained any speed by doing this ADUO change, it was purely driveability related," he said. "Hopefully in the future we are able to bring some ADUO stuff, but actually that brings performance on speed. But definitely one of the targets we had was drivability and it was definitely an improvement." If the ICE performance of Red Bull's rivals is not lifted dramatically, then that would set in stone Red Bull's benchmark status over further review periods – meaning a window would never open for it to be granted extra development opportunities. Speaking at the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies acknowledged the danger of such a scenario playing out, which could hamper his squad's chances of progressing up the grid for some time to come. Asked about the potential of getting snookered if rivals played a tactical game with upgrades, Mekies said: "You're right. There is a large risk there for Red Bull, so you are completely right in exposing that risk. "It is one of the reasons why it is vital for Red Bull, and more generally for the sport, that we get that picture right. "We are thankful to the FIA for the fact that they are taking the time to release their conclusion. And yes, you always would like to reach an earlier conclusion, but it's more important that we reach the right one, even if it takes a bit more time." ## ADUO windows The FIA's ADUO process is a rolling one, with the governing body making calls after designated periods over the season to rank the manufacturers. The next ADUO period runs from the Monaco GP at the start of June to the Hungarian GP just before the summer break. Any change of status for Red Bull that would get it an upgrade opportunity would rest on other manufacturers not only having caught up but also having overtaken it by at least 2%. Only Audi and Ferrari have so far used the ADUO opportunity to bring development steps to their power units. Ferrari's step for this weekend's race in Austria has been played down by the squad in terms of its overall significance, with the team insisting it won't be a game-changer in the fight at the front. Once a manufacturer is awarded ADUO it is allowed to bring changes for both the current season and the following one – so the gains have a long-term significance. And this is why Red Bull knows that the consequences can be "heavy" if things do not go its way. "At the moment, we are not changing any strategy, because these results are not a conclusion as it stands," added Mekies. "We are spending our energy to engage with the FIA to make sure they reach the right conclusion. We have not changed any of our development strategy yet, but we try to get to the right answer. We try to take the time needed to get to the right answer. "If it means our development needs to be moved by a few weeks, it is still a much lower consequence on the overall performance compared to getting the wrong answer and having heavy consequences both in '26 and in '27." ### Gary Anderson's verdict on Red Bull's big 2026 concept change URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-red-bulls-f1-upgrade-shows-its-shifting-aero-ideas/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T10:27:58.000Z Judging by Max Verstappen’s radio chatter from Austrian Grand Prix Friday practice, I’m not convinced that Red Bull’s latest, and comprehensive, Formula 1 car update has done much to satisfy his needs. But there are some major changes to the airflow structure of many of the new parts, meaning a change of direction that might require some time to get working correctly. This has been a season of continual developments up and down the grid, but I’m not sure how the teams are going to stay within the cost cap if this rate continues. But that’s a problem for the accounts department - now a very competitive part of an F1 team - to worry about. To take a close look at the Red Bull package, we’ll start, as normal, with the furthest-forward components and work rearwards. The front wing hasn’t changed, following the introduction of a new spec for Barcelona two weeks ago. Once you have altered the airflow structures coming off the front wing, you must then work backwards optimising the aero surfaces to make the best use of that. So this package really starts with the floor keel. This is the area under the driver’s legs that connects the bib section of the floor to the underside of the chassis. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-t-tray-red-bull-austria.jpg) Switching from a short-chord independent support system at the front of that bib section to a full length fairing is a little strange to me. It could be Red Bull is trying to separate each side of the floor’s leading edge to allow each side of the underfloor to work independently. This could improve the consistency of the underfloor when the car is in yaw, but I would be going the other way and work on the rear of the car to improve the yaw consistency. The bargeboard area has also changed. This is all about trying to maximise the airflow scavenging effect from under that footplate area. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-floor-boards--red-bull-austria--1-.jpg) This style of bargeboard does not make the best use of the outwash potential, or the maximum control of the wheel wake turbulence that the more common vertical bargeboards combined with the horizontal components give you. The combination of both these concepts compromises them individually but is more powerful overall, generating improved flow structure going rearwards. Red Bull’s new sidepods have moved away from having the leading edge undercut area below the radiator inlet connect up to the ‘coke bottle’ area where the bodywork narrows at the rear of the car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-bodywork-red-bull-austria.jpg) Instead, it is trying to use that wider sidepod working in harmony with the bargeboards to help scavenge more airflow from the front corner of the underfloor. This, in turn, will improve the performance that the diffuser will have on the rest of the airflow that is coming in through the leading edge of the underfloor. By allowing the diffuser expansion to accelerate the airflow that is coming into the underfloor closer to the centre of the car, the flow will have to travel faster, generating a lower pressure to get from A to B. The risk is that if you overdo it, you can very quickly suffer from airflow separation problems, which leads to inconsistency. Red Bull also has a very deep gully on the sidepod top surface. This will allow airflow to be pulled over the top of the sidepod down into that coke bottle area. This airflow that is pulled over the top surface of the underfloor will influence how much airflow is pulled into the underfloor’s undersurface. You want to minimise this, as any excess airflow going under the car will reduce the effect the diffuser has on speeding up the general airflow between the track surface and the underfloor. Basically, that costs you downforce. Just in front of the rear tyres, Red Bull has altered what it’s trying to achieve significantly. If I was to put my critical hat on, I would say this is more or less a copy of what Ferrari introduced at Barcelona. But there is no way that a team can copy this and manufacture it in the last week, so Red Bull will have been working on it well before we saw it on the Ferrari. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Back-of-floor.jpeg) As opposed to trying to connect all of the airflow (red arrows) that is going over the top surface of the floor to the airflow that is displaced when the rear tyre rotates onto the track surface, which is called the outward tyre squirt, Red Bull has separated it. This allows the airflow that is coming over the top surface of the floor to be influenced by the outboard (red arrows) and inboard (blue arrows) tyre squirt. The green arrows show that connection to the inner tyre squirt. My first question looking at the back of the car is why, for heaven’s sake, was this stupid exhaust-blown vane not [banned from day one](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-bans-ferrari-pioneered-exhaust-wings-for-2027/)? What any car has in this area is nothing to do with the exhaust system. The regulations say that the end of the tailpipe has to be on the car centreline, round, between two defined diameters and set at a maximum angle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/comparison-exhaust-pipeline-red-bull-austria.jpg) As far as developments are concerned, it doesn’t seem that Red Bull is getting as good a correlation as some of the other frontrunning teams. If this is so then you can very easily be led up the garden path. Qualifying for its home race when everyone has the same objective will reveal all. To have any hope of keeping Verstappen for the future, correlation is the last thing Red Bull need to be struggling with. ### Aldeguer ruled out of Assen MotoGP with back injury URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aldeguer-ruled-out-of-assen-motogp-with-back-injury/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T07:24:13.000Z Gresini Ducati's Fermin Aldeguer has been ruled out of the rest of the Dutch Grand Prix MotoGP weekend with a fractured vertebra after his crash in Friday practice. Both Aldeguer and team-mate Alex Marquez fell at the Duikersloot right-hander on Friday afternoon and required assistance away from the scene and medical checks afterwards. Gresini announced on Saturday morning that Aldeguer had suffered a fracture to the T7 vertebra in his crash, which worsened when he began tumbling violently as he hit the gravel trap. He will be assessed in the coming days to determine when he can ride again, with just one more MotoGP round - the German GP in a fortnight - before the summer break. Aldeguer's second MotoGP season had already been compromised by a broken leg suffered in a training accident at the start of January, which ruled him out of all of pre-season testing and the opening round. Marquez must also clear medical checks before he will be allowed to participate in Saturday morning practice and qualifying. He is attempting to complete his first full racing weekend since suffering neck and collarbone injuries in his frightening Catalan GP crash a month ago. He returned for last weekend's Czech GP but withdrew after qualifying. Gresini said Marquez had escaped his Assen Friday crash with "a contusion to his right shoulder and abrasions to his left arm" and there was no further damage spotted on a shoulder x-ray. "Luckily I’m fine, just a few scratches but everything is OK," said Marquez on Friday night. "The collarbone is fine, now we’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning." The Friday afternoon practice session was red-flagged for Marquez's crash, and works Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia expressed some surprise that the same hadn't been done for Aldeguer's accident. "I was expecting a red flag after the crash of Aldeguer, because it took a lot of time to remove the bike and to transport Aldeguer out of the track. But they didn't give the red," said Bagnaia. "Then with Alex, it was correct to put out the red flag, because the crash they had - both Gresini riders - was huge." ### What the long run data tells us about Austrian GP pecking order URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclarens-shot-at-mercedes-four-austria-practice-pace-takeaways/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T10:29:33.000Z “It smells terrible in here, like brakes and hotness” was Liam Lawson’s radio message at the end of practice day at Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix, but it could have belonged to any of the 22 drivers at the Red Bull Ring. On a scorching day in Austria, there was a repeat of the theme of the Barcelona GP; tyres melting in the heat. Plus a big theme of Montreal and Monaco; brakes cooking leading to many a venture into the run-off. It’s why no driver was giving a glowing review of their day, but a picture of the pecking order is starting to emerge. Having crunched the long-run data from FP2 and based on what the teams and drivers said after the session, we get the following takeaways. ## McLaren is Mercedes' biggest threat (so far) As it stands, McLaren looks to be “best of the rest” behind Mercedes by Oscar Piastri’s own admission. “I don't know if we're in the mix with Mercedes. I think we seem to be best of the rest after them,” Piastri said. “But Mercedes always finds a lot of pace from Friday to Saturday. So I'm expecting them to be very, very quick tomorrow. “But I think personally it's been a pretty good day.” **Single-lap pace FP2** 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m07.014s 2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.237s 3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.325s 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.550s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.597s 6 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.623s 7 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.744s 8 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.841s The McLarens were second and third on single lap pace in FP2 and looked encouragingly strong on the long runs, comparable to Mercedes when you account for Norris and Piastri’s longer stint length. --- **Long-run pace FP2** 1 Russell 1m11.220s (4 laps) 2 Antonelli 1m11.265s (6 laps) 3 Norris 1m11.466s (8 laps) 4 Verstappen 1m11.704s (9 laps) 5 Hamilton 1m11.773s (6 laps) 6 Piastri 1m11.777s (8 laps) 7 Hadjar 1m11.910s (5 laps) 8 Leclerc 1m12.116s (6 laps) *(all on mediums)* --- George Russell called McLaren’s pace “the biggest concern for us” and pointed to McLaren’s prowess in hot conditions. “There's a real trend of these hot races that they're strong,” Russell said. “We saw it last year. We've seen it for years now. “Miami was the first real hot race, and they arguably could have won. Barcelona, Lando, was similar pace to ourselves and Lewis. “Then here, they look really strong again. So there's a real trend at these hot races that they seem to step it up, and we maybe take a step backwards.” So for now Mercedes and McLaren are both talking each other up but they’re also wary of the threat from Ferrari… ## How much is Ferrari holding back? On raw data alone - fifth and eighth fastest on both single lap and long run pace - Ferrari’s Friday in Austria was disappointing. There were such big hopes for this weekend given Lewis Hamilton’s Barcelona GP victory and the arrival of its first 2026 engine upgrade, fresh from ADUO ruling its engine was more than 4% off Red Bull’s. But if Barcelona taught us anything, it’s that an under-the-radar Friday from Ferrari can turn into a triumphant Saturday and Sunday. “Barcelona told us that you can't draw every conclusion from Friday and map it reliably onto Sunday,” Mercedes deputy team boss Bradley Lord said. “I don't think we've seen everything that Ferrari have got today.” And McLaren’s technical director of engineering Neil Houldey said “We know that Ferrari were very, very quick in Barcelona, and there's no reason why they won't be as fast here.” Charles Leclec was perhaps less convinced, judging by his post-FP2 comments at least. “Not so confident, but I mean, never say never,” Leclerc said when asked if he was confident of a Barcelona-style turnaround. “But it's true that at the moment, on the Friday of Barcelona, there were a few elements that will lead us to think that there was quite a bit of performance in the car “At the moment, it's been a struggle. It’s been a difficult Friday for the team, and we'll try and put everything together and see what we can recover tomorrow.” GPS data from the straights in practice suggests Ferrari may have been holding back a bit of engine power, and there is clearly performance to be found. There's no reason why Ferrari's small turbo wouldn't prove effective here and it appears unlikely that its upgraded chassis that performed so well at Barcelona, would have such a negative downturn here. The question will be how much performance it will have when everything is turned up and the right set-up window is found, and whether it’s enough to get amongst Mercedes and McLaren. ## What of the upgraded Red Bull? Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies said he’d be happy if Red Bull’s major Austrian GP upgrade brought its gap to the front down to two to three tenths of a second. But it’s currently facing a bigger deficit than that based on a tricky Friday. There were issues unrelated to the upgrade that limited track time, but when the RB22 did run, there was a multitude of complaints over the team radio from both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. Hadjar said afterwards: “It just seems like it's hard to extract the most of it because we're completely off balance and we're struggling a lot, so there's a lot of digging to do tonight.” Verstappen’s FP2 long run was encouraging. The final average is somewhat inflated by a longer run versus the Mercedes duo, so taking the first four laps of his long run, he’s more like two to three tenths away, rather than half a second. Verstappen’s something of a Red Bull Ring specialist, and with such tight margins, he’ll hope to at least have a sniff at the top three teams here, on a track that should theoretically suit an upgraded Red Bull more than Barcelona did. ## The midfield is close They might have locked out the top eight positions in FP2, but none of the top four teams can afford to slip up, or they’ll be sniped by one of the cars in a tightly contested midfield fight. Audi once again looks strong with Nico Hulkenberg averaging 1m12.134s on his nine-lap hard tyre stint. That was comparable with the Alpines and Racing Bulls, with Haas slightly behind that group. The question will be whether, unlike in recent races, Audi is able to turn that promising pace into results on Sunday. Behind them, Williams was “not super happy” with its high fuel run and has work to do to break into the midfield this weekend. The upgraded Cadillac was impossible to read, given its litany of issues on Friday - save for a promising FP1 lap from Valtteri Bottas - and an unchanged Aston Martin unsurprisingly remains F1’s 11th fastest car at the Red Bull Ring. ### Winners and losers from Austrian GP F1 practice 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-austrian-gp-f1-practice-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T17:39:45.000Z There were significant upgrades for some key contenders coming into the Austrian Grand Prix - but Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli ended Friday firmly on top. Here’s our pick of who had the best and worst starts to the weekend. ## Loser: Red Bull (4th & 7th) Red Bull debuted a brand-new upgrade package at the Austrian GP that it hoped would help it permanently leave its ‘fourth-best team’ island behind the top three. But the picture of how successful its upgrade has been was clouded by a number of issues (unrelated to the upgrade) that cost both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar valuable track time. Neither driver was particularly happy aboard the RB22 on Friday, particularly at the Turn 3 right-hander at the top of the hill. “It's like the rears are grabbing, locking up and you lose all the support,” Hadjar explained. “It's not a linear grip, it's not nice, so you're constantly guessing the grip. Then once you go back on throttle, the engine has to catch up and it creates wheelspin on exit. “So it's really, really poor. Just in this corner, I don't know how much we're losing, but it really feels bad.” **\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st) It's clear there is no sign of a post-Barcelona GP hangover for Antonelli, who looks in no way, shape or form unsettled by those lost points. He swept the day here, with a particularly potent lap in the second session - a quarter of a second in the clear, even as there were signs that his rubber (which had already had a push lap put through it) was going off. Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who looked way off in his qualifying sims in that session, sounded calm about it. There was "nothing to be concerned about", he insisted. And Russell is pretty much in Antonelli's ballpark in the limited sample of the race simulations. But there's no evidence he's ahead. **\- Val Khorounzhiy** ## Loser (maybe?): Ferrari (5th & 8th) Fresh from its victory at the Barcelona Grand Prix that has reignited Formula 1’s title battle, and unleashing an ADUO-assisted engine upgrade, Ferrari had grabbed the attention in the build up to the Austria weekend. But the opening day of running at the Red Bull Ring did perhaps not go as expected as both its drivers were struggling with car balance, and lacking grip plus both single lap pace and long run performance. Lewis Hamilton ended up behind a Mercedes, both McLarens and a Red Bull in FP2 with fifth place overall, three places ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc who wound up eighth. What mattered more was long runs though, and the picture did not look much better as Hamilton’s average put him behind the Mercedes and McLaren – and only in the ballpark of Verstappen. However, rivals were well aware that the GPS data seemed to show Ferrari not showing its hand on the straights – which could be a sign that it has not turned its power units up yet. And after Ferrari went from a lacklustre Friday at Barcelona to victory on the Sunday, its rivals are not taking anything for granted yet. **\- Jon Noble** ## Winner: McLaren (2nd & 3rd) McLaren was a really good Antonelli lap away from topping FP2, looks decent in long runs, and appears to be a frontrunning contender again in Austria. The day could have been chalked up as a failure with Lando Norris stuck in the garage after a hydraulic leak in FP1, and while he had two excursions at Turn 3 and one at Turn 7 as he tried to acclimatise in FP2, he topped the order at one stage - and then delivered the third best long-run of that session behind the Mercedes. It’s still early and there’s a lot of upgrades and updates being trialled which could mix up the order tomorrow. But for now, despite some unreliability, McLaren looks like a proper Mercedes challenger on a day where Ferrari is either struggling or hasn’t turned its new engine up yet. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Loser: Cadillac (21st & 22nd) Where to start?! The most upgraded car on the grid - at least in terms of what’s listed in the FIA sheet to start the weekend - went 13th with Valtteri Bottas in FP1, which is very, very encouraging indeed. But it went off a cliff from there. Perez stopped on track in both sessions with electrical problems and managed 16 laps *total* on the day. And while Bottas can be encouraged, he got only six laps in FP2 after his car immediately hit trouble coming out of the pits on an outlap when it started dragging on the floor at the front due to what chief technical officer Nick Chester called "a build issue". Clearly it wasn’t an easy fix as Bottas didn’t re-emerge and only eight laps were netted by the new team in FP2 at all. A succession of issues it really didn’t need while trying to understand new upgrades. **\- JB** ## Winner: Jak Crawford (20th in FP1) FP1-only drivers can't be judged too harshly when they're off the pace - as there's always a chance that's down to run plan, or programme, or instructions. But when they're firmly on the pace, that's inevitably a lot easier to take at face value. Enter Crawford, who was indeed firmly on the pace in his second appearance of the season. The 2026 Aston Martin doesn't give its drivers much to work with, but what we know about the car seems totally in line with where Crawford put it. --- **FP1 rookies' gap to team-mates** Hirakawa +1.422s (Bearman) Iwasa +0.911s (Lindblad) Beganovic +0.593s (Hamilton) Aron +0.481s (Hulkenberg) Browning +0.335s (Albon) Crawford -0.131s (Alonso) --- Crawford will be better-prepared than most for this exact undertaking given his extensive simulator running for Aston Martin (and lack of a concurrent race programme to navigate) - and while he says he had "the exact same \[run\] plan" as team-mate Fernando Alonso, chances are getting a laptime in FP1 didn't matter to Alonso as much as it did to Crawford. But the gap to first place looks right, also in light of what the Aston Martins managed in FP2\. Which can only be a feather in Crawford's cap. **\- VK** ## Loser: Williams (17th & 18th) Williams is a contender for F1's 'loneliest' team on evidence of Austria practice - it should be well clear of Cadillac and Aston Martin, but looks outmatched by the rest of the midfield it strives to join. A chuckling Alex Albon, the quicker Williams driver on the day, listed off "grip, balance, downforce" as the main issues. "I didn’t expect us to struggle this much around this circuit," he admitted. "We need to try to find where we can gain some more laptime. I think in the low-speed we’re actually quite similar to the top teams, and to the midfield teams, maybe even actually better than some of the midfield teams… in the high-speed corners, like Turns 7-9-10, we’re far behind, really struggling to match the other cars. "And then when you slide more in the high speed corners you also have more degradation - we need to see what we can do because the race car is not quick enough today." Indeed, while the single-lap picture is unspectacular, Williams is also "not super happy" with high-fuel performance, according to sporting director Sven Smeets. **\- VK** ### Everything that happened in second Austrian GP F1 practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-that-happened-in-second-austrian-gp-f1-practice/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T18:56:53.000Z Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli fought off a spirited challenge from the McLaren duo to top Austrian Grand Prix FP2 for Mercedes. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both took turns at the top of the order, but Antonelli was able to go top with half an hour to go on the softs and before the long runs dominated. His Mercedes team-mate George Russell lost the first eight minutes of the session in what looked like a scheduled tweak to the car, but one that was clearly delayed and ate into the start of the session. He was only sixth in recovery. So Piastri went second, 0.237s behind Antonelli, with Norris having by far the most eventful session. Like others, he struggled at Turn 3, with a quite surprising-looking spin where he appeared to be hitting the apex but the rear snapped around early in the session. Then he went straight on during his long run towards the end of the session. He also went onto the gravel at Turn 8, perhaps impacted by how little running he got in FP1 due to technical issues. At risk of writing this whole report about Norris, he was also told to cool the brakes after the session finished and replied he thought they'd "been on fire for like five laps, mate". If Norris had an eventful session, the Red Bull team appeared to be rivalling him for a reward in this area. First, Max Verstappen was forced to stop in the pits because his seating position was too laid back! He managed to get up to fourth in the order, but like team-mate Isack Hadjar, who slid dramatically, both cars were struggling with driveability at Turn 3\. Verstappen mentioned the RPM dropping, specifically. Then, an unsighted Red Bull ran wide at the final corner in the long runs and lost some bodywork. Not helpful with a big new upgrade installed. The new engine in the Ferrari powered Lewis Hamilton to fifth, with Charles Leclerc down in ninth, but the latter had an unseen issue on his final flying lap and bailed out. Behind Hamilton were Russell, Hadjar and Leclerc. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/f1_2026_R08_FP2.png) Liam Lawson led the ‘midfield’ for Racing Bulls, ahead of the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto. After a truncated FP1 spent mostly in the garage and with a stop on track, Sergio Perez’s gremlins were clearly unresolved as he stopped between Turns 6 and 7 eight minutes into the session and his Cadillac had to be recovered. Not long after, it was clear something was wrong when Valtteri Bottas left the pits as the front of his car dragged on the floor and he missed the rest of the session. Just eight laps were completed for the Cadillac pair in FP2, crucial with a new update on board. ## Results 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m07.014s 2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.237s 3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.325s 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.550s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.597s 6 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.623s 7 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.744s 8 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.841s 9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.221s 10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.286s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.362s 12 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.364s 13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.518s 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.545s 15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.816s 16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.817s 17 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.824s 18 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.117s 19 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.530s 20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.684s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4.293s 22 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) no time ### A sport insider's perspective on F1's commercial revolution URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/a-sport-insiders-perspective-on-f1s-commercial-revolution/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T15:57:15.000Z At the grandly titled Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity held in the South of France this week, Formula 1 was seemingly the only sport anyone wanted to talk about commercially. Sure, the overly branded watch parties for World Cup games were well attended and the beach-front bars were full of national shirts replacing the de rigueur daytime linen shirts, floaty dresses and oversized sunglasses but the only real game in town was Formula 1\. F1 itself took over the most prominent bar opposite the main events hub. At least six teams were in attendance with Mercedes even bringing a Monaco Grand Prix spec yacht to entertain and woo. Accompanying current world champion Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Liam Lawson were a full squad of senior commercial, communications and marketing personnel. F1 was in town mob-handed, leading and teaching. Newly minted expert hosts at oversubscribed panel events asked repeatedly about the ‘Netflix effect’ and went little deeper. Which is a real shame. Because the transformation of F1 commercially and beyond is a hugely insightful case study. And the world is certainly wanting to learn. Williams board advisor, commercial and marketing, Peter Kenyon and I discussed this transformation during his flying visit to the Axios yacht that The Race called home during Cannes. Peter has one of the more unusual perspectives in sport, having spent years building commercial operations in football at Manchester United and Chelsea before arriving at Williams to rebuild one of Formula 1’s most iconic brands. Seemingly from the ground up. “When I joined Manchester United, it was in exactly the same place,” he says. “The commercial aspects were underutilised. “Building the United brand was very akin to what we’re doing here. The great thing here is we had this wonderful Williams brand with great history, multiple world championships and an independent identity. “When you look at the quality of the brand and what we walked into, it was just an underutilised asset.” For years, Formula 1 looked enviously at football commercially. Today, according to Peter, the flow of strategy, best practice and ideas is flipping. He adds: “When I was in football, we looked at Formula 1 and thought, ‘What are they doing?’ Then Liberty reignited it. Netflix has brought in new audiences, 18-to-35-year-olds, 50% female. Those are really important shifts.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1419268_HiRes.jpg) Those inputs and outputs are repeated ad infinitum in sponsorship decks and LinkedIn posts to the extent that we in the sport have started to become blasé about them and their impact. But in Cannes, which is the self-styled centre of marketing excellence, the journey to those numbers is of great interest. So it is unsurprising that Peter and his peers at other F1 teams were in great demand on the stages of all the big media brands and agencies jostling for relevance and leadership in Cannes. Peter has experienced the transformation whilst rebuilding Williams off track as much as team principal James Vowles has had to on track. Unlike his race team colleagues, Kenyon’s ambitions are not about benchmarking against the best on the grid but the best in the world. With that ingrained competitive nature the sport has, added to a perception of headroom still remaining commercially, it’s impossible to think F1 will stop growing revenue anytime soon. “We’ve got to become one of the top commercial marketing teams in sport,” Kenyon says. “It’s not just about Formula 1\. We spend a lot of time looking at the top 50 teams in sport as our benchmark, not just the other 10 teams in Formula 1.” Despite all his previous success and high profile roles Peter is very humble, passing on huge credit to his universally liked (unusual in the F1 commercial paddock) commercial director James Bower and wider team. He is also very softly spoken but raised the volume significantly when reminding me how the commercial teams in F1 are no longer blunt sales people but have to have huge awareness of the marketing discipline as well. “It’s not a sticker on the car. If you want a sticker on a car, there are cheaper ways than Formula 1\. What we’ve really specialised in is authenticity of the relationship and integration of their business into ours.” Away from F1 in Cannes there was lots of ‘logo slap’ going on and a lack of authenticity in places. It showed how far F1 has travelled in the last half a decade. To be able to sit in front of the great and the good of the world’s marketing community, including Peter’s old colleagues in football and be the experts is not something Peter and I ever thought we’d see. But at the International Festival of Creativity 2026 F1 was being hailed as among the most creative commercially. ### Aldeguer taken to hospital after Assen MotoGP crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aldeguer-taken-to-hospital-after-assen-motogp-crash/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T18:01:50.000Z Fermin Aldeguer has been taken to hospital for further checks after his violent Assen MotoGP practice crash. But his Gresini Ducati team-mate Alex Marquez appears to have escaped further injury in his own accident at the same spot on the Dutch track, which caused the Friday afternoon session to be red-flagged. Although Aldeguer's initial low-side fall at the Duikersloot right-hander looked relatively innocuous, it increased in severity when he hit the gravel and began tumbling. He was in clear discomfort afterwards and taken from the scene on a stretcher, and is now heading to hospital for further checks on his chest and back. Marquez is attempting to complete his first full racing weekend since suffering neck and collarbone injuries in his frightening Catalan Grand Prix crash a month ago. He returned for last weekend's Czech GP but withdrew after qualifying. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1328562_HiRes.jpg) His Assen crash happened at the same point on the circuit, and he struggled to get up initially, prompting the session to be red-flagged until he could be helped away by marshals. But Gresini said Marquez had escaped with "a contusion to his right shoulder and abrasions to his left arm" and there was no further damage spotted on a shoulder x-ray. He will be reviewed by the MotoGP medical team on Saturday morning before free practice two and qualifying. "Apart from the crash, it was a positive day," said Marquez. "I was trying to push and I made a mistake with the bike that threw me into the air. "Luckily I’m fine, just a few scratches but everything is OK. "The collarbone is fine, now we’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning." ### Aprilia on top as Alex Marquez crash halts Assen afternoon practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aprilia-on-top-as-alex-marquez-crash-halts-assen-afternoon-practice/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T14:38:34.000Z Aprilia continued its superior form in an Assen MotoGP Friday afternoon practice session interrupted by a crash for the already-injured Alex Marquez. Red flags came out with three minutes to go as Marquez needed to be helped away from the gravel trap after crashing his Gresini Ducati at the Duikersloot right-hander. He had returned to the field at Brno last weekend only a month on from the horrific Barcelona crash in which he sustained collarbone and neck injuries, and pulled out of the Czech Grand Prix weekend after qualifying. Despite an early low-speed fall, Marquez was showing top-six pace at Assen when he had his second, more serious, accident, after which he initially struggled to get up before eventually walking away with assistance from the marshals. His Gresini team-mate Fermin Aldeguer had earlier crashed at the same spot and bounced violently through the gravel in the process. And title-chasing Aprilia rider Jorge Martin also fell in the same section of the track, having clipped a kerb as he turned in and that immediately had a high-speed low-side. That left Martin ninth but still - like eventually 10th-placed Marquez - safely straight into Q2 after the last-minute scramble and slight order shuffle that followed the restart. Aprilia had held a comfortable top-four sweep - with the best of its rivals seven tenths of a second off the pace - in the middle of the session, and still ended the day with a 1-2 with championship leader Marco Bezzecchi and Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez. Fernandez's team-mate Ai Ogura was fourth, pushed down a place by Pedro Acosta following the bike he'll be on next year - Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati - to thrust his KTM up to third at the chequered flag. Bagnaia had been looking at a Q1 place up to his last lap, having made mistakes on earlier runs, but got up to fifth with his single shot after the red flag. That put him just ahead of factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez and VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio. Tech3 rider Enea Bastianini was another last-gasp, post-red-flag improver and placed a second KTM in Q2 by getting up to eighth. **Automatically into Q2**: Bezzecchi, R Fernandez, Acosta, Ogura, Bagnaia, M Marquez, Di Giannantonio, Bastianini, Martin, A Marquez **In Q1**: Morbidelli; Mir; Moreira; Aldeguer; Quartararo; Vinales; Rins; Marini; Miller; Razgatlioglu; Binder; A Fernandez; Crutchlow ### F1 bans Ferrari-pioneered exhaust wings for 2027 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-bans-ferrari-pioneered-exhaust-wings-for-2027/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T14:16:50.000Z Formula 1’s exhaust wing ban for 2027 has now been made official in the regulations, on the same day Ferrari tried running its car without one for the first time as an experiment. As [revealed by The Race](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/fia-targets-f1-exhaust-wing-ban-development-war-ferrari/) over the Miami GP weekend, the FIA had been wanting to discuss with teams ways to clamp down on an area that had been exploited heavily this year. The idea was pioneered by Ferrari, which had, through a unique positioning of its gearbox and crash structure, been able to fit a wing at the back of its exhaust tailpipe. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1395988_HiRes.jpg) It is a design that provides added downforce throughout, extending the length of the diffuser as well as improving airflow to the rear wing. Rival teams were unable to adopt the Ferrari concept because it would have required rehomologation of car parts, but [they did find a way](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-f1-exhaust-wing-rivals-copy-including-mercedes/) to introduce similar ideas through the exploitation of another area of the rules. Others, including Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull, all integrated wings throughout an allowance made for a tailpipe “support” to be fitted to the cars. Although the FIA was satisfied that the designs in play fully complied with the regulations, it was mindful that if things were left untouched, then there was a risk of things getting more extreme and a potential tech war exploding. So, following discussions with teams at a technical director level, amendments to the regulations were agreed upon that will outlaw any scope for exhaust wings for next season. This has been achieved through a new exhaust exclusion zone, which outlaws any part of the car within a circular cylinder shape that is 20mm greater than the tailpipe and covers the area around the exhaust. Furthermore, regulations that allow tailpipe supports to be fitted have been removed entirely from the 2027 rules. With the ban coming, it was interesting to see Ferrari’s test driver Dino Beganovic run without the exhaust wing during his appearance in opening practice in Austria. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-ftm-Ferrari-Austria.jpg) This was primarily done as a data gathering exercise, which will be especially valuable for the low downforce races later in the year, when it could be advantageous not to have the wing. As well as its removal shedding drag, getting rid of it would theoretically reduce the back pressure in the exhaust it causes, which is believed to cost it a loss of power of around 10kW. ### Why McLaren has abandoned experimental wing for now URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-drops-plans-to-debut-upside-down-rear-wing-in-austria/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T16:45:25.000Z McLaren has abandoned plans to test its experimental rear wing for now, after teething problems meant the squad removed it before it even ran in practice at Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix. The Woking-based squad had intended to try out its version of a Ferrari and Red Bull-style upside-down rear wing on Lando Norris’s car in the opening session at the Red Bull Ring. The concept was designed to flip in a way that sheds a lot more drag than the conventional wing when the car is switched into straight mode. The new wing had arrived in Austria on Friday morning and it was fitted to the car ahead of practice. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/1RAB9103.JPG) However, as the team conducted its regular pre-running checks in the garage, some early issues cropped up that prompted it to steer away from committing to run it in practice. It was eventually removed after McLaren realised that more work was needed to make it fully functional. A McLaren spokesperson has confirmed that there are no plans to get it back on the car for any further practice session in Austria this weekend, so it will only return at a future event. The team had always been clear that the wing was an experimental item aimed purely at giving it some early data on its potential benefits, with it not anticipated that it would be ready to be raced until much later in the year. Based on the brief glimpse McLaren gave of the rear wing on Friday morning, it follows a similar concept to Red Bull’s version – in maintaining the central pillar activation mechanism that flips between the active aero modes. "We've done a lot of work in the last few weeks at the factory, just trying to get something to this event, because we knew this event would be a good opportunity to test the wing," McLaren's technical director of engineering Neil Houldey said. "A lot of work in the lab that happened over the last few days, and we knew that when it came here, we still had a little bit of sign off work to do. When we, when we fitted it up and did that final sign off, we, we weren't comfortable enough to take it into the first session, so we're sending it back, and we've got a little bit more work to do before we'll take it back out to the track again. "It needs a little bit more development before we're prepared and able to run it on the circuit in the future." He added "we'll bring that wing back when we've learned a little bit more and comfortable with the design". Norris had said ahead of track running in Austria that McLaren anticipated it would take a lot of work to get the wing race ready. “It's not an easy project,” he said. “It takes time to figure out such a complicated wing like this. But it's cool, it's innovative, it's nice to see. “It was pretty cool to see Ferrari have it at the beginning of the year. It's amazing what someone who understands the rules and regulations, and understands the wording, how you kind of work around these. I wish we had it three months ago already!” ### What we know about MotoGP's secretive first big 2027 test URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-we-know-about-motogps-secretive-first-big-2027-test/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T12:54:08.000Z MotoGP held its first official test on its new for 2027 Pirelli tyres at the start of this week, where some of the grid also had chance to test their new 850cc machines for next season. It took place amid great secrecy, held behind closed doors at Brno following last weekend’s Czech Grand Prix. We took a trip up a nearby hiking trail to [bring The Race Members' Club some additional insight](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/simon-gets-view-161751004?utm%5Fmedium=clipboard%5Fcopy&utm%5Fsource=copyLink&utm%5Fcampaign=postshare%5Ffan&utm%5Fcontent=web%5Fshare) on what could be seen from a public vantage point outside the circuit boundaries. And there’s nonetheless plenty of information that we’ve been able to gather both on and off the record about the one-day event since then. Despite being largely sworn to secrecy by current tyre supplier Michelin’s contract with MotoGP, a number of riders did offer some insight on their experiences at Brno when pushed by the media. Having won three World Superbike championships on Pirellis, Toprak Razgatlioglu was unsurprisingly among those most anticipating the change back to a tyre he knows well - and says feels quite similar to what he’s used to. "It was positive, and I’m happy after the test," he said. "It’s already positive. Brno isn’t really a hard-braking track, but already I feel confident with the tyre. "The rear we have incredible grip with. We need to improve something with it, but still we have incredible grip. But the front tyre especially I feel is like the superbike tyre." That tallies with what The Race has learned across the board from sources in the paddock, with the general consensus being that Pirelli’s new tyres have very much kept their DNA as softer and more neutral than the current Michelins. And while it seems that grip isn’t a problem - even if it is softer and more likely to require more management during races - there’s been a suggestion from some teams that Pirelli may yet need to work on improving the stiffness of the tyre’s construction to better cope with the power produced by MotoGP machines. That power, set to be significantly reduced by the cut in engine capacity from 1000cc to 850cc, is something that riders also commented on post-test, with 2020 world champion Joan Mir (who tested despite being unlikely to be a Honda rider next year) keen to point out how much fun to ride the new bikes are, especially without ride height devices. "The bike is fun," he said. "The corner speed also is higher. The \[top\] speed obviously is less. And, you know, there's like... A lot of room for improvement, no? In a new project. So it's fantastic. "What is true is that the style is very different. It's very different. Also the other tyre works in a different way. It's a completely opposite thing. "So everything is quite new. People will be surprised next year." And while the riders might be set to enjoy themselves more on the new 850cc machine, Yamaha test rider Augusto Fernandez, who has considerable experience so far with the new spec, says that he also believes that it’s going to make things more enjoyable for those watching as well. "Because you're using it without the \[ride height\] devices and everything," he explained, "that feels more like a real bike, a motorbike, back to riding the bike yourself, not behind the bike and getting stuck on the devices. So for me it's more fun to ride. Less power, a little bit less power… it feels less power but not that much. But yeah, more like a real and natural bike. "For us as riders, I think it's going to be - and for you to watch us - entertainment. More entertainment, because we can play more with the bike. Maybe because of the tyres as well. But I think we can fight closer and without risk." No official timing system was running during the test, so any laptimes leaked or being discussed in the paddock would have been taken from manual timing such as on phones - though some riders indicated on Thursday that Ducati and Aprilia remained the benchmark bikes. ### What happened in first practice at F1's Austrian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-happened-in-first-practice-austrian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T12:53:28.000Z Mercedes led the way in opening practice for the Austrian Grand Prix as defending Formula 1 champion Lando Norris and both Red Bull drivers missed out on significant track time. The Mercedes duo spent the majority of the session at the top of the times and it was championship leader Kimi Antonelli who ended up leading the way, setting a best time of 1m07.796s - around 2.2s off last year's best FP1 time. George Russell was 0.040s off team-mate Antonelli on his own soft-tyre run midway through the session, suggesting the Mercedes might have a significant early advantage over its opposition at the Red Bull Ring. But two rivals did get closer in the latter stages of the session; Oscar Piastri ended up third, 0.117s off, with Max Verstappen also within three tenths of a second for Red Bull. The four-time champion's session was compromised early on by two failed attempts to leave the pitlane - Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies described these as software glitches - meaning it was 20 minutes before he took to the track. It was another 10 minutes before the sister RB22 appeared, with Isack Hadjar delayed by an engine issue that Red Bull spotted prior to the session. He ended up 12th, 1.685s off the pace with 11 laps completed. Only Norris completed fewer laps - nine - in the session, as he was delayed by a hydraulic leak aboard his McLaren. Norris nevertheless ended the session in seventh, one second off the pace. Barcelona GP winner Lewis Hamilton was fifth, close to four tenths off Verstappen's time, as Ferrari began the weekend off the back of its 'big four' rivals. FP1 stand-in Dino Beganovic was ninth fastest in the second car. The final driver within a second of Antonelli's benchmark time was Arvid Lindblad, 0.930s off for Racing Bulls in sixth. Cadillac has brought what it calls a "significant" upgrade package to the Red Bull Ring and broke the curfew overnight to "optimise" its integration. It showed well in FP1 - Valtteri Bottas was 13th, 1.7s off the pace - but the session was not trouble-free, as Sergio Perez spent the majority of the second half of the session consigned to the garage, then ground to a halt on the run up to Turn 3 in the final two minutes of the session - ultimately bringing out a red flag that ended FP1 early. His troubles meant Aston Martin was spared of occupying the bottom two positions thanks to a late lap from Jak Crawford - one of six rookie drivers to take part in FP1 - but at 3.4s off the pace, his time was still 1.6s off the slowest of the regular drivers, Williams's Alex Albon, as Aston Martin waits to introduce a major upgrade package around the time of the summer break. ### Results 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m07.796s 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.040s 3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.117s 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.281s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.665s 6 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.930s 7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.077s 8 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.166s 9 Dino Beganovic (Ferrari) +1.258s 10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.275s 11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.369s 12 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.685s 13 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +1.725s 14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.750s 15 Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls) +1.841s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.848s 17 Paul Aron (Audi) +2.141s 18 Luke Browning (Williams) +2.183s 19 Ryo Hirakawa (Haas) +2.697s 20 Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) +3.406s 21 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.487s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.537s ### Vinales' future looks bleak amid KTM criticism and Steiner frustration URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/vinales-motogp-future-looks-bleak-amid-ktm-criticism-and-steiner-frustration/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T12:10:59.000Z Tech3 KTM team boss Guenther Steiner has admitted to frustration over Maverick Vinales' ongoing fitness woes, on a weekend where Vinales did his hopes of a 2027 MotoGP seat no favours with blunt comments about KTM. Vinales damaged his shoulder 12 months ago at the 2025 German Grand Prix and has been in a battle to recover since. But having returned to the track sooner than medical advice, and then had to drop out of more races, he again missed rounds at the start of 2026 when a screw inserted into the bone worked its way loose, requiring fresh surgery. At that time he was believed to be one of KTM's leading contenders for a factory seat promotion for 2027. That has now cooled down given his ongoing fitness woes and subsequent lack of form, with the 31-year-old doing himself no help coming into this weekend's Dutch TT by hitting out at KTM over his career prospects. "In the end if I'm not in the world championship, it'll be because of one party - and that's KTM - not because of anyone else," Vinales told Spanish media on Thursday. "When the time came, if they already knew I wouldn't be joining the factory team, they should have just let me go, and that's it. "No one has sat me down and explained how things would play out. "So if I end up leaving the world championship, there will be only one party to blame; it's crystal clear." However, while the 10-time MotoGP race winner might be frustrated with his situation right now, it sounds like that goes both ways. Steiner says Vinales is still in contention to stay at Tech3, but that his fitness situation makes it frustratingly hard to finalise a decision right now. "I don't know the exact details of him and KTM," the former Formula 1 team boss explained to The Race, "but in the end we all need to be conscious that he's not fit, but we've all got responsibilities and KTM needs to make a decision to be successful in the future. "In the moment the certainty isn't there. I like Maverick, and he's obviously a good rider. I'm not doubting this. But in this moment, he's not in this form - and it's been quite a while that he's not in this form. "Obviously he thinks he can come back to this form, but as we all know the proof is in the pudding, and I think we all together are asking where is this going?" ## The fitness 'contradiction' It's a situation made more frustrating for Steiner and KTM by the fact that Vinales' rushed return to action seems to have exacerbated the situation further by delaying his return to full fitness. "This is my frustrating thing," Steiner admitted. "I said it last year, I said it this year - first you need to be fit. "You can't say ‘oh I'm fit but I'm not performing because I'm not fit'. You have to pick your battles. It's one or the other. ‘Oh I'm fit.' So why isn't the performance there like when you were fit? ‘Oh because I'm not fit.' This is a contradiction. "To show your performance you need to be fit. You need to be 100% fit to ride one of these machines, and I think coming back early doesn't make you quicker. It doesn't heal you. "I think you can't be too hard on KTM in this moment - or at least, he shouldn't be." Vinales' current team-mate Enea Bastianini is understood to have committed to Trackhouse Aprilia for 2027, and there could be a straight swap with Raul Fernandez coming the other way - despite his previous fractious exit from the team at the end of his rookie season in 2022. ## One seat for a rookie While there are still two open seats at Tech3 for 2026, one of them is a straightforward situation at least. Steiner is open that Tech3 wants a fast Moto2 rookie - and quick to acknowledge that in this sense at least, his team holds all the cards and has time to study contenders such current Moto2 pacesetters Manu Gonzalez and Senna Agius. "I'm just waiting to see," said Steiner. "I need to make the best decision for the team, and I've got time to take the decision. "I won't lose out on anything, and the more time you take to make the decision, I think the better the decision." ### What happened in first Assen MotoGP practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aprilia-fastest-motogp-dutch-tt-assen-fp1-marc-marquez-crash/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T10:31:08.000Z Aprilia's bid to regain momentum in the MotoGP title fight started promisingly at Assen, though Ducati's Pecco Bagnaia denied it a 1-2 right at the end of first practice. Ducati's clean sweeps of the Balaton and Brno weekends have put Aprilia under pressure in a season it seemed to be dominating. Though Marc Marquez is still only fourth in the riders' championship, he has closed from 102 points behind standings leader Marco Bezzecchi to just 40 over those two weekends - helped massively by Bezzecchi being taken out by team-mate Jorge Martin at the Hungarian Grand Prix start and then being banned from the Czech GP for slapping a marshal. Bezzecchi and Martin moved into first and second in the second half of Friday morning practice in the Netherlands, in a strong start to the weekend given Aprilia often doesn't show its full hand in the opening session. But Bagnaia snuck his Ducati between them with his last lap, 0.098 seconds slower than Bezzecchi and 0.046s ahead of Martin. Marquez was only 10th, having crashed going into the final chicane and lost some running in the final part of the session before rejoining for some low-key late laps. LCR Honda's Diogo Moreira had the other crash of note, with a low-key fall going into the long Turn 2 right-hander. In another encouraging sign for Aprilia, Trackhouse duo Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez completed the top six behind Fabio Di Giannantonio's VR46 Ducati. ## Results 1. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 2. Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.098s 3. Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.144s 4. Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.160s 5. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.164s 6. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.205s 7. Joan Mir (Honda) +0.240s 8. Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.347s 9. Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +0.356s 10. Marc Marquez (Ducati) +0.446s 11. Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.454s 12. Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +0.539s 13. Alex Marquez (Ducati) +0.639s 14. Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.670s 15. Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +0.765s 16. Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.790s 17. Alex Rins (Yamaha) +0.823s 18. Luca Marini (Honda) +0.956s 19. Brad Binder (KTM) +0.957s 20. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.985s 21. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +1.204s 22. Augusto Fernandez (Yamaha) +1.688s 23. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +2.350s ### Why Mercedes has changed its F1 car after FIA/Ferrari intervention URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-f1-floor-design-change-controversy-explained/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T13:36:58.000Z Mercedes has appeared with a revised diffuser design at Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix after a new FIA ruling effectively banned a trick it has employed for the last three races. The move comes off the back of intrigue that has bubbled away ever since the design first appeared at the Canadian GP, with title rival Ferrari particularly agitated by this. The Mercedes concept, which was also adopted by Racing Bulls and Haas, involved a clever way to effectively extend the length of the diffuser through the use of serrated wedges along the trailing edge. While these extra diffuser extensions were quite small, they in theory provided a double benefit of increasing the efficiency of the diffuser for added downforce, as well as helping to better feed airflow to the rear wing. While the laptime benefit from these diffuser extensions was not a game-changer, F1 teams know that every marginal gain is important for its overall performance. ## Ferrari frustrations ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/00-D0_02-Mercedes_2026-06-11_0344-1.jpg) Ferrari was especially upset about the Mercedes design because it thought it had proposed to the FIA a similar concept four months ago that it hoped to be able to introduce for the start of the 2026 campaign. Ferrari's idea was rejected by the governing body, though - it is believed to have stretched the interpretation of the regulations around diffuser extensions - so it abandoned any further work in this area. So when the Mercedes version appeared in Montreal, Ferrari immediately sought clarification from the FIA - but was told the construction of its design and Mercedes' were different, based on different interpretations. It is also understood that Red Bull joined in with complaints over the matter. The Race has learned that, while Mercedes made some revisions to the design for Monaco in the wake of the discussions between rivals and the FIA, the matter came to a head in recent days off the back of a warning about the door being open to more extreme solutions if the Mercedes idea was not outlawed. It was this which triggered the FIA to update a technical directive after the recent Barcelona GP that effectively stamped out the trick. ## An edge radius trick ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/00-D0_02-Mercedes_2026-06-11_0485-1.jpg) While bodywork in this diffuser area of the car is tightly governed by legality box restrictions, The Race has learned how the extra aerodynamic appendages were initially allowed. This was through using a combination of other regulations that do allow extra design freedoms in this area of the car. The first is the allowance for floor stays to be used by teams to stop bodywork flexing at high load. As can be seen in the Mercedes design that appeared at Barcelona when viewed from above, the two serrated extensions are linked to two metal floor stays ahead of them. Having the floor stays there opened the door to make use of an allowance in the regulations - through Article C3.2.6 - to fit what are known as "edge" and "fillet" radii to smooth out unwanted sharp edges. Using these at trailing edges opens up the ability to fill in discontinuities, meaning teams can fit small closed fairings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Close-up-1.jpg) These must blend tangentially with the filleted surfaces and fit within what is known as an acute circular cone (as can be seen in the Mercedes design). There are strict dimensions here on how big the cone can be to stop things getting too large, but even the restrictions in play were enough for teams to extend the diffuser edge up until now. ## Stopping a crazy tech war As part of correspondence that is understood to have been submitted to the FIA, Ferrari warned that if the Mercedes idea was given the all-clear then it could open the door for some more left-field solutions. Sources have revealed one of these included having the serrated spiked areas at the very edges of the floor area, which could then put them in proximity of the wheels of other cars and that could risk punctures being caused by contact. It was the possibility of designs getting out of control like this if action was not taken that is understood to have triggered the FIA's clarification in not allowing the floor stay/edge radius trick to be exploited for aerodynamic purposes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/00-D0_06-Racing-Bulls_2026-06-11_0313.jpg) Coming into force with immediate effect, the clarification from the FIA is understood to have prompted both Mercedes and Racing Bulls (above) to make some adjustments to their diffuser designs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-diffuser-Haas-Mercedes-Barcelona.jpg) Haas is understood, however, not to have had to make any modifications as its design (pictured above compared to the Mercedes version, both from Barcelona) was not as extreme. ### The change that's made Bagnaia's resurgence possible URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-was-really-behind-bagnaias-brake-woes-how-he-overcame-them/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T11:07:24.000Z Pecco Bagnaia has exclusively explained to The Race the issues that he believes doomed his 2025 MotoGP season - and how working with brake manufacturer Brembo has given him the tools to turn around that woeful year into a considerably stronger 2026 campaign on factory Ducati machinery. The news comes on the Dutch TT weekend where he announced that he would be leaving Ducati for 2027 to join its biggest rival Aprilia - and when he hinted in the process that his decision had been made after certain events had transpired within Ducati, centred around his lack of feeling from the front of the bike for most of last season. By the double world champion's standards, 2025 was particularly tricky. Bagnaia started the season reasonably strongly with a victory at the third round at Austin, but his year really fell apart from the summer break onwards as the issues between Ducati's GP25 machine and Bagnaia's riding style became more and more apparent. He finished only one of the final seven GPs of the season - albeit with that oen finish coming on a completely inexplicable one-weekend-only turnaround at the Japanese Grand Prix that Bagnaia utterly dominated, with pole position, race and absolute lap records, and wins in both the sprint and main race. And, for much of the latter stages of the season, things weren't just not going according to plan for Bagnaia but were essentially in total free-fall, as he spent more time battling for the final points-scoring positions than fighting Marc Marquez as his team-mate romped to title success. Yet, it was something in that dominant Motegi weekend that changed Bagnaia's relationship with his employers at Ducati rather than the lack of points scored in the surrounding rounds, something that he mentioned on Thursday at Assen in speaking about his move to Aprilia for next year. "It's true that last year wasn't an easy season," Bagnaia explained in the pre-event press conference. "I struggled a lot, and something started to change after Japan. "There is a place and a time to clear this kind of information," he added when asked to elaborate, "but this is not the time. Not now." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/_176174346_A1X5873.jpg) But while he might not have wanted to detail too much about what changed at Motegi, Bagnaia did explain to The Race afterwards what has changed subsequently since last year to help him find his way back into race-winning contention at long last - with significant improvements made to his Desmosecidi not by Ducati but by Brembo. One thing that makes Motegi different from many other grand prix circuits is the amount of braking power generated on the aggressive layout, something that routinely entails the use of Brembo's bigger 355mm brake discs rather than the regular 340mm size. Bagnaia hasn't been shy in explaining his considerable preference for them, either, saying that much of the feeling he lost on corner entry - traditionally one of his strengths - on the GP25 came back when he was able to use the bigger discs. That also tallies not only with his Motegi form but with a number of post-race tests in late 2025 too, where Bagnaia also suggested that he had found a solution to his woes even after particularly tough weekends, most notably at Misano and Aragon - solutions that never quite materialised into race results. However, with the bigger 355mm discs taking considerably more braking energy to maintain temperature, they've been unusable at the majority of circuits where the forces involved are less severe - or at least, were unusable until 2026 when Brembo engineered a new low-mass disc that works at less extreme stresses and, Bagnaia said, has been the key to turning around his year in 2026. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/_176174403_A123943.jpg) "Yes, a lot," replied Bagnaia, seventh in the riders' standings currently and fresh off the back of his strongest weekend of 2026 at Brno, when asked by The Race if this was what had been missing in 2025\. "From last year, yes. "I'm not the one who puts much temperature on it, but I need friction from the brakes. The 340mm are super strong, super good, but I need something more, and I want to be very precise with my finger. "Maybe everything changed when I started braking with only one finger, because the 355mm lets me use less force but have more range. "We tested them last year some times, but all the tracks in the last part I wasn't using them. I started testing, and I decided this year from the test in Jerez \[in April\] to use them more or less everywhere." According to Brembo race engineer Stefano Mazzoleni, that's something that became apparent once they started working with Bagnaia to try to address his issues - and found a solution that involved engineering a brand new disc design now available to the whole MotoGP grid (but currently only in use with one other rider). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/_176174419_A1X5879.jpg) "At first, we needed to understand properly what the issue was and what we could do to help Pecco," Mazzoleni explained. "But then as soon as we got the feedback we started to make the different shape, because that is the main difference. You apply the same pressure but different torque to the braking surface to stop in a better way. "We usually use two different diameters for the disc, 340mm and 355mm, and before we only had the bigger 355mm finned discs which is a bigger mass with ventilation that helps the disc to cool down, and it's used in races like Buriram, Spielberg, and so on. "To use the carbon material, you need to reach the correct thermal range of the carbon material to have the most friction possible. "And if you use the bigger disc in a low-demanding circuit, it does not work properly because it doesn't heat up properly and you get a bad feeling." That has finally delivered the solution that Bagnaia appeared to need, which is reflected in his 2026 results to date with a return since Jerez at the end of April to regular podium finishes every weekend - either in the sprint, main race, or both. But Bagnaia refused to be drawn on the frustrations of 2025 - even while admitting that he isn't entirely sure what went so wrong and why the new discs have been such a miracle cure. "It's not really that everything has come back again," he explained, "but it's difficult to understand what changed. "Last year, theoretically the bike was similar but I never had the same feeling. At the times I was able to go with the 355mm high mass, I was able to go a bit better because the bike was stopping, and my problem last year was to stop the bike. "The first time we understood that it was an improvement was in Aragon \[last June\]. As soon as I put it, I was able to fight for the top three, and from that moment we started asking to Brembo to help me and they did a fantastic job." ### FIA's ADUO review outcome set to frustrate Red Bull URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/controversial-fia-aduo-engine-ruling-unlikely-to-change/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T10:58:26.000Z The FIA is ready to offer Red Bull a detailed explanation of how it has been judged to have Formula 1’s benchmark engine, but there's no indication of its analysis so far pointing to a change of its conclusion. Red Bull has been in talks with the FIA to try to get a better understanding of why the governing body’s review of F1 power unit rankings ended up with it at the top of the pack - a step above race-winners Mercedes and Ferrari. That means Red Bull will not be allowed any upgrades under the new Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said at the Barcelona Grand Prix that all the data it had gathered over the early races showed that championship leader Mercedes was a step ahead in engine performance. “Where we certainly would like to have a deeper conversation is because we do not see one single data sample that indicates that we would have an advantage over our friends at Mercedes,” he said. The FIA's ADUO ranking is made taking into account the internal combustion engine only, with the powerful battery and regeneration capabilities not included in this system. In the wake of Red Bull’s demands for answers over the ADUO findings, the FIA agreed to review all the data that it had gathered over the first judgement period, which ran until the Canadian GP in late May. The Race understands that the review is now nearing its conclusion but there is no indication that the FIA’s initial findings, of Red Bull being at least 2% clear of Mercedes, were incorrect. It means the result is set to remain as was officially declared by the FIA in signed correspondence that was sent to teams on race day at the Monaco GP three weeks ago. While some final points are still being discussed with Red Bull, it is anticipated that the FIA will officially announce the ADUO findings at some point before the Belgian Grand Prix next month. Prior to that, sources have suggested that the FIA is willing to be open with Red Bull and offer it a detailed explanation of the data it gathered and the reasons for its decisions – even if some of its information relating to the performance of other power unit manufacturers cannot be revealed because of confidentiality reasons. With the FIA looking unlikely to change its ADUO verdict, Red Bull is going to have to face up to the prospect that it is going to be the only engine manufacturer that will be unable to upgrade its power unit for now. Ferrari has used ADUO to introduce its first performance step of the season at this weekend’s Austrian GP, while Audi is understood to have delivered driveability improvements at Barcelona. Honda is looking to use one of its upgrade opportunities this year with an upgrade that will come around the summer break but could arrive as early as the Belgian GP. Red Bull’s hopes of qualifying for ADUO during the second review period, which runs from Monaco until the Hungarian GP during before the summer break, will rest on whether Mercedes makes any performance steps with its internal combustion engine. If Mercedes elects to stand still, or develop other parts of its power unit, then Red Bull could find itself trapped with the best ICE yet again, which would mean another spell of being unable to bring significant upgrades. ### Everything we learned on day one of F1's 2026 Austrian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-on-day-one-of-f1s-2026-austrian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T17:56:44.000Z Formula 1’s 2026 season has arrived at the Austrian Grand Prix with the anticipation of multiple major upgrades up and down the grid and a slew of fresh speculation. Here’s what we learned from Thursday at the Red Bull Ring. ### Fornaroli is a Haas seat contender for 2027 McLaren-contracted Leonardo Fornaroli is in contention for a Haas race seat in 2027\. That follows his impressive two-day TPC (testing of previous cars) test in a 2025 Haas at Jerez earlier this month, which was to allow Haas to evaluate him. Haas has yet to decide on its driver line-up for next year, but with Ollie Bearman’s place assured unless Ferrari calls him up, Esteban Ocon’s is in doubt, given his erratic performances for the team. While it’s understood no decision has yet been made, and the team will need to wait and see how the top end of the driver market shapes out in case someone unexpected becomes available, Ocon needs an upturn in performance if he’s to stay on, which the team will give him every chance to do - especially given there have been some problems with consistency of parts that had made the performance of both cars variable. And reigning Formula 2 champion Fornaroli is in a strong position if there is a vacancy, despite there being other potential candidates available. “I don’t know where we’re going with that, but the main purpose of our TPC programme is to provide opportunities for young drivers,” said Komatsu when asked about the reason for Fornaroli’s test. “Leo is reigning F2 champion, he’s a credible driver and he’s been on a really good training programme with McLaren, so it's really good for us to have a chance to look at him.” When asked by The Race about the possibility of needing a new driver in 2027, Komatsu replied “I don’t know if we need a new one, because our focus is with our two drivers”. **\- Edd Straw** ### Mercedes drivers will race 'different' The question of team orders at Mercedes intensified at Barcelona after Lewis Hamilton came away with victory on an alternative strategy while Kimi Antonelli and George Russell fought each other hard - and potentially slowed each other down in the process. Team boss Toto Wolff even hinted Mercedes could have won the race [with team orders](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/toto-wolff-hints-mercedes-might-have-won-barcelona-gp-f1-team-orders/). Discussions have taken place between Mercedes and its drivers ahead of the Austria weekend, which might lead to a different approach. “Of course, from now on, it's going to be important to race even more wisely because it's not just about George and me anymore, but the others are coming,” Antonelli said. “So I think this weekend is going to be a weekend where I think all the top four teams will be super close because Ferrari's bringing a new engine, a bit more powerful engine, Red Bull is bringing a big, big upgrade, which should give them a lot of performance, and also McLaren, they've been there ever since Miami. “Definitely the way I'm going to go racing is maybe a little bit different. Also, it depends a lot on the scenario. If there are other drivers that are close, other competitors that are very close, then probably I would race in a different way than if it was just me and George racing. “So it will all depend on the pace, how fast we are and where we are on the grid.” Russell used the contrasting examples of Montreal and Barcelona to explain when team orders might be necessary. “You saw in Canada, Kimi and I fought really hard, but we were pulling away from everybody else, so the win for the team was not under threat,” Russell explained. “But then you look in Barcelona and suddenly you have another driver who’s in the fight. And OK, Lewis had the \[virtual\] safety car, this helped a lot. Without the safety car, Kimi and I were losing time together and it would have given the opportunity to Ferrari to win. “That is when we need to be smart as team-mates and it’s very clear, the team wants to win the race. It doesn’t matter if it’s myself or Kimi.” Mercedes hopes a [new battery update](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-brings-f1-battery-upgrade-to-austria-after-reliability-woes/) for this weekend will also help its fortunes. **\- Josh Suttill** ### Norris wishes new wing came three months ago The official upgrade document isn't out yet, but it is known there are at least two major novelties in McLaren's Red Bull Ring package - the new Mercedes battery with its reliability fix, and McLaren's own take on F1's ['upside-down' rear wing trend](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-to-debut-its-own-upside-down-f1-rear-wing-in-austria/). The battery will be in Oscar Piastri's car but not Lando Norris's - as the champion would incur a grid penalty for a change. The wing, in turn, will be on Norris's car and not Piastri's, but almost certainly only on Friday - with Norris repeatedly cautioning it is a "test item" that should need "ironing out" before it's race-ready in a few events' time. Norris gave a lot of credit for the work done at McLaren to prepare its own prototype - but he also said this timeline (against the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull, which debuted their wings in race trim in Miami nearly two months ago) was part of McLaren's overall delay in the development race. "It was pretty cool to see Ferrari have it in the beginning of the year \[in testing\]," said Norris. "It's amazing what someone who understands the rules and regulations, and understands the wording, how you kind of work around these areas - I think that's something that makes Formula 1 very special, is how people can create these kind of concepts." He added with a smile: "I wish we had it three months ago already! So this is where I say 'we're three months behind on developments', and this is included in that." **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ### Albon's Barcelona GP car is still at the Williams factory Alex Albon has changed his chassis since the Barcelona GP, but he’s simply swapped to another chassis in the pool because the one he used at Barcelona is still at the Williams factory! Albon suffered a miserable Barcelona GP with car problems, meaning Williams “turned it into a test” session. “As a team we took the car back to the factory and we just basically got it through a lot of testing,” Albon explained. “I think it's not just on my side of the garage, but I think…my side of the garage has it worse. So, having a look at that and trying to understand what are these issues that are going on.” Albon was tight-lipped on what exactly the issues are, just replying "not really" when asked for specifics on the problem. “We see it, we've checked it, it comes and goes. I can tell you it's towards the rear of the car.” Albon’s had the rougher end of the deal compared to team-mate Carlos Sainz, but the issues aren’t confined to his side of the garage. “I think Japan, Carlos had it worse,” Albon said. “On average, yes, I've had it worse, but it's more about understanding it as a team. “I think that we know it's not helping the balance of the car, we know that it's creating inconsistencies with the car. The more we understand it and eliminate it, we'll get on top of it. “The car that I ran in Barcelona, that's basically gone through a lot of rig testing. It's still there, it's still being worked on. Actually, we've done a great reaction. I think the work that we've done to try to get on top of it has been very strong.” **\- JS** ### More details of Hamilton's neck injury Amid the jubilation of Hamilton's Barcelona GP victory on Sunday evening came the surprise admission of an injury he sustained during his first year with Ferrari last year. "At the beginning of last year I got injured here, actually, and carried that for months," Hamilton said at Barcelona. On Thursday in Austria, he explained more about the neck injury he suffered during a pre-season test at Barcelona. “I hit the wall very hard last year in testing,” said Hamilton. “Knocked out one of the discs in my neck, which was into the nerve. “So, I couldn't do a lot for like nine weeks. I was having chiropractors every day, physically every day I couldn't sleep. “I had painkillers, I had to get an injection, I did everything I could to try to fix it. So that's what I was basically trying to live with. It's not easy in the position that you're sitting in.” **\- JS** ### Cadillac upgrade worth a 'few tenths' Cadillac has what team principal Graeme Lowdon describes as a “substantial” upgrade package, focused on new sidepod and floor changes. Valtteri Bottas suggested this would be worth approximately 10 points of downforce. “A few tenths, I think, in theory,” he said when asked what laptime this would be worth. “We're going to do some aero runs in the beginning in FP to see what the actual effect is compared to the past and then we see. But hopefully it works as it should.” It’s hoped that this, combined with reliability updates to tackle the brake overheating problem that has blighted Cadillac recently, will allow the team to take another step towards catching the main midfield group ahead. **\- ES** ### Leclerc's confidence claim needs testing While his Ferrari team-mate Hamilton has returned to winning ways, it’s been a rough run of races for Charles Leclerc. Braking woes compromised his Montreal and Monaco weekends, and while Leclerc’s feeling improved at Barcelona, a crash in qualifying and mechanical failure on Sunday ruined his weekend. But while he did lose confidence at one stage, Leclerc feels he’s found it again, even if the results aren’t showing that so far. And he refuted any suggestion that it has anything to do with Hamilton’s increased input into a 2026 car that Hamilton's far more comfortable in than its 2025 predecessor. “It's not that I don't feel comfortable with this year's car, it's just that in Montreal, particularly in Monaco, we've had some issues that have been very, very tricky,” Leclerc said. “There \[in Monaco\] I've lost a bit of confidence with the car, but not with the package itself. “Nowadays, we've got a lot of freedom with the set-up to make sure that a car fits your driving. So it's not that I feel limited in any kind of ways with that. I don't think that this is going to be an issue that is going to keep going. I hope not, at least. “But I felt a lot better in Barcelona with things that we have changed. I don't think it's part of any of this. I don't feel any less confident with this car than last year's car. It's just that there's been these two, three races where there's been the lack of confidence in Canada and Monaco. “On top of that, we've got technical issues on a Sunday in Monaco and in Spain. That means that this has been lots of points lost in three weekends. It's not a nice feeling. But I'm looking forward to this weekend and try to put all of these behind us.” Leclerc added he’s “not too stressed about the pace in itself, I just want to put a weekend together now with the team and be back to where we should be”. **\- JS** ### Colapinto credits Briatore for turnaround Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore drew headlines before the Austrian GP weekend for comments he made to F1’s Beyond The Grid Podcast. He said Colapinto was “integrating much better in the team”, having improved a lot “mentally, technically, \[and with his\] relationship with the team”. A decision on Colapinto's future will be made before the summer break, according to Briatore, who also drew social media attention for comments he made when asked about Colapinto’s demo run in Buenos Aires, which attracted huge crowds, much to Briatore’s surprise. “Half a million people saw nothing \[a test, not a race\]. The strangest…Franco never won nothing, I still don’t understand this half a million people or more, standing there for Franco. I don’t understand,” Briatore said. Asked whether he’d like the Argentine GP to return to the F1 calendar for the first time since 1998, Briatore joked: “If I still have Franco, yes. If I don’t have Franco, I don’t care.” Colapinto was asked about Briatore’s Beyond The Grid interview when he faced the media in Austria. “I heard a little bit, I found it…very good comments, a very funny interview, I think it was quite fun, in general it was, had a little bit of a laugh at times,” Colapinto said. “Flavio, he’s been very supportive with me and he's been very harsh at times \[when he\] needs to be harsh. I think he has experience to do that and of course it's also on me, how I take those moments and luckily I did take them very well. “He helped me to learn a lot and to also improve more from the very tough moments, those really hard and tough situations made me much stronger and the way he was handling with me those situations made it even more in that way and I think nowadays he's really helping me. “He has had a lot of confidence in me this season and that's pushing me in the right direction and also gave me the support that he always gave me. “His support, off track, on track, with the team, not only with me as a driver, with the engineers, with everyone, he pushed the team forward a lot. I really appreciate that, someone…he pushes always more and more and more, even when we are doing well or we are having a good result. "We are finishing P6, he's back in the factory and he's the only one not being happy…and wanting more and more and more.” **\- JS** ### Alonso's timeline for his 2027 decision Fernando Alonso expressed surprise at the [upgrade pace of 'money machine' rival](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/fernando-alonso-surprise-f1-rivals-upgrade-pace-money-machine/) teams in Austria, as he and Aston Martin await their first major 2026 upgrade, which should arrive just before or just after the summer break. It appears the success of that upgrade (and Honda’s engine upgrade, its only engine upgrade of 2026 despite ADUO allowing it two) is directly tied to Alonso’s 2027 decision. One that appears to be F1 with Aston Martin or race elsewhere. "I will wait until probably summer break, which is August," Alonso said. "After summer is Zandvoort, Monza - I think around that time I will probably decide what to do next year. "I will keep racing \[somewhere\] because I'm feeling fast and I feel motivated and I love what I do. "I will not stop now, because I don't feel uncompetitive or that I don't enjoy racing. If I race in Formula 1 or not, that's a different story; I need to enjoy the category and the feeling of driving these power units and these regulations, and these kinds of things. "There are many factors to put in place and there are many options to race in the world of motorsport. "I still love F1\. I'm committed to this team also. So even if I don't race, my commitment with the team and with the project is the same." Chief trackside officer Mike Krack said “Fernando should not retire, he is too quick” - to which Alonso replied: "I don't need Mike to tell me that I'm fast. “I feel it every lap that I do on track and I've been feeling it always. Let's see; I have not taken any decision." **\- JS** ### Moto3 to become one-make Yamaha series URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/moto3-to-become-one-make-yamaha-series/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T08:29:29.000Z Moto3 will switch to being a Yamaha one-make series from 2028. The new bike will use an “extensively re-engineered” version of Yamaha’s CP2 production engine, with MotoGP and Yamaha’s announcement saying “the ultimate objective is to achieve a superior power-to-weight ratio compared with the current Moto3 machines, while introducing a full-size motorcycle better suited to the physical characteristics and riding style of the next generation of riders”. Though Moto3 began life with 11 different manufacturers on the grid when it replaced 125cc in 2012, it is currently monopolised by Honda and KTM. Asked by The Race why MotoGP had decided to go completely one-make for the new Moto3 rather than taking the compromise approach used in Moto2 - where chassis competition is open but Triumph supplies all engines - MotoGP’s chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta said the stricter approach was necessary to achieve cost control goals. A 50% cost reduction is the target. “This has also been done with not just the direct involvement of the teams, but with a lot of input from the teams,” Ezpeleta replied. “And then understanding that right now Moto2 and Moto3 are really here as one, a fantastic product on track for all of us, but two to develop the talent and the pipeline to go into MotoGP. “And the best way to do that is in a controlled cost environment. And the only real way to do that is with a single supplier. “Experience proves that when there's competitive tension between manufacturers - and it doesn't really matter the size, if it’s the biggest manufacturers in the world or smaller chassis manufacturers - the costs continue to escalate. “And that's why the decision was quite clear for us from the beginning.” The new bike will be faster than the current machine, which Ezpeleta hopes will spread the current tight slipstreaming packs out and lead to safer racing. “I think to a certain degree, speed and safety are not always parallel,” he explained. “The target is that the machine will be faster than the current Moto3 machine, which to a certain extent you could say is not safer. “But I think what is clear is the dynamics of racing right now in Moto3 where the slipstream is so, so, so important. That should be significantly reduced from the studies that we've done. “In MotoGP the runoff areas are not really the problem, it's sort of the multiple rider accidents that are unfortunately the problem. This should help that to a certain extent. That’s why we feel confident this is a step in the right direction.” While the engine in the new bike will start from a production base, Yamaha MotoGP managing director Paolo Pavesio was keen to make clear that it will effectively be a fully prototype machine with enough adjustability to train engineers for MotoGP futures as well as riders. “This is not a production bike spin-off,” Pavesio insisted. “The engine is a production engine which will be highly modified. We are massively reducing the weight by a lot of magnesium. We will have power up, we will have a complete racing gearbox. “So the engine is the only production part of the bike. All the rest is a complete prototype. So the frame, the swingarm, the complete rolling chassis, it's targeting to be a prototype racing machine as it is. “The bike is somehow a training bike for young engineers which will work in Moto3 maybe to grow, and for the riders to grow. It will be a natural first step towards Moto2 and towards MotoGP, also technically.” After its introduction in Moto3 in 2028, the aim is for a lower-spec version of the bike to be used in the Moto3 Junior World Championship from the following year. There are also hopes that it can become the basis for regional series feeding into grand prix racing too. ### Mercedes brings battery fix but only one McLaren/Williams will run it URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-brings-f1-battery-upgrade-to-austria-after-reliability-woes/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T17:24:08.000Z Mercedes has brought a battery upgrade to Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix after recent reliability woes cost it major points - but only one of the customer McLarens will run it. George Russell lost a potential victory in Montreal, and Kimi Antonelli lost a likely second place at Barcelona to battery-related failures. Plus, Mercedes’ customers - McLaren in particular - have shipped many points to reliability issues with its Mercedes hardware. The Race found Mercedes, both as a team and as an engine supplier, had [lost more points through reliability woes](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-true-cost-of-mercedes-biggest-2026-weakness/) than any other team or engine manufacturer so far this season. Mercedes’ mission to fix its battery-related woes had been blunted by Russell’s failed battery from Montreal still being in sea freight transit across the Atlantic Ocean. But Antonelli revealed on Thursday in Austria that Mercedes has brought a reliability fix for its package this weekend. “I don't think it's always been related to a temperature issue, but this weekend, we have a newer spec with updates to improve the durability and reliability of the package,” Antonelli said. “The team has been working super hard because definitely we've been suffering from this kind of issue a bit often, but the team has been pushing so hard and hopefully these are the first big updates. “It's not really about performance. It's all about trying to make sure that these issues don't happen again. “But I'm sure that the team is finding the way and I think this is a good step forward.” The Race understands it will only appear on one of the McLarens - Oscar Piastri’s MCL40. Lando Norris is already on his final battery before he exceeds the maximum allowance for the season, which if changed now, would trigger a grid penalty. Norris’s battery failure caused him to miss the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, he then suffered another battery failure in practice at Suzuka, putting him onto his third and final battery. Only one Williams driver will have it too, Carlos Sainz, as Alex Albon is also in a precarious situation with his battery usage. The Race understands both Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto will be running the new battery specification. ### Motorsport Manager game gets second edition 10 years after launch URL: https://www.the-race.com/gaming/motorsport-manager-2-game-second-edition-10-years-after-launch/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T14:26:09.000Z A decade on from the first game's release, Motorsport Manager 2 is confirmed to be coming out in 2027. Ahead of that - a release date has not yet been announced - is a gameplay reveal in the autumn, with more details coming about the game in the months ahead. The original Motorsport Manager title for PC didn't have any official championship licenses but was praised for its in-depth off-track team management and engaging on-track racing action. Unfortunately, a sequel was never given a green light under old publisher Sega. Earlier this year the developer, Playsport Games, regained the rights to the series from Sega and published a patch to the first game nearly a decade after Motorsport Manager's initial release. The announcement of the second game promises single-seater, GT and endurance racing categories to all be included and players will still be tasked with developing cars, hiring staff, managing finances, as well as strategising race plans and reacting to events such as changing weather and safety cars. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/MMPC2_Screenshot2.png) Mods will be supported from day one, inevitably allowing players to add in any official motorsport championships, but the unlicensed approach of the Motorsport Manager series has allowed the developers to include features you wouldn't normally see in a licensed title. For instance, the first game and its Bernie Ecclestone equivalent, called Ernie Hecklerock, had a casting vote on rule change votes which could include sprinklers to be added to the circuits - a reference to a suggestion previously made by the former F1 CEO. While we don't know yet if the full plethora of rule changes and other more left-field aspects of the original will carry over to its sequel, the ethos of the original remains for the second entry. "Freedom is one of the biggest advantages of Motorsport Manager 2," said Matt Hanlon, project lead at Playsport. "Real-world motorsport is an inspiration, not a limitation. We can draw from different eras, disciplines, formats, rivalries, and stories to create a motorsport world that feels authentic, dramatic, and full of possibility." To celebrate the announcement of Motorsport Manager 2, the original title is currently being sold in the Steam Summer Sale for 80% off. ### What's strange about Alonso's surprise at 'money machine' rivals URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/fernando-alonso-surprise-f1-rivals-upgrade-pace-money-machine/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T14:25:42.000Z Formula 1 rivals' stream of "unlimited upgrades" to their cars in this phase of the 2026 season is a surprise to Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso - whose AMR26 is in a holding pattern right now. The beleagured team, which now appears the clear straggler in F1's competitive order (having qualified four seconds off the ultimate pace at Barcelona), has preferred to tackle its issues in one big upgrade package in a few races' time rather than drip-feed chassis tweaks. This is expected to go hand-in-hand with an upgrade to the Honda power unit, although chief trackside officer Mike Krack said during media day at the Austrian Grand Prix that the timing wouldn't necessarily be aligned. "You can say we stand still," Krack also said. "We are not standing still because there is a lot of things that are going on beyond the \[upgrade\] declarations. But it is a fact that we have seen others moving on. "But again, I said already in Spain that we have a leader that has taken the decision to do it like this. And it sounds repetitive, but if you take as a team a decision like that and you commit to it, you have to commit to it. Then we should also not complain every other week that we have these deficiencies, but you have to stick together and get the maximum out of it, and be prepared for better times." The AMR26 is set to be unchanged until the Hungarian Grand Prix or the Dutch Grand Prix - either side of F1's summer break - according to Lance Stroll. But Stroll's team-mate Alonso had some slightly curious, slightly contradictory things to say about the AMR26 upgrade plan during his own media appearance. In separate answers Alonso both indicated that waiting until a big upgrade was "the right decision" but also that he "didn't agree" to it. "But apparently there is no money to bring upgrades, unlimited upgrades like the other teams do!" he quipped. "It is surprising to see the FIA page on Friday every race - because maybe they \[other teams\] have the money machine in the minus one \[floor\] in the factory." Yet Alonso also insisted that he did not "question" the plan born out of a desire to spend the cost cap-limited allotment efficiently. "Obviously we don't know exactly the cost-cap limitations and how much is going to change in the car and the time that was needed to understand the problems - it's not that you can trial/error with some of the upgrades," he said. "We took the first three or four races to really understand our weaknesses and our limitations, to start testing on the windtunnel solutions, to see also the other cars, what kind of solutions they implement and which ones are working. "And when you take all that in the table, you start programming the upgraded package. And obviously it takes time. After missing Barcelona \[the shakedown\] and being in Bahrain with a bad first test and knowing our situation in Australia - which back then we didn't know if we could complete the race; that was the uncomfortable truth that we found in Australia - I think the decision was made and I think it's the right decision. "For us, it doesn't change to bring three or four tenths \[of performance\] in a couple of grands prix and still \[be\] fighting at the back. So we need something bigger than that - and everyone in the factory is working flat-out. We need to give credit to them. "We don't know yet the results and we don't see the results yet. But we cannot underestimate Aston Martin - as much as has been done \[by others\] in the last few weeks." ## Timeline of 2027 decision A decision over Alonso's continuity in F1 beyond this year is still pending - and Krack told media on Thursday that he felt Alonso was too fast to retire. "I don't need Mike to tell me that I'm fast," Alonso responded. "I feel it every lap that I do on track and I've been feeling it always. Let's see; I have not taken any decision." Alonso did all but dismiss any suggestion that he could continue in F1 away from Aston Martin, repeatedly emphasising his commitment to the team - and his plan to remain part of its grand prix project once he is done racing in F1. "I will wait until probably summer break, which is August," he said of his decision timeline. "After summer is Zandvoort, Monza - I think around that time I will probably decide what to do next year. "I will keep racing \[somewhere\] because I'm feeling fast and I feel motivated and I love what I do. I will not stop now because I don't feel uncompetitive or that I don't enjoy racing. If I race in Formula 1 or not, that's a different story; I need to enjoy the category and the feeling of driving these power units and these regulations, and these kinds of things. "There are many factors to put in place and there are many options to race in the world of motorsport. "I still love F1\. I'm committed to this team also. So even if I don't race, my commitment with the team and with the project is the same." He said it was "difficult to say" right now what his next series might be if he does move on from F1 - but name-checked Aston Martin's Valkyrie, which is competing in the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class, the Dakar Rally and other rallying, and Formula E with its upcoming Gen4 car "with four-wheel drive, it seems quite fast from the test they did". ### Sainz reveals the impact of his Netflix gamble URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/sainz-reveals-the-impact-of-his-netflix-gamble/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T10:41:17.000Z Carlos Sainz said his decision to give Netflix unprecedented access to his private life during the early days of Formula 1's Drive to Survive series proved "game-changing" for both his career and the sport's global growth. Speaking to The Race co-founder Darren Cox at the Axios x The Race Cannes Lions panel: 'Sports, Sound and the Latino Fan' on Wednesday, the Williams star recalled being among the drivers willing to embrace the documentary project when it first arrived in the F1 paddock in 2018. "I analysed it with my management team and I said, 'Look, this could be game-changing, so let's give Netflix access at least the first year until we see how this pans out,'" Sainz said. Sainz admitted he had reservations about opening up his personal life to cameras, describing himself as "very private" and uncomfortable with the idea of filming around his family and contract negotiations. Despite those concerns, Sainz allowed Netflix crews into his home in Mallorca, including filming scenes with his family. When the first season aired, he quickly realised the impact. "I think I grew 500,000 followers in two weeks," he said. "I was like, OK, all this time and effort that I've spent giving maybe too much of an insight for my liking to cameras, it's paying off and it's worth it." Sainz said the success of Drive to Survive coincided with F1's wider transformation under Liberty Media and accelerated during the COVID pandemic, when many new fans discovered the series. "I think the Netflix boom, when we started filming Netflix around 2018, then COVID happened, and I think in COVID everyone watched the Netflix series," he said. The 31 year old described witnessing the championship's dramatic rise in the United States first hand, comparing visits to the Austin GP before and after the Netflix era. "I lived through experiencing going to Austin and maybe not seeing that many fans, and then suddenly two years after COVID going to Austin and finding an insane amount of people there," he said. Sainz believes the series helped drivers recognise they were no longer simply competitors but also ambassadors and public figures. "Now I'm not only a Formula 1 driver, I also need to be careful of my brand, of the people that I partner with," he said. ## Madrid 'simulation' The Williams driver also took the opportunity to plug the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, which he has played a key role in helping promote at the new Madring circuit. Rather than simply raising awareness of the event, the Madrid-born driver revealed he had personally tested one of the circuit's key selling points: its proximity to the city centre. "I did the test for all the fans," Sainz said proudly. Drawing a comparison with the simulator work that dominates modern F1, Sainz said he conducted his own simulation of a race weekend journey, travelling by Madrid's metro system from the city centre to the circuit to see how accessible it would be for the fans. "In F1 we love simulations," he said. "I did a simulation and it took me eight minutes door-to-door." The exercise was designed to demonstrate what organisers hope will become one of the race's defining features, a grand prix that can be reached by public transport in minutes rather than requiring lengthy journeys outside the city. ### Bumper four-year deal for Bagnaia as Aprilia MotoGP move announced URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/pecco-bagnaia-aprilia-motogp-move-four-year-deal/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T08:28:47.000Z Aprilia has announced the long-awaited news that Pecco Bagnaia will join its factory MotoGP line-up in 2027 alongside Marco Bezzecchi on a bumper four-year deal. It is the latest in MotoGP's silly season announcements now that the impasse on future news has been lifted following the factories' long-term, 'Concorde-esque' [agreement with series bosses](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-and-its-teams-finally-agree-their-concorde-deal/) last week. The news comes as no great surprise given that it has been something of an open secret in the paddock for months. [The Race first reported](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/bagnaia-on-verge-of-aprilia-deal-for-motogp-2027/) that the double world champion had picked Aprilia over Yamaha during pre-season testing in February, and Bagnaia is believed to have put pen to paper for the Italian brand soon after. However, the length of the deal certainly is unusual, with Bagnaia committing to four years with Aprilia, a deal set to keep him a part of the line-up until he turns 34 in 2030. The news means that, with Wednesday's announcement of a contract extension for Marc Marquez at Ducati, and the subsequent news that Pedro Acosta would replace Bagnaia, Aprilia becomes the second factory squad to confirm its full line-up for the next two years. "Michele Colaninno and I share the same vision of supporting Italy, which is why we both thought of Marco and Pecco together for the next chapter of Aprilia Racing," said Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola of himself and parent company Piaggio's CEO. "That is why welcoming Pecco fills us with pride and gives Italian sport a further boost internationally. We will give him and his family a warm welcome, but first we will try to beat him! Having a multiple world champion is a responsibility we can't wait to take on." It means that Bagnaia joins current championship leader and close friend Bezzecchi, whose own contract extension with Aprilia was publicly [announced in February](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aprilias-unusual-announcement-sorts-big-motogp-2027-jigsaw-piece/), just before the unofficial hiatus on rider announcements that has subsequently meant no further news until this week. It means that the next piece of the puzzle likely to fall into place now is at Yamaha, with Jorge Martin departing the factory Aprilia squad to replace the Honda-bound Fabio Quartararo. Another Aprilia rider, Ai Ogura, will leave satellite team Trackhouse to become Martin's team-mate in blue. ### New calendar could end this champion's Formula E career URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/sebastien-buemi-could-2026-27-calendar-end-champion-formula-e-career/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T07:23:46.000Z Is the fact that there are two clashes between the Formula E and World Endurance Championship schedules in 2027 already ringing the death-knell for Sebastien Buemi's 12-season Formula E career? Technically it probably is. But the 2015-16 Formula E champion insists he will be "fighting hard" to make sure it isn't, so that he can continue his dual racing programme into 2027. The WEC and Formula E have both revealed their [new-season calendars](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/brands-hatch-one-of-three-new-additions-to-formula-es-next-calendar/) this month, and yet again there are clashes between these two series that always seem to have a degree of driver overlap. The clashes come in mid-May, when Formula E's Monaco double-header is on the same weekend as the Spa WEC event, and in Julym when Formula E's Shanghai double-header coincides with the planned Interlagos WEC fixture. Buemi's WEC employer Toyota has general priority on his services, so he could have to miss four of next season's 21 Formula E races. There is a precedent of sorts that could help Buemi retain his dual racing programme with Toyota and the Envision Formula E team, which is set to continue its Jaguar relationship in Gen4. In July 2025, Buemi missed the Interlagos WEC race when it then clashed with the Berlin Formula E double-header. But a year before when Berlin had clashed with Spa WEC in May, Buemi missed Berlin and was replaced by Formula 2 racer and now Alpine Formula 1 reserve driver Paul Aron. The nuanced difference was that the 2024 clash came before the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the 2025 was after it. Next year's clashes are one each side of Le Mans. It is unclear what Buemi's specific agreements are for next season but the assumption is that Envision, while supporting Buemi, wants its drivers to give Formula E complete priority. "Obviously it is extremely unfortunate," Buemi told The Race. "I'm going to fight very hard in trying to do anything I can to be on the grid next year, and then we'll see. But I'm not giving up. I'll be fighting hard." When asked about the clashes, Buemi also made a pointed remark about the organisers of each championship, saying: "I'm not sure if everyone tried their best, but I'm not just going to give up." Buemi's team boss at Envision, Sylvain Filippi, was cautious on the subject when asked by The Race, saying only that "we'll look at it properly once we know the calendars". "I've been in this game too long to know that there can always be changes and things, and the calendars are very complicated, very political," said Filippi. "There's a lot of targets from all the championships, so once we know for sure what the calendar is, then we look at it and make a decision. It's impossible to tell right now." Envision was understood to be targeting an unchanged line-up for next season, with Buemi's team-mate Joel Eriksson set to get a second full campaign. ## Is De Vries affected too? While Stellantis drivers and some others from different WEC manufacturers are unlikely to be as affected as Buemi, his Toyota WEC team-mate Nyck de Vries could also be in a similar situation, albeit with a more accommodating Formula E team boss at Mahindra. De Vries is expected to stay for a fourth campaign at Mahindra, and The Race understands the team is much more amenable to replacing a driver come clashes. Mahindra currently has both Kush Maini and Jake Hughes on its reserve bench, with each expected to be part of the Gen4 test and development running. It is expected to complete the first test of its new car this week. Mahindra declined to comment on the clashes when approached by The Race this week. Stellantis drivers meanwhile are believed to have more flexibility, with a higher likelihood of using just two drivers per car at Peugeot in the WEC if it absolutely needed to. Nick Cassidy is presumed to have complete priority for racing in Formula E with Citroen as part of his Stellantis contract. Stoffel Vandoorne, who is tipped to return to Formula E next season as a replacement for the Opel-bound Mitch Evans at Jaguar, is not expected to continue in the WEC with Peugeot in 2027. ## Formula E's perspective The debate about clashing race dates between Formula E and the WEC stretches back to the early days of Formula E, with the third season in 2016-17 particularly difficult for drivers combining two programmes. That season, Buemi won five of the first six races and appeared to be cruising to back-to-back titles. But a combination of Lucas di Grassi staying in the title chase and Buemi missing the penultimate event in New York City because of a WEC clash ultimately swung the title the way of di Grassi, who himself [will retire](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/formula-e-champion-di-grassi-announces-his-retirement-from-racing/) at the end of this season. Buemi rues that date clash to this day and it contributed to his infamous frustrated rant at several drivers at the season finale in Montreal, where he ultimately lost the title to di Grassi following a huge practice accident and two tumultuous races. But it's long forgotten that Buemi was not the only driver who was forced to miss those two races in New York. His Toyota WEC team-mate Jose-Maria Lopez, then driving for DS Virgin in FE, was also forced to race in the WEC at the Nurburgring that weekend and was replaced at DS Virgin by Alex Lynn. Several other clashes have transpired since that time too and, while there is sympathy with drivers who compete in both categories, the extended calendars in both series have inevitably resulted in more clashes. Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds said ultimately his series has to prioritise itself rather than drivers' individual ambitions and that teams had been forewarned that clashes might be a long-term situation. "\[The priority is\] to look at what clashes have the lowest impact on fan attendance, viewership for TV broadcast, for growing our fanbase," he told The Race. "Unfortunately, our top priority isn't trying to ensure that drivers can race in multiple series at the same time. "It's nice if they can do that, but that's not our top priority. "We sat down with the teams and had that conversation with them where we said, 'Look, here's our target calendar going out to 2030\. As you're contracting drivers, inevitably you need to look at what that might mean'." Dodds also confirmed that discussions were held with the WEC earlier this year when the calendars were being formed. "We meet with WEC, we talk with the leadership of WEC, we understand each other's calendars, there is no way of avoiding clashes on both sides unfortunately," he added. ### Where Ferrari stands ahead of highly anticipated engine upgrade URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/where-ferrari-stands-ahead-of-highly-anticipated-engine-upgrade/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T08:37:22.000Z Ferrari arrives at the Austrian Grand Prix buoyed by its first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Spain, where a substantial upgrade package helped transform the competitiveness of the SF-26. The Red Bull Ring will now provide an important validation test for those developments on a very different type of circuit, one where power unit performance is expected to play a much greater role than it did at Barcelona. Lewis Hamilton's victory there was not simply the result of a successful three-stop strategy or Kimi Antonelli's retirement. From Saturday morning onwards, the upgraded SF-26 displayed a level of performance that had not been evident during the opening stages of the weekend, allowing Hamilton to become a genuine contender for victory. Austria will offer Ferrari another opportunity to assess the effectiveness of its latest aerodynamic package away from the characteristics of the Barcelona circuit. An initial comparison between the pre-upgrade specification and the fully updated SF-26 was already conducted during the Barcelona Grand Prix weekend, when Ferrari's rookie driver Dino Beganovic ran a dedicated test programme in FP1. Ferrari will use another rookie session in Austria, with Charles Leclerc this time handing over his car to Beganovic for the opening practice session. But there's a far more significant in-weekend test for Ferrari to conduct at the Red Bull Ring. ## Ferrari's - and F1's - first major ADUO engine evolution Beyond the aerodynamic developments, Austria will also mark the debut of Ferrari's first ADUO-related [internal combustion engine upgrade](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-commits-to-f1-engine-upgrade-for-austria/). Following confidential communications from the FIA between the Miami and Monaco races regarding engine performance measurements across the field, Ferrari received confirmation that it qualifies for two in-season engine development tokens this year and next - the maximum available, for any manufacturer deemed to be more than 4% or more off the benchmark. According to information gathered by The Race, the performance deficit assessed by the FIA places Ferrari within a window believed to be between 6% and 8% off the benchmark, deemed to be Red Bull, granting Maranello additional development opportunities. The significance of this goes beyond the two upgrade tokens themselves. Ferrari is also entitled to additional dyno hours and extra development budget, resources that can now be directed towards a more comprehensive engine evolution planned either immediately before or shortly after the summer break. The exact timing has not yet been finalised, as Ferrari now has greater flexibility to maximise the development programme following confirmation of the available concessions. The specification introduced in Austria, internally referred to as "ICE ADUO 1", represents a different approach. Rather than spending both development tokens together later in the season, Ferrari has chosen to introduce an initial upgrade that has been under development since the winter months, while preserving scope for a more significant evolution later on. The revised combustion engine specification will also be accompanied by an updated Shell biofuel blend. The package will be introduced alongside Ferrari's third power unit allocation of the season, still within the four units permitted before grid penalties are triggered. An additional advantage lies in operational flexibility. The introduction of the updated power unit as a result of the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system will allow Ferrari to rotate between older and newer specifications depending on the circumstances, helping manage mileage more effectively during race weekends before parc ferme conditions come into force. ## Major upgrade phase complete With the substantial packages introduced in Miami and [at Barcelona](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-reveals-8-part-upgrade-for-barcelona-f1-race/) now on track, Ferrari's primary development phase for the SF-26 is effectively complete. Those two upgrade steps are estimated to have delivered a combined gain worth approximately seven to eight tenths of a second compared to the car's launch specification. As things stand, Ferrari appears to have extracted more performance from its development programme than its direct rivals, McLaren and Mercedes. A significant portion of Ferrari's aerodynamic development budget has already been invested under technical director Loic Serra. That was partly a consequence of the conservative approach taken when the original SF-26 was signed off, with Maranello opting to freeze much of the concept early in order to better evaluate the project's potential before committing to more aggressive changes. Future updates are therefore expected to be smaller in scale and increasingly circuit-specific. Ferrari is already working on adaptations for medium-to-low-downforce venues such as Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, while further refinements to the "Macarena" rear-wing concept are also expected to arrive in the coming races. But the next major evolutions of the SF-26 will not arrive before the summer break. ### F1 teams' sim data reveals real impact of 2027/28 engine rule changes URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-f1-cars-will-be-up-to-four-seconds-faster-2028-revealed/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T10:02:03.000Z Formula 1's roadmap for delivering cars that are not so energy-starved was agreed recently, with a two-stepped plan that runs into 2028. With a push to allow cars to run more flat-out in qualifying, and have a better speed profile down the straights, team simulation data obtained by The Race has given us some first clues about the impact these changes are expected to have out on track. The quick summary is simple: by the time we get to 2028, the cars will be faster down the straights, maintain their top speed for longer and deliver significantly better laptimes. And, while downforce levels and tyre performance cannot be predicted accurately at this point, as they could be slashed back over time for safety reasons, this early data based on likely progress from the current ruleset shows us that, untamed, the new power units could be enough to start beating lap records again. ## The plan for change ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image-2-1.png) The improvements are the result of moving the current turbo hybrids away from the nominal 50/50 split between the internal combustion engine and battery power (in reality this split is 53/47), to a 58/42 step next year and then a final 60/40 balance in 2028. This will be achieved through a combination of increasing fuel flow - 5% next year up to 13% in 2028 - as well as reducing the maximum battery power from 350kW to 300kW. Further assistance will come through an increase in the maximum allowance for harvesting, up from 350kW this year to 375kW in 2027 and then 400kW a year later, with battery capacity jumping up from 4MJ this year to 4.5MJ in 2027 and 5MJ in 2028. The hope in the F1 paddock is that all these elements added together will result in cars that do not demand extreme energy harvesting techniques, so the drivers can be more flat-out and the cars more natural to drive. While nobody in the F1 paddock is suggesting the changes will transform the power units and make them the best ever, and this will not stop the push for a V8 comeback, there is consensus there will be an improvement. As four-time world champion Max Verstappen - arguably the most vocal critic of the 2026 ruleset - said: "I would have hoped that next year would have been already what we get in '28. "But I also, of course, understand that there is sometimes politics involved for that. "At least the changes that they are making are heading in the right direction, so I guess that’s a good thing." ## Overall faster cars The discussions that culminated in the agreements laid out for 2027 and 2028 came off the back of some big research projects involving the teams, the FIA and F1. It was clear that, having got things a bit wrong with the initial state of the regulations at the start of 2026, any further changes needed to be based on evidence that they would improve things. The research included teams going away and doing some simulations themselves to work out the impact of the changes to power levels of the internal combustion engine and battery, as well as increased harvesting. The Race has exclusively obtained some of this simulation data, which exposes a dramatic shift in performance levels expected over the next few years. The data shows us a baseline prediction for how things could play out over the next few years, with the speed improvements in 2027 and 2028 coming from both overall aerodynamic gains as well as the power unit shifts. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image-9.png) Using three different tracks at the extremes of energy usage - energy-starved Albert Park, mid-range Barcelona, and then energy-rich Shanghai - we get a picture of how the different simulations look. Across the three tracks there appears to be a common trend of a notable step change for 2028 - of the cars being around three seconds per lap quicker than they are now, and up to four seconds faster at some. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image-8.png) Next year's halfway house regulations are set to deliver a simulated improvement of around two seconds per lap depending on track characteristics, thanks to power unit and downforce gains. What is also interesting is that at some quite power-rich tracks such as Shanghai, if not held back by future intervention from the FIA in, for example, cutting back downforce levels if it feels these are advancing too fast, the 2028 cars could become the fastest ever around there. ## The speed profile ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image-5.png) As well as stakeholders wanting the current cars to be flat-out in qualifying and more fun for drivers, one of the key areas of improvement was in terms of the speed profile down the straight. The dramatic slowing down of cars at the end of long straights became something of a bugbear for drivers at the start of this year, with Lando Norris famously saying it "hurts your soul" when the battery runs out and the car engine note falls away as it loses acceleration. While this element cannot be eradicated everywhere - Suzuka's 130R will forever be a problem on this front because of the impact switching off straight mode has when cars enter that corner - the simulation data for new rules show things are much improved. As can be seen in the speed traces above and below, the 2028 cars seem to be much better in terms of top speed, and they can maintain their acceleration for much longer down the straights. One topic of discussion amid the rule change debate was that if the power units were not tweaked for next year then it was possible that likely increases in downforce would have resulted in cars suffering more on the straights. A consequence of bigger downforce loads would have been that the cars were more draggy, so burning more energy being pushed through the air, and then harvesting less because speed reductions in corners would have been down. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image-3.png) That would have meant that some corners that were not great this year - such as the run to Turn 11 in Melbourne - could perhaps have had even bigger speed drop-offs than in 2026 if things were not improved. The 2028 rules package shows a clear step change on the run to Albert Park's Turn 9, which was one of the areas where the original 2026 cars showed off their worst aspects earlier this year. The overall conclusion is that while next year's minor shift is not going to change the world, it is better than what we would have got if nothing had been done - and would have been even worse than now. But F1 is going to have to wait until 2028 to see a solution in play that can get F1 back to a place where speed profiles are more normal and we are knocking on the door of lap records again. ### Ferrari commits to F1 engine upgrade for Austria URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-commits-to-f1-engine-upgrade-for-austria/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T16:37:10.000Z Ferrari has committed to introducing its first ADUO-assisted Formula 1 engine upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix, but has played down talk of it being an instant game-changer. The team has long admitted that F1's ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) catch-up mechanism would offer it a good chance of closing the gap to runaway championship leader Mercedes. And with the FIA having opened the door for Ferrari to have two upgrades this year - because it was deemed to be at least 4% behind the benchmark Red Bull - it has wasted little time in bringing its first development step already. On Wednesday it was confirmed that Ferrari had signed off the introduction of the new power unit step for the Red Bull Ring which, while not offering a revolutionary leap in performance alone, will almost certainly make an impact on track and help its bid for another victory. Ferrari's power unit technical director Enrico Gualtieri is adamant however, that while there will be horsepower gains, it is not going to suddenly transform the pecking order at the front of F1. "This update is not a major step, and it will not, on its own, change the competitive order," he said. "What it does show is the attitude of the team and our technical partners: to push continuously and to make the most of every opportunity to improve our package. "In a championship as competitive as this one, it is unrealistic to expect a single update to transform the overall picture, especially under the current homologation and development constraints. "Performance is built progressively, not only through hardware changes, but also through how effectively you optimise the package race by race." Gualtieri is clear though that the ADUO possibilities – which allow two upgrades this season and two next – does now give Ferrari a road map to plan both short and long-term developments that can be fed into the system when the right opportunity pops up. "Major concept changes or architectural shifts during a Formula 1 season are uncommon, particularly when they affect installation and integration with the car and its operating conditions," he said. "Since the beginning of the 2026 project, we have combined a continuous development approach with longer-term development programmes, to fully exploit all available opportunities to increase the performance of our power unit. These two streams run in parallel and often reinforce each other. "The entire team at the factory is now working relentlessly to make the most of the additional opportunities provided by the ADUO mechanism, in full alignment with our intended development roadmap. "The update we are bringing to Spielberg is a relatively minor one and it's the result of the work completed in recent weeks to transfer improvements from our development programme to the track. "It epitomises key principles of our sport: continuous improvement, reacting quickly, and deploying gains at the earliest opportunity." Ferrari's use of ADUO to introduce an upgrade comes after it was understood Audi made minor modifications to its power unit for the Barcelona Grand Prix to help with driveability. Red Bull is still awaiting the outcome of a review by the FIA of the ADUO processes to discover if the governing body's verdict that it is F1's benchmark is correct, so means it will not be allowed to introduce any upgrades. ### Ducati reveals its MotoGP superteam with Acosta announcement URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ducati-motogp-superteam-pedro-acosta-joins-marc-marquez/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T12:56:35.000Z Ducati followed up its official farewell to Pecco Bagnaia by formally announcing that Pedro Acosta will be Marc Marquez's 2027 and 2028 MotoGP team-mate. The move sets up a superteam pairing of a 33-year-old seven-time MotoGP champion and a 22-year-old tipped as the most realistic challenger to his long-term supremacy. Though Acosta has yet to win a grand prix, he has comprehensively overshadowed his more experienced stablemates at current squad KTM since arriving on the grid in 2024 having already notched up Rookies Cup, Moto3 and Moto2 titles. Marquez committed to a two-year Ducati extension earlier this year, in another deal announced this week, but there had been uncertainty over how long he envisaged his MotoGP future being - especially in light of the injuries that have dogged him during this decade. Ducati's phrasing in its announcement of Acosta did little to hide its new recruit's positioning as Marquez's successor. "Pedro represents the ideal candidate for the future of the team," said Ducati MotoGP general manager Gigi Dall'Igna. "After Marc's confirmation, we wanted to add a young and fast rider to the Desmosedici GP development project. "Pedro, in addition to being an undisputed talent, has demonstrated extraordinary precocity. "In just under six years, he has won two titles in the lower classes and achieved truly convincing performances in MotoGP. "His arrival in the team will be a stimulus for everyone; he will help us grow, and we will support him on the path to full maturity as a rider." With his seat lost to Acosta, double champion Bagnaia is poised to be announced as Marco Bezzecchi's 2027 Aprilia team-mate as part of the series of domino moves that will also involve Jorge Martin leaving Aprilia for Yamaha to fill the gap left by Fabio Quartararo heading for Honda. Acosta's current team KTM is understood to have committed to Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez as its new works line-up, with its present second rider Brad Binder's MotoGP future uncertain. ### Ducati finally announces its split with Bagnaia URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ducati-finally-announces-its-split-with-bagnaia/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T10:40:35.000Z Ducati has officially announced its split with Pecco Bagnaia, opening the door for Pedro Acosta's arrival as Marc Marquez's 2027 MotoGP team-mate and for Aprilia to announce its deal with Bagnaia. The Race learned that Bagnaia had committed to Aprilia for his MotoGP future [four months ago](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/bagnaia-on-verge-of-aprilia-deal-for-motogp-2027/) during the final pre-season test at Buriram. But like so many other 2027 deals, it has not been officially confirmed in the months since then because the impasse between new MotoGP owner Liberty Media and the teams over future contracts to participate in the series dragged on until last week. With that deal finally done, a horde of 2027 rider announcements were expected in quick succession this week, but so far Ducati confirming Marquez's [new two-year deal](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-signs-new-ducati-motogp-deal/) yesterday and Bagnaia's exit today have been the only official reveals. It's likely that many more - including Aprilia's announcement of Bagnaia - will follow when the Dutch Grand Prix weekend commences at Assen on Thursday. Bagnaia has been part of Ducati's system since he joined the MotoGP grid with its satellite team Pramac in 2019. He and team-mate Jack Miller were both promoted to the factory team for 2021 and it was Bagnaia who emerged as Ducati's new talisman - coming close to catching Fabio Quartararo in that year's title fight after a poor start to the year, then becoming Ducati's first champion since Casey Stoner in 2007 by winning the 2022 and ‘23 championships. “Pecco is one of those riders with whom the spark ignited immediately,” said Ducati MotoGP general manager Gigi Dall'Igna in the statement announcing the split. “We sought him out and wanted him from a very young age to build a project around him. He's fast and, above all, clever. “The goal was to bring the Desmosedici GP to its full potential. We achieved it. Thanks to the work of the entire team and the technology, but above all thanks to Pecco's talent.” But Bagnaia was beaten to the 2024 title by Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin, throwing away too many points that season with errors. And then Marquez's arrival as his team-mate completely changed the intra-team picture. Bagnaia was only fifth in last year's riders' championship, 257 points behind Marquez despite Marquez missing the final four events with injury. His form fluctuations became bizarre - typified by completely dominating the Motegi weekend at the start of October, then qualifying only 16th at Mandalika a week later. The 2026 season has generally been better, if still a far cry from his heyday. He won the sprint at Brno last weekend and was third in the grand prix having led much of the distance. Joining Aprilia gives Bagnaia a realistic shot at getting back to his best form consistently. He should gel with Massimo Rivola's management style given their personalities and will be paired with friend and fellow Valentino Rossi protege Marco Bezzecchi in the factory team, taking the seat Martin will vacate with his move to Yamaha to replace Honda-bound Fabio Quartararo. And although MotoGP is heading into a new rules era for 2027 and changing from Michelin to Pirelli tyres, the characteristics of the current Aprilia at least look more in tune with Bagnaia's riding style than what the Ducati has become of late. ### Why Formula E chose Brands Hatch over Silverstone URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/why-formula-e-chose-brands-hatch-over-silverstone/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T10:34:14.000Z It was clear from an early stage in the development of the Gen4 Formula E car that the sinuous London ExCeL circuit was going to be just too tight for a purposeful showcase of the new quicker and more spectacular era starting at the end of 2026. The ExCeL has served Formula E well and recovered from an initial pandemic inspired false-start to become the natural home for the season finale in three of the five seasons in which it has run races in its quirky part-indoor venue. Brands Hatch had been part of some peripheral discussions with Formula E as long ago as 2016 when it became clear that a few local residents didn’t want the event on their home patch at its original UK home in Battersea Park. From Brands Hatch’s perspective the allure of Formula E accelerated as quickly as the Gen4 in the last year or so. Silverstone was in contention too, but it's [Brands Hatch that's getting the race](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/brands-hatch-one-of-three-new-additions-to-formula-es-next-calendar/). A deal was finally concluded last month and is believed to be for at least four editions of the race, up to and including 2030. Motorsport Vision Ltd (the owner of Brands Hatch) believe that the new venture will bring complimentary benefits for the venue and series, with MSV’s CEO, Jonathan Palmer, telling The Race this week that combining traditional racing fans with Formula E's existing fanbase will be a key part of Brands' attraction. “What I find particularly exciting and what I am looking forward to is the fact that Formula E have done such a great job over 13 years of its evolution of generating their own distinctive fanbase with this type of leading edge technology,” Palmer told The Race. But Palmer, whose MSV circuits use electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 safety cars, is very aware that there hasn't been a massive overlap with traditional motor racing - particularly of the type regularly seen at Brands Hatch - for Formula E and that includes the clientele that frequent the races. So why is now the time to have Formula E at Brands? “The really exciting bit now is that we're going to be clearly having the original fanbase that Formula E has generated, and we will be following it at London ExCeL this August, but on top of that there is a massive traditional fanbase that we're clearly going to be heavily promoting it to,” outlined Palmer. “And those people, the hundreds of thousands that come to Brands Hatch, are going to be intrigued to know what these Gen4 cars are like on the Grand Prix circuit that they’ve grown up with and love so much. “I think that the combination of Formula E and the track is going to make a big boost to Formula E's following in the UK.” ### How Brands follows the 'Jarama model' ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2267696595-2048x2048--1-.jpg) Brands Hatch, Zandvoort, Monaco and Jarama will constitute the majority of Formula E’s European leg of its biggest ever schedule of races No, it’s not a 1980 time warp - that was the last year those four venues made up half of a European Formula 1 schedule. But if the Formula E races are half as memorable as those events, Brands Hatch and Formula E can really carve out both racing and an overall event to be revered. The leafy Kent circuit can attract a crowd. It got 10,000 for a recent British Touring Car media day - a media day! - and 20 years ago a genuine 50,000 rocked up to see what all the A1 GP noise was about. Formula E and Brands will be hitting the promotional trail hard over the next 11 months to ensure something similar can be achieved. It may seem an unlikely new home for Formula E after the polar-opposite venues of Battersea Park and London ExCeL Arena that have hosted the UK race that's been on the calendar for all bar three of the 12 seasons so far. But despite Brands' slight dislocation from the big conurbations of London, Formula E’s CEO, promotional driving force and chief noise-maker Jeff Dodds is bullish. “One of our tenets is urban racing, so we want to be close to urban locations, to big urban locations,” said Dodds. “I'm sure some people will cynically say it's not London, but in reality it's 30/40 minutes from London. The London Golf Club for instance is next door to Brands Hatch, so therefore you're relatively close to London. “I think it sets up really nicely for us with that amphitheatre and the whole Grand Prix circuit, where you can almost sit above it and you see the track layout in front of you. Brands is a very interesting and very challenging circuit, and very similar to Jarama in the way that it is set up.” That Jarama mirror is a good one to hold up. Because it is so far Formula E’s big success of the present season with a big crowd and a big buzz frequenting the Madrid venue back in March. Zandvoort will put on a big show as well, with a Friday evening race the week before heading off to Jarama. The new-look European leg has had a much-needed injection of innovation. Brands Hatch, through Formula E’s dressing of the circuit, will lean on the successful 'Jarama model', under which a largely long-forgotten track, that was considered a decent drivers' challenge rather than an out-and-out classic, is given a new lease of life. The Kentish circuit almost feels like a hidden gem to the international crowd because apart from sporadic Group C, FIA GT, DTM, A1 GP and the forgettable Champ Car race of 2003, it has mostly been at the forefront of domestic racing rather than attracting international eyes ever since F1 left. That is all set to change. “I think we felt we could make a home of Formula E at Brands Hatch, in a way that it could become our circuit for the foreseeable future, and if you're going to stay somewhere for a long time, you collectively invest in it and turn it into something really, really special,” added Dodds. Those should be treated as quite lyrical words from Dodds, particularly to race fans all over the world, and not just UK fans and enthusiasts. ### What configuration will FE race on? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2025_chuk_r04_JEP_R2.3052-LEAD.jpg) The answer really is its own configuration. Because Formula E and Brands Hatch are working on subtle modifications of the Grand Prix circuit layout to suit the Gen4 cars requirements to showcase its pace and performance. That doesn’t mean permanent changes to the historic and revered GP track. What it means is changing within the existing framework of the circuit and its run-off areas to create a modified version of the full circuit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/da009b57-f9da-482d-8ad5-f34be936d444.jpg) 📸 Brands Hatch “We are looking at three enhancements to the circuit,” Formula E’s VP of host cities at FEO, Oli McCrudden, told The Race. “The analysis of the data that's coming off the Gen4 car on an almost daily basis, as people are testing it, is going into simulations, giving us clear energy management parameters and lap times around race tracks.” Formula E is believed to be looking at areas around the Pilgrims Drop/Hawthorns/Westfield and Dingle Dell section of circuit (effectively the top left area on the map above) to build in elements of trajectory that will enable more overt regening. “We can identify three areas that we could do these enhancements, and by that I'm talking about essentially creating an extra, wider runoff area that we could drive through to give us that braking to get the regen area on a couple of turns, maybe something a little bit novel as well,” said McCrudden. “So, we’re not taking anything away from what is one of the most epic and iconic Grand Prix loop circuits. It's just adding in some elements that are going to make it really, really suitable for us.” ### What we know about Zarco's recovery timeline URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-we-know-about-zarcos-motogp-recovery-timeline/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T09:58:49.000Z There is "hope and plan" for LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco to return to MotoGP competition before the end of the 2026 season, team owner Lucio Cecchinello has revealed. Zarco suffered a significant knee injury, when his leg got lodged between the wheel and the seat unit of Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati in a crash, during MotoGP's twice-interrupted Catalan Grand Prix in the middle of May. Alex Marquez was another injured party in that race in a separate accident, and has already returned to MotoGP action - practicing and qualifying last time out at Brno, though he [withdrew from the races](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/alex-marquez-czech-gp-brno-motogp-withdraws/). But Zarco was always long known to be facing a much longer lay-off, with his left-leg injuries including tears to the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments and damage to the medial meniscus, along with substantial skin burns. Over a month on from the crash he is yet to have surgery to repair the damage in his knee, as per his last update, due to "a risk of infection". But he has [returned to training](https://www.instagram.com/johannzarco/p/DZvUYRqjXvd/?hl=en&ref=the-race.com). The Race spoke to his team boss Cecchinello, whose LCR outfit has been ably spearheaded by Zarco since the start of 2024, at Brno. When asked what he understands the recovery timeline for Zarco to be once the necessary surgery can be carried out, Cecchinello explained: "The reality is that surgery like that, it can take six-seven-eight months \[to return\] if you are a football player. It can take maybe up to nine months if you are participating in the Ski World Cup. It can take between three and four months if you are a MotoGP rider. "Why can it take less time? Because, as you know, the mechanical stress on a rider's leg is very limited. And it doesn't imply any kind of potential rotation. I mean the rotation between the leg, the upper leg and the lower leg, in the joint, it can happen only in case of a nasty crash. But normally it's very rare that you twist your upper leg with your lower leg. "So let's say that there is still for me hope and plan to have Johann back within this year. I hope it will happen." The MotoGP season concludes at Valencia at the end of November. Testing of prototypes (and new Pirelli rubber) for the new 850cc regulations kicking in next year has begun concurrently with the campaign, and Zarco was undoubtedly due to play a major role in it for Honda - already having a contract in place for 2027. Old LCR favourite Cal Crutchlow returned from retirement to replace Zarco on the bike in the last three rounds, and is set to continue in the role for the foreseeable future. **How Zarco is doing** According to Cecchinello, Zarco quickly overcame the initial anguish of the Barcelona injury. "He's really calm," said Cecchinello. "He understands that, in a motorcycle racing career, a rider career, some nasty accidents can happen. They happened unfortunately to many other riders and champions in the past. "But eventually you have two choices after such a dramatic situation. Either to give up or to come back stronger. And he's absolutely now focused on coming back stronger. "He said to me from day two - I would say 'day two' because on day one it was quite difficult to digest the situation. But from day two he said, 'I want to come back stronger'. "And finally he said to me: 'There are a lot of negative things around this accident, but I have to concentrate on the positive things. And the positive thing is that now I will have time to work on my physical preparation better than any time in the past. I can work on strengthening my cardio. I can work on strengthening my ability to react quick to external factors. I can work to improve my equilibrium. I can work to improve my visual perception.' "So he's very focused on using that amount of time to work on himself, to work on his body. Of course with limitation - because he cannot bend the leg yet. “But one leg, let's say it represents maybe 25% of your body. So he will work hard on the other 75%." ### How F1's most chaotic team escaped the nonsense URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-f1s-most-chaotic-team-escaped-the-nonsense/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T07:03:30.000Z Renault's works Formula 1 team has become the most convincing version of itself we've seen for quite some time. And that has a lot to do with the much-needed addition of some "common sense". Following the Alpine rebrand in 2021, the Enstone-based outfit became defined by chaos and disorder, with a revolving door of drivers, senior leadership and key technical personnel. While it started F1's ground effect era in 2022 with a car capable of leading the midfield, it only went backwards, even slumping to being F1's clear last-placed team at the end of the rules cycle in 2025. Flash forward to mid-2026, and Alpine is leading F1's midfield again with the most stability it's had in the 10 years since Renault bought back the team. The Race spoke to Alpine's managing director, the man in charge of the day-to-day running of the team, Steve Nielsen, to find out how it's finally moved away from the chaos. Nielsen, sporting director during Renault's last F1 title success in 2005-06 before leaving for stints at rival teams, Formula One Management and the FIA, has had a steadying influence on the team "95% of what was at Enstone when I got there is fine. It didn't need some huge revolution; it just needed a little bit of tinkering here and there," Nielsen, who joined Alpine on September 1 last year, told The Race. "I don't want to claim a disproportionate amount of credit for this at all. My part in this has been quite small. But if I've done anything, I've just brought a little bit of common sense here and there. "Engineering, they've designed and produced a better car. "There hasn't been some huge kind of 'burn the house' down revolution at Enstone. Most of what was there was fine. "We've lost some big names in the past, like \[long-time sporting director at Enstone turned Racing Bulls team boss\] Alan Permane, that was a shame. And a few others I could name. "But we've got good strength and depth at Enstone. We've evolved and duties have been reallocated and we're going forward." Permane was released in mid-2023 at the height of Alpine's instability. He exited alongside shortlived team boss Otmar Szafnauer, whose successor, former Renault engine chief Bruno Famin, barely lasted a year. They were only two names on a long list of Team Enstone exits in the early 2020s, including (but not limited to): Cyril Abiteboul, Marcin Budkowski, Alain Prost, Pat Fry, Davide Brivio, Matt Harman, Bob Bell and another shortlived team boss, Oliver Oakes. The team's cause wasn't helped by a disconnect between Alpine's senior management and the race team, partly caused by the high turnover of staff on both sides. So objectives - think ex-Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi's infamous ['100 race plan'](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-alpines-100-race-project-f1-mission-really-needs/) \- were constantly dropped or changed. "I don't want to speak badly about any of my predecessors," Nielsen said. "But there's been too much change on the technical and on the management side for the last three or four or five years. "That breeds a bit of uncertainty amongst the staff. What we need is stability. I've said it from the moment I arrived back. It needs stability. It needs common sense. It needs sensible management. "I try to bring that every day, because I do believe that it just needs to flourish, and it will flourish given the right environment at the top. I think we're trying to bring that. We're seeing some of the results of that now." Nielsen added: "The people that have come before me have probably all had perfectly good plans, but they were never given the chance to bring them to fruition because 18 months later it was a different five-year plan and then a different five-year plan. "So you could never actually bring it to what it should be. So I hope that we get the chance to do that, and it helps that the early signs are good." ## **'Genius and crazy' Briatore's impact** Alpine's current leadership structure is essentially split between three people. Nielsen handles the day-to-day running of the team, while ex-Ferrari man David Sanchez leads the technical development of the car. Brought back to the Enstone fold in June 2024, Flavio Briatore is the 'shield' between senior Renault management and the racing team. He was pivotal in convincing Renault to shut down its underperforming engine programme. The task of convincing Renault to do so can't be underestimated, given how long and proud its F1 history is and how many people it employed. That was always going to require a shrewd operator like Briatore. And it's a decision that has clearly paid off, in the short term at least, with Mercedes producing a strong power unit and it helping Alpine score nearly three times as many points as it did in 2025 in just seven weekends in 2026. "The \[Mercedes\] hardware is on a much higher standard than our own was. It's not nice to say that, but it's the truth and everybody knows it," said Nielsen. Added to that, Briatore has secured a bumper title sponsorship deal with Gucci from 2027, which is a significant financial upgrade on its current BWT deal. "Somebody asked me a few days ago what it's like working for Flav, and what sort of person Flav is," Nielsen added. "And I said he's a combination of genius and crazy, all in one person. You never really know which one you're going to get. "But Flav is able to do things that no one else can do. And that's where he's…genius is the right word." ## 'We can't feel too smug' Ultimately, Alpine's 2026 season is a lot better than its disastrous 2025, but there's a clear message from Nielsen - there's no reason why it wouldn't be, and the current gap to the top still isn't good enough. "Clearly, we're better than we were last year, but last year we set the bar very low for ourselves," Nielsen said. "So there'd be something wrong if we weren't substantially better than last year, which we are. But at the same time, we can't feel too smug about it, because Mercedes and McLaren have the same PU as us. And they're a second a lap ahead. "So there's satisfaction in as much as we've made a better product, but a little bit of… I don't know if dismay is the right word, but a little bit of sort of uncomfortableness about just how far we are from those two cars that have the same PU as us. "Happy we've made progress, but not happy with the gap to the people in front." The Race's supertimes - calculated by taking each team's fastest lap of the weekend and expressing it as a percentage - have Alpine 1.693% off the Mercedes benchmark, as F1's sixth fastest car, a smidgen behind Racing Bulls, which has proved to be a stronger car on Saturdays than Sundays. In the constructors' championship, Alpine is fifth with the most points (57) it has had after seven rounds of a season since its last year as Renault in 2020. Put broadly, Nielsen identified "tyre management" and "aerodynamics" as two areas Alpine is lacking versus its rivals - but can it realistically cut down that deficit to Mercedes and McLaren *this* season? "Most of the time you make the biggest gains when you make a new car," Nielsen said. "Obviously, we're not going to make a new car in the middle of the season. A, we don't have the resource, and B, we don't have the budget cap \[leeway to spend more\]. But you make the bigger gains when you make the new cars. "So, while we will chip away at it in terms of the development war that we're all going through at the moment, it would be unrealistic to say we're going to find a second. "We'll try and find as much as we can, but a gap like that, you will close that with the evolution and production of a new car." ## Where it's 'waking up a bit' F1 teams are now such huge beasts that there are areas of improvement that can be made away from the track that have a tangible impact on performance. One of those areas is how Alpine fully exploits F1's budget cap (set at $215million for 2026). **"**This is no disrespect to our finance department because they work very hard, but we're a bit under-resourced in that area," Nielsen said. "We're doing something about that at the moment because there are all sorts of, I don't want to say loopholes, but there are all sorts of areas of the budget cap which we haven't really explored properly. We're doing that now. "We're getting a lot better at that because if you leave stuff on the table in the budget cap, that's basically stuff that could have paid for a new front wing or a new floor or a new rear wing, so it's as direct as that, and I think those are the sort of areas where we need to wake up a bit." Even through all the turmoil of the last few years, Nielsen believes the team "remembers how to be flexible and reactionary, and it remembers how to be a racing team, and I think they're the strengths of the place". It now finds itself working up towards a familiar midfield-leading ceiling, one it hasn't smashed through since the Lotus-Renault days of 2012-2013. Alpine will hope the "common sense" of Nielsen, added to Sanchez's technical nous, mixed with the "genius/crazy" that Briatore brings, is the right formula to finally lift it out of its midfield yo-yoing in the years to come. ### F1 champion Norris gets Madame Tussauds figure URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/f1-champion-lando-norris-gets-madame-tussauds-figure/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T05:27:37.000Z A figure of reigning Formula 1 champion Lando Norris will be the newest attraction at Madame Tussauds in London ahead of the British Grand Prix. The 2025 world champion worked with the famous wax museum to produce his first-ever wax figure, and he even donated a set of his McLaren overalls to give a realistic finish. The figure is also holding a replica of the helmet Norris used to clinch the podium he needed at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to win his first F1 title. Norris visited Madame Tussauds to come face-to-face with his figure. "To feel immortalised by Madame Tussauds is incredible....it's something a lot of people dream of getting done," Norris said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/LN-MT-SBS-FEB-26_060.jpg) "It's odd, a very odd sensation to see myself. I always see myself in the mirror in the morning or the evening, see pictures of me, but to see 'me' is a very different thing." Norris joked, "he'd never smiled so much" during the intensive process of every aspect of his face being modelled for the figure. The process itself took many months from start to end. The 26-year-old's figure will be publicly displayed from June 30, the Tuesday before the British GP. Norris's figure will be alongside the likes of Lewis Hamilton and fellow new 2026 addition, England football captain Harry Kane. Plus other sporting stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Mo Salah, Mary Earps, Anthony Joshua and Kylian Mbappe. ### McLaren to debut its own 'upside down' F1 rear wing in Austria URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-to-debut-its-own-upside-down-f1-rear-wing-in-austria/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T17:15:02.000Z McLaren will bring its own ‘upside-down’ rear wing to Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix, after Ferrari and Red Bull’s designs caught the eye earlier this year. Ferrari shocked the F1 paddock when it debuted a unique ‘upside-down’ rear wing during pre-season testing in Bahrain. The innovative design rotates the wing itself so the top flap is upside down when the straight mode is activated. Ferrari didn’t race the unique rear wing until the Miami Grand Prix in Miami, where Red Bull also debuted its own version of the design. Now McLaren will join the party at this weekend’s Austrian GP, saying “we will test an experimental rear wing throughout Friday’s free practice sessions”. The Race understands the design is likely to make its competitive debut later in the year as it’s still in its experimental phase. Running it in practice - presumably with back-to-back comparisons to the standard wing - will give McLaren an important trial of the concept. McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall had singled out Ferrari’s unique upside-down rear wing as a design idea that had caught his eye earlier in the campaign when it first appeared in testing. Speaking at an event at the McLaren factory in Woking in April, Marshall had said: “Everyone saw that and thought, ‘oh, okay, yeah, that's all right. But \[are\] we sure that's legal?’ Yeah, it is! Okay.” Marshall suggested at the time that it was standard practice in F1 for teams to evaluate good ideas introduced by rivals - even if it was not always a simple process. “We kind of look at everything,” he explained when asked by The Race about what ideas would likely be adopted by McLaren. “Some things are closed off to us quite quickly when you look at the regulations, others remain open. “Others are kind of limited to you by other architectural changes you may have made, or by things to do with the engine. “But ultimately, we do analyse everything to a certain extent. Some things go as far as being wind tunnel tested or CFD tested. Others are more kind of thought experiments we do on them to see whether we think that they would be good or bad for us.” Marshall was clear, however, that while copying other ideas was no guarantee of success, there were some concepts that could deliver gains if adopted. “It is a common phrase in F1 that basically copying stuff doesn't work because what works on one car doesn't work on another,” he said. “Actually, that's not necessarily true. “Some things work on other people's cars. Remember with double diffusers. It worked on one person's car. Everyone copied it. And you know what? It worked on those as well.“ ### How to watch the Austrian GP for free in the US + full weekend schedule URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/what-time-is-f1-2026-austrian-grand-prix-full-weekend-schedule/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T20:24:35.000Z **Presented by** [**Apple TV**](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) The 2026 Formula 1**®** season heads to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix in the heart of the Styrian mountains. Austria is usually a reasonable bet for good racing action given its multitude of long straights and overtaking opportunities. Below you'll find the all-important session times for the weekend, as well as all the information on where to watch the action on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) \- where this weekend those in the US can watch the entire Austrian GP weekend free, without subscription on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/channel/formula-1/tvs.sbd.241000?at=1010l3dvX&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&itscg=30200&ref=the-race.com). ## Austrian GP schedule (US times) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1357269_HiRes.jpg) *PDT = Pacific daylight time, EDT = US Eastern daylight time* **Friday June 26** **Practice 1**: 4.30am (PDT), 7.30am (EDT) **Practice 2**: 8am (PDT), 11am (EDT) **Saturday June 27** **Practice 3**: 3.30am (PDT), 6.30am (EDT) **Qualifying**: 7am (PDT), 10am (EDT) **Sunday June 28** **Austrian Grand Prix**: 6am (PDT), 9am (EDT) --- Experience all the thrills of the Formula 1® Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix™ for free on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), June 26-28\. U.S. only. --- ## Austrian GP schedule (UK time) **Friday June 26** **Practice 1**: 12.30pm **Practice 2**: 4pm **Saturday June 27** **Practice 3**: 11.30am **Qualifying**: 3pm **Sunday June 28** **Austrian Grand Prix**: 2pm ## Austrian GP schedule (local time) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1356265_HiRes.jpg) **Friday June 26** **Practice 1**: 1.30pm **Practice 2**: 5pm **Saturday June 27** **Practice 3**: 12.30pm **Qualifying**: 4pm **Sunday June 28** **Austrian Grand Prix**: 3pm ## How to watch the Austrian GP [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) is the new home of F1 in the US from 2026\. Fans can view every minute of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend live by signing up to [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) and accessing [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com)’s new dedicated F1 channel. But for the first time, [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/channel/formula-1/tvs.sbd.241000?at=1010l3dvX&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&itscg=30200&ref=the-race.com) is also making the next F1 race weekend in Austria available free to viewers in the US, even without a subscription. [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) has every F1 2026 practice, qualifying and race live, as well as a full catch-up and highlights catalogue in case you miss any of the action live. As well as pre and post-race programming, there are additional live feeds to follow the action, including 22 onboard driver cameras, live timing, driver trackers and more. --- Experience all the thrills of the Formula 1® Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix™ for free on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), June 26-28\. U.S. only. ### New 2026 unknown will be a curveball at F1's Austrian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/new-2026-unknown-will-be-a-curveball-at-f1s-austrian-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T15:09:44.000Z While Formula 1’s battle for engine supremacy could be swung by potential upgrades for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, there is going to be an extra curveball thrown into the mix at the high altitude Red Bull Ring circuit. Most of the talk pre-weekend is about an ADUO-assisted step from Ferrari that could be potentially pivotal in its fight with Mercedes if the Maranello squad can get it signed off in time for the power-sensitive circuit. But the contest at the front may not just be about development, with the form book potentially set for a bit of a shake-up anyway because of the track’s location. Situated in the Styrian mountains at an altitude of 678 metres above sea level, the thinner air is going to provide a bigger challenge than at lower altitude tracks when it comes to the way the turbo hybrid power units work. At the altitude the Red Bull Ring is at, air pressure and density is around 92% of what it is at sea level - meaning the air is 7.5-8.5% thinner. This drop in density means fewer oxygen molecules per volume, so the turbos are going to have to compensate by spinning compressors faster to try to force more air into the engine. And this is something that the new 2026 power units have not experienced so far. As Williams chief trackside engineer Paul Williams said: ”It is the first time the new PUs will be taken to a high-altitude.” The consequence can be more turbo lag, or turbos that have to work harder and get hotter to achieve the same results - which can have reliability consequences. What makes things uniquely challenging this year is that F1 has lost one of the best tools it had to fill in for such turbo lag - the MGU-H. As Honda’s trackside general Shintaro Orihara explained: “As this component is no longer part of the 2026 regulations, we no longer have the MGU-H to assist the turbocharger, which may make it more challenging to operate both the turbocharger and the engine correctly at high altitude.” The result is that teams are going to have to weigh up whether or not to fill in any turbo gaps with using some of their limited battery power. This will help them get off the corners quicker but could result in running out of energy sooner down the straights. Austria is already one of the more energy-starved tracks of the year with a limit of just 6MJ allowed to be used in qualifying. ### Uneven impact The impact of the high altitude across manufacturers is not likely to be equal, thanks to the variety of turbo sizes in use - but it is not clear who stands to benefit or lose the most. The smaller turbo engine manufacturers - which include Ferrari - should suffer less turbo lag as they should be able to spool things up much faster compared to those manufacturers like Audi that have a bigger turbo. The kind of differences we have seen this year in responsiveness off the line could become the story of how strong each manufacturer is at corner exits at the Red Bull Ring. But less turbo lag may not be the key to overall laptime - as the real question is whether or not the smaller turbos are going to run out of puff and max out too quickly. A smaller turbo has a limited flow capacity and, if it reaches this limit without having forced enough air into the engine, then it could bring downsides - which includes superheated air getting into the engine - that could trigger a loss of power. A bigger turbo on the other hand, may take more time to spool up, but it will be able to deliver a larger volume of air once at its peak - maximising the cooler and denser air charge, which should bring power benefits. The performance implications of turbo size in the fight - both at the front and in the midfield - will not become clear until the cars are running against each other out on track. But the potential is there for a shake-up of the order as teams try to work out how best to overcome the challenge of racing the new power units at high altitude. ### Formula E gets its biggest race format shake-up for Gen4 era URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/formula-e-gets-its-biggest-race-format-shake-up-for-gen4-era/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T09:05:42.000Z Formula E will introduce specific sprint and feature race formats for its Gen4 era of competition, with a branded 'E-Prix unleashed' initiative for sprint races when there are double-header events. Eight double-headers were announced as part of the 2026-27 calendar at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, meaning that eight of those so-called 'unleashed' races - described as "performance-focused sprints" - will be run in Jeddah, Monaco, Berlin, Zandvoort, Brands Hatch, Jarama, Shanghai and Tokyo. These races will utilise the higher-downforce specification bodykits to showcase the power and performance of the Gen4 car, which is expected to be at least 7-8 seconds per lap faster on average than the current Gen3 Evo package. Standalone races in Mexico, Austin, Miami, Sao Paulo and Sanya, in addition to the non-sprint races at double-headers, will continue to be 'traditional' Formula E race lengths - around 45 minutes in duration - where there is an emphasis on energy management and energy recovery. The attack mode power boost feature and in-race PitBoost stops will continue, with the second of those features occurring in the double-header events only. The FIA and Formula E have collaborated on the new sporting format over recent months, with the decision coming after some consultation with teams. The FIA's sporting chief for Formula E, Pablo Martino, said that the framework was "one of the things that I think is key to the evolution of the sporting format, is the opportunity we have had with Gen4, with the new car". "We have prepared a championship format that we believe is going to showcase primarily all the capabilities of the new car," added Martino. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Sporting-Format-Graphic-16x9.jpg) Confirming the details of the new sporting format, Martino added that Formula E had "two different race distances" when it came to double-headers. "One race that will be the E-Prix, it will be the same, similar approach that the current championship races that we have today, with around a 25% lift-off requirement for the drivers in order to manage the energy on the batteries, harvest of energy and deployment of energy," he said. "Then we will have the E-Prix unleashed, which will be shorter races of around 25-30 minutes in length, that it will have much lower requirements of energy management. "That's going to provide much more showcase of the performance capacities of the car. This has been done in order to give the spectators two different E-Prix during these double-headers. "For when it comes to a normal single-header, when we have only one race during that race weekend, it will always be like the normal E-Prix, so what we are used to." The main points system will remain unchanged and is the same across both formats. But Formula E will adjust the points scored in qualifying, with the top eight all now scoring as follows: **1st** 4 points **2nd** 3 points **3rd** 2 points **4th** 2 points **5th** 1 point **6th** 1 point **7th** 1 point **8th** 1 point ## Positive paddock reaction - so far Teams and drivers have been slightly apprehensive about what the sporting format will look like in Formula E for the new era that kicks off in Jeddah this December. The step up in performance, grip and pace with the new Gen4 cars is clearly unsustainable in regard to overt and ultra-energy-saving energy races such as those that have been seen on circuits like Misano, Portland and on some occasions Shanghai and Berlin in the past few seasons. The structure of the calendar has changed so that some of those circuits have now gone. But concerns do remain that some tracks, notably Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Sanya will struggle to contain Gen4 cars, should some of the ultra-close racing antics seen at Sanya last weekend, for example, be repeated. At the same time, the Gen4 cars have to be, in the parlance of Formula E right now, unleashed. But with a genuine 205mph now achievable it will be a fine balance between spectacular racing and something that could see a capability to trigger massive shunts, at some tracks that have little in the way of run-off. But there is also a lot of detail still to come from the FIA and Formula E about the precise technical framework around the two set-ups needed for the different races across a double-header weekend. "We've always wanted to be able to showcase the ultimate performance of the Formula E car and maybe doing that over a shorter race is one way of approaching it," Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths told The Race. "There's still some discussion around ultimately the technical specifications of \[what\] the car will be running, and once that's finalised, we can then look at what that means in terms of the operation from a garage side, and how we work forward through that one." While agreeing with Griffiths that further practical details were needed for the plans to conduct two very different types of races on one weekend, Jaguar team principal Ian James said that the direction the FIA and Formula E had taken was the right one. "There's opportunity there to continue to improve," James told The Race. "I think they’ve actually struck a nice balance at the moment, as this is something we can do probably better, or in a more authentic fashion than other championships. So, it's exactly the direction we should be going." From a driver's perspective there is similar cautious optimism, with Porsche driver Nico Mueller telling The Race that the plans looked "pretty promising". "Having different race formats in events where we race twice is good," added Mueller. "I think also the new Gen4 invites something like that, right? Because the pure performance of the car is brutal and is already bringing a lot of spectacle to the track. "So, I think there's definitely going to be occasions where we don't need so much side-by-side action to keep the people in the grandstands entertained. I think it's a good thing." ### Brands Hatch one of three new additions to Formula E's next calendar URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/brands-hatch-one-of-three-new-additions-to-formula-es-next-calendar/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T09:09:46.000Z Formula E’s largest ever calendar of 13 events and 21 races has been ratified by the FIA at Tuesday's World Motor Sport Council. The fresh schedule will include two distinct US events for the first time since the first Formula E season in 2014-15, two sets of back-to-back events, and a trio of new tracks for the all-electric championship at Brands Hatch, the Circuit of the Americas and Zandvoort. The first Gen4 season will begin in Jeddah, with a double-header on the weekend before Christmas. It is scheduled to be the third time Formula E has raced at the track, which could be modified and/or extended for the Gen4 cars. Formula E has back-up plans should it be difficult to race in Jeddah due to the ongoing instability in the area. Formula 1 was forced to cancel its planned Saudi Arabian Grand Prix earlier this year in April as a consequence of military conflict that has been ongoing in the Middle East. "We are extraordinarily optimistic that if nothing changes for the worst, that we'll be there racing in Jeddah," Dodds told The Race last week. "If there were to be a challenge in the time slot that we have Jeddah in the calendar for, we have various different options, and we have time to find alternative moments to place it into the calendar." An Americas leg takes place from Mexico City's traditional early January date through a new event in February at COTA (on the NASCAR track configuration, as [revealed by The Race](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/austin-laguna-seca-formula-e-us-expansion-options/) in February), a second Miami E-Prix in the same month and then Sao Paulo in March, with the Brazilian venue reprising its inaugural March date from 2023\. Sanya will be a standalone race in April before Formula E takes in a five-venue European leg from early May to the end of June. This begins seven double-header events until the end of the season, with Berlin, Monaco and Brands Hatch in May. The Berlin and Monaco weekends will be the first of two back-to-back events in the calendar. The Race has learned that Formula E and Brands Hatch signed a multi-year agreement to host a Formula E race at the end of May. Although not defined yet, it is believed that among the plans is for Formula E to call the event the 'London E-Prix hosted at Brands Hatch'. Speaking about the selection of Brands Hatch as a replacement for the London ExCeL venue, which was deemed too cramped for the Gen4 cars, Dodds told The Race that Brands Hatch was chosen - Silverstone had also been in contention - partly because of its location. "Silverstone were amazing to deal with, but two things you can't get away from is where they're based in the UK," said Dodds. "They're quite a long way from a big metropolitan city, and the second thing is they have Formula 1, and they have WEC going there, so they already have two big world championship motorsports at Silverstone. "Actually, for us to carve our own identity and our own personality, and talking to Jonathan \[Palmer\] and the team at MSV \[circuit owner MotorSport Vision\], we thought this is a really good opportunity for us to create a UK home." Zandvoort is expected to have a similar moniker, with the Amsterdam E-Prix hosted at Zandvoort possible for the nomenclature of an event that will feature a Friday night race, followed by the second event on the Saturday afternoon across the June 18-19 weekend. The second pair of back-to-back weekends come with the second Madrid E-Prix at Jarama, following on a few days after the Zandvoort weekend. The season will culminate at the Tokyo E-Prix on July 24-25 with another two night races, held on the Friday and Saturday. That event is a week later than the corresponding fixture this season. Formula E signed a new deal with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recently, after looking at possible replacements earlier this year. ## 2026-27 Formula E schedule **December 18-19 2026**: Jeddah **January 16 2027**: Mexico City **February 6**: Austin **February 20**: Miami **March 13**: Sao Paulo **April 17**: Sanya **May 8-9**: Berlin **May 15-16**: Monaco **May 29-30**: Brands Hatch **June 18-19**: Zandvoort **June 26-27**: Jarama **July 10-11**: Shanghai **July 24-25**: Tokyo ### Ducati unveils Marquez MotoGP renewal and new deal length URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-signs-new-ducati-motogp-deal/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T09:06:57.000Z Any doubt over Marc Marquez’s Ducati future has been officially put to bed after the team announced a new MotoGP deal up to and including the 2028 season. The news of Marquez's renewal at Ducati is expected to kick off a slate of rider announcements, which had been on hold while MotoGP hashed out a new commercial deal [with its five manufacturers to cover the 2027-31 period.](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-and-its-teams-finally-agree-their-concorde-deal/) Most of those deals, including that of Marquez, are believed to have been not just agreed but signed for months already. Marquez is fourth in the championship after a tough start to this season, following undiscovered damage from his late-2025 injury, and a fresh minor injury at Le Mans, plus the emergence of Aprilia seemingly overtaking Ducati as the team to beat to start 2026. But Marquez has begun to claw back that disadvantage with wins in Hungary and the Czech Republic to reduce his deficit to 40 points behind Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi. “When I decided to join Ducati, I was convinced it was the most competitive project,” said Marquez. “They believed in me, and we built a relationship based on trust and hard work. With this renewal, they have once again reaffirmed this commitment, respecting my times and giving me the peace of mind I needed to make the right decision.” Marquez joined the factory Ducati team for 2025, after his switch from Honda - where he’d been for a decade - to a Gresini Ducati satellite bike had delivered third in the championship in 2024. He then dominated the 2025 season, taking his seventh premier-class championship, justifying that decision to promote Marquez to the factory team - which, in turn, had cost the manufacturer Jorge Martin as it had no factory bikes to offer him after his 2024 title with the Pramac satellite squad. “As an engineer, working with Marc has impressed me,” added Ducati team boss Luigi Dall’Igna. “He brought the Desmosedici GP to peak performances, enhancing every component. The ambitions remain unchanged, and I am happy to be able to live, both sportingly and personally, a new chapter in this Ducati story together with Marc.” KTM star Pedro Acosta is expected to be announced as Marquez's 2027 team-mate shortly, while current team-mate Pecco Bagnaia moves over to Aprilia. Marquez's announcement and further silly season dominoes were expected to drop on Monday already, but MotoGP's manufacturers seemed to decide against this as they carried out a test of 850cc prototypes on new Pirelli tyres at Brno - a test in which Marquez ran and reportedly crashed. In addition to Acosta and Bagnaia's deals, Fabio Quartararo's widely-known move to Honda and Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura joining Yamaha are other contracts that are likely on the cusp of being announced, and KTM should be in position to confirm Marquez's brother Alex and fellow current Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio as its new works roster. ### The inside story of Honda's painful start with Aston Martin URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-inside-story-of-hondas-painful-start-with-aston-martin/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T05:57:33.000Z Honda's motorsport boss openly admits the gap between expectations and the reality of its performance with new Formula 1 partner Aston Martin this year was much larger than anticipated. But scrape away at the reasons for this mismatch and there are some interesting strands to explore about why a manufacturer that produced title-winning turbo hybrid V6 engines found itself in such a difficult situation amid excessive vibrations and a lack of performance. The reasons are complex, as there were many factors that came together to create the situation. But what has become abundantly clear as the campaign has worn on is that this was not a simple case of Honda tripping up alone. Instead, it is more about how new rules, new relationships, new car dynamics and new processes collided with the impact of some old decisions and things that worked well in the past to catch it off guard. As Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe told The Race in an exclusive interview detailing the challenges of the season so far: "If I talk about the engine only itself, the vibrations were almost similar to the vibrations of the 2025 \[engine\]....which was no problem at all." ## Going from zero One of the mysteries about the scale of Honda's difficulties in 2026 is that it proved to be one of the best at creating a turbo hybrid V6 F1 engine. Its multiple title successes with Red Bull from 2021 through to 2024 proved that it had the expertise to understand the demands of the engine concept and its architecture. So why, with the turbo V6 remaining a core element of the new F1 rules, did Honda struggle? From Watanabe's perspective, a lot of the answer lies in so many things being new for Honda: new rules, new fuel supplier, a new team partner and a completely new way of working. "The regulation was a big change, and this regulation is quite difficult," he said. "Also the team was new, and also there were big changes with the fuel and lubricant. "So everything was new for us, and the circumstances were much different from our time with Red Bull. So it's quite challenging to go from zero with all these new partners." There was also a much talked about element of Honda having lost valuable development time compared to rivals as the result of it having originally shut down its F1 project following an initial plan to withdraw from the championship at the end of 2021. "I sent the engineers back to Honda Group at the end of March 2022, and we announced the return to Formula 1 in April 2023," explained Watanabe. "So in that period we almost stopped F1 activities. "Of course we continued to provide the PU to Red Bull, but the number of engineers was quite small. As soon as we announced the return to Formula 1, then we got back engineers from the Honda group, or even hired new staff. But it took time." Watanabe is keen to point out that the situation did not result in Honda being left with engineers who knew nothing about F1\. It was more a case of there being a period of time where the racing division was not running at full steam because key engineers had not yet returned. "It was not easy to immediately \[get them\] back," he said. "Sometimes it took two months for one leader to return, or one guy needed three months. It took almost one year to get 100% of the staff." ## A bolt out of the blue While there had been rumours over the winter that Honda was not going to start F1's new rules era in the form to win races, few anticipated it would face the scale of drama it did. In fact, Honda itself was unaware of the vibration nightmare it was heading into until a reality check hit when it matched up its new power unit with the Aston Martin chassis on the eve of the first Barcelona test. "After we combined chassis and PU and tested on the circuit, then we recognised that it's a problem," revealed Watanabe. "We didn't expect such a kind of big vibration. Of course before the testing we had tested on the dyno, but at the time the vibration was not so big, so there were difficulties in how to solve the problem." The exact reason behind why a power unit that vibrated little more than it had at Red Bull suddenly became a huge problem is not clear, and Watanabe declines to go into too much detail. "It is a mixture..so not only one single cause," he smiles without offering more insight. But with the cure only appearing after Honda had been able to get an Aston Martin chassis on its dyno in Japan, it suggests that there was some trigger from how the power unit was interacting with the chassis. Watanabe says solutions came from both hardware and software modifications, but he is reluctant to go into too much detail beyond being clear that the biggest handicap from the early part of the year is now gone. "The vibration is solved, and now we are focused on the performance," he said. ## The Newey factor There was perhaps no more challenging weekend for Honda than the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. As the realities of its competitive struggles were laid bare on track, there were also some difficult moments off it as team principal Adrian Newey did not hold back with his words in press conferences in Melbourne. While Newey's claims about the AMR26 being the fifth best chassis and Honda's vibrations being bad enough to risk driver injury clearly put the public blame on Honda, Watanabe said that there had been no beating around the bush in private either. "The internal discussion between Adrian and myself is quite open and honest," he said. "Of course what he said to the outside media, that has some impact, but \[what is\] important is how we can discuss in an honest way and open way to solve the problem. "We continued this kind of attitude between us and Aston Martin. So that's why we could solve the problem step by step." Watanabe suggests that what Australia perhaps exposed most was that Honda and Aston Martin had not got to know how best to work with each other - and that was something that only time would sort out. "Of course, the relationship was not immediately established," he said. "It needed time, it needed experience. "Step by step, our relationship between Honda and Aston Martin team is getting stronger day by day. I'm quite satisfied. But it took time. How to work is different from our previous partner." ## The next steps and a moving target With the vibration problems now sorted, Honda's focus is on delivering more performance from its engine. It has openly talked of gains to be had from improved combustion and the reduction of internal friction – with ADUO deemed as a "quite important" tool in its ability to help introduce an upgraded power unit that is provisionally slotted in for around the time of the Belgian GP next month. Speaking about what is to come, Watanabe said: "It's not easy, but we are improving the combustion, to improve the performance of the ICE. "In this season we want to be in a position to compete for points, and then the key for the start of next season is how we can improve the situation. "Of course it depends on competitors also, so it's not easy, but we try our best." Looking to the future, one interesting side story is that Honda was the only manufacturer to not vote in favour of the rule changes that are coming for 2027 and 2028. Watanabe is eager to point out, however, that not being supportive was not because it did not back the idea of the rule changes – it was more about the timing of it and how that impacted Honda's ability to close down on others. "That's a misunderstanding," he said about Honda rejecting the rule changes. "So of course I joined the FIA meetings, and I always said that I respect and understand the concept \[of the change\] itself, and I agree. But the timing of the step is just a discussion point. "The first step \[for 2027\] is very small, it's not difficult. But a moving target is sometimes not easy for the follower if we need to catch up. But we can solve the problem." Despite Honda's difficult start to life with Aston Martin, and challenges caused by ever changing regulations, it is certainly far from believing it cannot repeat history and go from back to the front of the grid as it did with Red Bull. "Yeah, why not?" smiled Watanabe: "It's not easy. But I believe that we have potential to return to the position to compete at the top level." ### MotoGP makes ride height device ban immediate after crashes URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-makes-ride-height-device-ban-immediate-after-crashes/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T16:39:52.000Z MotoGP's governing body the Grand Prix Commission has moved to ban front ride height devices effective immediately. That decision is one of a number of changes called for by riders following the Turn 1 crash at Barcelona last month that has effectively ended Johann Zarco's 2026 season. Originally set to be implemented at the end of the season anyway, alongside the removal of rear ride height devices as well, the ban has been brought forward to this weekend's Dutch TT after extra practice start sessions were added to the schedule in recent rounds to allow riders to assess the change. Those changes were met with approval by many of the grid following the opportunity to try them out last Friday at Brno, with the final decision then being taken following that evening's safety commission meeting. "We are already on a good level and I think it's a good step," explained Honda rider Luca Marini. "I didn't understand why we are not racing here without the device, but for sure maybe in Assen we will have everybody agree to take it out. "We did many years with the front device also, so one more race is no problem." Another change being made following the Catalan GP's first-corner incident is extending the distance between rows on the grid, with the gap between first and fourth moving from nine to 12 metres from the German GP in mid-July. That is a more controversial step, considering many believed it wouldn't improve safety due to the impact it's going to have on the speed at which riders nearer the back of the grid, with more time to accelerate, will now enter Turn 1, but it is nonetheless a step that has also been fairly well received by racers. "They will brake a little bit earlier I hope," Marini joked. "No, the speed doesn't make the difference in my opinion. "Maybe my idea is different compared to somebody else, but it's not the speed that you arrive to the first corner making the difference in terms of safety. It's the layout of the first corner, the first and second corner. "At the end you can have a crash at 70km/h and it's dangerous in the same way as one of 180km/h. We need to improve and make the life of the riders a little bit easier arriving in Turn 1, and without the devices I think will be something less in your mind that you need to take care and will be a good improvement. "Now we are approaching the start with many things on the mind - to engage well the front device, to don't push the wrong button, and then when you arrive in the first corner you always need to brake really hard because the front device is going deeper and deeper and deeper, but if you have hard springs in the front, a fork, it's really difficult.” The final change issued by the commission at Brno is a less time-critical one but one that nonetheless addresses a previous concern of some manufacturers. From 2028 onwards, each factory will be prevented from providing any more than four bikes to satellite teams, limiting their presence to six machines each and permanently ending the significant advantage Ducati enjoyed in past years with eight machines on the grid. ### Why there's surprise names in MotoGP's big 2027 test URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-big-2027-test-who-is-riding-and-why/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T08:17:44.000Z MotoGP's highly anticipated upcoming Pirelli tyre test at Brno will feature some unexpected riders, in spite of the massive reshuffle of the grid in 2027. The test, which will be closed off to media and public, will mark the first time that currently-contracted riders are able to sample the rubber Pirelli is working on for '27 - when it replaces Michelin as MotoGP's tyre supplier - and the 850cc prototypes manufacturers have put together for the upcoming ruleset. But not every manufacturer has multiple fit riders under contract that it knows it will be continuing with into '27, so the rider roster for the test has presented a particular conundrum for some, even if it's been straightforward for us. **Ducati** **Marc Marquez - Fermin Aldeguer** Ducati will test with the two riders that it is believed to have extended into 2027 and 2028. Marc Marquez is due to continue in the factory Ducati team, while Fermin Aldeguer will switch from Gresini to VR46 while retaining full factory status. Aldeguer said: "At the end, it's an advantage for the riders that have a contract." **Aprilia** **Marco Bezzecchi - Raul Fernandez** Current MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was handed a new Aprilia deal in the off-season and is a no-brainer to run in the test - even after a [controversial Czech Grand Prix weekend](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/why-bezzecchi-motogp-race-ban-appeal-bid-stood-no-chance/). He'll be joined by Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez. Other Aprilia full-timers Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura are definitely leaving in '27, both for Yamaha, but Fernandez is under consideration to retain his seat at the satellite team, and it can be taken as a really good sign for his prospects that he's testing on Monday. **KTM** **Pedro Acosta - Dani Pedrosa - Pol Espargaro** Pedro Acosta will test KTM's 850cc prototype at Brno, despite it being widely known that he will be a Ducati rider next year. Acosta will have received and accepted the offer to test as KTM's clear benchmark rider. He won't be joined by team-mate Brad Binder, nor either Tech3 rider, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales. Acosta instead will be joined by two of KTM's testers, Pol Espargaro and Dani Pedrosa. **Honda** **Joan Mir - Luca Marini** Neither Joan Mir, nor Luca Marini is set to be part of Honda's race line-up next year. The former is known to be off to Gresini Ducati, while the latter's future is still murky. But both Mir and Marini will test Honda's 850cc prototype. "I mean, I think it's a clever thing," said Mir when asked by The Race whether the call-up surprised him. "You are trying to develop a bike, you have two riders that developed the bike in the last four years, and the progression was there, so I don't see the reason why not. "And we will give good feedback to Pirelli in this case, that is also important, to try to make some evolution on it, and help them to arrive as prepared as possible for next season. So for me, it makes sense, and it's clever." Mir suggested it was a win-win for Honda and himself despite their separate futures. Johann Zarco will have certainly run in the test, having a Honda contract that runs through 2027, but remains out with a knee injury and no determined timeline for return. Team-mate Diogo Moreira is also contracted beyond the end of this year, and insisted this past weekend that he would like to test on Monday - though it's not clear whether that's possible given Honda's Mir-Marini decisions. **Yamaha** **Toprak Razgatlioglu - Augusto Fernandez** Both Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller offered to test the 850cc bike for Yamaha, and Alex Rins said he had been asking about it, too. But none of the three will feature. "On Monday I will be with my family, having a barbecue," Quartararo smiled. "I mean, of course I understand that Yamaha don't want me to test the bike. I mean, this I see as pretty normal. If they ask me to test, of course I will test." The under-contract Toprak Razgatlioglu, who is staying at Pramac next year, will thus be joined in the test by test rider Augusto Fernandez. ### Weird red flag and penalties leave Formula E paddock baffled URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/weird-red-flag-penalties-sanya-formula-e/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T20:18:09.000Z Perhaps the omens, even before the start, warned us that Formula E's Sanya E-Prix wasn't going to be the cleanest nor most incident-free of races. The start was slightly delayed because Citroen left some wheel/tyre covers for Jean-Eric Vergne's car on the dummy grid, for which his team was eventually relieved of €2500. After that initial false start there were many more flashpoints on track but the ones that were being talked about most post-race were around the red-flag stoppage on lap 19, how the race was restarted, and some of the penalties dished out to competitors across a typically madhouse E-Prix. It resulted in some seriously unhappy drivers and team principals after the carbon shards were swept away from the Hainan island's capital city streets. The Race got some of the reaction to the incidents and discusses how the circuit may or may not be able to cope with the much quicker Gen4 cars next year. *Additional reporting by Stewart Bell* ## That lightning fast red flag explained When Zane Maloney and Mitch Evans interlocked wheels at Turn 9 on lap 19, the mother and father of all flashpoints on the Sanya street track, it took an extraordinarily short nine-second decision to bring out the red flag. Yes, the two Cupra Kiro drivers and Sebastien Buemi (Envision) slowly piled into the prostrate Jaguar and Lola from behind. But a few seconds later and all the cars had disentangled themselves and the track was free of chaos. With clearly no injuries and a scenario in which the cars were still all mobile, surely a full course yellow would have been the more logical process to begin with? That was an opinion most of the paddock agreed with post-race. "They could have waited a little bit as they had the margin to try," Jaguar's Antonio Felix da Costa told The Race. "I think every car got out of there, right? So, I don't understand why we had the red flag, but I don't understand a lot of things these guys do." Race winner Andretti's team principal Roger Griffiths also had doubts as to whether the red flag was needed. "I don't know if it warranted a red flag," he told The Race. "The track was pretty blocked, but probably by the time they got around they could have cleaned it up a bit." The specifics of the red flag call were ultimately confused too - in the sense that Formula E race director Marek Hanczewski stated just after the red flag was deployed that "unfortunately we need to check the wall at Turn 9, so we try to do this very quickly". Frankly, that seemed odd. Not least because no cars actually contacted the wall at Turn 9\. The impacts were to the cars only and at no stage was the wall touched, let alone impacted. Could it have simply been a snap judgement on seeing five cars snarled up at the corner, and not enough time being given to see if it dissipated or cleared, which it ultimately did quickly? The primary concern in motorsport is safety and always will be, which is completely correct. But a typical race lap at Sanya of around 70 seconds gives plenty of time, let's say 30 seconds maximum, to calmly assess the situation. For example, if every snarl up at the Fairmont Hairpin in Monaco brought out a red flag, there would be no completed races at all. There is a precedent for quick judgements being made by the race director in Formula E. In Tokyo last May, Maximilian Guenther's DS Penske went into a red state for a few seconds and then cleared but an immediate red flag was brought out rather than a full course yellow. This was a complex situation with Guenther stopped in a tricky position on the circuit but there is a growing feeling in Formula E that snap judgements are sometimes made too quickly on key race suspension or race management decisions. There was also some disquiet on the length of time it took to restart the race. There was a small amount of debris that had to be cleared from the track but no cars that needed to be salvaged. It was 20 minutes until the race resumed. That is not long in the usual practices of motorsport but reigning world champion Oliver Rowland felt "it just took them too long to restart it". "My opinion is that they need a quick restart procedure in situations like that where it takes three to four minutes - like you see in MotoGP," Rowland, who sits on a driver's group that liaises with the FIA on circuit matters, told The Race. "Here, no one really knows what order they're in when they go out. It's a bit confusing, and I think they need to probably have a little bit better structure for that sort of thing. "And the problem is with the cars at the end of the pitlane, the safety car needs to at least go on track. Then cars at least can stop on track. They stop in the pitlane, and then the safety car goes and then someone doesn't go. "They're waiting, and it was a bit of a mess on that side. But I think if they had had a quick start procedure, that would probably be the right thing." ## Penalty consistency rears up again A paddock topic as old as the sun again beat down upon the weary heads of drivers and teams at Sanya: consistency of penalties applied. And there were a lot of penalty decisions throughout the Sanya weekend, 14 in the race itself. While some of these warranted no further action, some massively affected races. But were they fair and consistent? The one that was perhaps the most confusing was the one that affected da Costa - who finished second on the road but was demoted to fourth in the final classification. Da Costa, having attended the stewards' room after the race, was said to still be utterly confused as to why he received the penalty, which was applied for moving under braking at Turn 6 and initiating contact with Norman Nato's Nissan. He was still frustrated by Sunday afternoon, posting "can't quite understand it and there is no consistency on penalties. It makes it hard to fight for a championship" on social media. The unusual element of the penalty (five seconds added to race time), which da Costa vehemently argued against, was the stewards stating in their bulletin that they had "further noted that an earlier incident involving similar conduct by car #13 had already been identified by race control and was intended to be addressed by way of a warning". "Due to a technical issue, that warning was not formally displayed, although the incident was clearly noted by race control. Therefore, it remains relevant context when assessing the present incident." That means that da Costa should have received a black and white flag for his prior conduct but wasn't. So regardless of whether he was clearly guilty of his offence, the procedure here failed with seemingly no viable back up. Even Nato sympathised over the actual incident, telling The Race: "It's not like anything dodgy where we were side by side and he tried squeeze me in the wall, I think he just he just tried to avoid the car in front, and unfortunately I was already there." For extra complication, Mahindra's Nyck de Vries finished fifth on the road, and was then demoted to sixth after a penalty was erroneously added for a change of direction under braking in battle. He had been shown the black and white warning flag for the infraction but the penalty - because it was wrongly applied - was revoked for the final classification, meaning that he was actually promoted to third position. All of this chaos meant that of the three drivers that appeared on the podium, one shouldn't have been there at all (Felipe Drugovich, who was later penalised for contact with Pascal Wehrlein), and one was in the wrong position (Pepe Marti, third on the podium but eventually second in the result). It was a lousy way for a race weekend to end and will surely be reviewed to consider how the processes for the often overloaded stewards can be improved in events to come. Overall, and in the context of penalties dished out in Sanya and whether or not they were consistent and fair, da Costa's movement and contact with Nato, which did not result in any loss of position or damage to either car, earned the same penalty as Wehrlein clearly tipping Nato out of the race terminally a few laps later. That doesn't look or feel like a consistent and fair outcome to anyone, let alone the competitors. ## Can Sanya handle Gen4? Teams were told that the same Sanya track or a very similar variant would be used in 2027 if the venue is on the schedule, and The Race understands this will be the case. That sent some alarm bells ringing about the capability of the Sanya facility to handle Gen4 cars. You have to say on the evidence of it struggling to run a clean race with the present cars, those concerns are legitimate and need addressing. There are two key areas of alarm. One is clearly the tight Turn 9 hairpin which was the scene of several incidents last weekend. The second is the very narrow start and finish area. Gen4 cars are dimensionally larger than their Gen3.5 counterparts and there could well be 24 of them in 2027\. You don't need much of an imagination to conjure up what that might mean for cars capable, unlike the Gen3.5 cars, of a genuine 200mph on a straight. Evidence of this year's race suggests, quite strongly, that Sanya will have to be changed for a next event, or at the very least the Turn 9 area extended or expanded. Given London ExCeL has been deemed too tight for Gen4 cars to race at, there's a clear disparity with Sanya - whose flashpoints are just as clear - potentially staying on the calendar. Of course, the cynic might suggest that comparing a track that costs Formula E a lot of money (ExCeL) to a track that doesn't (Sanya) may have something to do with the overall view of the situation. ### Remembering the driver who transformed F1 sponsorship URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/the-driver-who-transformed-motorsport-sponsorship/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T14:54:16.000Z It's not disparaging to say that Guy Richard Goronwy Edwards was a decent, but not an exceptional, racing driver whose rise through the motorsport echelons to Formula 1 was predicated on large amounts of sponsorship dollars. However, the difference between Guy and other drivers who used family wealth to advance their careers was that Guy found the money to fund his (and many other drivers' and teams') racing programme through creativity and hard graft. As a sponsorship finder, Guy Edwards had no peer. Guy sadly passed away last Friday aged 83 but his legacy endures because even now, several decades after he pioneered commercial sponsorship in motorsport, every sponsorship in F1, World Endurance, Formula E, IndyCar and every other form of motorsport is based upon sponsorship principles pioneered by Edwards or variations of the concepts that he established. Whilst other writers will write more eloquently about Guy's racing prowess, his exciting life and his bravery that earned him the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his role in pulling Niki Lauda from the Nurburgring fire in 1976, I wanted to remind everyone of Guy's other skills. For me, it's important to understand just how visionary Guy was in establishing the foundations for contemporary motorsport funding and how good he was at creating value propositions for brands through motorsport. It is not too grand a statement to say that it was Guy Edwards who commercialised motorsport. Back in 1992, my great friend, the late Russell Bulgin, co-operated with Guy on a book which was half Guy's racing story and personal life and half a textbook for how to go about creating sponsorship propositions. The book, entitled *Sponsorship and the World of Motor Racing by Guy Edwards*, is a rare item as, to my knowledge, only one print run was ever commissioned. Weighing in at 2.5kg and encompassing 447 beautifully illustrated pages it is literally *the* book on sponsorship which defines Guy's approach, methodology, success and failures. Nothing would tempt me to part from my version and its well-worn pages are testimony to the times I have sought inspiration and gained confidence from a re-read. So many of the iconic motorsport sponsorships, liveries and memories from top-level motorsport from the 1970s through to the 2000s are the result of Guy's hard work: The Embassy Hill team, the visionary Penthouse Rizla Heskeths, ICI's F2 and then F1 programmes. ![Derek Daly March F1 1981](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/19810101F1-0456.jpg) Later on, Guy brought Rothmans into F1 and Group C endurance racing, Guinness into F1 and - probably the most liked and remembered - set up the Silk Cut Jaguar programme which won the Le Mans 24 Hours in the late 1980s. And there are many, many more examples. For me, Guy will be fondly remembered for establishing sponsorship models which have stood the test of time and are still being used albeit in digital guises to this very day. For Guy realised that creating value for his partners was the key to longevity and (at that stage of his career) to be able to continue to race and to live his dream. The idea of creating a no-cash media partnership that provided value-in-kind in the form of pages of advertising that could be used to add value to a sponsorship partnership was Guy's original thinking. For years, he used the concept with partners such as Titbits, Penthouse and Newsweek to create value propositions for sponsors to fund his British F1 Championship programmes (with Mopara and Gillette), and F1 (Rizla) and F2 programmes for Ron Dennis (ICI Chemicals) to use just a few examples of Guy's success. A motorsport sponsorship proposition that included editorial and advertising coverage in high-circulation magazines for just the cost of the sponsorship became a compelling proposition when taken to boards for approval. Look at McLaren Racing's extensive list of partnerships in 2026 and you will see Zak Brown's digital broadcast version of this Guy Edwards model through McLaren's partnership with CNBC. Behind many sponsorships are solid business propositions where a sponsorship partnership has been evolved to underscore and highlight a business relationship. And of course, it was Guy who was first to realise the potential of what we now refer to as a B2B (business-to-business) sponsorship. Chasing dollars for a Jaguar IMSA programme and co-sponsorship of the Silk Cut World Endurance programme, Guy sold Jaguar on a partnership with Castrol lubricants whereby Jaguar agreed to fill every car from its production line with Castrol products and to ensure that each Jaguar used the same at each service interval. In return, Castrol would enter into a multi-year sponsorship of Jaguar's racing programmes. Truly, a win-win partnership. Today, countless sports sponsorship deals have been based on this model - Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles and Petronas is a good example that endures today and it's also a model that I used a few years back to broker a six-year partnership between Shell and Mahindra. To further illustrate Guy's achievements, in his latter career, he brought his commercial wisdom to other sports (America's Cup sailing) and even to institutions such as Heathrow Airport. So, let's remember Guy as a very decent racing diver, a brave hero who risked his own life to help save Lauda, but above all as a consummate sponsorship finder who literally wrote the book. RIP Guy and thank you for your teaching and learnings, the world of motorsport owes you an enormous gratitude. ### F1 engine games have immediately become absurd URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/aduo-engine-games-make-a-mockery-of-f1/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T13:11:59.000Z The complexity of Formula 1 is simultaneously its great appeal and the source of its most risible absurdities. The ADUO process is an example of the latter, reducing the participants to unseemly squabbles about who has done a worse job with their V6 engines. ADUO - or 'additional development and upgrade opportunities' to the less acronymically adept - is a well-intentioned mechanism, but one that proves hell is paved with good intentions. The rationale is that the focal point of the competitive battle between power unit manufacturers would lie in the electrical components, with the V6 itself more a functional necessity than a performance differentiator. ADUO exists to allow anyone who dropped the ball to catch up rather than being eternally uncompetitive. So far, so logical. The trouble is that these are F1 teams that you are dealing with, finely-honed competitive machines that will find every avenue you could imagine - and a good deal more that you can't - in search of an edge. Confront them with the idea that the electrical components are the only battleground - and remember, while battery efficiency can vary and the software side is influential, the power of the MGU-K is locked at 350kW and harvesting levels regulated - and they will make a mockery of it. It was therefore inevitable that the V6 engines would allow for greater variation than intended. That's exposed one fundamental flaw of the regulations. The next weakness is how limited ADUO is. It's bizarre that it is such a narrow metric given the FIA has visibility of so many other characteristics. Even if you could measure the power output with precision (and that's a matter that's up for debate given the differences of opinion between competitors) you're offering a one-dimensional answer to a three-dimensional problem given the myriad interacting factors that shape performance. Tempting as it is to blame the FIA entirely for an ADUO system that isn't fit for purpose, and it bears some responsibility, it's also clear that the car companies and their representatives now at the forefront of complaining about it and telling the world how bad their own products are played a significant role. "We offered whether we wanted to consider certain things like the turbo pressures, or the turbo diameters, or the operating of the plenum temperature, for example, and such like," said FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis in April. "The universal position by the PU manufacturers back then was that we should keep it simple. So the fact that it is the current horsepower measurement of the internal combustion has been appreciated right from the start." Attempting to make something fundamentally complicated easy was always doomed to failure, encouraging competitors to game the system. It's another example of how being [in thrall to capricious car manufacturers](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-needs-to-stop-chasing-road-relevance-for-good/) is a mistake for F1. While it's going too far to argue the manufacturers should be banished as they are beneficial for F1 - not just financially but also in terms of fan interest - it is a dangerous habit to bend the knee to their misconceived demands. That must be kept in mind when the next-generation engine regulations are shaped, rather than allowing fear of manufacturers walking away to produce another flawed engine formula. Had the FIA stood its ground on the need for a more rounded metric, F1 might be in a better place. ADUO is a headache F1 is stuck with, one that will flare up multiple times a year and create a baffling public narrative that's all about arguing your own product is not as good as it should be. If the Red Bull Powertrains V6 really is the best - and it's impossible to say with certainty where it stands - then immense credit is deserved. Instead, it has become a bad thing. If it's not the best, then the whole process is conclusively flawed even before you consider that the Red Bull-Ford power unit as a whole is objectively not the market leader. Off-track politics are an intrinsic part of F1, but it is a mistake to create an overly simplistic mechanism that can potentially be manipulated, inspires little confidence inside the paddock, and is barely understood outside it. Inevitably, it's interpreted by some as evidence of tilting the playing field, and undercuts what should be the straightforward part of any sporting competition. F1 should be about being the best, not being the best at looking like the worst. ### Czech Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP rider rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/czech-grand-prix-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T04:40:56.000Z Something that happened in a gravel trap made last place in the Czech Grand Prix rider rankings very simple. But the top spots were a much tougher call. Agree or disagree? Let us know your thoughts in the comments on [this post in The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/quiz-val-on-his-161733615?ref=the-race.com) and Val will reply in his Q&A later this week. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-TRACKHOUSE_AO.png) **Qualifying:** 1st **Sprint:** 2nd **Grand Prix:** 2nd Marc Marquez had this position in the rankings on lock until I actually sat down to write the feature. Marquez was his usual ruthlessly effective self but in the end it's Ogura who had the greater edge over his respective manufacturer stablemates, even if the comparison was muddied a bit by a) illness and b) madness. Ogura didn't win but he did ride his finest weekend in MotoGP yet. Fastest on Friday, he was convinced he couldn't replicate that in qualifying - but did. "Front feeling wasn't what I expected" in the sprint but he was still plenty quick enough to win, and just not quite on the right side of the race dynamic. That was also true in the main race, even after a much-improved start. Maybe his race strategies could have been sharper, but his pure performance looked as good as it gets. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-DUCATI_MM.png) **Qualifying:** 5th **Sprint:** 3rd **Grand Prix:** 1st Marquez appears to enjoy such a remarkable amount of control over these weekends, even as his fitness is still catching up to his talent. This control slipped a bit on Friday with two crashes in left-handers - where he admitted he "relaxes" too much - but he had no trouble navigating his way into Q2 (and qualifying well the following day) and was superb in the races. With a slightly better start on Saturday this could have been another 37-point weekend to go with Balaton, but in any case he's taken ridiculous chunks out of the championship lead. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-DUCATI_PB.png) **Qualifying:** 3rd **Sprint:** 1st **Grand Prix:** 3rd You feel that a Pecco Bagnaia operating at the very peak of his powers would've stayed in the victory fight longer on Sunday (and, yes, probably would've won). But something about Ducati's post-2024 transformation has sapped him of his previous ability to keep up devastating pace over a full distance. That is the one caveat. The rest of the weekend was extremely solid, Friday to Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon, the sprint in particular a beauty of a ride (aided by an extremely valuable improvement in starts). Bagnaia has been pretty decent for a while already, but this was obviously his best weekend of 2026 so far. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-KTM_PA.png) **Qualifying:** 8th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** DNF Acosta's weekend made for a tough watch, because there was little doubt that he had again put in a fairly exceptional shift - at least once he got a "quite strange" crash out of the way early on on Friday. He was the top KTM rider as always in qualifying, and its best hope in both races. But his sprint was limited by a stuck rear ride height device that he had been working his way around - but ultimately crashed while trying to force it unstuck. That his grand prix was initially turning out a little complicated was probably also by design - Acosta ran way higher than expected early on, but had to deliberately sacrifice two positions (and multiple seconds) to keep front tyre pressure under control - and admitted after the race he and his crew chief **Paul Trevathan** are deliberately pushing the limit there. But it was going to be a great finish still, until KTM's increasingly bizarre reliability troubles struck again in the form of the bike shutting off. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-TRACKHOUSE_RF.png) **Qualifying:** 7th **Sprint:** 6th **Grand Prix:** 7th A 'warrior' effort that the classification doesn't reflect - but so major was Fernandez's health situation that Aprilia had Lorenzo Savadori on standby and expected to use him. Fernandez was diagnosed with appendicitis in the lead-up to the weekend, spending Wednesday and Thursday in constant medical consultations and tests, ultimately avoiding surgery but not before his stamina had taken a massive beating. He clearly didn't feel 'good' at any point of the weekend, even as the appendix inflammation subsided. Not strong enough to push to the fullest in qualifying conditions, and looking pretty awful every time he came in front of the media, he extracted solid finishes from both races. As for whether his appendix will require surgical removal, this is apparently a question for a doctor's appointment next Monday after Assen. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-HONDA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 12th **Sprint:** 10th **Grand Prix:** 5th This was a 'crashy' weekend for Honda and for once Mir wasn't a culprit - save for a silly Friday fall in the gravel because he'd gone off and expected a different material in the gravel trap once he arrived. He tried to look for a tow in Q2 but just couldn't make it work anywhere near as well as rookie stablemate Diogo Moreira, yet in race trim he was clearly the most effective Honda rider. The sprint was dictated by being in a melee with the KTMs, but sticking with the soft rear tyre - as the sole rider to do so, in a choice that perplexed and impressed team-mate Luca Marini in equal measure - unlocked a great grand prix ride. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-VR46_FD.png) **Qualifying:** 2nd **Sprint:** 4th **Grand Prix:** 4th It's hard to imagine a more representative weekend for Di Giannantonio's season (or at least recent form). He was the top Ducati rider over one lap in both the important sessions (Friday practice and Q2), and probably the top Ducati rider in tyre conservation, but only has a pair of fourths to show for it while the factory riders bagged the podiums. In the sprint, he got outfoxed by Marquez while behind Moreira after the launch, then was powerless to recover given the less-optimal choice of the medium rear. The tyre picture was equalised on Sunday, and the pace was clearly there, but he came to regret a lack of "patience" in the early fight against Marquez again - getting on the throttle too early through Turn 3 and setting off a sequence that dropped him down to sixth and left him with too much to do. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-GRESINI_FA.png) **Qualifying:** 11th **Sprint:** 8th **Grand Prix:** 6th A weekend as unremarkable as it was inoffensive by the Ducati-contracted sophomore. It promised a little more on Friday, though Aldeguer briefly flirted with an assignment to Q1 when he "lost a bit of concentration" in traffic during the time attack phase. Qualifying itself was then a struggle due to a front tyre he didn't get on with (but didn't change between runs), and he was all the way down to 14th in the sprint after a bad start - but got back into the points. The grand prix start was far better, and despite a mistake early on - he had a Turn 2 'shake' and so the brakes didn't work right into Turn 3 - he salvaged a solid result. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-PRAMAC_TR.png) **Qualifying:** 21st **Sprint:** 11th **Grand Prix:** 14th Razgatlioglu's whole weekend defies the format of this feature somewhat. In a more competitive MotoGP situation - in a situation more befitting of his talents, a situation he himself craves - his massive qualifying underperformance and the impeding grid penalty on top of it would have wrecked his weekend. But in the current situation both did nothing much at all. Razgatlioglu admitted he rode qualifying suboptimally, "race style" - but when he took that "race style" to the actual races he was pretty majestic. The grand prix ride in particular looked potent relative to other Yamahas, and he seemed to count on it from the get go - getting frustrated by Alex Rins's early defending as he hinted the Spaniard should've known he was fighting a losing battle. The final salvo of laps to close in and overtake Maverick Vinales for 14th was particularly strong. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-LCR_DM.png) **Qualifying:** 6th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** 11th Moreira's #11 bike is a common presence towards the sharp end by now, though this weekend this was kind of a mirage. He already felt limited by the incomplete data of an injury-compromised Brno Moto2 weekend from last year, then crashed right away here on Friday to add to the challenge - but while the clean-air performance never came together, he displayed a Johann Zarco-like knack for getting the absolute most out of following rivals. Tucking in behind Ogura secured Q2 on Friday. Following Ogura again in Q2 made for a good grid position. And Moreira has been such a mighty starter in MotoGP that it was no surprise to see him at the sharp end in the two races. But he crashed immediately on Saturday, then went helplessly backwards on Sunday - regretting that he didn't copy Mir's soft-tyre gamble, but also just seemingly regressing to a more real position. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-TECH3_EB.png) **Qualifying:** 17th **Sprint:** 7th **Grand Prix:** 10th Brno was Bastianini's 'coming out party' at KTM last year, his first truly promising weekend on the bike. He actually scored more points this time - but the overall picture was much more subdued. The front tyre was a complication, in traffic and out of it, and the qualifying strategy wasn't working out even before he got his final attempt wrecked by Razgatlioglu-shaped traffic. He placed as the top KTM in both the sprint and the grand prix, and looked good value for it, in the 'non-Acosta' class - as Acosta would've obviously been way up the road had his bike lasted. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-HONDA_LM.png) **Qualifying:** 16th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** 8th An end result Marini and Honda will take, but the path there was nothing to write home about. Happy on the medium rear but less so on the soft on Friday, he was just on the wrong end of Honda's usual tightrope act with the top 10 - then stood no chance in Q1. He bucked in the sprint under the pressure of heat and vibrations, but found a palate cleanser in a "really solid" grand prix ride. But he was also keenly aware it was overshadowed by team-mate Mir's soft-tyre heroics - on a rear compound that was "never" an option for Marini, due to riding style and physique differences. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-PRAMAC_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 18th **Sprint:** 14th **Grand Prix:** 16th Miller 'disappeared' again into the familiar anonymity of his spot in the current Yamaha hierarchy - where neither his highs nor his lows seem to match those of his fellow M1 riders. There was a lot to like about his performance in the single-lap portions of the weekend as he ran Fabio Quartararo close, but both races were unremarkable. There was the caveat, in the sprint, of an acceleration deficit in second-to-fourth gear, but he made no mention of it on Sunday - seemingly just unable to find an answer to his Pramac team-mate Razgatlioglu's corner entry prowess. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-YAMAHA_FQ.png) **Qualifying:** 15th **Sprint:** 13th **Grand Prix:** DNF Quartararo was trying this weekend. This I am sure of - considering the Frenchman is normally loathe to look for a tow, the fact he did so on Friday is evidence of commitment to some sort of result. And though the Yamaha was outmatched Quartararo at least took his usual position in the M1 pecking order in qualifying trim. He got nothing out of the races. In the sprint he was "frustrated" by difficulty in the early laps before overheating the soft rear too much as he leaned on it for turning. The takeaway after that going into Sunday was that "I had to brake more late in the beginning of the race". And he did - to overtake Brad Binder, Maverick Vinales and Marini (the latter in what he described as a "suicide overtake"), and then to crash out of the race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-YAMAHA_AR.png) **Qualifying:** 19th **Sprint:** 15th **Grand Prix:** DNF Rins showed up to media day at Brno with a goofy mustache that was immediately gone the next time we saw him. That's not really relevant to his performance - but I just wanted you to know. The rest of his weekend is less interesting, although not necessarily uninteresting. There was some sort of electronics issue on Friday and then in the grand prix, an anti-wheelie inconsistency that ultimately forced him to park it. And there was frustration towards Franco Morbidelli running "really strange lines" in defence on Saturday, and the aforementioned frustration from Razgatlioglu on Sunday. Outside of these tribulations there have to be serious questions about Rins's qualifying pace, yet overall the M1 is again just proving a bit too raw for his efforts to be gauged with a high degree of confidence. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-KTM_BB.png) **Qualifying:** 20th **Sprint:** 9th **Grand Prix:** 12th Ragged and all over the place again, Binder - who had a surgical "tune-up" of the right arm before the weekend to fix a numbness issue - kept things respectable but not more than that. Recent single-lap progress appeared undone here (the Q1 result suffered from a track limits deletion of his best lap, but that wasn't a great time anyway), and the race pace appeared better than at Balaton but not at the level you want from Binder. He made a mistake in the sprint losing the front (which let Aldeguer through) but just about stayed on and kept the others behind for a point, then laboured in the pack in the grand prix. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-APRILIA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 10th **Sprint:** 5th **Grand Prix:** 9th It is genuinely surreal - no other way to describe it - that Martin took double-digit points out of the championship lead on a weekend that felt like a total write-off throughout, not just because of the double long lap penalty from Balaton. The Brno long lap is extremely forgiving in terms of laptime loss. Ivan Ortola showed that in Moto2, serving a penalty and winning the race. But while Martin's race likewise suffered only limited damage - and he was physically "much better than expected" after the Balaton crash - he just did not have the kind of title performance you associate with any Aprilia rider in 2026. Qualifying remains poor. Martin admits he still "doesn't really understand the limit of the bike" and "really feels bad" pushing for a single laptime. But the performance in races was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, too, and Martin sees a wider pattern in the recent performance decline, which he attributes to a loss of front feeling dating back to Mugello (or perhaps to his crashfest Barcelona weekend that preceded it?). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-TECH3_MV.png) **Qualifying:** 13th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** 15th If you're the relevant decision-maker, you can talk yourself into keeping Vinales on a Tech3-run KTM into 2027 on the basis of this weekend. But only if you really want to. He had come into the weekend admitting defeat in his quest to be 100% fit in time for the Czech GP, but there were real glimpses here and there of a rider who's finally able to be quick after a long, long recovery. Just not in the actual races, unfortunately. He exited the sprint right away in a 'sympathy crash' moments after Moreira, then was seemingly too tired and too limited by the challenges of running in the pack to do anything of real note on Sunday. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-LCR_CC.png) **Qualifying:** 22nd **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** 17th Crutchlow is a fun, lovable presence in MotoGP right now but there's an inevitable ceiling to how much he can actually achieve on track - and he was probably a fair bit short of that ceiling here. He crashed on Friday, "never did a particularly good laptime" in Q1, then crashed again in the sprint - the latter a consequence of an ongoing limitation when it comes to his fit on the bike. But the Sunday effort was quite good (he was in the pack-ish for an extended period of time), and there's a lot to be said both for Crutchlow braving the Brno heat and for him soldiering through ongoing left shoulder issues dating back to his muscle tear at Mugello. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-VR46_FM.png) **Qualifying:** 9th **Sprint:** 12th **Grand Prix:** 13th There were some hints of hope on Friday - not great but certainly better than Balaton Park - and though Q2 was a bridge too far then, Morbidelli made things work going through Q1. That was the end of the fun part. He went ninth-to-19th at the start of the sprint - "don't know why" - and "couldn't really do anything" after that. But even with a much more palatable start on Sunday the race pace was nowhere. It left Morbidelli dejected and exasperated. "Maybe when the races come I forget how to ride a MotoGP bike," he said ruefully if (likely) sarcastically, with a lack of grip he's feeling on the 2025-spec Ducati still the principal culprit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CZ-APRILIA_MB.png) **Qualifying:** 4th **Sprint:** DNF **Grand Prix:** SUS Bezzecchi's act of stunning post-crash belligerence destroyed his weekend and guaranteed him last place here. I don't know how good a rider's rest-of-weekend would need to be so that 'banned for attacking a marshal' doesn't immediately place him last - but while that is an almost-certainly impossible bar to reach, Bezzecchi had come nowhere near it. He was competitive on Friday, despite suffering with the after-effects of the Balaton pile-up, but clearly was a step off his usual performance through Saturday - his sprint looking on the mediocre side even before he crashed and then took himself out of the grand prix in a moment of insanity. ### Marquez takes vital MotoGP win to close on banned Bezzecchi URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-takes-vital-motogp-win-to-close-on-banned-bezzecchi/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T13:49:37.000Z Marc Marquez drew to within 40 points of suspended MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi by beating Ai Ogura and Pecco Bagnaia to Czech Grand Prix victory. Marquez fought past Ducati team-mate Bagnaia with five and a half laps to go and then resisted pressure from the closing Trackhouse Aprilia of polesitter Ogura to take his second straight GP win. With Bezzecchi on the sidelines due to his ban for slapping a marshal on Saturday, Jorge Martin was the only factory Aprilia rider in the field and could only finish ninth after his double long lap penalty for taking out Bezzecchi and others at the Hungarian GP start. That at least brings Martin to within eight points of Bezzecchi in the standings. Bagnaia held on for third place behind Marquez and Ogura as Fabio Di Giannantonio's VR46 Ducati closed late on. Joan Mir was fifth for Honda, having had a superb passing and repassing battle with Pedro Acosta until the KTM slowed and retired in the final laps. ## Results 1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 2 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.421s 3 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +2.255s 4 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +2.424s 5 Joan Mir (Honda) +12.810s 6 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +14.874s 7 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +18.657s 8 Luca Marini (Honda) +21.265s 9 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +21.401s 10 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +22.273s 11 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +22.881s 12 Brad Binder (KTM) +22.942s 13 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +25.003s 14 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +25.806s 15 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +26.360s 16 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +33.121s 17 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +44.784s DNF Pedro Acosta (KTM) DNF Alex Rins (Yamaha) DNF Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) ### Gary Anderson: Red Bull's next Verstappen is becoming clear URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lindblad-feels-like-red-bulls-next-verstappen/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T07:21:08.000Z Red Bull might just have found its next Max Verstappen. It's very early in his Formula 1 career, but what I've seen from Arvid Lindblad in 2026 so far has been very impressive. What stands out is how he's quietly gone about his job and has looked the part from the beginning, when he finished eighth on his F1 debut in the Australian Grand Prix. When he gets a clear run, he has shown he can deliver, and weekends like Barcelona showed his pace even if a deployment problem in Q2 meant that his results didn't match up to it. He looks at home in F1, to the point where you have to remind yourself that he's an 18-year-old in his first season. What he's doing has been overlooked partly because of what Kimi Antonelli is doing at the front of the field. Lindblad only has midfield machinery and he's had weekends where problems have set him back, for example the failure early in the one practice session in China and what happened in Barcelona, which means the results aren't so eye-catching. Despite all of that, 13 points and four points finishes (one of those in the Miami sprint) shows he's much further along his learning curve than you would expect even though he deserves to have more on the board. He has a take-no-prisoners approach, and that's what has caught my attention. Yes, he's fast, but that is the kind of mentality you need if you are to be more than just a decent driver in F1\. There are some similarities with how Verstappen slotted in at Toro Rosso back in 2015, showing real ability right off the cuff. Let's be clear, he is a long way away from Verstappen's level right now. It's just seven races into his Formula 1 career, so he needs time to mature, but I would not be surprised to see him improve dramatically as the season goes on, particularly in terms of getting better and more consistent results. The races are still a bit tough for him at times and there is still learning to do there in terms of getting the best out of the whole thing over a grand prix distance. But when it comes to that one lap, when it comes to wringing the car’s neck, and when he has an equal opportunity and has not suffered practice-session losses, he does the job. That shows something you can't buy, which is speed. He's also in the perfect place because his Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson is a great benchmark. Lawson is driving pretty well, has been to Red Bull Racing (and I still believe was relegated too early before he had the chance to get his feet under the table), but Lindblad has shown he can beat him. That makes Lawson the perfect yardstick, one that Lindblad should be expected to be able to get ahead of if he really is something special. As a rookie, you need to come in and sometimes be ahead of a driver like that in terms of your underlying pace and that's what Lindblad is doing. Red Bull must be very careful with him and let him develop, but it should also be very serious about him as a prospect. I would not be throwing him straight into the top team just because he has shown flashes of potential, but the objective should be to build him up to that so that Red Bull can promote him when he is needed. We keep hearing rumours about Verstappen's future and the team needs to be preparing someone to ensure there's a driver ready to slot in if required. That's where Lindblad fits in. So keep him at Racing Bulls, let him mature, let him really understand the objective of a given lap, a given practice session, a given race and understand what he's good at and where he needs to improve. That is what he needs now, but he's got the key ingredient because you can’t make a driver fast, but you can help them to mature. This is why Lindblad is a step ahead of where Pierre Gasly, Lawson or Alex Albon were when they were promoted. That's not in terms of being the finished article, because he plainly is not, but in offering that combination of youth and talent relative to his experience, he's a step ahead of them. The message to Lindblad should be simple: we don't want you next year unless there's a very unexpected vacancy, but the year after we probably will. So make sure you are in a position to raise your game whenever we need you. That is the sensible route, to let him mature at Racing Bulls, sharpen his racecraft, settle into the weekends, learn how to turn pace into results, and take the opportunities when they come. But if Verstappen does move on, Red Bull should not panic. Judging by what Lindblad has shown already, it just might have the answer to the problem of losing the four-time world champion within its own young driver system. ### Why Bezzecchi MotoGP race ban appeal bid stood no chance URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/why-bezzecchi-motogp-race-ban-appeal-bid-stood-no-chance/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T09:30:00.000Z MotoGP’s logic for rejecting Aprilia’s appeal over [Marco Bezzecchi's suspension](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-points-leader-bezzecchi-banned-from-czech-gp/) from the Czech Grand Prix made very clear the series will not tolerate mistreatment of track workers. Bezzecchi slapped the face of a marshal not once but twice when they accidentally grabbed the throttle of the crashed bike as they attempted to recover it, over-revving the engine in the process. Aprilia immediately lodged an appeal, which was heard on Saturday night at Brno by the appeals stewards, a separate body that oversees the work of the main stewards panel led by Simon Crafar and that has the power not only to reverse a decision but also to send it to a higher court or to increase the sentence should they deem it too lenient. They promptly rejected the appeal, citing the importance of marshals and, crucially, the actions they were undertaking at the moment when Bezzecchi lashed out. "Circuit marshals and other safety officials are fundamental to the safe conduct of motorcycle sport," the citing document detailed. "They operate in hazardous environments, often placing themselves in close proximity to moving motorcycles and other dangers in order to protect competitors and facilitate the safe continuation of the event. "The sport relies upon these officials carrying out their responsibilities without fear of intimidation, abuse or physical assault. "The principles of sporting conduct require all participants to treat officials, marshals and volunteers with respect at all times. "Any physical contact of an aggressive nature towards a circuit safety official represents a serious departure from those standards and undermines the mutual trust and respect upon which the safe operation of the championship depends. "The appeal stewards consider it particularly significant that the individuals involved were marshals actively engaged in the recovery of the rider’s machine following an accident. Such personnel were acting solely in the interests of rider safety, event safety and the orderly conduct of the competition. "Physical aggression towards marshals is wholly unacceptable in professional motorsport and cannot be tolerated irrespective of the circumstances leading to the incident. "Failure to respond appropriately to such conduct would risk sending the wrong message to competitors throughout the championship and would be inconsistent with the obligation of the governing body to protect officials, volunteers and workers who contribute to the sport." Aprilia confirmed on Sunday morning that with the appeal rejected, it now accepted the penalty and would not take it to the international appeal court. Its decision to appeal went down badly among many MotoGP fans, but team principal Massimo Rivola told the world feed broadcast the appeal wasn't a sign of Aprilia disagreeing with the penalty reasoning. The reason why we appealed in the beginning was we felt it a disproportion from the action to the penalty according to what we saw in other cases - similar cases - in the past," he said. He also issued an apology on behalf of the team. "We also want to apologise to the marshal. Second, we accept the penalty. We also don't tolerate this kind of behaviour," Rivola added. Bezzecchi also took to social media on Sunday morning to issue an apology for his actions, and also went to personally apologise to the marshal at their post. > Bezzecchi went during warm up to meet the marshal he hit, and to apologise in person. Looks like the apology was accepted, too. > > Hearing that the marshal in question is an Aussie guy here for the weekend. [pic.twitter.com/US2XTJ8v0D](https://t.co/US2XTJ8v0D?ref=the-race.com) > > — Simon Patterson (@denkmit) [June 21, 2026](https://x.com/denkmit/status/2068602387049124218?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) "I would like to apologise to the entire MotoGP community for my behaviour toward the trackside marshal," he wrote. "I'm also sorry because I know how much effort and sacrifice marshals make to ensure our safety. "This behaviour shouldn't happen and there is no justification for it. I apologise to everyone, Aprilia Racing and all my fans." The marshal in question, interviewed by British broadcaster TNT, said he had been "shocked" in the moment on Saturday and "really down" overnight - but also said that he "understands" how Bezzecchi's outburst came to be and that it "really matters to me that he apologised". Bezzecchi’s points lead has already come down to 15 over team-mate Jorge Martin following his Saturday crash. He will also be wary that Marc Marquez now has another opportunity to further close in. The reigning champion was 102 points behind Bezzecchi at the start of June following his injury and surgery absence and a tentative first weekend back at Mugello, but has already reduced that gap to 65. ### Winners and losers from Formula E's destructive Sanya race URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/winners-and-losers-from-formula-es-destructive-sanya-race/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T19:33:43.000Z Any race in which the entire championship top four score zero points having had completely separate disasters is going to have quite a few heroes and villains to tally up. Here’s our winners and losers from a Sanya Formula E race littered with penalties, interrupted by a red flag, and which was a total wipeout for the four drivers we thought would be the main title contenders. *Additional reporting by Stewart Bell* ## Winner: Andretti (1st & 4th) It was all too briefly a very satisfying first ever FE 1-2 for Andretti in Sanya. But a post-race penalty for Felipe Drugovich dropped him from second to fourth and added a twist of sour to what was otherwise a very sweet day. It shouldn't take away from one of the team's best ever across the board performances, one in which it more or less nailed both one lap and race pace. Jake Dennis seemed at one with his car from an early stage and reprised his Jakarta heroics from last season, when he destroyed the field to grab pole. He took his second top spot of this season, after Sao Paulo, and just like at the season opener he followed that up with a conclusive win. It was built on the pillars of a sturdy and cute strategy. The plan was clearly to control the pace between the two of them from the start and foster decent energy targets, so they could be hit accurately and out of the park. This they did. "Felipe was doing a massively good job for Jake," Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths told The Race. He certainly did, with the two working together efficiently, something that Dennis has not been used to over the last few seasons simply because he's usually been in a totally different race to his team-mates. This time Drugovich was the consummate partner and fulfilled his race as brilliantly as Dennis'. The Brazilian's understanding of Formula E racing clicked a few races ago. Now you get the feeling he's very ready to win one. The Turn 9 contact with Pascal Wehrlein for which he was penalised - which occurred away from the prying TV cameras - was said to be slight and not particularly gnarly. It lost the team six points but didn't take all the shine off a superbly executed race. "All in all, a pretty decent weekend for us," added Griffiths. "It moves up to fourth in the \[teams\] championship overall, and Jake's back in the title fight as well." ## Losers: All the pre-race title contenders The top four in the championship standings heading into Sanya all had absolute nightmares, and for very varying reasons. While all four of Mitch Evans, Edoardo Mortara, Pascal Wehrlein and Oliver Rowland failed to score points and ended their races either in the barriers or with damaged cars and penalties, Antonio Felix da Costa and Dennis rekindled at least some hope of catching the gang of four with six races remaining. Reigning champion Rowland was brutally honest after his overzealous attempt to line a move up on the already penalised Wehrlein sent him straight into the Turn 4 Tecpro. "I needed to keep my cool. And I didn't," Rowland told The Race. He was right to own the error, which appeared to be born of some frustration after a miscommunication with his Nissan team on what energy he had left during the red flag period. That was then reflected in some very aggressive moves on the restart, which in the context of a Formula E street race is normal. But in the framework of a title fight, in which he and his team knew that Evans, Mortara and Wehrlein were all out of points contention, it looked far from wise. Evans's very strong qualifying (third) and early race were annulled by the Jaguar driver innocently becoming a kind of Judy for others to Punch. Dan Ticktum was first in line with the proverbial frying pan, before Zane Maloney and Sebastien Buemi took more chunks out in the red flag inducing slow-speed snarl-up. Despite the best efforts of the team to patch his Jaguar up before he rejoined from the pitlane, Evans was unable to run at any decent pace, was then lapped and ended the race a lap down. He rightly oozed frustration at the end. Wehrlein looked, at certain stages of the race, to be in the box seat to take his second victory of the season. Some sensational initial moves for track position thrust him forward into the lead from seventh on the grid amid a very impressive display of overtaking. The Porsche driver was then one of only a few drivers to opt for an initial two minute attack strategy but was ultimately compromised by the red flag scenario. Upon the restart Wehrlein's prospects of points of any description fell apart when he attempted an ambitious and ultimately clumsy move on Norman Nato at the exit of Turn 3\. It cost him a five-second penalty and a slim chance of making the points. "Until the red flag, we looked super strong and very good and did the right moves on attack mode timing and so on," Wehrlein told The Race. "When I tried to pass Nato, he lifted super early, so I committed to a move and he went back on the throttle. As soon as I saw that, I was hitting the brakes, but he just turned in and we touched each other. That was my perspective, and that penalty put us out of the points." It was a perspective few others agreed with, including a hacked-off Nato, who told The Race that "it was just a bit optimistic" and "it was very unfortunate, because again we're going for a good race. That's a little bit the story of my season I would say." Mortara looked a likely pacesetter throughout the practice period but he struggled in qualifying and missed the duels, anchoring him to a mid-grid start amid the carbon flying zone in 11th. That jeopardy became reality, when Mortara severely deranged his front wing assembly prior to taking his first four minutes of attack mode. Still, he fought his way through to the front just before the red flag but then retired shortly after the restart when the fire extinguisher and car kill switch loop was unluckily caught by debris and the car was shut down by accident. ## Winner: Pepe Marti (2nd) Pepe Marti's second podium, which was promoted from third to second after a post-race penalty for Drugovich, was made all the more remarkable by the fact that at one stage he sat stationary behind Evans' broken Jaguar amid a trail of his own and others' carbon fibre. Less than half an hour later he was pulling into parc ferme with only the Andrettis ahead of him, one of which (Drugovich) would soon be hauled back to fourth place. How Marti got there was a mix of luck and epic heroism by himself and his Cupra Kiro team. Luck because his car was not severely damaged after team-mate Ticktum rear-ended him in the red flag traffic jam at Turn 9 and also the slower than expected pace of the overall race dictated from the front allowed Marti and Kiro to amplify their supersaver energy strategy. The epic heroism came in the form of some *herculean* work by the Kiro mechanics as they got Marti's car refreshed. After the restarted race he used his final four minutes of attack mode, which was varnished by the two extra laps added to the race, and he came through from 12th position to an eventual second once Drugovich's penalty was applied. "It was just another very good example of Pepe and the team delivering quite a calm pre-planned race," team principal Russell O'Hagan told The Race. "Obviously, there were some dynamic events with the red flag and things, but we kind of were able to stick to a run plan, a race plan, and deliver on it well." Considering that Marti started from a Monaco penalty inspired 18th and had damage at the front and rear of the car after the pile-up, a second podium in three races and a seventh points score from 11 is way beyond any expectations from all quarters of the Formula E paddock. ## Winner – Lola (10th & 11th) There were a lot of positives and negatives for Lola Yamaha Abt at Sanya, a venue where it explored pretty much every trough and peak possible in Formula E. Even heading into it the team had supplementary carnage to deal with in the shape of a grid penalty for Lucas di Grassi changing inverters and gearbox in Monaco last month. That meant a 10-second stop and go penalty on lap one, which made his brief appearance in fourth position in the final stages all the more remarkable. This was of course aided by the red flag period and restart where he was able to take advantage of an early race energy supersaver strategy. He got a bit swallowed at the end but a tenacious drive by the soon to be retired Brazilian brought home a valuable point for the team, making it the first time it has scored points in three consecutive races. Because of di Grassi's penalty the team was essentially split into two with Zane Maloney tasked to excavate more one lap performance, while di Grassi majored on race pace and the energy save strategy. Maloney showed well on 300kW pace but clipped the wall in qualifying, not only ruining his chances of a potential decent grid position, but also ensuring he will take a penalty for Shanghai next time after his team replaced the gearbox because of the damage. In the race he was the first to take the attack mode and ascended from 14th to third before getting shuffled back. Some contact in the final stages meant he finished just behind team-mate di Grassi in 11th. Acting team boss Frederic Espinos told The Race that the team "clearly made progress, so we can be positive for Shanghai, and we just need to put everything together. We can be higher in the points, so this is what we need now from". ## Winner – DS Penske (6th & 9th) It's been a poor season for DS Penske and it's almost been an ever-present in the Losers sections of these features. But in Sanya, while it wasn't particularly quick, for once the strategic elements went its way. Taylor Barnard was hugely unfortunate to lose the majority of his attack mode to Nato's Nissan salvage operation under full course yellow conditions. Had it not been for that Barnard would likely have been ahead of team-mate Maximilian Guenther, who pulled off a similarly smart energy banking drive to fifth place. Instead, Barnard took two points for ninth position in a race that, unlike his previous races, was not punctuated by contacts. Guenther scored his best result since his Shanghai win almost a year ago. But like Barnard it was far from smooth as he lost places at the restart after a systems issue on the launch off the grid. ## Loser – Dan Ticktum (15th) Another strong turn of pace in qualifying resulted in a fourth place start for Ticktum, who then ran solidly in the opening bunch of cars until he blotted his copybook by smashing into Evans' Jaguar at Turn 9, the same corner where his challenge for a potential crack at pole ended a few hours before when he skated down the escape road. Had it not been for that bit of brain fade, Ticktum would have scored a podium and may have split the Andrettis because he was reasonably comfortable in pace and energy figures. The resulting penalty and damage to his car, which was fixed to a degree when the race was red flagged, heaped more woe on a driver who needs a boring solid run to a fourth or fifth place more than any other driver at present. But Ticktum has rarely experienced that in 2026 and Sanya was another example, although this time the majority of the fault lay with the driver and no one else. His team boss O'Hagan, with whom he had a frank but seemingly constructive mid-season review meeting late last month that resulted in some disciplinary action, said "it was very difficult for Dan. Obviously, a lot of points could have been possible. But I think it'll just make the result when it does come super sweet, and it will do. "Dan's had a really strong weekend again and there's lots of good things to come from that side. So, I'm looking forward to Shanghai to put that one right." Ticktum, who will also serve a five-place grid drop at Shanghai for speeding under red flag conditions, has now scored 30 less points than his team-mate Marti so far this season. And while he has proved to be much the quicker prospect race in and race out, it is the Spanish rookie who is bringing home the pancetta. ## Loser – Nissan (2x DNF) Zero points, two broken cars and a drop from fourth to fifth behind its future customer Andretti in the teams' standings was a very poor day at the office for Nissan in Sanya. Rowland threw away a decent chance to chip away at title rival Evans' points lead, while Nato was the innocent victim of an over-wrought attempt on his fourth position by Wehrlein. Prior to that drama Nissan had actually put behind it a difficult qualifying period, in which Nato's tyre prep was compromised by poor track positioning and he was 16th, and Rowland could only manage a pretty average lap for 10th. The race was brewing up nicely for both drivers, with team director Dorian Boisdron explaining to The Race that "we saw during FP2 that we did not have the pace today and that the drivers had difficulties to be fast. "We need to understand why, but clearly lacking, lacking pace, the difficulties to push, difficulties to find the grip. In all fairness, we were anticipating that it could be very difficult." Ultimately the race was ended by a mistake by Rowland and Nato being taken out by Wehrlein. Some damage was limited by others' travails so Rowland's back-to-back title race quest has not some unstuck. So, in a way it is probably Nato's bad luck at being on the rough end of Wehrlein's move that may initially hurt the team the most because without it Nato could easily have finished the race second after the penalties were applied. ### MotoGP points leader Bezzecchi banned from Czech GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-points-leader-bezzecchi-banned-from-czech-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T13:04:56.000Z MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi has been banned from the Czech Grand Prix at Brno for striking a marshal following his crash out of the sprint. Bezzecchi was due to start Sunday's race in fourth place but will now be forced onto the sidelines, as the MotoGP field is reduced to 20 bikes (following also Alex Marquez's injury withdrawal). Aprilia quickly launched an appeal but it was rejected later on Saturday night. Onboard footage from Bezzecchi's bike after the sprint crash shows that, having fallen and initially been in no rush to his Aprilia knowing that his sprint race was over, he then dashed over to it to hit the kill switch and prevent damage to the engine after one of the marshals trying to pick it up accidentally grabbed the throttle and caused the bike to rev. First shoving the marshal out of the way in order to deactivate his machine, Bezzecchi then appears to strike him as the marshal (caught on the mic from the onboard camera) explains that he was only trying to pick the bike up. A subsequently-released shot from a different angle showed that Bezzecchi put his right hand on the marshal's face when pushing him away initially, then seemingly slapped him. > We understand being angry, getting caught up in the moment, but Bezzecchi cannot be doing this 🥊[#MotoGP](https://x.com/hashtag/MotoGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) | [#CzechGP](https://x.com/hashtag/CzechGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [pic.twitter.com/qPIMMry01s](https://t.co/qPIMMry01s?ref=the-race.com) > > — TNT Sports Bikes (@bikesontnt) [June 20, 2026](https://x.com/bikesontnt/status/2068388867401465978?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) The race ban is a catastrophic outcome for Bezzecchi, whose 20-point lead over team-mate Jorge Martin is set to be whittled down significantly - even with Martin himself set to serve a double long lap penalty. Equally concerning to him - and more concerning to Aprilia - will be that the recovering Marc Marquez is in prime position to take another massive chunk out of Bezzecchi's points buffer, having already made considerable progress over the past couple of weeks. The altercation isn't the first time that Bezzecchi has found himself in hot water with the stewards for a physical altercation with track workers, after the then-MotoGP rookie was fined €1,000 for grabbing and pushing a marshal at the 2022 Valencian Grand Prix. Crashing on the out lap of FP3 in a crash that brought out the red flags when his VR46-run Ducati burst into flames, he shoved a marshal carrying a fire extinguisher towards the bike. In handing him his penalty, the stewards, then led by former world champion Freddie Spencer, called Bezzecchi's actions "detrimental to the interest of the sport" in "making physical contact with a marshal in an aggressive and unprofessional manner". Bezzecchi later travelled to the corner to apologise in person to the marshal involved. The last significant incident involving a rider and marshals having a trackside altercation came last year at the French Grand Prix when local hero Fabio Quartararo remonstrated with track workers on the exit of the Bugatti circuit's last corner to help him bump start his crashed Yamaha. He was fined €2000 and suspended from the first 10 minutes of the following race weekend's opening session for disobeying marshals' instructions to allow them to remove the bike from its dangerous location. ### Winners and losers from MotoGP's Brno sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/winners-and-losers-from-motogps-brno-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T18:03:59.000Z The MotoGP sprint at Brno yielded another poor outcome for championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, whose difficulties in the Saturday races are almost single-handedly keeping the points picture close right now. Here are our winners and losers from a hot-and-messy 10-lap bout at Brno. ## Winner - Pecco Bagnaia (1st) This was an unexpected win for Bagnaia, which is not to say that he looked particularly in trouble or uncompetitive at any point in the weekend - save for maybe the first run of Q2. Even once out front in the race it was still a long way to victory, with Ai Ogura looming large behind him and a vibration picking up around lap four. But the expected Ogura attack never truly came, and Bagnaia rode a very Bagnaia 2022/23/24 kind of race to a welcome 12 points. ## Loser - Marco Bezzecchi (DNF) We are unfortunately fully into 'wobble' mode here. "I was a bit on the limit through all the sprint and I lost the front," Bezzecchi summed up matter-of-factly, having struggled on the bike already (as was quite clear on the timing screens) even before he dropped out. He was surprised to have fallen off given he believes he had gone into 'just finish' mode by then, and his shortfall of sprint race results - which up to now felt a little circumstantial, but as of today is clearly a trend - is another source of perplexity. "It's what I'm asking myself as well, you know? I would love to feel good every day on the bike - but for some reasons I'm struggling on Saturday. "At the beginning it was - OK, one mistake is OK, two mistakes is OK, but for today I'm a bit sad." And then, an hour after we published this feature, it emerged that Bezzecchi had made his weekend even worse with an altercation with a marshal that's prompted an [immediate race ban](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-points-leader-bezzecchi-banned-from-czech-gp/). ## Winner - Marc Marquez (3rd) Since the start of the Balaton weekend last time out Marquez has taken more than a third out of the 102-point cushion Bezzecchi had enjoyed over him. He seems prepared to cede some ground back tomorrow, but even without Bezzecchi's crash here he was due to outrace him, despite labouring in Brno's scorching heat and consciously deciding to play it safe as he chased down Ogura, who was chasing down Bagnaia. Perhaps he could have won or been second with a better start, but third with seven extra points in the title race is better. The same is true for fourth-placed Fabio Di Giannantonio, the lead Ducati in the standings, who should have been more in the podium mix but still comes out of the day with a positive outcome for his championship. ## Loser - Honda (10th, DNF, DNF, DNF) Honda's hopes of a truly great result went out the window when Diogo Moreira - who had expertly towed his way to a strong grid position and then got the increasingly-customary super-start - crashed out. It surprised and upset Moreira, who believed he was riding "super relaxed". Luca Marini and Cal Crutchlow hit the deck, too, Crutchlow doing so in the second-to-last corner of the race, but neither was scoring. For once, Joan Mir was left upright, having felt it "important" to ensure a finish once he was swamped by KTMs at the start and realised no fantastic finish would be on offer, with Brad Binder proving, as he sometimes does, impossible to overtake. ## Winner - Ducati factory team (1st and 3rd) It's been a while since the factory Ducati outfit truly shone as a combined force, but this was the case here - specifically in their common tyre selection, the soft rear, which held up nicely for both. The Aprilias were always going to go with the medium, as they like the harder rear compound much better, but fellow Ducati rider Di Giannantonio (who also ran medium) acknowledged afterwards that the soft was indeed the tyre to go with for the Desmosedici. "I did a mistake choosing the wrong tyre," he admitted. "I was feeling that I was much faster into the corners, especially compared to Marc, but I didn't have the traction he had, especially in the first laps. "And then at the end of the race I was pushing, trying to see if their soft tyre was dropping, but it was not." Marquez suggested the soft tyre recommendation was given to all Ducati riders - and had no doubt it played a big part in his successful race. ## Loser - Maverick Vinales (DNF) Vinales' debate with KTM and Tech3 over whether he should be offered a 2027 deal and how soon has gone public this weekend - and we now know as a matter of record that he needs to make more of an on-track case. By and large he has done it this weekend. If his main rivals for the seat, as reported variously, are Binder and Marini, he has looked stronger than both here. But he's got to start showing Tech3 chief Guenther Steiner in particular that he can be counted on, and today he didn't. "I touched the white line and I crashed, but it's OK," Vinales insisted. "I mean, I'm finding the limits of myself, the bike. I'm happy with the day, for me it's a really positive weekend. "Yesterday I pushed beyond the limits of my physique and today I felt exhausted already in the FP2 - so yeah, I need to keep building up, so that's the way." ## Winner - Toprak Razgatlioglu (11th) Razgatlioglu really struggled in qualifying but turned up in the sprint, working his way past Fabio Quartararo and extracting more from the medium rear than his Yamaha stablemates were getting out of the soft. He is not overwhelmingly enthused about being top Yamaha, but was happy with his sprint effort generally - though has emphasised a dire need to find more cornering. But being not just the top Yamaha but the only Yamaha to finish ahead of a non-Yamaha - Franco Morbidelli's Ducati - deserves genuine recognition. ## Loser - KTM (7th, 9th, DNF, DNF) This is not a terrible set of results, but it should have been better, with Pedro Acosta's race compromised by an issue with his rear ride height device. Acosta looked lively in the race, but said the device was "locked all the way" from the start - and felt that his attempts to try to get it unstuck ultimately led to his crash. "Sorry to the team because maybe I was able to manage another way and maybe finish seventh or eighth. But also it's not what I wanted \[from today\]," he explained. He already had his bike cut out on Friday - and though a ride height device issue is a different kind of animal, it is part of a wider pattern of KTM's recent struggles for reliability, relative to anyone but Yamaha with its all-new V4-engined bikes. ## Winner - Jorge Martin (5th) The double long lap for the Balaton pile-up hangs over Martin's weekend, but he is already "getting away" with something by virtue of the Brno long lap being particularly short - to the point where his time loss may well end up at just around 3.5s combined (per his own estimation). And his points loss? Suddenly, there might not even be a points loss, relative to Bezzecchi anyway. He had not started the weekend in a good way, and still cannot exploit the RS-GP at its peak in Q2\. "With the speed that I have this weekend, I won't be able to fight for the title," Martin accepted. "So for me, the most important thing is to improve my speed and my performance." This is true, but if he does find that speed, days like today will become retroactively even more valuable. ### Marquez leads calls for MotoGP extreme heat policy URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-leads-calls-for-motogp-extreme-heat-policy/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T15:55:53.000Z World champion Marc Marquez has led calls for MotoGP to follow Formula 1's lead by introducing some form of extreme weather protocol. The Ducati racer says he was left feeling drained by the long start procedure before [Saturday's sprint race at Brno](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/bagnaia-gets-first-2026-race-win-bezzecchi-crashes-again/). The sprint came at the most extreme moment of the Brno weekend in terms of temperature, with the air temperature reaching 33°C and the track temperature climbing to 57°C just before the start of the race. With even the sprint race build-up procedure now leaving riders sitting on the grid for 20 minutes with little in the way of shelter, a visibly drained Marquez admitted after finishing third in the race that he is not a fan of the current system. "I tried to save energy all weekend," he explained, "but then when you are there with 55 degrees in the ground and 35 degrees in the air, waiting there 25 minutes sweating… "I don't like it. I hate this moment. But it's like this, and I just try to be calm and to save energy." There have been suggestions multiple times in the past that MotoGP needs to look at F1's extreme weather protocol, introduced in 2023 following a red hot Qatar Grand Prix in which drivers feared passing out. And the topic was also raised following the sprint by LCR Honda's injury replacement Cal Crutchlow, who says that the physically demanding race conditions need to be addressed. "It was f\*\*\*ing hot today," he explained. "It was so hot. And you see all this waiting around. You go to the grid, then you try to come off the grid because it's too hot. It was seriously hot. Like one of the hottest races I've ever done. "Imagine 20 laps if it was today. And tomorrow is probably going to be the same \[temperature\]. "In my opinion, they need to start to think about this whole situation a little bit. In other sports, they have weather protocols, they have all these things." However, Crutchlow says that without a MotoGP equivalent of F1's Grand Prix Drivers' Association, it's going to be hard to find a solution - and the potential for a riders' union remains a sensitive subject in the paddock. "The problem you have here is the same as always," he continued. "One guy will race, so then everybody will race. And unfortunately the organisation knows this. "If it was that deep in water, one guy would go out, and even if everybody said ‘we're not going out' then that guy would leave pitlane, then everyone would leave pitlane because they won't stick together. "Because they don't want somebody to have an advantage or they don't want their manufacturer to say to them, ‘ah, you didn't do that race, so you're not getting paid.' And that's the reality." ### Bagnaia gets first 2026 race win, Bezzecchi crashes again URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/bagnaia-gets-first-2026-race-win-bezzecchi-crashes-again/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T15:58:48.000Z Pecco Bagnaia denied Ai Ogura in the Brno MotoGP sprint and scored his first race win of the 2026 season, while championship leader Marco Bezzecchi had his fourth sprint crash in nine rounds this year. First-time polesitter Ogura lost the lead to Bagnaia's Ducati off the line, and though the Trackhouse Aprilia shadowed Bagnaia all the way - particularly in the final laps - Bagnaia hung on. Bagnaia's team-mate Marc Marquez also closed in on both of them over the last laps, having escaped from early challenger Fabio Di Giannantonio's VR46 Ducati. Bezzecchi was on course for fifth behind Di Giannantonio until he crashed by himself with two laps to go. That elevated his Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin into that spot, Martin having earlier won a great dice with Pedro Acosta - who later crashed out solo as well. The KTM rider said he had been struggling with a jammed ride-height device for the entire race. Bezzecchi's crash allowed Martin to cut his championship lead back to 15 points. LCR Honda rookie Diogo Moreira had starred briefly in third but crashed before lap one was complete. ### Andretti loses first Formula E 1-2 after penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/andretti-loses-first-formula-e-1-2-after-penalty/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T13:54:09.000Z Long-time Formula E squad Andretti's [first-ever 1-2 finish](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/andretti-takes-first-1-2-as-title-rivals-have-disasters/) lasted only a handful of hours, before a penalty for Felipe Drugovich dropped him off the Sanya podium. The Andretti pair started first and second and finished first and third on the road, albeit with rookie Drugovich immediately promoted to second behind race-winning team-mate Jake Dennis thanks to a penalty for sometime Andretti driver Antonio Felix da Costa (now at Jaguar). Drugovich later copped a five-second penalty of his own, sanctioned for contact with Porsche's title hopeful Pascal Wehrlein - for which the stewards deemed Drugovich "wholly responsible", dropping him just off the podium (onto which Da Costa was briefly reinstated). The penalty also granted fellow rookie Pepe Marti second place in the classification, marking his best finish in Formula E so far. Nyck de Vries ended up third, having finished fifth on the road but been demoted to sixth with a blocking penalty, which was then rescinded. That brought the tally of time penalties that have been assessed in- and post-race down to six, four of them applied to the relevant driver's finishing time. ## Amended results 1 Jake Dennis 2 Pepe Marti +2.104s 3 Nyck de Vries +2.855s 4 Antonio Felix da Costa +5.702s\* 5 Felipe Drugovich +6.112s\* 6 Maximilian Guenther +7.116s 7 Nico Mueller +8.780s 8 Jean-Eric Vergne +9.036s 9 Taylor Barnard +9.373s 10 Lucas Di Grassi +9.881s 11 Zane Maloney +10.471s 12 Joel Eriksson +11.264s 13 Sebastien Buemi +12.491s 14 Pascal Wehrlein +12.742s\* 15 Dan Ticktum +1m20.696s\* DNF Mitch Evans DNF Nick Cassidy DNF Oliver Rowland DNF Norman Nato DNF Edoardo Mortara ### Alex Marquez drops out of MotoGP's Brno round URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/alex-marquez-czech-gp-brno-motogp-withdraws/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T11:08:34.000Z Alex Marquez has aborted his MotoGP return from injury at the Czech Grand Prix, withdrawing from the weekend after qualifying. Marquez returned to MotoGP action at Brno after missing two rounds following his monster crash during the Catalan Grand Prix, when he slammed into Pedro Acosta's suddenly-slow KTM and then came perilously close to hitting the wall. He had suffered a neck vertebra fracture - although has since insisted this was more minor than such phrasing usually implies - and more substantial damage to the collarbone, which he said was "broken in four pieces". His only target coming to Brno was to progress through the weekend session by session - and he was passed fit to complete the weekend, while also admitting on Friday that he was feeling "much better than I was expected" and also running much quicker than he'd expected. But while his qualifying performance was also solid enough - less than a tenth off a spot in Q2 - Marquez has now withdrawn from Brno. His Gresini team says the decision was taken "with the aim of continuing his recovery in the best possible way". The other rider under medical duress this weekend, Raul Fernandez, seems to be in the clear to see out the weekend - having struggled with an inflamed appendix in the lead-up to Brno. ### First MotoGP pole for Ogura in Czech GP qualifying URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/first-motogp-pole-for-ogura-in-czech-gp-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T11:12:44.000Z Trackhouse Aprilia rider Ai Ogura took his maiden MotoGP pole position with an emphatic lap in Czech Grand Prix qualifying at Brno. Ogura, set to be announced as a factory Yamaha rider for 2027 in due course, had started no higher than fifth in his MotoGP career previously - having achieved that grid spot on his debut in Thailand last year. But he had topped Friday practice and found a staggering six-tenths improvement between his first and second runs in Q2. It put him two tenths clear of the two Ducati riders that will join him on the front row, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pecco Bagnaia. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was three tenths off Ogura in fifth and 0.008s up on Marc Marquez, who had had his initial best lap deleted but improved considerably anyway in the end. Diogo Moreira had followed Ogura to secure a Q2 spot on Friday, and did so again here to place as the top Honda, with the last spot on the second row. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) make up row three. Aprilia rider Jorge Martin, second in the championship, advanced to Q2 with ease but could only beat two riders - Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and Joan Mir (Honda) - in said session. It means Martin faces a mountain to climb for a strong result on Sunday, when he will have to serve a double long-lap penalty for triggering the Turn 1 pile-up in Hungary. ## Provisional Czech GP grid 1 Ogura 2 Di Giannantonio 3 Bagnaia 4 Bezzecchi 5 M Marquez 6 Moreira 7 Fernandez 8 Acosta 9 Morbidelli 10 Martin 11 Aldeguer 12 Mir 13 Vinales 14 Quartararo 15 Marini 16 Bastianini 17 Miller 18 Rins 19 Binder 20 Crutchlow 21 Razgatlioglu Maverick Vinales was second-best of the four KTMs but came up just short of joining Acosta in Q2, 0.033s off a spot in the pole shootout. Alex Marquez, returning from injury, was close behind in 14th - but withdrew from the weekend soon after qualifying, yielding the spot on the grid to Fabio Quartararo. KTM's 2020 Czech GP winner Brad Binder had a time good enough for 16th sans Marquez (0.01s up on Enea Bastianini, who was frustrated to encounter a slower Toprak Razgatlioglu during a flying lap) erased for track limits. He will start the sprint and grand prix in 19th, ahead only of aforementioned rookie Razgatlioglu (who has received a three-place grid penalty for Sunday that will drop him one spot) and LCR Honda stand-in Cal Crutchlow. ### Andretti takes first 1-2 as title rivals have disasters URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/andretti-takes-first-1-2-as-title-rivals-have-disasters/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T08:37:33.000Z Andretti scored its first ever Formula E 1-2 in Sanya with Jake Dennis and Felipe Drugovich, as the top four in the championship all failed to score. Points leader Mitch Evans was a lead factor before being vaulted over by Dan Ticktum's Cupra Kiro Porsche and then entangled with Zane Maloney's Lola Yamaha Abt in a multi-car tangle that caused a red flag. Reigning champion Oliver Rowland crashed out late on in his Nissan, Pascal Wehrlein's Porsche was only 14th thanks to a penalty for hitting Norman Nato, and Edoardo Mortara retired after multiple incidents. The Andretti duo had qualified 1-2 too, but had a far from straightforward route to the win amid the red flag, attack mode variations and plenty of chaos, before Dennis and Drugovich worked their way back to the top in the final laps. Pepe Marti joined fellow rookie Drugovich on the podium having surged from last after the mid-race red flag to third for Cupra Kiro, as Porsche's customer teams filled all three podium spots. Dennis's second win of the year brings him into title contention, fifth in the standings and 34 points behind leader Evans. ### What we've learned exploring F1's newest track URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-we-learned-exploring-f1-newest-track/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T07:43:55.000Z Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix has a brand-new home in Madrid, and we've had an early look at how the circuit is coming together ahead of its first race in September. We sent Edd Straw and Jon Noble to explore the circuit, hear from key figures behind the race, including ambassador and Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz - here's everything they learned, including some very surprising longer-term plans. ### It's not a boring flat street circuit There’s inevitably a degree of fatigue among F1 fans about the proliferation of street circuits, many of which start to feel very familiar with their repetitive 90-degree corners and flat topography. That won't be the case Madring, the site for which already had an elevation change even before the La Monumental banking (more on that in a moment) was built. “We have to use existing public roads that already had this change in height, but it has integrated very well into the track to create something very unique,” explained the track's chief operating officer Carlos Jimenez. "So it's not a boring street circuit, it's a hybrid circuit with a not-so-boring street section." Early impressions are that it should be a significantly more satisfying track than Las Vegas or Miami, the last two street tracks to join the calendar. But it won’t be until the cars take to the track on September 11 that we’ll really know how good it is. ### La Monumental will be iconic ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6622.png) Every circuit dreams of having a trademark corner, and the banked Turn 12 is that for Madring: rising to 10 metres, with a 24% gradient (equivalent to around 13.5 degrees) and subjecting the drivers to over 4G. Once the track is complete, it will be lined with grandstands too. Spanish Grand Prix ambassador Sainz suspects that it will be a flat-out corner in an F1 car. “It looks impressive because we’re going to be entering that corner at a very high speed, around 180-200km/h \[112-124mph\],” said Sainz when asked by The Race about La Monumental. “My feeling is the corner is going to be flat out the whole way, and it's going to create an overtaking opportunity in the next left. The banking will allow you to maybe position the car higher up or lower down if you want to get clean air to follow, but if it's easy flat it will also be a corner where you stay tight to the slipstream. “It's not only La Monumental, the whole of sector 2 looks quite flowing, quite high speed, which I think is great to have in a street track.” You can guarantee that on lap one of the grand prix there will be a high camera angle chosen to showcase what is hoped will become an iconic corner at the Madring. ### ...and F1's 2026 battery woes won't ruin it The nature of Formula 1’s energy-starved current cars means that track layout, and especially sequencing of corners, can have a big impact on the spectacle. Right now, a run of high-speed corners one after the other is not a good thing, as the turbo hybrids like nothing more than medium and slow speed sections to help charge up their batteries. One of the concerns about Madrid’s iconic La Monumental banked corner was that being so high-speed it could be ruined by the 2026 phenomenon of super clipping – where cars run at full throttle but engine power is getting diverted to charge batteries. A close look at the Madrid layout has highlighted that the tight sequence of corners before La Monumental – which includes a new medium-speed chicane – are going to be perfect for ensuring that cars arrive at the banked corner entry full of power. So drivers should be able to deploy quite a bit of energy and run at full beans all the way through the 550-metre section. ## It WILL be ready in time ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6682.png) Madrid openly admits that pulling together a from-scratch street project as ambitious as it is to be ready for this year left it with a “tight” timetable. A combination of the scale of paperwork needed to approve all the aspects of the new Madring circuit, allied to a very wet winter, has created its fair share of challenges. But while there remains a lot of work to do to be ready by September, construction is advancing fast and there are no alarm bells ringing about the speed of progress. Recent FIA inspections have gone well, and Madrid organisers think that within three weeks, the ground surface areas around the circuit should be finished to allow work on the temporary structures, like grandstands to begin. As the Spanish GP’s general manager, Luis Garcia Abad said: “We have been respecting the plan, and we never had a big worry about the plan, because everything was quite well organised for us. “The most difficult thing for us was to share activity with the normal IFEMA \[exhibition centre\] activities, so you have to respect the exhibitions, and we had to stop. “But we plan everything, and we have been always on time." ### Madring is two circuits in one The Madring is a track of two halves, literally with the track bisected by the M-11 motorway with two short tunnels. The south section is built around the existing IFEMA exhibition halls and infrastructure, with the north part new from the ground up. “It had to be like it is because we had to cross a major highway in the middle that crosses and splits the circuit, into the north and the south section,” said Jimenez. “We already have two tunnels, one is public, the other is private and was built by IFEMA 12 years ago. “As we have to use existing public roads, those roads already had this change in the height, but it has integrated very well into the track to create something very unique, which I think is going to be very fun for the drivers. So it's not a boring street circuit, it's a hybrid circuit with a not-so-boring street section and a completely new traditional circuit with very interesting and even iconic places and sections like La Monumental. ”This means a very different character at different ends of the track. Around IFEMA, there’s the more typical street circuit section, whereas in the north it’s much more open and flowing. And it’s that section that is the main destination for the crowd, with the fanzones located in this area, while moving between the south and the north sections only possible via shuttle - unless you happen to be fortunate enough to be behind the wheel of an F1 car. ### The track could one day go indoors The Madring layout is not set in stone and could evolve over the years, with the Spanish Grand Prix contracted to run here until 2035\. The half of the track running around the IFEMA exhibition halls raises the tantalising possibility that it could, uniquely in F1 world championship history, have an indoor section. “We can also consider having the track inside the exhibition halls,” said Jimenez. “It’s something that Formula E does in London, in the ExCel \[Centre\], and we are thinking about it here.” ### It's not short on space, but teams still wanted motorhomes ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6694.png) The long pitlane is spacious, with generous garages conceived to give the F1 teams all the space they could need - and more. There’s also plenty of room for a 12th team, should one be added to the grid, while the engineering trucks will be based inside exhibition halls and benefit from protection from the elements - and air conditioning! “The garages are spacious with high ceilings for the convenience of the teams, and we have designed them to take advantage of the infrastructure of IFEMA,” said Jimenez. “They are connected to halls one and two. Those halls allow teams to bring the engineering technical trucks, to be behind the actual garages in an indoor space, with air conditioning in the summer, during the race, and with lots of installations that we have inside our premises for the events, including power, telecoms.” However, there is a small walk between the garages and the area where the team motorhomes will be built. That’s something the teams pushed for, not because they wanted to stroll back and forth, but because they turned down the request of organisers not to bring the motorhomes. Had that happened, then the teams would have hospitality areas built next to the garages, but with just nine races held in Europe, it’s no surprise they didn’t want to lose a chance to deploy their own motorhomes. ### How it aims to avoid a Las Vegas teething problem Madrid is the most ambitious F1 street race since Las Vegas arrived on the calendar. And with Sin City’s first race weekend being overshadowed by the manhole cover problem that wrecked Sainz’s Ferrari, Madrid has elected to take no risks in a bid to avoid a repeat. Jimenez says that the best way to achieve this was by delivering a track that eradicated manhole covers completely - something that was not easy to achieve. “After what happened in Vegas the first year, we had to make sure that there was no manhole on the surface on the track,” he said. “It's very complex to achieve, and we had to divert a lot of lines of services in telecommunications, power, water, drainage systems, and gas. “That took time, a lot of planning, a lot of preparation, and that has consumed even more time than the actual construction. All the paperwork, all the permits took around 11 to 12 months.” ### There are plans to turn the asphalt red The black asphalt surface of the new Madring circuit has already been laid down, with the main areas of work now on pulling together all the infrastructure surrounding it – including barriers, grandstands and fan areas. But Madrid is thinking of doing something totally different with the track surface in the future – potentially using red sections to give it a unique look. Jimenez said: “It was something that we were analysing, but there was concern that, because the pigment hasn't been used before, we preferred to be relatively conservative for the first year. “We know that we will have to repave the surface of the track during our contract period of 10 years, so probably for the next repaving, we will use the red pigment, which is a colour that represents Spain and Madrid.” The red pigment will be similar to how bike lanes are often differentiated on public roads, and will most likely only be laid in the area of the track that is permanent – so as to avoid leading to a confusing section in the actual streets. ### Fans are going to love the ease of access A good fan experience is one of the key aspects to a successful modern F1 event – and getting spectators in and out of tracks is critical to that. Difficult access routes, long queues and a lack of public transport options are no longer things that can be ignored. The Madrid Grand Prix could prove to be a winner on this front with the area it is being built in – near the airport – being quite a good transport hub. The south section of the track near the pits is served by the Madrid Metro, which is only a 10-minute hop into the main city. To the north is the suburban train line that is equally as quick. With plenty of taxis and bus services too, Madrid should offer fans quite a good opportunity to stay downtown and get in and out of the venue with relative ease. But the theory will only be proven on race weekend when public transport will be stress tested as hundreds of thousands of people aim to commute in and out. ### Lego F1 to headline Legoland Windsor's summer festival URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/lego-f1-to-headline-legoland-windsors-summer-festival/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T14:45:57.000Z If you want your holiday plans to include speed, creativity, adventure, and most importantly Lego, then Legoland Windsor Resort has got you covered. Announced this week, Lego F1 will take centre stage in the Thrill Zone for this year’s Lego Festival. Running from 20 July to 31 August 2026 at the UK themepark, the Legoland event is the perfect place for F1-loving families. Lego Festival will transform the resort into a celebration of play across five interactive zones: Music, Creative, Chill Out, Play and the brand-new Thrill Zone. One of the headline attractions is the Brick Stop Challenge, where families race against the clock to complete the fastest Lego F1 pitstop tyre change around a larger-than-life Lego F1 car. For budding engineers and competitive adults who refuse to let the kids have all the fun, there’s the chance to become a race engineer for the day. You will be able to build and race your own Lego F1 vehicles, and tweak your creations to find that extra bit of speed. Guests can also experience the 'Pit Lane Hype Show', a live drum and percussion performance using tools and Lego bricks to recreate the energy and atmosphere of a Formula 1 race weekend. The Thrill Zone also shines a spotlight on the all-female junior feeder series F1 Academy, hoping to encourage more young girls to get involved with motorsport in a meaningful way. There will also be plenty of opportunities to document the day with photo opportunities with Lego pit crew characters and a winner's podium. Visitors may even spot surprise character appearances throughout the event. Neil Poulter, vice president at Legoland Windsor Resort, said: "Lego Festival is built for kids and powered by play. With Lego F1 headlining our new Thrill Zone, families can dive into the race-day atmosphere through a first-of-its-kind pitstop challenge that is fast, colourful and packed with fun." The festival is included with standard admission to Legoland Windsor Resort and is part of a wider Lego Festival programme. ### The 'bullying' driving style of F1's most misunderstood champion URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/nico-rosberg-bullying-f1-driving-style-explained/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T17:39:49.000Z From being one half of Formula 1’s most famous 21st-century intra-team title fight to a forgotten blinding debut race, Nico Rosberg’s 11-season F1 career was a curious one. There’s often a perception that Rosberg wasn't as fast as Lewis Hamilton but used mind games to great effect to win the 2016 F1 title - an achievement big enough to prompt Rosberg’s immediate retirement. But what kind of driver was Rosberg really? How fast was he, and what defined his driving style? All of those questions and more are answered by Edd Straw and Mark Hughes on the last episode of the current series of Driving Style Secrets - our exclusive members-only podcast that takes an unapologetically deep dive into the driving techniques of the biggest names in F1. Below, you’ll get a taste of what they discussed, but make sure you sign up to [The Race Members’ Club](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) now to listen to the [full episode here](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/driving-style-s3-161516603?ref=the-race.com), plus to get access to more Driving Style Secrets with big names, from Ayrton Senna to Max Verstappen. ## Forgotten first near-win Rosberg is best remembered for his Mercedes years alongside Michael Schumacher and Hamilton, but he spent his four formative F1 years with Williams. He finished seventh in his very first F1 race in Bahrain with the fastest lap (the youngest driver to do so at the time), but it could have been even better. “He came in with a bit of a bang at Williams at Bahrain in 2006,” Hughes recalled. “He had an early pitstop \[after he broke his front wing after contact with Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber\] and then in his recovery drive, when he looked at the times that he did subsequently in that recovery, had he not had the pitstop, he would definitely have been contending for a victory in his very first race. “That would have created quite a sensation. I don't think he could have quite lived up to it at Williams, but it might have set his career off on a different trajectory. He might have got into the good car earlier.” Rosberg would get that ‘good car’ at Mercedes, taking his first race win in 2012, then duelling for the championship when Mercedes dominated F1 at the start of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014. “What characterised him was his ability to really hustle a car,” Hughes said. “He dominated a car. He was on top of the car. He would bully it into doing what he wanted it to do. “I remember standing and watching…a little technical corner at Abu Dhabi \[Turns 10-12\]. He was absolutely putting it in the same spot every single lap. “It required a lot of input on the steering to put it there. It didn't want to go there. He was putting it there. ‘That's where I want the car to be. That's the line I want taken. I'm going to put the lock on here, that's where I want it’. “\[Rosberg\] would dominate the car in that way. By contrast, Hamilton, the car was moving around and he would just go with it. He would just ride out what the car wanted to do. He had a more improvised way of just letting the car dictate. He would follow the path of least resistance in a way that he found would give him the best speed. “Also partly because of that, \[Rosberg\] was better at nailing a set-up than Hamilton. Quite often, Hamilton would end up on Rosberg's set-up after the Friday and would then sometimes use it to beat Rosberg, which was probably a bit galling. “Not always, there were plenty of weekends where Rosberg just had Hamilton's measure. I think it's sometimes because when you have a dominant car, the contest can seem more even than it is in reality.” Comparisons have often been made with Senna vs Prost in that Rosberg was the ‘thinking’ driver, while Hamilton had the Senna-like speed. “I think people tend to almost map Rosberg on Prost and think, ‘well, he's the intelligent, set-up driver, smooth driver’, but the thing you would see very often, just demonstrably more steering inputs, and normally when he was struggling a bit more, they were even more,” Straw said. “So you definitely had that feeling of the driver sort of trying to put themselves on top of the car and assert themselves over it, and he would like a car that would move around a little bit, and sort of play with it. “Actually, he tended to have, as a default, a little bit more rear instability than, say, Hamilton, and that was reflected in the brake bias strategy he tended to have. “This is where that perception gets confused, because I think people tend to arrange it into, ‘Rosberg's the hard worker who chipped away technically and got there, and Hamilton's the brilliant live-wire driver, so Hamilton's going to be the one who's on that tightrope all the time, whereas Rosberg sort of is sat within it’. “But I'd say Rosberg was almost better…He tried to sort of bully the car to be on what he felt was the limit of the grip, and he was quite good at that for the most part.” Hughes said Rosberg was “quite comfortable with oversteer” and “very bold with the throttle”. ## What Rosberg learned from Schumacher Rosberg’s reputation took a big boost from getting the better of Michael Schumacher when the seven-time world champion returned to F1 alongside Rosberg at Mercedes in 2010. But even though he was faster, Rosberg still learned plenty from Schumacher. “He worked much harder once he got alongside Schumacher than he had at Williams,” Hughes said. “He learned a lot from Schumacher, even though he comfortably eclipsed that evolution of Schumacher in terms of raw pace when they were together. “But he did get to understand what it was to identify the levers of performance and how you exploited them and how much work that entailed, and I think he took a lot from that. “So when Hamilton arrived at Rosberg's team in 2013, I think Hamilton learned a similar lesson. He was like ‘I can't just rely on being able to pull out the blinding lap, but there's still more I've got to learn’. “Even though he was only a year ahead in terms of when they each made their debut \[Rosberg in 2006, Hamilton in 2007\], he'd understood the implication of the work a lot sooner than Hamilton had.” ## The title-winning year Rosberg achieved his lifelong dream when he beat Hamilton to the 2016 F1 title, prompting probably the most shocking retirement announcement in F1 history during the end-of-season FIA prize giving. “Rosberg's championship year, you can't get away from the fact that he won that championship because Hamilton had an appalling finishing record with mechanical reliability early in the season and then at the end in Malaysia,” Hughes said. “When you look just at how many times one guy beat the other in a race where it was possible to make a comparison, where one wasn't starting from the back of the grid or one didn't have an accident, or just a straightforward race where it's a contest between them, in that season, in Rosberg's championship season, Hamilton beat Rosberg 10 times and Rosberg beat Hamilton three times. “There's a little bit of an overestimation of his level because he took a championship from Lewis Hamilton, but I think he made Hamilton work very, very hard always. “He lifted Hamilton's game up a lot. I think Hamilton had to become more technically adept from realising he's got to be able to take this guy on. “So interestingly, if you look at the qualifying gaps between them in those years, it's about a tenth and a half \[in Hamilton’s favour\]. It's about the same gap as there was between Hamilton and \[Valtteri\] Bottas subsequently, but Rosberg was a much more effective competitor to Hamilton than Bottas was, and he would always find a way of competing.” Straw added: “He ran Hamilton close in '14, pretty much got destroyed in '15, and then came back in '16, having had that quite strong finish at the end of '15 \[won the last three races\], but doing absolutely everything. “He realised at that point, that was his moment, that he had to be at his absolute best and hope he had a few things in his favour to win that championship. He did everything. “He often tells the story of, in the summer break, losing a bit more weight because he was just very fractionally over. He always cites Suzuka, he was on pole by three thousandths or whatever it was and that was the weight difference. “He's that ultimate aggregation of a marginal gains driver. He knew he had to do it. That's exactly why he did the mic drop moment and just quit at the end of the year, because I think he primarily thought ‘I can't go through that again’. “He also probably realised that this probably won't work again.” That also led to some clever risk management from Rosberg, who was able to do the rare thing of overriding the racing driver instinct at times. “Certainly in the latter part of that 2016 campaign. He was actually backing out of battles, because he was ahead on points,” Hughes said. “There were battles he could have had, with \[Max\] Verstappen in Brazil, notably, where he just said ‘whoa, you go, I'm not getting involved in this’. “So he's very, very shrewd and target-driven. He's almost separate from the racing driver. He had this other part of him that could override that and say ‘right, what's the aim here?’. “He could keep that with him in the cockpit, which is quite a rare thing.” Be sure to sign up to [The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) to listen to the [full episode here](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/driving-style-s3-161516603?ref=the-race.com) \- find out why Williams lost faith in Rosberg, whether Mark and Edd think Nico was stronger than his dad, 1982 F1 champion Keke, and the final verdict on how good Rosberg really was. ### Ogura fastest as Martin's MotoGP Brno pain gets worse URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ai-ogura-fastest-as-jorge-martin-brno-pain-gets-worse/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T14:21:54.000Z Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura set a new lap record on the first day of MotoGP's Czech Grand Prix at Brno, as title chaser Jorge Martin will have to contest Q1\. Martin was already facing a tricky weekend with a double long lap penalty to serve for causing a Turn 1 wipe-out last time out at Balaton Park. But that was made worse by a tricky Friday as he ended up as the slowest of the four Aprilia riders in 11th, just 0.011s from a place in Q2\. Ogura, who hasn't started a MotoGP race higher than sixth this year, demonstrated scintillating pace at the end of practice, ultimately firing in a 1m51.735s late in the session to lead Friday's running. He was 0.091s faster than championship leader Marco Bezzecchi ahead of the fastest Ducati rider, Fabio Di Giannantonio. Pecco Bagnaia was fourth on his factory Ducati ahead of team-mate Marc Marquez, who was the pacesetter for much of the session despite crashing in both of Friday's practice sessions and declining to join the late flurry of late-session flying laps. Pedro Acosta was the only KTM rider to make it through to Q2 in sixth place ahead of Honda's Joan Mir, who crashed at Turn 7 in the final moments of the session. Rookie Diogo Moreira's strong rookie season continued in eighth ahead of Fermin Aldeguer and Raul Fernandez. It meant Jorge Martin was the only Aprilia rider not to make it through to Q2 automatically. --- **Advanced to Q2:** Ogura, Bezzecchi, Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, M. Marquez, Acosta, Mir, Moreira, Aldeguer, Fernandez **Will contest Q1:** Martin, Vinales, Marini, Quartararo, A. Marquez, Bastianini, Morbidelli, Miller, Binder, Rins, Razgatlioglu, Crutchlow --- Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales, in dire need of a strong weekend with his [future in doubt](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/frustrated-maverick-vinales-at-2027-impasse-with-ktm/), was looking good for a place in Q2 early on, but ended up 12th. Fabio Quartararo was the top Yamaha rider in 14th place. Johann Zarco's LCR Honda stand-in Cal Crutchlow was once again slowest, this time via an off at Turn 8\. He was 2.112s off the pace. ## Results 1 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) 1m51.735s 2 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.091s 3 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.207s 4 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.248s 5 Marc Marquez (Ducati) +0.253s 6 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.493s 7 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.518s 8 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +0.580s 9 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.585s 10 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.619s 11 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.630s 12 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +0.657s 13 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.689s 14 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.798s 15 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +0.821s 16 Enea Bastianini (Tech 3 KTM) +0.826s 17 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.841s 18 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.848s 19 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.864s 20 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +1.285s 21 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +1.663s 22 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +2.112s ### Frustrated Vinales at 2027 impasse with KTM URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/frustrated-maverick-vinales-at-2027-impasse-with-ktm/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T10:28:47.000Z Maverick Vinales and his MotoGP employers Tech3 and KTM appear to be at a 2027 impasse, after Vinales's frustrations were spilled out publicly ahead of the Czech Grand Prix at Brno. The left shoulder injury suffered by Vinales at Sachsenring last year effectively wrote off the next 11 months of his MotoGP career, as after a still-difficult start to this year, he went under the knife again to fix a displaced screw in the area. He was convinced - and remains convinced - that this was the crucial intervention that will finally enable him to reach peak fitness in MotoGP again, but his target of being 100% fit at Brno has, by his own admission, "clearly" not been reached. "For me, it's very hard, hard to understand how the injury is going, because sometimes I feel I gain a lot of strength, then the next week I have pain," Vinales said. "It's really a rollercoaster at this moment, but after the second operation, I knew I would take some months to be fit. "The only thing that's \[complicating things is\] all the pressure around about next year and all the stuff, but in this moment I'm like this." Vinales stressed at Brno that his fitness limitation is now all about a lack of muscle rather than any inflammation - and takes that as evidence that he will be back to his best before long. In light of that, he is frustrated that Tech3 and KTM have not yet committed to him for next year. "The thing is, as I said last time, I don't have to convince anybody," he insisted. "I mean, when I was at 100%, in the mid-season \[in 2025\] before the injury, I was the reference in KTM. "They need to understand that this bike is not a street bike. Now if I go to ride the street bike, I'm fully fit to ride it, but this bike needs a completely different strength. And the only way I can do this strength is being here, but we ride only six days a month, so it's hard to do the physique of MotoGP. "In any case, as I said, I don't have to convince anyone - I want to race good, do good races for me, and the future is the future. I don't know. "If there is a lot of pressure to do results in a short term, I said, 'listen, I will do results when this is okay'. I am three tenths away, but three tenths away is because of this \[injury\], it's not because I don't know how to ride anymore. "But, at the end, teams are teams, and they try to do the best for them, and that's it." Vinales also said that "when you have an injured rider, you have to trust in him" - and told Spanish media that he was very upset that his "loyalty" to KTM is going unrewarded, claiming that KTM first told him he would be in the factory team, then told him he would stay at Tech3 and is now telling him he needs to deliver immediate results. "You need to trust someone, for good or for bad, you know? But it's July, and still I don't know anything of my future. So I think it's quite late, also, from KTM." For now, it appears clear that the new leader of KTM's satellite team Tech3, Guenther Steiner, is not sold and needs to see more. "We need to make sure that he is back to being the real Maverick," Steiner insisted. "We need to see if it is the shoulder, or whatever it is. Because I think the last results have not been- I mean, I don't think he is happy, he is the first one unhappy about it. "And therefore we take time. It's not actually my decision, his contract is with KTM at the moment, I have nothing to do \[with\] it. Obviously I speak with Pit \[Beirer, KTM motorsport boss\] because we always speak about things - but in the end, it's 'Maverick, we give you time to recover', because Maverick on a good day is a very good rider'." Asked by The Race about Vinales's argument that his return to peak fitness is guaranteed and he doesn't need to prove anything, Steiner said: "We are not in a hurry to take a decision. "It's very simple. We all want something in life, but we don't always get everything we want. It's normal. And we are not in a hurry. "Why would we hurry? We give him the opportunity \[to secure the seat\]!" Moto2's Senna Agius is widely considered a favourite for one of the Tech3 seats, and incumbent Enea Bastianini is thought to be heading off to Trackhouse Aprilia. Tech3 and KTM's alternatives to Vinales, should he fail to reach requisite fitness and performance, haven't been named publicly, but Brad Binder is widely thought to be one. ### Marquez crashes out of first Brno practice after dominating URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-crashes-out-of-first-brno-practice-after-dominating/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T09:47:36.000Z Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez set the pace in the opening premier-class session of the Czech Grand Prix weekend at Brno. Marquez backed up his Hungarian Grand Prix-dominating form with a superb start out of the blocks here, leading the vast majority of the 45-minute session. Despite not changing his front or rear tyre, he looked on course to lower his 1m53.303s benchmark further in the end when he crashed going through the Turn 7 left-hander. But he stayed top of the timing screens, ending the session two tenths clear of his nearest rival - Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo. Quartararo's position in the order was flattered by the use of fresh medium tyres, front and rear, though still represented a considerable step forward relative to his form at Mugello and Balaton Park. Raul Fernandez, who ran a fresh front tyre and used rear in the end of the session, was third-fastest and best of the Aprilias - despite coming into the weekend with fitness complications, having missed media day on Thursday due to appendix inflammation. Honda rider Joan Mir (fresh tyres front and rear in the end) and Fernandez's Trackhouse team-mate Ai Ogura (fresh front, used rear in the end) propped up the top five, while Pecco Bagnaia in sixth was next-best of those behind Marquez, who stuck with the same set through the session. Three riders - Pedro Acosta, Maverick Vinales and Diogo Moreira - crashed in the early minutes of the session, all three rejoining the action fairly swiftly. Alex Marquez, who returned to MotoGP action in this session after an injury absence forced by his heavy Barcleona crash, was 1.2s off the pace in 18th. He, like Fernandez, is due to be medically reviewed after FP1 to confirm participation in the rest of the weekend. ## Session results 1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m53.303s 2 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.200s 3 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.210s 4 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.220s 5 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.318s 6 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.376s 7 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresinbi Ducati) +0.476s 8 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.484s 9 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.518s 10 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.542s 11 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +0.623s 12 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +0.625s 13 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +0.672s 14 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.712s 15 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.872s 16 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.891s 17 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.946s 18 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +1.216s 19 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +1.385s 20 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +1.487s 21 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +1.591s 22 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +2.003s ### Upcoming Ferrari engine upgrades could decide F1 title fight URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/upcoming-ferrari-engine-upgrades-could-decide-f1-title/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T14:19:41.000Z Was the Ferrari faster than the Mercedes at Barcelona? It wasn't clear on race day because of the differences in their strategies and tyre choices. The tyre deg was so high around this track - tough at the best of times but especially so with a surface of 50°C - that Lewis Hamilton's dramatic closing of the gap on his mediums after his second stop was easily explainable by the tyre age difference. But the fact that Hamilton qualified just 0.064s off George Russell's pole around arguably F1's most technically demanding circuit tells us that the SF-26, with its latest upgrades, is absolutely on the pace despite its power shortfall to Mercedes. That shortfall may be smaller than it appeared in the first five races included in F1's catch-up mechanism, called the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system. And with Ferrari having now been granted two upgrades for this season because of that ADUO result, there would have been no reason not to run the internal combustion engine to its full potential at Barcelona. But when we look at the GPS traces of the two cars in qualifying, it's clear that the Ferrari's deployment still tails off earlier than that of the Mercedes. The difference is smaller than it was, but then it would be if it is even faster through the corners than it was before, boosted by its [new upgrade package](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-reveals-8-part-upgrade-for-barcelona-f1-race/). With faster corner exits, the electrical deployment has less to do. So looking at the reasons for Ferrari suddenly being on the pace, the exact split between the Ferrari's big aero upgrade and any possible freeing up of how the engine is being run is not definitive. What is clear is that it is the fastest car through the corners, and it does have the best spread of downforce. The way Ferrari has created the car suggests this advantage to be baked in. Its unique interpretation of the dimensional boxes by where it has placed the differential has allowed an extra bodywork volume behind the diffuser, onto which it has mounted its downforce-enhancing exhaust-blocking vane to direct more airflow to the rear wing. The extra bodywork effectively creates a bigger diffuser which, combined with the innovation around the exhaust, has given the car great downforce. The Barcelona upgrade effectively fed this potent rear end with a more robust airflow from upstream. Its entry speed to almost every corner was higher than anyone other car and team. This has all led McLaren's reigning champion Lando Norris to state: "We're lucky that Ferrari doesn't have a better engine at the minute. If they had a better engine, they're dominating. "They're the class of the field in terms of cornering performance at the minute. We're not even close to them. "If they make improvements on the engine side, then they'll embarrass everyone." If they make improvements on the engine side… The strong rumour is there is a significant power unit upgrade coming at the next race in Austria, with a further one scheduled for Zandvoort/Monza time after the summer break, perhaps with a bigger turbo. Ferrari believes the latter will give it power parity with the current Mercedes power unit. However, ADUO has offered Mercedes the opportunity of a single upgrade this year. Mercedes did not plan its power unit development around the assumption of an upgrade opportunity whereas Ferrari clearly did, if it can produce an update as soon as Austria. So whether any Mercedes' upgrade can be made in time and whether it will be potent enough to overcome the effectiveness of the Ferrari’s aerodynamics will likely determine the shape of the mid-latter part of the season. But suddenly, Ferrari is looking like such a formidable package that with so many races to go, the 41 points between Kimi Antonelli and Hamilton doesn't look unbridgeable. ### Williams F1 Team fan zone to return to London URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/williams-f1-team-fan-zone-to-return-to-london/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T15:57:10.000Z Williams F1 Team Fan Zone will return to Piccadilly Circus this July ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. From June 30 to July 5, Formula 1 fans in London will be able to enjoy a week of interactive experiences, driver appearances and exclusive merchandise in the lead-up to the team's home race. As part of their commitment to bringing fans closer to the action, those attending the Williams F1 Team Fan Zone will be able to view a full-scale FW48 show car, see Williams driver Alex Albon and team principal James Vowles and purchase special-edition Silverstone merchandise alongside the team's 2026 official kit from New Era. The fan zone will be hosted at The Venue in Piccadilly Circus with free entry, although visitors must download the Williams app and register in advance. The app will also feature a digital treasure hunt, enabling fans to collect badges throughout the venue and unlock personalised experiences. A range of partner activations will also be available, including reaction and trivia challenges hosted by Kraken, a Batak reflex test presented by Barclays, and a haul truck simulator experience from Komatsu. Other attractions include Anthropic's 'Pattern of Thought' simulator experience, which allows visitors to take a virtual lap of the Silverstone circuit with AI assistant Claude acting as a racing companion. Visitors can also try Estrella's alcohol-free sampling bar, Wilkinson Sword's buzz-wire challenge, and an AI-powered photo booth experience from Marks & Spencer. The Fan Zone will also host the launch of a special Silverstone edition of the Williams x Marvel comic book series, one of seven unique covers scheduled for release throughout the 2026 season. Having drawn more than 340,000 visitors over the past two seasons, Williams's Fan Zone programme has become a cornerstone of the team's fan engagement strategy, extending beyond race weekends through activations in F1 host cities including Melbourne, Barcelona, Madrid and Austin. --- **Full Williams F1 Team London Fan Zone details:** Location: [The Venue, Piccadilly Circus, 48 Regent Street, London, W1B 5RA ](https://maps.app.goo.gl/NwSeYwZyS7p9aSAY7?ref=the-race.com) Dates: 30th June – 5th July 2026 Opening Hours: \* Tuesday 30th June - 10:00am – 8:00pm Wednesday 1st July - 10:00am – 7:00pm Thursday 2nd July - 10:00am – 7:00pm Friday 3rd July - 10:00am – 8:00pm Saturday 4th July - 10:00am – 8:00pm Sunday 5th July - 10:00am – 4:00pm \*Last entry: 30 minutes before closing ### Ducati's trick ride-height device addition revealed URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ducatis-trick-ride-height-device-addition-revealed/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T19:18:02.000Z Swedish suspension manufacturer Ohlins has revealed a secret weapon in Ducati's MotoGP toolkit. Ohlins has designed radical rear shock modifications in collaboration with Ducati to alter the characteristics of the Desmosedici's suspension in order to better utilise the rear ride height device. Internally christened the Stroke Limiting Device-76, it has been in place for over a year and a half now. It was revealed to a small group of MotoGP media during a visit to Ohlins' Stockholm headquarters. The firm didn't just show off the new technology but actually handed over a used Ducati rear shock that had the tech fitted to it. The component allows racers to alter the amount of travel available to them with an adjustable buffer system controlled by a proprietary Ducati hydraulic computer and activated by the rider from the handlebars. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/O--HLINS-FACTORY-MGP26-24.jpg) Essentially using a rising series of hydraulic pistons to half the amount of suspension travel available from the rear shock, it in turn means that riders are able to better utilise the rear ride height device by activating it in certain corners where it wouldn't otherwise be possible to use it. "They came with a problem," Ohlins motorcycle racing manager Jonas Torstensson explained, "and we came up with the solution together. "They didn't say ‘add hydraulic actuators to the shock,' they said, 'We need to restrict the stroke somehow.' "The natural way would be mountain bike style, closing the compression, but after studying, it didn't make sense just to block compression. With this damper you'd still have too much movement. So, we looked at locking it mechanically instead or hydraulically." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-20.08.34.png) Previously, riders faced issues with exploiting the full range of travel available from the rear ride height device, with the full suspension travel causing the bike's bellypan to bottom out on the ground and the rear tyre to strike the bottom of the bike's seat unit subframe. Ducati factory rider Pecco Bagnaia said the benefits of the system were very obvious. "I know that they changed something in the last two seasons," he said. "So when the ride-height device is on, there is less travel in the suspension. You feel something different, but I don't know why, right? "But the improvement… I think the ride height device and the system from Ducati I think is a masterpiece right now and it's a clear advantage for us. "Everything is working in a fantastic way and you really feel that when the bike starts to go down, the suspension is still working a lot and well. So it's great, and you don't need to think too much on things." The project to develop the system has been one of a series of collaborations between Ohlins (which supplies suspension components to every MotoGP team except the two KTM squads) and its MotoGP customers - though so far only Ducati is using it. "They had exclusivity," he explained of Ducati's use of the component, "and I can't comment on exactly when they started using it. But now all manufacturers know about it and can get the option, but nobody took it yet. "This one is the most extreme we've gone doing special projects. In past years, we had requests for certain fork stiffness or damping properties, changing internal valving but not adding mechanical parts externally like this time." It's controlled by a proprietary hydraulic computer (similar to all manufacturers' ride height devices) developed by Ducati, not Ohlins, and only revealed to the other teams at last year's Valencia test. It's unlikely now that we're going to see any other team collaborate with Ohlins to introduce their own version, given that ride height devices are set to be banned at the end of 2026. And, with next year's radical rules shake up taking up much of the manufacturers' attention, Torstensson believes that having Ohlins as one of the few known parameters going forward means that MotoGP teams are unlikely to try similarly radical changes in the coming few years - and he also expects the system to be banned sooner rather than later. "I don't know about the 2027 regulations," he added. "I suspect there's not much in detail regarding this system, but I'm counting on \[MotoGP Director of Technology\] Corrado \[Cecchinelli\] learning about this and probably adding something about it in the rulebook. "You could replace the bump rubber with a spring. Then you have a dual spring rate system, just for spring rate. "The box is open. The gain is too much to leave it, but speaking with Corrado and understanding his intention with the MotoGP series, I suspect this will not be allowed in the future." ### MotoGP and its teams finally agree their 'Concorde' deal URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-and-its-teams-finally-agree-their-concorde-deal/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T19:10:18.000Z MotoGP’s teams have finally signed their long-awaited version of Formula 1’s Concorde agreement with the championship’s owners, after successfully negotiating their new commercial deal as a unified front for the first time in the series’ history. The deal, agreed in principle at the Hungarian Grand Prix two weeks ago, has now been signed, and will be formally announced in a press conference this Friday at the Czech race at Brno. The conclusion of the saga marks the end of months of heated negotiations between the teams and the series’ bosses, as the now Liberty-run championship has asked for a greater commitment from teams and riders in areas including marketing - while teams have in turn demanded a greater share of the series’ profits. The debate has featured both sides leaking a series of demands of the other, including permanent reserve riders and a proposal to move to a one-bike-per-rider format without spares from the championship, and teams wanting increased input into the series’ calendar. Talks grew increasingly heated as the 2026 season got underway, coming to a head at the Spanish Grand Prix in April when a number of teams failed to show up at a MotoGP event to woo sponsors and media partners. The decision to negotiate as a united front, something that the series’ five manufacturers have never attempted before, is believed to have been led by Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola, who is no stranger to similar negotiations in F1 thanks to his time as Ferrari’s sporting director. With negotiations now complete, it likely means that there is set to be a flood of rider market announcements, with deals signed as far back as January (such as Marc Marquez’s Ducati contract extension and Pecco Bagnaia’s Aprilia move) likely to be announced in the coming days. ### Mercedes backs out of bid to get Monaco result reviewed again URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-backs-out-of-bid-to-get-monaco-result-reviewed-again/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T08:16:31.000Z Mercedes has dropped its petition for a right of review over the result of Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix. The team had been due to attend a hearing with the FIA stewards on Saturday to discuss its unhappiness about the reinstatement of Pierre Gasly to third place in the race. With Mercedes driver George Russell's Monaco GP having been derailed by a speeding offence that set off a chain of events that resulted in him getting a drive-through because an initial five-second sanction was not served correctly, the team felt some big answers were needed over Gasly's penalties effectively being annulled given so many other drivers' penalties were served during the race. Gasly's Alpine team successfully argued that its driver had never broken the limit during the race so did not deserve his post-race sanctions. Speaking about the initial decision to go ahead with its complaint, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: "We've asked for a right of review, because you just simply want to sit on the table when decisions are being made." But even as the request went in, Wolff admitted that the chances of success were very slim. "I still think it's a long shot," he said. With less than 48 hours to go before Mercedes was due to present its case to the stewards, where it would have had to produce a "significant and relevant new element", it has withdrawn its petition. A short statement from the FIA on Thursday night confirmed that the matter was over. "The stewards have been informed by Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team that they are withdrawing the petition for review in respect of the decisions of the stewards of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, breach of Article B1.6.3a of the FIA F1 Regulations in relation to Car 63," it said. While Mercedes has backed away from following through on any further action, McLaren and Red Bull are going ahead with taking the matter to the FIA's International Court of Appeal. Mercedes released a statement on Friday morning which said "We can confirm that we have withdrawn our Right of Review submission relating to the penalties received and served by George Russell during the Monaco Grand Prix. "Following the decision to rescind Pierre Gasly's time penalty, it was important for us to explore all available options to address the impact of George's pitlane speeding penalty on his race result. "We had a limited time window in which to apply for the right of review during the race weekend in Barcelona, and did so in order to reserve our position in this regard. "Our subsequent collaborative discussion with FIA and Formula One has shown their determination to review the unique circumstances arising from the Monaco Grand Prix and to proactively address the factors that caused them. "In the face of this clear determination, we have concluded that further pursuit of our right of review application will not serve our team or the sport and thus we have withdrawn our submission." ### What's at stake as Formula E finally returns to a venue it lost to COVID URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/what-is-at-stake-as-formula-e-finally-returns-to-a-venue-it-lost-to-covid/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T16:20:28.000Z Over seven years on from its first and so far only visit to the Chinese island of Hainan, and the glittery and growing holiday resort destination of Sanya, Formula E is continuing to lay down roots in Asia. Sanya finally makes its second appearance on the Formula E schedule on Saturday, and is expected to stay on the calendar for several more seasons amid huge investment in the area - which local agencies want to build up as the largest free-trade port in the world, a status it is aiming to achieve by 2035. The 2019 event was supposed to be the first of several Sanya FE races. However, the COVID pandemic of 2020 put paid to those plans and a deal for a return to the island was only completed in early 2025. It is clear that there is a strong financial imperative for Formula E to be in Sanya, but perhaps equal to that is capturing a holy grail of a Chinese manufacturer to come into the championship. As per recent events at Shanghai, several manufacturers are invited to attend the upcoming Asian leg which spans five weeks via Sanya, Shanghai and Tokyo. The first two events will feature a swathe of manufacturers taking a look at Formula E. But when China's best known and biggest one - BYD - appears to be [limbering up for a future Formula 1 project](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/horner-in-talks-over-new-byd-f1-team-entry/), which manufacturer, if any, will Formula E land? "I talk to the Chinese manufacturers, and they're very determined that if they come into the championship, they want to be competitive straight away and be posting victories straight away because there's such a dominant force in EV manufacturing," reckoned Formula E CEO, Jeff Dodds, talking at an event preview media roundtable this week. "They want to be able to translate that from the road straight onto the racetrack. And for those of us that have been around racing for a while, we do know sometimes it takes a while before you see success on the track as you have to build your capability and build your understanding." So, the conversations are currently happening, and Dodds is "very optimistic that we'll see a Chinese manufacturer in the championship in the near term". But he's also realistic, adding "the next logical point to enter the championship is from the midpoint of Gen4\. So, if we assume there'll be some form of Gen4 Evo, that would be the next logical point for a manufacturer to enter on a full manufacturer basis, not just as a team partner." ## The Sanya track The series is heading to a refresher of the Sanya track that staged the March 2019 race, won by Jean-Eric Vergne's DS Techeetah. It is broadly the same layout but with subtly modified elements. The circuit will be 2.48km (1.54 miles) in length, as opposed to the 2.23km track used in the first season of Gen2 in 2019. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/d9189aa1-8d08-a9a0-9a3d-3421481e8d44.jpg) It will run to 37 laps, rather than the 36 laps (60 minutes + 1 lap) of the inaugural event. The race on Saturday will also be one of the few races in history that will include a so-called ‘zero lap' whereby an off-set from the dummy grid – to be located at Turn 4/Turn 5 – to the start and finish line, which is in the same place as the 2019 race, means a different pre-start format. Drivers will be required to travel at 50km/h on the ‘zero lap' before the standing start which will take place on the grid between Turns 10 and Turns 11\. The offset distance from the starting grid to the finish line is 535 metres, similar to that of 2019. The main changes to the circuit consist of a different configuration of the first three corners, all left handers. The 2026 version features a much more open Turn 1 followed by a double apex left which now makes the old Turn 2 a pair of left hand corners, with the second one of these opening out on to the short straight to Turn 4 (the old Turn 3). The other significant changes come at the old Turn 10 area. This was previously a medium speed right-hander but has now seemingly got more flow to it, likely making it much faster. The final left at the end of the lap (then Turn 11, now Turn 12) has what looks like a cleaner and more flowing 90-degree corner that appears to do away with the jutting out exit barrier on the outside of the corner. The race will run to the regular 38.5kWh of usable energy allowance with the 0.93 regen coefficient. But it is the tyres, ambient and track temperatures and the threat of rain that teams are keeping an eye on. The nature of the track will allow for natural energy saving tactics to play out but overtaking will be at a premium, prioritising track position, irrespective of the two attack mode power boosts driver will get. Cupra Kiro racing manager, Gary Paffett, reckons that "Turn 9 will be the corner to watch". "We saw plenty of action there when Formula E first raced in Sanya, and I'd be surprised if the drivers were any more polite this time around," he added. "With eight left-hand corners, the right-hand tyres are going to have a very busy weekend. Throw in the heat and the humidity we're anticipating, and tyre management could become a much bigger factor than drivers expect. If drivers push too hard too early, they'll pay for it." ## What happened in 2019? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/11-1017400936-LAT-20190323-_J6I2435-2048x2048.jpg) The first Sanya E-Prix was held just two weeks after the last ever Hong Kong E-Prix in what was then Formula E's Asian leg in the spring of 2019. The practice period featured drama for Sebastien Buemi as he crashed his Nissan bizarrely at Turn 1\. This was the start of a controversial story in which Nissan's then-innovative dual-motor system was exposed and eventually outlawed by the FIA. It is believed that this accident was a legacy of the system and prompted the FIA to investigate elements of the design further. Oliver Rowland took a surprise pole position in the other Nissan from Vergne's DS Techeetah, Antonio Felix da Costa's BMW and Daniel Abt's Audi. Vergne put what was ultimately a race-winning move on Rowland at the final corner with 20 minutes to run. Vergne's team-mate Andre Lotterer fed Andretti BMW's Alexander Sims into the wall, bringing out a red flag. At the restart Vergne was placed under investigation for a safety car infraction which eventually came to nothing, while Robin Frijns was tipped into Lucas di Grassi by an errant Buemi, with the former two forced out while Buemi got a 10-second time penalty dropping him from sixth to eighth place. That incident ensured the race ended under safety car with Vergne claiming his first win of the season and thrusting him to third place in the standings behind da Costa and Mahindra's Jerome d'Ambrosio. Vergne would go on to win in Monaco and Bern and seal a second title, becoming the only driver in Formula E history to win back-to-back championships. Meanwhile at Jaguar, a woeful performance by inaugural season Nelson Piquet Jr, in which he qualified last and then crashed on his own in the race, resulted in his exit from Formula E. Piquet is believed to have been told it would be his final race ahead of the event itself. He was replaced for the next race in Rome by Alex Lynn. ### Martin both apologetic and defiant over big Balaton crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/martins-response-to-crash-and-criticism-from-team-boss/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T15:00:03.000Z Jorge Martin has made a somewhat contradictory return to the MotoGP stage ahead of this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, turning up to the pre event media day both conciliatory about his role in causing a pile-up last time out at Balaton that took championship-leading Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi out - but also somewhat defiant about both the cause of the crash and its aftermath. Martin crashed on the run into Turn 1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, triggering a fall that took out not just himself and Bezzecchi but also fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez and the Ducatis of Fermin Aldeguer (a good friend of Martin's, who joked he would send him an invoice for the podium bonus he missed out on) and Fabio Di Giannantonio. The crash was considerably influenced by a slippy patch of resurfaced asphalt on the entry of the corner but, given that riders were aware of the issue, still serious enough an error from Martin to earn him a double long-lap penalty for this Sunday’s race. His initial words on the crash in his first media appearance since it happened (Aprilia having withdrawn Martin, Bezzecchi and Fernandez from post-race meida duties at Balaton) struck a conciliatory note. “The first thing I want to say,” the 2024 world champion said, “is to apologise to all the riders and manufacturers who were involved. This was my first thought. You can see my picture like this \[hands raised to his head\], what a disaster I made. “As a rider I really never want to crash and I never want to crash into other riders and even less after what I went through last season. I don't really want to injure anybody honestly. "I was really in pain after that Sunday. I was really mentally struggling to accept what happened. Now in the cold I understand that this is racing, these things can happen and the important thing for me is to improve from my mistakes and to try to be a better rider and a better person. That's it.” However, while he might have expressed anguish at the consequences of his actions, he was quick to explain that he doesn’t believe [that he was fully to blame.](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/three-factors-that-played-into-big-hungary-motogp-pile-up/) “I think honestly I didn't do anything strange,” Martin added. “As soon as I touched the brake I lost the front - so I released a bit. But for sure in this first-gear corner as soon as I released I was really much faster than the rest. “I tried to brake again and then I lost a bit more of the front and then I lost completely the control. I really hoped at that point that I was able to recover the control but it was impossible. It was a really scary crash but luckily nobody has really big injuries and we can all race here. “Absolutely the \[freshly resurfaced\] asphalt was a complete disaster in Turn 1\. It's funny but in the safety commission I was telling, like, 'you should put stronger penalisations to somebody that crashed into Turn 1'. “So I was the first one that didn't want this to happen - but this is racing and we just need to learn from the mistakes.” He also urged unity within the Aprilia camp following the damage to their championship hopes - even while also pushing back at some of the strong comments made by team boss Massimo Rivola, calling for his own rider to be punished [even more harshly than he was.](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/is-martins-penalty-too-small-his-motogp-team-boss-hints-it-might-be/) “At the end of the day it's his opinion,” Martin said when asked about Rivola’s comments. “I cannot share the \[same\] opinion with everybody. Every person has their own opinion - but, as I said before, I was the first one that didn't want to crash into nobody. “I'm so sorry for the teams. I just want to learn from that mistake but this is racing. Sometimes I do it, sometimes they do it to me, sometimes other riders can crash into other riders and the important thing for me is to learn and that luckily nothing important happened. “I think it's time to be more united than ever \[within Aprilia\] because if we are one against the other ones it's like shooting ourselves. It's no sense. We have to be intelligent. I will be intelligent. “I spoke with Marco after the race twice. For sure it was difficult in that moment. I spoke today with Massimo and I think we are on the same line. Now it's different compared to two weeks ago and everything is on the same direction.” ### Koenigsegg's Sadair's Spear gets the Lego Technic treatment URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/koenigseggs-sadairs-spear-gets-the-lego-technic-treatment/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T14:46:25.000Z Swedish megacar manufacturer Koenigsegg is the latest brand to get the Lego Technic Ultimate Car Concept treatment. The ultra-exclusive Sadair’s Spear, of which there are only 30 in the world, has been immortalised in a new Lego set, available for purchase from July 1\. Koenigsegg fans, also known as the ‘Ghost Squadron’, will now have their chance to get their hands on the 4,104-piece set of the megacar, complete with a functioning Ghost Mode. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/42232_Lifestyle_Build_06.jpg) Koenigsegg joins the Porsche 911, Bugatti Chiron, Lamborghini Sián, Ferrari Daytona and McLaren P1 in being transformed into 1:8 scale sports car models as a part of Lego’s Car Concept series. The Koenigsegg megacar set features an authentic V8 piston engine, a functional 9-speed transmission, unique Triplex front and rear suspension and most importantly, the Swedish brand’s innovative ‘Ghost Mode’ function. Just like the real-life megacar, with a single movement, it raises the rear clam, rotates the signature dihedral synchro-helix doors and front hood, and folds the mirrors. Christian von Koenigsegg, CEO of Koenigsegg, said: “Our partnership with the Lego Group demonstrates how a shared passion for engineering and creativity can result in something extraordinary.” Kasper Rene Hansen, Senior Model Designer at the Lego Group, who led the design and development of the 1:8 Technic set over 18 months, said, “This is, to date, the most challenging and the most exciting model I’ve ever done". Not content with being a part of an elite group of supercars transformed into Lego, Koenigsegg took it one step further and set another record as the fastest Lego Technic big build car ever. To celebrate the launch of the set, the Danish toy brand built a 1:1 drivable Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear entirely out of Lego - consisting of 327,906 elements and weighing 1,800kg. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/LEGO-Technic-Koenigsegg-Goodwood-Track_6.jpg) The record of 111km/h was set downhill on the Goodwood Hillclimb by Koenigsegg test driver, Markus Lundh, doubling the previous record of 50km/h. Lundh had set the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb record in the real Sadair’s Spear the year prior. Lundh said: "Getting the chance to take the driver's seat of this life-size Lego Technic build was an incredible privilege. It really did feel like I was handling a real Koenigsegg, bringing back memories of setting the speed record at Goodwood in the Sadair's Spear in July 2025\. It was awesome to set another record on this iconic course - a true testament to the level of engineering the Lego Technic team has achieved.” Speaking to The Race, COO Halldora von Koenigsegg said, “We have our fair amount of people with an obsession for innovation at Koenigsegg and so does Lego so it was actually a match made in heaven to have our two teams challenge each other.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_2919-2.jpg) Fittingly, Halldora explained that there is an Easter Egg on their Sadair's Spear cars that ties in nicely to the Lego partnership: “There’s a little inscription that says ‘when imagination meets innovation’ and I think it says it so well so I’m proud of the collaboration.” The Lego Technic Koenigsegg Sadair’s Spear Megacar set will be available for Lego Insiders' Early Access from 1 July 2026 and for general sale from 4 July 2026, priced at GBP£399.99/USD$449.99. ### Gary Anderson on Ferrari's race-winning 2026 upgrade URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-on-ferrari-race-winning-2026-upgrade/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T08:28:41.000Z Ferrari started the 2026 Formula 1 season with what I would call a fairly basic aerodynamic package - even Lewis Hamilton said the same thing on many occasions. However, as it was a completely new ruleset this allowed the team to see which way the wind was blowing, see where it stood, and develop its package in the direction that track experience dictated. Ferrari was the first to run a working example of the 'up-and-over' rear wing, so this was a clue to the fact the team was in reality going to push the limits in every area it could. The 'smaller' internal combustion engine turbo package allowed Ferrari to be very competitive off the start line, but in reality the car didn't have the ultimate race pace to compete against the early-season domination of Mercedes. No one really did and we all expected a season similar to 2014 - which Mercedes dominated with its brand new hybrid V6 turbo power unit. Ferrari has been bringing small updates to each race, but for Barcelona introduced what could be called the [big one](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-reveals-8-part-upgrade-for-barcelona-f1-race/). In reality, it encompassed most of the car; from the front wing to the diffuser, nothing was left untouched. And it all seemed to work. From a front-row start for a much happier Hamilton on soft tyres trying to immediately take the lead off the start line (which didn't quite work) against George Russell, who was on mediums, this allowed Ferrari to stop earlier and fit the more durable hards. After that all settled down he was leading and kept that lead with the benefit of a virtual safety car pitstop for a set of fresh hards, after which he was able to look after the tyres better and win by a fair margin. So let's take a look at those developments, starting as usual with the front wing package. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-9b1692e5-7245-48ce-abdf-120c389dc96a.jpeg) Ferrari has now got the customary turning vane on the outer surface of the front wing endplate. This - as highlighted in magenta below - helps direct the airflow downwards and, with the help of the yellow-shaded turning vanes mounted on the footplate, directs that flow into the airflow that is displaced when the front tyre rotates onto the track surface. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-endplate-Ferrari-Spain-2.jpg) This is called outwash tyre squirt and the more of that you can achieve the less inwash tyre squirt there will be, which overall improves the performance of the front wing, the bargeboards and the leading edge of the underfloor. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-1375c26d-a4a2-40fd-856c-ae343b9d4ff6.jpeg) One of the more interesting developments are these vanes on the underside of the endplate foot. These will manage and improve the consistency of what inwash is left. The steering angle is always on the move - different corners have different corner radiuses - so these vanes highlighted in light blue (above) will be placed at a compromised angle and curvature to suit an average corner radius. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-3260e53a-8946-49a7-bb36-1648e963dff2.jpeg) Then we head into the sidepod and bargeboard area. The sidepod itself has an altered outboard profile, more abrupt than before, allowing the bargeboards to have an increased area to give more room to control the front wheel wake. This area behind the front tyres is fairly turbulent as the flow comes in from all directions to fill up that void. Managing the flow that gets displaced by the front tyre volume is critical to the performance of the underfloor. The bargeboard package was revised a few races ago but you can see with the white ellipse (above) how the top element has been reprofiled to help the flow get realigned with the flow further along the sidepod. The middle element now also has a small gurney flap at its trailing edge (highlighted with the yellow ellipse) and the forward part of the lower floor edge (highlighted with the green ellipse) has also been increased in exit height. All of this will mean that front corner section of the floor will be working harder and improving the actual main airflow structure to the leading edge of the underfloor. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-bd4bf97f-4341-4eec-bf70-1d39d951b9d2.jpeg) As I have said on many occasions, the diffuser can only work with the airflow that's presented to the leading edge of the underfloor. The diffuser's job is to increase the airflow speed by accelerating the airflow between the track surface the underfloor. By doing this it creates a lower pressure, generating what is called downforce - the more of that the better - but more importantly having less turbulent and more consistent airflow to that leading edge will mean more consistent underfloor downforce. Ferrari has put in lots of effort in that area. The actual floor leading edge has been altered, as have the vertical vanes (highlighted with the green shading). The more interesting part is the horizontal flow conditioner. This will help tidy up the airflow that is presented to that leading edge. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-f5e47ea1-2dc2-467f-a2d4-b72d0eab365f.jpeg) Further downstream, Ferrari has also altered the floor detail to increase the rear tyre outwash. This is achieved by connecting the airflow that is traveling through the undercut sidepod area and over the floor's upper surface to the tyre squish created when the rear tyre rotates onto the track surface. This outflow has quite high energy as it's compressed and displaced by the tyre. Basically it acts a bit like an air pump pulling airflow into its displacement energy, which in turn reduces the airflow that would normally be pulled into the underfloor area by the low pressure created by the diffuser. All this working together creates improved downforce levels and with it better consistency of downforce through the differing ride heights that the car goes through with different corner speeds. Over the last couple of seasons, we went through the magic of what a team might just be up to to help increase tyre temperature for qualifying and decrease tyre temperature for the race. Were they using water in the tyres? Was it some magical cooling duct going through the suspension members? At the time it was all about McLaren, which was winning and just had a better understanding of how to achieve it; now it's Ferrari's turn to step into the limelight. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6566-1.jpg) Well, these are the rims. Front and rear, they're a bit different as far as the spoke detail is concerned, however they have to do a very different job: the fronts have about 60% of the braking torque going through them, the rears have the other 40% in one direction braking and about 25% of that same total torque load in the opposite direction under acceleration. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6568-1.jpg) Yes, the mass of the rears transmitting the torque and heat from the rim to the hub assembly looks like it could be greater, but in my opinion, that could be detrimental for the tyres over a long run when you want to minimise the rear tyre temperatures. Having an increased mass will just retain the temperature for longer which might just be beneficial for keeping temperature in the brakes when only using reharvesting on the rear axle. Both of the wheel fairings are very similar, so there's no real difference in the flow through the rims. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6532-1.jpg) This is the inner detail of unfortunately two front rims, again I'm not seeing anything trick just simple efficient design detail to optimise the stiffness and weight. In Barcelona Ferrari had a fast car in qualifying that matched Mercedes. The only reason we didn't have two Ferraris up there was that Charles Leclerc threw it into the barriers on his first lap in Q3, otherwise I think he might just've snatched pole. Anyway, that might not have mattered as he retired with a mechanical problem late on in the race. However, Hamilton came to the rescue, second on the grid by a smidgen and winning the race with the fastest lap and a fairly big margin showed that this development package has brought qualifying and race performance to Ferrari. Is Ferrari or Hamilton now a championship contender? I think we need a few more races before we can decide on that, but Ferrari is now firmly in Mercedes' rear-view mirrors once again. ### Trackhouse signs new team manager amid revamp URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/trackhouse-signs-new-team-manager-amid-revamp/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T09:09:11.000Z Aprilia MotoGP satellite team Trackhouse has named a new team manager as it revamps its leadership ahead of the planned departure of team principal Davide Brivio. Brivio, who has been part of the Trackhouse set-up since shortly after it entered MotoGP, will take on a Honda role next year. That had left Trackhouse needing to recruit a new senior MotoGP figure to report to team owner Justin Marks, and as expected it has settled on Francesco Guidotti as a new hire. Guidotti - who had served as Aprilia team manager in World Superbikes in the more distant past - began his MotoGP career with a long leadership stint at Pramac before embarking on a spell heading up the KTM factory team until the end of 2024, since when he has largely appeared as a TV pundit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1198521_HiRes.jpg) Marks has described the announcement of Guidotti's arrival as a "thrilling development for Trackhouse". "Francesco has a long and successful career in professional motorcycle racing but, just as importantly, he fits the culture and vision of our company," said Marks. Guidotti will start work immediately, featuring as team manager while Brivio continues in his team principal role. Trackhouse has confirmed the pair will work together until Brivio's exit. Trackhouse is virtually certain to stay with Aprilia in MotoGP next year, and the biggest topic it faces currently - presumably one Guidotti will be entrusted to help navigate - is [its rider line-up for 2027](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/three-contenders-for-one-of-motogp-best-seats/). There is thought to be an agreement with Enea Bastianini for one seat, while the other is believed to be a choice between Manu Gonzalez, Luca Marini and incumbent Raul Fernandez. The other incumbent, Ai Ogura, is set to move to Yamaha. Honda has also made another step in its own reshuffle around Brivio's arrival in a still to be defined position and Alberto Puig's move away from being team boss and into an advisory role. It has announced that its current technical manager Mikihiko Kawase will become team manager next year, with Puig "advising and assisting". ### Three contenders for one of MotoGP's best seats URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/three-contenders-for-one-of-motogp-best-seats/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T14:48:31.000Z There are zero guarantees that Aprilia's current rampant performance will carry through into MotoGP's 2027 rules and Pirelli tyres era. But right now, if you want a rider-friendly, confidence-inducing bike that's a safe bet to be either the benchmark machine or a close second-best at every race, Aprilia's RS-GP is your pick. And given Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura's results this year, that's as true of the satellite Trackhouse Aprilias as the works bikes. Ogura is exiting for a factory Yamaha seat next year, with Enea Bastianini believed to joining from Tech3 KTM to take that ride. But there's no certainty Fernandez will stay on. He seemed particularly glum on that topic, even immediately after his commanding Mugello sprint win last month. The situation is complicated by the impending team leadership change at Trackhouse, with team principal Davide Brivio leaving for Honda and ex-Pramac and KTM team boss Francesco Guidotti tipped to replace him, but team owner Justin Marks is believed to be leading 2027 rider calls for now. Trackhouse is understood to have three options in mind. ## Has Raul Fernandez bloomed too late? After years of Fernandez not living up to his huge Moto2 promise in MotoGP but being given the benefit of the doubt by supporters such as Brivio and Aprilia works team chief Massimo Rivola, Fernandez is now in jeopardy just as he's finally become a reliable frontrunner. Whether Brivio's exit has cost Fernandez a key backer or not, Fernandez certainly gives the impression that it has done. He sounded slightly more positive about his 2027 prospects in the last round at Balaton - but it wasn't clear whether that was due to his Trackhouse chances improving or finding an alternative (potentially an unlikely return to the Tech3 team, where he had such an unhappy rookie season). On current form, there's no real case to replace Fernandez. But this may simply be a relationship that's run its course, and Trackhouse may want a more dependable presence than Fernandez has been until recently. It might also be telling that his breakthrough has only come when Aprilia became the benchmark bike. ## Is Gonzalez becoming too good to overlook? Until recently, the increasingly commanding Moto2 championship leader looked like he wouldn't be among the ample Moto2 graduates landing in MotoGP next year. The fact he's in his fifth Moto2 season counted against him. But it probably shouldn't - if he keeps up this form, it'll be his third straight year in the championship top three, and his trajectory feels reminiscent of Johann Zarco's rise towards MotoGP. Plus while he's been in Moto2 a while, he's still only 23, and arrived there not via Moto3 but the Supersport scene. The fact Trackhouse is one of his suitors is significant because it has already tested him on its MotoGP bike last year - so its decision is coming from data that must give it faith he could quickly adapt. Is that enough to supplant a race winner such as Fernandez, or to squeeze one of the many in-jeopardy MotoGP stalwarts off the grid? Is Gonzalez flattered by how strong his Intact team's 2026 Moto2 form is? This will not be a 'get this rising mega-star on the MotoGP grid ASAP' clear-cut case, nor a travesty if Gonzalez doesn't make it for 2027\. But he's getting much harder to overlook. ## Marini's options are thinning Luca Marini is poker-facing his way through the silly season, talking as if there's no rush to decide his future - yet Honda has filled its seats with Fabio Quartararo and David Alonso plus LCR incumbents Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco. Had Honda snared Tech3 from KTM, there might be an in-house alternative for Marini, but there isn't now. Renowned for his development contributions and being 'Mr Dependable' when it comes to bringing home points, Marini is an asset any manufacturer would have an eye on - though this seat is Trackhouse's call, not Aprilia HQ's. That caveat also applies to the school of thought that, with Ducati going all-Spanish for its 2027 works line-up (Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta), Aprilia might revel in going all-Italian across its line-up with factory pair Marco Bezzecchi and Pecco Bagnaia, plus Bastianini and Marini at Trackhouse. Does it need four Italians to get that home PR rush when it already has three, including both its works riders, though? Surely not. There's also a constant doubt about Marini's outright raw pace. His qualifying record against current Honda team-mate Joan Mir (who's heading for Gresini next year) is poor. Marini's contribution to Honda's turnaround is clear, but you'd look to the rest of the Honda regular line-up for headlines and fireworks. ### Mercedes gets hearing date over Monaco penalty U-turn URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-gets-hearing-date-over-monaco-penalty-u-turn/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T14:10:13.000Z A date has been set for Mercedes’ right of review petition over the controversial overturning of Pierre Gasly’s two penalties from Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix. Alpine’s own successful right of review resulted in Pierre Gasly’s podium being reinstated on the Friday after Monaco, as Formula One Management were found to have made a measurement error that led to multiple pitlane speeding penalties. But Gasly's reinstatement drew criticism from other teams, with [McLaren](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-lodges-appeal-against-decision-to-cancel-gasly-monaco-penalties/) and Red Bull both following through with their intention to appeal to the FIA International Court of Appeal over the penalties U-turn. Now Mercedes, whose driver George Russell lost a potential podium because of a penalty for pitlane speeding (and received another penalty for failing to serve that correctly) has opted to use the right of review procedure. That will require Mercedes to produce a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the stewards at the time of the decision concerned”. Mercedes doesn’t believe it’s a case it’s likely to win, according to team boss Toto Wolff speaking last Sunday. "We've asked for a right of review, because you just simply want to sit on the table when decisions are being made," said Wolff. "\[But\] I still think it's a long shot.” A Mercedes representative must report to the stewards this Saturday at 8am for a virtual conference. The first part of the conference will determine whether Mercedes has cleared that new element threshold. If it has, then a second part of the hearing will take place shortly afterwards. Any other "concerned party" can seek the permission of the stewards to attend. If Mercedes fails to provide sufficient new evidence, the right of review will be denied. ### How Ferrari's mastering F1's new hidden development war URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-ferrari-is-mastering-new-f1-hidden-development-war/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T14:46:03.000Z Lewis Hamilton's surprise Barcelona Grand Prix win was certainly helped by the downforce gains that Ferrari brought as part of a major Formula 1 upgrade package. But it has emerged there was an extra interesting contributor to its success, in an area where a hidden development war appears to be breaking out. Mercedes had been the early-season benchmark when it came to tyre management, especially with Ferrari having struggled in this area. But the tables were turned at Barcelona. On a race day when keeping the tyres alive was critical to success, as thermal degradation was the worst it had been all season, Hamilton and Ferrari were every bit a match for Mercedes. While some of this performance swing will have been helped by the increased downforce from new aero parts bringing more load to the tyres, so they slide less, it was almost certainly no coincidence that Barcelona marked the race debut of a Ferrari development linked to improved tyre cooling. Not mentioned by Ferrari as part of the official declaration for new car parts it has to give the FIA, the team introduced new wheel rims aimed at improving its thermal management of tyres. Wheel rimes are no longer a standard component (they were in the ground effect era) and teams have been working closely with their partners - in this case Ferrari uses BBS - to perfect designs for maximum performance. As well as weight and rigidity being important, there is a big push in using airflow, convection and heat dissipation to keep tyres as cool as possible. And it's become an important area of development because the gains can be so big. ## Significant benefits From the perspective of F1's tyre supplier Pirelli, there has been a noticeable step change in what teams are doing this year compared to last - as well as some considerable differences in how good teams have become in managing things. Pirelli's F1 chief engineer Simone Berra said: "It's quite a significant variation. "What we have seen this year is that generally stabilised conditions are much lower than in the past, and this is because the rim basically is cooling the whole wheel, and the tyres themselves. "So this is generating quite a big difference - not only on the rim geometry, but also on the stabilised conditions, team by team. "Some teams are stabilising quite high with temperature and pressure. Some other teams are stabilising very low. There are completely different approaches, and this can have a big impact. "The teams that have worked to cool down the tyres a lot with the rims have quite a lot more benefit than some other teams." ## Using convection F1's rules don't allow air to be blown out of the brake drum nor the wheel rim to cool the tyre directly (both have to be sealed as much as possible). But that does not stop teams trying to manipulate heat transfer in this area to help influence the air inside the tyre, which can help with pressures and temperatures. Isolating the wheel rim from the hot brakes is critical, as is making use as much as possible of any cool air being circulated inside the brake tins that impacts the drum's surface temperatures. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/1RAB9327.JPG) While the specifics of what Ferrari did at the back of its car are not known, as it kept the naked new rims hidden away for the weekend and The Race only got a shot of the new fronts, the concept behind developments in this area are clear. As we can see from other approaches, teams are developing air chambers into the rims - which are designed to help manipulate temperatures inside the tyre. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_4877-1.jpg) Cooler air hitting the inside external surface of the wheel rim as it travels through the air will be channelled by the spoke area on the outside. This will help cool the magnesium surface of the rims in the areas at the bottom of these chambers, with the idea then being that through convection - the transfer of heat in a gas or liquid - this cooler air can be circulated around inside the tyre. But this is not a one size fits all solution because, while keeping rear tyre temperatures cool in the race is a priority, there are times when teams need to warm them up as well. At some low-energy tracks, such as Monaco, drivers often battle to warm up the fronts enough to get them into the right operating window. So teams may choose to design their front rims in a way that means rather than trying to maximise what the cold air is doing, they want to trap warmer air that helps lift the temperature of the tyres. Pirelli said it has been obvious this year how much wheel rim design freedom has changed the game when it comes to tyre management, both in terms of internal pressures and temperatures. Berra said: "Last year in Spain, for example, we were seeing the pressures raise by 2.5-3psi \[from starting pressures to in-race stabilised pressures\]. This year is much less, probably in the region of 1psi or 2psi. "Temperature-wise, I would say the front axle is not too much different, but with the rear the teams are able to stabilise with the carcass temperature quite low. "So if we compare with last year, we are speaking about at least 15°C lower. Which then is exactly the equivalent of 1.5psi." ## A new development war The scale of the temperature-management gains made possible by nailing the wheel rim design made it obvious that teams were going to push hard in this area. This is why the FIA and Pirelli have been in dialogue since the winter about the implementation of some restrictions in terms of what teams can and cannot do in this area. The use of materials is limited to specific magnesium alloys and there are specific dimension and thickness limits, plus a demand that "there must be no passage for air between the inboard and outboard cavities" to stop blown air tricks. The wheel rims are also not allowed to have any additional elements added to them that are designed specifically to help cool the tyres. Article C.10.7k states: "Features intended to influence the heat transfer characteristics of the wheel rim are not permitted. F1 teams are required to submit designs to the FIA for approval." While there is nothing in the regulations that specifically outlaws teams from bringing different wheel rims designs to each race if they wanted to, there are some off-book restrictions that prevent that. The Race understands that as part of advisory documents sent to teams, once they switch wheel rim design, then they have to stick with it from then on - so they cannot keep swapping back and forth. Furthermore, there are demands that as well as the individual designs being submitted in advance, the actual rims themselves need to be shipped to Pirelli's main factory in advance for some trial fitting of tyres to ensure that there are no problems and the rubber sits perfectly. This process can take time, which effectively prevents teams from going through too many design iterations. As Berra said: "They cannot switch for just one weekend, because for us it's difficult to manage different specifications. "So they can start the season with one rim specification and, at some point, if they decide to change, they can switch to another rim \[but not go back again\]. Otherwise it would become a mess." ## FIA's watching brief The fact that Ferrari has made a mid-season rim design change, and it is understood Red Bull could be set to follow suit as early as the next race, the Austrian Grand Prix, has shown that this is a design area likely to be pursued by all teams. The Race has learned that tyre rim development is being monitored by the FIA to ensure there is not an unnecessary development war that risks excessive spending or teams taking things to extremes. And while the FIA sees no need to step in and lay down any fresh restrictions just yet, it is understood that the governing body is pondering some fresh guidelines over the winter to ensure that things are kept under control in 2027. Berra said: "We know that the teams are working to try to extract something from the rims. And I think some of the solutions they have brought are going in this direction. "There are some discussions also internally from the FIA side, also involving us, to see what is reasonable and what is not reasonable. "And I know that FIA would like to regulate a little bit more, because they don't want the rims to be a tool to cool down or to heat up the tyres." ## Ferrari stays cautious The way that Ferrari was so much better with tyre management in Spain will have put rivals on alert about whether it has unlocked a significant step - thanks to both downforce and the wheel rims. If there is a feeling that more performance can be gained from having better rims, then expect others to start exploring their own ideas more aggressively. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur wanted to hold fire before committing to saying the team had found a breakthrough. "It's not because you are doing one good weekend that you will blow up everybody every single weekend," he said. "We know that the conditions are quite extreme, it was already the case in Canada for opposite reasons, but the next race in Austria it will be something more average. "I think we are all really on the edge for validation. You can do a good stint and a bad stint with the same car on the same track, and we have differences between cars. "If you compare the stints on medium and hard, some cars were much more performant on the hard, some were much more performant on the medium. It's not a given for the rest of the season." If Austria repeats the picture shown at Barcelona though, expect others to start taking a closer look at their wheel rims. ### Equivalent of 100,000 flights cut from F1's carbon footprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/one-hundred-thousand-transatlantic-flights-cut-f1-carbon-footprint/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T09:37:21.000Z Formula 1 has now cut its carbon footprint by 35% since 2018 - which it calls the equivalent of 100,000 London-to-New York passenger flights - as it pursues its goal of becoming 'Net Zero' by 2030. F1's latest update on its sustainability progress claims a 12% reduction last year compared to 2024 across freight, logistics, broadcast and race operations. The reduction from a 2018 baseline of 228,793 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) to 148,805 tonnes includes the use of sustainability certificates (SAFc), which represent the purchase of credits for sustainable aviation fuel produced in the supply chain. This is an established and independently verified practice that allows companies like F1 to report lower emissions in their accounts while accelerating the supply-side development of cleaner fuels. Without SAFc, F1 still reports a 21% reduction in physical emissions of more than 47,000 tonnes. This practice is also done alongside practical operational changes from F1 and other stakeholders. Emissions have fallen 64% at team factories and F1 facilities since 2018 through measures such as renewable energy contracts, while as of last year the entire European race calendar included low-carbon energy solutions within the paddock such as solar, battery and hydrotreated vegetable oil - which cut emissions in the areas used by around 90%. F1 also has lower-carbon fuel solutions across road, air and sea freight. The biofuel truck programme on European land freight cuts related emissions by around 83% while the first investment in sustainable maritime fuel was made in 2025. Despite the calendar increasing from 21 races in 2018 to 24 in the last two years, event operations emissions are down 6% overall and 17% on a per-race basis. Business travel, which covers team personnel and broadcast staff on commercial flights, remains the single largest emissions category at 39% of F1's total footprint and an emissions reduction of 27%. This reflects the fact that global air travel is effectively a necessary evil for a world championship covering 24 events plus pre-season testing, plus the growth of F1 in recent years means more personnel travelling to races - hence the purchase of sustainability certificates becomes a key lever for further reductions. F1 says that emissions from travel will continue to decrease as a result of the calendar rationalising in effect from this year - with races continuing to be grouped together more by region - but also as teams scale their fuel investments and FOM's own remote broadcast operations plan is expanded. This is the most powerful tool in FOM's arsenal as it removes the need for people and equipment to travel by air. Its plan, called the Future Race Operations Programme, is to move more than 50% of broadcast and related freight from air to sea freight or regional hubs by 2030. This would be genuine operational decarbonisation rather than certificate-based reduction and if delivered at scale will be key to F1 reaching a threshold of a 50% absolute reduction against 2018 and meeting the net zero target for 2030. ### The true cost of Mercedes' biggest 2026 weakness URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-true-cost-of-mercedes-biggest-2026-weakness/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T07:09:06.000Z Mercedes knows it cannot afford non-finishes in a "regular, continued way" if it's to see off the increased championship threat from Ferrari this Formula 1 season. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have both lost big chunks of points to race-ending mechanical failures, which has left Mercedes (via Antonelli) with a 41-point advantage in the drivers' championship and a 72-point constructors' championship lead, both of which should be bigger. "I'm underwhelmed," said team principal Toto Wolff after Mercedes' reliability let it down again at Barcelona, as Antonelli retired from second place late on. "You can't DNF cars in a kind of regular, continued way. Losing 25 points in a constructors' championship \[fight\] in Montreal and losing another 18 points today. "In order to finish first, first you have to finish. Reliability, this is what we need to get on top of. That's number one." How is reliability really affecting the title race? Well, Mercedes has, by our calculations, lost more points than any of the other top four teams. There is no perfect way to measure points lost to reliability. After all, you never know how a race will play out if that individual continues in the race. Monaco is the trickiest to unpack with all the penalties there. There's no definitive way of saying where a driver would have finished without a mechanical problem, but we've gone for the cleanest (if imperfect) method of counting the position they were in when their race-ending problems struck. That does lead to scenarios in which Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are both credited with eight points lost from China because they both retired (or in Norris's case, didn't start) from sixth place. But it still paints a good picture of which teams and drivers have lost the most points among the top four teams. --- ### Points lost to reliability issues (team) **Mercedes**: 43 **Red Bull**: 36 **McLaren**: 30 **Ferrari**: 10 ### Points lost to reliability issues (driver) **Verstappen**: 26 **Russell**: 25 **Norris**: 20 **Antonelli**: 18 **Hadjar**: 10 **Leclerc**: 10 **Piastri**: 10 **Hamilton**: 0 --- Hamilton is the clear winner there, and that's partly why he was already second in the drivers' championship before [his Barcelona win](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-first-ferrari-f1-win-what-made-it-possible/), coupled with his strong return to form. Russell would point to issues in Shanghai qualifying costing him pole position (and a clearer route to the victory that Antonelli instead took) as seven more points lost but, without a parallel universe, we'll never know if he'd have taken pole. ### What's going wrong for Mercedes? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/HJHMvULXQAAEXLZ.jpeg) A thorough investigation into Russell's Montreal failure hasn't really started yet - because his battery is still floating on sea freight somewhere between Montreal and Mercedes' Brackley base. "We got the car back \[to the garage in Montreal\] and were able to get the module out of it. It had to undergo some unusual safety procedures and then has to be shipped back actually to the UK," Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said on the team's own podcast earlier this month. "So it will therefore be several months before the hardware gets back and we need to really dig through the data to understand exactly what went wrong and then work out how we try and prevent a repeat on any of the other modules in the future." The complex electrical nature of the battery means it's not the easiest thing to send via air freight. Whether a similar issue caused Antonelli's Barcelona retirement isn't yet known. "We don't know yet what was the cause of the failure," Wolff said on Sunday at Barcelona. "Most of the others were battery-related. But different failures. It was not always the same. "So we need to understand what it was. But clearly the symptom was quite similar with the car, like George in Montreal, where the car just switched off. "We will be really digging deep to make sure that this doesn't happen again." It was two unrelated battery failures that meant neither of Mercedes customer McLaren's cars could start the Chinese Grand Prix, while a different power unit issue ended Norris's Monaco GP. It was McLaren's gearbox failing that caused Norris's retirement from Montreal. The team has had to break the Friday night curfew two weekends running, in Monaco and at Barcelona, in order to remedy reliability issues for the rest of those events. The other customers, Williams and Alpine, have both had their problems too, but Mercedes and McLaren have suffered the most in terms of losing points-paying positions. And Mercedes knows that's worrying for its title ambitions, with Ferrari's Barcelona upgrade seemingly eroding some of Mercedes' previous clear performance advantage. "You see a DNF robs you of 25 points and it's wide open," Wolff said of the title race. "That's why we can't afford to not finish. We need to just keep putting performance on the car and power unit, not make mistakes, be clever with the strategy and stay absolutely on it." ### McLaren lodges appeal against decision to cancel Gasly Monaco penalties URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-lodges-appeal-against-decision-to-cancel-gasly-monaco-penalties/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T14:05:25.000Z McLaren has lodged a notification of appeal with the FIA International Court of Appeal against the adjusted result of Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix. On the Friday after the Monaco GP, the stewards [cancelled Pierre Gasly’s two penalties](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-missing-centimetres-that-forced-f1s-stunning-gasly-penalty-u-turn/), which resulted in him moving from seventh to third in the adjusted classification. This was due to an admission of a Formula One Management measurement error having been made with the pitlane speed limit. Gasly’s reinstatement into third stripped Isack Hadjar of his first F1 podium with Red Bull Racing and also demoted Oscar Piastri and the Racing Bulls duo one position each. Piastri said he was [“mind-blown”](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/oscar-piastri-shock-monaco-gp-penalty-pierre-gasly-podium/) by the decision at Barcelona on Saturday, and McLaren had already lodged a notification of appeal within an hour of the decision being made, as per the rules. That gave it 96 hours to decide whether or not to follow through, and it has now chosen to do so with the FIA International Court of Appeal. McLaren’s argument centres on the fact that teams were aware of pitlane speed discrepancies and some adjusted their procedures for the race to take more margin to mitigate the measurement errors. McLaren said: “While we fully respect the FIA’s judicial processes and the role of the stewards, we believe this case raises important questions concerning sporting fairness, regulatory consistency and the integrity of competition. “Throughout the Monaco Grand Prix weekend – and in every event - all teams operated according to the regulations and established standard practices for what concerns the speed limit in the pitlane as they were applied at the time. “Competitors adjusted their procedures accordingly and, where required, accepted and served penalties imposed under those regulations. “In our view, the subsequent removal of penalties creates a situation in which some competitors are disadvantaged by having acted in accordance with the rules and the stewards’ decisions. “Such an outcome risks creating sporting inequity and undermining confidence in the consistent application of the FIA Sporting Regulations. “Our decision to appeal is not directed at any competitor. Rather, it reflects our belief that the championship benefits from regulations that are applied consistently, transparently and fairly to all participants. “McLaren remains committed to working constructively with the FIA, Formula 1 and fellow competitors to protect the integrity of the sport and maintain confidence in its regulatory framework.” Red Bull was also weighing up whether to follow through with its appeal. It hasn’t handed back the [third-place trophy](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-holds-onto-gaslys-trophy-as-it-ponders-appeal/) to Pierre Gasly and Alpine yet. Red Bull insists it is in the process of arranging for the trophy to get to Alpine. Mercedes has been discussing the matter with its [lawyers](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-lawyers-monaco-penalties/) \- George Russell received two penalties that dropped him well outside the points. It's going down the right of review path that Alpine used to get the penalty overturned in the first place. "We've asked for a right of review, because you just simply want to sit on the table when decisions are being made," he said. "\[But\] I still think it's a long shot.” ### Alex Marquez to attempt MotoGP return at Brno URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/alex-marquez-to-attempt-motogp-return-at-brno/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T13:24:22.000Z Alex Marquez will attempt to return to MotoGP action at this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, a month after his horrific Barcelona crash. The Gresini rider suffered neck and collarbone injuries when he clipped Pedro Acosta’s suddenly-slowing KTM at high speed on Barcelona’s back straight. Marquez had surgery on the clavicle element of his injuries soon afterwards. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro stood in for him at Mugello and its works World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona then came in for Balaton and starred with seventh in the grand prix in his first MotoGP appearance in three years. Marquez will need to pass medical checks at Brno on Thursday before he can be cleared to race, but Gresini said he was travelling to the track “with the aim of being declared fit”. His brother Marc revealed at Mugello, the round after Alex’s crash, that the first days after the injury had been extremely hard. Marc had missed Barcelona while recovering from his own injury and surgery. "The first week for Alex was tough. It was tough. I picked him up at the airport on Monday, arriving in his house and \[once I left\] after two hours his girlfriend called me, \[saying\] 'please, your brother is \[doing\] super bad, we need to do something,’” Marc recalled. "Then he went again to the hospital and stayed there for two days. It was bad. "But after seeing the image \[of the crash\] from home, I was like ice \[frozen\], I was watching the situation - and we know the risk we have, it's always there, but when it happens to some of your family or some riders that are very close to you, the impact is even more. "So, yes, all Sunday I was suffering a lot, honestly speaking, because I know that with this kind of crash, sometimes the \[real\] damage arrives later.” ### Haas offers F1 test to McLaren's F2 champion URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/haas-to-try-mclarens-f2-champion-in-private-f1-test/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T13:26:03.000Z Haas has handed McLaren reserve and reigning Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli a two-day test in its 2025 Formula 1 car. Fornaroli made his FP1 debut with McLaren at Barcelona, impressing the team and finishing as the fastest of the seven drivers who subbed in for first practice. He'd already conducted Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) running with McLaren at Barcelona, Silverstone and Austin. Haas says it has "offered the opportunity" of a two-day test in its 2025 car at Jerez with Haas reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa also in attendance, as part of its use of TPC running to "test and appraise drivers". Haas started its TPC programme last year with the help of technical partner Toyota, with drivers including ex-F1 drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima, and Super Formula champions Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata appearing so far. Haas also used the programme to give Romain Grosjean his farewell F1 test. Haas is one of only two teams (along with Alpine) not to tick off one of its four mandatory rookie practice outings this season. Fornaroli won back to back F3 and F2 titles across 2024 and 2025 then joined McLaren as a reserve driver this year. The 21-year-old Italian drew praise from McLaren team boss Andrea Stella after his Barcelona FP1 debut, where his fastest time was 0.650s off Oscar Piastri. "It is a very deserved opportunity. We have worked with Leonardo for some months now. We have appreciated massively his attitude as a person and as a driver," Stella explained. "He is actually a very interesting character; he looks timid, but by far is the most proactive driver in asking the engineers. He goes around with his notebook, takes several notes, and as soon as he has an idea, he shares it. So it's a very interesting character. "Then when he gets in a car, be it a simulator, be it in the TPC testing car, or here in a free practice one session, he is fast. "We gave Leonardo some duties in the first part of his FP1 session, because he needed to do some work for us on the rakes - it is actually the rakes to try and understand the behaviour of the \[new\] front wing. It was difficult, because he needed to go in constant speed while everyone else was at normal speed. "He did it with a great level of professionalism and a great level of precision in terms of these procedures, because there is a lot of work on the steering wheel to achieve the right speed and stay away from traffic. "Then when we gave him a couple of sets \[of tyres\], one used, one new, he was fast. And I have to say that in the laptime he did, you should take away two tenths of a second, because he loses two tenths of a second down the straight, because with this power unit you need to get some familiarity. "As soon as you have to manage some traffic, the state of charge of the battery is not maximum, and you are going to be punished down the straight. "So I am very happy with the attitude, the speed, the consistency. "Leonardo is certainly an asset for Formula 1 in the future." ### Three rookies vying for a past champion's Formula E seat URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/three-rookies-vying-for-champion-di-grassi-formula-e-seat/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T11:02:09.000Z The identity of 2016-17 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi's replacement on the grid is set to be finalised soon, as the Lola-Yamaha Abt team firms up who will take the retiring di Grassi's place for the start of the Gen4 era. Zane Maloney also requires a new deal to stay on at the team, but the Formula 2 race winner is believed to be close to sealing that objective. Maloney has only scored two points in his season and a half with the team. But his performances have been strong, especially this season, and he has already contributed to the Gen4 development programme with the team. But with di Grassi [committed to retiring](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/formula-e-champion-di-grassi-announces-his-retirement-from-racing/), there's another seat to fill. Deputy team principal Frederic Espinos told The Race recently that the target was "to have the driver decided before we really start the Gen4 test period". "This is key, and I would say, even more than the driver, is to have the guy which is available to do the test of the Gen4\. Because the guy needs to arrive, and it will be tight and so on," added Espinos. Along with team principal Mark Preston and engineering leads at the team, Espinos has long since pinpointed the drivers Lola-Yamaha is interested in for Gen4. They sounded out Mitch Evans earlier this year and although an offer was believed to have been made, the current championship leader decided to opt for a Stellantis deal [with the Opel brand](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/mitch-evans-opel-everything-behind-formula-e-big-2026-move/) that will come in under a new licence and bespoke team. That has left a small pool of drivers, all rookies, that have been scoped out. These are all recent F2 race winners: Robert Shwartzman, Richard Verschoor and Victor Martins. "I'm going to state the obvious, but there are two options it's a bit stupid what I'm going to say, and in French we call it 'Vérité de la Palisse' - a French expression used to describe an obvious, self-evident truth or a statement that is ridiculously self-explanatory," explained Espinos. "So, we either take a driver from the existing ecosystem or we take a rookie. That's the two choices. "I do believe that for us, and with Gen4 arriving and so on, it's better to take a rookie. That's my view. It's the right time, I mean, if there is a time to take a rookie, it's now, at the beginning of the Gen4 rules cycle." Testing will ramp up again for Lola this month with several days booked. Di Grassi will continue to bring his experience of overall development, while Maloney is also believed to be slated for cockpit time too. Lola's initial runs with the Gen4 development car were far from straightforward but its most recent days have featured some breakthroughs. Having the definitive race drivers for next season will be a key objective as the summer goes on and the team, which is already in a state of restructure after the [Lola/Abt split](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/lola-to-split-from-abt-formula-e/) was announced in January, has to allocate its engineering resources. "We need to have the drivers that will drive the car in the race having already done all the test sessions," explains Espinos. "That's really what we want to do, because this is how we need to have good inputs, how we will progress with them, and how we will build the car for them. And not the opposite, that they arrive, they discover everything and it's late. "So, for me, that's really the target. I hope in June, we know what our driver line-up will be." ## The three contenders **The favourite: Robert Shwartzman** Shwartzman has not driven since the Prema IndyCar team [effectively folded](https://www.the-race.com/junior/prema-rosin-family-exit-f2-f3-f4-indycar/) in January. Since then, he has been frequenting several paddocks, including Formula E, looking at how he can build a 2027 programme and reinvigorate his career. The 2019 Formula 3 champion held several meetings over the course of the Berlin E-Prix weekend last month and one of these was with Lola-Yamaha Abt. Although nothing has been signed, The Race understands that a firm offer for his services has been made and he is considered the strong favourite to join Maloney at the team for the first Gen4 season which is likely to kick off this December. **The intriguing choice: Victor Martins** Why Martins is so intriguing is that he has so far been affiliated to Nissan in a testing capacity, most recently running for the team at the official rookie test at Jarama in March. That was the last of his three run outs with the team and paddock rumour has long since suggested that Nissan may have an option on his services for next season. Martins is highly rated by some at Nissan and could be a new team-mate for Oliver Rowland. Norman Nato, despite being quick and scoring a strong fifth place at the second Berlin E-Prix in May, is on a one-year deal but is also a valuable part of the Gen4 development programme and could still get a third-straight year with the team. Martins is driving for the Alpine World Endurance Championship team this season, sharing a car with Jules Gounon and Frederic Makowiecki. However, Alpine has given notice of its intention to cease its WEC programme next February, meaning that Martins will be fully available for 2027. **The outsider: Richard Verschoor** Verschoor tested with and impressed Lola at Jarama in March but it is believed he only has an outside chance of racing with the team next season. That is likely to be due to some incompatibility with his commitments as a McLaren development driver: he will be involved in the testing of the McLaren WEC entry, while he is also competing this season in the European Le Mans Series with the Duqueine team in LMP2. ### New F1 track's standout corner explained + our verdict on it URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/madrid-f1-track-spanish-gp-standout-corner-la-monumental-our-verdict/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T10:06:50.000Z At 10-metres high, 550-metres long, and pitched at the maximum 24% angle that the FIA will allow for a Formula 1 circuit, Madrid's La Monumental banked turn already has plenty going for it. But beyond a potential 300km/h corner entry speed, and a predicted sustained 4G compression for two seconds at around 250km/h in the middle of it, the turn has something else that is unique. There is a blind exit. As drivers thread their way through it - and there is talk of it being a place where multiple lines can be in play for the six seconds it is expected to take them - the elevation compresses and a dip leaves driving facing a wall of asphalt that they will rise over before the dash down to Turn 13 - a sharp, 90-degree left-hander. The duration and rollercoaster feel that drivers will experience here is going to be like nothing else on the F1 calendar, and will make La Monumental a completely different experience to Zandvoort. As Carlos Jimenez, the Madring circuit's chief operations officer, told The Race: "The exit of the turn to reach the next one has blind spots. It's going to challenge a lot the drivers." This element was something that Williams driver Carlos Sainz said stood out for him when he got to do his first laps of the track recently. "They've designed probably one of the most unique corners I've ever seen in my life," he said. "There is this almost 180-degree banked corner that ends up in a change of compression where you don't see anything, then you go down while at the same time you're banking. They've been pretty bold with the design." For the Spanish Grand Prix's director general Luis Garcia Abad, the Madring cannot be classified as a typical street circuit. "It is not a circuit like Singapore or Vegas, it's a different one," he told The Race. "It's a circuit in the city, it is not a city circuit. There are high-speed corners, high \[elevation\] corners, we have a nice catalogue, a couple of tunnels, and for sure Monumental is the last thing that we need. We wanted to have something iconic." ## Safety change brings overtaking benefit The Madring organiser had been clear about wanting to deliver a statement corner with La Monumental, which has been built up on top of excavated earth taken out from other areas of track construction. The 24% angle of the banking - which is roughly 13.5-degrees - was as steep as Madring was allowed to go. Jimenez added: "It was one of our challenges, to receive approval from the FIA and FOM \[Formula One Management\] for this maximum inclination that we managed to agree on. It's similar to Zandvoort, but longer." It has emerged that an original design idea, of the drivers plunging down the hill from the Turn 8/9 complex and straight into the banked corner, prompted some concerns about safety. The entry speeds would have been too high - for both the cars and tyres running flat-out through there, but also the drivers and the risks of exposure to sustained G-forces. So it was agreed that an extra sequence would be put in before La Monumental to slow things down a little bit. And that is a decision that could actually have some positive consequences with the current generation of turbo hybrid cars. The sequencing of corners in F1 has a huge impact on how the current cars perform, and a run of consecutive high-speed turns is no longer a good thing because batteries are emptied and we get the dreaded super clipping. A quick glance at the Madring layout highlights some good news that should make La Monumental as spectacular as its original track designers hoped, in that preceding it there is a run of the slow- and medium-speed turns that are super easy for boosting batteries. And that extra chicane - an open Turn 10/11 right-left - before the corner that was made for safety grounds will now give the cars a chance to boost batteries for maximum deployment on the banking. Jimenez said: "The interesting point is also that they will recover part of the energy in the batteries in the downhill section between Turns 9 and 11\. So it could become an overtaking point." While La Monumental is Madring's most iconic corner, as Edd Straw outlines below, there are plenty of other areas where elevation changes and corner sequences should throw up plenty of action. Jimenez was confident that the layout is one that will delight both fans and drivers. "I think it is going to be very fun for the drivers," he said. "It's not a boring street circuit, it's a hybrid circuit with a not-so-boring street section and a completely new traditional \[element\] with very interesting and even iconic places and sections, like La Monumental. "I think it's a circuit that cannot compare with anything else, at least anything else that I have seen, and I think it's going to be interesting and fun for the drivers and for the fans." ## Edd Straw's verdict ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6682-1.jpeg) Every track needs its trademark corner, which is what La Monumental will be. Even without what will be packed grandstands lining it come September's race, that's clear from a visit to the track. It's what every track needs. An urban circuit like the Madring may have a unique setting but it's corners like this that leap to mind for the vast majority of fans. Remember Valencia, which hosted the European Grand Prix from 2008-12? Probably not, because while there were distinctive elements with the harbourside paddock and the appeal of it being in a wonderful city, the track itself was unmemorable. There will be plenty of talk about La Monumental come the grand prix weekend, with questions about lines, the long loads on car and driver and the possibility of differing lines for overtaking and trying to minimise the dirty air. You can already imagine the aerial shots of a pack of cars charging through here with the packed grandstands watching on. However, while this will become the signature corner, there's far more to this track. That's what's so clear from a visit to the track even in its unfinished form. There's a sweeping section from Turn 13 that follows La Monumental, a couple of fast chicanes on the approach - including The Bunker, which has a blind approach - and several slower but technical corners that will offer plenty of opportunity to gain and lose time. So when the cars roll out for FP1 on the second weekend in September and the track really starts to come to life, look to La Monumental as it will be the totemic corner, but don't overlook the rest of the track. ### How the biggest weekend of Herta's F1 mission really went URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/colton-herta-f1-mission-how-biggest-weekend-yet-really-went/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T08:50:56.000Z Barcelona will go down as an important weekend in Colton Herta's mission to get to Formula 1 for two key reasons. The most obvious is the successful completion of his maiden F1 practice outing for Cadillac, his first real-world experience of the new-generation F1 cars, for which he walked away from IndyCar in favour of Formula 2 and a potential route onto the F1 grid. FP1 at Barcelona wasn't Herta's first taste of F1 machinery, though. Back in the summer of 2022, McLaren handed Herta his F1 test debut at Portimao, where he clocked 162 laps (or 466 miles) over two days in McLaren's 2021 F1 car. He also completed a Testing of Previous Cars day with Alpine, a couple of months ago, to reacclimatise himself to F1 speeds. He's also been preparing on Cadillac's 2026 simulator, but nothing can quite prepare you for the real thing. "Just the speed of the car, right?" Herta said when asked what surprised him about his FP1 run. "Whenever anybody talks about the F1 car on a push lap, it's just the outright speed of it. It's the most impressive part. "The braking, the acceleration, the cornering. Every part of it is just faster than anything I've done, so it's very impressive." That's from a driver who's won nine IndyCar races and competed at the sharp end of the Indianapolis 500\. How difficult is the car to drive? For Herta, "it's hard to say in an hour" of running because "you don't get too comfortable". He added: "The correlation in the simulator work that we did was quite good. References change when you get into the real thing. It feels real, so there's a different aspect of it. "\[But\] I think all the prep work was very helpful for what we did." Herta completed 27 laps aboard the Cadillac MAC-26, ending up 4.334s off the pace, under two seconds adrift of Valtteri Bottas in the other car. Cadillac told him over the team radio "we made all our points" in reference to the development work Herta needed to complete during FP1\. And after the session, Cadillac chief racing officer Marc Hynes, who has worked with drivers including Lewis Hamilton before, called it a "good job" done. "Colton, I have huge admiration for, coming over to Europe after the nice life he had in IndyCar," Hynes said. "Everybody knows it was going to be tough coming into F2 without the knowledge of the tracks, and we all know that if you want to make it in F1, you need to know the tyres well. "Today was the start of the journey that he came for, so it was really exciting for all the team to get into FP1, get \[Herta\] in the F1 car. "He's done a little bit in the past with some TPC stuff, but first time he's driven this engine, first time for us to have switched a driver out as well. "So it's a milestone for the team, it's a milestone for the driver. And it's always energising to see the new guys coming in and the enthusiasm they bring, and get a fresh perspective on it. "He did a great job for us. We got the programme completed, and we got the data we needed." Drawing definitive conclusions from Herta's FP1 session would be futile. This was outing number one, done with the knowledge that he'll have more practice outings later in the year, where he can explore the limits more. He kept his nose clean, handled the multitude of switch changes required by drivers, and completed a variety of developmental and performance tasks. Making your practice debut in these cars is tricky given all of the somewhat counterintuitive driving practices that these 2026 power units require. **"**I was learning the whole time," Herta said. "That is something where they say it's going to happen a certain way. You really need to trust that it happens that way. So kind of learning that trust, because you can really take advantage of it in some places as a driver. "You think you're going to enter at a certain speed. Then all of a sudden the car starts slowing down and you push even more in. "With more time, that will become more natural. But really just kind of trusting the team. Them saying this is kind of what we're expecting to happen. Luckily, that's what happened when I was out there. "But it's harder when you're in the car and just be like, 'I guess should be staying on the throttle until here or whatnot'." How Herta performs in F1 machinery will be the most important factor that decides whether his big career gamble is rewarded with an F1 seat, but his Barcelona weekend also potentially marked a turning point for his F2 campaign. ## 'A clear step' in F2? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1417586_HiRes.jpg) Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman finishing sixth and 12th respectively in F2 in 2024 was evidence enough that F2 results aren't a hard barrier to graduation to F1 - or even F1 championship leader status two years later in the case of Antonelli. So the fact that Herta was 13th in the F2 drivers' championship after four rounds, having finished no higher than seventh, wasn't a total disaster. Not least because he's been facing a monumentally steep learning curve of Pirelli tyres and circuits he's either not driven before or hasn't driven on for a decade. But the key difference between, say, Herta and Antonelli's rookie F2 seasons is that Antonelli was still able to show frontrunning pace, something that had eluded Herta…until Barcelona. Despite having to jump from F2 practice to F1 practice to F2 qualifying all on the same Friday, it was Herta's most promising day in an F2 car so far. He was eighth in practice and followed through with that same position in qualifying - his best qualifying of the season, having been 14th-14th-19th-14th prior to that. Crucially, for the very first time, Herta got the benefit of F2 reversing the top 10 in qualifying, meaning he started the sprint race from third. Before Barcelona, he was one of just five of the 22 full-time drivers not to benefit yet (having not qualified in the top 10). "This is the place where I probably have the most experience," Herta said when The Race asked why his pace was stronger at Barcelona. "I think everybody does in European racing. There's so much winter testing that goes on here. But this is the place where I had three days in the F2 car pre-season, right? "So coming back to something that's a little bit more familiar, I think was very helpful. Right from practice, there's a clear kind of jump in speed to what had been on the last few weekends. "That's probably a big help." After qualifying Herta said "I don't want to say a breakthrough, but it's a big weekend for me as far as what's happened in F2 so far". Herta initially put that third-place grid spot to good use in the sprint race, as while he was shuffled back to fifth in the opening laps, he managed his Pirelli rubber well to make a late-race charge back onto the podium. That was completed with a superb move on Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolova down the inside of the Turn 7/8 chicane, a highly unusual overtaking spot. It was the best glimpse so far of the spectacular, elbows-out Herta that any IndyCar fan would recognise. > LAP 23/26 > > COLTON HERTA TO THE PODIUM! > > The American makes an audacious lunge on Tsolov![#F2](https://x.com/hashtag/F2?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [#BarcelonaGP](https://x.com/hashtag/BarcelonaGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [pic.twitter.com/yVZ3BSRtet](https://t.co/yVZ3BSRtet?ref=the-race.com) > > — Formula 2 (@Formula2) [June 13, 2026](https://x.com/Formula2/status/2065780025647903130?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) Unfortunately, anyone familiar with Herta's IndyCar career will also know those stunning highs can sometimes be contrasted by some equally spectacular lows from strong positions - think crashing out of a victory in Nashville 2021, a hard smack into the wall in Long Beach in 2022 while second, or a dive into the barriers in Detroit in 2024\. That proved the case on the final lap of the Barcelona sprint, too, when Herta locked up and ran wide at Turn 5, costing himself a maiden F2 podium finish and relegating himself to fifth. > ON THE FINAL LAP! > > Colton Herta locks-up and runs wide at Turn 5, ruining his chances for a maiden F2 Podium... [#F2](https://x.com/hashtag/F2?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [#BarcelonaGP](https://x.com/hashtag/BarcelonaGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) [pic.twitter.com/USBBLXxUSO](https://t.co/USBBLXxUSO?ref=the-race.com) > > — Formula 2 (@Formula2) [June 13, 2026](https://x.com/Formula2/status/2065835588490592586?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) Despite that, it was still the most impressive race of Herta's F2 campaign so far. ## The feature race caveat Herta wasn't able to build on that progress on Sunday as he burned through his tyres and fell outside of the top 10 in the closing laps of the race, ending up 15th at the chequered flag. It was a stark reminder of how tough F2 is and how brutal the result can look when you get things wrong. Particularly for a driver used to fighting at the front week-in, week-out in IndyCar, who is now fighting hard for minor-points finishes on F1's undercard. Of his F2 season so far, Herta had said on Friday: "As a racing driver, you want to compete, you want to win, you want to do well. That's what we're striving for. "Unfortunately, at the moment, that's not what's happening. "So we need to just kind of put our heads down and continue to improve. But I think it's been very clear every weekend that it's getting better. "So if we can continue that, continue to improve on the pace, but also do my job when I get the chance in the FP1s, that's all I can ask for.' As obvious a statement as it is, there is a huge difference if you can qualify inside the top 10 in F2\. Even though there's often very little time difference separating 10th and 11th in qualifying, it's the difference between starting the sprint race from pole or from 11th. Herta had been on the wrong side of that until his 'step' at Barcelona. We'll have to wait until Austria to know whether that trend continues. But it is also important to remember Herta's number one objective was getting what he needs to prove himself worthy of an F1 seat, not winning the F2 championship. "Something that's really important to mention with Colton is when he decided to go into F2, he had no illusions that it would be difficult," Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon said in Monaco. "There's new tracks, new tyres, new approach, new everything. He knew that everyone was going to be fast. He wasn't going in there with an unrealistic expectation that he'd blow everyone away. "He went into F2 with a specific objective in mind, which was acclimatisation, learn how these tyres work, learn how the race weekends work, learn the locations, learn the tracks. "You can't do that away from the spotlight, so you have to be under that spotlight as well. "It's quite right from the outside, you can look at it and say, 'Well, that looked like a tough qualifying, that was a tough race'. "I look at it really very differently. For sure, he's always going to want to be more competitive. That's just in the DNA of a race driver, isn't it? But there's a lot that's being ticked off the wish list along the way as well. "I really like the fact that he's taking the challenge on. That's what a proper racing driver would be, in my view. So, hats off to him." There is, of course, the superlicence question too. Herta's maiden FP1 added one more point, so Herta is now just a handful of points away from the magic 40 needed. He gets the biggest chunk (30) from finishing second in IndyCar in 2024, and picks up four points for seventh in 2025 and one point for 10th in 2023\. That leaves him on 36 with the point for the FP1 outing added. More practice outings could make up the rest, but only the top 10 in F2 score superlicence points. With Herta still only 13th in the championship, F2 is only paying him in experience gained so far. ### Hamilton's real Barcelona pace advantage explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamiltons-real-barcelona-pace-advantage-explained/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T19:45:57.000Z There is little doubt that Lewis Hamilton received a big helping hand in his charge to victory in Formula 1's Barcelona Grand Prix with the late-race virtual safety car. But was the VSC a single element stroke of luck that effectively won the race and derailed any hope for Mercedes? Or would Hamilton have still triumphed without it? That is something that nobody can be totally sure about, but there are some pointers that give us a good indication of what would have likely happened. ## The VSC opportunity Fernando Alonso's stoppage in his Aston Martin on lap 40 of 66, which brought out the VSC at a near perfect time for Ferrari, meant Hamilton's 17.963-second buffer at the front was enough to allow him to execute his final stop without losing track position. With clear air and fresh tyres, the seven-time champion charged clear of the pursuing Mercedes to end up with the biggest winning margin of the F1 season so far. ## Winning margins 2026 **Australian GP:** George Russell 2.974s **Chinese GP:** Kimi Antonelli 5.515s **Japanese GP:** Antonelli 13.722s **Miami GP:** Antonelli 3.264s **Canadian GP:** Antonelli 10.768s **Monaco GP:** Antonelli 6.271s **Barcelona GP:** Hamilton 19.561s The 19.561s lead that he had over George Russell by the time they reached the chequered flag would appear on the face of it to show that Hamilton was in a class of his own and had a scale of pace advantage that would have meant he would have won without the VSC at all. But what is important to understand is that Barcelona was an abnormal race in terms of tyre degradation and temperatures being so high, so there were pace illusions caused by tyre life offsets. It was a race where those on the pitwall quickly realised that the pace of everyone was decided much more by strategy than the actual cars themselves. Post-race data analysis points to the tyre degradation being pitched at 0.15s per lap. So in simple terms, if you stopped a lap later than another car, you would then be 0.15s quicker than them from tyres alone. Stop 10 laps later, and you rejoin with a 1.5s pace advantage – every lap! Based on this data, we are able to tyre correct the pace of the cars to show that the difference between Hamilton and the Mercedes (excluding the rubber) was much smaller than it appears at the end of the race. Mercedes had, after all, successfully covered Hamilton at the first rounds of stops (Hamilton pitted on lap 11 and Russell on lap 12), and then their strategies diverged at the second stop as Ferrari committed to the three-stop strategy. After Hamilton pitted on 27, he enjoyed a fresh tyre advantage until lap 36 when Russell came in, one lap ahead of Antonelli. With there being a nine-lap tyre offset (and don't forget Pirelli's analysis suggested that there was little pace difference between the different compounds) Hamilton was able to peg back what should have been a 1.35s per lap advance from behind to around half that. When he stopped on lap 41 under the VSC, that left him with tyres that were five laps fresher than Russell and four laps fresher than Antonelli as he emerged with a 2.939s gap to second place. Based on the degradation difference, Hamilton should then have had a 0.75s per lap advantage over Russell on pure tyre pace alone irrespective of car performances. Tracking his laps until the end of the race, it shows that over the remainder of the race as he pulled out the gap to 19.562, not all of his laps were in excess of this (Hamilton varies between 0.3s and 1.2s faster) – but he was helped a lot by Russell and Antonelli fighting behind him. Mercedes also revealed on Monday night that Russell was compromised in his final stint by unexpected oversteer as a front wing adjustment at his last stop went wrong due to a problem with the adjustor gun. As an average from lap 43 to lap 62, when the VSC was called for Antonelli's stricken car, Hamilton's average pace advantage was 0.849s – showing that the actual car pace advantage was there but not as big as it may have appeared. That still means the pace was surely there to win it whatever happened? Well, there are some caveats in coming to this conclusion. Hamilton's three-stop pace was flattered by his final stint taking place in completely clean air. There was no excess stress on his tyres from pushing harder than he needed to, from being in the dirty air of other cars or from needing to drive more aggressively to overtake others. Pirelli's chief engineer Simone Berra reckons "doubt remains" over whether Hamilton's three-stop strategy would've given him the pace to win regardless of the VSC. "With the three stops, the risk is to finish in traffic. On paper, in free air, three stops is faster, that's clear," Berra explained. "But to overtake three drivers, and fast drivers like \[Lando\] Norris, Antonelli and Russell, would have been a different story." There is also an element that had Hamilton stopped under normal conditions and dropped behind the Russell/Antonelli/Norris train before charging back up to it, that could have prompted a change of tactics from Mercedes too. Aware that Antonelli's tyre degradation seemed to be better than Russell's and gave him a pace advantage (estimated to be 0.3s per lap in total), Mercedes' reluctance to interfere in the title battle may have been pushed aside if it was faced with the choice of deploying team orders to ensure victory or avoiding them and definitely losing the race. Had it inverted positions and allowed Antonelli the freedom to try to build a buffer at the front, that could have given Hamilton a tougher task in getting on terms with him. And then we are in the realms of a lot of what ifs in terms over whether Hamilton have had the pace to catch and overtake Antonelli (tyre offset suggests so), and if not would Antonelli have retired anyway, and also there was the matter of the impact of his [post-race five second penalty](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/kimi-antonelli-barcelona-gp-f1-track-limits-penalty-mclaren-role/)... ## The consensus While nobody can know for definite about the turn of events if the VSC had not come about, the consensus from both Mercedes and Ferrari was that Hamilton was still most likely set to win – but that it would have been mighty close. Toto Wolff's conclusion was: "Lewis was the quickest afterwards, so even if we would have come out in front of him, it would have been very tricky to hold him behind." Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur had his own idea about the outcome "We would have won the race, perhaps with a bit less," he said. "But we were also in a good situation with a fresh set of tyres at this stage, and it was positive for us. "I don't want to do the calculation of what would have been the race with this or this, but I think we were already in a very good situation." And while we will never know for sure how things would have panned out, it is understood that Mercedes' post-race analysis gave its own verdict. It is that Hamilton would not have had an easy time but would have been on target to take the lead with two or three laps to go – ending the race with only a one or two-seconds lead. This all shows the VSC did not hand Hamilton the win; but it made sure the victory was made a lot more straightforward. ### What Barcelona exposed about every F1 team's car URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-barcelona-exposed-about-every-f1-2026-car/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T17:09:42.000Z Barcelona gave F1’s 11 teams the most brutal test of their cars so far this year - and exposed some serious weaknesses. The Spanish circuit is a proper stress test of aerodynamic performance and the all-round car and engine package, giving us the clearest read of every team’s main limitations yet - and dishing out a few painful reality checks... ### Mercedes' 'big concern' Barcelona was the first race since it was decreed that [Mercedes ***doesn’t*** have F1’s best engine](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-engine-upgrades-first-2026-fia-decision-revealed/). So there’s a twisted kind of humour about it finally being defeated - because someone else’s ***car*** was simply faster. The W17 is clearly a good car, not just a mediocre one elevated by a mega power unit. There was already more than a hint of its impressive downforce in Monaco, where Kimi Antonelli blitzed the opposition on a track that obviously isn’t power sensitive. Putting three tenths of a second on customer McLaren at a proper aero track like Barcelona showed the car’s one-lap potency. Mercedes’ bid to win faded when early race leader George Russell started struggling in the second and third stints, though. Its faster driver Kimi Antonelli was happier with the pace of the car, so this was a silver lining - but he retired late on with yet another Mercedes technical problem. That is particularly alarming, given that Russell failed to finish in Canada a couple of weeks ago, and McLaren has had several Mercedes electrical problems this year. Russell called it “a big concern”, and the lack of pace he had on the hard compound gives Mercedes homework to do on the car side, too. **'Class leader' Ferrari needs new engine** The early-season narrative that Ferrari had F1’s best chassis was reignited by Lewis Hamilton’s Barcelona win - but the SF-26 had already won serious praise earlier in the weekend. McLaren’s Lando Norris called the Ferrari the “class leader” in cornering performance after qualifying, when Hamilton only narrowly missed out on pole. Given there remains a presumed deficit of a few tenths of a second on the engine, depending on circuit layout, this weekend was massively encouraging as Ferrari’s significant car upgrade lifted its overall performance level and seemed to give it a tyre degradation edge, too. The latter was exaggerated by a mix of the extremely hot conditions and favourable circumstances giving Hamilton an advantage in the final stint, but Charles Leclerc still felt there was a “big step” with the car this weekend. Now it just needs a new engine. Everyone acknowledges Ferrari is better in the corners than on the straights, which is partly due to a draggy car, but the power unit is weaker overall. Ferrari has been permitted two upgrades due to the FIA measuring the V6 as weaker than the Mercedes and, controversially, the Red Bull Ford engine in particular. But it has a deployment deficit to overcome too, judging by how little Russell (green) had to sacrifice on the run to Turn 1 in qualifying to then be faster down every single straight thereafter than Hamilton (red). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-04737357-8ef9-490d-9446-4bad3efec8e3.png) ### 'Brutal' Aston is simply F1's worst car The long wait for Adrian Newey’s Aston Martin team to upgrade its woeful car has left it with the worst car on the grid, irrespective of Honda’s engine deficit. Aston Martin warned from the start that this would be a bruising weekend, and so it proved. It barely improved from four seconds off the pace in practice, and wasn’t just the slowest car - it was a second off ***Cadillac***. Fernando Alonso said it’s the worst car, married to the worst engine. There are problems on both axles, in ride quality, traction, braking, downshifting, and sheer high-speed performance. It leaves Alonso and Lance Stroll as lambs to the slaughter - only put out of their misery here by a return of Honda’s reliability woes that caused a double DNF… ### Qualifying complication for Alpine Alpine rescued another weekend from a bad start and this one took a particularly big salvage job. The retirements for Antonelli, Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg all helped, as did the timing of the first virtual safety car, so that flattered the Alpine double-score. But Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were working their way to the front of the midfield anyway with superior race pace, as once again the Alpine was better on Sunday than Saturday. What is vexing the team most is why its one-lap pace is so inconsistent and, at its worst, so mediocre. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-ac6a328b-9ae5-402a-a188-552048d32b1f.png "Chart") Its car has tended to sap the confidence of one of its drivers on any given weekend but here, both struggled in qualifying and then were much happier with the balance on high fuel. Alpine is somewhat out of sync with other teams on upgrades, bringing its next one next time out in Austria, so this might have exaggerated this specific qualifying struggle - but it doesn’t change the underlying trend. ### 'Double' wear for Williams Williams suffered a specific knock-on consequence of its underdeveloped, overweight car at Barcelona as tyre degradation being so high, even over a single lap let alone a race stint, left it badly exposed. Carlos Sainz said “everyone’s degging, we’re just degging two times more” - as the compound losses of a car that’s light on downforce, and heavy, led to more sliding and more tyre problems. Alex Albon suffered from this even worse than Sainz. Williams just had no answer to the tyre demands of this race, which inevitably meant a painful grand prix too. Sainz said that at a track like this, “you finish where the car deserves to finish” - which was 12th for him, even with the retirements of the others, and an unclassified 18th for Albon 11 laps down after a camera issue just to make things even worse. ### McLaren's lost its tyre mastery This was the weekend Lando Norris admitted it’s “tough” for McLaren to “realise we’re not at the same level as what we were” - even though the race offered a silver lining. Though Norris inherited a podium through Antonelli’s late failure, and was close enough to be a nuisance to Mercedes in this race, the momentum McLaren built across Japan, Miami and Canada has been replaced by the realisation of clear tyre-related issues. Barcelona’s faster, sweeping layout suited the car better, but McLaren’s tyre temperature control is not as masterful as in previous years. In Monaco, McLaren couldn’t switch the tyres on. In Spain, McLaren was hit-and-miss at keeping them alive. When it was bad, it was really poor. Oscar Piastri finished more than half a minute adrift of his team-mate and more than 18 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, and was at a loss to explain why. McLaren didn’t have much of an answer either - only admitting a development priority with the car is finding a way to put the tyres in the right range. ### Saturday star slipping on Sundays This was the first time Racing Bulls got to run the upgrade package it introduced a couple of races ago on a high-speed circuit. And it revelled in how well this worked…at least in qualifying. For the third time this season, it qualified as the lead midfield car, with the only downside being Arvid Lindblad missing out on Q3 due to a deployment issue. It was so quick that it’s now the fastest midfield car on average this season. But this didn’t translate into as strong race pace, even though the final result was still a double points finish. It was beaten by Alpine, which came as a surprise given how far apart they’d been in qualifying - and the degradation challenge here should have meant having a faster car was beneficial for backing the pace off and looking after the tyres. A couple of races ago, Liam Lawson wasn’t too thrilled after a strong seventh place in Canada, precisely because the result flattered a tricky race - so there’s definitely something not quite optimal about where this car’s Saturday/Sunday balance is pitched right now. ### Audi leaves itself too exposed It feels ***really*** uncharitable to be critical of Audi when Nico Hulkenberg only lost a points finish because of a [freak incident](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hulkenberg-freak-retirement-f1-barcelona-gp-lawson-no-contact/). Gravel kicked up by Lawson’s Racing Bulls penetrated the cockpit of Hulkenberg’s car and even managed to hit its electric kill switch, which shut the car down and it couldn’t be restarted! In isolation, this is just terrible luck. However, it serves as an extreme example of how Audi leaves itself too exposed, because its car is quick enough that it should have two in the mix for points at every race - but yet again one wasn’t in the picture because of a terrible start. Gabriel Bortoleto went backwards off the line, which seemed to be just another case of ‘big Audi turbo = bad start’. That meant when it went wrong for Hulkenberg, other teams picked up the pieces instead. It’s a shame because this is, clearly, the most well-rounded car in the midfield. It is near the front of it at every type of track, with Barcelona checking yet another box. ### Cadillac drops off a cliff Cadillac is properly on the fringe of the midfield now, but still operationally light, as some deployment issues in qualifying and a brake problem in practice show. More concerning performance-wise is that its pace falls off “a massive cliff”, Sergio Perez says, whenever stints run longer than 15 laps - which forced Cadillac to run shorter stints than its immediate rivals and onto a three-stop strategy. He believes the team understands why, but thinks it’ll take a few races before anything arrives to help with that. So that’s clearly the main limitation for the package as it exists right now, beyond the obvious ‘lack of downforce’. Still, this was another impressive weekend pace-wise. Aside from thrashing Aston Martin, Cadillac flirted with beating cars from Haas and Williams in Q1, on a track that should have ruthlessly exposed any massive downforce deficiency. The fact Cadillac was ***better*** here than it has been on average shows that the worst of its aerodynamic load weakness at the start of the year has definitely been eradicated. ### Haas became 'worst car ever' Monaco robbed Haas of the chance to check the lessons from its troubled upgrade debut back in Canada, because the slow-speed street track is a challenge all unto itself. Spain, though, has underlined the suspicion that this car has a fundamental weakness linked to how usable the downforce it produces is. The car has what Ollie Bearman calls “a very incredibly narrow window”. It is tricky to drive, with instability on entry that becomes understeer mid-corner - but can still be quick. Fall off the knife-edge, though, and you have what Bearman called “the worst car I’ve ever driven in my life” in Barcelona FP3! Haas already had a strong inkling of this pre-weekend, though, hence running a few tests through practice because it knew Barcelona would provide clear data - and help it map out a development solution over the coming weeks and months. But a tricky car is not being helped by messy operations as Ayao Komatsu was critical of the job Haas did as a team in Spain too. "This weekend the car wasn't quick enough and I think operationally we weren’t good enough," Komatsu said. "If you look at part of the race where Ollie was on the hard tire, his pace was decent, but from day one this weekend we didn’t operate at the level we should be operating at and that has had a knock-on effect into today. "In the race, communication wasn't good enough. Yes, the car needs to be improved and be faster, but we're not getting the best out of it. As a team we need to look at ourselves and improve very quickly." ### Red Bull needs more than set-up work Red Bull had low expectations for Barcelona as Max Verstappen described its car as “not particularly great in high-speed corners”. This seemed to be confirmed on Friday, where Red Bull was “still a bit behind” the other top teams on a track that has a bit of everything, although it made a good step come qualifying to split the McLarens and be only three tenths off. Verstappen was surprised the gap shrank the way it did, while Isack Hadjar suggested the result was better than the feeling he had in the car. But three tenths is still a reasonable margin around a short lap and that showed in the race as Verstappen gradually faded away from the lead Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. He reckons that high-energy tracks with high degradation are exposing Red Bull the most right now, but it is simply the fourth-fastest team - and admitted “we're not going to solve it with just changing the set-up”. ### Edd Straw's 2026 F1 Barcelona Grand Prix driver rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/barcelona-grand-prix-f1-2026-driver-rankings-edd-straw/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T13:49:42.000Z A multi-stop inaugural Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix shuffled the usual Formula 1 2026 cards - and a legend of the sport navigated its challenges the best. But how did the rest of the field stack up? Find out in our driver rankings. ***Want to quiz Edd on his driver rankings?*** [***Sign up to The Race Members' Club***](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) ***to do exactly that - and ask your questions in replies*** [***to this post***](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/ask-edd-about-161146345?ref=the-race.com)***.*** **Champions-tier members can also** [**try their hand at putting their own driver rankings together,**](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/tell-us-your-gp-161043731?ref=the-race.com) **for Edd to react to in a separate feature!** --- How do the rankings work? The 22 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration. It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend. And with each of the 11 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results. ![Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-FERRARI_LH.png) **Started:** 2nd **Finished:** 1st **PROS** \- Recovered from missing FP1 and his struggles in the rest of practice superbly. \- Confident from the off in Q1 and put himself in contention for pole position. \- Drove a superb race, executing his attacking three-stop strategy outstandingly. **CONS** \- Perhaps could have grabbed pole without time lost to marginal over-commitment into Turn 1 on his final Q3 lap. \- VSC made his task more straightforward, even though the pace was there to win without it. **Verdict:** Operating at somewhere near to his best. ![Lando Norris, McLaren, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-McLAREN_LN.png) **Started:** 4th **Finished:** 3rd **PROS** \- Given the McLaren didn’t have the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari, picking up third place thanks to Antonelli’s retirement was the best possible result. \- Had the edge on Piastri in qualifying, outpacing him by 0.089s. \- Recovered well from missing FP1 and FP2 braking difficulties. **CONS** \- The McLaren wasn’t quite quick enough for him to really make the difference in battle with those ahead - or slow enough to do so relative to the Red Bulls in the race \- Could have picked off Antonelli in qualifying given he was only three thousandths slower. **Verdict:** Got close to the maximum out of the McLaren. ![Max Verstappen, Red Bull, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-RED-BULL_MV.png) **Started:** 5th **Finished:** 4th **PROS** \- No indication that he left any significant performance on the table. \- Drove an unobtrusive but effective race, which meant he beat Piastri in a McLaren that should have been ahead. \- Made good progress after a poor Friday. **CONS** \- Didn’t have his usual margin over Hadjar, but that was primarily down to the ceiling of the car. \- Race circumstances presented little opportunity for him to grab the attention. **Verdict:** Slightly overachieved in the fourth-best car. ![Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-MERCEDES_KA.png) **Started:** 3rd **Finished:** 16th **PROS** \- Great race pace meant he had the beating of Russell, passing him for second just before his power unit let him down. \- Raced Russell well, making an aggressive but not risky move to claim the spot. \- Without the VSC, he may very well have been the better Mercedes victory shot against a charging Hamilton. **CONS** \- Single-lap pace was well off Russell’s, partly because he was sliding the car a little too much late in the lap. \- Too many track-limits violations earned him a five-second penalty that could have been very costly. **Verdict:** Uneven but good overall - underwhelming in qualifying, excellent in the race. ![George Russell, Mercedes, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-MERCEDES_GR.png) **Started:** 1st **Finished:** 2nd **PROS** \- Imperious on Friday and Saturday, beating Antonelli by three tenths in qualifying and taking pole despite the threat from Hamilton. \- Strong first stint that could have been slightly quicker had he known Ferrari would force an early first pitstop. \- Lost the lead to the misfortune of VSC timing. **CONS** \- Was under serious threat from Antonelli - and, even if there had been no VSC, Hamilton. \- Race pace wasn’t as good relative to the opposition as his single-lap pace. \- Couldn’t hold off Antonelli in the end. **Verdict:** Two outstanding days, but the race wasn’t as strong. ![Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-AUDI_NH.png) **Started:** 9th **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Made it through to Q3 and put the Audi close to its ceiling, although his battle with Lawson in the final part of qualifying was waged with both on used tyres. \- Was on course for points and running 10th when Lawson ahead kicked up gravel at Turn 12 and hit the “E” switch by the rollhoop and cut the power. \- Had a pace advantage over Bortoleto. **CONS** \- Perhaps could have qualified one place higher by picking off Lawson. **Verdict:** Only bizarre misfortune denied him a deserved points finish. ![Ollie Bearman, Haas, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-HAAS_OB.png) **Started:** 17th **Finished:** 15th **PROS** \- Handled the Haas weaknesses well and recovered from FP3 mess to qualify about where he should have done. \- Drove a good race with none of the tyre deg problems of his team-mate. \- Was a few laps from finishing 11th on the road before retiring late on, which was as good as it was going to get. **CONS** \- Had one of those weekends where progress wasn’t linear, although much of that was down to the tricky Haas. \- Fair comparison with Ocon is difficult given set-up offset. **Verdict:** Extracted what was there to be had in the Haas. ![Carlos Sainz, Williams, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-WILLIAMS_CS.png) **Started:** 16th **Finished:** 12th **PROS** \- Overachieved in qualifying by slipping into Q2 ahead of Ocon in a Haas that was slightly faster than the Williams in terms of underlying pace. \- Drove a good race in difficult circumstances, only just losing out to Bortoleto in the quicker Audi. \- Got far more out of the package than his team-mate. **CONS** \- Could make little impression given the car limitations. \- An ambitious move around the outside of Colapinto on the opening lap led to a lock-up that let Gasly past into 13th. **Verdict:** Extracted what he could from the ninth-best car. ![Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-RB_AL.png) **Started:** 11th **Finished:** 9th **PROS** \- His underlying pace looked strong at a track where he has excelled on previous visits before F1. \- A particularly strong Q1 performance allowed him to save a set of tyres without any risk of elimination, and he wasn’t to blame for the deployment problem at the start of his final Q2 lap that forced him to abort the lap and cost a likely top-10. \- Drove a good race in a car that had weaker race pace, on a strategy that made life difficult. **CONS** \- Lost a little ground to Lawson in the first stint, but that was primarily down to being instructed by the team to let Hulkenberg past on lap two after both cut the track on the first lap. **Verdict:** Good underlying performance, but hidden by Q2 problem. ![Pierre Gasly, Alpine, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-ALPINE_PG.png) **Started:** 14th **Finished:** 7th **PROS** \- Turned in a strong race drive and had a slight pace advantage over Colapinto. \- Finishing at the head of the midfield group seemed out of the question after practice struggles. \- Considering the way his car was pulling in all directions under braking, mitigated the losses in qualifying to put himself in the position to turn things round in the race. **CONS** \- Colapinto had the edge on him in qualifying, and had track position before he was ordered by the pitwall to let Gasly past. \- The fortunate VSC timing after running long in the second stint allowed him to avoid falling behind Lawson and Colapinto. **Verdict:** Needed a slice of luck, but salvaged an unlikely result. ![Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-RB_LL.png) **Started:** 8th **Finished:** 8th **PROS** \- Despite losing track time during FP2, was in tune with the car from the start and always looked a likely Q3 contender. \- Executed qualifying well to head the midfield, which is as good as it was going to get. \- Considering the Racing Bulls race pace was not as strong, his result (ninth on the road) was likely about as good as it was going to get. **CONS** \- There were signs that team-mate Lindblad had slightly stronger underlying pace. \- Would have failed to score but for retirements, but that’s primarily down to the car. \- Needed Colapinto to be penalised to move up to eighth - albeit having dropped behind him thanks to a slow second pitstop in the first place. **Verdict:** A good, well-executed weekend performance. ![Oscar Piastri, McLaren, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-McLAREN_OP.png) **Started:** 7th **Finished:** 5th **PROS** \- Had a decent qualifying, within a tenth of Norris despite the three-place difference. \- No significant errors and a clean race. **CONS** \- Was the less impressive of the two McLaren drivers. \- Had the machinery to have beaten Verstappen, but couldn’t get decisively ahead on the first lap and never showed much sign of progressing beyond the position he started in without retirements ahead. **Verdict:** Solid work, but a step behind Norris. ![Isack Hadjar, Red Bull, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-RED-BULL_IH.png) **Started:** 6th **Finished:** 6th **PROS** \- Qualified only 0.056s behind Verstappen, and ahead of one car he should have been behind in Piastri. \- Recovered well from dropping to 15th at the start, starting with a gravel-biting round-the-outside pass on Bearman at Turn 12 on the opening lap. \- Cleared the midfield cars efficiently, but by then had lost touch with the rest of the lead group. **CONS** \- Although the poor start is a running problem for Red Bull, Hadjar contributed by not hitting the narrow window needed to make it work. \- Was the slower Red Bull driver. **Verdict:** Terrible start undermined a good weekend’s work. ![Franco Colapinto, Alpine, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-ALPINE_FC.png) **Started:** 13th **Finished:** 10th **PROS** \- Had the edge on Gasly in qualifying pace while Alpine was struggling. \- Largely executed his race well and played the team game when required. **CONS** \- Yellow flag infringement was inattentive and costly. \- Lacked a little race pace compared to Gasly. **Verdict:** Continuing to do the job Alpine needs him to. ![Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-ASTON-MARTIN_LS.png) **Started:** 21st **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Outqualified Fernando Alonso by 0.057s, which counts for something even in a package as woeful as the Aston Martin. \- Held 21st ahead of Alonso and kept the pack in sight for the first five laps. \- Had to deal with a car he described as “brutal” on Friday. **CONS** \- Losing third and fourth gear led to him bringing the car in to retire with gearbox problems. \- Little opportunity to impress in such a poor package. **Verdict:** Ending his run of qualifying defeats to Alonso was a small victory. ![Sergio Perez, Cadillac, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-CADILLAC_SP.png) **Started:** 19th **Finished:** 14th **PROS** \- Recovered by Saturday from missing FP1 for Colton Herta and initially not being comfortable with the balance. \- Led the Cadillacs in qualifying despite opting to save a set of fresh softs for the race. \- Would have been perhaps a tenth and a half faster in qualifying but for deployment problems. **CONS** \- Had a difficult race, primarily down to the Cadillac chewing up its tyres. **Verdict:** Another decent weekend as Cadillac’s spearhead. ![Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-CADILLAC_VB.png) **Started:** 20th **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Revitalised by parts changes and set-up tweaks in Friday practice, despite losing track time to an ECU problem. \- Wasn’t at fault for the brake problem that led to putting it in the gravel in FP3 and sustaining damage that forced him to switch to some old parts that took the edge off his pace. **CONS** \- Two tenths off Perez in qualifying, but at least some of that deficit was down to car spec. \- Little opportunity to make an impression in the race before brake overheating problems hit. **Verdict:** Signs of improvement stymied by circumstances. ![Esteban Ocon, Haas, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-HAAS_EB.png) **Started:** 17th **Finished:** 13th **PROS** \- The team was apologetic for deployment problems that meant he didn’t show his potential in qualifying, leading to his elimination in Q1. \- Finished the race, even if his pace wasn’t as good as Bearman’s. **CONS** \- Struggled badly with rear tyre deg and couldn’t match his team-mate’s two-stopper. \- Felt he had the wrong set-up, but that was something he had a hand in evolving. **Verdict:** Still not in tune with the car and well short of his best. ![Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-AUDI_GB.png) **Started:** 12th **Finished:** 11th **PROS** \- Recovered from the bad start to the weekend through set-up changes. \- Made it through Q1 using only one set of softs, unlike his team-mate. \- The terrible race start that cost him five places and condemned him to an afternoon among the Haas drivers was not down to him. **CONS** \- By his own admission, lacked Hulkenberg’s pace, particularly in the final sector on qualifying laps and through being conservative on the brakes into Turn 10 on his best Q2 lap. \- The weekend started badly with an off in FP1 after a snap at Turn 7. \- Struggled to move with evolving track conditions. **Verdict:** Played second fiddle to Hulkenberg all weekend. ![Alex Albon, Williams, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-WILLIAMS_AA.png) **Started:** 18th **Finished:** NC **PROS** \- Stuck at it in the race at least to gather some extra data for Williams. \- Did take the chequered flag despite not completing enough laps to be classified. \- He played no part in the FOM camera becoming loose and forcing him to pit for it to be fixed. **CONS** \- Struggled with grip and sliding all weekend. \- Was eliminated in Q1, 0.543s slower than team-mate Sainz. \- Went nowhere in the race even before trouble hit. **Verdict:** Never found the grip even to match what his team-mate could do with the limited Williams. ![Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-ASTON-MARTIN_FA.png) **Started:** 22nd (pits) **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Battled gamely in an unpredictable and difficult-to-drive package. \- His retirement with a battery problem came as a merciful relief when he still had a pitstop to go. **CONS** \- Outqualified by Stroll for the first time since the China sprint in 2025. \- Understandably, was frustrated by the many problems of the Aston Martin-Honda and couldn't produce the first-lap spark that has characterised his season so far. **Verdict:** Toiling in a futile cause gives him little chance to impress. ![Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2026-03-16-Edd-Straw-F1-Rankings-2026-Season--1-FERRARI_CL.png) **Started:** 10th **Finished:** 15th **PROS** \- His underlying single-lap pace was strong from the start of the weekend. \- Gelled well with the Carbon Industrie brake discs he switched to in Spain. \- Made progress early on to get ahead of Piastri. **CONS** \- Q3 crash was the consequence of over-reaching in the one corner where he knew he was struggling. \- Struggled at times in the race, with the mitigation of being on a two-stopper. **Verdict:** Avoidable qualifying shunt was a major error. ### Why Red Bull hasn't given Monaco podium trophy to Gasly yet URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-holds-onto-gaslys-trophy-as-it-ponders-appeal/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T14:25:35.000Z The Red Bull Formula 1 team has not yet handed over the Monaco Grand Prix third place trophy to Alpine's Pierre Gasly, as it ponders going ahead with an appeal against Isack Hadjar's lost podium. Following a successful right of review hearing that took place over the Barcelona Grand Prix weekend, Gasly was reinstated to the third-place finish that he took on the road in Monte Carlo – pushing Hadjar down one spot. That change of result came about after Alpine successfully argued with the FIA stewards that a timing error made by Formula One Management meant that two speeding offences Gasly was handed were not warranted. With pitlane speed being judged based on the time it takes for a driver to cover a set distance, a mismatch between what FOM had claimed was the length it used and the real pitlane meant Alpine could prove that Gasly never exceeded the speed limit. Last Friday morning at Barcelona, the FIA stewards announced that they had duly rescinded the double penalty for Gasly – meaning he took back third place from Red Bull's Hadjar. That decision has triggered some controversy in F1, however, with other teams who were either also given pitlane speeding offences but were served in the race, or those that lost position, not happy. McLaren and Red Bull both moved to notify the FIA that they intended to appeal against the latest stewards' hearing – with the two squads having until Tuesday morning to decide if they will go ahead. Red Bull says its motivation in pondering the appeal is one of principle, in that it believes teams have always had to work around pitlane speeding measurements that can never be 100% accurate. And interestingly, while it considers its next step, The Race has learned that the squad has broken tradition when results change post-race under such circumstances in not swiftly moving to hand over the podium trophy to its rival. The reasons for this are not clear – and neither is the location of the trophy with some mystery surrounding whether it had been taken direct to Barcelona or was taken elsewhere after Monaco. Red Bull insists it is in the process of arranging for the trophy to get to Alpine. Either way, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said that his squad wanted some important answers from the FIA over the stewards' post-event verdict. "We think it's more so a matter of principle for the good of the sport to get the right clarity on how we go about non-appealable penalties during the race, and getting the right results at the end of the race," he said. "No measurement system is perfect on Earth. There is not one single way to measure speed, and they are all wrong. "However, we have been working with that measurement system for a very high number of years. It was the same the day before \[the race\], the same on Friday, and the same the previous years. "We have all adapted to it, and 17 or 18 cars have managed to be legal. So we just need to make sure that, as a sport, we have a solid enough approach so that moving forward we get the right parity for the fans and to the competitors." ## Mercedes seeks right of review Beyond the notifications to appeal that have been lodged by Red Bull and McLaren, Mercedes has also joined in with its own action. George Russell's hopes of a strong result in Monaco were derailed by being one of the drivers that picked up a pitlane speeding offence. A subsequent failure to serve that penalty during a safety car stop triggered a drive through, which put him out of the points having got himself up to third place on the road. Mercedes has launched a petition for a right of review over the amended classification that the FIA issued last Friday morning that reinstates Gasly to third place. Team boss Toto Wolff felt that, with Russell having lost a lot of points because of the consequences of the speeding penalty, that it was important his squad became an interested party in the ongoing proceedings. "We've asked for a right of review, because you just simply want to sit on the table when decisions are being made," he said. But asked about his chances of success in having the order reclassified to move Russell back, Wolff admitted that things did not look great. "I still think it's a long shot," he said. ### Everything that made Lewis Hamilton's first Ferrari F1 win possible URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-first-ferrari-f1-win-what-made-it-possible/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T21:49:44.000Z That Lewis Hamilton was made to wonder "maybe it is true that when you get to a certain point, you lose it" during his first year with Ferrari says a lot about the 18-month effort that has finally yielded his first Formula 1 grand prix victory with the team. Hamilton admitted his "dream" of winning for Ferrari in F1 seemed impossible during 2025 but a wide range of factors - from internal changes, to F1's massive overhaul, right down to the specifics of the Barcelona weekend - have combined to make it a reality in 2026. ## A fresh start The magnitude of Hamilton's first grand prix win for Ferrari, and first since July 2024, can only be properly understood by appreciating the recovery arc. It completes an impressive turnaround from his first year with the team, which turned out to be one of Hamilton's most disappointing seasons in F1. He failed to score a grand prix podium for the first time in his career, as the promise of an early sprint race pole and win in China turned out to be a false dawn. After that point in 2025, this union never looked like it was on a trajectory leading to success, which led to a lot of scrutiny over Hamilton's position. "I'm only human," he said. "There's moments where I see the stuff and for sure there's moments where I allowed it to get to me and penetrate deeply." As world champion Lando Norris observed after the Barcelona race, Hamilton's taken "a lot of crap" and "it's nice he can stick the middle finger up to all of them". The biggest thing that's changed to facilitate that is F1 as a whole. The prospect of brand new rules freeing him from limitations specific to the ground-effect era was a hypothesis rooted in hope rather than expectation - something else Hamilton admitted. But these cars definitely suit him better. The way they move around and what they can cope with under braking are a better match for how Hamilton wants to attack corner entries. It's fair to conclude these cars allow him to perform more consistently at his best and, though it has to be considered a blot on his copybook for not adapting better to the previous rules, it should also be recognised that Hamilton's peak is still clearly very high. "After a year like last year, there was definitely moments that I was like, 'Sheesh, maybe it is true that, when you get to a certain point, you lose it'," he said. "But I've proven that you don't." ## Ferrari's development It's somewhat ironic that having been tipped to win on the tight, twisty streets of Monaco, and been battered by Mercedes there, the 'proper' test of Barcelona went much better for Ferrari. But this win would almost certainly not have been possible without Ferrari's second significant upgrade package of the season. There were [eight specific areas](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-reveals-8-part-upgrade-for-barcelona-f1-race/) that Ferrari targeted at Barcelona from a revised front wing to a wholly updated floor and bodywork evolutions. "They did bring a big upgrade here and I think the development slope is so steep at the moment for all of the teams, whoever is going to be bringing those upgrades earliest is going to be taking a step forward," reckoned long-time Sunday race leader George Russell. It means Ferrari is potentially vulnerable to further updates from others shifting the pecking order again, but that doesn't matter; here, it clearly elevated the car significantly. Norris called Ferrari "incredible" and "class leaders in cornering speeds" after qualifying, and it looked good on its tyres in the race even in extremely hot conditions. Norris then went even further after the grand prix, saying "we're lucky Ferrari don't have a better engine" and if they did ["they'd be dominating"](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-would-be-dominating-f1-with-better-engine-norris/). A problem is still the time loss on the straights, which is a mix of a power deficit and a draggier car. But Barcelona suggested this might not just be mitigated by sheer cornering performance, it could be offset by it entirely. ## Sharp strategy Ferrari so often comes in for stick for bad strategic decisions and in-race blunders, but it absolutely nailed this one. Hamilton switched to 'Plan C' fairly early in the grand prix, which might not seem like a good sign, and his first stint on softs was unremarkable in second place. And yet he steadily built a serious challenge for the win on an alternative three-stop strategy. Hamilton basically cut the Mercedes' advantage to nothing in the second stint and was setting himself up for a grand charge in the final part of the grand prix when the virtual safety car was required for Fernando Alonso's stricken Aston Martin. This lasted long enough for Ferrari to change plans, bring Hamilton in earlier, and get track position - with a five-lap tyre advantage too. It was the right move, and undeniably helpful, but it might not have changed the outcome entirely: only made it simpler to achieve. Russell reckoned Hamilton "would have come through regardless", as we'll get into more, because the three-stop Ferrari had committed to was looking so powerful. The rest of the lead group was trying to make a conventional two-stop work so Ferrari deserves credit for spotting the opportunity in doing something different as early as it did, as well as adjusting that plan when the circumstances demanded it. ## 'Insane' pace ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/10-bcn-2026-friday_f0931ab9-9220-4101-871b-b6176f98c83b-1.JPG) It's worth emphasising that Hamilton was the fastest driver when it counted most. Even though there was the VSC assistance, and Russell's struggle, this was not a win handed to Hamilton in the slightest. Russell described Hamilton's pace as "insane", which might be valid for the second stint that eroded Russell's gap in the first instance, but is best applied to the final stint after the race resumed following the first VSC. Once he had track position, Hamilton was unstoppable. Yes there was a five-lap tyre offset to Russell, but Hamilton absolutely obliterated him to win by almost 20 seconds and set the fastest lap of the race. It was reminiscent of Hamilton's pulverising 2020 win at the same circuit - the kind of stint that was completely dialled in with Hamilton at his very best. ## Critical Ferrari switch Hamilton credits team principal Fred Vasseur for backing him while he was being "very, very vocal" and "relentless" trying to push through certain changes at Ferrari in the background. That has extended to a specific Ferrari change that has helped: pushing through a braking configuration change with a move half-away from Ferrari's long-time partner Brembo. Hamilton switched to Carbon Industrie discs from this year's Japanese GP, the supplier he used at Mercedes and McLaren before that, having never felt completely comfortable with the feel of the Brembos last year. The different characteristics are significant because the CI discs give stronger initial bite, which suits Hamilton better. And while the notion of pedal 'feel' is quite abstract, it is absolutely critical to driver performance - not just in simply braking and stopping the car, but loading it just right at corner entry and setting up everything that follows. Don't underestimate how long in the making this change would have been, given Brembo's significance to Ferrari. So, Vasseur has fought hard for Hamilton, which you'd expect to an extent given he was Vasseur's big recruit - but Hamilton said he's been essential, describing him as a "good friend, team-mate and ally". "Last year was really, really tough for him to deal with," said Hamilton. "Me coming was a big shock to the system. If I see something that I don't think is right, or I push very, very hard, that's at the core of who I am. "It's not easy to be on the receiving end of that when you're also juggling a whole organisation, and a culture that is set in a certain way. "I had to really ask for some of the changes. And he enabled them to happen, which I'm forever grateful for, because this wouldn't have happened without those changes." ## A better set-up around him Ferrari's support extended to rejigging the engineering set-up Hamilton has around him, including a high-profile change of race engineer. Moving away from Mercedes and his long-time engineer Peter Bonnington inevitably meant Hamilton's new relationships at Ferrari would be critical to how he settled in, and then how every single race weekend played out. There were early hints of tension with 2025 engineer Ricardo Adami and while Ferrari and Hamilton always played this down, the moments of frostiness and apparent doubt never went away. So when Ferrari changed things up for 2026, it was no surprise. What has been unexpected is that the supposed temporary solution of Carlos Santi has quickly turned into an effective working relationship that's continuing indefinitely for now. Hamilton called Santi his 'Italian Bono', and said the engineer set-up is "a million times better than it was last year" - so whether it's communication in the car or how they work out of it, the working relationship is evidently more effective. "Him kind of substituting this year, jumping in and diving in deep with me...we didn't know each other," said Hamilton. "We'd never spoken and I didn't know anything about him. "And we met and I think got on straight away." Hamilton said "the changes that I've asked for and pushed for all last year have been made, and I now have the right team around me", and he is clearly very grateful for this backing. It leaves him happy and in a good place, which extends to his physical condition too having revealed he carried an unspecified injury for a while after last year's race in Spain. ## Execution and a little luck Returning to Barcelona specifically, Hamilton being so fast on the day is also linked to something slightly different: the quality of his execution both this weekend and this season. Even before this result, Hamilton was deep into his most convincing Ferrari run of races so far. He has looked increasingly robust and qualifying on the front row at a traditional track like this rather than the recent outliers was actually a better indicator that Hamilton was high on confidence than his previous couple of podiums. There will be weekends where he is slower than, and beaten by, Charles Leclerc - and this could have been one of them. That actually goes in Hamilton's favour. Hamilton was struggling in practice after sitting out the first session, whereas Leclerc had looked rapid here having moved to Hamilton's brake configuration - probably not a coincidence. And yet it was Hamilton who started from the front and led the chase of Russell while Leclerc worked his way up from 10th after a needless qualifying crash. So, Hamilton's a much more dependable figure for Ferrari this year than last on two fronts, because he's more competitive and he's putting the performances in when the car allows it. It's also worth mentioning that there's always a little bit of luck involved, too - after all, it could have been Hamilton's Ferrari that failed in the final laps of the grand prix, rather than Leclerc's. ## Mercedes opened the door Mercedes' first grand prix defeat of the season can't be fully explained without acknowledging its own performance level, too. It all looked so good early on as long-time race leader Russell controlled the opening stint, but the unexpected gradual implosion of his pace thereafter opened the door to Hamilton. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also suggested in both TV interviews and his written media session after the race that his cars could have been [closer to Hamilton](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/toto-wolff-hints-mercedes-might-have-won-barcelona-gp-f1-team-orders/) at the crucial VSC point had they not lost time racing each other around half-distance when Antonelli caught then-leader Russell. The bigger unknown, though, is whether Hamilton would have been derailed in pursuit of the two Mercedes had the race played out normally. There's also what Antonelli might have been capable of versus Hamilton if he had been in front from the second stint onwards. In the end, Hamilton was so far ahead that Antonelli's eventual retirement was irrelevant. And Mercedes basically held its hands up and said the faster car and driver combination won on the day. Some ongoing Mercedes fragility, Russell's struggle, Hamilton's revival and the Ferrari potency inevitably raises the prospect of this not being the Hamilton-Ferrari peak, and it being the start of something bigger. Hamilton had already jumped Russell for second in the championship in Monaco, and is now 41 points behind Antonelli. He and Ferrari want to take things race by race, and know that one single win doesn't mean matching early benchmark Mercedes is going to happen every weekend. But Hamilton says "it's not over". So given he's turned his Ferrari story around this much, can he really be ruled out? ### Antonelli's post-race Barcelona penalty and McLaren's role in it URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/kimi-antonelli-barcelona-gp-f1-track-limits-penalty-mclaren-role/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T18:17:04.000Z Kimi Antonelli received a five-second post-race penalty for multiple track-limits infringements despite retiring from Formula 1's Barcelona Grand Prix, with McLaren drawing the stewards' attention to key evidence. Antonelli's car suffered an electrical shutdown not long after he had nicked second place from his main title rival, Mercedes team-mate George Russell. At the time, Antonelli had already picked up three track-limits infringements at the Turn 10 left-hander and only needed one more to trigger the standard punishment, a five-second time penalty. Those infringements were timed at 3.31pm, 3.38pm and 3.42pm local time, with the race having started at 3pm. But the race director drew the stewards' attention to an earlier Turn 10 infringement, timed at 3.16pm, and The Race understands that infringement was noticed and flagged by McLaren. This led to a five-second time penalty being issued after the race. He was still officially classified in 16th place, five laps down, with that five seconds added to his race time. "The car left the track four times during the race without justifiable reason," the stewards' judgement read. "The stewards acknowledge that the driver did not receive a black/white flag after his third infringement, but rather after his fourth infringement, as one earlier infringement was only detected later in the race. "However, based on the current regulations and driving standards guidelines, this does not exempt the driver from complying with the regulations. "As there might be some ambiguity in the relevant guidelines, the stewards recommend the FIA revisit the current procedures and guidelines as soon as possible." So essentially, the black and white (final) warning flag for three offences was only shown to Antonelli once he'd actually committed four, because the first offence, flagged by McLaren, wasn't noticed until later. It is unknown whether a different decision would have been made had Antonelli's car not expired and had he finished on the podium. The implications of the penalty would certainly have been bigger. ### Colapinto loses two places to Barcelona GP penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/franco-colapinto-loses-two-places-f1-barcelona-gp-post-race-penalty/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T17:32:34.000Z Franco Colapinto has lost three of his four points at Formula 1's Barcelona Grand Prix because of a post-race penalty. The Alpine driver was found to have failed to slow for a yellow flag that was shown while Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin was being recovered at Turn 10. The stewards said that while Colapinto "slightly reduced speed before entering the single yellow flag zone, \[he\] did not discernibly reduce speed in the relevant yellow flag sector". "The stewards acknowledge that the driver reacted to the yellow flag, but do not consider the reaction to be sufficient to comply with the regulations," the stewards' decision read. "Therefore, a penalty on the lower end of the applicable scale of penalties is imposed." He was handed a 10-second time penalty that dropped him from eighth to 10th in the final classification. Colapinto's penalty promotes both Racing Bulls drivers, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, up one position each into eighth and ninth. He was also handed two penalty points, his first two of the last 12 months. ## Williams fined twice Williams was handed a pair of €5000 fines for operational errors. Albon's car "started the formation lap with parts of a tyre blanket still on the car", while "the team left a black plastic box on the grass area next to the grid" by Carlos Sainz's car "and thereby did not take all of their equipment with them after the 15-second signal". ### Ferrari would be dominating F1 with better engine - Norris URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-would-be-dominating-f1-with-better-engine-norris/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T21:51:49.000Z Ferrari would be dominating Formula 1 if it had a better engine, and will "embarrass everyone" if it improves its power unit. That's according to world champion Lando Norris, who finished third at the Barcelona Grand Prix, his McLaren 23.7 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari. Ferrari was buoyed by the successful introduction of its eight-part upgrade package this weekend, giving it cornering performance that wowed many of its rivals. "We're lucky that Ferrari doesn't have a better engine at the minute," Norris told Sky Sports F1 after the race. "If they had a better engine, they're dominating. They're the class of the field in terms of cornering performance at the minute. "We're not even close to them. It's the realistic point of it. We're a long, long way from where we need to be. "If they make improvements on the engine side, then they'll embarrass everyone. We need to really get our heads down and see what improvements we can do." The first ruling of F1's Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system declared Ferrari's engine as being more than 4% off the benchmark (Red Bull Powertrains). That means Ferrari will be allowed to make two upgrades this season to its engine and two more the following campaign. Norris's team boss, Andrea Stella, was also impressed by the upgraded Ferrari. "\[Ferrari\] were able to upgrade their car, they gained performance and now they lean on winning races and today they could capitalise," Stella said. "So, definitely there is work \[for McLaren\] to do with the car performance." He said Ferrari currently has "the best chassis" in F1\. "We see, especially in the medium speed corner, that Ferrari is the fastest in the corners, not necessarily the fastest in the straights," Stella explained. "We see that, from a McLaren point of view, we are competitive in the high-speed corners, like corners 3, 9, and corner 14, but overall we struggle with grip in medium-speed and low-speed." While Stella expects Mercedes to have the best car/power unit combination next time out in Austria, he expects Ferrari to remain "the fastest car in the corners". ### Wolff hints Mercedes might've won Barcelona GP with team orders URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/toto-wolff-hints-mercedes-might-have-won-barcelona-gp-f1-team-orders/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T16:46:29.000Z Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff believes his squad might have cost itself Barcelona Grand Prix victory by allowing George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to race each other in the manner they did. Mercedes' first Sunday defeat of the 2026 F1 season was effectively assured when the timing of a virtual safety car to retrieve Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin allowed Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to make his final pitstop without losing the lead. Just before that, Russell - on fresh tyres after making his own last stop - had been cutting Hamilton's lead and was on course to reclaim first place when the three-stopping Ferrari came in again. Though Hamilton would then have had a tyre advantage for the closing laps, he would have probably rejoined third behind the Mercedes of both Russell and Antonelli. Wolff suggested in both TV interviews and his written media session after the race that his cars could have been closer to Hamilton at that crucial VSC point had they not lost time racing each other around half-distance when Antonelli caught then-leader Russell, who successfully defended his position amid multiple attacks from his team-mate. "We tried to race fair in the team game," Wolff told Sky. "But maybe it cost us the win. "And that's something which we need to discuss with the drivers. How are we doing it if we're fighting somebody else for a race win? "They raced each other quite hard before George's stop. And I think we lost about four or five or six seconds to Lewis. We're leaving that time on the track. And we need to discuss it with them for the future." Wolff specified that he was not talking about introducing team orders as a broad concept, more that whether intra-team battling should be better managed when Mercedes is racing a rival from another team - particularly on a different strategy. "We didn't interfere in them fighting because that's how we've always raced," he added. "But it's a situation we need to look into for the future with both drivers: how to handle a situation where there's a pace differential, if we are fighting for a victory and at the risk of losing a victory. "That's going to be an interesting discussion. But always totally transparent to the best interest of the team." During the six laps when Russell and Antonelli were closest at the front, Hamilton reduced his deficit to the Mercedes from 18 seconds to 7.6s - albeit running tyres 15 laps newer than Russell's. Russell had then got Hamilton's lead down to 16s just before the VSC, with Hamilton losing 13s of that gap when he pitted from the lead. For his part, Russell - who did lose second to Antonelli on-track in the final stint, only to regain it when Antonelli ground to a halt and retired - played down how much time he and Antonelli had lost mid-race. "It did cost us a little bit, but I think Lewis with the VSC was always destined to come out ahead, to be honest," he said. "We probably lost a second, but he just had really great pace. "It was really impressive to see, and even in the first stint, at one point, I was expecting to see Kimi make the move on Lewis, and I was watching the TV screens, and Lewis just seemed to have it covered." ### Winners and losers from F1's 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1s-2026-barcelona-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T17:19:25.000Z A 106th win (and also a first win) long in the making defined [this inaugural Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-takes-first-ferrari-win-as-russell-wilts-antonelli-retires/) \- but we'll only know in the rounds to come how important it proves for Formula 1's title race. But from what we do know already, here are our winners and losers from this Barcelona GP. ## Winner: Lewis Hamilton (1st) Even if this had been fully inherited, you couldn't have begrudged Hamilton a first grand prix win for Ferrari. It's too good a story. The fact he earned it so impressively makes it worth even more. The virtual safety car timing certainly helped, but the pace Hamilton had on fresh tyres - plus the fact Kimi Antonelli eventually retired - means you couldn't put it all down to that VSC. This was building up to a fascinating finish. And this form looks sustainable from here, too. *\- Matt Beer* ## Loser: Aston Martin (DNF & DNF) When was the last time an F1 team had quite as pointless a race as this? Fernando Alonso made it 37 laps into the grand prix (32 laps further than team-mate Lance Stroll, whose gearbox gave way) before stopping. And Alonso's on-track stoppage ultimately played a part in swinging this race decisively in Hamilton's favour. So that's...something? But so bleak is the current Aston Martin-Honda predicament - again humbled here by Cadillac - that maybe it was even worse than 'pointless'. Alonso suggested he might need another pitlane start at the next race in Austria because the parts that failed - he suffered a battery issue - were among the clean sweep of components swapped in for race day. So, that's fun. *\- Jack Cozens* ## Winner: George Russell (2nd) The idea that Russell's bad luck relative to Antonelli as of late would've evened out by the end of the season is a fundamental misunderstanding of the law of large numbers. All things even, you're not less likely to get the short end of the stick going forward just because it's happened to you before. But on Sunday Russell was on the right end of the dice roll, and the 18-point swing versus Antonelli is bigger than anything that would've come his way had he dominated a more straightforward Barcelona GP weekend (as looked plausible on evidence of practice). The points maths should be fairly soothing today. Coming out of Monaco Russell needed to take an average of 4.25 points per weekend out of Antonelli over the rest of the year, but now that figure is a more palatable 3.3\. *\- Val Khorounzhiy* ## Loser: George Russell (2nd) The performance, though, is obviously not reflective of an 18-point net title gain. Russell never looked like he had Antonelli fully in hand during the race, appearing protected by track position and ultimately overtaken anyway before Antonelli's sudden exit. He reckoned a three-stopper (or a two-stop with a much-extended first stint) would've suited him better here - and that Hamilton would've gone past even without the fortuitous virtual safety car. Yet worryingly it's Antonelli who looked by far Mercedes' better hope of winning once it had committed to its two-stop strategy, and in a straight fight there's every chance Russell finishes third, behind the two title rivals in an undetermined order. *\- VK* ## Winner: Lando Norris (3rd) A bit fortunate to end up on the podium, but one of F1 2026's most unlucky drivers probably deserved this break - and this was a superb performance from Norris regardless, really showing his world champion class. McLaren [admits its 2026 car has deliberately sacrificed](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-has-lost-a-core-advantage-of-its-title-winning-f1-cars/) some of the tyre management prowess that underpinned its title-winning design of 2025 and so Norris deserves serious credit for the way he hung on against the faster Mercedes on a tyre-punishing two-stop strategy, making their race against Hamilton's Ferrari that much tougher as a consequence. *\- Ben Anderson* ## Loser: Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes (DNF) Mercedes wasn't just beaten today, it looked beatable throughout. And that's the more significant bit. You could argue that the VSC was the final key that swung it Ferrari and Hamilton's way. But from qualifying onwards, Hamilton has pushed the championship-leading squad hard and for much of the race - irrespective of strategy - seemed potentially faster. Throw in Antonelli's retirement and the factual points lead damage that does, and you have a weekend in which Mercedes looked (relatively, by 2026 standards) fragile in all aspects, from pace through strategy to reliability. *\- MB* ## Winner: Alpine (7th & 10th) Not to keep going on about it, but after Pierre Gasly qualified ninth in Monaco last weekend The Race spoke about the needs for teams to maximise opportunities on the 'bad days'. Alpine was nowhere all weekend at Barcelona, really; managing director Steve Nielsen likened the team's Friday performance to a 'punch in the face' after the euphoria of getting its Monaco podium back, and the car didn't look vastly improved on Saturday (even if Alpine pulled itself clear of lacklustre Haas/Williams offerings). But this was another mission accomplished: good opening laps from both drivers, good tyre whispering, and good execution around the virtual safety car helped Gasly and Franco Colapinto leap up into the points. The late Antonelli/Leclerc retirements were a bonus, but that's now six race weekends in a row where Alpine has been the midfield's biggest scorer (a status it retained despite a post-race yellow flag penalty for Colapinto). And when the pace was as mediocre as it was this weekend, that says something about the level Alpine's operating at, too. *\- JC* ## Loser: Alex Albon (not classified) Any time you opt mid-race to just use the rest of the distance as a test session, you're obviously having a disastrous day. By the time Williams made that call for Albon at Barcelona, he was already way down the field, had pitted for a loose camera to be sorted, felt he was "just sliding around learning nothing" and had a potential pre-start procedure penalty hanging over him. If you're looking for a positive, Albon said during his time in the garage Williams found a mechanical issue that had caused his unpredictable car behaviour in qualifying and "couldn't correct it, but could kind of fudge it to get back to what it should be". Running 11 laps down at the finish meant officially Albon wasn't classified in the results. That's just as well, because he would've been placed 18th in a race where only 15 cars were actually still running. *\- MB* ## Loser: Audi (11th and DNF) The Audi R26 is an alchemy machine that turns good practice pace into no points, though it took something truly outrageous to rob it this time. Gabriel Bortoleto struggling horribly off the line with some sort of start problem and getting himself in the wars with Esteban Ocon to pick up early damage is a fairly typical Audi 2026 scenario, but Nico Hulkenberg had stayed in the mix for points despite getting boxed in behind Liam Lawson. But, as per Hulkenberg, a piece of gravel kicked up by Lawson's car hit his kill switch, and so another Audi weekend was effectively lost. Audi has two points this season - one more than the hopeless Aston Martin, two more than the newborn Cadillac, nine fewer than the sub-standard Williams. Right now, the length of the calendar is its greatest ally. *\- VK* ## Winner: Racing Bulls (8th and 9th) This goes down as only *just about a win* for Racing Bulls because it salvaged a double points finish thanks to those late retirements for Antonelli and Leclerc (and, as it turned out later, a penalty for Colapinto). What looked like the fastest car in the midfield in qualifying, albeit nip and tuck with the Nico Hulkenberg-driven Audi, was not nearly so strong in race trim, where the otherwise struggling Alpines came into their own. Arvid Lindblad felt his first stint was probably too long; Lawson said he probably pushed a bit too hard early in the race fighting Hulkenberg, but regardless of this - and a slow pitstop for Lawson - he felt the car just "didn't have the speed" in race trim. In those circumstances, six points (three on the road, three more when Colapinto's 10-second penalty dropped him behind both Bulls) will feel like a win even if the performance won't. *\- BA* ## Loser: Charles Leclerc (DNF) You have to suspect that even with Hamilton winning, Leclerc probably would have avoided ending up in the losers' column had he made it to the finish. [Yes, qualifying featured a big error](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/2026-barcelona-gp-f1-qualifying-winners-losers/) and yes, his pace on race day wasn't at the level of his team-mate's. Acknowledgement two there was probably, partly at least, a consequence of acknowledgement one. But this would've been a perfectly acceptable recovery job; nothing fancy, but probably on the right side of the performance gap compared to, say, Piastri's deficit to Norris (and even that didn't earn Piastri a spot in this list). So it's simply a reflection of another DNF - Leclerc said he had a brake-by-wire failure before the sudden shut-off of the power steering - that Leclerc is here. It would be nice to see a complete weekend from him again soon. *\- JC* ### The weirdest retirement of F1 2026 yet URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hulkenberg-freak-retirement-f1-barcelona-gp-lawson-no-contact/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T13:28:10.000Z Liam Lawson inadvertently triggered Nico Hulkenberg's retirement from the Barcelona Grand Prix - without any contact between their two Formula 1 cars. Given the attrition that followed for the likes of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc up ahead, Hulkenberg would have been in line to score the first points of his Audi tenure - but his R26 retired in the pits after 29 completed laps. But while Audi's first car has had its well-documented struggles with reliability this year, Hulkenberg revealed post-race that this particular retirement was triggered by an incredible freak accident. Hulkenberg was shadowing ninth-placed Lawson - whose defensive approach at Turn 1 he'd complained about over the radio - when the Racing Bulls driver "put a wheel in the gravel exit of \[Turn 12\], picked up a lot of gravel" and sent it into Hulkenberg's Audi. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-14-at-18.42.16.png) "Somehow, one stone pulled the emergency trigger on the left of the roll hoop. And it just killed the car, you know: just total switch-off, and game over," added Hulkenberg. "The car was dead, and then I just coasted into the pitlane. There was nothing left. It was just a complete shutdown." That explanation was subsequently passed on to Lawson, who reacted with a bewildered: "Are you serious?! No way." "Oh, that's so unfortunate," he said. "Obviously I had no idea. If I could perfectly aim for something like that, it would be quite impressive! But I had no idea, I just knew that he dropped out." "I've never seen or heard about this \[happening\], to be honest, in my career," continued Hulkenberg. "Very unlucky. "Strange, the timing of that. When you see what happened at the end, two cars dropping out - I don't know, it's somehow... The racing world doesn't want us to score yet." Audi should have been firmly in the points here given the attrition (with Lawson ending up ninth and Hulkenberg indicating Audi more than had the measure of not just Racing Bulls but midfield-leading Alpine too). But in addition to Hulkenberg's freak exit, Audi also came up short with Gabriel Bortoleto, whose race unravelled at the start. "Our race was very compromised in lap one," Bortoleto recounted. "I think we had a problem in the start, that is still to be clarified, but from my understanding shortly it was a procedure...the procedure went right, but something went wrong on the loading of the turbo or whatever, but again, I still need to head to the engineers and understand exactly what happened. "But we lost six positions, you go back to P17, I tried to make a few positions back, outside of \[Turn\] 12 got a little bit squeezed out by \[Esteban\] Ocon, but racing things, we are pushing each other, and then he pushed me a tiny bit wide, I had two wheels on the gravel, picked up quite a lot of damage on the left-hand side of the floor, and then I had to do my race with that damage." ### Hamilton: Dream Ferrari win had seemed impossible URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-dream-ferrari-win-had-seemed-impossible/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T16:54:04.000Z Barcelona Grand Prix victor Lewis Hamilton says his dream of winning for Ferrari "seemed almost impossible" during his tricky first year with the team. Hamilton [finally scored his first Ferrari grand prix win](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-takes-first-ferrari-win-as-russell-wilts-antonelli-retires/) and became the first non-Mercedes winner of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Spain on Sunday. It completes an impressive turnaround in form with the team he joined in 2025 - which then turned into one of his most disappointing seasons in F1. Hamilton failed to score a grand prix podium for the first time in his career last season, as the promise of an early sprint race pole and win in China turned out to be a false dawn. "I started out a dream which seemed almost impossible during last year," Hamilton said. "We never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up. "We made so many changes and improvements." Hamilton has been reinvigorated this year by a combination of new rules, an engineering shake-up, and Ferrari making changes such as [altering the configuration of Hamilton's brakes](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/leclerc-to-trial-hamilton-brake-spec-in-barcelona/) to incorporate his favoured Carbon Industrie discs. The seven-time F1 world champion described the progress and confidence he now has as a result of "working my way back to my centre" and repeatedly paid tribute to the support he has had from Ferrari, and team boss Fred Vasseur. "The team are giving me that confidence with the changes we've made," said Hamilton. "Believing and trusting in the things I've asked and we're slowly starting to see it all come together. "I'm just happy in my life, I'm in a good place." His Barcelona win was preceded by back-to-back second places in Canada and Monaco, and he is second in the world championship behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli. Hamilton is now 41 points adrift of Antonelli, who retired from second place in Spain. Though a well-timed virtual safety car and strategy switch in response helped Hamilton gain track position over George Russell, Ferrari's upgraded car helped him be a genuine challenge for pole and the win on what was shaping up to be an alternative three-stop strategy. And Hamilton has not ruled out a title push if this progress can continue. "It's not over, that's for sure," he said. ### What Hamilton's first Ferrari GP win means for F1 - our verdict URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-lewis-hamilton-first-ferrari-gp-win-means-for-f1-our-verdict/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T20:15:58.000Z Lewis Hamilton is a Formula 1 grand prix winner for Ferrari - an outcome that seemed for much of their first season together like it was never going to happen, but has felt ever more realistic in recent weeks. Here's our take on what the Barcelona result means for Hamilton and F1. ## Questions have moved from retirement to title contention **Josh Suttill** Another season like 2025 this year would have ended Hamilton's F1 career on a bitter note. Instead he's proved me - and many others - wrong with a number of impressive weekends this year. I still have some small caveats; we've had a lot of Hamilton's favourite circuits and a lot of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc's least favourite. Plus Leclerc's been plagued by brake issues. But they're caveats that can only be applied to the question of whether Hamilton is a title contender. (Plus the obvious: is his Ferrari fast enough?) The retirement questions should be silenced by the surest sign yet that something closely resembling the Hamilton of old has returned. His late-braking prowess has finally returned to form in Montreal and here - and that appears to mesh perfectly with the upgraded Ferrari. A title-winning combo? It's far too early to say. But it's remarkable that it's now become a real possibility. ## Hamilton doubled down - and it paid off **Scott Mitchell-Malm** This is an exceptionally good result for F1, especially amid Mercedes' domination. It's packed with emotion - if you can't enjoy wins like this, you need to go out and touch some grass - and there's a great human and sporting story behind it. At no point after China last year did this union ever look like it was on a trajectory leading to a win. Hamilton had self-doubts, even if he insisted his faith in Ferrari was undimmed. And the prospect of brand new rules freeing him from limitations specific to the ground-effect era was a hypothesis rooted in hope rather than expectation - even for Hamilton at times. It's fair to conclude that these rules *are* kinder to Hamilton than ground effect ever was, and allowing him to perform more consistently at his best. It has to be considered a blot on his copybook for not adapting better previously, but evidently the peak is still pretty high! Hamilton and Ferrari deserve immense credit for this. They've doubled down rather than wilted under the pressure of making it work. Engineering changes, brake configuration changes, self-analysis: it's all added up to make this possible. And no matter what happens from here, Hamilton's Ferrari move cannot go down as a failure. It is now at least as good as his lastMercedes chapter and even if this represents the peak, it is still a much more satisfying pay-off than retiring at any point between 2022 and 2024. ## Hamilton and Ferrari both proved big points **Gary Anderson** For Hamilton, winning a grand prix for Ferrari is probably even better than any of his other 105 wins. The other thing is that it was a team win. The Ferrari strategy - which we have questioned on many occasions - was working out well, although the virtual safety car did make things just that bit easier. But that aside, all weekend, and even in the last few races, he has shown signs of getting back to his old ways. Hamilton said lately he was going to go into each weekend less reliant on any simulator work and just following the path that running the car over the practice session was leading to and developing the set-up around that. It's definitely working for him so I suppose thats brings into question Ferrari's driver-in-the-loop simulator system. Improving that might be another step the team can take. Ferrari brought quite a few developments to Barcelona and Hamilton paid the team back for its efforts in the best way he could. ## Mercedes' safety margin is vanishing **Valentin Khorounzhiy** Across the power unit failure for George Russell in Canada, the horrible unravelling of Russell's Monaco race, and now the Barcelona retirement for Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes has been taking a blowtorch to whatever margin of error it has in F1 this season. It feels like you win a title brick by brick and you lose it in big chunks. That's not really true but the fact is, it will likely take Antonelli a couple of wins to offset today in the points, and it may well take Russell all season (even if he's much better from here on out) to recover the points blow from his run of difficulties. Ferrari has brought a serious chassis this year, and the 'ADUO' ranking revealed in the build-up to Barcelona suggests - as expected - that it will get a legislative leg up in terms of engine development this season versus Mercedes. So there's every chance we have passed the peak of Mercedes' 2026 dominance, but there's another 15 rounds to hang on for. Mercedes and Antonelli are still favourites but you have to wonder whether we'll look back at this stretch of the season a few months on thinking 'they didn't make enough of this early advantage'. ## Unhappy ending avoided **Matt Beer** Hamilton joining Ferrari was such a good story. But when he signed that deal there was really no guarantee at all that it was going to be a story with a happy ending. Hamilton had looked a shadow of himself for so much of the post-2021 period. He was going up against a very well established and ferociously fast Leclerc. His Ferrari move had a strong chance of falling flat - and until very recently it seemed it would. Shanghai sprint win aside, most of 2025 just looked like the Ferrari stint would be a pretty lacklustre postscript to such an extraordinary career. From a neutral perspective, it was great that the rise of Max Verstappen and resurgence of Red Bull ended the era of the F1 default being that Hamilton and Mercedes were favourite for every race - that just wasn't much of a narrative. But the 2022-25 woe was not how the Hamilton story deserved to end. I hate seeing any all-time sporting great's career fizzle out. I'm a big fan of a 'quit while you're on top' approach and feared Hamilton had missed his moment. Now it's definitely worth him hanging on a little bit longer. ## Reminiscent of Vettel's big Ferrari moment **Glenn Freeman** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_726742_HiRes.jpg) Hamilton's first Ferrari win has a lot in common with his old rival Sebastian Vettel's back in 2015. Vettel's maiden success in red - which admittedly came a lot sooner than Hamilton's, on just his second start for Ferrari - came against a dominant Mercedes duo that people feared would be unbeatable. But on a hot day in Malaysia that opened up the possibility for strategic variety, Ferrari not only made the right calls on the pitwall, but Vettel then had the pace to keep the Mercedes cars at bay. The same goes for Hamilton. Could he and Ferrari beat the Mercedes drivers in a straightforward one-stop race where tyres are less of an issue? That's a question that's still to be answered, but in a race where teams had real strategic choices to make and tyres were tough to look after, Hamilton had the Mercedes beat fair and square. Vettel's 2015 win was a much-needed shot in the arm for F1 early in the hybrid era when Mercedes appeared unstoppable. Hamilton has just done the same. ## Russell's struggles opened the door **Ben Anderson** There was a race a couple of years ago here where Oscar Piastri really struggled and at the time couldn't really explain it. It was a typically hot Barcelona race where tyre degradation dominated. This year we saw something similar, though more extreme, with Piastri again totally unable to live with McLaren team-mate Lando Norris on race day. George Russell's afternoon ran along similar lines, at least once his car switched from the medium to the hard, Mercedes' preferred race tyre. Russell didn't look comfortable on either set, so what was it about that compound - or the way his particular car and/or driving style interacted with it - that made things so difficult? Russell has talked recently about a natural driving style difference between him and Antonelli that has played more into Antonelli's hands at recent circuits. As Edd Straw explained recently, Russell has a bit of the Piastris about him when it comes to being less comfortable when the car is moving around underneath him in lower-grip situations. Barcelona's long sweeps were meant to suit Russell better. Up until the end of the first stint of the race that did indeed seem to be the case. I wonder if the extreme heat combined with the need to extend the final two stints to make Mercedes' preferred two-stop strategy work, after an early stop to ditch the mediums, just turned this into a race of rear tyre overheating and sliding - which is something Russell's style can also worsen. We also heard him demanded more front wing at one stage, complaining of the front axle being too "weak". If he got his wish at that first pitstop that won't have helped him protect those rear tyres. This is what opened the door for Hamilton to take that historic win for Ferrari. He deserves credit for a brilliant performance, but it was Russell's struggles that opened the way. ### Hamilton takes first Ferrari win as Russell wilts and Antonelli retires URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-takes-first-ferrari-win-as-russell-wilts-antonelli-retires/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T16:57:22.000Z Lewis Hamilton finally secured his first grand prix win as a Ferrari Formula 1 driver, and his first GP victory in nearly two years, while a last-gasp retirement for Kimi Antonelli boosted second-placed George Russell's title hopes. Fortuitous virtual safety car timing ensured Hamilton's three-stop strategy paid off at a moment when it was touch and go whether he would be able to beat the Mercedes, but he had already put himself firmly in contention with a superb mid-race charge. Polesitter Russell had edged away from Hamilton and the second Mercedes of Antonelli early on, before Ferrari committed fully to a three-stop strategy after the first stops while Mercedes stuck with two. Hamilton's searing pace between his second and third stops put him in position to comfortably take the lead when Russell and Antonelli made their second stops. Russell started reducing Hamilton's advantage once onto fresh tyres, and the Ferrari was on course to rejoin behind whenever it made its final stop - albeit then with newer rubber for the final laps - until a virtual safety car for Fernando Alonso's parked Aston Martin gave Hamilton a window to pit without losing the lead. In his wake, Antonelli had caught Russell in the middle of the race and put his team-mate under heavy pressure. Russell resisted successfully at that point, but was caught again in the closing laps and lost second place to Antonelli going into the first corner with five laps to go. Two laps later though, Antonelli's Mercedes ground to a sickly-sounding halt, handing second place back to his team-mate. Antonelli's retirement means his championship lead is cut to 41 points over race winner Hamilton and 50 over Russell. Lando Norris completed the podium for McLaren, close enough to keep some pressure on the Mercedes in the second half of the race. Max Verstappen's Red Bull was a quiet fourth ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri - who picked up fifth when Charles Leclerc retired his Ferrari in the pits moments after Antonelli parked. Isack Hadjar came back from a very poor start to take sixth for Red Bull, with the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad filling out the top 10. ### F1 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix results after post-race penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-barcelona-grand-prix-results-as-hamilton-wins-for-ferrari/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T17:15:39.000Z Lewis Hamilton took his first Formula 1 grand prix win as a Ferrari driver in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Hamilton's three-stop strategy comprehensively outperformed the two-stops of the Mercedes duo, aided by a virtual safety car triggered by Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin failing. He and former team-mate George Russell then got a massive boost in the points standings as points leader Kimi Antonelli exited the race with an electrical failure, just moments after clearing Russell for second place late on. A post-race 10-second penalty for Franco Colapinto for insufficiently respecting yellow flags turned a Racing Bulls 9-10 into an 8-9 - but Colapinto did remain a point-scorer. ## Race results 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +19.5s 3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +23.7s 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +40.4s 5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +58.6s 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1 lap 7 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap 8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1 lap 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1 lap 10 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1 lap 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2 laps 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2 laps 13 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2 laps 14 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3 laps DNF Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) DNF Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) DNF Oliver Bearman (Haas) DNF Alexander Albon (Williams) DNF Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) DNF Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) DNF Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) DNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### Barcelona Grand Prix F1 2026 starting grid with one pitlane start URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-barcelona-grand-prix-starting-grid/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T09:27:45.000Z George Russell will start the Barcelona Grand Prix from pole position after a late effort from Lewis Hamilton fell just short of his former Formula 1 team-mate's time. But Hamilton's lap did bump championship leader Kimi Antonelli down to third - meaning he will start off the front row for the first time this season. There are currently no changes to the grid from the end-of-qualifying order - which included Charles Leclerc down in 10th following a crash in Q3 - but Fernando Alonso will start a more-distant 22nd now from the pitlane, due to numerous component changes on his power unit. ## Barcelona GP provisional starting grid 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 18 Alex Albon (Williams) 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) PL Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) ### McLaren has lost a core advantage of its title-winning F1 cars URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-has-lost-a-core-advantage-of-its-title-winning-f1-cars/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T08:03:27.000Z McLaren believes that one of the standout car characteristics that helped it to Formula 1 title glory last year has not been carried over to its 2026 challenger. Lando Norris was helped on his way to the drivers’ championship in 2025 by McLaren’s impressive tyre temperature management, with the squad having a clear edge in this area over its competitors. Such was its advantage in controlling degradation, especially on the rear axle, that it even prompted conspiracies from rivals about it having employed some strange tricks, which included [wild theories about tyre water](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-mclaren-water-tyre-theory-gary-anderson/) that proved to be incorrect. But ahead of a Barcelona Grand Prix that is going to put a premium on the thermal management of tyres that McLaren was so good at last year, the team concedes that its edge here has gone. Norris reckoned that McLaren was certainly not the class leader any more, with championship leaders Mercedes setting the benchmark now. “I don't think we're as good on tyre deg as Mercedes,” said Norris. “I think they're probably the leaders in tyre deg. I think we're good compared to others, but also the Ferrari is incredible in the corners.” McLaren team boss Andrea Stella believes that temperature control, both in getting tyres into the right operating window as well as them not getting above it, is not as in hand as 12 months ago. “We know at McLaren that we have some opportunities to do better,” he said. “We have margin still to design our car to make sure that the tyres operate in the right range, in conditions that can span from the \[cold\] Sunday in Canada, where we were not very competitive, and mostly because of tyre temperature. “In the very hot conditions that we are finding here in Barcelona, we are not as competitive as we were in 2025, in terms of tyre conditioning and tyre degradation. “It’s a very clear objective for development. We will see where we effectively are, but based on what we have seen in practice, we don't seem to be having any particular advantage from this point of view.” ## New rules, new concept While McLaren’s previous efforts to get on top of tyre temperature management meant it had a good fundamental understanding of the dynamics at play, Stella thinks that the design overhaul for this year has meant it has been unable to deploy things as much as it wants. A host of factors have contributed to this, including a reduction in downforce and smaller tyres (which means the rubber slides more), and a whole new brake cooling regime at the rear of the car because of the increased harvesting demands, which means internal cooling demands are totally different. But Stella says there were also some concept directions that McLaren took that meant it had to sacrifice some of the tyre cooling gains. “There were some aspects of the design that we wanted to, let's say, reset for reasons that have not only to do with the tyres, but there are some other parameters from a design point of view,” he said. “Now we are gradually evolving towards what we think is the right thing to do for the tyres. So it's a bit of a reset that we were kind of forced to take, as we designed a completely new car, which created some extra demands. “We needed to meet all these demands in a single go to start a new project. Now we are starting with the development and fine-tuning in the areas where most opportunities exist. “So I don't think, from a tyres point of view, there's a big difference in terms of what the tyres need. "There might have been a little bit of a shift because the tyres are smaller, but it's more that we need to design the car to respond to the tyre demand rather than the demand of the tyres has changed dramatically.” ## No place to hide The situation has left Norris and Oscar Piastri well aware that the opportunities to take the fight to Ferrari and Mercedes in the Barcelona GP are going to be limited. Piastri said: “It's going to be tough. We felt like maybe we could get close to Mercedes over one lap, or certainly be able to challenge for the front row or top three, but over a race distance you don't really have anywhere to hide.” Norris said that with Mercedes and Ferrari having a pace advantage, they would be better able to manage things in a race that is on the edge between a two-stopper and a three-stopper. Norris said: “They can drive three tenths slower, looking after the tyres, and still be quicker than us. “I need to push an extra tenth, then overheat the tyres to push more than them to try and get past them. So I think it's a race where you don't want to be overpushing.” ### Every Williams F1 driver ranked URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/every-williams-f1-driver-ranked/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T15:18:35.000Z For its rocky start to 2026, the Williams Formula 1 team remains one of the most successful in world championship history, with 114 victories and 16 titles. Since starting up in 1977, initially running a customer March before becoming a constructor the following year, Williams has been an ever-present in F1 with a litany of illustrious drivers on its books. And now, at this weekend's Barcelona Grand Prix, Alex Albon will become the most prolific race starter for the team, surpassing Nigel Mansell with 96 starts. So what better reason for Edd Straw to update his ranking of every Williams driver, which we first published back in 2021? This ranking is not based on the absolute ability of the driver, but specifically on their performances for Williams, their role in legendary moments for the team and also factors related to their wider contribution. This also covers only the current incarnation of the team, created as Williams Grand Prix Engineering. The earlier entries made by Frank Williams are considered a separate entity. ## 50 Mario Andretti It seems sacrilegious to put a great like Andretti at the bottom of this list, but he had the briefest Williams career of all. Andretti had a gap in his IndyCar campaign for a one-off outing for Williams in the 1982 Long Beach Grand Prix after Reutemann's sudden retirement. Suspension damage after hitting the wall forced his retirement early on, with his tally of 19 racing laps completed the lowest of all Williams drivers. ## 49 Jack Aitken ![Jack Aitken Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1071911_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) A one-off appearance as substitute for George Russell in 2020's Sakhir Grand Prix was the sum total of Aitken's F1 career. He did a decent job despite wiping off his front wing in a final-corner off that meant he was fortunate to reach the chequered flag in 16th place. ## 48 Jonathan Palmer Williams test driver Palmer made his F1 debut in the 1983 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, driving a third FW08C. He qualified 25th, 2.5s slower than team-mate Keke Rosberg, and finished 13th. But considering Jacques Lafitte in the other Williams didn't qualify and Palmer lapped faster in the race than in qualifying, having finally got the front tyres working properly, it was a respectable effort. ## 47 Jean-Louis Schlesser ![Jean-Louis Schlesser Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1027821_HiRes-1024x688.jpg) Schlesser's sole F1 start at Monza in 1988 went down in infamy after he collided with leader Ayrton Senna at the first chicane when the Brazilian was just two laps away from victory. While Schlesser is commonly blamed, a look at the replay suggests Senna should have left him space to get through the chicane rather than taking the second apex. ## 46 Paul di Resta ![Paul di Resta Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_896477_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Di Resta jumped straight into qualifying for the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, three-and-a-half years since his last F1 race. Astonishingly, he outqualified Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson but inevitably struggled with tyre management in the race before retiring. ## 45 Martin Brundle ![Williams F1 Martin Brundle](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1027801_HiRes-1024x686.jpg) Brundle sat out the 1988 F1 season while racing in sportscars, but was drafted in to replace Nigel Mansell, who had chickenpox, for the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished a lapped seventh in a car limited by using normally aspirated Judd engines on what proved to be his sole outing for the team - as he narrowly missed out on a drive in the all-conquering 1993 Williams. ## 44 Nyck de Vries ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1172690_HiRes.jpg) Got the call while in the Paddock Club drinking a cappuccino to stand in for Alex Albon on Saturday morning at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix and turned that into a remarkable ninth place. His subsequent F1 performances with AlphaTauri may have been tepid, and the Williams was well-suited to Monza, but in the circumstances this was an exceptional last minute-debut. ## 43 Marc Gene ![Marc Gene Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_44106_HiRes-1024x685.jpg) Gene was a Williams test driver for four years, thrice getting the chance to substitute for the injured Ralf Schumacher. He finished fifth on his first outing at Monza in 2003 but was less successful when he contested the French and British Grands Prix the following year and was then replaced by fellow test driver Antonio Pizzonia. ## 42 Patrick Neve ![Patrick Neve Williams-March 1977](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/19770101F1-0182-1024x670.jpg) Neve was the original Williams Grand Prix Engineering driver in 1977, with his funding helping it to run a customer March chassis during most of the season as the team established itself. It's for that, rather than his modest talent behind the wheel, that he has a place in Williams history. ## 41 Antonio Pizzonia ![Antonio Pizzonia Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_84418_HiRes-1024x677.jpg) Pizzonia had two race stints with Williams in 2004 and 2005, filling in after injuries to Ralf Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld. He produced three seventh places in four outings in 2004 but, having missed out on a race seat to Heidfeld in 2005, his five late-season stand-in outings in 2005 yielded only one points finish. ## 40 Alex Zanardi ![Alex Zanardi Monaco GP Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1033725_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Signed off the back of his stunning performances in CART, the late Zanardi's return to F1 in 1999 proved to be a damp squib as he failed even to score a point. This led to his three-year deal coming to a premature end and confirmation that his remarkable talent couldn't quite be tuned to thrive in F1. ## 39 Logan Sargeant ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1300477_HiRes.jpg) Sargeant's 18 months with Williams came to a sudden halt after the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, his fate sealed by his heavy FP3 shunt putting him into one-crash-too-many territory. While he drove for Williams at a difficult time and circumstances were often against him, he also failed to make the most of his opportunities, scoring just one point, and made too many errors, leading to the team losing patience. ## 38 Sergey Sirotkin ![Sergey Sirotkin Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_958536_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) The Russian had the misfortune of his sole season in F1 coinciding with what was then the worst season Williams had ever experienced in 2018, so he had little chance to show his true ability. He had the edge over team-mate Lance Stroll in qualifying, although he managed just one points finish with 10th at Monza after Romain Grosjean was disqualified. ## 37 Derek Daly ![Derek Daly Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1029158_HiRes-1024x679.jpg) After Reutemann's shock retirement and a brief appearance by Andretti, Williams signed Daly from Tyrrell for the remaining 12 races of 1982. He picked up five top-six places and his Williams stint is best remembered for the misconception that he was on course to pass the retired Didier Pironi to win at Monaco when he retired with a gearbox problem related to oil loss, even though Riccardo Patrese had bump-started his Brabham and was still well ahead. ## 36 Kazuki Nakajima ![Kazuki Nakajima Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_292865_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Nakajima owed his place at Williams to the fact that running him allowed it not to pay for its Toyota engines. There were genuine signs of progress in his first full season in 2008, but these vanished during a point-less 2009 campaign in which he lagged well behind team-mate Nico Rosberg. ## 35 Nicholas Latifi ![Nicholas Latifi Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1066360_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) His three years with Wiliams were spent largely in the shadow of team-mate Russell, with the backing he brought key to his appointment and the team's operational survival in the pre-Dorilton Capital period. But he showed flashes of form, particularly in his second season in 2021, only to slump in his final season when his limitations in terms of adaptability meant he struggled badly with the new ground effect cars. ## 34 Robert Kubica ![Robert Kubica Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_994594_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) After missing eight seasons thanks to the horrendous injuries suffered in a rallying crash in 2011, the fact that Kubica was able to contest a full season of F1 with Williams in 2019 was incredible. But despite the awful situation the team was in that season, it's impossible to escape the conclusion that he was no longer the same brilliant driver he was in his pomp. ## 33 Franco Colapinto ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1305457_HiRes.jpg) Drafted in unexpectedly or the final nine races of 2024, Colapinto was immediately a breath of fresh air and picked up points in two of his first four races. While his later outings took some of the shine off his impact, his contribution of five points to the cause eclipsed what his two predecessors at Williams, Sargeant and Latifi, managed in the previous 47 events. ## 32 Bruno Senna ![Bruno Senna Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_502675_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Senna raced for Williams in 2012, showing good race pace being but held back by his poor qualifying form. While he scored points 10 times, he didn't make the most of the competitive Williams FW34 and had the ability to get some stronger results had he started in the top 10 more than twice. ## 31 Alex Wurz ![Alex Wurz Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_126320_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) After spending a season as test driver, Wurz stepped up to a race seat in 2007 and did a solid job, finishing third in the Canadian Grand Prix. He retired from racing in F1 before the final race of the season, with Nakajima taking his place, to focus on the Peugeot sportscar programme - keeping his F1 hand in with a Honda test role. ## 30 Jacques Laffite ![Jacques Laffite Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1032882_HiRes-1024x688.jpg) Laffite is the only driver to have driven for both of Frank Williams's teams, although his performances in 1974-75, which include the first podium for a car carrying the Williams name, don't count for this list. Instead, the two that do are subdued campaigns in 1983 and 1984, during which he was unable to grab the car by the scruff of the neck as effectively as team-mate Keke Rosberg. ## 29 Lance Stroll ![Lance Stroll Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_947937_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Reigning Formula 3 European champion Stroll landed a 2017 Williams seat thanks to his family backing, setting aside a shaky start to the season to show real promise with a breakthrough points finish in Canada, third place at Baku, and a front-row start at Monza. Thanks to the team's slump to the back, he only scored points twice in 2018 before moving to Racing Point. ## 28 Nico Hulkenberg ![Nico Hulkenberg Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_386432_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Hulkenberg was initially signed by Williams as a junior driver after impressing on his first test outing in 2007\. After winning the GP2 title, he was given a race seat in 2010 and emerged as a consistent points-scorer after a shaky start. His day of days came on Saturday at Interlagos where he took pole position, but he was dropped at the end of the season so Williams could take Pastor Maldonado and his PDVSA millions. ## 27 Ayrton Senna ![Ayrton Senna Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1026507_HiRes-1024x686.jpg) A partnership that appeared destined to yield countless wins and several world championships came to a tragic end after just three races. But Senna did show his class with three extraordinary pole positions in a tricky-to-drive car, a tantalising hint of the success that should have put him at or near the top of this ranking. ## 26 Jenson Button ![Jenson Button Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1034877_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Plucked from British Formula 3 to race for Williams in 2000 after beating Bruno Junquiera to the seat, Button scored points on his second start and made a big impression in his first season - [particularly at Spa and Suzuka](https://www.patreon.com/TheRace/posts/driving-style-s3-158075322?ref=the-race.com). He headed to Benetton at the end of the season when on-loan Williams prospect Juan Pablo Montoya returned from a victorious CART campaign. ## 25 Rubens Barrichello ![Rubens Barrichello Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_435883_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Barrichello had a strong season with Williams in 2010, having been signed from Brawn, peaking with fourth place at the Nurburgring. But the team's struggles in 2011 meant he could only score points twice in his swansong F1 season. ## 24 Nick Heidfeld ![Nick Heidfeld Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_66051_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Having beaten Pizzonia to a 2005 drive, Heidfeld performed well in his sole season with Williams before it was brought to a premature end five races before the end of the season by a big accident in testing at Monza - exacerbated by a subsequent cycling accident. But before that, he had taken pole at the Nurburgring and a superb second place at Monaco. ## 23 Carlos Sainz ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1403422_HiRes.jpg) Signed after a lengthy courting period, Sainz's start with Williams in 2025 was patchy in terms of results, but as the season progressed he hit his stride. The highlights of that season were two podium finishes, to which he's added battling performances in an uncompetitive machine in 2026 with the balance of power inside the team seemingly shifting in his favour over team-mate Albon. If Williams hangs onto him long term, he should climb significantly higher in the ranking. ## 22 George Russell ![George Russell Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1061425_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Although Russell had two point-less seasons before he finally broke through as a points scorer, from 2019-21 he almost single-handedly dragged it to respectability with some outstanding qualifying performances in particular. In 2021, he started to pick up points and produced a miraculous qualifying performance at rain-hit Spa to take second, which turned into a podium finish by default in the infamous race-that-never-was. ## 21 Felipe Massa ![Felipe Massa Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_762947_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) After his eight-season stint with Ferrari came to an end, Williams picked up Massa for 2014, which proved to be the start of a successful four-season stint with the team. He bagged pole position in Austria 2014 and five podium finishes in total, and also got to retire from F1 twice after returning in 2017 to replace the Mercedes-bound Valtteri Bottas. ## 20 Valtteri Bottas ![Valtteri Bottas Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_830578_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Originally signed by Williams as a junior in 2010, Bottas landed a race seat in 2013 and struggled for results in his first season, given the team's lack of competitiveness. But the following year, he picked up six podiums and fourth in the championship. He had the edge over Massa in his three years with the team before being bought out of his contract by Mercedes for £10million. ## 19 Pastor Maldonado ![Pastor Maldonado Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/03/XPB_510181_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) It might be controversial to have Maldonado so high, but that famous victory in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix stands as the most recent Williams win and assists his ranking. Erratic and error-prone, he was capable of something special, as he showed in that race, when the stars aligned (which they did rarely). Less well-remembered is his superb drive to fifth in Abu Dhabi despite a KERS failure, but best forgotten are the many incidents and accidents in his three years with the team. ## 18 Heinz-Harald Frentzen ![Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1033954_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Frentzen joined Williams in place of world champion Damon Hill in 1997 hailed as a driver who could be better than Schumacher, but left after two years, with his reputation damaged, having won just once - although he did technically finish second in the championship after Schumacher's exclusion. He never seemed to fit in at Williams, with the subsequent move to Jordan reigniting his F1 career. ## 17 Mark Webber ![Mark Webber Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_135472_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Webber had the ingredients to be the perfect Williams driver, a next-generation Alan Jones, when he joined Williams in 2005\. Sadly, his timing was poor and the two years he spent there didn't produce the anticipated success. His high points came at Monaco, where he finished third in 2005 and retired while on for a repeat - and maybe even victory - the following year. ## 16 Nico Rosberg ![Nico Rosberg Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_273276_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) After setting the fastest lap on his debut in Bahrain in 2006, Rosberg spent four seasons at Williams at a time when its performance was erratic, and picked up three podium finishes along the way. His final season was his strongest, with Rosberg scoring consistently and finishing seventh in the championship before heading to Mercedes. ## 15 Thierry Boutsen ![Thierry Boutsen Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1027367_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Often forgotten despite a successful two-season stint with Williams in 1989-90, the voluminously coiffured Boutsen brought three wins to the team. His non-stop run to victory from pole in Hungary in 1990, holding off Ayrton Senna, was his high point, but when Williams re-signed Nigel Mansell, Boutsen was out. ## 14 David Coulthard ![David Coulthard Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1033654_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Promoted from his role as test driver with the unenviable task of taking Senna's seat, Coulthard made a good impression in his part-season during 1994 despite Mansell occasionally taking his place, then came on strong as 1995 progressed. He only won once, at Estoril in 1995, but claimed five pole positions before moving to McLaren. ## 13 Alex Albon ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1414177_HiRes.jpg) Thrived after being given the unenviable task of replacing Russell, for three seasons carrying Williams almost single-handedly with some exceptional drives to unexpected points finishes. The high point was miraculously taking it to seventh place in the 2023 constructors' championship, while breaking the record for most Williams starts this weekend elevates him above several drivers who had better headline results for the team. ## 12 Clay Regazzoni ![Clay Regazzoni Williams Monaco Grand Prix 1979](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/19790101F1-0140-1024x674.jpg) Former Ferrari driver Regazzoni was very much the experienced support act to Alan Jones at Williams in 1979 on his unexpected return to a frontrunning team. But it was Regazzoni who took the historic first win for Williams at Silverstone in 1979 after Jones retired, earning him a place in Williams legend despite only staying for one season. ## 11 Riccardo Patrese ![Riccardo Patrese Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1034574_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) The popular Italian racked up 81 starts and four wins for Williams from 1987-92, putting him fourth in the team's starts list. His win at Imola in 1990 came six and a half years after his last for Brabham, with the following season his Williams peak as he pushed Nigel Mansell hard - before struggling to get to grips with the active ride car in 1992. He even came close to returning after Senna's death in 1994 before ruling himself out. ## 10 Carlos Reutemann ![Carlos Reutemann Williams](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1029687_HiRes-1024x691.jpg) The Argentinian joined Williams as number two to Jones in 1980, taking the team's first Monaco Grand Prix win and finishing third in the championship. His relationship with Jones took a dive early in 1981 when he refused to hand over victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix, but it was Reutemann who almost won the title but lost out to Nelson Piquet after a tame run to eighth in Las Vegas. He walked away two races into the 1982 season. ## 9 Juan Pablo Montoya ![Juan Pablo Montoya Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/09/XPB_50099_HiRes-1024x685.jpg) Montoya erupted onto the F1 scene and was leading in only his third grand prix at Interlagos in 2001, having overtaken Michael Schumacher, before being wiped out by backmarker Jos Verstappen. In four years with Williams, he scored four wins and had a run at the 2003 title before [heading off to McLaren](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hughes-why-montoya-and-mclaren-never-worked-in-f1/) for 2005. ## 8 Ralf Schumacher ![Ralf Schumacher Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1033767_HiRes-1024x680.jpg) Schumacher had his best days with Williams from 1999 to 2004, taking half a dozen victories. When he took back-to-back wins in the space of a week at the Nurburgring and Magny-Cours in 2003, he even looked like world-champion material. It was occasionally a bumpy ride with Montoya, but he was well-regarded by the team and notched up 94 starts - third only to Albon and Mansell. ## 7 Alain Prost ![Alain Prost Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/10/XPB_1033470_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Prost returned from a sabbatical to win the 1993 world championship at a canter. But although this earned him a place in Williams legend, the fact that he had a relatively measured run to the title and only stayed for one season - thanks to being paid to skip the second year of a two-year contract to accommodate arch-rival Senna - means he isn't quite among the absolute superstars of the team. ## 6 Jacques Villeneuve ![Jacques Villeneuve Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/06/XPB_1033912_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) It's often forgotten just how big an impact Villeneuve made when he joined Williams as CART champion in 1996\. He so nearly won his first race in F1 in Australia, then took the title fight with Damon Hill down to the wire before becoming world champion in 1997. After three seasons, the last of them winless thanks to Renault's withdrawal, he made his ill-fated move to BAR. ## 5 Nelson Piquet ![Nelson Piquet Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1032107_HiRes-1024x689.jpg) Piquet won seven races and the 1987 world championship during his two-year stint with Williams, which was characterised by the fractious battle with team-mate Mansell. While portrayed as the villain by some of the British media, Piquet was an outstanding performer for Williams, even if he didn't consistently replicate the form of his Brabham peak. ## 4 Keke Rosberg ![Keke Rosberg Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1032981_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Rosberg was plucked from struggling Fittipaldi to drive for Williams in 1982, unexpectedly winning the world championship. He took just one win that year, adding a further four victories before leaving for a swansong with McLaren in 1986. His victory at Monaco in 1983 after starting on slicks in the wet is perhaps the greatest of all Williams wins, earning him iconic status. ## 3 Damon Hill ![Brazilian Grand Prix Interlagos (bra) 29 31 03 1996](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/09/XPB_1026402_HiRes-1024x689.jpg) Having played an important role as test driver, Hill was very much the number two when he was promoted to the race team as Prost's team-mate in 1993, but he soon won races. He helped keep the team together after the death of Senna in 1994 and, in 1996, bounced back from a bad previous season to win the world championship. Only Mansell has bettered his tally of 21 wins for Williams. ## 2 Alan Jones ![Alan Jones Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2020/03/XPB_1029651_HiRes-1024x691.jpg) The first Williams world champion, and the driver who really put Williams on the map with his run of four wins in five races in 1979 before winning the following year's title. A no-nonsense hard-charger, he was the standard against which Williams drivers were judged for decades, with few measuring up. ## 1 Nigel Mansell ![Nigel Mansell Williams F1](https://storage.googleapis.com/the-race-com.appspot.com/1/2021/02/XPB_1026831_HiRes-1024x683.jpg) Nobody has won more races (28) or taken more pole positions (28) for Williams than its quintessential driver. In three stints with the team, Mansell was unlucky not to win more than one world championship. Adrian Newey even suggested Mansell would have won the 1995 title for Williams had he been kept on after his four 1994 outings. ### The crucial moments that cost Hamilton in Russell pole fight URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-crucial-moments-that-cost-hamilton-in-russell-pole-fight/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T18:22:48.000Z George Russell was convinced that Lewis Hamilton “could have got the pole position” for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, but while the Ferrari driver wasn’t certain either way the “half-a-tenth to a tenth” he potentially lost early in his final lap might have swung a battle decided by 0.064 seconds in his favour. Hamilton struggled throughout practice, saying he was on the back foot but then became delighted with the feel and the pace of the Ferrari from the start of qualifying. That allowed him to fight for pole position, with the first sector of his final flying lap in Q3 a little slower than his best previous effort in qualifying (21.886s v 21.873s) but followed by personal bests in the final two sectors. While that first sector was only 0.013s slower, you would have expected Hamilton to make a step from that previous best, which was set on his initial attempt at a Q3 lap before aborting thanks to the red flag caused by team-mate [Charles Leclerc’s crash](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-barcelona-gp-f1-qualifying-crash-reaction/). Asked by The Race about the time lost in Turn 1 and whether it might have been enough to cost him pole position, Hamilton explained that it was partly a consequence of the previous lap he completed, on the same set of tyres that he’d taken the best out of with that aborted lap, which left him guessing how much speed he could take into Turn 1. He attempted to take in a little too much speed, and while he didn’t miss the apex by a big margin, that meant he ran wide and compromised him through the first two corners and therefore cost him speed into the long Turn 3 right hander. “I need to go look at the data, I haven't seen the sectors, but basically, we were in the garage, because we went out and started the first lap,” said Hamilton. “With the red flag, we came in, I think I did basically the whole first sector, I think these guys \[Russell and Kimi Antonelli\] maybe didn’t get the whole sector in so the tyres were a bit fresher. “We had a big debate in the garage, they put on new tyres and we're going to wait to do one lap, and I was saying to them that I want to go out on this tyre and get at least a reference lap in. And they're like, ‘no, no, no, let's just go out for one’. And I was like, ‘no, take those new tyres off, put the reference ones on’. “Then we went out and the tyres had dropped off significantly already. From one lap to the next lap it's usually around half a second to eight tenths or something like that, so they had already dropped off half a second. I was happy I got that whether or not they were right or not. “So when I went into turn one, I just gunned it. I probably went in too deep, I had massive understeer and went quite wide on the exit of one, which meant two was slower than normal. So half-a-tenth to a tenth, I would assume, but I'll look at the data and maybe I’m wrong.” Whether or not this small error cost him pole position is difficult to say conclusively, but it certainly could have done. However, Hamilton set the fastest second sector time of all, meaning that at the braking point for Turn 10 at the end of the back straight he was around seven-hundredths up on Russell. However, Hamilton lost 0.134s to Russell in the final sector, carrying less apex speed through the left-hand Turn 10 hairpin - where Hamilton ran wide and suffered a snap of oversteer - but then clawing it back and building a small advantage of just half-a-tenth approaching the final corner. However, on the power Russell was significantly faster and the battle swung decisively in his favour. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-13-at-18.50.27.png) Credit: gp-tempo.com But regardless of the what ifs, it doesn’t alter the fact that Ferrari’s performance came not only as a surprise to the watching world, but also Hamilton after what he called a “very tricky weekend for me personally”. Having sat out FP1 to allow Dino Beganovic to run, Hamilton struggled in the second and third practice sessions. As a result, he “needed to make a huge leap going into qualifying” but big gains made in terms of rear grip and therefore his confidence behind the wheel meant he was rapid from the start of qualifying, setting the pace in Q1\. That was a result of improvements for both Ferraris, with Hamilton indicating he and team-mate Leclerc “basically had the exact same set-up”. Hamilton pointed out that all drivers benefit from having the rear-end grip, but historically he has particularly thrived with consistent and confidence-inspiring rear grip, which allows him to drive in a way that has not always been possible during his time with Ferrari to date. “Honestly, I couldn’t believe once I came around and was P1 in Q1, the gap was so big,” said Hamilton. “I was thinking all weekend ‘why am I half-a-second off?’ I was just down everywhere; struggled through Turn 3, struggled through Turn 9 and having that confidence in that high-speed. But the engineers did a great job with the small adjustments on the set-up. “For the first time ever, I left the track between P3 and qualifying. I said, “I’ve got to get out of here.” I went back to my motorhome and I was just on the engineer call, just on my phone, but I kind of went where I had a bit of a reset, came back and I was able to somehow get back on it. So yeah, whatever it did, it worked.” Having come so close to his first grand prix pole position for Ferrari (he took sprint pole in China in 2025), is victory possible? Given the Ferrari is strong off the line there's a chance of getting ahead of Russell at the start, and while it's difficult to judge Ferrari's race pace given how big a step was made from Friday practice Hamilton isn't giving up on a shot at victory. "It definitely will be challenging without my team-mate within the group, but it's been done before, " said Hamilton. "It's a long way down to Turn 1 for the one on the dirty side, which is not the greatest. These guys \[Mercedes\] were really quick on the long runs, as they have been all year, so I have no idea of whether I'll be able to keep up. We’ll find out tomorrow. " Mercedes is certainly clear favourite, but after the near-miss in qualifying Ferrari and Hamilton can at least realistically hope to have some say in the battle at the front in the early stages. And with at least a two-stop race expected, that will put them in the mix. ### Why Piastri sees disastrous F1 precedent in Gasly penalty U-turn URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/oscar-piastri-shock-monaco-gp-penalty-pierre-gasly-podium/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T17:49:31.000Z Oscar Piastri is “mind-blown” by the decision to cancel Pierre Gasly’s Monaco penalties, something that dropped the McLaren driver from fourth to fifth place, five days after the race. The stewards [took the extraordinary decision to overturn Gasly’s two penalties](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-missing-centimetres-that-forced-f1s-stunning-gasly-penalty-u-turn/) for pitlane speeding, moving him from seventh to third in the Monaco classification. That cost Isack Hadjar his first podium finish for Red Bull and lost Oscar Piastri and the Racing Bulls drivers a position each. Piastri likely would have been on the podium ahead of Gasly had he not had to serve a penalty for pitlane speeding. But, as was the case for George Russell, because their penalties were served in-race, they couldn’t be reversed like Gasly’s was. Piastri, a rarely visibly irritated individual, expressed his pure bafflement at the outcome when speaking to the media after Barcelona Grand Prix qualifying. “I'm pretty mind-blown by the decision, because how you can reverse a decision that was ultimately wrong, but when other people have been penalised for the same thing and served a penalty in the race- how you can then change one penalty, knowing that probably five or six other races have been impacted by that, is astonishing,” Piastri said. “So, I mean, I've obviously lost a position, but you can only imagine how George is feeling - so I could not believe my eyes.” Piastri felt short-changed by serving his penalty in the race - while Alpine and Gasly deliberately elected not to, knowing they’d argue their case after the race. “Yes. I lost the position to Pierre because I served the penalty, so technically I should be P3 - but then, technically George should be P3, and the whole thing is now a mess. “\[It’s\] quite the predicament they've got themselves into, and I don't know how you get yourself out of that one, because now the precedent as it is is 'you don't serve the penalty, you take it to court, you wait probably a few months to decide the race', and who the hell wants to go racing like that? “'Perplexed' is the word I would use.” Piastri added: “I think before you could kind of say bad luck, it was wrong, but it was wrong for everybody, and everyone was treated the same. “Now it's very...very much how you...how you judge that. I don't think the race result will be cancelled, but yes, it's quite the situation that's unfolded.” McLaren and Red Bull have both lodged [notice of their intention to appeal the decision. ](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-fia-appeal-monaco-gasly-piastri/) Team boss Andrea Stella called it a "very difficult case". We have already lodged an intention to appeal, we will use the time that we have available and we will confirm or not confirm the intention to appeal. "But for the moment I would refrain from commenting too much other than saying that this is a very complex case and we do feel that we should consider appealing." Both teams still have a window into early next week to decide whether they’ll follow through with that appeal. And Mercedes is speaking to its lawyers to see whether [it's worth pursuing an appeal to try and "remedy"](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-lawyers-monaco-penalties/) the points that Russell lost from his Monaco penalties. Liam Lawson, who dropped from fifth to sixth because of Gasly’s podium reinstatement, called “it disappointing for us”, but said those who served their penalties in-race (Russell and Piastri) are “probably more frustrated than I am, and I think that's where it gets a little bit tricky”. “For us, it's just a lost position, but we still had a great week in Monaco.” ## ‘We did nothing wrong’ - Gasly Gasly felt vindicated on Friday to get his podium back after “a rollercoaster of emotions the last few days”, while Alpine’s managing director Steve Nielsen felt it was “justice” been done. And asked about it after qualifying, Gasly delivered a detailed answer as to why he believed he and his team had done nothing wrong. “I'm just going to make something clear that I know what we did,” Gasly said. “I know we were driving at 59\[kph\] in the pitlane and we've been accused \[of\] driving over 60\[kph\], which wasn't the case. “What I'm gonna say is that it should not be right to penalise me for something that we haven't done just because others got penalised. “If a potential mistake was done one time, two times, three times, it's not a reason to do it a fourth time. So I think just to draw the line here. “Then second point is, I actually don't know whether Oscar or George oversped or not. I haven't seen their data. I don't know if it's the same issue as we've had. Just based on that, I cannot comment. “Obviously, if they didn't \[speed\], then that's a big shame. They obviously lost out. Yeah, I mean, I'm not for that. “I think the situation we are facing is as a team, we decided not to box a second time, change the tyre, not to serve the penalty because we knew that we didn't do anything wrong and we were going to protest it. “I think the fact that it was a slightly different situation it might be different. But at the end of the day, I think for the sport, fair play to FIA and F1, when you do a mistake and they took their responsibilities. In the end they did well to overturn their decision because in the end we did nothing wrong. “All I can say is we did a good quali, overtook Norris at the start, found ourselves in P5 at the second start, and we overtook Hadjar on track. “We crossed the line in P3, so I don't think it was fair to be put in P7 when we did nothing wrong there.” ### Winners and losers from 2026 Barcelona GP F1 qualifying URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/2026-barcelona-gp-f1-qualifying-winners-losers/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T16:39:42.000Z The Barcelona Grand Prix is, we're told, all about Sunday this year considering just how big a role tyre degradation has been playing so far throughout the weekend. But track position has always been critical at this venue - only three times has a Formula 1 race been won at Barcelona by a driver starting off the front row - so it seems inconceivable that a strong grid position won't be vital once again in 2026. With that in mind, who's maximised their chances and who's going to be hoping they can play catch-up on Sunday? ## Winner: Lewis Hamilton (2nd) While there may be a case to be made that Hamilton could or should have found 65 thousandths of a second around the lap to secure his first real Ferrari pole (for a grand prix, not a sprint) this was undoubtedly a win for the seven-time world champion. Back-to-back second-place finishes have given Hamilton his strongest momentum yet at Ferrari but this qualifying result is arguably more meaningful. Hamilton's always been strong at Canada, which is an outlier of a track, and Ferrari was very competitive in Monaco. It was certainly encouraging that he was ahead of Charles Leclerc there, but coming to a 'proper' circuit and being at the sharp end should be seen as confirmation that Hamilton's form is real rather than a couple of perfect storms. Leclerc could have been the spoiler, of course, as this has been a much better weekend for the objectively faster Ferrari (over the last 18 months). But his qualifying ended in the barrier, not parked among the top three... **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm** ## Loser: Charles Leclerc (10th) Leclerc was ashamed of his early Q3 crash that denied him a genuine shot at pole, and far be it for us to disagree with Leclerc - that was a completely avoidable accident. He picked up a very tiny correction just after the apex of Turn 4, slightly opening up the wheel before quickly reapplying the lock. That left him marginally off-line and, after catching an initial rear slide, Leclerc tried to push on. Loading the power on the dirtier part of the track then just caused the rear to swap aggressively, pitching Leclerc off-track before he could properly gather it up. It's the kind of mistake that Leclerc can fall foul of when he does his high-risk dancing-on-the-wire act in qualifying but on the first run in Q3, with Ferrari in such good shape, it was utterly needless - especially as he should have realised the lap was most likely gone already. **\- SMM** ## Winner: George Russell (1st) Russell's third pole of the season comes after two point-less weekends. He put in an emphatic pole position lap at Barcelona where Hamilton came within a tenth of his time. Karun Chandhok's astute 'Skypad' analysis showed Hamilton held the advantage after the first two sectors, but Russell made the difference by turning in later at Turn 10, setting himself up well for the final sector. Out of the final corner, Russell also managed to get on the throttle earlier than the Ferrari driver. Russell said he was relieved that, in terms of set-up, trusting his instinct rather than chasing rivals worked out. "Doing some copy-pasting probably, really put me on the back foot," he said. "This weekend I've just gone in my own direction, that's what I've done in the past for the last few years, and I'm really glad to see it paying off." He now has the chance to reclaim second in the championship and chip away at the 68-point gap to team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who qualified third. **\- Samarth Kanal** ## Loser: Oscar Piastri (7th) It feels harsh having Piastri in this column especially as he noted it didn't really slip away from him and McLaren, it was just "very, very tight". But this particular judgement is purely outcome-based. When the gaps are so close, the person on the losing end of that has lost out. In this case, it was Piastri. If he could have found just under a tenth across the whole lap, he'd be starting four places higher on the grid. Instead of being in a great position to score a podium, he's behind two Red Bulls. There is obviously something to fight for on Sunday - and if he does get the result McLaren's one-lap pace has hinted could be possible, he will be in a different part of this list! - but Piastri even admitted "there was a bit more out there" and "I need to understand where I lost time in the final sector". So this was just a minor under-delivery with a much bigger consequence. **\- SMM** ## Loser: Williams (16th & 18th) One car out in Q1, one slowest in Q2 (with no new tyres left to use in that session) says everything you need to know about where Williams is at a track ruthlessly exposing its underwhelming 2026 car. For Carlos Sainz, it was largely as expected, and primarily about the car's fundamental weakness on this type of track. He'd braced himself for a tough weekend because all season the car has been getting hammered in medium-speed corners and Barcelona piles high-speed content on top of that, where downforce and weight make the biggest difference. He pointed specifically to Turns 3, 9 and 14 as places Williams is getting "destroyed" by rivals, with no low-speed sections to claw the time back. For Albon it was more of a genuine mystery, and centred on balance rather than outright downforce. He called it a big head-scratcher, not knowing what the car would do, and complained in the session that his balance was either oversteer or understeer - no medium. That left Albon - half a second off Sainz in Q1 and only 18th, barely ahead of the Cadillacs - feeling it went beyond just the car's inherent limitations and that there was something on his side of the garage the team needed to understand, given how disconnected it felt. **\- SMM** ## Winner: Cadillac (19th & 20th) F1's newest team left Aston Martin behind by over a second in qualifying at Barcelona. That is not something to be scoffed at, and not a statistic one would have envisioned at the turn of the year. Sergio Perez outqualified Valtteri Bottas by two tenths, the pair right on the tail of a Williams - Albon just ahead of the Cadillacs in 18th. Bottas was relieved to make it out on track after his FP3 incident, which he said at the time was to do with his brake pedal, having later said that the team was "on the limit" to repair his car. The bonus for Perez comes in the form of a set of soft tyres. He saved a set - using two sets of softs in Q1 rather than three - which could come in handy amid the heavy tyre degradation on Sunday. **\- SK** ## Loser: Esteban Ocon (17th) This is shaping up to be a weekend-to-forget for Haas, but in Ollie Bearman's hands - after some last-second changes to improve upon what he lambasted as "the worst car I've ever driven in my life" in FP3 - it was clearly Q2 material. Ocon could not get it there, laying the blame at the feet of some immediate energy deployment weirdness on his second set of three softs in Q1 - which he said obviously wrote off that lap and then "killed \[my\] references completely" in terms of corner approaches for the final push. A 0.502s gap to Bearman was still extreme, and the likelihood is that both Haas and Ocon will have expected much more from one another, at least today. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Winner: Lance Stroll (21st) This was a momentous day for Stroll, who lapped 0.057s quicker than team-mate Fernando Alonso and thus outqualified him for the first time since the Shanghai sprint last year. Stroll's ebullient reaction to this milestone underlined its significance. "I don't care. I don't know, I don't give a s\*\*t." Hmmm. Well, fair enough. For what it's worth, Alonso said he had "huge rear locking" and "some push from the engine, like half-throttle open in some brakings" but also sounded a bit more willing to talk up Stroll's achievement than the man himself. "Lance is much more often closer than what it feels and even in front of me more often than what we remember," he insisted. **\- VK** ## Loser: Alpine (13th and 14th) Alpine's weekends in this first year back with Mercedes power can only ever look so bad when the 2026 Williams car exists - but ignoring that particular security blanket it has been a rough showing, and both drivers aren't having any fun. Pierre Gasly's side of the garage have been "scratching our heads since the first lap of FP1". "Every lap in Turn 1 and Turn 4, as soon as I brake with my steering straight, the car is sending me left, right - as I'm trying to just go straight," he vented. "I don't understand. I've never had that in 10 years in Formula 1\. We've never had that with this car. We are not understanding where it comes from." Franco Colapinto's issue is a more general "very disconnected" feeling and sliding leading to excessive wear. So both are extremely wary of how the race might play out on Sunday. There isn't much pressure from behind - but also currently not a great prospect of reeling in those ahead. **\- VK** ## Winner: Liam Lawson (8th) Lawson has struck a fine vein of form, having finished seventh in Canada and sixth in Monaco, and now matching his best qualifying of the year with eighth in Spain. This result is as good as it could have got for the Racing Bulls driver, who was a tenth ahead of Audi's Nico Hulkenberg - and probably one place better than it should have been, given Leclerc crashed out of Q3. The Racing Bulls car looks solid at this all-rounder circuit and, perhaps most importantly for Lawson, he has outqualified team-mate Arvid Lindblad and once again bolstered his stock in an ever-competitive Red Bull market. **\- SK** ### Leclerc 'ashamed' of Barcelona qualifying crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-barcelona-gp-f1-qualifying-crash-reaction/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T17:04:27.000Z Charles Leclerc felt “ashamed” over crashing out of qualifying for Formula 1’s Barcelona Grand Prix. Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari SF-26 while trying to correct a snap through the long Turn 4 right-hander and speared into the barriers. As that was his first flying lap of Q3, it leaves him 10th on the grid for Sunday’s race, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton snuck his Ferrari onto the front row. “I tried to release the brakes earlier, trying to carry more speed as I knew it was the main weakness, if not the only weakness, because we were very fast in all corners,” Leclerc said. “I tried to carry more speed in, it worked out, but then I went on traction on the dirty side of the track and lost the rear, but there's not much to excuse myself.” Team-mate Hamilton suggested the crash may have been the result of a difference between the two that Leclerc will have seen on the data. "We basically had the exact same set-up now in quali - and Charles has been quick all weekend," he said. "I think on the data I was braking very late into Turn 4, which had been visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry a lot of speed into that corner, and unfortunately it didn't work out for him." The big story for Leclerc heading into the weekend was [the swap from Brembo to Carbon Industrie brake discs](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-early-verdict-on-leclercs-ferrari-brake-experiment/) this weekend, Leclerc having struggled throughout the Montreal and Monaco weekends, crashing out of the latter. But did the brakes play any kind of role in Leclerc’s off? “No, no, no, there's none of that and honestly, I adapted very well straight from FP2, I felt very at ease with it and there's nothing of that, there's no excuses on trying to find a reference or whatsoever,” Leclerc said. “I feel very ashamed, after the last three weekends that have been particularly difficult for me to find pace for issues I had, today and this weekend, I think everything felt really, really good and in these days I need to deliver and I didn't. “So I feel very ashamed in general.” Asked by The Race if he’d stick with Carbon Industrie brake discs for future weekends, Leclerc said “yes”. Leclerc - who also described himself as "ashamed" five separate times when speaking to Sky Sports - said “I think we can do great tomorrow” and was “optimistic” of fighting back from 10th and called the eight-part upgrade that Ferrari brought to the car a “significant step forward”. ### What you need to know about new F1-themed song URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/new-f1-themed-song-what-you-need-to-know/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T15:37:15.000Z After 2025 brought us an entire Formula 1 movie soundtrack, 2026 has now delivered a brand-new F1-themed song debuted at the Barcelona Grand Prix. DJ Alan Walker, whose most famous track [Faded](http://youtube.com/watch?v=60ItHLz5WEA&ref=the-race.com) (you'll probably recognise it if you've seen a lot of gaming compilations or cinematic edits) has accumulated over 2.4 billion streams on Spotify, is the man behind the new track *The Sting Within Me*, inspired by F1. Here's a taste of the lyrics... --- **The Sting Within Me** Charged like lightning, the spark igniting Final lap, keep fighting, we're not at the end of the road Race against the universe We'll drive until the tyres burn We'll make our hearts unite, our voices heard. The crowd is gonna love when they see it. The sting within me The sting within me Lights are shining in perfect timing Speed like we're flying, we're not at the end of the road Race against the universe, we'll drive until the tyres burn We'll make our hearts unite, our voices heard The crowd is gonna love when they see it The sting within me The sting within me The sting within me The sting within me --- The track artwork features an electrified hooded figure facing four F1 cars descending from a corner with some serious elevation change. Walker has "drawn inspiration from the roar of the engines, the atmosphere of a race weekend", and had F1's help in doing so. "When the idea came up for the initial request, then the idea was to sample sounds of Formula 1, like what makes F1, F1," Walker said when The Race asked how he went about this unique challenge. "That's a challenge in itself, but we got in touch with F1, we got sent a bunch of samples, like recordings of the race tracks and a lot of little soundbites that you can put in the digital audio workshop, and then start tweaking and sooner or later you have a song. "But we were going back and forth a lot with Sting \[the Indian drinks company that's owned by F1 partner PepsiCo\] and the team trying to find the sound that we wanted, the direction of the music, how do we want it to sound? "I think it's turned out pretty well." Asked for the timeline, Walker said: "Very short, but not too short, we had a lot of lead time. "But it was alongside the different ideas, the direction that was wanted and tweaks that was intended to be done. "Sooner or later, it all works out. We got the lyrics written, we got a great vocalist to sing it, and in the end, we got a great product." This is all part of F1 and Sting's push to speak to a younger audience of fans - Sting being one of multiple brands represented by PepsiCo's partnership with F1, which also includes Doritos and Gatorade. "We are now up to 830 million fans worldwide, a huge amount of that new fanbase is coming in from a younger, more female-led audience, and so we've been targeting that younger fan base, because they are the future fans of F1," Joe Selfe, F1's head of partnership management, said. "From the very beginning, it was clear that Sting was a brand that was also focused on that Gen Z younger audience wanted to be culture-first and we're going to use the partnership to target that audience in a very creative and new way. "A lot of the new audience is engaging or entering our sport in a new and different way as well, and we're a sport first, but we're also an entertainment platform across culture across food, across fashion and across music." The song was released on the Friday of the Barcelona GP weekend, with Walker performing the song for the very first time live after F1 qualifying in the Fanzone. Speaking before qualifying, Walker, a Valtteri Bottas fan, tipped George Russell to win the Barcelona GP but spoke of how impressed he was with championship leader Kimi Antonelli. While in completely different fields, having shot to fame in his teenage years and embarked on world tours, Walker knows what it's like to be under the spotlight from a very young age. "It's crazy there's probably so much to wrap your head around, but he seems to be \[having\] a really good composure living in the moment," Walker said. "He doesn't let the pressure get to him, so if he keeps doing what he does, I think he can go really far." ### Russell takes Barcelona F1 pole despite spirited late Hamilton lap URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-barcelona-f1-pole-spirited-late-lewis-hamilton-lap/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T19:31:02.000Z George Russell took an expected pole position for Formula 1's Barcelona Grand Prix - despite a spirited last-gasp challenge from former team-mate Lewis Hamilton. A crash for Hamilton's Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc - his third across the last two weekends - suspended the pole shootout early, with only two drivers (Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen) having put times on the board. Leclerc - who swapped from Brembo to Carbon Industrie brake discs this weekend - went off while correcting a snap navigating the long Turn 4 right-hander, going straight into the barriers and exiting the session on the spot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1417678_HiRes.jpg) Several laps were interrupted in progress and several more drivers had to put an extra outlap on their set of tyres once the session resumed. Russell shot to the top on his first attempt, but only narrowly ahead of Piastri and with championship leading team-mate Antonelli only fourth. But a big step came across the board on the final laps, with Russell finding nearly half a second more - and needing that half a second. The Mercedes driver's 1m14.679s saw off Hamilton's late effort by six hundredths, with sector three the primary difference. Antonelli limited the damage in third despite being three tenths off Russell - as four other drivers lapped within a tenth of his time, those being McLaren's Lando Norris (who lost a nearly complete first lap to the red flag), Red Bull duo Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, and Norris's team-mate Piastri. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) rounded out the Q3 order aside from Leclerc, who propped up the top 10. Rookie Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) looked in prime position to advance to Q3 but aborted his final Q2 run and was shuffled down to 11th, ahead of Audi sophomore Gabriel Bortoleto and the Alpine duo. Those two were in something of Q2 no-man's land, with Franco Colapinto a tenth up on reinstated Monaco podium finisher Pierre Gasly, who reported that his lap simply "felt bad" but still slotted in ahead of 15th-placed Ollie Bearman. Carlos Sainz, the sole Williams representative in Q2, was well off the pace in that session - having not run any fresh tyres. A half-second Q1 deficit to Haas team-mate Bearman consigned Esteban Ocon to his third successive first-segment exit, while a similar deficit at Williams for Alex Albon relative to team-mate Sainz meant 18th place. The Cadillacs were snapping at Albon's heels but ultimately ended up 19th and 20th, Sergio Perez a couple of tenths up on Valtteri Bottas and both well, well clear of the Aston Martins. Over at Aston Martin, despite exploring the Turn 10 gravel trap earlier in the session, Lance Stroll outqualified home hero Fernando Alonso for the first time this season, by six hundredths of a second. ## Qualifying result 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m14.679s 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.064s 3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.319s 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.322s 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.342s 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.398s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.411s 8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.863s 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.978s 10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) no Q3 time 11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 1m15.840s 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 1m16.001s 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m16.191s 14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m16.261s 15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m16.389s 16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 1m17.827s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m17.073s 18 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m17.424s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 1m17.545s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 1m17.757s 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m18.758s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m18.815s ### Barcelona Grand Prix 2026 F1 qualifying results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/barcelona-grand-prix-2026-f1-qualifying-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T15:18:12.000Z George Russell took pole position for the Barcelona Grand Prix, as Ferrari Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton split the Mercedes team-mates to secure a place on the front row. Below you'll find all the times from qualifying at Barcelona ## Qualifying result 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m14.679s 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.064s 3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.319s 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.322s 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.342s 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.398s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.411s 8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.863s 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.978s 10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) no Q3 time 11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 1m15.840s 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 1m16.001s 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m16.191s 14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m16.261s 15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m16.389s 16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 1m17.827s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m17.073s 18 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m17.424s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 1m17.545s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 1m17.757s 21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m18.758s 22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m18.815s ### What happened in red-flagged final Barcelona F1 practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/barcelona-f1-practice-fp3-red-flag-what-happened/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T11:49:12.000Z Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell set the fastest time in final practice for the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix as a red flag disrupted the session. Russell led FP3 with a time of 1m15.679s while McLaren's Oscar Piastri was second, two tenths off. Charles Leclerc was three hundredths further back for Ferrari in third. The session was punctuated by a red flag when, with 25 minutes remaining, Valtteri Bottas beached his Cadillac on the exit of Turn 10. Cadillac - which encountered brake issues in Monaco - immediately began investigating the issue as Bottas said he had "lost his brake pedal". The session resumed with just over 15 minutes left, and the qualifying runs came towards the chequered flag. Before that, action was sporadic given the intense heat of the Spanish afternoon. FP2 pacesetter Lando Norris (whose fastest FP2 time was two tenths faster than this FP3 benchmark) was fourth, 0.002s off Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton was another four tenths away for Ferrari in fifth. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was just behind Hamilton in sixth. Kimi Antonelli settled for seventh having aborted two late push laps due to traffic. He ranted about the traffic on the radio only to receive a swift rebuttal from race engineer Peter Bonnington: "Unfortunately I don't release those cars out of the garage, mate." Isack Hadjar complained of understeer as he put his Red Bull a second off the pace in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth for Audi and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top 10 for Racing Bulls. There were few surprises outside the top 10 with Alpine, Haas and Williams behind midfield rivals Audi and Racing Bulls, Cadillac further down, and Aston Martin rounding out the order. ## FP3 times 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m15.679s 2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.214s 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.243s 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.246s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.702s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.755s 7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.821s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.005s 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.282s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.341s 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.348s 12 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.645s 13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.904s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.946s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.051s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.361s 17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.712s 18 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.733s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.012s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.817s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4.283s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.424s ### F1 Barcelona GP 2026 practice results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-barcelona-gp-2026-practice-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T11:49:02.000Z Below you'll find the practice results from Formula 1's Barcelona race - with three practices in this non-sprint weekend. After the first day of action on track, George Russell and Lando Norris split the session topping times, with FP2 providing many driver's first experience of action today after a host of rookies and young drivers took over in FP1. Russell returned to the top of the timesheets come FP3 on Saturday, leading Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc - with the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli down in seventh. ## FP3 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m15.679s 2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.214s 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.243s 4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.246s 5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.702s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.755s 7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.821s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.005s 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.282s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.341s 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.348s 12 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.645s 13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.904s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.946s 15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.051s 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.361s 17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.712s 18 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.733s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.012s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.817s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4.283s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.424s ### FP2 1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m15.426s 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.009s 3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.057s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.373s 5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.589s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.895s 7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.985s 8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.185s 9 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.205s 10 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.248s 11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.508s 12 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1.519s 13 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.541s 14 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.594s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.625s 16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.834s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.112s 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.799s 19 Alex Albon (Williams) +3.364s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.835s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.860s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.033s ### FP1 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m16.363s 2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.203 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.520 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.684 5 Leonardo Fornaroli (McLaren) +0.853 6 Paul Aron (Audi) +0.958 7 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.109 8 Dino Beganovic (Ferrari) +1.415 9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.441 10 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.530 11 Ollie Bearman (Hass) +1.809 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.846 13 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.930 14 Ayumu Iwasa (Red Bull) +1.935 15 Fred Vesti (Mercedes) +2.002 16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.009 17 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +2.145 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.551 19 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.704 20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.955 21 Colton Herta (Cadillac) +4.334 22 Luke Browning (Williams) no time ### First hint at the root of McLaren's reliability problems URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-f1-curfew-broken-two-races-installation/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T13:05:36.000Z McLaren broke the curfew for the second consecutive race heading into qualifying day for the Barcelona Grand Prix for what it described as "precautionary work" on both of its Formula 1 cars overnight. That came as a result of concerns about the installation arising from Lando Norris's Monaco GP weekend problems. Each team is allowed four exemptions from the curfew, where they are permitted to work on the car during hours when otherwise operational personnel are not allowed in the paddock, without penalty. This allowed McLaren to "replace permissible key components to help improve the robustness of the installation and integration of the power unit on both cars". This work was not a reaction to any problems that arose during Friday practice at Barcelona. McLaren had carried out "extensive work" to fix the problem that caused Lando Norris to stop on track during Friday practice [in Monaco](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-broke-curfew-to-fix-norriss-practice-problems/), which included replacing the wiring harness, changing the ESME (energy store main closure) pack and various other changes, but the cause wasn't immediately diagnosed. Norris later retired from the race in Monaco with a power unit problem. Analysis conducted since then in collaboration with Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains raised a potential installation problem that McLaren wanted to be absolutely sure was resolved to avoid any repeat of the failure. Therefore, the decision was made to strip the car down to work on the suspected root of the problem. Although the team would not disclose the details, it is reasonable to conclude that the problem lies in the installation of the electrics and multiple systems were scrutinised. This is understood to have included ensuring that the electrical system that the onboard fire extinguisher system is controlled by did not have any problems. McLaren did not have the time to complete the work prior to Friday practice given it was a precautionary measure, and while there may have been time to complete it on Saturday morning before free practice the pragmatic decision was made to break curfew to ensure it did not put McLaren on the back foot ahead of qualifying. McLaren has had a multitude of technical problems this year, meaning it has failed to get a car to the finish in five out of 12 attempts in grands prix held so far - two of those were failures even to start the race in China. The fact this precautionary work related to the installation side is another example of the [disadvantages of being a customer team](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-mclaren-is-suffering-more-as-a-customer-under-new-rules/) in the first year of new power unit regulations. "Never before have we felt that being a customer team has put us on the back foot. And when I say this, and I want to be clear here to avoid any misunderstanding, it's not because you are a lower priority for HPP," said team principal Andrea Stella in Monaco. "It's because you have less opportunities to integrate, to stay on the same timeline when it comes to addressing reliability problems or exploitation of the power unit from a performance point of view, combining the efforts when you use the facilities and you have some experiments on the chassis side that you can add to a long run of the power unit when you are a works team. "There's many reasons why reliability associated to the power unit - or taking advantage of being a works team from a power unit point of view - these reliability issues have made it into 2026, where we had such a large technical regulation change." McLaren has opted to take a proactive approach to solving this problem to eliminate any possibility of a repeat that could cost track time. While using up the second of its four curfew exemptions so early in the season is a risk, given breaches beyond that come with penalties, the negatives of yet another failure would outweigh that. Alpine also broke the curfew for the second time, in its case to build up a new car around a spare chassis for Pierre Gasly. This is described as a "chassis from the its existing pool" rather than being a brand-new one. Cadillac was the other team to break the curfew. ### F1 drivers experiencing 'nightmare' on 'huge balloon' tyres URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-drivers-2026-barcelona-gp-nightmare-huge-balloon-tyres/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T13:05:08.000Z Formula 1 drivers are facing the highest tyre degradation of the 2026 season so far at the Barcelona Grand Prix, with fears that Sunday's race will be a "deg fest". Searing temperatures on Friday at Barcelona, with track temperatures reaching 52°C, led to drivers experiencing extreme tyre degradation. "It's terrible, to be honest," Haas driver Ollie Bearman said. "We have so much air in these tyres now, and it's just an absolute nightmare. The deg is huge, a lot of overheating over a single lap. "There's no point even trying lap two, which is always the case around here, but I think it's a bit exacerbated now. "We have so much power under the right foot and so little grip with those huge balloons as tyres that we have." The 'huge balloon' is a reference to the higher tyre pressures set by Pirelli this year in response to the new generation of cars and power units. Pirelli had to manufacture the 2026 tyres on expected downforce levels from the FIA and the teams, targets which are believed to have already been exceeded. The minimum starting pressure of front and rear tyres for the 2025 Barcelona weekend was 26.0psi and 22.0psi respectively, but the rear tyre pressure was raised to 25.0psi for this year. The expected stabilised running pressure - ie the pressure when a driver is on a flying lap - was 28.0psi for the fronts and 24.0psi for rears last year. Those expected stabilised figures were revised to 26.5psi and 25.5psi ahead of this year's race. However, after Pirelli's analysis of Friday's running, it has chosen to reduce the minimum starting tyre pressures by 1psi front and rear - so the new figures are 25.0psi front and 24.0psi rear. That's because the tyres were going beyond the expected stabilised running pressures. The new lower minimum starting pressure for Saturday should result in the tyre pressures hitting that expected stabilised running pressure - and theoretically the tyres feeling less like "huge balloons". ## 'One shot' qualifying? Pirelli's chief engineer, Simone Berra, called the soft (C4) and medium (C3) "single-lap tyres" for Barcelona when being pushed in qualifying, so drivers might not get a second chance if they make a mistake when it matters. "It's very, very complicated to recover performance," Berra explained. "The problem is to cool down the tyres. Even with a double cool, it's very complicated, the carcass temperature stays very high. "So it's interesting for qualifying, \[the drivers\] will have one shot, and if teams or drivers make some mistakes, it will be much more difficult compared to previous races to regain performance to try another attempt." There's the opposite problem for drivers bringing the tyres in for a qualifying lap at Barcelona versus the previous two rounds at Montreal and Monaco. At those circuits, it was a struggle for the drivers to put enough energy into the tyres to fire them into the right temperature window for the race. "The teams are really trying to do a gentle outlap to prepare the temperatures and to properly balance the front and the rear axle temperatures," Berra said. "This will be the key tomorrow, because it's very important not to overshoot the rear axle, but keeping the front into the right window, not to have some hesitation into Turn 1 when you are doing the push lap during qualifying." High degradation has always been a factor at Barcelona, but Lewis Hamilton called it "probably the lowest grip that we've had here in, I would say, any year that I've been here. The tyres only last one lap". ## 'Deg fest' in the race Audi's Nico Hulkenberg predicted "a deg fest on Sunday", and asked how the Audi felt versus January's pre-season test at Barcelona, he said: "In very hot conditions, if you have 50°C track temperature, it never feels that great because it's just too hot for anything." The issue is one of classic irreversible tyre degradation rather than tyre graining issues that can be worked through. "What we have seen today \[in Friday practice\] is a high level of thermal decay, both front and rear axle," Berra said. "Some teams are struggling more with the rear at the start, then becoming more front-limited, others vice versa. "But basically, both the front and rear were suffering with high surface temperature and high thermal decay. "These will be the main topics for the race. We have seen high level of degradation figures, up to two or three tenths \[per lap\], which is quite a big number. "This is mainly due to the track characteristics, roughness, energy of the layout of the circuit, and also high track temperatures." That's likely to create some interesting strategic variety on Sunday, added to the fact that Pirelli did not see huge differences between the three tyre compounds (C2-C3-C4) it has brought to Barcelona. "While the C3 \[medium\] and C4 \[soft\] showed more consistent grip level, less sliding, more bite on the tyres, in general, the degradation level was pretty similar to the C2 \[soft\] in the end," Berra explained. "So we didn't really see a proper difference between the three compounds that they used. "This is obviously important, because for Sunday we don't see a real preferred compound to be selected. "From our perspective, C3 and C4 should provide enough consistency, and would be pretty similar to the C2 in the end, if we consider a race-stint situation." A two-stop strategy "is most likely" according to Pirelli but it "possibly it could be also a three-stop race". Berra added: "Who knows? Because with this level of degradation, management will be required, and again, all three compounds are in the game to be used. "So from our side, at least, it's a different story compared to the previous races." The high degradation should mean the undercut is powerful here and Berra expects that to tip some drivers into pulling the pin early and trying the three stop. "I don't think they will try to extend too much the stint because it doesn't pay off in the end," Berra said. "I would say the teams will have some target stint length. They will try for sure to react to the teams stopping quite early. "But we know also that the undercut with this high level of degradation is very powerful. We could potentially see a race where there will be some early stoppers. "They will try to push others to stop early. In this case, they can go to a three-stop race or try a different kind of approach, so try to be a little bit longer to have the delta tyre performance for the end of the race, which could be an interesting approach, because then you can see also battles on track. It's an interesting scenario." ### What was behind Red Bull CEO's meeting with FIA president URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-red-bull-met-fia-president-f1-aduo-decision/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T08:49:24.000Z A meeting between Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in Paris this week has highlighted how the energy drinks giant is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to understand why it has been judged as having Formula 1's best engine. The revelation by The Race on race day at the Monaco Grand Prix that the FIA has [judged Red Bull to be F1's benchmark](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-engine-upgrades-first-2026-fia-decision-revealed/) right now, so not eligible for upgrades, has caught senior figures at the team by surprise. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen even said that the team had been "confused" by the findings when first told. That is because, based on its own analysis, Red Bull has long been convinced that its internal combustion engine - the sole element that the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) ranking is based on - is around 0.2-0.3s adrift of the Mercedes. Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted back in April: "What we see is certainly Mercedes, a long way ahead of most of us." Red Bull therefore does not understand why the FIA's ranking has resulted in Mercedes being deemed to be at least 2% adrift of it. While senior management has not said anything in public, it is understood that behind the scenes there has been a concerted effort to push the FIA for a detailed explanation about how it came to its conclusion. This quest for clarification has, as first revealed by The Race, prompted the FIA to agree to [review the data](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-queries-aduo-ranking-as-fia-pledges-to-review-results/) from the opening five races of the season to be doubly sure that its ranking is correct. Sources have suggested that key to the issue is the accuracy of the data that the FIA has got from the torque sensors that have been installed on all cars to monitor power levels at each track. Any discrepancy or lack of consistency here could be enough to skew the final results. While the FIA is expected to take a week or so to complete the review of its analysis, the very top level of management at Red Bull is not sitting back - well aware of the implications of it being confirmed as F1's best engine. Being judged as such will mean not only being unable to improve its power unit right now, but it could consign it to be restricted from doing so for a long time. The rules allow manufacturers awarded ADUO to bring improvements in areas outside of the internal combustion engine element that the ranking is based on. So if Red Bull's rivals are clever, they can make the overall performance better but keep their engines the same - meaning that Red Bull will always be judged to be ahead so could never be eligible to improve. Against that backdrop, it is unfathomable to think that the topic of ADUO and Red Bull's involvement in F1 was not among the topics that came up earlier this week when Mintzlaff met Ben Sulayem in Paris - [pictures of which emerged on social media](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZda04zgo9h/?igsh=MWpjdWxjNHk5cXR0bQ==&ref=the-race.com). While the meeting was not only about F1 and ADUO, as Red Bull is also in discussions with the FIA about finding a new commercial rights holder for the World Rally Championship, Ben Sulayem did hint that the topic of grand prix racing was one discussed. "Great to meet with Oliver Mintzlaff at the FIA headquarters in Paris," wrote Ben Sulayem after the meeting on Thursday. "We discussed Red Bull's significant contribution to FIA championships, in particular its long-standing involvement in Formula 1 and global rallying." ## Mercedes welcomes FIA rankings While Red Bull hopes that the FIA's review of its data prompts a change in outcome, from Mercedes' perspective it has backed the governing body's assessment as being correct. "In my opinion, when you speak to Nikolas \[Tombazis, FIA single seater director\], it's data that they have measured and collected," said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, when asked by The Race if he thought the upgrade rules were working. "There's no political background, there are no favours. It's the outcome of their analysis of their torque sensors and the way it's being done, and that is the result." Wolff was also clear that being allowed to upgrade its power unit that had already won every race was a valuable tool in its back pocket. "A new homologation is definitely something that is helpful, because if you don't get that, there is quite a possibility of being leapfrogged by somebody else who is able to do this," he said. "We have come with various ideas in the past, but we shall see how this pans out over the next term. We must not forget this is not a frozen situation, but it's going to be looked at every few races and then being judged upon." ## A rules rethink? The controversy over the Red Bull assessment has prompted thoughts, however, that perhaps the whole ADUO process needs a rethink. Audi's F1 project leader Mattia Binotto said that F1 might be better basing its engine rankings on overall championship positions - as is done with aero development restrictions - rather than a judgement on power. "Maybe we should do something very similar to the chassis, where you base it on standings of the previous seasons," he said. "If the purpose of convergence is to have a closer field, maybe that's the most straightforward, and you would have a unique system framework between chassis and power units. "So, the best teams not having advantages, the slowest teams or slowest manufacturers to have some more opportunities." But Wolff questioned that idea, as he suggested that would effectively open up a Balance of Performance (BoP) scenario that F1 has long been eager to avoid. "I get a rash of allergy when talking about BoP," he said. "This is something that we should stay far away from Formula 1\. It's a political mess in all the other series. "It makes manufacturers go out of the sport also, and I've been very close to that, as you can imagine, in DTM, in GTs, in Le Mans. And we should never be tempted to have someone agree on how the balance of performance should fall out. "If there is a mechanism that consists of fine-tuning in order to make sure that nobody's embarrassed on the power unit side, I think that's the right way to go, because when you look at aerodynamics, that was invented for a completely different situation." ### The early verdict on Leclerc's Ferrari brake experiment URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-early-verdict-on-leclercs-ferrari-brake-experiment/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T07:29:18.000Z Charles Leclerc was conducting an important experiment during practice day at Formula 1’s Barcelona Grand Prix with his switch from Brembo to Carbon Industrie brake discs. Leclerc hoped switching to the CI discs that team-mate Lewis Hamilton had moved onto from the Japanese GP onwards would give Leclerc a better feeling when slowing down his SF-26. Especially after his Monaco crash at the last race, where he said three of his four brakes weren't working and confirmed the switch to Hamilton's configuration for Barcelona in the aftermath. He sampled them on Friday and the early verdict appears to be positive, according to Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur. “It's not so many laps because you have to do push, cool, cool, push…but it went well,” Vasseur said. When asked if Leclerc would be sticking with the CI brake discs for the remainder of the weekend, Vasseur indicated he would. There aren’t monumental differences between Brembo and CI brake discs, but there are subtle ones which can have a big impact on performance - as ex-F1 technical director [Gary Anderson explained here](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-brakes-brembo-carbon-industrie-charles-leclerc-ferrari/). Leclerc ended up fourth fastest in FP2, 0.373 seconds off the pace, as Ferrari debuted a new eight-part upgrade. His [long-run pace](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/is-mclarens-return-to-form-real-barcelona-f1-long-run-analysis/) looked more encouraging, second only to the Mercedes. “We have a few new items on the car, and we’ve made a step forward,” was Leclerc’s verdict. “Regarding competitiveness, it’s too early to say, and I think our competitors are quite a bit ahead of us. “We have to focus on maximising what we have now, and we will see what we can do tomorrow.” Ferrari conducted back-to-back tests with the old and new upgrade spec through FP1 before moving both cars to the new package during FP2. Vasseur said the “first data \[is\] good”, but having sat out FP1 for Dino Beganovic, Hamilton “couldn't really feel much” with only two proper laps in FP2 before the tyres gave way. Hamilton’s best single lap was over nine tenths off Leclerc, but the straight mode on his front wing “wasn’t working”. ### What's confusing long-run order at F1's Barcelona GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/is-mclarens-return-to-form-real-barcelona-f1-long-run-analysis/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T18:30:06.000Z Hot off the heels of a Monaco Formula 1 weekend where it was distinctly fourth-best, McLaren has showed up again at the Barcelona Grand Prix - leading the way in FP2 through Lando Norris. But is it the return to form that the headline times suggest? McLaren's new front wing - which it's elected to leave off the car at the previous two races - does appear to be working much better at Barcelona, as does the MCL40 in general. Norris acknowledged as much, though did admit McLaren had "a lot of problems" including vibrations in FP2 (his only session of the day, having handed his car over to Leonardo Fornaroli for FP1). "It's such a different layout to the last few weeks, you can't even compare it...I feel like the fastest corner over the last few weeks is like the slowest corner here," he said. "It's all much more open, wide, arced corners instead of tight and twisty. Clearly it suits the car a lot better, so I'm just happy that we seem to be in a more familiar place to Miami in terms of pace. "I don't think you're going to ask anyone and say, 'Yeah the car felt mint today', because I think it's hot, it's weird with the rubber, it's weird how the car kind of grips and ungrips at times and with the wind it can really affect it too. "So it's certainly not easy out there, but the fact that the car still seems to be able to put in good laptimes, even without feeling amazing, it's a good sign. Still means there's stuff we want to improve for tomorrow, and that's still a good sign considering the pace we had." But McLaren might need to bank on that improvement, as it appears to be behind all of its rivals on long-run pace - with the usual caveat about fuel loads. ### 'Big four' FP2 long-run pace 1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m21.195s (soft, four laps) 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m21.425s (soft, seven laps) 3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m21.696s (medium, seven laps) 4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m21.818s (soft, nine laps) 5 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m22.029s (soft, eight laps) 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m22.336s (medium, six laps) 7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m22.594s (medium, six laps) 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 1m22.929s (soft, three laps) Degradation was noted on all compounds and most runs do point to a significant drop-off, so take into account the length of Russell's run (four laps) versus Leclerc's (seven) and the difference in compound and Mercedes' advantage might not be quite as decisive as a half-second margin would suggest. Russell's medium-tyre run was a nine-lap one that averaged out at a 1m21.788s, though scrub off two outlier laps at the end and that becomes a 1m21.369s, which seems to be encouraging Mercedes. The same goes for the upgraded Ferrari; take out one Leclerc lap that was three quarters of a second shy of his next-worst and that average comes down to a 1m21.495s. But go back to Norris's comment - that "it's weird with the rubber" - and therein lies not just the likely answer as to why McLaren might still be in the picture, but also potentially the key to the outcome on Sunday - which might come down to who can keep the tyres alive the longest. Hamilton - well down in the single-lap and long-run charts - said Friday's running offered probably the lowest grip he's ever experienced at Barcelona during a race weekend and that the tyres "only last one lap". "This is going to be a real true test of how cars can keep the tyres alive across race stints and it is a place where race pace always dominates," said Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord. "So one lap is obviously of interest, and interesting for qualifying to see where we'll end up, but what really is important is making sure we can hang on to the tyres over a race stint. And the long runs look close but competitive, particularly for George on the medium tyre." Tyre supplier Pirelli has gone a step softer than usual for Barcelona with its compound choices, with the C2 the hard, the C3 the medium and C4 the soft. That's been done with two aims: to encourage more pitstops and to make the hard tyre an option in strategies. Only one of the frontrunners attempted a race run on the hards, with Verstappen averaging a 1m21.911s that stands up reasonably well. The Red Bull appeared to be in no-man's land on single-lap pace - Verstappen was nearly nine tenths off Norris - but was closer on long runs, though chief engineer Paul Monaghan said matter-of-factly of Red Bull's day that "we may not be on for an A star". "We lack a bit of balance, we lack a bit of grip," said Monaghan. "None of it should come as a surprise. I suspect our opposition are actually very similar. We all are going to encounter similar problems around here. "It's a tough, demanding circuit, and it's really hot. What laptime do we manage whilst incurring those problems is, I think, likely to be the biggest issue we face." ### Winners and losers from Barcelona GP F1 practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winner-and-losers-from-barcelona-gp-f1-practice/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T18:28:46.000Z Formula 1 is back to a ‘normal' track at Barcelona, albeit with an unusual entry list on Friday as seven teams gave rookies some mileage, and there are plenty of form fluctuations compared to the Monaco picture a week ago. Here's our round-up of who was flying and who was floundering in practice. ## Loser: Red Bull "Horrendous" was the word Max Verstappen used to describe the behaviour of his Red Bull in FP2\. That might have been more to do with the hard tyres, but he was sliding around out there. "We are lacking everywhere," he said later on. This track doesn't suit Red Bull and it is a bit more exposed at Barcelona than it was at the lower-speed circuits of Montreal and Monaco. Verstappen was nine tenths of a second off the pace and his team-mate Isack Hadjar 1.2s off in second practice. Right now, Red Bull is at risk of battling its junior team Racing Bulls in Spain - but there's time left to claw some pace back. **\- Samarth Kanal** ## Winner: George Russell George Russell got the strong start he needed this weekend, as even though Mercedes faces a renewed McLaren threat at the Barcelona circuit it is Russell leading its charge so far. Quickest in FP1, and just 0.009s shy in FP2, Russell was half a second clear of championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli over one lap and seemed to have the edge on the long runs too. It should be noted that Antonelli missed FP1 so that Fred Vesti could complete one of Mercedes' mandatory young driver sessions instead, so was on the back foot in FP2. This means there is clear headroom to improve, so expect the gap to come down - but Russell's not yet scratching his head the same way has in recent weekends. **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm** ## Loser: Alpine Alpine [scored a podium finish before its cars even turned a wheel](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/pierre-gasly-gets-monaco-gp-podium-penatlies-rescinded-fia-review/) here, thanks to its successful appeal against Pierre Gasly's penalties in Monaco last Sunday. But its joy quickly faded once the track running started. Managing director Steve Nielsen described it as "reality punches you straight in the face" as on Friday the Alpine looked like a car that will barely make it into Q2 if this form continues. Neither driver is happy as the car is unpredictable, and while Alpine's made an unfortunate habit of starting weekends slowly before improving, it has a lot of work to do here given it is more than half a second adrift of the midfield-leading Racing Bulls. "I hope it's the same pattern, but we're just starting from a little bit further back this time," said Nielsen. **\- SMM** ## Winner: Paul Aron Whatever fuel load Paul Aron was running in FP1, ending up only 0.958 seconds off the pace in your very first hour driving the Audi R26 is an impressive feat. Aron took part in five practice sessions last year with Sauber and Alpine, so he has decent F1 experience, but he simply looked comfortable in his first 2026 session. "He has proved that he's a capable driver," Audi F1 CEO and team boss Mattia Binotto said of Aron's FP1. "He's a fast driver. He never tested that car on track. Immediately fast since the very first lap, the very first run. "So, well deserved from him. Happy that somehow he could show what he's capable of, because at the end he's a great driver". Aron will get another chance to prove his worth next time out with another FP1 outing at the Red Bull Ring. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Loser: Luke Browning Reserve driver Luke Browning has [done countless laps](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-vowles-first-williams-signing-has-to-prove/) behind the wheel of the 2026 Williams in the virtual world, but he was robbed of a chance to drive it in the real world at Barcelona as the team investigated an electrical issue all session. The silver lining for Browning is that he'll only have to wait two weeks before he's taking part in FP1 at the Red Bull Ring, and he has a TPC run at Austin to enjoy before then, too. **\- JS** ## Winner: McLaren Top in FP2 with Lando Norris and two-tenths off pacesetter George Russell in FP1 with Oscar Piastri, McLaren looks set for a decent weekend in Spain. Its brake problems across practice didn't bode well, but as Norris said, "the fact that the car still seems to be able to put in good lap times, even without feeling amazing, it's a good sign". There's a worry that both Mercedes, Charles Leclerc and Verstappen look quicker in long run pace, but long run pace is never an exact science in practice, and Norris's apparent optimism reflects a team expecting to be in the hunt tomorrow with a few small tweaks and fixes. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Winner: Racing Bulls On this ‘all-round' track, Racing Bulls proved that its Canada upgrade package was indeed effective. Liam Lawson was seventh and team-mate Arvid Lindblad ninth in FP1, with Lawson later saying the car is "responding very, very well". The Racing Bulls looks hooked up throughout the track but it's not clear how tyre deg will affect the team - and that will be the defining factor on Sunday. Lawson did have that gremlin (possibly a gearbox issue) that stopped him from turning laps in FP2 but he did get going again late in the session. **\- SK** ## Loser: Williams The Williams drivers were struggling on Friday. Carlos Sainz called it "very tricky" and said he expected the team to struggle in Spain - but not this much. "It was quite shocking how far we were off the pace," he added, in yet another warning to Williams that it is not where it should be. As for tyre degradation, he added that Williams is facing "two times more" degradation than anyone else given how it's sliding around on the hot Barcelona surface. Browning's FP1 problems just added insult to injury. **\- SK** ## Winner: Leonardo Fornaroli ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1416917_HiRes.jpg) You have to feel for Leonardo Fornaroli. He won back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships but was never even close to securing a seat on the F1 grid in 2026. But he has been impressing McLaren during his extensive Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme in the first half of this year, with days at Barcelona, Silverstone and Austin. And he's now validated that by performing strongly under the pressure of his F1 practice debut. The headline fastest time was just over six tenths slower than Oscar Piastri, but as Fornaroli said "the pure laptime wasn't our goal. The goal was to provide all the data that the team needed". And for him, his FP1 debut was an "amazing, incredible feeling. I was very emotional before the session". **\- JS** ## Loser: Aston Martin "We knew this track would be a place where we would struggle in terms of performance and it's the case today," said Aston Martin's chief trackside officer Mike Krack. If a Monaco point was a sky-high (relatively) moment, Barcelona looks like the nightmare return to land as in FP2 Fernando Alonso in the faster Aston Martin was over a second slower than the fastest Cadillac, that of Valtteri Bottas. Individual times don't tell the tale of how much tyre degradation will impact performance, but on pure speed alone, Aston Martin will have to hope it can wrap its Pirellis in cotton wool for any chance of a better-than-expected Sunday. The car does seem to be running reliably, at least. **\- JB** ## Winner: Valtteri Bottas The most encouraging Friday of Valtteri Bottas's comeback. Coming into the weekend, Bottas talked about being willing to sacrifice some practice running on Friday to try to solve the issues that have contributed to a one-sided intra-team Cadillac fight with Sergio Perez in 2026 so far. And the early review of his weekend was *very* positive: "It's definitely the best I've felt with the car so far. It's now actually a lot more predictable. "I wish we would understand now what it actually is, but it seems like everything is just much more together with the set-up. We're hitting targets now. All the loads, they seem fine. You can see it on the laptime. So that's encouraging," Bottas said. He was a respectable +2.799s off the pace in FP2, leading the line for Cadillac despite suffering from some issues with his electronic control unit that limited his running. **\- JS** ### McLaren back on the pace as Norris heads Russell in Barcelona FP2 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-leads-mercedes-f1-2026-barcelona-gp-fp2/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T16:14:10.000Z McLaren's Lando Norris set the fastest time in second practice for the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix but FP1 pacesetter George Russell was just 0.009s off the pace for Mercedes. Russell had a trouble-free session until a late off at Turn 10, where he collected plenty of gravel. Norris's team-mate Oscar Piastri was third and just 0.057s behind Norris's fastest time of 1m15.426s. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was 0.373s off in fourth, but Lewis Hamilton was almost a second off his team-mate in ninth. Kimi Antonelli returned to the Mercedes cockpit - he was one of seven drivers to step aside for a rookie, in his case Frederik Vesti, in FP1 - to go fifth, almost six tenths off Norris. Antonelli remarked late in the session that his brake pedal "felt horrible" and was going too long. Every fastest lap on the board was set on softs, although an early flyer of 1m15.729s from Piastri on medium tyres proved hard to beat early on. Max Verstappen was sixth and the only driver to set meaningful mileage - nine laps - on hard tyres, which he described as "horrendous". The Red Bull driver was nine tenths off the pace in sixth. Arvid Lindblad was just 0.090s off Verstappen in seventh for Racing Bulls while Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth, 1.185s off the pace. Behind Hamilton was Isack Hadjar in 10th for Red Bull - four tenths off his team-mate. Nico Hulkenberg was 11th for Audi, three tenths behind Bortoleto, while Ollie Bearman was 12th for Haas and more than half a second faster than team-mate Esteban Ocon in 17th. Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson stopped at the pit exit early in the session and was classified 13th. He remarked that the gearbox was the cause of the issue. However, Racing Bulls recovered his car and put Lawson back out on track for some late installation laps just as the chequered flag flew on FP2. Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas was confined to the garage for much of the session with an ECU issue but he made it out to classify 18th. His team-mate Sergio Perez, 20th, was black-and-white flagged for driving erratically late in the session after a close call with Hadjar. Aston Martin rounded out the standings with Fernando Alonso ahead of his team-mate Lance Stroll, the pair four seconds off the pace. ## FP2 times 1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m15.426s 2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.009s 3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.057s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.373s 5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.589s 6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.895s 7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.985s 8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.185s 9 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.205s 10 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.248s 11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.508s 12 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1.519s 13 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.541s 14 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.594s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.625s 16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.834s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.112s 18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.799s 19 Alex Albon (Williams) +3.364s 20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.835s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.860s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.033s ### Mercedes exploring legal options over Monaco GP result URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-lawyers-monaco-penalties/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T14:50:03.000Z Mercedes is in discussions with its lawyers to see if there are any grounds for it to push the FIA to “remedy” George Russell’s lost points in the Monaco Grand Prix amid the controversy over pitlane speed limit penalties. Russell’s hopes of a good result in the Monaco Grand Prix were derailed by a pitlane speeding offence during his first stop. With a five-second penalty hanging over him, a subsequent failure by his Mercedes squad to serve that punishment during a later safety car stop earned him a drive-through that wrecked any chance of a podium finish. Having been running third when he served his drive-through, the Briton eventually came home 12th. However, the revelation from [Alpine’s successful right of review](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-fia-appeal-monaco-gasly-piastri/) over Pierre Gasly’s two speeding penalties that Formula One Management made a mistake in its pitlane measurements has cast doubts over the other speeding offences from the Monaco race. In a stewards' document issued on Friday explaining why it was reinstating Gasly, they noted that there will: “undoubtedly remain questions as to whether those breaches were genuine. “There is no regulation that gives the Stewards the power to 'undo' a served penalty. In any case, it is impossible to imagine how such power could be applied. Notably, no other party petitioned for a Right of Review within the allowable time frame.” But even if there appears to be no obvious avenue in the FIA’s International Sporting Code for Mercedes to challenge what happened to Russell and make up for what he lost, that has not stopped them trying. Speaking at the Barcelona Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that the matter has implications on the championship battle - which is why it is considering its options. “We are assessing as we speak what the Gasly situation does for George,” said Wolff. “Obviously, there are certain timing restraints. We wouldn’t appeal the Gasly results certainly, but we would like the FIA to look at what could be the remedies for George’s race. “I think we are having some timing limitations and some other legal constraints, but definitely \[it is\] something we have a reason to be annoyed for. And I wish we could have had those conversations before the race on Sunday.” Wolff explained that he was discussing matters with his legal team, as he suggested that there could be a way for the FIA to deliver a fair result. “We were on the phone with our lawyers to look at what can we do for George,” he said. “The drive-through, if it didn’t happen at the end, is the equivalent of 20 seconds’ race time. What would 20-seconds \[in\] race time have meant for his result? “Do we think that we realistically have a chance of reverting the result? I don’t think so. “But we definitely have to give it a go if we see that there is a millimetre of chance to do so, and bring him back to whatever it was - P4, we’ve calculated, P3 or P4.” McLaren and Red Bull have both lodged a notification of their intention to appeal the FIA stewards’ decisions to reinstate Gasly to his podium finish - and have 96 hours to decide if they wish to follow through. ### F1's stunning Gasly penalty U-turn - all you need to know URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-missing-centimetres-that-forced-f1s-stunning-gasly-penalty-u-turn/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T16:15:29.000Z The extraordinary removal of Pierre Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix penalties, changing not only the result but who gets the race’s third place trophy, came down to a matter of centimetres. Gasly was [reinstated to third place](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/pierre-gasly-gets-monaco-gp-podium-penatlies-rescinded-fia-review/), denying Isack Hadjar his first Red Bull podium after all, following the stewards’ decision to overturn Gasly's pitlane speeding penalties and the two five-second penalties he had applied last Sunday in Monaco. In the stewards’ lengthy explanation of what it considered in making this decision and why they ultimately decided to take the unusual step of changing the results several days later, some fascinating details have been revealed. ## The error that was made The pitlane speed system calculates an average speed using the distance between two timing loops divided by the time taken to pass between them. Formula One Management, the official timekeeper, had recorded the first timing zone immediately after pit entry as 2,692 cm long. However, Monaco's pitlane, including the entry exit, is curved - so the shortest geometric path through the zone is not a straight line. And post-event scanning revealed the actual shortest possible distance through that zone was only 2,615 cm - a discrepancy of 77cm. This was a significant and relevant new element that was unavailable to the stewards at the time of their decisions, hence the review being granted. The standard process, which involves satellite and real-world measurements, is designed to find the minimum distance. The pit entry barriers had been repositioned since 2025, possibly enabling a significantly shorter trajectory in 2026 than was possible before. So even if the measurement had been adequate for previous years, it might have become outdated for 2026\. The FIA’s most senior F1 figure Nikolas Tombazis said the measurement method "may have been insufficient for this particular pitlane layout". The bottom line is that because the formula uses distance divided by time, a longer assumed distance artificially inflates the calculated speed - so the underlying data used to decide who sped and who didn’t was inaccurate. “We measured the relevant areas in the pitlane identically to the 2025 event and followed procedures in the usual way,” F1 said in a statement. “However, the process has identified a measurement discrepancy. Like everyone in the sport we strive for the best results and, as always, any improvements or refinements that are identified as being required in light of this situation will be implemented.” ## How it was ‘corrected’ F1’s rules only refer simply to a "speed limit" with no clause stating it is "solely determined by the Official Timekeeping System process". This gave the stewards the latitude to look beyond the raw timekeeping output. They felt “the simple question to be answered is whether Gasly exceeded the speed limit of 60km/h”, and that this could be established another way. Based on the shortest theoretical distance, and the time it took Gasly to pass between the loops (1.604 and 1.602 seconds respectively), his speeds would have been 58.7 km/h and 58.8 km/h. It would not have been possible for Gasly to have travelled that distance because of the width of the car and the trajectory it would take (presumably because pit equipment or other obstacles would be in the way). However, the wording of the formula referred to in F1’s official timing report: the measured minimum distance. It was felt there was merit that this should be the figure of 2615cm. And in reviewing the penalties, the stewards performed their own back-calculation: if Gasly had been travelling at exactly 60 km/h, he would have covered 2,673 cm and 2,670 cm in the recorded crossing times - less than the 2,692 cm the system assumed. Using the data available meant there could not be a 100% guarantee that Gasly travelled a precise distance down to the last centimetre. However, with the data the stewards did have available, it could be ascertained that it would be closer to the shortest theoretical distance than what the timekeeping system assumed. Thus the stewards concluded with "comfortable satisfaction" that Gasly was not speeding. ## Stewards actually queried the penalties in-race The extent of all this only emerged days after the race because the key information was either not available in-race or emerged because of specific post-race analysis. Interestingly, the Stewards did query the speeding penalties with race control mid-race, flagging it as unusual that multiple drivers were all recording exactly 60.1 km/h. This happened after the third offence - Franco Colapinto’s - but they were told there was no issue and that the data was therefore accurate. This was based on the system being applied as it should and the understandable assumption that the system was also being fed with the right information. Those in-race reports also contained no reference as to which particular part of the pitlane the alleged breach occurred in. So the stewards had no knowledge that the alleged breaches were all occurring in the one same timing zone nearest the pit entry. The scanning discrepancy only came to light when Alpine built their case. FOM produced its own report - it “proactively assisted the FIA in gathering all the relevant information to help inform the steward’s assessments” and is understood to have gone to great lengths to ensure transparency, sharing as much information as it could. ## Why 100% proof wasn’t needed The stewards don’t know with absolute precision that Gasly wasn’t speeding. But they didn’t need 100% proof. As mentioned, the 58.7/58.8 km/h figures cited were based on the theoretical shortest distance of 2,615 cm, which was not possible to take. And other distance information or data - like Alpine measuring the pitlane with a trundle wheel, or providing speed measurements from the car itself - were dismissed because the calibration cannot be trusted for various reasons. So the precise speed cannot be stated definitively. What the stewards were satisfied of is that the timekeeping system produced a false positive and they had enough conviction Gasly could not have been speeding "even taking into account the car width and the likelihood that the car was not driven on the theoretical shortest route". “There is still a significant delta in the distance used to calculate the speed and the distance which could be driven and which appears to have been driven,” the stewards noted. Within the FIA, based on the practices and findings of the FIA International Court of Appeal, there is a certain level of "proof" that is required to make a judicial determination. That level is referred to as "comfortable satisfaction", which means "a strong and clear conviction". Within most judicial systems, the lowest level of proof required is that of "balance of probability" which essentially means "more than likely". The highest level, usually required in criminal cases, is "Beyond reasonable doubt" - which means almost absolute certainty. In this case, the stewards unanimously felt it met the required level of comfortable satisfaction - and the evidence “approaches that of beyond reasonable doubt”. ## Other penalised drivers can’t be helped Nothing happens to the other drivers who were penalised in the race - even though Gasly wouldn’t have finished third without two others getting penalties. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Franco Colapinto and Oscar Piastri all received penalties for the same 60.1 km/h reading in the same zone. Russell and Piastri would have beaten Gasly without theirs. The stewards acknowledged there "will undoubtedly remain questions as to whether those breaches were genuine”. But there is no regulation that gives the stewards the power to 'undo' a served penalty. They served their penalties in-race, so there is nothing as simple as Gasly’s post-race time penalties to remove, and they have missed their window to challenge their penalties through a right of review anyway. However, it remains to be seen if any team will go through with an appeal, and keep this process going. McLaren and Red Bull have [stated their intention](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-fia-appeal-monaco-gasly-piastri/) to do so while they review their options. McLaren won’t get Oscar Piastri’s penalty removed after-the-fact or benefit that way. But along with Red Bull and Racing Bulls they lose a better result for Gasly being reinstated. That’s why they joined this FIA review to argue that Gasly's penalty should have stood. Red Bull argued timing was consistent all weekend, that normal process was followed, and teams had adjusted their systems to work within the established method. McLaren noted teams are well aware of the imperfections in pit lane speed calculations and coached drivers accordingly. They could not stop the stewards making their new decision. Now they need to decide if they feel there is a genuine chance of getting it overturned. ### Russell sets pace in Barcelona FP1 as two rookies impress URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russell-sets-pace-in-spain-fp1-as-two-rookies-impress/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T12:52:25.000Z George Russell set the pace in opening practice for the Barcelona Grand Prix, as three of the FP1-only 'rookie' Formula 1 drivers ended the session in the top 10. The high-speed, flowing sweeps of the Barcelona circuit should, in theory, suit Russell's driving style - something he's grappling with amid his 2026 struggles - and he was sure enough clear of the opposition in a session that championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli sat out. Russell was fastest on the medium-tyre runs at the start of the session and subsequently set the fastest time of all when he switched to softs, recording a 1m16.363s. Oscar Piastri was his nearest rival, two tenths off, with Charles Leclerc third and half a second back. Max Verstappen was 0.684s off for Red Bull as F1's top four teams occupied the top four spots in the classification. Up next were a couple of eye-catching stand-ins: Leonardo Fornaroli (McLaren) and Paul Aron (Audi). Formula 2 champion Fornaroli is without a race drive for 2026 but was picked up by McLaren following his title success, and took over F1 champion Lando Norris's car in FP1. His first F1 weekend outing yielded fifth, 0.853s off the pace, with Aron a tenth further back. Aron - an Alpine junior but, as was the case last year, on loan to Audi for FP1 appearances - was regularly in the top 10 and ended the session almost nine-tenths and six places ahead of regular driver Gabriel Bortoleto. Liam Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls ahead of another FP1 stand-in, Dino Beganovic (Ferrari). Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vesti were 14th and 15th for Red Bull and Mercedes, respectively. Colton Herta's first F1 race weekend outing in place of Sergio Perez at Cadillac yielded 21st place - last of those who took to the track - 4.334s off the pace. He used soft tyres for both of his runs, starting by reeling off 11 laps, before switching to a fresh set and setting his best time of 1m20.697s on his first flier. That was 1.783s slower than regular driver Valtteri Bottas's fastest time, also set on the first flier on softs on his second set of tyres - although the Finn used mediums for his first run. Herta then returned to the pits and headed out for a long run, completing seven flying laps in that stint - with a lock-up on the downhill approach to Turn 5 on the second-to-last of those - before taking the chequered flag. Williams reserve driver Luke Browning did not get his FP1 outing as planned, as the team investigated an electrical issue on Alex Albon's car. ### McLaren and Red Bull challenge FIA decision over Gasly penalties URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-fia-appeal-monaco-gasly-piastri/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T17:21:27.000Z McLaren and Red Bull have both lodged notice of their intention to appeal the FIA’s decision to rescind Pierre Gasly’s pitlane speeding penalties from the Monaco Grand Prix. The Alpine driver had his penalties rescinded by the stewards after the team pursued a right of review. The unusual decision was made after it emerged that Formula One Management had made a measurement error relating to the pit distance used to calculate speed. It has been determined that there was "a significant delta in the distance used to calculate the speed and distance which could be driven...and which appears to have been driven". McLaren, whose driver Oscar Piastri was classified fourth in the original result but now moves back to fifth with Gasly reinstated, had been an interested party in the FIA hearing at Barcelona. It also has a heavy involvement in what happened because Piastri was one of several other drivers who also picked up speeding penalties. As he served the penalties during the race, he could not have had his punishment rescinded. McLaren had argued in the Alpine hearing that there was no need for the FIA to change the result because there is a well-known risk of discrepancies in the pitlane speed calculation, teams and drivers regularly adjust their processes, and there was some conjecture on how the pitlane measurement always aims for the shortest distance. However, Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen said on Friday in Spain that "alarm bells" had rung after Gasly was flagged repeatedly for speeding in Monaco without anything being apparent in the team's own data so it felt it must be an external factor and nothing Alpine could do anything about. He said, "99 times out of 100, and it's probably more than that, when you get pinged for pitlane speeding, you don't even question it. Some guy comes on the radio and says, 'you can see it in the data', and you just take the penalty. "This time was different. It wasn't in our data... That's the biggest alarm bell for us." Shortly after the FIA published its statement that Gasly had been awarded his podium back, McLaren elected to lodge a notification of intention to appeal, with Red Bull confirming just under an hour later that it had done likewise. It had finished on the podium with Isack Hadjar but now falls to fourth. Under the FIA’s judicial and disciplinary rules, such a notification has to be lodged within one hour of any decision made by officials. However, this does not necessarily mean that McLaren or Red Bull will follow through with the appeal, as they have 96 hours to decide if they do want to go ahead with the action or withdraw it. The notification of appeal now gives McLaren and Red Bull some breathing room to decide its next steps. Another impacted team, Racing Bulls, has not revealed if it will appeal. "I don't want to comment on the appeal because I don't want to prejudice anything for them," said team boss Alan Permane. "That’s not clear, but there's a potential for that to go to the International Court of Appeal of course so I don't want to say anything about that. "Yes we lose four points - we gained four on Sunday afternoon. We fight for them back on track and I think here we have an absolutely superb chance." ### Gary Anderson: Monaco podium debacle is a huge embarrassment for F1 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-monaco-gp-podium-debacle-huge-embarrassment-f1/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T11:02:34.000Z As I spent plenty of years in Formula 1 with smaller teams who had to seize on every opportunity to put one over the big boys, something that we managed to do on a number of occasions in the Jordan and Stewart days, I know exactly how I'd feel learning about the Formula One Management timekeeping error that led to erroneous pitlane speeding penalties being given in the Monaco Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly and Alpine may have at least got their podium back, but that doesn't fix everything or let everyone off the hook for what went wrong. My best example of injustice in a decision was when at Jordan we won the race on-the-road in Brazil in 2003\. Thirty seconds later, the timing changed and said we were second. Yes, we got the win back and the winner's trophy two weeks later, but Giancarlo Fisichella missed out on standing on the top step of the podium and we the team missed out on getting the constructors' winning trophy on that same podium. Those moments for a small team can never be replaced. Alpine hasn't had its moment back, even if it's at least got the result and the points. A podium is a special thing for a team like Alpine, and to be initially denied that because of such a rudimentary mistake that should not happen in F1 today, with all the technology and measurement tools that are available, having earned a decent points-scoring position, would hit hard. These are the days that you race for and they don't come around often. If you miss the opportunity through your own mistakes, as you could say Audi did in Monaco after failing to score a point in a car that had the pace to be in the top 10 on merit, that hurts. But if something as stupid as these speeding penalties costs you then I can tell you I'd be having some very strong words with anyone involved in that mistake. As Gasly said on Thursday, it will take you "a few days to calm down" after being denied your champagne moment on the Monaco podium. "I know at the moment, with the package I have, which is pretty much where I've been my entire career, the point for me is to put myself in situations where I can seize these opportunities when they come up," said Gasly. "In terms of performance, we've executed everything perfectly with the team. Great qualifying, great starts. I managed to pass Lando \[Norris\] at the first start. I managed to pass Isack \[Hadjar\] at the second start. So in terms of performance, we can be very proud of what we've achieved during that weekend." The problem is that there's no way to fix this completely if there's a screw-up. In this case, FOM is responsible for the timekeeping and that's what the FIA stewards rely on, but you can't undo everything that happened to make it right. Even though Gasly has been reinstated to third place by wiping out the 10-second penalty that bumped him from third on-the-road to seventh, which he and the team deserve, what about everybody else who served penalties that can't be taken back? Without the initial pitlane speeding penalty, George Russell would never have had to serve that drivethrough and would therefore have finished third or fourth and Oscar Piastri wouldn't have lost a place to Gasly under the safety car. The situation of those cars shows you can't undo such mistakes because it's impossible to rearrange the results or remove penalties in a way that restores what should have happened. The best I can come up with for the 'fair' top 10 is something like this: 1 Antonelli 2 Hamilton 3 Russell 4 Hadjar 5 Piastri 6 Gasly 7 Lawson 8 Lindblad 9 Albon 10 Ocon But even then, there are problems. Gasly jumped Isack Hadjar at the restart but Piastri didn't, but as Gasly was only ahead of Piastri because of the penalty the McLaren driver served under the safety car you can't rearrange those drivers satisfactorily. And if you say the restart never happened and Russell therefore didn't jump Hadjar, then what about the impact of other order changes at the restart? What's more, that result shows that without the penalties for others, Gasly would potentially have finished closer to the seventh place he was eventually credited with than the third that he lost. And remember, on that decision there was a swing in favour of Racing Bulls, which pocketed 18 points and almost doubled its points total for the season. And it's not just about the smaller teams; how will Russell feel about what happened if he loses the world championship by a few points having been incorrectly penalised for speeding, without which he would not have had the resulting drivethrough? This just illustrates how you can't undo history and injustice. The only way to do that is to get ahead of it and not make the mistake in the first place. Yes, you can say 17 drivers weren't penalised and therefore perhaps they spotted the problem earlier and adapted, as there were speeding penalties earlier in the weekend, but it's embarrassing for F1 that this happened. This isn't a controversial video assistant referee call at the world cup when you are looking at multiple moving parts, it's measuring accurately the length of the pitlane. That's something anyone should be able to do and there should be failsafes to prevent it going wrong. And why wasn't this error spotted during the two days before the race? And yes, while FOM supplies the timekeeping, the FIA as the regulator is also part of this and should be on the lookout for such blunders. We all make mistakes, but the point of a big organisation with all the money that F1 is raking in is that you have multiple people responsible and systems in place to prevent that. If you don't even know how long your speed-controlled part of the pitlane is, then how can you expect the tougher decisions to be got right? ### Gasly gets Monaco GP podium back after extraordinary review URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/pierre-gasly-gets-monaco-gp-podium-penatlies-rescinded-fia-review/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T10:36:46.000Z Pierre Gasly has been reinstated to third position in the Monaco Grand Prix after the Alpine Formula 1 team successfully had his pitlane speeding penalties overturned. The unusual decision was made after it emerged an error from Formula One Management was responsible for several drivers including Gasly being given pitlane speeding penalties in the race. It has been determined that there was "a significant delta in the distance used to calculate the speed and distance which could be driven...and which appears to have been driven". A post-event LIDAR scan revealed that the shortest distance between the timing loops where all speeding offences occurred during the race was 77cm shorter than what had been used to set-up the timing loop zones. This theoretical shortest distance could not have been covered exactly in reality due to the width of the cars. However, a car travelling at 60km/h through the timing loops in question would have completed around 2670cm - still shorter than the distance FOM used in setting up the loops. As such the stewards have decided Gasly was wrongly penalised and both his five-second penalties have been rescinded. It means Isack Hadjar has lost his first Red Bull podium, as he was promoted to third by Gasly's penalties at the flag and celebrated on the rostrum after the grand prix. What is unclear is how other drivers and teams who got penalties for speeding in the pitlane will react. The stewards acknowledged it was unfortunate that others suffered breaches that were potentially not genuine but Alpine was the only team to challenge the penalties, and the impact they had on the result. It pursued the right of review process rather than the conventional route of challenging a stewards’ decision because time penalties cannot be appealed. Alpine won the [right to have the penalties reviewed](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-wins-bid-to-have-monaco-result-reviewed/) because of an admission from FOM that it had measured the distance of the pitlane inaccurately - a critical error because for the FIA to police the pitlane speeds they measure the time taken for a car to pass between timing loops in the pitlane. The curved nature of the Monaco pitlane at entry and through the fast lane means drivers cut the road in a couple of places, and the measured distance being incorrect meant some of these shortcuts impacted the speed calculation enough to exceed 60.0km/h. Gasly's penalties were for going 0.1km/h and 0.4km/h over the limit, while several others committed a 0.1km/h breach including Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and George Russell. Hamilton and Piastri served their penalties in the grand prix, which had an impact on their races and Piastri would have finished ahead of Gasly in the first place. Russell got an even bigger penalty as Mercedes did not serve his five-second penalty correctly at a pitstop and so he was awarded a drivethrough. Without that, he would have finished third on the road. As those penalties were served in the race, there is no way to address them being awarded incorrectly. This was established last year when Carlos Sainz had a Zandvoort penalty 'rescinded' for a collision with Liam Lawson collision but he was not credited with the time back because he had served the penalty in-race. Gasly's total 10-second time penalty was added at the end of a normal, classified finish. This outcome could therefore encourage other teams in the future not to serve penalties in the races whenever possible, and challenge decisions in the hope it could be later rescinded through a review process when the appeal route is closed off. ### Ferrari reveals eight-part upgrade for Barcelona F1 race URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-reveals-8-part-upgrade-for-barcelona-f1-race/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T13:02:42.000Z Ferrari has unveiled a substantial upgrade to its SF-26 at Formula 1’s Barcelona Grand Prix. Ferrari delivered its last major upgrade at the Miami GP in early May, but Mercedes has since introduced a major upgrade in Montreal, where McLaren also brought the second part of its first major update. Ferrari chose to optimise its existing package across Montreal and Monaco, but it has now introduced a significant new package of upgrades at Barcelona. There are changes to eight parts of the car. There’s a “revised front wing footplate with new vanes arrangement and endplate diveplane addition, and optimised wing elements spanwise loading distribution” (see below). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-endplate-Ferrari-Spain-1.jpg) There’s also “new straight mode mechanism links and integration in the nose (see below), with a revised nose shape with raised lower surface”. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-front-wing-actuator-Ferrari-Spain-1.jpg) Ferrari has also made changes to the floor body, floor board, floor edge and “re-profiling of diffuser sidewall cutout” with an “updated diffuser winglet angle of attack and diffuser/tail expansion profile”. The wholly revised floor is aimed at adding aerodynamic load. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/comparison-floor-edge-Ferrari-Spain.jpg) There’s an inflated sidepod shoulder and adapted cokeline, that’s been developed to work with the revised front and floor of the car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-2-sidepod-Ferrari-Spain.jpg) Ferrari’s major upgrade is all part of the team’s efforts to claw back the 79-point gap it has to Mercedes in the constructors’ championship and the deficits faced by Lewis Hamilton (66 points) and Charles Leclerc (81 points) to Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli in the drivers’ standings. Leclerc said ahead of the weekend: “The development will play such an important role that it's important that this goes well, and if it goes well, everything is possible. “But surely we must not lose too much time because Kimi is doing everything perfect so far and then to go and catch up all the points that he's taking at the moment is going to be a very challenging task, even if we end up having the fastest car at one point. “Kimi is doing an incredible job and Mercedes has done an incredible job but I don't give up yet.” ## What the other top teams have brought ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-winglet-Mercedes-W17-Spain.jpg) McLaren has a revised front wing endplate for Barcelona, while Mercedes has added small winglets to the centreline of its rear wing (above). Red Bull has made changes to its existing front wing at Barcelona. The front wing element geometries have been revised and there’s been a camber increase of the front wing flaps to widen the balance range available. ### The new 2026 quirk hurting McLaren's title defence URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/norris-identifies-a-new-factor-hurting-mclarens-title-defence/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T10:39:23.000Z Lando Norris feels McLaren’s performances in Formula 1 this year are being held back by a factor beyond the unreliability that has blighted its 2026 season so far. A combination of reduced downforce levels with the all-new cars, plus increasing tyre pressures, has resulted in a different behaviour from the 2026 Pirelli tyres – especially on the approach to corners. Mercedes driver George Russell said in Spain on Thursday: “The tyres are quite vastly different this year due to the tyre pressures that we are being prescribed by Pirelli. These are the highest tyre pressures we've ever ran, probably ever, in F1.” One of the consequences of the stiffer tyres is that the tyres require a more delicate touch on corner entry – and are at risk of easily being overloaded if asked to do too much braking and turning at once. McLaren boss Andrea Stella said recently: “The tyres don't seem to have much capacity of transitioning from the pure longitudinal to the pure lateral in the corner.” This trait, which means drivers are having to be more cautious in treating the braking and cornering phases distinctly, is something that Norris thinks McLaren is not as strong at as other cars. “I think honestly a bit of the reason why we feel we struggled so much at Monaco was the fact we could not do two things at once,” explained Norris. “We couldn't brake and turn. You're either braking or you're turning. There's no kind of middle ground. “I don't think that's been ever our strong suit. It’s always been a strong suit for Mercedes, and Ferrari, maybe a little bit less but also Red Bull. “I think Monaco highlighted the difficulties of that kind of characteristic, that's also what we're struggling with at the minute. So we're trying to figure out the best way to have a car that can deal with those limitations.” This year’s tyre pressures are a clear step up from last year. In Monaco the front and rear tyre starting pressures jumped from 20/19Psi last year to 24/23Psi this year. For this year’s Barcelona Grand Prix, the changes are more at the rear – with last year’s 26/22Psi minimums having shifted to 26/25Psi. The stiffer tyres, smaller dimensions and reduction in downforce have all combined to make the tyres harder to fire up – which also brings performance limitations. Oscar Piastri said he has experienced moments this season when his tyres have failed to get into the proper operating window at all. “They are definitely difficult tyres to get in the right temperature window, and it's been a long time since we've had to do warm up laps,” he explained. “In Canada, my tyres didn't get in the window at all. It's been a while since we've had those kind of problems with Pirelli tyres. "They're certainly difficult to manage for different reasons compared to the past few years.” McLaren well knows, however, that one of the best ways to overcome this tyre weakness is to get more downforce onto its car. Stella said: “We do observe the limitation we experience with the car and that can definitely be helped by having more load on the tyres - as we think Mercedes has been able to have compared to where we are at the moment in our phase of development on our car.” ## Title defence feeling impossible ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1414854_HiRes-2.jpg) Beyond the ultimate pace issues that McLaren is looking to address, the team’s title defence has not been helped by a run of mechanical problems that have overshadowed the start of its season. As well as a double failure to start for its drivers in the Chinese Grand Prix, world champion Norris has endured back-to-back retirements in Canada and Monaco that has left him sixth in the standings, 98 points adrift of runaway leader Kimi Antonelli. While Norris has not totally given up on winning the title again this year, he has admitted it is starting to feel a step too far. “It hurts, of course, because I know I'm not still not fighting for wins, and we're not fighting for podiums and things like that at the moment,” he said. “When you keep having not amazing weekends, and when you have things that keep going wrong, you cannot build confidence in the car, you cannot try things. “All of this is making any title defence pretty impossible for the time being. So, yeah, it hurts me, but it also hurts the whole team. “None of us want to not finish races, we all want to give ourselves another chance to defend the constructors’ and to defend the drivers’. But for the time being, it's just impossible.” ### What Vowles' 'first' Williams signing has to prove URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-vowles-first-williams-signing-has-to-prove/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T14:41:11.000Z One of James Vowles's first signings as Williams Formula 1 team boss is one of seven drivers only participating in the first practice session at the Barcelona Grand Prix. Luke Browning is in his fourth year with Williams, his first as the team's official reserve driver, and is set for more laps than ever behind the wheel of real-world F1 cars. He's partaking in FP1 in both Barcelona and the Red Bull Ring, his first laps behind the wheel of the 2026 F1 car that he's done countless hours in. He'll also drive the 2025 Williams at Austin in between as his latest Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) outing, having already driven it at the Hungaroring and Monza earlier this year. The 24-year-old has become a highly trusted asset for Williams, having been one of Vowles's first signings since he became Williams F1 team boss in January 2023, with Browning's appointment made "within a couple of weeks". Browning, in Formula 3 at the time, had impressed Vowles with his work as a simulator driver for the Mercedes team that Vowles had left to join Williams. "I was James's first signing, is probably the way to put it, so quite a pleasure to be here," Browning told The Race. "But it's not an easy ride with James. He's got the hard fist when it comes down to performance goals, and if they're not met, then there's no illusions that this is an easy ride. "In this sport, it's super difficult, and nothing is given to you for free. Ultimately, I did a really good job in Formula 3 and Formula 2 over the last couple of years with the resources, etc. that I had. "That was shown in the results and the reason why I'm where I am." Browning has ample experience with the 2026 Williams in the virtual world, having done countless laps in the simulator, including support for grand prix weekends, around his maiden campaign in Super Formula this year. Plus, with his TPC running and three F1 practice sessions already under his belt, Browning feels that when he "drives anything outside of Formula 1 now, it feels really slow". He added: "I feel like I'm up to speed in Formula 1 cars now, which is nice, which I don't think I was in the last FP \[Abu Dhabi 2025\], for example. "It will be interesting to see if my development in the TPC days of feeling now up to speed then correlates to FP1." ## A 'massive advantage' for 2026 adaptation? There's been a lot of talk about how complex F1's 2026 cars are, and while Browning says they require drivers to have "more bandwidth", they're not necessarily too challenging to learn. "There's a lot of talk about it being difficult or it being very complicated, \[but\] the way it's explained to me, it's quite simple to be honest," Browning said. "I feel like I'm on top of it all in the simulator, and there's nothing that I'm necessarily missing in terms of knowledge. "I agree, maybe for the spectators or for the general public, it could be a little bit more difficult than last year, possibly, but for me, I feel in a good place with it." Browning has a big background in sim racing and has even been team-mates with Max Verstappen in the virtual world, racing with Verstappen before he won his first F1 world championship in 2021\. Has that sim racing know-how helped Browning overcome 2026's complexities? "I think it has a massive advantage," Browning said of sim racing. "The amount of sim racing I've done in the sim, we've got so many buttons, we set them to everything and then we play around it essentially until our heart's content and find what's the quickest combination." ## Why Super Formula results don't matter After a single season of Formula 2, Williams and Browning opted for a switch to Super Formula for 2026\. The decision was made while Browning was leading the F2 championship in mid-2025 with the knowledge he wouldn't be able to stay on if he were champion as per the championship's rules. You could wait to make your plan for next season until the end of the F2 season in Abu Dhabi, but doing so would limit your options for top teams in F2 or elsewhere. So Super Formula was picked over Browning having an Oscar Piastri Alpine 2022-type year with no racing and just the F1 reserve role and testing duties. "I didn't want any cobwebs on my racecraft," Browning said. "There's definitely something about being race fit, isn't there? "Driving the car every other week and still having the pressure on of when the lights go out to perform, it's important." Browning has adapted strongly to Super Formula, building an early reputation for strong comeback drives. He climbed from 21st on the grid to finish fourth at the second race at Motegi, and he finished fourth in Suzuka's opener, having started down in 16th. That's left him a respectable eighth in a championship that's notoriously tricky for rookies. --- ## Browning's single-seater CV **2019:** 6th in British F4 **2020:** 1st in British F4 **2021:** 3rd in ADAC F4 **2022:** 1st in GB3 **2023:** 15th in Formula 3 (Macau GP winner) **2024:** 3rd in Formula 3 **2025:** 4th in Formula 2 **2026:** 8th in Super Formula\* *\*season ongoing* --- Super Formula requires far more driver input for set-up than F2 does, where the "engineering standard is of an F1 level in many ways". But that's something Browning has revelled in, picking up vital experience of the kind of car feedback that's required from all F1 drivers. Browning is competing against some highly experienced Japanese drivers with years of knowledge of the series, as well as Formula 1 and the top level of endurance racing. "There's such fine margins over there that when you've been doing that Super Formula for so many years and experienced engineers out there, they really, really know what they're doing," Browning said. "So we're definitely playing catch-up over there, but honestly, it's probably not too important for me this year how the results go over there. "It's more of just a learning curve, and we're sacrificing qualifying laps and preparation to do set-up changes that are not necessarily going to be any helpful to performance, but are going to be helpful for me before going into Formula 1." ## 'Hopefully I can show James I'm ready' It's far too early to know whether Browning has a realistic route to an F1 seat in 2027. That would need some change in Williams's line-up with Carlos Sainz or Alex Albon exiting, and there hasn't been any serious hint of that right now. But Browning can continue to make his case in the meantime, that should a vacancy arise, he's the right driver for it. Vowles' Williams has already shown its willingness to promote from within, as Franco Colapinto's promotion from academy to mid-season replacement for Logan Sargeant (another academy graduate, albeit pre-Vowles) shows. "It's fair to say that Colapinto is doing a good job this year, and he had a great start when he was first put in the Williams car against Alex," Browning said. "It shows that the junior programme here is performing well. "It's developing the drivers in the correct way, and with that, James has his belief and his faith, but I think, \[it goes\] without saying, it's got to be the right time. "I've got to be ready, and I don't think anything's going to be rushed." It's not just proving himself worthy of a potential future full-time seat, but confirming that, as reserve driver, he's ready to step in should anything unexpected sideline Sainz or Albon. After all, teams aren't obligated to use their reserve drivers, they can move for someone with F1 race experience. So a convincing couple of free practice sessions this year can help show Williams that it needn't look any further than Browning should it need a driver in the short or longer term. "Hopefully I can show James and the people around me that I'm ready," is Browning's wish. ### Russell's plan to solve his F1 driving style problems URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russells-plan-to-solve-his-f1-driving-style-problems/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T05:23:10.000Z George Russell believes the solution to the Formula 1 driving style struggles he revealed in Monaco last weekend lies in driving on his instincts. The 28-year-old Mercedes driver attempted to row back on the self-critique [expressed after struggling in Monaco qualifying](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/whats-so-concerning-about-russells-antonelli-admission/) on the basis that his comments last Saturday were "a little bit too harsh", but he recognises the need to get back in tune with how to make the most of the Mercedes W17 given the performance level of team-mate Kimi Antonelli. There are reasons why his driving style, [analysed in detail here](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-driving-style-f1-2026-struggles-kimi-antonelli/), might not be working well with the Mercedes. The characteristics of narrower 2026-specification Pirelli tyres are playing a part in this, but Russell's approach is not to get too caught up in attempting to transform what he's doing behind the wheel. "The tyres are quite vastly different this year due to the tyre pressures that we are being prescribed by Pirelli," said Russell when asked about the need for driving style adaptation and the role played by the car and tyres in that. "These are the highest tyre pressures we've ever run, probably ever in Formula 1, but they were still there in Melbourne, China and Canada when I was performing very well, so I've probably been a little bit too harsh in speaking in the moment, to be honest."I didn't have a lot of confidence in Monaco with the tyres and the car, and that is a circuit where it punishes you. Having reflected on it, I'm going into this weekend with a clear head, I'm not going to get too caught up with the data and drive on my instincts."To be honest, last year I rarely looked at any data, I just got in and drove, and I drove fast, and it worked, so I just need to sometimes trust in those instincts, as I did when I was karting." The grip level of the track surface, which varies from circuit to circuit, also plays a part in this and it's true that Russell's performance level at certain venues has been strong.However, he also made it clear that his desire to trust his instincts isn't because he's concluded his style doesn't need to change, but comes from recognising that any required evolution of his style will come as a result of focusing on what he feels behind the wheel. That's partly a result of a lesson learned during a two-day session in the Mercedes simulator two years ago that underlined the value of subconscious processing in solving such problems. "There always needs to be improvements because when you're driving with a new car and new tyres, you need to evolve," said Russell. "But what I have observed - and this is different for everybody - when I look back over the years is that my driving style naturally evolved to the limitation of the car and the tyres. "I didn't chase a solution, I didn't deep-dive into the data spending so much time trying to work out what the problem was and then on-track, thinking how I'm going to solve the problem, it just naturally evolved."I had an example on the sim a couple of years ago. I did two days in a row, I did a whole day in Barcelona, and I came in the next day and on my second lap I went two tenths faster. I thought to myself, 'how on earth did I just go two tenths faster on my second lap today compared to doing 100 laps the day before?'. "I spoke with somebody about this; you just subconsciously learn what happens. Yesterday, I didn't think I was driving any different, but the brain just automatically learned and that's where I want to find myself. I want to go back to that place where I'm subconsciously learning how to improve, \[where\] I'm not chasing those answers, because I know I can do it and I've done it my whole career and that's what I'm excited about."Kimi is doing such an amazing job at the moment, but his driving style is exactly the same as his driving style of last year and it's clicking. He hasn't chased it, it's just clicking for him perfectly well. "I know it can click for me again as it did in Melbourne and China." ### Gary Anderson: What Leclerc's new brake discs will give him URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-brakes-brembo-carbon-industrie-charles-leclerc-ferrari/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T10:30:19.000Z Plenty of column inches have been dedicated to Ferrari’s Formula 1 brake problems both this year and in 2025\. Charles Leclerc was extra vocal about his problems in both Montreal and Monaco, with the result that he’s [changing his brake discs](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/leclerc-to-trial-hamilton-brake-spec-in-barcelona/) from Brembo to Carbon Industrie this weekend. Lewis Hamilton has used the CI discs since the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in March. There, Leclerc also tried them but opted to continue with Brembo discs - until now. It’s not unusual for teams to do this, as although Brembo remains a Ferrari partner and supplies the rest of the braking system, the feel required by the brake discs is very particular for different drivers. From my past experience, Brembo and CI have fairly different characteristics. In the intervening time, the differences have got smaller, but I can put some numbers on it as an example of how they behave. In the past, I have had drivers who, like Hamilton and Leclerc, found it difficult to come to terms with these different characteristics. Also, from circuit to circuit, one spec or another can be advantageous. Whatever the supplier, there is the challenge of the contribution to braking from harvesting energy from the rear axle. Achieving that balance is difficult, especially when you are trying to optimise the battery pack level during a safety car period or after a warm-up lap. Low-pressure braking episodes will all be managed by front brake pad and disc pressure, generating heat into the disc and pad assembly. However, the regen on the rear axle will manage rear axle retardation, so not generate heat into the disc and pad assembly. **So first of all, here’s what I expect from Brembo...** 1 Efficient working temperature around 200C to 900C. 2 Higher than that, and the disc and pad wear rate goes out of control and/or you need more cooling, which can be detrimental to overall downforce. 3 Better and more consistent into the first corner, or when cool after a safety car. 4 Better for drivers who are gentle or at least more progressive on the brake pedal. 5 Better for circuits where lower overall braking energy is required, e.g. Monaco, Singapore. The problem with these types of circuit is that there are lots of small braking episodes per lap and not much cooling time so it is not uncommon for the brake temperatures to slowly keep increasing. **Now onto Carbon Industrie...** 1 Efficient working temperature around 350C to 1200C. 2 Allows a team to reduce brake cooling without the risk of brake wear getting out of control. 3 Driver needs to make sure they concentrate on getting disc and pad temperature at a reasonable level on out laps and formation laps. 4 Better for drivers who initially jump on the brakes hard. 5 Better for circuits where higher overall braking energy is required, e.g. Monza, Montreal. However with these circuits - which have long straights and big braking episodes - the brakes can be too cold when you first hit the brake pedal and too hot at the end of the braking, leading to a balance change through each braking episode. Choosing a brake material supplier can also be a bit like visiting the pick and mix counter in a sweet shop. In the past we have done just that: used one supplier's discs and another supplier's pads. That way you can close the gap between the two suppliers and also reduce the problems from increased wear rate on at least one of the components, pads and or discs. From my point of view, Brembo should suit Leclerc’s driving style and CI should suit Hamilton's. I would be looking closely at how they use the brakes coming out of a safety car period and during the warm-up lap before a qualifying lap or on the way to the grid. What you have under your right or left foot is critical to driver confidence. For the right foot, it’s about the torque delivery, which, with these new regulations, is something to talk about on another day. For your left foot, it’s about initial brake response and consistency through the braking phase, especially from a slowish lap leading into that critical initial braking episode. Now for a way out wacky section. Did you know that roughly 90% of the population are right handed, leaving 10% left handed, less than 1% are ambidextrous. In sports such as tennis, darts, golf and boxing we can visually see who is right or left handed. But my question is does that also mean that there is such a thing as right or left footed and are the two related? AI says there is a strong relationship but it isn’t absolute. Does a left handed footballer take penalty kicks with their left foot, or does a left handed kick boxer lead with their left foot? So many questions and so few answers. When we had cars where you had to let go of the steering wheel to change gear the gear change was ‘normally’ on the right. When the paddle shift was introduced the up shift was then placed predominantly on the right hand side of the steering wheel. Some drivers tested and raced with it the other way around and even some wanted the same paddle as a push to go down the gears and a pull to go up the gears, even vice versa. However I believe what we currently have is right handed upshift, left handed downshift. How many left handed drivers do we have and would a left handed driver potentially benefit from having the shift paddles the other way around? That’s fairly easy to test within the control system set-up. However, more importantly to this column, how many might benefit from the throttle pedal being on the left and the brake pedal on the right? Would they have more control over the throttle application, or in Leclerc’s case and perhaps a few others that we see frequently locking brakes, more control over the brake application? Now there’s a question for the next technical meeting which includes the driver regarding cockpit ergonomics, and with the current level of driver in the loop simulators it would be a fairly easy thing to put to bed. Watch this space and remember where it came from. ### 8 things we've learned at the Barcelona GP so far URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-weve-learned-at-the-barcelona-gp-so-far/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T05:36:53.000Z With shock outcomes over engine upgrade permissions and Monaco Grand Prix penalties emerging on day one at the Barcelona GP, it’s been a busy Thursday in the Formula 1 paddock. Here are our main takeaways. ## Engine rule change won't silence all criticisms Approval for a multi-step rule change for F1's engines across 2027 and 2028 was met with a broadly warm reception from drivers - but that doesn't mean all the criticism is going to end. Asked by The Race if the cars would be nicer in 2027, with the move from a 57/43 to a 58/42 split between internal combustion engine and electrical power, Sergio Perez was clear: "No, I don't think so". Asked to expand, Perez said: "At the end of the day, we're going to have the same engines and it's going to be very similar. It's not going to change the world. It's never going to be back to what we used to have. "So I don't expect that it will be much of a change." Crucially for F1, it didn't get a fiery response from arch-rules critic Max Verstappen, simply a pragmatic one. "I do think that it was nice to see that changes are being made earlier this year, but then also for next year," Verstappen said. "I would have hoped that next year would have been already, let's say, what we get in '28\. But I also, of course, understand that there are sometimes politics involved for that, but at least the changes that they are making are heading in the right direction. "So I guess that's a good thing." The consensus among drivers appears to be what Esteban Ocon described as "That's the best we could have done with how the current engines were built and the manufacturers, what they had in store for now. "You could not throw away all the development that there is. So, yeah, waiting for the next one \[engine cycle\]." Until then, expect plenty more gripes, especially at a circuit where the cars will be energy poor again after the energy-rich outlier of Monaco. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Verstappen's puzzled by ADUO outcome too Red Bull's status as F1's 'best engine', at least according to the FIA's ADUO verdict, has surprised a lot of people in the paddock - including Red Bull itself, and star driver Max Verstappen. The new Red Bull Ford Powertrains project is the only engine that will not be permitted extra upgrades for this year or next because it is deemed to have developed the benchmark V6 internal combustion engine. The same system has also judged Mercedes, which has dominated F1 2026 so far and is widely felt to have the best overall power unit as well as a strong chassis, to be entitled to one upgrade, while Red Bull's other rivals can develop even more. Verstappen said "we were all a little bit surprised with that news", hence Red Bull seeking clarification from the FIA - which is double-checking its work, but has never made public the criteria for how it judges V6 engine performance (beyond that it has nothing to do with the hybrid element). This was to avoid manufacturers gaming the system, although some people in the paddock believe this has clearly been done anyway. "We're just a bit confused with suddenly being portrayed as the best, because we don't feel like that," said Verstappen. **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm** ## 'Very impressive' Antonelli has rivals' respect Kimi Antonelli is on a special run of form right now, and he's won plenty of plaudits from his fellow drivers. Four-time world champion Verstappen called it "very impressive" that Antonelli is performing this consistently at just 19 years old - and that comes from one of the very few people who've also been at that level as a teenager. "He's a great talent. I knew that. I could see that coming," Verstappen said. "Of course, in a rookie season, you have to make mistakes. But then it's about how you learn from them." Charles Leclerc said he's "always considered Kimi extremely highly, looking at him in the junior categories". "The first year \[in F1\] has been challenging and to do such a huge step forward from the first step to the second step, I don't think anybody expected that and I think he has surprised many, many people. "But not that I underestimated him because seeing him in the junior categories, I've always said that Kimi was very, very special and that he will be very successful, but to see the step from the first year to the second year is particularly impressive." The comparison with Leclerc stepping into a frontrunning car in only his second year in F1 in 2019 with Ferrari was put to Leclerc, who said "In a way, you don't have much to lose" in that scenario - pointing out that he wasn't expected to beat his four-time world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel so benefitted from exceeding expectations. He added: "So in this situation I quite enjoyed it and I can see that Kimi is enjoying it as well and I don't think that he's feeling too much the pressure of being in this situation. "I've always thought he's a person that has no filter, you can feel the kid in him still, and so he's very relaxed about it." **\- JS** ## Aston Martin needs to 'protect' its drivers this weekend In the words of Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack, Barcelona is "normally a reality check for your pace". And that's why Krack talked about needing to "protect \[the drivers\] maybe a little bit from getting too much negative out of this, because there is nothing they can do about it". The team is braced for a tough weekend, a harsh crash back to reality after the relative high of Fernando Alonso nicking the final point in Monaco. Barcelona is, of course, the scene of Alonso's last F1 win *13 years* ago. That's an even larger gap than between Alonso's first F1 race and his last win! He said this is "probably my last Barcelona race in Formula 1" - remember, Barcelona isn't on the calendar again until 2028 - but he said he'll decide if he'll come back in 2027 by the summer. The summer will also feature Aston Martin Honda's first major car and engine upgrade packages, which will surely have a big influence on that decision. Until then, it's simply about ticking off the weekends and driving around the growing list of problems that are being exposed with the car and engine. The latest is gear shifting and engine braking inconsistencies that caused Lance Stroll's crash in Monaco. At least as Stroll pointed out, "there's more runoff here, so it's less of an issue". More space if your car fires you off the track, being a positive? Bleak stuff. **\- JS** ## Russell 'driving on instincts' to solve his woes George Russell's bruising Monaco weekend included the biggest clue so far of what exactly is going wrong with his title bid: his [driving style isn't meshing](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-driving-style-f1-2026-struggles-kimi-antonelli/) with the 2026 Mercedes in the way that team-mate Antonelli's has. He'd suggested he was going to look at changing his driving style but Russell appeared to row back on that suggestion on Thursday at Barcelona, instead highlighting the tyre factor. "The tyres are quite vastly different this year due to the tyre pressures that we are being prescribed by Pirelli," Russell explained. "These are the highest tyre pressures we've ever run, probably ever in Formula 1, but they were still there in Melbourne and China, and Canada when I was performing very well, so I've probably been a little bit too harsh in speaking in the moment to be honest. "I didn't have a lot of confidence in Monaco with the tyres and the car, and that is a circuit where it punishes you." That's why Russell is "not going to get too caught up with the data and drive on my instincts" at Barcelona. Russell said he "rarely looked at any data" in 2025 and that worked for him, so he's hoping repeating that will deliver the turnaround he needs to start eroding the 68-point gulf he currently faces to Antonelli. **\- JS** ## Gasly's Monaco reaction wasn't what it seemed Pierre Gasly has finally snapped out of emotion of what he called "the hardest day I've ever had in F1" in Monaco. It took Gasly a couple of days after losing his podium there - [wrongly, it turns out](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-wins-bid-to-have-monaco-result-reviewed/) \- to calm down and while he won't get the podium back, the admission of a screw-up at least vindicates his and Alpine's conviction they'd done nothing wrong. It might make it sting more first, but at least it offers closure. And regrouping in Spain just a few days later has also allowed Gasly to clarify something else about the way Monaco went down. His extremely raw reaction to crossing the line in third place, punching the air several times around the in-lap, gained huge social media attention after the race. It was interpreted as him not knowing he had penalties, which made Alpine look quite cruel as some assumed it had not told Gasly he had lost the podium. But Gasly did know already he had the penalties as they were communicated over the radio in-race. He just wanted to mark the moment his own way - celebrating a podium he already knew he'd lost and wouldn't be able to experience for real. "it was my way of having my moment," he said. "That's how I wanted to deal with the situation. To share any type of emotion I had." **\- SMM** ## F1 2026 tyres have a quirk that's not easy to master Amid F1's 2026 obsessions over energy starvation, power unit quirks and going slower in corners to go faster, there is a big change in a critical area of performance that has not been in the spotlight much – until now. It comes from the tyres, with a fast growing consensus in the paddock that a change in characteristics with Pirelli's 2026 rubber is pushing teams and drivers to alter their approach to corners. A combination of F1's 2026 cars delivering less downforce than the previous generation, allied to tyre pressures having ramped up a fair bit, has led to them being very sensitive on corner entry. In particular, they do not appear to be particularly robust when it comes to the transition between braking and turn in – which is causing a few headaches. As McLaren boss Andrea Stella remarked: "We do observe that the phase of entering the corner when you brake and combine is very delicate. It's very difficult to avoid the tyres to lock." Williams driver Alex Albon believed that driving styles were having to be adapted to cope with what was a quite complex scenario – and one that appears to suit certain cars and drivers more. As he said at Barcelona on Thursday: "I think it's gone under the radar a little bit. "The tyres are not easy, and even myself, I've seen these differences, even between Carlos \[Sainz\], for example, where the way that you energise the tyre and your natural driving style can benefit the tyres in a positive or negative way, quite quickly. In previous years it was less of a thing." **\- Jon Noble** ## Ferrari drivers diverged on brake spec since Japan Leclerc [will ditch Brembo brake discs](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/leclerc-to-trial-hamilton-brake-spec-in-barcelona/) for the Carbon Industrie material favoured by his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as Leclerc bids to bounce back from a nightmare home race in Monaco, but he doesn't "expect a revolution" in how they perform. Nevertheless, it will no doubt be a useful move if he can achieve the temperature balance front to rear that he was missing in Monaco and achieve the "consistency" he said is "all I need" when The Race's Edd Straw asked him what characteristics he was seeking from his Ferrari's brakes. Leclerc has struggled for two races in a row at tracks where braking performance and feel is usually very important for lap time. It might not be so critical at sweeping Barcelona, but given Hamilton's growing assurance within Ferrari you can understand Leclerc's desire to eliminate the variable and get his own season back on track. It seems the root of Leclerc's trouble is a decision taken back in March, during the Japanese Grand Prix, to split the brake specifications between the Ferraris - apparently something Hamilton pushed hard for on his side of the garage, as he has long preferred the feel of the CI material. "I changed my brakes in Japan," Hamilton confirmed. "It's something I'd asked for a long time ago. "Ultimately, it's down to driver preference, and feel. Both of us tested the option that I'm racing, and Charles didn't want it in the end. "He chose the one that he's on, and now he's changed his mind." Leclerc called the splitting of brake specs "a decision that we made as a team" rather than one he drove himself, but however you want to split the hairs on this Leclerc confirmed: "the last two weekends have been more difficult than I anticipated and now we're going in the direction of Lewis". Leclerc concedes Hamilton has been "fully on it since the very first race" of 2026 and been "very very strong", feeling Hamilton finds this new generation of cars "more natural" to drive than the ground-effect ones that preceded it. But perhaps this brake spec episode is also an example of an old master using his vast experience to gain a small competitive edge - even if it might only end up lasting a few races. **\- Ben Anderson** ### F1's deal with Pirelli extended URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/f1s-deal-with-pirelli-extended/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T16:47:46.000Z The FIA has extended its deal for Pirelli to supply Formula 1’s tyres until 2028. Pirelli agreed a new three-year deal with the FIA at the end of 2023 for 2025-27 with an option for an additional year. That option has now been taken up by the FIA in mutual agreement with Formula One Management and Pirelli, meaning Pirelli will supply F1’s tyres until at least the end of 2028. Pirelli will also continue to supply support categories Formula 2 and Formula 3 for the same time period. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said Pirelli had provided a “consistently high standard of performance, innovation, and safety at the highest level of our sport”. ### Leclerc to trial dropping Brembo brake discs for Barcelona URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/leclerc-to-trial-hamilton-brake-spec-in-barcelona/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T14:09:59.000Z Charles Leclerc has committed to trying out the Carbone Industrie brake discs that Lewis Hamilton has used over recent races, in his bid to try to get more confidence from his Ferrari. The Monegasque driver has struggled over recent races with a lack of feeling from the braking configuration he has used throughout 2026. Speaking after his late race exit from the Monaco GP, where cold brakes triggered a crash into the wall after a safety car restart, Leclerc explained that he has been suffering a lot over recent races. “Here and in Montreal with cold tyre temperatures, the inconsistency, and tyres being more sensitive because you are on the limit, have just been an absolute nightmare,” he said. Leclerc explained that a solution to his woes was already in hand as he talked about shifting to a set-up that Hamilton has used. “I'll go to Lewis’s configuration from the next race onwards, which hopefully will be a step,” he said. While Leclerc did not offer any specifics on what the configuration was, The Race understands that this relates to a[ change of brake disc](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-ferrari-f1-brake-nightmare-what-is-going-on/) – away from Brembo and switching to Carbone Industrie. While retaining Brembo calipers and other parts, the disc shift is about seeking different characteristics from the brakes – something that Hamilton has been particularly sensitive to since he joined the team. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6476.jpg) The challenge of brake systems in 2026 has been transformed because of the new hybrid engines, which mean teams are harvesting a lot more than before and not relying on traditional braking forces as much – which means discs can suffer from being too cold. Ahead of the Barcelona Grand Prix, Leclerc’s Ferrari was spotted being built up with the same braking configuration as Hamilton. The differences in behaviour between CI and Brembo are subtle but come in an area where drivers can find a lot of performance. It is widely understood that CI’s discs have a very strong initial bite, which comes from a characteristic where it appears to offer peak grip at higher temperatures. Brembo’s products are understood to be more progressive and consistent throughout the whole braking phase and temperature range, so they operate strongly in both hot and cold conditions and are more durable through an entire race. While the choice of Leclerc and Hamilton to run Carbon Industrie discs has grabbed attention, it is not unusual for drivers in F1 to switch suppliers of specific brake components like this. Back in 2024, for example, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen first tested and then switched from Carbone Industrie to Brembo because he preferred the feel of the discs. Decisions like this are often down to driver preference. It is understood that while Brembo has a deal to supply its products to every team on the grid, all competitors have autonomy to select and change specific technical components based on their own preferences. Brembo continues to enjoy a strong technical relationship with Ferrari – and its supplying of calipers, brake master cylinders, braking systems, and suspension solutions is unchanged. ### Monaco penalties being reviewed after shock error revealed URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-wins-bid-to-have-monaco-result-reviewed/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T17:39:29.000Z Alpine has won a review of Pierre Gasly’s podium-robbing penalties in the Monaco Grand Prix because Formula 1 used an inaccurate pitlane distance to measure the speeds of cars. Gasly finished third on the road in Monaco but dropped to seventh after receiving two five-second penalties for speeding in the pitlane by just 0.1 and 0.4km/h. However, Alpine has successfully presented new, significant and relevant evidence in a right of review hearing held on Thursday - leading to an immediate second hearing to actually review the penalties, which began at 1.20pm local time in Spain on Thursday. The Race understands that it's unlikely any verdict will come through until Friday morning. The crux of Alpine’s case is the stunning revelation that Formula One Management provided evidence that the distance used in calculating the official timing - and the pitlane speed - was “inaccurate and overestimated the speed” Gasly was travelling at. This means that system was used correctly on the FIA side, hence the belief on Sunday in Monaco that everything had worked as it should, but it was compromised by being fed inaccurate FOM data. At the time, the spate of tiny speeding offences were believed to be related to cutting the pitlane in places where the road curves, which shortened the distance travelled and therefore the speed registered based on how quickly the cars covered a certain distance. But one argument was that the angled pitlane entry and exit lines, and shape of the pitlane, could also impact how long the pitlane is judged to be depending on where it was measured from. It is the distance calculated by F1 that the stewards view as the only significant, new and relevant piece of evidence from Alpine’s submission. Alpine also argued that the FIA and FOM were aware in advance of the race that there was an issue with the timing loops in the pitlane, which FIA and FOM representatives “strongly refuted”. The team also had data that demonstrated Gasly activated the pitlane speed limiter in advance of entry into the pits and did not exceed the pitlane speed limit, plus a witness statement from Pierre Gasly that he took a cautious approach having been warned by his engineers. It now raises the possibility of the result being changed - though this would likely invite more controversy given other drivers were penalised in Monaco but had them imposed during the grand prix, rather than as a time penalty added at the end. The alternative is that the stewards double down on the penalty and instead use this as a critical lesson to ensure the scenario is never repeated. ### Red Bull queries ADUO ranking as FIA pledges to review results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-queries-aduo-ranking-as-fia-pledges-to-review-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T10:37:26.000Z The FIA will review the results of its ADUO rankings in the wake of a clarification request from Red Bull about why its combustion engine has emerged as Formula 1’s benchmark, The Race can reveal. As [reported last weekend](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-engine-upgrades-first-2026-fia-decision-revealed/), the FIA notified teams on race day at the Monaco Grand Prix of its findings on the performance of each manufacturers’ power unit from the first five races. Its analysis of the internal combustion engines declared that Red Bull was the best, so it would not be eligible for any upgrades under the ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) catch-up mechanism. Of more surprise was that Mercedes, which has won every race so far this season, was deemed to be more that 2% adrift of Red Bull so would be eligible for one upgrade this season and one next, plus $3million extra cost cap allowance and test bench hours. Every other manufacturer, including Ferrari, was deemed to be in excess of 4% off so can have the maximum two upgrades this year and two in 2027. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/FIA-letter-repro.jpg) While Red Bull has not commented publicly about the matter, it is understood that it was taken aback by the FIA’s findings – as its own analysis had shown it to be adrift of Mercedes. Speaking earlier this year, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies had reckoned Red Bull’s ICE was three tenths of a second adrift of Mercedes. “What we see is certainly Mercedes, a long way ahead of most of us,” he said. With Red Bull having relied on the ADUO mechanism to be able to catch up with Mercedes this season, it being deemed to have the best engine means it will not be eligible for upgrades. And, if others elect to hold back on introducing upgraded power units into next season, it means there will be no scope for it to bring developments at all. That situation has prompted Red Bull to seek some clarity from the FIA about how the governing body came to its findings. And following those discussions, The Race has learned the FIA has agreed to review its data from the opening five races of the season to double check its conclusions. This will include evaluating the findings of power sensors fitted to each car that the FIA has used all season to check the output of each internal combustion engine. The commitment to the review does not mean that its conclusion about Red Bull will change, but the FIA wants to be totally sure that its original findings are correct. Further ADUO reviews of each team's engine will take place after the Hungarian and Mexican Grands Prix. ### Ford's dream plan to race with Verstappen - and Ricciardo URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/ford-dream-plan-to-race-with-verstappen-and-ricciardo/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T08:25:35.000Z Ford wants to bring Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen into its sportscar racing programme and has teased that Daniel Ricciardo could be tempted to compete in one of its off-road vehicles. Four-time world champion Verstappen has sampled some of Ford's racing machinery for the first time now that the American manufacturer is a partner in Red Bull’s F1 engine project. He made his [Nurburgring 24 Hours debut](https://www.the-race.com/gt/what-we-learned-from-max-verstappen-nurburgring-heartbreak/) last month racing for his own team, which is running a Mercedes in 2026 - putting him up against Ford's own Mustang GT3 cars on the Nordschleife. Verstappen has also made clear his desire to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours one day, and Ford will also be present in the top class of the famous French race again from 2027 when it enters the Hypercar class. Mark Rushbrook, Ford Racing's global director, said at an exclusive Monaco Grand Prix event hosted by The Race and Axios that the company's hope is to eventually bring Verstappen into its sportscar programme. "We love the fact that Max is just an out-and-out racer," Rushbrook said when asked by The Race co-founder Darren Cox if there are conversations with Verstappen about driving Ford's cars in the future. "That's all he wants to do is get in and compete and win, whether it's virtual racing or Formula 1 or sportscar racing like that. "I was there at the 24 hours of Nurburgring. It was great to see him there. He put on an incredible display. It was heartbreaking, honestly, even though he was not in a Ford! It was still heartbreaking to see what happened to his car. "But of course we do \[have conversations\], right? We have that ladder from a spec racing car to a Mustang GT4 to a Mustang GT3, and now a hypercar coming. "So we'd love, when it's right for him and right for us, to have that relationship in sportscar racing as well." Verstappen's former F1 team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is also tentatively on Ford's radar for a competitive outing in the future. Following his F1 exit, Ricciardo became a Ford global racing ambassador last year, which was sparked by his own personal history with its Raptor truck line. He visited the Raptor Rally in 2025 where in addition to jumping his own car off-road he got to sample Ford's M-Sport Raptor T1+ which is used in rally raid competition including the Dakar Rally and Baja 1000. Afterwards, Ricciardo said "the itch for Baja is there, but I've got a lot to learn" - and Rushbrook has also teased the possibility of that kind of competition with Ricciardo. "When we first met Dan, all he wanted to talk about when we first met him was Raptors,” said Rushbrook. "He owned a Raptor before he had a partnership with us. "Once he stepped out of the car and he was thinking about the next steps of what he could do and what he wanted to do, and what we were trying to do with Raptors - to sell Raptors through Formula 1, it may not make sense, right, these incredible off-road trucks that we're selling to Formula 1 fans - \[but\] Daniel was 100% into that. "It's just genuine passion. We had him at Raptor Rally, jumping trucks. The smile on his face - I know he's always smiling - but it got even bigger. "I don't know if he's ready to compete yet, but hopefully someday." ### Where Cadillac might already be F1's best URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/where-cadillac-might-already-be-f1-best/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T07:53:28.000Z While it didn't keep the point because of a post-race penalty, Cadillac's first top-10 showing ticked off a huge milestone last weekend - but the team also achieved another key landmark in its Formula 1 journey. Points aren't awarded for the quality of your motorhome, but Cadillac's first, which made its debut in Monaco after 13 months of preparation, would probably score top marks based on the reaction from rival teams. The 2300-square-foot luxury motorhome made a strong first impression on everyone who visited it in Monaco and even having to compete with new motorhomes from McLaren and Audi, Cadillac's really stood out. The three-floor motorhome (with a rooftop terrace with a slatted roof) has features like fireplace displays, bespoke Italian furniture, finishes from a Monaco-based interior designer and the first 'floating staircase' in F1 - a modern design feature that gives the illusion of 'levitating' stairs. Those features are the most eye-catching, but functionality was the primary focus of the design, the construction of which was completed by German manufacturer Schuler. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CadillacF1Team_8458_HiRes-1.jpg) Peter Crolla, Cadillac team manager, formerly of Haas, told The Race: "Culture is a massive thing for me, and regardless of who people ultimately work for, whether you're Cadillac F1 team, TWG, General Motors or one of our contractor groups, we all wear the same uniform, we're all here to ultimately do the same job. "I always operate on the 'one team' basis, so when we dine here as a team, we dine in the same room. The open plan seating arrangement allows people to just chop and change and meet new people as well, and spend some time with people that they might not necessarily do so. "It was important that we had this floor effectively allocated to team accommodation, just so people had a nice environment to operate in, to eat in. "We spend so long with a crazy workload and sometimes in some quite difficult environments, one of which is obviously \[in Monaco\], it's quite close quarters up in that garage, that it's nice to be able to give people the opportunity to come down the motorhome, have a nice meal, sit down in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings and just chill out for a few minutes and decompress." It may sound trivial, but you can't underestimate the efficiency gain that comes with being able to feed your F1 team all at once. If you don't have the space to feed all of your team, that can make scheduling all-important debriefs harder and, on a busy F1 weekend, efficiency is everything. Crolla was a key appointment for Cadillac, given he's been there before as one of Haas F1's first-ever employees. Having started work on April 1 last year, he worked to a tight 13-month schedule to ensure Cadillac had a huge hospitality unit for the first European race of the season. "When I came on board, it was just no compromise," Crolla explained. "Everything had to be perfect, but it had to be here by the right time. That applied to everything we do really." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/CadillacF1Team_8430_HiRes.jpg) Instead of simply ticking the box of 'functional motorhome', Cadillac wanted to build something that would still be suitable if it becomes the frontrunning force it wants to be in the future. Team boss Graeme Lowdon said: "If you come into Formula 1, you want to be additive; we don't just want to turn up. "We want to add to the whole show, and that's something that we said from the very start. And to come with proper intent and try and build a very competitive Formula 1 team. Facilities like this help; your work environment makes a huge difference." That ambition is felt when you walk around Cadillac's motorhome. It has a real premium feel on every floor - broadly split between the first floor being a place for all of the team to dine in, the second floor where VIP guests are entertained, and the third floor being for management offices and meetings, with all three floors being multi-functional. There's premium catering, dedicated coffee bars and plenty of comfortable areas for all occasions. It does make a strong argument for immediately being F1's best motorhome facility - probably the first area of F1 where Cadillac has started at a world-beating level. Cadillac hopes to continue to improve its on-track performance and rise up the pecking order, but its presence in the paddock feels far ahead of a team only six races into its F1 journey. The motorhome is quite literally a beacon in the paddock: visually impressive, impossible to miss and quite the sight at night when it's all lit up. That's a real statement of intent and a great attractor of interest for prospective future employees. No individual is going to join an F1 team purely based on its motorhome, but Cadillac delivering such a polished one for the first time is an important statement of 'this team has all the right resources'. "What I didn't want to do was have this kind of gentle introduction," Crolla explained. "We were afforded a good opportunity by Formula 1, in that they gave us a good footprint. I wanted to make the most of that and really set our stall out so that we didn't have to grow in a few years' time. "This is our home, this is our environment for the years to come and I think it was always important that we just maximised that scale from all parts of the business - accommodating team, accommodating partners, accommodating shareholders, and exec groups. I think there's space for everybody here comfortably." Transporting the motorhome across Europe is an impressive feat with 21 trucks and a build time for Monaco that started on the Friday before race week. Plus, Cadillac had the added challenge of having to build its motorhome the other way around to the way it's been assembled so far, because of the tight confines of Monaco. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/beacon.png) Building what stands as a unique motorhome design in the paddock is all part of the "blank sheet of paper" appeal that attracted Colla. "I've done it twice now and people wondered why I came back to do another one 10 years later, but I love it," he said. "I think 2025 for me was probably the most enjoyable year of my career because we had great autonomy, great support from ownership and leadership of the company. "One thing that we've never had to say while we were developing this team is, 'We've always done it like that', because we've never done anything any particular way. "That was a really nice part of bringing people from other teams, is that we called on everybody's experience and everybody's previous knowledge to develop our first way of doing everything. "Now, it won't be perfect, and we'll always develop those procedures, but having the opportunity to call on some really experienced people that come from some really high-achieving competitive environments is a great opportunity. "I think the one thing that takes a lot of people by surprise when they join a new, new team is what nothing looks like. When you've got nothing and you walk into an empty building, it's quite daunting, but it's also a massive opportunity and a real pleasure to be able to sculpt that environment and your workspace around you." And off-track Cadillac has sculpted something truly impressive, drawing praise and awe from rivals throughout the Monaco weekend. Its focus remains on building towards having the world-beating on-track success to match. ### The figures that show how ludicrous Red Bull benchmark status is URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-figures-that-show-how-ludicrous-red-bull-benchmark-status-is/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T20:30:15.000Z What might be the competitive impact of the surprising outcome of the FIA deciding Red Bull Powertrains has the best internal combustion engine in Formula 1, with Mercedes granted one upgrade opportunity and Ferrari two? So far the average qualifying performance (including sprints) of the four leading teams looks like this, taking into account the percentage off average pole and the conversion to laptime: **Mercedes** 100.028% (1m22.706s) **McLaren-Mercedes** 100.508% (1m23.103s) **Ferrari** 100.525% (1m23.117s) **Red Bull** 100.820% (1m23.360s) The Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities assessment concerns only the internal combustion engine's performance, not the combined power unit and not the chassis. The metrics used by the FIA to assess that place the engine order as follows: **Red Bull Powertrains** (no upgrade opportunities) **Mercedes** \+ at least 2% (one 2026 upgrade opportunity) **Ferrari** \+ at least 4% (two 2026 upgrade opportunities) **Audi** \+ at least 4% (two 2026 upgrade opportunities) **Honda** \+ at least 4% (two 2026 upgrade opportunities) If we accept that between Australia and Canada the Mercedes engine was 2% behind in outright power terms that would represent just over 10bhp (though the metrics are much more complex than just peak power). The Ferrari engine, at 4% off, would be over 20bhp down, again, with the proviso that would be for peak power, but it gives us an order of magnitude difference. A deficit of 10bhp would, around an average track, cost around 0.25s of laptime. So 20bhp would cost around 0.5s. This is all very simplistic but taking the Mercedes average of 1m22.7s for the races so far, if Ferrari could use the upgrades system to recover all of its engine deficit, that would put it on the equivalent of a 1m22.6s. But if Mercedes could recover all of its internal combustion engine deficit, it would improve to 1m22.45s, with McLaren on 1m22.85s. Red Bull would remain on 1m23.36s: **Mercedes** 1m22.45s **Ferrari** 1m22.6s **McLaren-Mercedes** 1m22.85s **Red Bull** 1m23.360s The implication of this very simplified exercise is that with power parity, Ferrari would leapfrog past McLaren but still be slightly behind Mercedes. But that's all just theoretical. ADUO only offers the *opportunity* for power unit manufacturers to improve. Obviously, it cannot grant the actual improvement. That must come from the manufacturer's own efforts. As such, there are no power unit upgrades expected immediately - although Ferrari is said to be readying one in time for the Austrian Grand Prix and another later in the season, having been quite confident that it would get the required adjustment. But although no upgraded power units are expected immediately following the publication of the ADUO findings, it's not impossible we see a change in performance regardless. If one or more power unit manufacturer has been running its engines conservatively in order to get an ADUO break post-Canada, then they could be let off the leash now that the engine performance order has been established. Neither we nor the power unit manufacturers actually know what the metrics of the measurement are, the FIA preferring to keep that confidential in an attempt at preventing anyone gaming the system. However, the system might have been gamed regardless! Mercedes and Ferrari - each keeping a keen eye on the other - could have been running conservatively for opposite reasons; Mercedes to prevent Ferrari getting the ADUO break and Ferrari to ensure it did. Which could be the reason the Red Bull engine performed the best... If Mercedes has been holding anything back, it may think twice about running its engines more aggressively given that its reliability has been less than perfect - with failures for George Russell and Lando Norris so far. But if the causes have been established and corrected, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the Mercedes actually stretches its legs. With four teams using the Mercedes power units, we'd have a good sample to suggest if this was happening. If Ferrari is able to turn the wick up even before its upgraded power unit arrives, then that might also suggest a certain amount of previous tactical gaming. What will be interesting will be to monitor is if the teams using the Mercedes and Ferrari power units all show an increased performance relative to the Red Bull Powertrain, Audi and Honda cars. All we can do in the coming races is look for clues as to what the real potential - rather than the tactical - picture of power unit performance is. ### F1's 2027 engine rule compromise revealed URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-engine-rule-changes-2027-2028/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T19:59:29.000Z Formula 1 will introduce a two-step regulation change across 2027 and 2028 to reduce the role of electrical power in F1 engines. There’s long been a consensus that further, more substantial changes were going to be needed for the much-criticised 2026 rules, after an initial batch of tweaks were introduced earlier this year. The main question was, given that all manufacturers have different interests, how strong a package of changes could be agreed on, with at least four of the six engine manufacturers needing to agree on any changes to the 2026 power unit rules. The FIA said, “the proposed changes are intended to address issues related to energy management and fuel energy flow characteristics and make qualifying more flat-out while not impacting the positive and exciting racing generated by the new regulations”. The headline item is the “staged rebalancing” of the internal combustion engine and energy recovery system split, moving away from the initial 50/50 split that underpinned this ruleset. In reality, that split is 53/47 in favour of the internal combustion engine right now, but the FIA plans to move that to 58/42 for 2027 and 60/40 for 2028. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/unnamed.png) It will achieve that by upping the max power of the internal combustion engine from 400kW to 420kW for 2027 and up to 450kW for 2028. This will work alongside an increase to the fuel flow, 5% for 2027 and 13% for 2028. That gradual change for 2027 may reduce the need for hardware changes to be made to these expensive and complex engines - a key bone of contention for some manufacturers including Audi, which had just invested in a complicated, brand-new engine for the first time. It's not as fast a change as the likes of Mercedes would have liked (it would have preferred the 50kW reduction for 2027, rather than just 20kW), but it's part of the compromised package needed to get approval. The max overtake mode power will remain at 350kW, but the max harvesting power will increase to 375kW in 2027 and 400kW from 2028, from its current 350kW level. The FIA says “it will now expedite the formal approval process to provide all parties with early clarity and sufficient time to adapt to the revised requirements”. The proposed changes are subject to approval by the World Motorsport Council at its next meeting in Macau on June 23. ### How Monaco stays commercially relevant in F1's US boom URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/how-monaco-stays-commercially-relevant-in-f1s-us-boom/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T15:33:56.000Z Data and hard facts tell us that the three American Formula 1 races are now the most important commercially on the calendar. More corporate guests, more brands, more business focused events in and around the races, more activations. Just more money. So has Monaco lost its commercial crown to the new world? In a sport that is used to only measuring and improving through data, you'd have to say yes. But data and its AI manipulators can't measure vibes. Or personal connections. Or random introductions. Monaco has them all. Early in the 20th century, Brooklands prided itself on having 'the right crowd and no crowding'. Monaco delivers that mainly through its inherent inaccessibility. Financial and geographical. To be in Monaco on a boat or in Paddock Club someone has spent a lot of money on getting you there. And you've made a big effort to be there. So with the cost and exclusivity the crowd in certain areas and at certain events is self-selecting and therefore it's easy to be fast (business) friends. No need for the polite initial due diligence you may need in the 9000 plus capacity Miami paddock club from 2027 onwards. At a 30-person boat event someone has convened the right crowd. Or the budget to be there has done it via natural financial selection. The Race hosts these types of events with our partner Axios in the USA, in Davos and Cannes and most recently in Monaco. This gives us a unique insight into the dynamic playing out beyond the track action. My summary beyond the 'vibe' that Monaco still 'has it' would be that the decision makers make sure they are in Monaco. Traditional activations are less prevalent and hosting is very intentional. But even those business owners or decision makers new to the sport just know they have to be there. Although they can't quite give you a justifiable rationale as to why. Just those unmeasurable 'vibes'. Their attendance is rewarded because they are amongst their own and therefore business can be discussed and done peer-to-peer. With the sheer volume of brands now involved in F1 it is very difficult to ensure you do have those all critical B2B meetings with the right people. Paddock Club has become commoditised to the extent that F1 Experiences are adding more premium layers for the new UHNW (Ultra High Net Worth) and business owner demand. [Ramsay's Garage](https://f1experiences.com/f1-garage?ref=the-race.com) is reportedly priced at £40k+ for an individual to experience for the weekend. And it gets sold out. I found that most of these types of attendees are very focused on F1 being genuinely useful for their business objectives and not just a 'jolly'. So Bernie Ecclestone's original vision of exclusivity needs to remain whilst the eyeballs are reached via democratising access to the sport at other touchpoints. Monaco and other new event formats are delivering on that old fashioned exclusivity need. During our own exclusive Thursday evening event co-hosted with Axios and Aston Martin, Jenson Button restated the fact that as a kid Monaco and his home grand prix at Silverstone were the ones he wanted to win and how special Monaco specifically was to win due to the history but also the proximity of the fans: "You see the people on their balconies, you see the people on the boats cheering, it feels like you are actually celebrating with everyone in the grandstands". That's a feeling the USA races just can't replicate and neither can they replicate Monaco's history. And Jefferson Slack, managing director of Aston Martin F1, highlighted the draw for his fellow Americans: "It's on their bucket lists, it is iconic and therefore it remains a huge race for us as a team and for the sport." The following evening Laurent Mekies, David Coulthard and the CEO of Carlyle Harvey Schwartz all emphasised the importance of the race off track but it was Ford Racing's Global Head, Mark Rushbrook, that nailed the draw of the race, again for the American audience via a simple story. "33 of our USA dealers won a competition and had the choice of event to attend between The Kentucky Derby, The Masters or here," he said. "There were no other choices. It was not even a decision for them – they all come here." Tom Potter, CEO of leading F1 Sponsorships agency, Rush, was one of many voices I heard from over the weekend talking about the growth of Monaco for their business after a few years of stagnation and even decline. He said: "Monaco is back to being unmatched in the way it concentrates sponsors, investors and decision makers in one location. What's changed is the profile of that audience, more American, more private wealth led and more willing to spend at the very top level to get the experience they expect in every other facet of their lives." The 'Americanisation' of the event is most simply illustrated by two very diverse attendees from the new world last weekend, Bill Gates and Kim Kardashian. Perhaps proving that the 250-year-old country might have just 'got' our 76-year-old sport. What the data doesn't tell is that the American races have actually aided, rather than impacted Monaco's commercial leadership. It's the Americans that are driving demand and deals at elevated levels and their own races have acted as a gateway drug to the most potent motorsport drug of all: The Monaco Grand Prix. ### Audi F1 car to tour around UK ahead of British GP debut URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/audi-f1-car-to-tour-around-uk-ahead-of-british-gp-debut/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T15:33:44.000Z Motorsport fans across the UK will have the chance to get up close with an Audi Formula 1 car this month as its naming partner, Revolut, launches a 14-city nationwide tour ahead of the team's first appearance at Silverstone. The tour, which began at London's Canary Wharf on 9 June, will span cities across England, Scotland and Wales, giving fans a rare opportunity to see the team's F1 show car in person. Those who go along can also take part in interactive games with the chance to win exclusive merchandise. Revolut customers, as well as those who sign up during the events, will be entered into a draw to win tickets to Silverstone. For each day of the tour stop, Revolut will give away a pair of 3-Day grandstand tickets to the 2026 British Grand Prix. However, one extra lucky winner will be drawn at the end of the tour to take part in the Ultimate Silverstone Experience. The VIP package for two includes a driver meet-and-greet, motorhome lunch, team kit, pit stop practice, and strategist meeting. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/Revolut-Silverstone-Car-Tour-2026_16x9--1-.jpg) **Photo credit: Revolut* The tour comes off the back of new research commissioned by Revolut that highlights the growing popularity of motorsport across Britain. Nearly half of UK adults surveyed said they followed the 2025 F1 season, while more than a quarter reported waking up early or staying up late to watch international races live. Despite this, the research found that attending races remains challenging for many fans. Ticket prices, travel and accommodation costs were cited as key barriers, while some respondents said major racetracks were simply too far from where they live. By taking the Audi car directly to city centres around the country, Revolut hopes to make the sport more accessible to fans who otherwise may never have had the opportunity to experience F1 up close. Emily Lewis, Head of Growth for UK, Ireland and Nordics at Revolut, said the tour reflects both the company's commitment to its customers and the growing appetite for motorsport in Britain. "The UK's passion for motorsport is deep-rooted, from fans in Manchester setting 5.30am alarms to Birmingham investing heavily in race days," she said. "With this tour, we're bringing that same philosophy to motorsport – giving fans the chance to see the Audi Revolut F1 Team R26 up close, completely free, with exclusive perks for Revolut customers." **Dates and locations for the Audi R26 UK Tour are as follows:** **11 June – Oxford** - Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3AS - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **12 June – Nottingham** - Smithy Row, Nottingham, NG1 2BS - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **13 June – Leeds** - Briggate Primary Space, Leeds City Centre High Streets, LS1 6LH - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **14 June – Newcastle** - Grainger Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5QQ - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **16 June – Edinburgh** - Register Square, St James Quarter, Edinburgh, EH1 3SS - Opening hours: 9:00am–8:00pm **20 June – Liverpool** - Paradise Place, 5 Wall Street, Liverpool, L1 8JQ - Opening hours: 10:00am–7:00pm **21 June – Manchester** - Exchange Square, Corporation Street, Manchester, M3 1BD - Opening hours: 9:00am–6:00pm **22 June – Sheffield** - Fargate Site A, Sheffield City Centre, S1 2HH - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **24 June – Cardiff** - St David's – Library Site, Bridge Street, Cardiff, CF10 2EF - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **26 June – Bristol** - Centre Showcase, Cabot Circus, Bristol, BS1 3BX - Opening hours: 10:00am–8:00pm **27 June – Southampton** - The Esplanade, Harbour Parade, Southampton, SO15 1QF - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **28 June – Brighton** - i360 East Small Square, Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2FN - Opening hours: 10:00am–6:00pm **30 June – Birmingham** - Rotunda Square, Bullring, Birmingham, B5 4BU - Opening hours: 10:00am–8:00pm ### Renault's intervention over sale of Alpine F1 team URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-renaults-intervened-over-f1-team-sale-talks/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T15:37:06.000Z Renault intervened to end talks over the sale of co-owner Otro Capital's share in its Formula 1 team because it was not satisfied with the progress being made. Mercedes was in discussions to purchase Otro's 24% minority stake in the Alpine-branded F1 team [but withdrew](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-withdraws-from-alpine-f1-team-bidding-process/) at the end of last month. In Monaco, Alpine F1 boss Flavio Briatore said that was because "the price was too high" - it was reported that Otro set a price of $720million for its stake, more than triple what it paid in 2023. Briatore said he felt Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was "very fair" in negotiations but added: "I don't think the Otro people are fair." Ex-Red Bull boss Christian Horner has also been involved in a consortium that is interested in Otro's shares, so could be perceived to be best placed now that Mercedes has withdrawn. However, Renault has a veto right on Otro's shares until September - and is understood to have some kind of reduced influence over any sale beyond that. And the company has decided to cease any talks around a potential Otro sale for the time being. Renault CEO Francois Provost told media including TV broadcaster Viaplay in Monaco that he was "not so satisfied" with discussions over Otro selling its shares because "progress is not good". "At this stage, we decided to stop, so there is no further discussion," he said. This is understood to even include the matter of when talks would resume let alone be resolved. Renault's initial sale of 24% of the team to Otro was widely felt at the time to be a signal that its commitment to F1 was wobbling. That was furthered when Briatore joined as ex-Renault boss Luca de Meo's executive adviser and, soon after, Renault decided to scrap its works F1 engine project to become a Mercedes customer for 2026. In recent years, a high turnover of senior staff - across both Alpine management and F1 team leadership including senior technical and sporting roles - has also damaged the team's credibility and on-track performance. But Briatore taking charge of the team he once led to world titles has this year started to yield a turnaround. Together with new Alpine F1 managing director Steve Nielsen leading the Enstone team on a day-to-day basis, Alpine has finally begun to benefit from stability. After finishing last in the championship in 2025, partly a result of the decision to switch its entire development focus to the new 2026 car rules, Alpine is currently fifth place in the constructors' championship and would have scored its first podium of the year in Monaco last weekend but for Pierre Gasly's brace of pitlane speeding penalties. It also seems that the relationship at corporate level has steadied and given Alpine the support required without leading to problematic interference - something that had blighted the team pre-Briatore. "Now I see much more motivation, much more rigour, much more seriousness to deliver," said Provost. He also said that Renault "whatever will happen in the future, Renault Group will continue to control" - an implication it could one day decide to sell another minority stake but has no desire to relinquish a majority share. "Formula 1 is the most popular sport event in the world," he said. "So what would be the rationale for a group like Renault to have the chance to be there, to quit? "For sure, no. We are here for the long term." ### Herta's debut and more: Every F1 practice rookie at Barcelona URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/barcelona-gp-f1-practice-drivers-rookies-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T12:24:01.000Z After an intense start under the new all-regulations that made every lap in the new cars extra valuable for their full-time drivers, Formula 1 teams will finally start to fulfil their required rookie outings en masse at the Barcelona Grand Prix. Here are the stand-in drivers who have already been announced as participating in FP1 in the seventh round of the campaign. ## McLaren ### Leo Fornaroli **Previous FP1s:** 0 **Replacing:** Lando Norris Back-to-back Formula 3/Formula 2 champion Fornaroli, 21, was picked up by McLaren as its reserve this year - and is now getting his first F1 practice outing. He could hardly have done more in F3 and F2 but, given he's not racing this year, faces the unenviable task of staying at the forefront of F1 teams' minds through impressing in practice outings without overstepping the mark. McLaren picking up a rookie for a seat feels far-fetched right now given its station in F1, but Fornaroli could hope for a loan deal elsewhere or to attract a rival's attention like Gabriel Bortoleto did while on McLaren's books. ## Mercedes ### Fred Vesti **Previous FP1s:** 4 **Replacing:** Kimi Antonelli The 24-year-old Vesti was the F2 runner-up three years ago, and his racing future now clearly lies in endurance racing instead - where he has been forging a career with Mercedes' F1 rival Cadillac. He has nonetheless established himself as a significant player in Mercedes' F1 programme, described by Toto Wolff as "an important part of our development work with the W17", and will get the championship-leading car at Barcelona. ## Red Bull ### Ayumu Iwasa **Previous FP1s:** 5 **Replacing:** Isack Hadjar The 24-year-old Japanese is increasingly becoming Red Bull's go-to practice driver across its two teams, having had considerable success racing in Red Bull colours in various category - but never truly entering the frame for an F1 call-up. He is the formal Racing Bulls test and reserve driver, and is currently working to defend his maiden title in the prestigious Super Formula category in Japan. A future in F1 beyond practice outings would be warranted by his track record, but would seemingly require a change of heart within Red Bull. ## Ferrari ### Dino Beganovic **Previous FP1s:** 2 **Replacing:** Lewis Hamilton Sixth - but only 20 points down on the standings leader - in F2 this year, 22-year-old Beganovic will carry out his third practice outing with Ferrari in Barcelona (while also racing in the F2 round that same weekend). Ferrari has two juniors on the cusp of F1 readiness in Beganovic and Rafa Camara, but its line-up doesn't appear likely to change in the immediate future (and Ollie Bearman's place at Haas means Ferrari is under no real pressure to bed in more talent in F1). ## Williams ### Luke Browning **Previous FP1s:** 4 **Replacing:** Alex Albon Williams reserve Browning, 24, will be in Albon's car at Barcelona and then in Carlos Sainz's car at the Red Bull Ring. An outside F2 title contender last year in his rookie season, Browning has switched to Super Formula this year and has been competitive. He is very clearly the F1-readiest prospect on Williams's books, but will need to make a big impression in FP1 sessions and other test work to be first in line for a future seat. ## Audi ### Paul Aron **Previous FP1s:** 5 **Replacing:** Nico Hulkenberg Aron, 22, is an Alpine reserve - but was already loaned by the English-French team to what was then Sauber for a pair of practice outings last year. This arrangement will continue again in 2026, not just at Barcelona but also at the Red Bull Ring. After making waves as an F2 rookie in 2024, Aron didn't race last year and has no full-time programme this year either - instead supporting Alpine's F1 efforts. His prospects of an Alpine seat look far from straightforward given this would likely require Alpine to move on from Franco Colapinto - who has been on a good run of form - and be willing to replace him with a rookie. ## Cadillac ### Colton Herta **Previous FP1s:** 0 **Replacing:** Sergio Perez Ex-IndyCar star Herta, 26, will dovetail a first F1 practice outing with the full F2 round at Barcelona. Cadillac and Herta have made no secret of their ambition to get him into an F1 seat, with the experience-gathering IndyCar-to-F2 switch for this year aimed at no other goal but acquainting him with the tracks, the paddock and topping up his superlicence points tally. That last part is not going so well right now. Adjusting to F2 has proven tough - not unexpectedly so given Herta had left the European single-seater scene back in 2016 - and he is only 13th in the standings at present. ### Mercedes on course to be first F1 team to hit big revenue milestone URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/mercedes-on-course-first-f1-team-to-hit-one-billion-dollars-revenue/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T10:02:37.000Z Mercedes is on course to be the first team to surpass $1billion in revenue, and it could happen as early as this year. Official accounts have just been published and show that, for the year that ended on December 31 2025, Mercedes had revenue of £633.378million - which is just more than $846million. Turnover grew by £1.3m, helped by higher commercial revenues from sponsorship and licensing, which accounts for £415m of its total income in 2025. However, while its £633.378m revenue was only marginally up on £632.117m that it delivered in 2024, the figures are slightly skewed by a lag in the way that prize money income is earned and distributed. With prize money paid out the year after each championship, Mercedes' income was pegged back in 2025 as the result of finishing fourth in the constructors' title chase in 2024. Although it finished second overall last year, it still had to pay out team bonuses based on that runner-up spot. It will therefore enjoy the uplift in prize money income from that finishing position only in this year's accounts. Mercedes' profits have been helped by several factors, which include a reduction in driver wages for 2025 as the result of the departure of Lewis Hamilton and promotion of then rookie Kimi Antonelli (who currently leads the drivers' championship in his second F1 season), as well as the arrival of increased sponsorship. This included Adidas, Meta AI and Nasdaq becoming part of its roster of 24 premium global brands. The end result was an increase in operating profit from the restated figure of £156.152m to £166.707m. There were other business changes last year, with its customer partnership with Aston Martin coming to an end and team partner INEOS withdrawing from its involvement in sailing's America's Cup, so ending Mercedes' special projects input. Achieving the $1b mark (£748.327m) is in sight though, with Mercedes looking on course to win this year's constructors' championship - which will deliver a significant uptick in commercial rights income. The team has also added major sponsorship deals this year which have further boosted its coffers, including a high-profile tie-up with Microsoft that was estimated to be worth around $60m per season. But hitting the $1b revenue figure will also depend on some factors outside of the team's control. One of these elements includes the hosting of the Middle East races, with the Bahrain and Saudi races having been called off earlier this year and the fate of the events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi at the end of the season far from certain. A share of commercial rights income from these races runs into the tens of millions of dollars so will have a notable impact on the final revenue figure. ### A '10 out of 10' cameo just worsened a MotoGP crisis URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-hungarian-gp-ducati-lecuona-morbidelli/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T10:45:07.000Z Iker Lecuona’s self-confessed “10 out of 10” MotoGP stand-in ride has put into sharper focus the puzzling challenges with grip currently facing VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli. World Superbike rider Lecuona was handpicked by Ducati as a replacement for Alex Marquez, as the Gresini Ducati man continues to recover from his injuries after his horrific crash at the Catalan Grand Prix. After some initial confusion as to why Lecuona was given the ride over his Ducati WorldSBK team-mate Nicolo Bulega (in short: because Bulega's 2026 priority is continuing to dominate WSBK, and Ducati feels this is a less costly distraction for Lecuona), the 26-year-old put on arguably the most impressive performance of the Balaton Park weekend. Immediately fast, and never looking out of place among the other 21 riders despite having not been in the MotoGP field since 2023, Lecuona capped off a remarkable display with a seventh-place finish on Sunday after overtaking Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller on the final lap. “Honestly, I'm really, really happy,” Lecuona said after the race. “Just doing some overtaking, fighting. I just went wide, more times than I expected, so I lost a lot of time when I needed to catch Miller. “But when I arrived in the last lap, I needed to overtake him. I braked better in \[Turn\] 9 and I overtook in the last lap, so I'm really, really happy and excited also, and that's my target. “Also, I'm very grateful about the opportunity. So again, first I need to say thanks to Ducati, Gresini, and Aruba \[Ducati WSBK title partner\] for bringing that amazing opportunity. Honestly, I saw my speed, my potential. We were never last one here. So yeah, just thanks to the guys.” When asked to rate his weekend, Lecuona was more than complimentary to himself - and it’s hard to disagree with his assessment. “For me it is a 10\. Honestly, it was a 10.” In contrast to a weekend where Lecuona managed to move forwards, it felt like Morbidelli could only go backwards. --- ## Morbidelli v. Lecuona in the Hungarian GP FP1: **Morbidelli** 0.836s ahead PR: **Lecuona** 0.287s ahead FP2: **Lecuona** 0.413s ahead Q1: **Lecuona** 0.210s ahead Q2: N/A SPR: **Lecuona** 0.252s ahead per lap (3.218s total) WUP: **Lecuona** 0.287s ahead GP: **Lecuona** 0.328s ahead per lap (8.518s total) --- Morbidelli has had a relatively quiet 2026 season to date, aside from a surprise weather-enabled podium in the Jerez sprint. While he hasn’t been capturing the headlines for some outlandish overtake attempts or bizarre incidents as he did last year, Morbidelli simply just hasn’t had the pace to challenge his fellow Ducati riders. It will be a concern to Morbidelli, who is likely to be replaced at VR46 by Bulega for 2027, that Lecuona was able to step in seamlessly despite having never ridden a Ducati MotoGP bike before the weekend. But perhaps the biggest problem with it all is the fact that Morbidelli is none the wiser as to how to attune the grip of his Ducati package to get the most out of a race weekend - a recurring theme to his season, but further highlighted by his lack of performance compared to a stand-in star. Morbidelli is one of two riders in the field on the year-old Ducati Desmosedici, which had proven particularly capricious in the hands of Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio last year. ![Franco Morbidelli, VR46 Ducati, MotoGP](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1323181_HiRes.jpg) This year Morbidelli shares a spec with Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer - who hasn't been totally consistent but, even with the lingering effects of a major off-season leg injury, has massively outperformed the VR46 rider. “Last year I was on the podium in the sprint race and I made the whole sprint race behind Marc \[Marquez\],” Morbidelli lamented on Saturday at Balaton Park. “This year I made the whole sprint race behind \[Fabio\] Quartararo, who is struggling big time with his bike. “For sure we need to keep on working and keep on trying to sort out what's going on and correct it, definitely.” Morbidelli admitted he had arrived into the weekend fearful of being shown up by Lecuona because of how bad his feeling with his GP25 bike already was in the lead-up. “We need to work together with Ducati to take out a normal grip from the bike,” Morbidelli reaffirmed. “Because we didn't seem to have found a way to take out a normal grip from the package. “I'm struggling so much when I ride around. I'm on ice and I'm working on every bike, every set-up, every track, every condition. We are working big time with the engineers to sort it out, to understand what's going on and how to sort it out.” “But at the moment we didn't seem to find a solution." ### How Russell's driving style is feeding into 2026 struggles URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-driving-style-f1-2026-struggles-kimi-antonelli/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T10:42:58.000Z George Russell's claim that a driving style difference is at the heart of his increasing struggles relative to Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Kimi Antonelli points in a clear direction: tyres. Russell alluded to that himself. He talked about "something in my driving style that's not helping the car at the moment", in contrast to "playing into \[Antonelli's\] hands perfectly well", adding that "the difference is how we're driving has such an impact on the tyres". So what does he mean? Traditionally, Russell's technique is one of high-commitment smoothness. He's tended towards the 'don't brake later, brake less' style, braking early, stabilising the car and carrying tremendous speed into the corner. Doing that - keeping the platform relatively stable while still being able to deal with instability on turn-in and keeping up the momentum - worked spectacularly with the ground-effect era machinery, and the generation before that. Typically, his set-up focus was ensuring he had the through-corner balance he wanted. The initial steering is progressive, loading the car up, sometimes with a secondary movement to refine the entry phase as the speed comes down. After that, the mid-corner usually takes care of itself as he likes to use the responsiveness of the car to set up the rotation, although if he carries too much speed in he will often correct mid-corner. When that is working, he carries decent speed but usually prodigious exit speed. Trading off a little mid-corner speed for strong exits has been part of his evolution during the Mercedes years. At his best - as he consistently was last year - he's deceptively fast, as economy and smoothness should not be mistaken for conservatism. One area where his way of driving might not play to the 2026 cars is that he's sometimes struggled a little on lower-grip tracks. You could say he has a touch of the Oscar Piastri in terms of not being at his best when having to deal with microslides when the car is constantly moving about. He's not a high-sensitivity driver in terms of steering inputs, or one who uses large amounts of braking/steering overlap, which often works best when the car is constantly having these tiny slides on lower-grip surfaces. High-commitment into a corner is a strength, but if the confidence isn't there then he struggles with that. His Miami struggles showcased that, while it's reasonable to assume that the lower-downforce 2026 cars mean that he's having to deal with more microslides than before. However, anyone watching Russell in Monaco might not have recognised him. He was being the more spectacular, and not in a good way, of the Mercedes drivers with the car moving around, more moments when the rear steps out, and generally working harder at the wheel. The lower downforce plays a part in that, but so too does the way he loads the tyres, which has also made it harder for him to get the Pirellis in the right window over a lap. In fact, being not completely at ease with these small slides can also compromise your tyre management. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1414416_HiRes.jpg) Russell may be smooth, but the peak loads he puts through the tyre are often higher than many others. In that turn-in phase, he asks a lot of the rears in particular. When the front tyres aren't up to temperature, he will struggle, and there were times when that was a problem during the Monaco weekend and throughout the Canada weekend. However, get the fronts in, as he appeared to do for his fastest qualifying lap in Monaco when he was actually marginally faster than Antonelli through Ste Devote but then lost time elsewhere, and he can overload the rears as a result. And with a little less downforce at the rear, that means more sliding, which costs him time, and overheating, which costs even more. The shorthand characterisation of Antonelli's driving style is that he's aggressive, and it's a fair one. The first time I had the chance to watch him trackside for an extended period of time in pre-season testing in Bahrain last year (he'd made a good impression from the first chicane at Monza the previous season but only came past quickly twice before his crash) that was clear. But while his inputs are plentiful, they are also usually subtle and precise. This is not ragged, reactive aggression, but all about carrying speed through the ability to make constant tiny corrections - ideal for dealing with microslides and well-suited to getting the best out of the low-downforce cars. He's confident to commit even when he's not certain about the grip and has the sensitivity to feel the car through the corner and adjust accordingly. That doesn't mean that the change in cars has turned him from a good driver into a great one. Last year, he was making progress rapidly but his mid-season slump was triggered by the Mercedes development misstep with a rear suspension modification that was later binned. Antonelli's own estimation was that this cost him three months, and even then late in the season he put in a strong performance throughout the Interlagos weekend, which was the first when he was conclusively faster than his team-mate throughout. Yes, Russell took his first win at Interlagos in 2022, but it's one of his weaker tracks. And Antonelli's strengths shone through. Imagine where he'd have got to last year without those wasted months; map that onto the step he's made this year and it all makes more sense. And when it comes to the tyres, which Antonelli managed to get in a good window throughout his Monaco pole lap - not fastest in any sector, but second quickest in all three - his style works well. His peak loads don't have so high a ceiling, working with the car rather than trying to dominate it as Russell does at corner entry, but his more aggressive approach can also help to energise the front tyres when they need it without necessarily paying the price with the rears as Russell does. So does this mean Antonelli has won the battle and Russell is doomed to number two status? Not necessarily. Antonelli is a mightily quick driver, and it's very possible he might have a pace ceiling that's higher than that of Russell. But that's not been conclusively proven yet. The change of regulations hasn't made Antonelli a faster driver fundamentally, as there's a confluence of factors that mean he was always going to be stronger this year and a big threat to Russell even if the regulations hadn't changed. But it's clear Russell has identified where he's lacking, which is key if he's to have any chance of fighting back. What's critical is that Russell does not convince himself the prevailing conditions are tipping the scales in Antonelli's favour, or that there's favouritism in the team. He wants to be world champion, and to do that you will need to be adaptable and face up to the challenge of other outstanding drivers. But he must also not attempt to rewire himself or exaggerate the challenge. He's been fast in these cars, he found a way in both qualifying sessions in Montreal to eclipse Antonelli, and there has also been misfortune this season that has exaggerated the points gap (which is 68 points as it stands). However, the fact remains that in both Miami and Monaco, Antonelli was by a convincing margin the stronger Mercedes driver. Russell must remember his strengths, work to get the car and the tyres in the window he wants and then, just as he has been consistently through his F1 career, he will be extremely quick. It's a case of small changes and chipping away at the weaknesses, and you could argue that the high-speed-aero-dependent and flowing sweeps of Barcelona this weekend are the ideal place to get back to his best. The first challenge is to do that, because if he doesn't soon then his title challenge will wilt. The second challenge is Antonelli, because even for Russell at his best he will be a handful. Russell, and the watching world, would do well not to underestimate both how good Antonelli already is and the potential that remains to be fulfilled. His first season may not have been the great rookie campaign many expected, but we're seeing the real Antonelli in the second - and he's only getting stronger. ### Every 2026 circuit has exposed a new Aston Martin weakness URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/fernando-alonso-aston-martin-f1-monaco-weakness-chassis/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T08:48:42.000Z Fernando Alonso thinks nothing positive came out of Aston Martin’s best result of the year in Monaco - with the weekend exposing another “chronic” weakness in its car. Aston Martin had hoped that the tight and twisty nature of the Monte Carlo street circuit would give it an opportunity to do better, as it would not be held back by a lack of power from its Honda engine. However, the team was given a reality check about the state of its current package as Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll both struggled with gearbox downshift issues, a lack of drivability and handling woes. The pair qualified on the back row before Alonso managed to push his way forward in the race and finish 11th on the road – prior to Sergio Perez’s post-race penalty for being out of his grid position. That left Alonso 10th in the classification to secure his and Aston Martin's first point of the 2026 campaign. Speaking before the confirmation of Perez’s drop, Alonso was clear though that there was little reason to be happy about how things had gone over the weekend. He suggested that Monaco had been a case of another wake-up call for Aston Martin that its issues were about far more than just its power unit. “Zero positives from this weekend,” explained Alonso. “We've been racing in very different circuits so far this year. All of them were clear for us in terms of understanding some of our weaknesses. “In Australia, we found our engine was very down. In China, we found our energy was very down. In Monaco, we found our chassis is down. In Miami, we found that our gearbox was very bad. I think every circuit exposed some of our weaknesses in the car. “But the good thing is that that is a very good understanding on what action is needed in each of the areas.” ## A fresh chronic issue With Monaco not being such a power-sensitive circuit, Aston Martin ending up at the back of the grid was proof of just how much room for improvement it needs to find with its chassis too. Things were not helped by the emergence of a balance problem that Alonso and Stroll were exposed to in the low-speed corners Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa revealed the team had been caught by surprise by just how bad things were. “We were expecting to be a bit better here, but we found a very, very severe mid-corner understeer in the low-speed,” he said. “The team has tried to cure \[it\], making all possible changes on set-up, but it is something more fundamental than the set-up change. We didn't experience this understeer as bad as it has been here in any other race, so that has caught us out.” While alert that the understeer problem could manifest itself in the future, de la Rosa had some hope that this was something isolated to Monaco’s unique characteristics. “It's something that, as we haven't seen in circuits that are very different to Monaco, we remain confident \[it won’t return\],” he said. “But we should first of all analyse all the data, and if we find again this problem then we will have more tools actually to work on them. “I would be surprised if we find this level of chronic mid-corner understeer in any other track, because there are no tracks like Monaco, and also this year the soft tyre has been even pretty hard for this circuit.” ## Waiting on upgrades Aston Martin has elected to hold fire on introducing any major upgrades until engine partner Honda is ready to introduce developments that can bring a much-needed step forward on the power front. Alonso said that all the issues that had been exposed so far were being worked on, so it was just a case of waiting for the fixes to arrive. “For the second part of the year, the package that we try to bring all at once is tackling all those problems individually,” he said. “I have full faith and trust on the team, because our impression and our feeling is that that \[upgraded\] car will change dramatically what we are facing now. We just need to wait another four or five races of painful results.” De la Rosa was hopeful that when the upgraded car arrived it would bring a decent step forward. “We expect to have more grip and more power,” he said. “F1 is about physics. It's not that complicated, in a way. To get that *is* complicated, but actually what you need is simple.” ### Date set for review as Alpine seeks to overturn Monaco GP result URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/date-set-for-review-as-alpine-seeks-to-overturn-monaco-gp-result/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T21:02:28.000Z Alpine’s bid to review into the penalties that cost Pierre Gasly a podium finish in the Monaco Grand Prix will be heard before the next race on the Formula 1 calendar takes place in Barcelona. Gasly finished third on the road in Monte Carlo but dropped to seventh after receiving two five-second penalties for speeding in the pitlane by 0.1km/h then 0.4km/h later in the race. He was one of several drivers to commit a marginal offence, believed to be the result of cutting the pitlane in places where the road curves. This shortened the distance travelled and as the FIA essentially polices the speed limit by how quickly the cars cover a certain distance, it registered some drivers’ speeds as fractionally over the 60km/h limit – even though various teams’ data indicated they were travelling at 60km/h. Though multiple teams felt aggrieved by the outcome Alpine was the only team to [take action](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-challenges-monaco-gp-f1-result-pit-penalties/). It has petitioned for a right of review and team members were seen using a trundle wheel to measure the pitlane distance after the race. One argument is that the angled pitlane entry and exit lines, and shape of the pitlane, could impact how long the pitlane is depending on where you measure it from. Few believe even a successful Alpine right of review appeal will ultimately lead to any change in the result, because it was not the only team to be penalised in the race. Others either served their penalties during the grand prix, as Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri did, or had other in-race consequences as a result of them - such as George Russell’s drivethrough for failing to serve the five-second penalty correctly. However, even if it cannot succeed in getting the race result amended, Alpine hopes to identify what it and other teams could have done to judge the situation better in the future or get the FIA to update its methodologies and/or systems if it is deemed appropriate. To get that far, though, Alpine must be successful in Thursday’s hearing, which will be held virtually at 1pm CET while F1 drivers face the media in the Barcelona paddock. To win the review it must present new, significant and relevant evidence that was unavailable at the time of the original decision. Gasly was heartbroken over losing his podium finish in Monaco, saying: "I don't think there is anything that could hurt me more right now." ### What time is F1's 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix? Full weekend schedule URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/what-time-is-f1s-2026-barcelona-grand-prix-full-weekend-schedule/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T08:14:00.000Z **Presented by** [**Apple TV**](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) The Formula 1**®** season moves on to the first of two visits this season to Spain - with the newly renamed Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. A new street circuit in Madrid will take the Spanish GP title in September this year, but the challenging Barcelona track also retains its spot on the schedule as part of a double-header with Monaco. It's the first time teams get to race 2026 cars at a circuit where they've tested, with most having taken part in the behind closed doors shakedown test in January, and with its long main straight and mix of corners Barcelona will be an intriguing display of the latest form of 2026 F1 racing on a traditional circuit Below you'll find the all-important session times for the weekend, as well as all the information on where to watch the action on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com). ## Barcelona-Catalunya GP schedule (US times) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/G_6lVCpW0AAcBwJ.jpeg) *PDT = Pacific daylight time, EDT = US Eastern daylight time* **Friday June 12** **Practice 1**: 4.30am (PDT), 7.30am (EDT) **Practice 2**: 8am (PDT), 11am (EDT) **Saturday June 13** **Practice 3**: 3.30am (PDT), 6.30 (EDT) **Qualifying**: 7am (PDT), 10am (EDT) **Sunday June 14** **Barcelona Grand Prix**: 6am (PDT), 9am (EDT) --- Watch the Formula 1® MSC Cruises Gran Premio de Barcelona-Catalunya 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), June 12-14\. U.S. only. --- ## Barcelona GP schedule (UK time) **Friday June 12** **Practice 1**: 12.30pm **Practice 2**: 4pm **Saturday June 13** **Practice 3**: 11.30am **Qualifying**: 3pm **Sunday June 14** **Barcelona Grand Prix**: 2pm ## Barcelona GP schedule (local time) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/SI202601280707--1-.jpg) **Friday June 12** **Practice 1**: 1.30pm **Practice 2**: 5pm **Saturday June 13** **Practice 3**: 12.30pm **Qualifying**: 4pm **Sunday June 14** **Barcelona Grand Prix**: 3pm ## How to watch the Barcelona-Catalunya GP [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) is the new home of F1 in the US from 2026\. Fans can view every minute of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend live by signing up to [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) and accessing [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com)’s new dedicated F1 channel. [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) has every F1 2026 practice, qualifying and race live, as well as a full catch-up and highlights catalogue in case you miss any of the action live. As well as pre and post-race programming, there are additional live feeds to follow the action, including 22 onboard driver cameras, live timing, driver trackers and more. --- Watch the Formula 1® MSC Cruises Gran Premio de Barcelona-Catalunya 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), June 12-14\. U.S. only. ### What's really causing Leclerc's F1 braking 'nightmare' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-ferrari-f1-brake-nightmare-what-is-going-on/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T11:34:03.000Z Charles Leclerc's late exit from Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix became one of the big talking points after the race. With the Ferrari driver having run head-first into the barriers at the final corner after the safety car restart, following Lance Stroll's crash in the same location, his outspoken remarks about brakes prompted a surprising, [strongly worded response](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-f1-monaco-gp-crash-brake-supplier-responds-criticism/) from supplier Brembo. As Leclerc labelled his situation "not acceptable" and called what he is facing at the moment "just impossible", Brembo issued a statement saying it was "really surprised" by his remarks. Brembo said it was "premature to draw definitive technical conclusions before the available data has been analysed". It is quite rare for team suppliers to go public in such a way, but the move was likely prompted by Leclerc's comments appearing to suggest that there had been some form of unexpected failure or problem. It is understood that early analysis points to nothing obviously broken on the car nor with the brakes, so the situation almost certainly revolves around consequences and design choices influenced by F1's 2026 rules revamp. ## Why Leclerc crashed Leclerc gave a detailed explanation for what had happened when he spoke to the media straight after the race. "Out of the four brakes, I had three brakes not working, so in a Formula 1 car it's never a good thing," he said. "The front left was working well, the front right was half working, and the two rear brakes were not working at all. "On the data there's no deceleration at all. It's like, the callipers were not even in the car, so it's a little bit of an issue." Digging a bit deeper into what happened, the lack of braking force was not about brakes having failed as such. Instead, it appears to be related to temperatures, in that the brakes had almost certainly become too cold while Leclerc was running behind the safety car and had not been fired up properly for the restart. ## The 2026 rules impact Leclerc's comments about some of the details of the crash - in terms of the rears being totally cold - gives us a big clue about what the causes were and how they are likely linked to F1's new 2026 rules. After all, firing brakes up under the safety car is not a new challenge in F1 and is something that Leclerc has done many, many times in his career. What is different in 2026 is that, thanks to the different energy management requirements of F1's power units, braking characteristics and designs have changed completely. A much greater use of harvesting to slow cars down means the rear brake discs aren't being used anywhere near as much as they used to be. This means that there is less heat being generated and it is very easy for them to fall out of their operating window. Things are further compounded by the cars being lighter and slower than the previous generation - so energy levels being put through the brakes are on average around 20% less than before. The end result is that when the drivers do need to call upon what is known as dissipative braking (using mechanical forces) to slow the car down, the discs aren't at the correct operating temperature. Earlier this year, Brembo's CEO Mario Almondo said the nature of the new cars meant a higher risk of inconsistent behaviour if brakes go cold. Speaking about what had been observed in pre-season testing, he said: "The rear axle brakes are going very, very, very cold. And when I say very cold, it is something that is not ideal for the carbon material. "This material is fantastic: it is light, stiff and the friction is amazing. But you have to respect the minimum bandwidth of temperature - and when you go this cold, the coefficient of friction can vary. "This can trigger some strange behaviours, and has left teams thinking about how to keep the rear axle brakes at the minimum temperatures." With stopping power already on the edge because of the new 2026 car characteristics, throw in Leclerc being a bit less aggressive on the brakes than team-mate Lewis Hamilton, and circumstances where brake temperatures are incredibly hard to maintain, and there is a perfect storm. This would be the case especially at a track such as Monaco where, amid the balancing of brake demands between the MGU-K harvesting and discs themselves, there is much more reliance on using energy recovery to slow the cars down. This means the disc temperatures can plunge and go totally cold if there is too much reliance on harvesting to slow the cars down. ## Team and driver influence ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1415317_HiRes-2.jpg) Ferrari and Leclerc are not alone in using the Brembo brake/disc elements; it is understood that five teams on the grid run the same components. So with Leclerc being the only one who hit trouble with this, it points to a situation where either he or Ferrari were doing something different to others. Evidence certainly suggests that Ferrari and Leclerc may be more susceptible to conditions where the brakes go cold. For example, Leclerc said that things had not been easy at the super chilly Canadian GP where he again struggled in finding consistency from the brakes. Reflecting on Sunday night, he said: "Here and in Montreal with cold tyre temperatures, the inconsistency, and tyres being more sensitive because you are on the limit, have just been an absolute nightmare." This likely not only relates to Leclerc's driving style, as he does not stamp on the brake pedal for an initial bite as much as Hamilton likes, but may also be influenced by brake design choices made by Ferrari. One intriguing aspect that emerged ahead of the 2026 cars running was that there was a divide down the pitlane in terms of the size of rear brake discs chosen. Some teams went small, thinking that they do not need to worry about the brakes overheating. Others went bigger because they were more cautious about temperatures. It is not known how Ferrari stacks up compared to other teams, but it could be that it has ended up at a more conservative end of the spectrum - based on the difficulties in cold Canada and low-energy Monaco that Leclerc referenced. Paddock sources have suggested that there is a growing consensus that the optimum solution is actually to be quite aggressive with the rear brake discs - and keep them small. This is because with teams having found they are leaning into energy harvesting much more, brake discs are easily falling out of the ideal operating temperature. The smaller the discs are, the easier they are to fire up. It is not impossible that Ferrari has pitched itself at the larger end of the scale and one route for it to solve problems it has encountered is to reduce the brake disc size - something that could be done either this season or into next year. In the meantime, it will mean both drivers facing more of a challenge in keeping brake temperatures up in low energy conditions. And there may be a case of Hamilton doing something different in terms of his general approach or specifically driving behind the safety car to keep the brakes fired up, while Leclerc has not unlocked the same thing. ## What next for Leclerc? Leclerc was pretty clear after the Monaco GP that the answer to his woes is one that is already within Ferrari's grasp. He said: "The only thing I can say is that we have the solution in-house, and I'll go to Lewis's configuration from the next race onwards, which hopefully will be a step. But it's been a nightmare." While Ferrari has not commented on what this solution is, there have been suggestions that it could involve keeping the current braking components and system from Brembo while switching to an alternative brake disc, supplied by Carbone Industrie. As first revealed by Italian website Autoracer.it on Sunday, and confirmed by multiple sources, Hamilton switched to a Carbone Industrie disc from the Japanese GP at the end of March in a bid to make himself more comfortable with braking. It was a personal preference choice based on seeking a different feel with the brakes. Hamilton used Carbone Industrie throughout his McLaren and Mercedes days, and the different characteristics of the discs are something that better-suit his style. It is widely understood that Carbone Industrie's discs have a very strong initial bite - perfect for that initial phase where Hamilton is known to stamp on the pedal. This feel comes from a characteristic where it appears to offer peak grip at higher temperatures. Brembo's products are understood to be more progressive and consistent throughout the whole braking phase and temperature range, so they operate strongly in both hot and cold conditions and are more durable through an entire race. This has traditionally meant that the Brembo has been better at firing up in the cold and safety car conditions. It could be that the influence of the hybrid elements in braking in 2026 has altered what traits are ideal now. Any move by Ferrari's drivers from Brembo discs to Carbone Industrie is not about one having a higher quality than the other; it is just that the characteristics they offer are different. As Brembo's F1 customer manager Andrea Algeri told The Race last year, what drivers need from brakes is not a one size fits all scenario. "Braking feel is like putting a shoe on your foot," he said. "It may not be the best one, but if it fits you, it is better." But Leclerc rushing in one direction because it looks good now is no guarantee of it being the perfect answer for the long haul. It could be that with different track demands and a hot summer coming up, temperature challenges could change totally yet. ### Ticktum given disciplinary warning by his Formula E team URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/dan-ticktum-disciplinary-warning-kiro-formula-e-team/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T15:27:30.000Z Dan Ticktum has been handed a formal disciplinary warning by his own Cupra Kiro Formula E team following a fractious Monaco E-Prix weekend last month. Two pole positions underlined Ticktum's pace in Monaco, but the six points he secured for those were the only ones he managed all weekend. Penalties in both races hampered his cause, while Ticktum also referenced handling struggles and what he felt was a "pretty average" strategy in both races. But it was Ticktum's radio rants and absconding from the circuit on the Saturday that is believed to have forced Kiro into action - issuing a second formal reprimand of the season following previous discussions in the wake of January's Mexico City race, when Ticktum's comments led to [series chief Jeff Dodds summoning him](https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/ticktum-holds-clear-the-air-talks-with-formula-e-after-rants/) for talks. The Race understands that the review steps, which are part of the team's formal mid-season review policy, relate to Madrid, Berlin and Monaco and are not exclusively about Monaco. "We have reviewed a number of topics with Dan openly since Monaco and are issuing a second formal reprimand of the season," said Kiro team principal Russell O'Hagan. "We will be working together to adopt an improved approach, with more of what we need from him." Ticktum left the track immediately after parking his car in parc ferme after race one on Saturday afternoon in Monaco. He stopped briefly at the team pit to change, and was said to have 'rearranged' his driver changing area, before leaving and missing both his mandatory media commitments and also his post-race team debrief. Expanding on the warning, O'Hagan said the team had discussed its own operations and approach after the Monaco results slipped away, but also Ticktum's attitude. “Having taken some time since Monaco to review the season to date, we have two clear takeaways," he said. "One is to really understand how we are approaching everything holistically with Dan. We are incredibly quick over one lap in all sessions, but falling short of our potential in the races, where the points are awarded. There is just no room for imperfections at the sharp end with the type of racing we have in Formula E, so we have to review and potentially slightly redefine our approach, targets and metrics. "The second point is to ensure Dan's frustrations and energy are harnessed constructively. We understand them, but as a team, we expect everyone to uphold the standards of professionalism, respect and teamwork that are fundamental to how we operate and best perform as an organisation. "What is equally important to say is that we also recognise our responsibility as a team to give Dan the platform and support he needs to deliver at his best, because there have been a number of occasions this season where we should have done better for him. "He is a hugely talented driver and a very important part of the team. We trust that the process we are now in will deliver improvements from him on and off track, and we can have a very strong second half of the season together." Should Ticktum go astray again in the coming races, Kiro could feasibly bench or even fire its driver, although this is believed not to have been specifically discussed within the team at present. It does have a lack of immediate replacements, too, with only F1 Academy race winner Bianca Bustamante on the team's books as a development driver. But Kiro could call up former McLaren and Maserati driver Jake Hughes, who tested with the team during the most recent off-season. Hughes was in line for the second seat alongside Ticktum before Pepe Marti - 11th in the championship, three places and 12 points ahead of Ticktum - was signed just prior to the pre-season test at Valencia last October. The possible placement of reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Guven at the team by Porsche cannot presently happen as he has not yet fully qualified for the necessary e-licence to compete in Formula E. ## Is Ticktum on brink of Formula E exit? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/2276670908-2048x2048.jpg) Considering he's proved to be the undisputed king of qualifying in Monaco, with a superb brace of pole positions at the home of professional bragging rights among drivers, Ticktum not having a Formula E drive next season seems an absurd prospect. But this is a career without convention, nor structure. With the brilliance comes the petulance, and so again at Monaco earlier this month the promise was not delivered upon and the bad temper flared again. That isn't to say that all the chaos was Ticktum's fault, but the reaction to the disappointment was as visceral as it was inevitable as it descended into a negative spiral on track and off it. So, what might all this mean for Ticktum and Formula E? The Race Formula E Podcast recently described his Formula E journey so far as a kind of career rehab. If there is a step-by-step process in that rehabilitation then it appears this is way beyond the usual seven-step one. Ticktum sort of thrives on a natural inclination to interweave spikes of speed and results with regular emotional blow-ups. Perhaps this is actually his way of locating the necessary chemistry to feed his clearly exceptional talent. But why does one have to come in collaboration with the other, and why so much? It is a question that has had Kiro management scratching their heads for much of the last five and a half years, since it was the NIO 333 team before morphing into ERT and subsequently its current guise. Some within the team feel as though they have now exhausted all options in relation to Ticktum understanding his professional responsibilities, as well perhaps as his own ambition - which now appears completely split from that of his team. A foul-mouthed rampage came earlier this season at the Mexico City E-Prix, when a rightly disappointed Ticktum, after getting hit in the race via a four-car melee, lashed out at the driving standards in the championship and the stewarding of it. Amid that maelstrom a particularly crude profanity was used. It rhymed with the surname of the 1976 Formula 1 world champion, James Hunt. That caused considerable ire and concern at Formula E headquarters, with Ticktum summoned by the CEO, Jeff Dodds, for a chat which was triggered by the use of that particular expletive. Less than five months on, Dodds will have little appetite for repeating himself again after Ticktum ranted in Monaco: "This championship is just s\*\*\*. It's the worst championship ever." Now the behaviour has got too much even for his own team. One which at present is weighing up its driver line-up for next season with what are known to be several options, one of which includes sticking rather than twisting. But this latest disciplinary action casts a huge amount of doubt on whether the team will actually go to a sixth season with what has previously been considered a key asset. Ticktum, who's just turned 27, can still be that but the team needs a much more stable presence in the cockpit. Yes, he felt hard done by in Monaco due to his car's propensity to overheat its tyres. But, as one rival team boss told The Race just after the Monaco Sunday race, "maybe it would have been better for him today if he'd bothered to have attended his debrief yesterday, instead of storming off and sulking". That was a salient point and one not lost on the Formula E paddock, which mostly looks upon Ticktum with a mix of amused curiosity and genuine occasional reverie at his flashes of scorching pace. But with the Gen4 era set to involve the addition of new talent from Formula 2, Ticktum's high-risk/only-occasional-reward offering might not be enough to keep him on the grid. With few if any actual options other than Kiro, even Ticktum would be a fool not to heed his own team's warning. ### Back in the fight? Our verdict on Marquez's MotoGP title chances URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-2026-motogp-title-chances-our-verdict-hungary-double/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T08:33:22.000Z Marc Marquez's double win at the Hungarian Grand Prix has slashed his deficit to MotoGP world championship leader Marco Bezzecchi from 102 points to 72, with 14 rounds still to go. Is Marquez genuinely back in the title fight despite his poor start to the year and injury absence? Or was Balaton a deceptive weekend skewed by Aprilia's first-corner catastrophe? Our MotoGP team have their say. ## This is now winnable for Marquez **Simon Patterson** I've had my suspicions for a while that we hadn't seen the last of Marquez in the 2026 MotoGP title fight, and Balaton Park hasn't done anything to dissuade me of that notion, thanks to both his own actions and those of his title rivals at Aprilia that means suddenly he has all the momentum again. As soon as it became apparent that the reason for his slow start to the season was not a general decline in form post-serious shoulder injury but rather a particular complaint that could be (and now has been) addressed with surgery, it became game on again for Marquez, especially with an awful long way to go in the 2026 season. There's still 518 points left to play for, meaning he only has to outscore Aprilia's championship leader Bezzecchi by just over five points on average every weekend to win the title - and if Bezzecchi and his team-mate Martin keep self-destructing like they did on Sunday, it's not going to be a big ask. The first people that the Aprilia duo were always going to have to beat to win a title was not Marquez but themselves, between stupid crashes, bad sprint race performances, and silly errors. That has to stop now, if either of them - and the team - want a #1 plate to take home to the Noale factory. ## This might simplify Aprilia's task **Val Khorounzhiy** There is no sugarcoating the fact that giving up 25 points in a single day to Marquez is bad-bad-bad, but an unintended side effect - and perhaps a positive one for Aprilia - is a reframing of the battle between its two riders. Both Martin and Bezzecchi suffered last weekend, performance-wise, but Martin certainly suffered more. Even Bezzecchi's extremely messy Q2 was not enough to relegate him behind his team-mate on the grid, and in normal circumstances he would've likely beaten Martin on Sunday. He will, in any case, expect to extend his advantage over Martin at Brno now that his team-mate is carrying a double long-lap penalty. Just a couple of rounds ago Martin was nibbling on Bezzecchi's heels and, perhaps rightfully, getting irritated at Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez over his act of interference in the title battle at Barcelona. But now Martin, who is joining Yamaha next year, is in the proverbial 'doghouse' and Bezzecchi, who has renewed his contract with Aprilia, is the wronged party. There won't be any team orders any time soon, nor would Martin accept any, but things might be simpler if Bezzecchi has a points buffer to play with - and if Martin is left feeling less emboldened and more subservient to Aprilia's greater good of bringing home a riders' title. ## Balaton win will have a big effect on Marquez **Jordan Moreland** The Balaton win was so significant for Marquez, both mentally and personally. He talked about how it was an "expensive" win in the context of the journey just to get back to the top in MotoGP after his Mandalika 2025 injury. I recently watched the Rafael Nadal Netflix series and it parlays how his constant fight with injury, recovery and winning all drove him to never give in. Nadal never wanted to let anyone down, whether it was his close inner circle or fans around the world. He had to keep up the image of being 'Rafael Nadal' and never quitting when, clearly, he was battling a lot of injuries and inner demons. Marquez is very similar to that: he never quits and his mental fortitude is something we may never see again in MotoGP. He knew last weekend was a chance to win and secure grand prix victory number 100, but he didn't let the media know he thought the win was achievable. In fact, he told everyone on Thursday to forget about his chances of even fighting for a podium at Balaton! The significance of this win will prove to him that the physical stress that he has put his body through, with surgery, recovery, surgery and then recovery again, was ultimately worth it. ## It's not just the crash that's weakened Martin's bid **Eden Hannigan** I always say to write Marquez off at your own peril, but even I have fallen victim to doing that given the points missed during his injury layoff after his sprint crash at Le Mans. Marquez's level at Balaton Park has set the cat amongst the pigeons once more, but at this moment in time, I'm still backing Aprilia, even if I've swapped expectations on which rider I think will win. After he got back to one point off Bezzecchi, I was backing Martin to become a double MotoGP world champion, thinking that his short-format superiority and his title fight experience would pull through and that his qualifying pace would make some kind of a comeback. It hasn't though, which is a massive blow to the Martin agenda. As is taking out his championship-leading team-mate by trying to win Sunday's race at the first corner. Bezzecchi would have a right to be livid, as not even he would've expected his phenomenal Sunday streak to be ended in such a way - though he has also left points on the table with crashes of his own accord. Whether this incident becomes a sticking point in this season remains to be seen, but they cannot afford a repeat of this, especially not if Marquez is fighting fit for the rest of the campaign. ## Aprilia could be left with a lot to regret **Matt Beer** Marquez's 2026 Hungarian GP win was exactly one year on from Marquez's 2025 Aragon sprint win. That sprint win was the start of a run of seven consecutive 37-pointers. Seven race weekends where he was unbeatable across sprint and grand prix, and took a maximum score of 259 points. Next highest-score in that period? Bezzecchi with 128\. A 131-point deficit. Let's do more maths. There are an enormous 14 rounds left in the 2026 MotoGP season. Across the first 14 rounds of 2025, Marquez scored 455 points. Next best in that time, Alex Marquez on 280\. A 175-point deficit. This is a fit Marquez, on a Ducati. Dominant streaks like those can never be ruled out. A 72-point gap is not big enough for comfort when this rider hits his stride. And while on balance the Aprilia is still 2026's best bike, it never looked like it could win during the Balaton weekend. It can't afford races like that now. ### Why McLaren is suffering more as a customer under new rules URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-mclaren-is-suffering-more-as-a-customer-under-new-rules/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T10:23:27.000Z McLaren feels that it is suffering as a customer team for the first time as the consequences of not being Mercedes’ works team become clearer in Formula 1’s new engine era. Lando Norris retired from the Monaco Grand Prix with an issue related to the power unit, the latest of several technical problems McLaren has endured this year. After starting the season slightly surprised by how far behind Mercedes it was in understanding how to fully exploit the performance potential of the new engines, McLaren suffered a double pre-race electrical problem in China that meant neither driver could start the grand prix there, and Norris required a new battery in Japan despite only switching to a new component at the start of that event. Some of the problems have been McLaren’s own doing, like the gearbox problem that forced Norris to stop during the previous race in Canada too, and McLaren team boss Andrea Stella was keen to stress after Monaco that “we have had issues pretty much in all areas of the car”. He also said that sometimes engine issues arise from installation problems, or how it is integrated with the chassis, so it is not solely the responsibility of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains. But he conceded the engine side is proving the most important area for reliability and the tough start has led McLaren to conclude this is the first time it has really been on the back foot for being a customer, not a works team. “We understand these reliability issues in isolation,” said Stella. “We can fix them. “But obviously, when you have so many issues, it may be symptomatic of the fact that the project is still relatively young. “Never before we felt that being a customer team has put us on the back foot. And when I say this, and I want to be clear here to avoid any misunderstanding, it's not because you are a lower priority for HPP. “It's because you have less opportunities to integrate, to stay on the same timeline when it comes to addressing reliability problems or exploitation of the power unit from a performance point of view, combining the efforts when you use the facilities and you have some experiments on the chassis side that you can add to a long run of the power unit when you are a works team. “There's many reasons why reliability associated to the power unit - or taking advantage of being a works team from a power unit point of view - these reliability issues have made it into 2026, where we had such a large technical regulation change.” Mercedes HPP is aware its product has not been robust enough for a customer, as there is obviously no intention to provide an engine package that does not work reliably, so this is something that it is trying very hard to understand and improve. However, McLaren is inevitably behind Mercedes’ own team in the pecking order when it comes to performance and reliability optimisation, because customer teams will always end up second when it comes to using the available time and resources. And a better package in terms of performance and reliability at the start of brand new engine rules is ultimately the reward Mercedes gets for committing to and funding a full works F1 project. ## Will McLaren build its own engine? McLaren became the first customer team to win a world championship in F1’s hybrid engine era when it won the constructors’ title in 2024, then did the double in 2025. Prior to that only works engine partnerships had been successful, with Mercedes dominant early in the V6 turbo hybrid era then Red Bull coming to the fore with its works Honda deal. That success defied many expectations, even those of former McLaren leaders like Ron Dennis, which led to McLaren's ill-fated Honda union from 2015-2017. McLaren then felt there was no reason to expect it would slip back in a brand new engine rules era in 2026. However, that success came against the backdrop of a multi-year engine homologation freeze and power units that were vastly well understood, which made customer deals much more favourable and effectively allowed McLaren to operate as a pseudo works team. McLaren still has a seat at the table to discuss design details with HPP, and describes the working relationship as fantastic. But the 2026 engines being so complicated, mixed with unforeseen issues arising, means that being the number one priority on communication, collaboration and dyno work may have conferred greater compound gains for Mercedes than McLaren had initially anticipated. To avoid this longer-term, McLaren could, of course, pursue its own engine deal. It considered a works partnership with Audi when the German manufacturer was assessing its options to join the grid but opted against that because Audi wanted to own the team. Rival team Red Bull has now created a blueprint for an independent team to commit to its own engine project entirely, building the Red Bull Powertrains division - which then picked up backing from Ford - to develop its own in-house F1 engine for the first time for this year. That project has, controversially, been judged as having F1’s best internal combustion engine for the FIA’s additional development and upgrade opportunities system (ADUO), scored its first podium in Canada last month, and qualified on the front row in Monaco last weekend. Committing to an engine division was a massive undertaking from Red Bull and, similarly, would require enormous investment from McLaren’s shareholders or the buy-in from a third party, as it could collaborate with an automotive manufacturer. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has never closed to the door to such a deal and admitted in Monaco last week that McLaren will at least conduct a preliminary evaluation of that route whenever F1 commits to its next set of engine rules for 2030 or 2031. “First of all, I'm very happy with HPP,” said Brown when asked by The Race if McLaren’s priority is to ensure it remains one of Mercedes’ customer teams for the next era or needs to have conversations about a works programme of its own again. “They've been a great partner. We've won a couple championships with them, even though everyone said that you couldn't win a championship with a customer engine. So I think we've proven that you can. “Priority one is to stay with Mercedes. They've been a great partner. “Anytime a new regulation comes out, we'll take a look and see, is it something technically that's interesting? Is it something fiscally that makes sense? “We'll go through that process when that happens. “But I think sitting here right now, we're extremely happy with Mercedes and we anticipate continuing with them.” ## McLaren has 'long list' to review ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1414818_HiRes.jpg) In the meantime, McLaren is thoroughly reviewing how it works with HPP to see how it can make processes as robust as possible within a more conventional customer team reality. Asked by The Race how reliability may be better understood or improved given it was already a priority - for example, by working differently or more intensively with HPP - Stella said: “The great relationship allows us to review item by item, learn from each item and solve it technically. “But when you don't know what's coming, it's not sufficient to simply address item by item. “You need to review ultimately the depth and the intensity and the effectiveness of the various meetings, engagement, sharing of information, processes, both from factory to factory, track to track, track to factory and so on. “So the review that is ongoing is in a way, punctual in terms of each item by item, but it's also a wider review because in 2026, there's so much novelty, there's so many new things. “We kind of have to operate at a new level of collaboration compared to what we were doing before. “These conversations have already started for some months now. But like everything in Formula 1, there's always a lead time. It's not like you see the effect the day after you instigate. “So this is already happening and is relatively wide as a conversation.” McLaren has also not hidden from the fact that, aside from reliability, its car is simply not as good as Mercedes’ yet. Its gap to its engine supplier has ebbed and flowed this season but the momentum McLaren had built across Japan, Miami and Canada - where it emerged as Mercedes’ best challenger and even won the Miami sprint race - abruptly ended last weekend in Monaco. There, its car weaknesses were brutally exposed, and Stella admitted that there must be a “turnaround” in performance as well as reliability if McLaren is to pull itself back into an unlikely championship fight by the end of the season. Stella described the last two race weekends as providing an “important reality check” for the team, which now needs to replicate its in-season turnaround in 2024 - when it started the season well behind Red Bull but ended it as F1’s best team and managed to win the constructors’ title. “There's a long list, performance and reliability,” Stella said. “We remain obviously with the mindset that this could be another 2024 in terms of catching up at the end. “But in 2024, our trajectory from reliability and performance was more convincing. “So if we want to stay in the championship, we need to have a turnaround.” ### An ode to Cars the movie URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/an-ode-to-cars-the-movie/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T13:02:20.000Z Kachow. Speed, I am speed. Like tuh-mater, but without the tuh. Adult or child, most people will know exactly where those quotes come from. As of June 9th, 2026, the Pixar animated film Cars is officially 20 years old. If that makes you feel old, you’re not the only one. I was a child when this movie came out, but somehow two decades have passed. Unlike me, though, Cars has barely aged a day. The only giveaway that perhaps the film is a little older is the aspect ratio. The animated movie, released during what could be considered Pixar’s Golden Era between The Incredibles and Ratatouille, follows big-time race car, Lightning McQueen, after he becomes stranded in the small town of Radiator Springs. It’s a simple premise, as it is with many children’s movies, but it features a stellar voice cast and an even better soundtrack. Formula 1 legends Michael Schumacher and Mario Andretti feature, as do NASCAR greats Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Darrell Waltrip. Even Lewis Hamilton has a part in the second and third films (but let's not talk about those…) But while the cast was top-tier, critics were far less enthusiastic about the final result. According to [Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/all-pixar-movies-ranked/?ref=the-race.com), Cars currently ranks 27th out of 30 Pixar films, with a score of 74%, placing it well below classics like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc. Critics weren’t kind, and many felt it was a flop in comparison to the studio’s past films. It does, however, have a higher score of 80% on the Popcornometer, which indicates the percentage of everyday viewers and fans who gave a movie a positive rating. Regular moviegoers were forthcoming in saying that Cars was far from a cinematic masterpiece. What they also said was that it was a little silly, very nostalgic, animated to perfection and overall an extremely enjoyable watch. Even Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson makes no secret of his love for the film. In 2024, [Lawson told F1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/getting-to-know-the-real-liam-lawson-rb.2GawYpy0MN14KjU9WfC2S9?ref=the-race.com) that as a child, he would watch the film every other day and estimated his viewing count of the film was in the hundreds. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/p/C0f2Y0aPTtA/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Liam Lawson (@liamlawson30)](https://www.instagram.com/p/C0f2Y0aPTtA/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) For Disney and its subsidiary Pixar though, the real success of Cars wasn’t the views; it was in the merch. You may be surprised to know that Cars is one of the most commercially lucrative franchises Disney has ever owned. According to the [Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2011-jun-21-la-fi-ct-cars2-20110621-story.html?ref=the-race.com), in the five years following the 2006 release of the film, Disney reported that they made an estimated USD $10 billion in revenue from global Cars merchandise. When looking at the [top 10 Disney franchises](https://www.diversetechgeek.com/10-biggest-disney-franchises/?ref=the-race.com), it’s of no surprise to see the likes of Star Wars, Marvel and the Disney Princesses on the list, given the scope of these brands, the myriad of different characters and the large back catalogue of films. What is a surprise is that Cars is listed as seventh in the top revenue earners for Disney. It is estimated that of the USD $21.5 billion lifetime revenue, roughly $19.1 billion came from merchandise. In comparison, that’s 45% more than the Toy Story franchise (worth an estimated $14.8 billion), whose first three movies claimed #1, #2 and #5 on the list of the [best Pixar movies](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/all-pixar-movies-ranked/?ref=the-race.com), according to Rotten Tomatoes. Sometimes the best films aren’t those that are critically acclaimed. Sometimes a good film is actually just one that makes you smile. Any motorsport fan would likely say Cars is their favourite animated movie, and if the merchandise sales are any indication, a few people do in fact, enjoy Cars. Further to my points, two of The Race journalists named it their [favourite motorsport movie in a recent round-up](https://www.the-race.com/extra/the-race-teams-favourite-motorsport-movies/). Megan White said, “Yes, it’s simple, but that’s part of its beauty. Anyone can watch it, and everyone should enjoy it. It’s the perfect film to just switch off, enjoy, and get plenty of laughs.” Josh Suttill said, “Cars isn't actually even the best Pixar movie by any stretch, but it still does an excellent job of storytelling with proper stakes, great characterisation and a thrilling climax. Every other motorsport movie lacks at least one of those.” I’d argue there is nothing wrong with enjoying something a little basic. Like most children’s animated movies, there is always a message. Cars is about slowing down and enjoying the journey - something many people could benefit from. It may not be considered a masterpiece, but for two hours I slowed down, put away my phone and just smiled. And as far as I’m concerned, and in this day and age, that was two hours well spent. So, happy 20th anniversary Cars. May you continue to delight audiences for years to come. Kachow. ### How Mercedes' rivals hopes imploded in Monaco URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-f1-rivals-monaco-gp-win-hopes-imploded/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T11:40:52.000Z All three of Mercedes' main Formula 1 rivals watched their hopes of an upset implode at different speeds at the Monaco Grand Prix. Max Verstappen's bid to win barely survived the formation lap due to a Red Bull engine problem that ended his race when the lights went out. Lewis Hamilton was easily beaten by championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the race after Ferrari's strong practice form could not be converted in qualifying, and his team-mate Charles Leclerc crashed out of the race late on. And McLaren, which has been building such a threat to Mercedes in the last few events, was long since out of the picture by that point. It suddenly fell to a distant fourth-best this weekend and was nowhere near the lead fight from the first practice session. So it was left to Mercedes' increasingly impressive championship leader Antonelli to make his mark yet again, as Mercedes' other driver George Russell struggled to a muted sixth place in qualifying and then suffered a nightmare race to show just how vulnerable the team was here. The Monaco layout neutered Mercedes' main engine advantage, and made low-speed cornering performance and tyre preparation absolutely key. Antonelli came through that with arguably the most special moment of an increasingly impressive title campaign, pinching pole from Verstappen at the very end of qualifying, then surviving every pressure moment in an increasingly chaotic grand prix to extend his championship lead to 66 points. But why did every other bid to win fall apart? ## Why Ferrari fell short Ferrari arrived in Monaco as favourite and dominated Friday practice, which suggested it was going to make good on its potential. The car's good kerb compliance and strength in short, slow corners married nicely to Monaco hiding its ultimate power deficit on the engine side and favoured its smaller turbo, helping it zip off the corners. But having already looked like it was struggling to move with the track evolution in final practice, come qualifying, neither Ferrari even managed to get onto the front row. Both Hamilton and Leclerc were compromised in their own ways. Hamilton was thrown by the car being too on the nose at the start of qualifying, and he only got the balance back where he needed it by Q3 - which left him low on confidence. Leclerc's issues ran deeper and have now followed him across multiple weekends. He has battled severe braking inconsistency throughout, which continued into the race and ultimately led to his shock shunt when the race restarted after a late safety car. Leclerc feels the car is behaving differently corner to corner with no predictable pattern, which is compounded by the tyre feeling like it either produces grip or doesn't - there's no progressive middle ground to lean on. Still, Leclerc was properly in the mix for pole right at the end of qualifying, as his final Q3 lap was a strong one until the rear stepped out at Tabac and he clipped the wall. So there was definitely an element of simple execution at play here, too. This is still a track-position race, Ferrari could have had that crucial advantage, and it didn't. And it was then bluntly demolished by Antonelli in the race so emphatically that even having two cars running second and third meant they fell too far back for strategic games to be played. ## Red Bull fragility ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1414967_HiRes.jpg) The only driver from the leading four teams who could have been satisfied despite being beaten by Antonelli in Monaco would surely have been Verstappen. Red Bull's 2026 car is now vastly improved. And while there were still hints of past Red Bull struggles in Monaco, where Verstappen was not as comfortable over the kerbs in the middle sector, this seems to have been clearly improved. Qualifying second was a welcome return to prominence for Verstappen in Monaco. He could have been left lamenting the missing 0.043s that Antonelli pipped him by but this was not a result that was expected even mid-weekend. He was feeling some real difficulties in the car at times in practice. The worst of his deficit in FP3 had him almost a second adrift, and Verstappen said that was real because he just couldn't get the laptime out of the car. So, second on the grid was a positive surprise. Unfortunately he never had the chance to try to capitalise on it thanks to a pretty catastrophic engine failure of some kind. Verstappen was already concerned on the formation lap as he felt the engine was not responding properly then come the race start itself he dropped the clutch and it bogged down completely. After finally getting going, Verstappen could hear a worrying noise from the engine and he retired after slowly returning to the pits. His bid to win lasted for a split-second after the lights went out, so we were never even close to seeing how hard he could have made life for Antonelli. ## Why McLaren never got going Lando Norris called it a "reality check", and McLaren's Monaco weekend exposed its car's main performance weakness along with proving it has a lingering reliability problem. While the team had built strong momentum after a slightly tougher start to the season, winning the Miami sprint, and being Mercedes' closest threat either side of that in Japan and Canada, Monaco offered no silver linings. Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified seventh and eighth, over half a second off the pace. Norris said the car is "very difficult to drive, not very compliant and not very forgiving in any way" - which is a big problem in trying to attack Monaco's bumpy braking zones and kerbs. It left Norris feeling only 85% confident in the car, down from 100% last year when he won, while Piastri bluntly said the car was just lacking grip all weekend. "The fact we can go from almost winning a race against the Mercedes to being so far off is pretty crazy," said Norris. "It shows that the car works quite specifically in certain scenarios and clearly not in others." Team principal Andrea Stella identified two reasons for this. The first is just simply an aerodynamic load deficit the team is working to address. The second was more fundamental to the MCL40's character being gentler on its tyres, which means it struggles to generate temperature and get the tyres into the right working window. Even in that context though, McLaren underachieved. It felt getting at least one car on the third row should have been possible, so being seventh and eighth in qualifying was disappointing. And while Piastri benefitted from attrition to finish fourth, Norris retired with yet another problem. McLaren has fallen quite far from its title-winning peak and will struggle to mount a championship revival on this form. "We remain with the mindset that this could be another 2024 in terms of catching up at the end," said Stella. "But in 2024, our trajectory from reliability and performance was more convincing. "So if we want to stay in the championship, we need to have a turnaround." ## Antonelli and Mercedes hand out a thrashing **Gary Anderson** What can you say? It was a day when only one guy could say he had a good day in the office. What domination from Kimi Antonelli, who thrashed all 21 other drivers. His qualifying laps, race start, safety car restarts and standing race restart were just impeccable - for a 19-year-old to get through a Monaco weekend without any scrapes is just outstanding. Between Friday and Saturday the team was able to give him the car he wanted, so congratulations to each and every one of them, and a special congrats to one of my old employees at Jordan, Antonelli's race engineer Peter Bonnington - well done chap. The question is: did the competition blow their big chance for 2026? No; they were comprehensively thrashed, and with five wins in a row for Antonelli it's not the last time it's going to happen this season. ### Not just a Martin blunder? Three factors in MotoGP start pile-up URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/three-factors-that-played-into-big-hungary-motogp-pile-up/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T17:12:13.000Z A whole weekend of clues had led up to Jorge Martin’s [potentially MotoGP title race-changing mistake](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/is-martins-penalty-too-small-his-motogp-team-boss-hints-it-might-be/) at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix at Balaton. This is not to say Martin's mistake was inevitable, but when every piece of it is laid out it is at least unsurprising - even though the fact that five strong contenders were taken out of the race on the spot was certainly a shock. With everyone largely unhurt but Marc Marquez now just 72 points back in the standings and Martin set to suffer the pain of a [double long-lap penalty at Brno](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/martin-penalised-for-hungary-motogp-pile-up-that-took-bezzecchi-out/), here are the factors that appear to have contributed to the calamity. ## Adventures in resurfacing In what is widely expected to be Balaton Park's last appearance on the MotoGP calendar - following a change of promoter, compromised ticket sales and openly-acknowledged plans to move the race to the Hungaroring the second that is possible - several riders were sounding the alarm over Turn 1 over the three days of action. And that was not related to the layout. Instead, two parts of the track - one of them being Turn 1 - had been resurfaced between the World Superbike round earlier this year and the MotoGP visit, and stand-in Iker Lecuona, who raced in both events, said he had suddenly found "horrible" grip. "It doesn't help that the new asphalt they laid is made of oil or something, f\*\*k knows," KTM's Brad Binder quipped sardonically. "It's still seeping through." So what happened? As the riders were told, there had been a "misunderstanding", in Luca Marini's words - seemingly related to the timing of the resurfacing. "The guys explained to us that it was not to their knowledge that the track was being resurfaced there," Jack Miller said. "It's a little bit close to the grand prix. Unfortunately asphalt takes time to bed in - and it didn't have enough time." ## An unnatural braking motion For Miller, the specifics of the Turn 1 resurfacing were less relevant than the fact MotoGP continues to persevere with ride-height devices. These will be banned in 2027, but Miller has been very vocal in feeling there are tracks still remaining on the '26 calendar that invite a more immediate ban on the start aids. This is to do with both the speed bikes arrive into Turn 1 with, aided by the start devices - and the braking motion required to disengage the devices. "I've been saying all along, since Barcelona, since we saw two crashes at the first corner for the same sort of thing - take them off! Everybody's at the same level,” said Miller. "At the end of the day, we're making an unnatural manoeuvre, especially here in Balaton, where Turn 1 was quite slippery, with the new asphalt, that you weren't even really able, without locking the front, to really get enough \[load\] transfer to unlock the devices. So, I mean, another device-related crash, I believe. "Everybody's even. We're all arriving, here in Balaton, probably an extra 15-to-20km/h faster, and then doing an unnatural braking manoeuvre. “So, we take off the front device, it makes everybody's life easier, and everybody is in the same boat - because we're all in the same boat at the moment, except the boat is going 30km/h faster." Not braking hard enough is potentially ruinous, especially at a track like this where the next opportunity to disengage the device doesn't come immediately - and so you ride around with the bike 'wrong', losing positions you won't recover, as happened to Maverick Vinales on Saturday and Diogo Moreira on Sunday. "It's always difficult to stop the bike here - and it's even worse with the device, no?" said Moreira. ## Overzealousness Even with those factors in mind, not everybody was keen to absolve Martin himself of culpability. Though he picked his words carefully, Fabio Di Giannantonio - the only rider involved in the crash to face the media afterwards - wasn't feeling so charitable. "For sure, whatever happens to Jorge, we need to avoid it," Di Giannantonio said. "I think, and I'm talking also to myself in this case, we risk too much every time. We are not risking to just crash or lose the front. We are risking to put the lives of all the riders in danger. "Because today could have again been much, much worse. And this is not good, at all, for our sport and then for our lives. So I think if we don't understand this with the good penalties, we need to do the bad penalties, for sure. "I think it's crazy that I have to pray before the race not to do a good race, but to be safe after the first corner. I think it's completely crazy. "It can be whatever \[causing this\]. I don't care. It can be whatever. I want to race, I want to fight hard for my place. But I want to come back home. And at the moment I think we are experiencing in the last years crazy things on the starts. "I always try to pay a lot of attention to other riders and to myself - because I don't want to crash, I don't want to crash into other riders. So for sure, there are races more critical, that we arrive \[to Turn 1\] with a lot of speed or whatever - but I think we are the best riders in the world, we can handle the situation." Martin has only outqualified Bezzecchi once in their time at Aprilia together. He has really struggled to maximise qualifying - and yet his title challenge has soldiered on, propped up in large part by continued excellence off the line and into Turn 1. But on Saturday it didn't work out as usual. And on Sunday, with Martin again positioning himself to gain that crucial ground, it didn't work out at all. ### Edd Straw's 2026 F1 Monaco Grand Prix driver rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-grand-prix-f1-2026-driver-rankings-edd-straw/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T12:42:26.000Z Monaco is usually a race where qualifying and the first lap of the race decides almost everything for the Formula 1 drivers, but 2026 threw up more than its fair share of chaos on Sunday. Here is Edd's ranking of the 22 who pitted their wits against Monaco's unforgiving streets (and barriers). ***Want to quiz Edd on his driver rankings?*** [***Sign up to The Race Members' Club***](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) ***to do exactly that and we'll put your points to him in a brand new video debate format later this week'. Just head*** [***to this post***](https://www.patreon.com/posts/160505884?ref=the-race.com) --- How do the rankings work? The 22 drivers will be ranked in order of performance from best to worst on each grand prix weekend. This will be based on the full range of criteria, ranging from pace and racecraft to consistency and whether they made key mistakes. How close each driver got to delivering on the maximum performance potential of the car will be an essential consideration. It’s important to note both that this reflects performance across the entire weekend, cognisant of the fact that qualifying is effectively ‘lap 0’ of the race and key to laying the foundations to the race, and that it is not a ranking of the all-round qualities of each driver. It’s simply about how they performed on a given weekend. Therefore, the ranking will fluctuate significantly from weekend to weekend. And with each of the 11 cars fundamentally having different performance potential and ‘luck’ (ie factors outside of a driver’s control) contributing to the way the weekend plays out, this ranking will also differ significantly from the overall results. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/MERCEDES_KA-mon26.png) **Started:** 1st **Finished:** 1st **PROS** \- Turned the tables after Friday to outpace Russell emphatically. \- Was on top of the tyres and delivered a great Q3 performance. \- Dealt brilliantly with the risk of two standing starts and a safety car restart and had dominant race pace. **CONS** \- You could say that the race showed the Mercedes had a pace advantage, but as Russell showed that meant nothing without making the most of it. **Verdict:** His most complete weekend in F1 to date. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/db54bf88d44d4e40b5894ce182e6f01c/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=O_7ec1YwFaHI6xyufd90HeNFKqsNqiZeyIUdO-SroI4%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 2nd **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Produced an outstanding qualifying performance to come within half-a-tenth of pole position \- Had a clear performance advantage over Hadjar. \- Played no role in the problem that eliminated him. **CONS** \- Nothing beyond the fact he had no opportunity to show what was possible in the race. **Verdict:** Brilliant in qualifying, but robbed of race chance. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/2a9e1a3e69b8439a90016172f83fd29c/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=zLLSYTf1xHSWX-DDhQlkVBusULmvpbF4CJr6pwOWZ9U%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 10th **Finished:** 5th **PROS** \- The more impressive of the two Racing Bulls drivers. \- Made it to Q3 ahead of potentially quicker cars. \- Didn’t put a foot wrong in the race and would have scored even without others hitting trouble. **CONS** \- Others' misfortune and penalties helped his race result, but the car didn't have the pace to have beaten any of them on merit. **Verdict:** Fast and executed the weekend superbly. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/6457060ca9fa43e48657921be6be4d77/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=VQW1Y78s52jCF6vj5iQDbg7pczH_S2Gyi_aZ1rbh1Is%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 3rd **Finished:** 2nd **PROS** \- Was the stronger all-round Ferrari driver. \- Seems more at one with the Ferrari than at any time since he joined. \- Got the best possible result in the circumstances. **CONS** \- Speeding penalty is a very minor negative, as while there is significant mitigation 17 drivers were not penalised. **Verdict:** His Ferrari career continues to build momentum. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/d3e5a1845e67482f91979387f0437582/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=s7KRWxVVbwa-b5dqcqnFcfWFrkrZ9QJTJ783iNDuKSQ%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 9th **Finished:** 7th **PROS** \- Aced qualifying in a car that wasn't at its best with some high-risk laps. \- Drove an error-free race and passed a McLaren on lap one. **CONS** \- Picked up a speeding offence, and while he was far from the only one the majority of drivers avoided getting caught out. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/9a1c387c3c174c1982bbf2623aaa36d9/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=93dXaRGeQz6W7Q877GagcQY9bvk79BIm3EjQ1mBHrlE%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 21st **Finished:** 10th **PROS** \- Extracted what he could from the slow and erratic Aston Martin. \- Hung in there in the race and was rewarded with a lucky point, but when you are in the worst car you need good fortune. \- Remained committed on track despite the vagaries of the car. **CONS** \- Although his FP1 wall-brushing moment after the car snapped right at the chicane could have been worse, it was still disruptive. \- His ranking potential is fundamentally limited by a car that makes it largely about survival. **Verdict:** Made the most of a car that offered nothing but unpredictability. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/e48acd2369ee4246be36ce7a37aaad2f/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=DqqzTA0maZyNW1M0bOIe803SKFTrBD6FaDtHH-cxccw%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 11th **Finished:** 8th **PROS** \- Made good progress in practice, before hitting unexpected grip struggles in qualifying. \- Still outqualified Sainz with a 'Hail Mary' lap including a brush with the wall. \- Battled race-long deployment issues to come away with points. **CONS** \- Didn't do a great job of being a rolling roadblock, albeit with the mitigation that the deployment problems made him vulnerable. **Verdict:** A strong weekend, although perhaps slightly flustered by power unit troubles. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/8cb0d0b137944b5cabbe63b5e4a71d20/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=TkWLmgO6dmZ1CXifSTYTA6p1e3jjkwCy_W3uWB0Fft4%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 12th **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Banging in perhaps the lap of the weekend on old tyres to escape Q1 after a late red flag - with no prep lap! \- Drove a good race and played the team game when he needed to. \- Was running 10th before Hulkenberg put him out. **CONS** \- Possibly could have avoided the contact that cost him a points finish. \- Didn’t make the most of Q2. **Verdict:** A largely good weekend went unrewarded. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/e9340be8756f493f9e04dc6b8c11247a/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=bIhAgZ9CsYQzWgdXk3JfpT5KUaklI-uE21wpgDj_4qo%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 7th **Finished:** 4th **PROS** \- Given the pace of the McLaren and the strategy, fourth was a decent result. \- Although he looked a touch slower than Norris, he executed Q3 better. **CONS** \- Looked marginally the slower McLaren driver. \- Fortune played its part in his result. \- Picked up a speeding penalty, which has to be a small negative despite the mitigating circumstances. **Verdict**: A good, but not stellar, weekend. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/d83171fb805948e697b3d32189b01bb9/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=LqgQsEVigeQfqpZpdqRQrzy1bRlTUSj3wxaE2xqT4UI%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 5th **Finished:** 3rd **PROS** \- Recovered what ground he could after his FP1 shunt. \- Q2 pace in particular indicated he had decent underlying speed. \- Despite his frantic radio messages, dealt well with myriad engine problems and the loss of first gear in the race. **CONS** \- FP1 shunt at the second swimming pool chicane put him on the back foot. \- Wasn't at Verstappen's level. **Verdict:** A decent recovery from Friday, especially given his power unit troubles. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/9486432b447e4812b772c7f6099a4f5a/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=QEh9LuHWlQa8TxyvkVfjPat8gwsn45Tp2SgmzSVNeok%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started**: 8th **Finished**: DNF **PROS** \- Seemed to have a slight underlying pace advantage over Piastri. \- Would have claimed a solid result without the power unit problems that put him out. \- Lost track time in FP2 through no fault of his own. **CONS** \- Mistake at the chicane on his final Q3 run. \- Perhaps a little optimistic in trying to get around Piastri at Turn 1, allowing Gasly to get past at the start, although being on the outside there was by circumstance not choice. **Verdict:** Didn't make the most of his pace even before problems kicked in. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/ce9e6bcd6e584e1099c68132c7f65524/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=63BjNeZ-zQDZmUUHToT2HB4FCG_HrnJVTPDWrv7w7l8%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 15th **Finished:** 6th **PROS** \- Had a clean weekend on his first Monaco Grand Prix outing. \- Capitalised on Albon's deployment struggles to make an on-track pass. **CONS** \- Always looked to be marginally off Lawson's outright pace. \- Didn't make the best of Q2. **Verdict:** A decent weekend, but leant heavily on luck on Sunday. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/c4e6eb893b27408a843f0b7d619b1860/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=rQhbH1P3ifHHB-0uLJmYyWngFGZVJXj_bkYLv9aYuxQ%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 17th **Finished:** 9th **PROS** \- A clean race from a lowly grid position allowed him to benefit from others' misfortune. \- Was plenty quick enough to have escaped Q1, but was tripped up by red-flag timing. **CONS** \- Looked marginally the slower Haas driver in terms of underlying pace. \- Reliant on plenty of luck to have picked up points. **Verdict**: Misfortune played its part, but far from his Monaco best. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/9f4a64529c8b4976b62de64c7d1531a6/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=6Sii929eHzRj6FV3PsTvdfU1Yobt0xOyjvOtLeLU97E%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 6th **Finished:** 12th **PROS** \- Kept it clean. \- Would at least have salvaged third but for the drivethrough penalty that was a result of confusion. **CONS** \- Couldn't match his team-mate's pace, especially in qualifying. \- Struggled with getting the tyres in the right window across a qualifying lap. \- Speeding penalty cost him, but that was compounded by the pitstop confusion. **Verdict:** Was well short of the car's potential. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/acc91cf949b349398d005bf8077b6911/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=jCJlm6fghSacWPMwBEgXSregEVbPPWGFYkCUQ4Le6Qk%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 18th **Finished:** 15th **PROS** \- Comprehensively outpaced team-mate Bottas. \- Came close to reaching Q2, and finished 10th on the road before being hit with a penalty. \- Managed brake troubles well, and had a great restart lap. **CONS** \- Earning two penalties for lining up on the grid incorrectly cost a point, with the first where he parked in the wrong grid box a careless error. **Verdict:** Led the line for Cadillac, but grid box imprecision was careless. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/7aa7997232624ba29c0ad35bed0017c8/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=vQLtg-erby5RRYKeZa3yhy15QFlVCliC3WB6nJKCS0k%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 4th **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- In fits and starts showed good pace and that final Q3 lap flirted with pole. \- Flashes of real pace despite ongoing brake problems, which he characterised as "on the front brakes it broke a lot more than I thought and in the rear brakes it had no deceleration at all". **CONS** \- Errors in qualifying, including a wall strike, meant he ended up fourth on the grid. \- Brakes and track surface contributed to his crash, but Leclerc still had a hand in that. \- In the same machinery, never looked as comfortable as Hamilton. **Verdict**: Brake problems muddy the water, but there was a lot more in the car. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/a10dd096ce384eef819af3080e840e53/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=e6SQYem3ekgXIeV9cvRM8Lis3r2uUkCY830yhlZGOU0%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 19th **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Fundamentally, looked quick and Q1 elimination was down to the timing of the red flag. \- Based on the first Q1 runs, was plenty fast enough for Q2 and 0.138s quicker than Ocon. **CONS** \- Massenet shunt in FP3, which he described as "the strangest crash I've ever had", was a setback and perhaps could have been avoided had he factored in he being wider than usual thanks to going round a slower car. \- Losing his front wing on the first lap was unfortunate, but potentially avoidable. **Verdict:** Couldn't harness his speed but there were many mitigating factors. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/65a5a00f8b8742c39f9c02dc96135010/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=O9M5pKTbYLBhCYEDkAV6eIzu0TaN38xZy5OU-bClLPM%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 14th **Finished:** 14th **PROS** \- Considering his struggles, to be 0.233s off Gasly in Q2 wasn't bad. \- There was little he could do in the race given he spent most of it in traffic. **CONS** \- Struggled all weekend for pace thanks to lack of confidence on the brakes and was never at Gasly's level. \- Had a minor crash at the hairpin in FP3 and risked damage by unnecessarily hitting Sainz after the late restart. \- Pitlane speeding penalty, albeit by just 0.1km/h. **Verdict:** Never seemed confident in the car. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/812d0a6bdad848d9b863112b36994548/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=CmUOyqKYKmQTmCi4MfXCLbDNjnFKqc-YSC2jxQE5nOo%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 13th **Finished:** 13th **PROS** \- His underlying pace was good enough to have a strong weekend. \- Much of the race was executed well, it's just that he was stuck in traffic after early pitstop and therefore was backed up. \- Finished ninth on the road, before his penalty. **CONS** \- Didn't get the most out of the car in Q2, albeit with a lack of grip the culprit. \- While the Sainz incident that earned him a penalty was unfortunate given it followed from trying to avoid Ocon, it was costly and potentially avoidable had he been more cautious. **Verdict:** Q2 and late-race restart let him down. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/d08df03e862448e5880ce2be473f5e7c/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=0TkYIxHFTiysblSEo7DVCrAUO4WOyIOEuevhuDGnwu0%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 20th **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Kept it clean and tidy and out of the wall, even when braking troubles struck. **CONS** \- Well off his team-mate's pace. \- The race was short-lived, but through no fault of his own. **Verdict:** Unfortunate, but again badly lacked pace. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/eefea9e2d6b4482a9aa1eb2b24e3a096/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=cAWyHsGNklNghfb9svH9zuyqiQ9z-iUn-REJeHLaQlc%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** 22nd **Finished:** DNF **PROS** \- Not a great deal, but given he was in the worst car in the field that's understandable. **CONS** \- Crashed out of the race at the last corner, albeit as a result of a combination of the track breakup at Turn 19 and the push effect of the engine. \- Couldn't get as much out of the car as Alonso. **Verdict:** There is unexploited pace even in the badly limited Aston Martin. ![](https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/160505884/a3a087fa1d5b4485972d13a914640b88/eyJhIjoxLCJ3Ijo4MjB9/1.png?token-hash=SceM4Yv36TLNA8daNq74_XIi7R3fFhpT4enHK2Q2x8A%3D&token-time=1782172800) **Started:** pits **Finished:** 11th **PROS** \- Underlying pace was strong, and was trending to being the top Audi in qualifying before it went wrong in Q1. \- Survived in a difficult race to finish 11th after an unfortunate pitlane start. **CONS** \- As he pointed out, clipping the barrier at the nouvelle chicane in Q1 was a needless blunder given he didn't need to take risks. \- Enforced pitlane start further limited the potential to impress in the race. **Verdict:** Q1 blunder ruined a promising weekend. ### Everything we learned from F1's Monaco Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-everything-we-learned/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T12:25:04.000Z A chaotic Monaco Grand Prix weekend taught us plenty about the 2026 Formula 1 field. Here's what our team learned from Monaco: ## Antonelli's first special F1 moment is bad news for Russell Retiring from lead of the Canadian GP was quite obviously a big blow for George Russell's title bid but, in reality, the Monaco GP weekend was his biggest blow yet. Not because of the [double-hit penalty](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-double-penalty-f1-monaco-gp-explained/) in the race. That was galling and left Russell "struggling to comprehend how on earth this season is panning out in the way it has". Russell is right to point to some bad luck, making the 68-point gap bigger than it could be. But the bigger concern for Russell will be the margin with which Kimi Antonelli bodied him in qualifying (0.394s). Antonelli has done plenty of great things in his short F1 career so far, but Monaco felt like truly the first 'special' weekend from beginning to end. He took the risks needed in qualifying to secure pole for a Mercedes that was under serious threat from Red Bull and Ferrari, and avoided the errors that plagued far more experienced drivers in the race. Antonelli's most complete weekend in F1 yet is the biggest sign that he has what it takes to take complete hold of this title race, one that is rapidly slipping away from Russell. There does seem to be an almost Oscar Piastri-like trend of Russell struggling in low grip conditions in this car. He's already admitted it might require a [rethink of the driving style](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/whats-so-concerning-about-russells-antonelli-admission/) he's used since he got to F1\. But with five races in the next seven weekends, that's not going to be an easy thing to fix quickly. ## Leclerc's got a chronic but sensitive 2026 problem "Borderline dangerous" is how Charles Leclerc described the issue that he felt led to his Monaco GP retirement. And while he said he was "weighing his words" carefully in blaming the brakes so specifically, clearly that wasn't carefully enough to escape the attention of supplier Brembo - which said it was surprised by Leclerc's media statements and felt it was "premature to draw definitive technical conclusions before the available data has been analysed". You can read [that response in full](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-f1-monaco-gp-crash-brake-supplier-responds-criticism/), but it's clear Leclerc feels as though this problem is seriously hampering him in 2026. He was adamant he's been dealing with these issues at the previous two races - calling Monaco and Montreal "an absolute nightmare" while dealing with "cold tyre temperatures, the inconsistency, and the tyres being a lot more sensitive" - and he even referenced his own character, so convinced he was that this was something outside of his control. "I'm always bluntly honest whenever I'm in front of the camera," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1\. "But I'm not going to take any of it today." He's battling braking inconsistency, and a feeling that the car is behaving differently corner to corner with no predictable pattern. So, he's taking action and moving to team-mate Lewis Hamilton's brake configuration for the next race at Barcelona. That was the one positive that Leclerc took from the weekend - "that I'll have a solution for the brakes next weekend, that's it" - and even then he expressed regret that he hadn't made that change sooner. But such an explicit statement does make the next race a big test of those claims, or whether there's something more fundamental limiting him as well. ## Gasly was robbed of more than just a result The 15 seconds of silence before Pierre Gasly responded to The Race's question about how hard it was to comprehend his lost podium said an awful lot about his heartbreak. From the joys of crossing the line and thinking he had finished third, to the celebratory clenched fists of his slow down lap (Alpine had incredibly not told him the situation before the chequered flag), the comedown when told that two pitlane speeding offences left him seventh in the classification was almost too much to take in. This was exacerbated because Gasly's offences were down to the same issue - of essentially short-cutting the pitlane rather than going too fast - that had caught a host of other drivers out. But it was his emotional response after the initial silence that made it clear this was about more than just a good result having gone away. This was about fairness. "I don't think there is anything that could hurt me more right now," he said, as he battled to fight back the tears. "It's 10 years I'm f\*\*\*ing working my ass off for this type of moment, and we did everything right. "Standing on that podium in front of all the fans that turn up - this is the type of moment that, for me, can't be taken away from us by unfair reasons. "What's going on right now is not right and hopefully they can make the right calls." The sense was very much that it was the inequity of it all; of having driven to his very best and then having it taken away through nothing he could control. Gasly knew about the pitlane speed limits; knew that Alpine's system is set quite conservatively at 59.5km/h (so 0.5km/h below the limit); knew that he had activated it early; and knew about the entry configuration. This is why Alpine is going for [a right of review](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-challenges-monaco-gp-f1-result-pit-penalties/) to challenge the penalty. But even if Alpine achieves something - a change of procedures in the future is more likely that a change of result - it won't help Gasly make up for knowing what he lost in Monaco. ## The most wasteful team in Monaco wasn't Ferrari Ferrari probably did miss its best chance to win a grand prix in 2026 so far, but it wasn't the most wasteful team in Monaco. Audi was looking better than it had all year on Friday in Monaco, only for that to result in Gabriel Bortoleto crashing in qualifying and Nico Hulkenberg underdelivering en route to 13th place on the grid. More reliability problems meant Bortoleto had to start from the pitlane, and given the pace he showed fighting back to 11th, it likely cost him a points finish. Hulkenberg crashing into Carlos Sainz's Williams (and picking up a penalty for it) at the hairpin definitely cost him a points finish. Audi racing director Alan McNish rightly said, "the result doesn't reflect the pace we showed this weekend", but the team and drivers only have themselves to blame for that. That strong pace appeared to be down to Monaco limiting its engine deficit, coupled with some unexpected driveability gains that gave its drivers more confidence. It means Audi still only has two points to show for a debut campaign that's promised far more. ## 'No positives' for points scorer Aston Martin Aston Martin Honda may have nicked an unlikely point in Monaco, but the message from Fernando Alonso was clear: "Zero positives from this weekend." That was prior to Alonso knowing the outcome of Sergio Perez's stewards hearing, which gave him his unexpected point, but what followed was a detailed breakdown of why each circuit so far has exposed a new weakness with the Aston Martin-Honda. Alonso said: "In Australia, we found our engine was very down. In China, we found our energy was very down. In Monaco, we found our chassis is down. In Canada or Miami, we found that our gearbox was very bad. "I think every circuit exposed some of our weaknesses in the car. But the good thing is that \[there\] is a very good understanding on what action is needed in each of the areas." Alonso and Lance Stroll are simply playing a waiting game until significant car and engine packages arrive in the summer. "For the second part of the year, the package that we tried to bring all in once are tackling all those problems individually," Alonso said. "So I have full faith and trust on the team, because our impression and our feeling is that that car will change dramatically what we are facing now. "We just need to wait another four or five races of painful results." ## McLaren progress is slower than it looked Monaco was what Lando Norris labelled a "reality check" for McLaren as its two biggest problems were laid bare. They're quite simply a performance deficit and a reliability problem. McLaren struggled for performance in Monaco for two reasons. Firstly, the car is too gentle on its tyres for a circuit where putting energy into the tyres is challenging. But more importantly, McLaren is simply lacking grip and downforce compared to the other top teams. After it almost won at Suzuka and did win the Miami sprint race, it was tempting to declare McLaren firmly in the lead fight. But Monaco's circuit characteristics have shown how much work McLaren still has to do, and how it's fallen behind where it wanted to be with its car. "We know that compared to what we would like to be with our car, we are a bit behind in the trajectory," team principal Andrea Stella said on Saturday. And after the race, Stella admitted "Ferrari and Mercedes were operating in a completely different dimension", so McLaren has a "significant amount of work to do back at the factory to make the car fundamentally faster". Norris had what Stella described as "an anomaly with the power unit that had not presented itself prior to the race". It ensures McLaren still has the fewest grand prix laps completed of any team in 2026 and a meagre 58% grand prix finishing rate. That's unsurprisingly prompting an extensive review into the issues along with engine partner Mercedes. Both the works team and its customer are having issues, but right now McLaren's continuing to bear the brunt of it - meaning its title defence is taking one or two blows from both performance and reliability woes. ## These engines are a problem even at their best A key pre-weekend narrative was that Monaco would negate the biggest negatives of the 2026 regulations and deliver the most normal weekend of the year. It was probably the most normal weekend of the year driving-wise, and rule criticisms barely featured among the main storylines, barring [Alonso's biggest criticism yet](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-aston-martin-issue-risking-stupid-crashes/) (which probably wasn't aided by him having to drive the worst car in Monaco). And yet it was still far from *normal.* There were plenty of references to drivers having to make sure they were doing the right things to start the lap, and doing things they've never had to do to prepare for a lap around Monaco. The standout feature was the erratic behaviour some drivers clearly experienced under braking - Stroll blamed engine braking rather than the broken up track for causing his crash at Antony Noghes. If the battery can't recharge - and the Honda is hardly the strongest in that area - then you lose a lot of the engine braking. It moves beyond just an interesting technical detail or nuanced challenge into something more random and uncontrolled. So yes, we saw the engines at their best, but if that's their best and there are still problems, then it just goes to show why it's all being changed so quickly and why it should be such a priority to fix what's possible for next year. ## Ferrari's mega starts are gone A few weeks ago, the common assumption in the paddock would have been that put a Ferrari and a Mercedes on the front row at Monaco, and it will be the red car that easily gets to Ste Devote first. The mega starts that were a hallmark of the early stages of 2026, allied to Mercedes' struggles off the line, were a notable tool in Ferrari's armoury and would have been perfect for Monaco. But things have changed in recent weeks and, where once Ferrari was well ahead, Monaco gave us confirmation that any advantage it had on that front is now gone. After the red flag restart delivered Lewis Hamilton the perfect opportunity from the front row to snatch the lead from Antonelli, the positions ended up unchanged. Some of the answers for Ferrari's edge having gone is that the start procedures were altered on safety grounds to help others spool up their turbos better. But another is that Mercedes has made some significant gains in better perfecting its getaways, which has included work on its start software, grip predictions, and even Antonelli's clutch paddle. And there is another fascinating factor in play: how Antonelli himself has become clinical in his execution. As Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: "What's so interesting for me is there's this new generation of drivers that have come up with a lot of simulator work. "It's like they have more storage capacity cognitively. Once the process is learned, it's stored, and that's it." Monaco was not a one-off. ## Cadillac points aren't a pipe dream (surprisingly) A completely brand-new F1 team finishing in the top 10 on the road in only its sixth race is a remarkable achievement - and one that's genuinely surprising. Yes, Perez benefitted from chaos and penalties ahead of him, but he's been battling with the tail of the midfield on merit at consecutive races. Even Perez getting to within a tenth of Q2 was something of a disappointment on Saturday, just because he was threatening to have the pace to advance. So even though a penalty for what was clearly an avoidable error has unnecessarily denied Cadillac a first point, it's proof that it's not a pipe dream to think it could score later in the year. That is truly remarkable for a new team that already did well to never even be close to falling outside of the 107% rule in qualifying in its first weekend. It feels significant too on a weekend where Cadillac debuted what is arguably a field-leading motorhome - a far cry from the first efforts of previous new teams. Of course, a fancy hospitality suite didn't propel Perez into the top 10, but it is a proper statement of intent. It adds to a growing feeling that Cadillac is doing all the right things to become a competitive F1 force - and perhaps even a points-scoring one earlier than expected. ## Albon's 'most normal' weekend still had problems Given all the chaos that followed in the closing stages, it's easy to forget a key mid-race narrative was the intra-team Williams tactics and Alex Albon and Sainz creating a gap for each other. It was a repeat of their (and other teams') controversial tactics last year that were prompted by the two-stop pitstop rule. But given that rule's now gone, the presence of them in the 2026 race probably means they've become a staple of Monaco now. Even if it makes for somewhat uncomfortable viewing, it's an open goal for midfield teams. You may have heard Albon's frustration over the team radio with the tactics - "we're being too smart with this, guys!" - but he said after the race: "If anything, I was frustrated more because I felt like I let the team down." That's because Albon was managing a deployment issue, so he felt "vulnerable" to the cars behind and was kicking himself for a mistake (compounded by the deployment issue) that allowed Arvid Lindblad through. It was still what Albon described as his "most normal weekend" and "cleanest" of 2026 so far, even if he's "still not, to be honest, comfortable with the car, but getting to grips with it". It did include Albon's first intra-team qualifying victory of 2026 and eighth place gave him the same amount of points as he's scored in the entirety of the last eight months prior to Monaco. ### Hungarian Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP rider rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/hungarian-grand-prix-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T10:56:59.000Z A big dilemma for the top three order in Val Khorounzhiy's Hungarian Grand Prix MotoGP rider rankings - and unsurprisingly the first corner chaos has a big bearing on the make-up of the bottom places. Agree or disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments on [this post in The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/posts/160503958?ref=the-race.com) and Val will reply in his Q&A mini-podcast later this week. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-KTM_PA.png) **Qualifying:** 2nd **Sprint:** 2nd **Grand Prix:** 2nd I hemmed and hawed and changed my mind a dozen times over number one here - and finally had to commit to a choice that I feel slightly worse about but can't convince myself not to make. Pedro Acosta lost to a physically limited Marc Marquez in all three of the main events of the weekend - Q2, sprint, grand prix - but Marquez did not have the outrageous advantage over his Ducati stablemates that Acosta enjoyed within the KTM ranks. His fellow KTM riders could not touch him from the first moment of the weekend. But he got spooked right away by Marquez's practice pace on the medium rear and his worries proved correct - despite a bet on the soft and an outrageously spirited defence on Sunday for a handful of corners. Marquez spent much of the past two weekends talking up his presumed future team-mate and Acosta's difference-making on KTM. Greatness recognises greatness. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-DUCATI_MM.png) **Qualifying:** 1st **Sprint:** 1st **Grand Prix:** 1st Almost-dominant, and certainly comfortable enough to where you'd hardly know he was physically limited at all. He seemed to distribute his stamina resource perfectly through the weekend, albeit perhaps slightly overplayed those worries in order to deflect some pressure - as the laptimes never betrayed any signs of fatigue from Marquez in neither the sprint nor the grand prix. A Turn 1 "rookie mistake" in qualifying that could've been a lot more costly had the bike shut off in that moment (forcing him to sprint for a spare) is handily offset by his injury status and clear buffer over the other Ducatis. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-GRESINI_IL.png) **Qualifying:** 16th **Sprint:** 18th **Grand Prix:** 7th The biggest compliment I can pay to Iker Lecuona is that this was almost a three-horse race for the first spot. This was the best he'd looked as a MotoGP rider since, I believe, an eye-catching debut as an injury stand-in for KTM back in 2019 that was followed by two middling full-time seasons. Recent experience of Balaton Park - P2-P2-P2 in three World Superbikes races, firmly in the middle of his hilarious current streak of 15 consecutive runner-up finishes - clearly helped, but if that was the primary differentiator he would've plateaued after Friday. He was close to Q2 then, hindered a little by a yellow flag, then had a real shot at Q2 again in Q1 but understandably didn't put the sectors together. But that top 10-ish pace was there session after session - and after he got stuck in the pack in the sprint due to an overly conservative approach, he pushed on in the main race and finished as high as anyone could've asked. "For me, it's a 10\. Honestly it's a 10," he concluded of his weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-LCR_DM.png) **Qualifying:** 11th **Sprint:** 7th **Grand Prix:** 6th He's unlikely to get to use it much in the future, but Diogo Moreira clearly has an affinity for Balaton Park. This looked like his 'fastest' weekend in MotoGP yet, even if he'd made more of a splash at Mugello. Friday was good, Q1 a little rough, then the sprint utterly fantastic - set up by a great start and good positioning. Moreira is proving very capable off the line (though the Honda itself seems to help) and was again effective in this regard on Sunday, but a 'smoother' approach to Turn 1 meant a failure to disengage the start device and the loss of crucial positions. Being stuck behind Jack Miller afterwards complicated his race, though he was more bothered in hindsight by choosing the medium rear tyre over the soft. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-APRILIA_MB.png) **Qualifying:** 6th **Sprint:** 3rd **Grand Prix:** DNF Friday looked difficult but the familiar Marco Bezzecchi trick of big in-weekend gains meant it wasn't much of a worry. Indeed, he was firmly in the hunt for a front row in Q2 - but really laboured to put the lap together, which left him "pretty upset with myself". Turn 1 opened itself up nicely to him in the sprint, enabling him to finish ahead of some nominally-faster rivals. In the grand prix, Turn 1 (which he entered in a close third-to-fifth battle) was obviously not so nice at all. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-TRACKHOUSE_RF.png) **Qualifying:** 7th **Sprint:** 4th **Grand Prix:** DNF Raul Fernandez was worried coming into the weekend but was "comfortable" and "in control" from lap one on Friday. Bezzecchi seemed to steal a march in the intra-Aprilia fight come qualifying (both ultimately made mistakes that denied them better grid slots), but Fernandez looked in good shape to keep the other RS-GP riders behind him - and did just that in a solid sprint. He got a really neat start on Sunday and immediately paid for it, as it put him in the path of the Jorge Martin cannonball. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-GRESINI_FA.png) **Qualifying:** 3rd **Sprint:** 5th **Grand Prix:** DNF Quietly rapid with very little to show for it, Fermin Aldeguer mostly stood out for mistakes in an otherwise processional sprint and getting launched out of the race on Sunday. He was probably the closest rider to the 'dynamic duo' out front in terms of true performance here, and referenced a "best feeling since the start of the season" - while also largely undisturbed by his long-term leg injury, which was only a minor factor in a couple of corner sections. There were two simple but major errors in the sprint trying to bite off more than he could chew in a futile sprint chase - and Ducati stablemate Pecco Bagnaia wondered whether Aldeguer tried too hard to cover him off at the start instead of defending from Bezzecchi. Sunday's start phase looked to have played out a lot better until his race ended at the apex of Turn 1. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-HONDA_LM.png) **Qualifying:** 9th **Sprint:** 12th **Grand Prix:** 5th Luca Marini's slightly dejected verdict over his Friday laptime was that it was "impossible to do better than this". But he proceeded to 'do better than this' on Saturday morning, laying the groundwork for a fruitful weekend. The sprint was a disappointment, a combination of a poor start (he’d "forgot" to do a practice start earlier) and being extra cautious into Turn 1. But the opportunity presented by Sunday's unfortunate early pile-up was taken well (especially in clearing Miller and building a buffer), even if his favoured soft rear tyre ran out of grip in the end and he was powerless to resist Ai Ogura. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-PRAMAC_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 12th **Sprint:** 14th **Grand Prix:** 8th The fourth-place cameo on Sunday obviously flattered the Yamaha and was never going to last, but even having lost ground gradually Miller ended up nearly quadrupling his points tally for the season. I couldn't possibly begrudge him this, but the weekend itself was just fairly solid, mostly set up by leading the Yamaha line on Friday (and thus sneaking into Q2) when the new bike seemed, surprisingly, at its most competitive relative to the opposition. He got pounced on by his Pramac team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu in the sprint but was on the balance of things the Yamaha standout - just not by anywhere near as much as the timing tower will have led you to believe on Sunday. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-TRACKHOUSE_AO.png) **Qualifying:** 10th **Sprint:** 11th **Grand Prix:** 4th Outside of the five who went down, Ogura was probably the worst-affected by the Turn 1 calamity on Sunday. He did genuinely great work from there, picking his spots and making his moves, despite struggling with the bike in the slipstream - due to the heat impacting the tyre and brakes, and the air disturbance into corners. But I can't ignore the rest of the weekend in my assessment here. Friday was basically fine but unspectacular, ditto for qualifying on Saturday morning, but the sprint was a disappointment and this was partially self-inflicted - he laboured to find a pocket of space to exploit through the first few corners, but also lost a puzzling amount of ground through Turn 4 and had little chance from then on. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-DUCATI_PB.png) **Qualifying:** 5th **Sprint:** 9th **Grand Prix:** 3rd Another weekend in which Bagnaia wasn't the best Ducati rider - nor, really, particularly close to second-best - but still got to stand on the main podium, which is a just balancing of the scales when you consider Lady Luck had deserted him for a good few months prior. A Q2-depriving error on Friday led to flashbacks to his terrible weekend here last year, but Bagnaia got things a bit more together for the rest of the weekend - while appearing consistently aware, maybe too aware, that there's a ceiling of how good he can really be at such a tight, small, slow circuit. He felt Aldeguer's choice of line into Turn 1 was the main culprit in compromising his sprint (and maybe wasn't wrong, though Aldeguer wasn't necessarily wrong either), then welcomed a "lucky" bit of wheelspin on Sunday that took him out of the Martin firing line - and enabled him to score one of the simplest podiums of his career. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-VR46_FD.png) **Qualifying:** 4th **Sprint:** 10th **Grand Prix:** 12th As Fabio Di Giannantonio pointed out post-race, he was 20 seconds back after lap one and 28 seconds back at the finish - so the evidence is that he would've been in the podium hunt without the crash. Further evidence to this is the rest of his weekend - when things were going right, he was fast, despite continued irritation at an injured pinky finger. He was really quick on Friday despite sacrificing a chunk of the day to seemingly fruitless set-up experiments, but had a crash and another botched corner entry in Q2 that messed with his grid position, then laboured on the opening lap of the sprint. But he'd put himself in a good position on Sunday before being taken out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-PRAMAC_TR.png) **Qualifying:** 18th **Sprint:** 13th **Grand Prix:** 11th A "very bad" Q1 was the only real blip - and not a huge blip at that, if you look at the gaps - in Razgatlioglu's weekend, but it meant a poor grid position and little chance to make hay in races. Though he made a settings tweak on Sunday that ended up backfiring and compromising his entry into Turn 5 on the back straight, he felt he had shown marginal top-10 pace in both races if not for being mired in the pack with a bike less-than-conducive to overtaking. That view was largely supported by looking at the timing screens through the weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-LCR_CC.png) **Qualifying:** 22nd **Sprint:** 22nd **Grand Prix:** 16th Soldiered through in good spirits, with no shortage of enviable one-liners and model enthusiasm despite the apparent muscle tear from Mugello - and without shunting the bike. Could he have put himself in a position to pick up a point by staying within the requisite 16 seconds of Maverick Vinales on Sunday? It would've been a tall order, but he anyway wasn't to know and isn't here to score points - yet, at least. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-HONDA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 13th **Sprint:** 15th **Grand Prix:** DNF Joan Mir let a good opportunity to score good points - and he sure needs them this year - slip on Sunday, but there is mitigation. He described the crash that took him out of eighth as "quite strange" and noted that he had been riding with damage including a loose footpeg as a consequence of a clumsy Turn 1 rejoin by Enea Bastianini. Only he and Honda will have an idea of how much of a role that played in the outcome, but I'm happy to give a bit of grace given he was faultless in the Bastianini incident. He was, however, quite underwhelming over the rest of the weekend - not helped by some badly-timed loose bodywork already on Friday but then just not particularly fast and a little all-over-the-place in the sprint. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-YAMAHA_FQ.png) **Qualifying:** 15th **Sprint:** 17th **Grand Prix:** DNF After two weekends in which he was running laps around his fellow Yamahas, here came two weekends in which Fabio Quartararo looked distinctly ordinary even within the M1 context. Ignore the grand prix, which looked like racing with a technical failure and was confirmed to be exactly that - and also note that there were technical gremlins here and there earlier in the weekend that held him back. The Q1 lap was good, though not 'wow', and the sprint underwhelmed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-TECH3_EB.png) **Qualifying:** 14th **Sprint:** 8th **Grand Prix:** 9th Bastianini struggled on Friday but carried confidence into Saturday that he would reach Q2. This proved misplaced - he didn't maximise the lap - but the underlying performance did seem to tick up substantially through Saturday and Sunday. But he made his life much harder than it needed to be in the grand prix. Going off at Turn 1 after an earlier shake opened up the brake pads (a familiar KTM malaise), he returned clumsily to collide with Mir and earn a long-lap penalty, then earned another via track-cutting, though did undo some of the damage by picking off Brad Binder at the final corner of the race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-YAMAHA_AR.png) **Qualifying:** 20th **Sprint:** 21st **Grand Prix:** 13th Perhaps the grid's least noticeable rider this weekend - which can be a byproduct of being in the Yamaha 2026 roster, but in this case also reflected a general lack of performance. Alex Rins was way too far off his fellow Yamaha riders on Friday, and didn't make enough of a dent in the gap in Q1. He hobbled to the end in a sprint made pointless by a clutch issue, but believed a genuine step forward was made on Sunday - though ultimately his race was still "very long" and unremarkable. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-TECH3_MV.png) **Qualifying:** 21st **Sprint:** 19th **Grand Prix:** 15th Vinales came out of the weekend hoping and believing that he's understood something important about the current KTM - that to ride it you need to brake very late to overload the front, lest it does not stop at all. And Vinales believes he just doesn't have sufficient power yet to do that, even if he's consistently encouraged about his recovery otherwise. It's hard to know what to make of it all. He was good-ish on Friday and compromised by yellow flags, but really ineffective in Q1 and pretty much a non-factor in both races. You really have to wonder whether KTM and Tech3 are seeing enough progress here. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-KTM_BB.png) **Qualifying:** 17th **Sprint:** 16th **Grand Prix:** 10th A curious Mugello pattern continued here: Binder seems a lot better over one lap but it's arrived hand-in-hand with a serious erosion in race pace. And he didn't put in the peak laptimes here anyway. He crashed in Friday's 'Q0' while trying to chase after the different-league Acosta, then fell in Q1 - racking up his second crash of the weekend before any other MotoGP rider had even crashed once. "I feel really fine, and then all of a sudden it's not," was his explanation of the crash dynamics. He overshot Turn 1 in the sprint, nearly causing a milder version of the next day's Martin crash - then struggled anyway afterwards, and again on Sunday. He described himself as "just missing pace" and admitted he "thought I'd be a hell of a lot stronger". ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-APRILIA_JM.png) **Qualifying:** 8th **Sprint:** 6th **Grand Prix:** DNF This was a pretty poor Martin weekend already before it took a turn for the really, really poor. Maximising qualifying continues to elude him on the RS-GP, but this weekend all Aprilia riders struggled to put the best lap together - and even in that context he just wasn't very fast. He made up for an unusually mediocre start in the sprint by taking an adventurous line into Turn 1 - which perhaps foreshadowed Sunday trouble - before bringing the bike home in a sensible position after just narrowly avoiding a penalty for cutting the track while fighting Moreira. There was no avoiding the penalty on Sunday as he took four rival frontrunners out of the contest, even if there is sympathy in some circles (though seemingly not so much within Aprilia) over the exact mechanism behind the crash. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/ba26-VR46_FM.png) **Qualifying:** 19th **Sprint:** 20th **Grand Prix:** 14th "We need to work together with Ducati to take out a normal grip from the bike," summed up Franco Morbidelli, whose weekend could only be described as humiliating - and whose mission in MotoGP now appears to be to recover a respectable level of pace before he inevitably leaves the grid at the end of the year. After how the Mugello weekend unfolded he admitted he was "fearing" the prospect of being beaten by stand-in Lecuona here, and in the end Lecuona didn't just beat him but beat him handily in every session but the first. Morbidelli isn't too forthcoming on what's limiting him so, but it's no mechanical fault nor set-up error. The only way to interpret his messages is that the 2025 Ducati he's riding disagrees with him at a truly fundamental level. ### The consequences of F1's shock Red Bull ADUO verdict URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-shock-red-bull-aduo-verdict-consequences/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T10:54:49.000Z The biggest shock of Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix weekend was not that Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli defied Ferrari's favourite state to pull off a superb pole position and victory to extend his world championship lead. In fact, it was not even on track. Instead, it happened in various motorhomes on Sunday when the FIA sent a note to manufacturers informing them of the [outcome of its analysis](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-engine-upgrades-first-2026-fia-decision-revealed/) of the first Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) period. The catch-up mechanism, introduced as part of the 2026 rules package, had been a hot topic of conversation all weekend as manufacturers awaited the outcome of the FIA's analysis to know for definite how much time and money they could devote to improving their engines. Amid quite strange positioning all season, where car makers wanted to be deemed to be behind so they could be allowed to catch up, the FIA's findings were viewed as a critical step in helping the chasing pack make up ground on Mercedes. The further a manufacturer was judged to be behind, the greater allowances it would get for spending and test bench hours - and therefore the greater the chance to catch up. The manufacturers' answer came in a short, one-page note sent from the FIA's Geneva office, and titled 'Confirmation by FIA to Power Unit Manufacturers of ADUO status'. Delivering a simple table, it informed each of them of their positioning in the rankings against the engine maker that was deemed to be the benchmark. The note did not elaborate much on that and instead divided teams into three camps based on the basics of the system. This is that a manufacturer deemed to be more than 2% behind gets one upgrade this season and one next, while any manufacturer that is more than 4% gets a maximum of two upgrades this year and two next. So the list was quite a simple one in declaring which manufacturer was the benchmark and how many upgrades others were eligible for (up to a maximum of two). The verdict was: **Red Bull**: benchmark **Mercedes**: one upgrade **Ferrari, Audi, Honda**: two upgrades There were no specifics (this is understood to be for IP reasons) of more complex sliding scales of extra spending and test bench hour allowances, which includes the [$19million potentially on offer to Honda](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-honda-19-million-dollar-f1-bailout-will-really-work/) if it has been found to be more than 10% adrift. But even the basic information was enough to send some shockwaves through the paddock because the implications of what has been decided are huge. While there have been some whispers recently of a [potential surprise](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-hidden-f1-war-manufacturers-want-to-lose/) in terms who would come out on top, when the final outcome dropped it still felt, as one paddock source suggested, bizarre. That's because in a year where Mercedes has been dominant and its power unit is regarded as the benchmark, a system originally intended to help those struggling to catch up has ended up opening the door for the best to get better. ## A blow for Red Bull and Ferrari One of the key hopes for Mercedes' main rivals was that this verdict would allow them to catch up to the front. With their belief being that Mercedes was the benchmark - based on results on track - one or two extra upgrades would be critical in narrowing a gap they believed there was to the front of the field. Those hopes are now over, with Mercedes itself given the green light to improve its power unit. The extra upgrade that it will be allowed this year, and the one it will get for 2027, means that there are a lot of extra learnings and improvements that Mercedes can bring to make its benchmark power unit even better. Red Bull, while proud in some respects that its all-new internal combustion engine is the best in the field, faces the agony of knowing that its hands are now tied and it cannot make improvements and it has less spending and bench hours than others. And worst of all is that, with the way the system works, Mercedes can now devote extra resources and bench testing to improving its engine and not bring upgrades on track until it wants - thereby keeping Red Bull as the benchmark. That means Red Bull could remain hamstrung for a while yet. Speaking recently at Red Bull's factory, team principal Laurent Mekies had pushed back at the idea of his engine being the best - and was clearly counting on being able to make improvements. "What we see is certainly Mercedes, a long way ahead of most of us," he explained, as he suggested Red Bull was three tenths adrift. Mekies did not want to talk about the verdict on Sunday night in Monaco. And although he suggested that the FIA's ADUO note to teams was 'provisional;, being a signed document means it is set in stone and will not be changed. For Ferrari too, while it will be allowed two upgrades this season and two the next, the fact that Mercedes has some allowance for one upgrade each year will limit the progress it can make in relative terms. It means Ferrari is no longer chasing a stationary target. So if Mercedes has plenty in its back pocket, Ferrari could find that it may not even get any closer even with the extra development opportunities it now has. The ADUO outcome is one that, rather than helping Mercedes' rivals catch up as they had hoped, could now ultimately end up hurting them in keeping the status quo or even resulting in them falling further away. ## The catch-up mechanism implications The way that the system had evolved into being viewed as a means by which rivals could close in had triggered some pushback from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff a couple of weeks ago. He was clear that he did not like ADUO being steered away from its original intention - a catch-up mechanism for struggling manufacturers - and instead had become a tool that rivals could use to narrow its advantage. With Ferrari in particular open that this was its route to be able to chip away at Mercedes' advantage, Wolff had said: "The principle of the ADUO was to allow teams that were on the back foot to catch up - but not to leapfrog." He added: "I would be very surprised actually to see, and disappointed, if ADUO decisions come up with any interferences into the competitive pecking order as it stands at the moment." But Wolff may now not be alone in thinking the upgrades system has delivered not what some had hoped for. And pushback against the system is likely to increase because of the way the outcome seems to fly in the face of what is happening on track. It has long been understood that ADUO is based entirely on the power of the internal combustion engine element only, so does not take into account the harvesting and deployment elements, nor battery efficiency that are so critical to laptime. But with it clear that a system intended to help struggling car makers catch up has now opened the door to potentially stretching things out, calls for a rethink of the regulations could now emerge. Sources suggest that the ruling will almost certainly trigger demands to ditch ADUO completely, or change the way in which performance is measured to incorporate more aspects than simply internal combustion engine power. The FIA's single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis revealed a few weeks ago that the governing body had offered a more complex measuring procedure than simply power output of the engine - but that this had not been accepted by car makers. Now, though, with everyone having seen the outcome of this basic verdict, opinions may have changed. And revisions to the system are something that even the FIA itself is not against. Tombazis remarked back in April: "I would be personally quite open to the idea of complicating the parameters a bit." ## The political fallout for F1's 60/40 plans The ADUO decision comes against the backdrop of a political dispute in the paddock over wider rule changes in F1. The FIA is currently trying to reach agreement to get across the line a proposal to move F1 away from the current notional 50/50 split between combustion engine and electrical power. An agreement in principle to make that closer to a 60/40 balance for next year has become hard to get across the line, as manufacturers baulk at rushing through changes to fuel flow that would require new hardware. While Mercedes and Red Bull have been supportive, Audi has reservations about cost implications in making change for next year while Ferrari has been concerned about what impact this could have on ADUO. Ferrari's worry was that if everyone had been allowed to change engines for next year to accommodate an increase in fuel flow, then that would allow Mercedes to work more on its power unit. Better, in Ferrari's perspective, to keep things the same and not allow Mercedes any freedom. But that view was based on Mercedes being deemed under ADUO the benchmark engine - so therefore not allowed any homologation upgrades. Now things have changed and the door is open for Mercedes to make changes with or without any hardware revisions towards 60/40 in the rules. Right now it is understood there are two rule-change proposals on the table being evaluated, with the FIA preferring that what is agreed receives unanimous support rather than leaving one or two manufacturers marginalised. The most aggressive route is the original lifting of the internal combustion engine power by 50kW (approximately 67bhp) for 2027\. Due to the nature of the fuel-flow increase, this will require proper hardware revisions. The compromise proposal - which Ferrari and Audi are understood to be happy to accept but some others don't want because they think is not enough - is for a 20kW increase next year with the current hardware and then a step to the full 50kW in 2028. Up until the arrival of the ADUO announcement, there did not seem to be a common ground opening up that all manufacturers were in favour of. But after the shock announcement that Mercedes will now get upgrades anyway - irrespective of whether F1 shifts to 60/40 - it may spur Ferrari to feel that its best bet to the front is not with the current ADUO, but is instead with new power unit designs totally and a reset. Expect a lot of political movement at this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya GP. ### Winners and losers from F1's 2026 Monaco Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-winners-losers/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T12:45:38.000Z You'd have been forgiven for watching the first 60 or so laps of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix and thinking this edition was going to be little different to most of Formula 1's recent races on the streets of Monte Carlo. But what happened next was Monaco at its brilliant best. So among the crashes and confusion, and the penalties and post-race fallout, who were the winners and losers? ## Loser: George Russell (13th) On Saturday after qualifying only sixth, four tenths of a second off his polesitting young team-mate and title rival, Russell wondered aloud whether the 2026 Mercedes was just moving away from his driving style - a worrying admission for a driver trying to win the championship in it. There was less of that talk on Sunday. Then it was all about the bad luck he's had from Chinese GP qualifying nearly three months ago onwards - and he was adamant that he could still take the fight to Kimi Antonelli if fortune was on his side. Whether it's down to shifting car traits or horrendous bad luck, or a bit of both, Russell isn't just no longer leading the championship he was tipped to dominate - he's down to third. The confusion over whether he was serving a penalty in his pitstop or not, the fruitless attempt to make some kind of gap for that penalty that succeeded only in creating a midfielder traffic jam that wrecked Carlos Sainz's day... it was all just a mess. More messy, than unlucky, in fact. Any combination of scruffy execution, no longer being at one with your car, and poor luck can stop you winning an F1 title. A mix of all three is going to be insurmountable. ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st) Remember on Saturday afternoon when Antonelli's pole position looked like it was the result of a brilliant-but-against-the-odds lap in not the fastest car? Sunday's evidence suggests that the Mercedes might well have been the fastest thing in Monaco after all. This was a flawless performance: calm, controlled, fast. And even amid the chaos of the closing laps, Antonelli looked assured beyond his years - and an ever-more convincing title favourite. ## Loser: Charles Leclerc (DNF) Crashing out of a podium position (which he firmly put down to [brake problems](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-f1-monaco-gp-crash-brake-supplier-responds-criticism/) that left him with only one working brake under the safety car, not the crumbling track surface) turned this into a properly painful disaster for Leclerc at home. Again. But even before that, third at best was going to leave him in the 'loser' category for the weekend given how much higher the expectations were. This was supposed to be his best win chance of 2026\. And if he'd managed to pull off tidy Q3 laps and stuck the Ferrari on pole, maybe Antonelli would have been beatable. But then maybe Leclerc would have been crashing out of the lead with brake problems and it would be even more heartbreaking. Either way, it's another one for Leclerc's list of horrible Monaco woe - a list that's much longer than his list of Monaco successes. ## Winner: Lewis Hamilton (2nd) If Ferrari had lived up to its pre-weekend favourite status, this should have been a win - because Hamilton had usual Monaco wizard team-mate Leclerc covered. Well, on pure raw pace, perhaps not. But in execution and managing to deliver that pace consistently, definitely. If it hadn't been possible to clear the pitlane speeding penalty when he did, this could've been a tale of a second place blown - though third in Monaco wouldn't have been too bad in the context of Hamilton's last few years. In the end, second behind an unstoppable Antonelli, up to second in the championship, and a generally healthy amount of evidence that the Hamilton renaissance is a tangible thing all adds up to a great weekend's work. ## Loser: Pierre Gasly (7th) We wrote on Saturday of Alpine and Gasly [maximising its 'bad days'](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-qualifying/) by getting into Q3 and how important that is for its 2026 ambitions. But it's even more important to maximise your good days. And protest all you want about pitlane discrepancies, but this did not represent a job well and truly done on the maximisation front. How could it when a podium went begging? Gasly's allowed to feel hurt, and Alpine is allowed to disagree with the penalties (and [seek a better solution from the FIA](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-challenges-monaco-gp-f1-result-pit-penalties/)). But granting that freedom doesn't make a lost podium any easier to swallow - if anything it's just prolonging the pain. ## Winner: Racing Bulls (5th & 6th) There was a point at which it looked very probably like Liam Lawson would be starting the Monaco GP from the pitlane at best, if at all, and team principal Alan Permane said on Sunday that there were actually problems with both cars before the start. So you can bet nobody at Racing Bulls would've been predicting its single-biggest points haul since its AlphaTauri days, at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. Lawson had driven a solid race (after a stellar qualifying) before the game-changing safety car/red flag, and while team-mate Arvid Lindblad's ascent might've been a little more down to luck than judgement - the red flag opening up the rare possibility of a zero-stop race - he did make his own fortune with a genuine move on Alex Albon while the Williams driver was busy backing the pack up. Just like that, Alpine's got competition for fifth in the constructors' championship. ## Loser: Max Verstappen (DNF) The great unknown of this ultimately wild race: what could Verstappen have done if his Red Bull hadn't expired as the race started? In reality, given Antonelli's pace, Verstappen was probably just set for a fruitless chase of a Mercedes. But second to Antonelli would have still been his best result of 2026 so far and well worth celebrating. When all the talk was about Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes or McLaren's low-speed-corner potential, it was Verstappen who upstaged all the expected challengers and chucked himself onto the front row with Antonelli. And that probably shouldn't really have been a surprise. ## Winner: Isack Hadjar (3rd) Between threats of penalties and repeated technical problems that looked set to put him out of the race, there were so many ways the Monaco GP could've had a miserable ending for Hadjar. But it was the opposite. A lot had to fall his way to elevate him to the podium, but his driving in the face of constant adversity was immaculate and the final result was deserved. ## Loser: Sergio Perez (15th) It's hard not to feel sorry for Perez and Cadillac at the end of a weekend where there has been genuinely excellent execution. At the same time, it's hard to have much sympathy for a precious first points finish being taken away for a repeat (if circumstantially different) penalty. Because the late-race restart was a reprieve for Perez, who'd raced competitively in the midfield in the early laps before his pitstop and subsequent drivethrough, once it became clear he'd lined up in Gabriel Bortoleto's grid slot. And he was excellent on the restart too: his nimbleness at the hairpin got him ahead of Fernando Alonso (who instead inherited the final point), and the gap he pulled gave him a margin of protection incase anyone else worked their way around the Aston Martin too. Ultimately, it counts for nothing - just like the claim that there was "no benefit" of being out of position. Rules are rules, and the onboard camera offered a fairly damning verdict of whether Perez had crept beyond his grid box. What a story that was for a couple of hours, though. ## Winner: Aston Martin (10th & DNF) Aston Martin, Honda and Alonso should take no satisfaction from this inherited point. Especially because it was only inherited from a brand new team that had beaten this supposed superteam on the road on merit. But given how firmly Aston Martin is mired at the back at the moment, this could be the result that makes the difference between an entirely point-free season and having at least one point on the end of year scoreboard. So that's...good? ## Loser: McLaren (4th & DNF) Finishing just off the podium behind a Mercedes, a Ferrari and a Red Bull isn't that disastrous by McLaren's 2026 standards. Given this is the defending champion squad and defending Monaco winning team, though, a weekend of being pretty anonymous all round, running behind an Alpine on the road, and having to retire the reigning champion and 2025 Monaco winner's car mid-race is a flat outcome to say the least. ## Loser: Carlos Sainz (DNF) The clash between Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg looked innocuous enough at the time - albeit coming after an ambitious lunge from Hulkenberg to force his way past Esteban Ocon on the restart, with his resulting trajectory almost certainly contributing to the Sainz contact. But it's clear Sainz didn't see it as innocuous. "It's quite impressive that with so much experience around a track like this, that every year it bunches up, people still can do these kind of mistakes," he said. Understandable ire - because although Williams looked in better shape here, there's no telling just how often points opportunities are going to come around in that tight midfield gaggle. ### Brake supplier's surprise response to 'premature' Leclerc criticism URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-f1-monaco-gp-crash-brake-supplier-responds-criticism/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T20:38:40.000Z Brake supplier Brembo has issued an extraordinary statement after Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc put his Monaco Grand Prix crash down to his "nightmare" braking woes. While the track surface was breaking up at the final corner, Antony Noghes, where Leclerc and Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll crashed, Leclerc put his incident down to the brakes on his Ferrari SF-26, which he has struggled with across the two most recent races in Montreal and Monaco in particular. "I don’t know how much I can go into the details, but...I don't think...it's just not acceptable," Leclerc said after his exit. "The issues I have faced with my brakes have been...it's not that it’s difficult, it's that in this particular moment, it's just impossible. "I cannot do anything. The only thing I can do is not brake for the last corner, but in an F1 corner not braking in the last corner ends up in the wall anyway. I put the least amount of brakes I could possibly do, and it's not even braking, it's leaning my foot on the brake." He claimed that "out of the four brakes, I had three brakes not working" at the time of the crash and said it was like "the callipers were not even in the car", but had not experienced "those problems, at least to that extent" until the race was neutralised for Stroll's crash. "The problem was the safety car. As soon as I did the safety car, three of my four brakes stopped working. I could never switch them on again, nothing was working anymore," Leclerc said. "I tried to do many actions in the car to try and help it. The only solution I had was to not brake in the last corner, but I would have crashed in Turn 1. "There's no way I could have done a lap, there was just no solution, so we'll have to look into it. "I don't know if it was a wear issue, it's often a problem here. I don't know what it was, but there was a clear issue." Leclerc said "I think it's very clear for everyone, I don't think there's any doubt" about what the issue was. But Brembo, Ferrari's long-term brake supplier, responded to Leclerc's comments with a strong statement after the race. "Brembo Group is really surprised by the statements made by Charles Leclerc after F1's Monaco Grand Prix," it read. "The partnership between Brembo and Scuderia Ferrari has continued for more than 50 years and also extends to other brands within the Group, including AP Racing clutches and Ohlins dampers, confirming the strength and breadth of this long-standing collaboration. "At present, the company does not know the causes of the issues experienced by Charles Leclerc and therefore considers it premature to draw definitive technical conclusions before the available data has been analysed. "In cases such as this, it is necessary to examine the telemetry data together with the team's engineers in order to accurately determine the origin of the incident. "Brembo is a benchmark in F1 and is present on every car on the grid through its braking technologies. Over the years, F1 teams have continued to choose Brembo solutions, recognising their reliability, innovation and world-class performance. "The group will continue to invest in innovation, reliability and performance, while continuing its collaboration with Scuderia Ferrari and all other F1 teams." Leclerc said he will now move to team-mate Lewis Hamilton's brake configuration. "The only thing I can say is that we have the solution in-house, and I'll go to Lewis's configuration from the next race onwards, which hopefully will be a step," he said. "But it's been a nightmare." Leclerc did accept some blame for not making such a change sooner. "I didn't really want to change this weekend, and for that maybe I am to blame in a way that I thought on a track like this, in Monaco, it was good to start with brakes that I knew," Leclerc said. "Considering the issues I've dealt with, and that there are no solutions on a track like this, there's not much to say." ### Red Bull cleared of red flag infringement, Hadjar keeps podium URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-cleared-of-red-flag-infringement-hadjar-keeps-podium/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T18:19:54.000Z Isack Hadjar has kept his podium finish in Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix after his Red Bull team was cleared of a technical infringement. The Frenchman’s third place finish in the Monte Carlo was put in doubt after his squad was investigated for an alleged technical infringement. Following the red flag that was called due to the track surface breaking up at the final corner, Red Bull set about working on Hadjar’s car to try to cure a power unit problem he had been battling during the grand prix. To help solve his problems, Red Bull mechanics attempted to change the spark plugs/coils on Hadjar's engine but, following intervention from the FIA, it did not proceed with the change in the end. The changing of spark plugs is outside of allowances that are permitted in the technical regulations during red flag stoppages – which includes the repair and replacement of genuine accident damage. But following discussions with the race stewards on Sunday night, and photo evidence presented to the FIA, it was confirmed that Red Bull had not actually changed anything on the car. The stewards stated that as “the car started in the same condition as it arrived in the pits… no further action is taken.” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies explained that his squad had backed away from changing anything once the FIA had communicated what it was and was not allowed to do. “There was a fair amount of confusion there, but we were trying to rectify the issue and we got instructed to leave the car as such, which we did,” he said. Mekies did not offer any further details about whether the new spark plugs were fitted and then replaced, or were never slotted in in the first place. “I will need to go through the sequence, but they \[the FIA\] made clear to us that they would like us to leave the original components.” ### Russell's double penalty that ruined Monaco GP explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-double-penalty-f1-monaco-gp-explained/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T18:13:11.000Z Two penalties wrecked George Russell's Monaco Grand Prix and ensured he's now 68 points behind his championship-leading Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Russell was attempting to bounce back from a difficult qualifying session that left him sixth on the grid and was looking good to improve on that before he exceeded the pitlane speed limit. He was found to be 0.1km/h over the 60km/h limit during his first pitstop, earning himself a five-second time penalty. "The team said there was nothing I did wrong with the speeding in the pitlane," Russell explained after the race. "It's a software issue, we don't know where from. A five second penalty is not ideal, but not the end of the world." Russell might still have finished in the top five, but he didn't serve the penalty correctly when he pitted under a late-race safety car to cover Lance Stroll's crash. His car should have been held in its pitbox for five seconds because it was worked on, but Mercedes - which had double-stacked its cars - began servicing it immediately. "I got the drivethrough because there was a lot of confusion last-minute," Russell said. "I was meant to be staying on track, but then the FIA pulled the cars through pitlane. I was asking the team, 'Am I stopping for tyres or not?' I didn't get an answer, but I saw my set of tyres there. "Everything just happened too quick, and I guess the mechanics didn't get the message that they had to leave the car for five seconds. "Then I was on the radio saying, 'I'm willing to serve the penalty in the next lap' because I had a 20-second gap to \[Pierre\] Gasly behind me, but the rules say we didn't serve the penalty correctly and the punishment's a drivethrough. "I probably, with the software glitch, probably gained one tenth of a second in the whole pitlane and lost 13 positions." Having emerged from the drivethrough in 15th and last, Russell ultimately ended up 12th in the classification - promoted by an immediate post-race penalty for Nico Hulkenberg and one later on Sunday evening for Sergio Perez. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said not serving the penalty properly was "clearly our mistake". He added: "We need to look at our communication, whether we actually expected him to come in, because I think what I remember is about staying out and not coming in. "But nevertheless, you've got to be on it to hold him, and we didn't." ## 'Whole season could look totally different' Having spent post-qualifying expressing bafflement at why he was struggling compared to Antonelli and his potential driving style theory for that, Russell was most exasperated by his bad luck after the race. "I'm beyond frustration now, it's just struggling to comprehend how on earth this season is panning out in the way in it has," he said. "Yesterday was a bad day, and I accept that, but the result of the last two races, I wish I could take some responsibility for the car breaking down in Canada or the penalties today. "But it's been completely outside of my control, and that is an incredibly difficult pill to swallow. "I don't ever really believe in good luck or bad luck, but when I look at the season as a whole, and leading the race in Canada, breakdown, could have been on the podium today, zero points, leading the race in Japan, safety car came out 10 seconds after my pitstop. "There's not a lot, and the whole season could look totally different. Now, I'm \[68\] points off the lead." Russell added: "We're not even 30% of the way through, but there's a lot of points down the drain. It's not been very enjoyable." He said he was in a "very weird state of mind because I've had very low moments in my career where I've maybe had a run of two bad races or three bad races on my own personal performance". "I've never had a run of bad luck like this. It didn't happen when the car was a P7 car two years ago or a P4, P3 car last year. Now I've got the car, it feels very painful. "But there's a long way to go. I still very much believe in myself. I still believe we're going to be fighting for race wins to the end of this year. "There's no reason why we won't be continuing in the next year, but right now it's tough." Russell said "if things balanced out a little more" then the battle with Antonelli would be "very, very close" and he would have "at least two more victories". As you'd probably expect, Wolff said he wasn't worried about Russell's form. "I've talked with him yesterday and today. This is a long championship. Last year, I remember people saying, 'Well, \[Oscar\] Piastri has won that'. It's not necessarily only about one year, but it's many years," Wolff said. "Luck swings in your direction, and then sometimes it doesn't. And it's not a question of not knowing how to drive. "It's about having a car underneath that you feel confident with, and that you can go fast. And that's the fact. Formula 1 is about physics and not mystics. "You don't unlearn how to drive, and you don't become a miracle wonder driver. So I'm not stressed at all for his performances, because we know he's one of the best." ### Cadillac loses first F1 points finish after Perez penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/cadillac-loses-first-f1-points-finish-after-perez-penalty/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T20:03:15.000Z Cadillac has lost its maiden Formula 1 points finish in Monaco due to a post-race penalty that hands the Aston Martin-Honda alliance its first point instead. Perez was 10th in the provisional classification, once Nico Hulkenberg was penalised 10 seconds for a collision with Carlos Sainz, but was summoned to see the stewards after the race over being out of position at the late-race standing restart. That proved to be a fairly slam-dunk case, with Perez handed a 10-second time penalty that dropped him from 10th to 15th and last. The stewards' statement said: "Video evidence showed clearly that the front right wheel of car #11 \[Perez\] was outside the starting box. The standard penalty is applied." That was the second such infringement for Perez during the race as he erroneously pulled up into the vacant grid spot left by Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi (which was starting from the pitlane) and earned a drivethrough penalty he served in the race. Perez and Cadillac's lost first F1 point was Aston Martin and Honda's gain as Perez's penalty promoted Fernando Alonso into 10th place. Bortoleto moved up to 11th ahead of George Russell, Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto. Perez had been confident of keeping the point when he spoke to the media before the decision was made. “We looked at different angles. It's hard to prove from one angle,” Perez said. “When you look from one angle it's clear, but from another it isn't that clear. So, I think they were just checking to make a decision. “Regardless of that, we got P10 on track. We had no benefit of that \[being out of position\]. I actually had a very poor start, but lap one at the restart was incredible. It made us come back.” He added: “From my side, I am optimistic from what I've seen, but at the end it's down to the stewards.” Perez even said there was a consideration to retire from the race at one stage. “The team has to be very proud of the race that we achieved. We didn't give up and it's something great to see from everyone in Cadillac,” Perez said. “We had one of the worst Monaco races I ever remember. We just had everything and we didn't give up and that's something great to see from the team.” Perez said it was “not even in the big dreams” to be finishing in the top 10 so early in Cadillac’s journey. “To make it on our sixth race and be on the points is something tremendous.” “Like I said, regardless of that, a millimetre in or out, whatever they decide, I think it doesn't change the fact that we got it on track by not giving up and by giving our best. The rest will come, I'm confident about it.” ### Is Martin's penalty too small? His boss hints it might be URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/is-martins-penalty-too-small-his-motogp-team-boss-hints-it-might-be/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T17:36:06.000Z Aprilia racing boss Massimo Rivola said he would've readily accepted a harsher penalty to his rider Jorge Martin for the crash that removed Martin and four rivals, including team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, from contention in [the Hungarian Grand Prix](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-beats-acosta-to-victory-as-aprilias-motogp-title-rivals-collide/). Martin lost control of his Aprilia entering Turn 1 after the start and clattered into a group of riders. All five avoided serious injury but Martin, Bezzecchi, Fermin Aldeguer and satellite Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez were out on the spot - while Fabio Di Giannantonio remounted and finished 12th. The stewards [awarded Martin a double long lap penalty](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/martin-penalised-for-hungary-motogp-pile-up-that-took-bezzecchi-out/) for the crash. As he retired on the spot at Balaton, he must take it in the next grand prix he contests - which should be at Brno in a fortnight. The incident has allowed reigning champion Marc Marquez to take a significant chunk out of Bezzecchi's points lead. He is now 72 points back from Bezzecchi and 52 points back from Martin. Aprilia elected not to send out either factory rider in front of the media, instead choosing to make its address via racing boss Rivola - who made the programme's position clear in his words and demeanour. Rivola was not incandescent, but made it clear the responsibility laid with Martin. He apologised to "all the riders involved" - but the implication was that the apology was being delivered on Martin's behalf, and he confirmed Martin himself had sought out Bezzecchi and various members of the crew to make amends. But the apology, though acknowledged as a "good gesture", did little to soothe the blow. And after hearing out Martin's explanation, Rivola still described the incident as "difficult to digest" while speaking to MotoGP.com - and repeatedly referenced the error as being too severe for a rider of Martin's stature. "A world champion, I think he cannot do a mistake like that," Rivola said. "I don't see anything wrong \[in terms of intention\] between our riders, in the behaviour of Jorge - I see just a mistake that someone like Jorge cannot do, and that's it," he added later. He also made the remarkable hint, very rare when it comes to team bosses in MotoGP or other motorsports, that his rider may have warranted a firmer sanction than the double long-lap penalty Martin will serve at Brno. "You spoke about the penalty - maybe, sincerely, we are speaking so much about the safety, I would not have disagreed if the penalty was even stronger and harsher than that. Because the first corner is dangerous and these guys are risking already everywhere, and if we put extra risk it's not necessary." Rivola was slightly less harsh in his words during his talk with the written media shortly afterwards - but still did not shy away from placing the blame on Martin. "The good aspect of today is that no one was badly injured. The risk was super high. What is frustrating to me is that it was one of our riders who made that kind of mistake at the first corner, that we must avoid," he acknowledged. And he dismissed the idea that the first corner at Balaton Park is too dangerous. "The point is that when you know that the conditions are bad, take it more easy." But he also said that Martin's error was less severe than the one that had triggered the previous Martin-Bezzecchi collision, at Motegi last year. "This time, it was… I don't want to say 'a small mistake' but he didn't behave with the front brake as he should have done in that part of the track. That is quite different from Japan. A smaller mistake but the same outcome. For us, even worse.” ### Alpine challenges Monaco GP result over pit penalties URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-challenges-monaco-gp-f1-result-pit-penalties/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T17:54:14.000Z Alpine is challenging the result of Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix by requesting a review of the penalties applied for pitlane speed that cost its driver Pierre Gasly a podium. Gasly was one of many drivers punished for tiny speeding offences in Monaco, with six penalties - two of them incurred by Gasly - during the race after a variety of fines in practice sessions. Gasly was just 0.1km/h and 0.4km/h over the 60km/h limit in his infractions by the FIA's calculations. Under the FIA's right of review system, a penalty can be challenged if "a significant and relevant new element is discovered which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned". The Race understands that the Monaco penalties were mostly earned because drivers were cutting the white line that denotes the fast lane in the area around the Cadillac pit, which is slightly more open this year than when it was funnelled more tightly by barriers on both sides. The speed of a car in the pitlane in F1 is measured using electronic timing loops and the FIA transponders, rather than through a camera or a gun. The car will pass over multiple loops in the pitlane and then the system calculates its speed based on the time taken to travel that distance. As the fast lane is used to calculate the pitlane distance, even a marginally too aggressive cut of the line would shorten it. Gasly finished third on the road but dropped to seventh in the results when his penalty was applied. He was disconsolate afterwards and appeared to hold out hope that either the penalties could be annulled or changes made to the regulation for the future. "I don't think there is anything that could hurt me more right now," he said when asked for his view by The Race. "It's 10 years I'm f\*\*\*ing working my ass off for this type of moment and we did everything right. "Standing on that podium in front of all the fans that turn up - this is the type of moment that, for me, can't be taken away from us by unfair reasons. Because what's going on right now is not right and hopefully they can make the right calls." He was adamant Alpine could prove his car had not actually exceeded the 60km/h limit, and The Race understands this is the case the team is planning to use in its review bid. It is likely to argue that this counts as new evidence because it can only be downloaded from the car after the race. "I know for a fact that what's in the car is below the 60km/h," said Gasly. "I know on both occasions I've put it \[on\] way before the \[pit speed limit\] line. That's probably the most simple setting you can put in a Formula 1 car. "They can see on the data. You can look at the speed that we are going at. It's precise enough. "Hopefully we can fight because it's not going to give my moment back in terms of celebrating on the podium with the people. A podium is a podium and in 10 years I've been fighting very hard to get every single opportunity. I've managed to get five podiums which is not enough if you ask me and I deserve this one. "Hopefully they can do something." ### ADUO F1 engine upgrades decision revealed URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-engine-upgrades-first-2026-fia-decision-revealed/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T19:09:05.000Z Red Bull has been declared Formula 1's best engine under the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system, The Race understands, meaning Mercedes and Ferrari will both get engine upgrades during the 2026 season. The Race has learned that manufacturers were informed on Monaco Grand Prix race day of the FIA's first judgement of the engine pecking order and who will be allowed opportunities to try to gain ground. Under the upgrades system, if a manufacturer is deemed to have a power unit that is more than 2% adrift of the benchmark at a certain point - with the first of three such points in 2026 coming after the recent Canadian GP - then it will be allowed to make one upgrade for 2026 and another for 2027. If the deficit is 4% or more, then the manufacturer will be allowed to make two upgrades this season and two more the following campaign. Although Mercedes has been regarded as the benchmark power unit and is dominating the championship, the Ford-branded Red Bull Powertrains engine has actually been classified as the best under the criteria used for ADUO. The exact metrics of how that is done are not clear as these are not laid out in the regulations, as the FIA was wary of teams trying to game the system if it laid out some clear measurement metrics for what its analysis and decisions would be based on. It suspected some manufacturers would try to engineer power units that would score low in these areas to help it look like they were behind and so qualify for upgrades. Only one power unit element came into play: the internal combustion engine. Any advantage a team has from better energy harvesting, deployment, efficiency, or more advanced management of energy (which includes control of the MGU-K or better battery technology) is totally outside the remit of what falls under the qualifying criteria for additional development opportunities. The Red Bull engine has been ruled the best right now under the FIA's criteria so it does not qualify for ADUO. Mercedes gets one upgrade homologation because it has been judged as more than 2% adrift, while the other manufacturers - including Ferrari - get two homologations because they have been declared over 4% adrift. Because two is the maximum that can be offered right now, the ADUO ruling does not imply that Ferrari and Honda are at the same level, just that both are somewhere over 4% off Red Bull under the rules used. The information that was given to teams was limited in terms of only dividing manufacturers into the two camps of those being 2% adrift and those more than 4% off. What has not been revealed, and is only known to the FIA and the individual manufacturers themselves, is where they fit on the sliding scale elements relating to extra spending under the cost cap and increased bench hours to help them develop the new homologations. Mercedes, as the only manufacturer that is deemed to be 2% off, will get an extra $3million cost cap allowance and an extra 70 hours of bench testing. There is then a sliding scale increase depending on how far adrift each manufacturer is. Anyone that is 4-6% off gets $4.65m and 100 bench hours, a manufacturer that is 6-8% off gets $6.35m and 150 hours, while anyone 8-10% off is allowed $8m and 190 hours. To help Honda out, a new allowance was built in recently allowing any manufacturer more than 10% off to get $11m plus 230 hours of bench testing. ### The strange reason so many cars broke Monaco pit speed limit URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-monaco-gp-speeding-penalty-frenzy-explained/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T17:39:35.000Z The spate of speeding penalties that impacted several drivers in Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix and cost Pierre Gasly a podium were likely a result of drivers effectively cutting the pitlane once they were in it. Five drivers including second-place runner Lewis Hamilton and championship contender George Russell were awarded five-second time penalties for speeding in the pitlane. Gasly, Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto were the other three drivers, with Gasly even picking up a second penalty for speeding again when running through the pitlane behind the safety car following a crash for Lance Stroll at the final corner. It came after four drivers picked up penalties in practice for speeding by 0.5km/h or less: Russell again, but also Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso. Albon was warned late in the grand prix that several drivers were getting penalties and it was related to "cutting the line around the Cadillac area". Cadillac is positioned at the end of the pitlane, which is slightly more open this year than when it was funnelled more tightly by barriers on both sides. This seems to have invited drivers to cut the white line that denotes the fast lane - which is done at both ends of the pits here. It is allowed from a regulatory perspective, but can create an unusual problem: the speed of a car in the pitlane in F1 is measured using electronic timing loops and the FIA transponders, rather than through a camera or a gun. The car will pass over multiple loops in the pitlane and then the system calculates its speed based on the time taken to travel that distance. As the fast lane is used to calculate the pitlane distance, even a marginally too aggressive cut of the line would shorten it. So a car travelling at exactly 60km/h would complete the distance slightly too quickly for how it should be measured, and be very fractionally over the speed limit - hence the tiny margins seen in practice. It is understood that this was discussed between teams and the FIA during the weekend and some drivers were even warned before the race to be careful of their positioning down the pitlane. In the race, the penalties had a significant impact on the order in the top 10 - particularly on Russell, who was running fourth but failed to serve his penalty correctly at a double-stacked Mercedes stop under the safety car, and therefore was awarded a drivethrough penalty. He served this after a late restart bunched the field up so finished down in 13th. Russell said Mercedes had told him "there was nothing I did wrong" and added there was a "software issue". Gasly's brace of penalties also badly hurt him as the Alpine driver finished third on the road but lost his podium finish as an additional 10 seconds dropped him to seventh. Gasly, who was near-disconsolate post race, was 0.1km/h and 0.4km/h over the 60km/h limit on his two offences. He indicated post-race that Alpine would be speaking to the FIA about the issue. ### Antonelli dominates bizarre red-flagged Monaco GP amid penalty frenzy URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-dominates-bizarre-red-flagged-monaco-gp-amid-penalty-frenzy/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T15:54:36.000Z Kimi Antonelli dominated a bizarre Monaco Grand Prix full of penalties and interrupted by a broken track surface, extending his Formula 1 world championship lead to 66 points as George Russell finished 13th. Antonelli's Mercedes led by as much as half a minute and lapped all but the top three before a series of bizarre late twists that didn't ultimately threaten his win. Front row partner Max Verstappen's Red Bull suffered an immediate engine problem at the start and had to retire, and the chasing Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had no answer to Antonelli's pace. A crash for Lance Stroll's Aston Martin at the final corner then started the late madness. It prompted a safety car, after which Leclerc crashed out of third at exactly the same place as he prepared for the restart. The race was stopped as the FIA noted the track surface breaking up at the point where both Stroll and Leclerc had lost control - though both drivers later insisted this hadn't triggered their crashes. The surface was attended to during a pause of just over half an hour before the race resumed with a standing start, during which Antonelli escaped from Hamilton to secure his fifth straight win, with Hamilton's podium bringing him up to second in the championship, two points ahead of Russell. A bizarre total of six pitlane speeding penalties shaped much of what happened behind. Hamilton picked up one of those, which he took during the pitstop he made under the Stroll crash safety car. Russell also incurred one, adding to a miserable race that he'd spent mostly stuck behind Isack Hadjar's Red Bull before jumping it in the scheduled pitstops. But Russell failed to serve his penalty when he pitted again under the safety car, and was therefore given a drive-through penalty before the final restart. He jumped Hadjar off the line for third on the road at that restart and then drove slowly for half a lap, creating a six-second gap to Hamilton ahead before seemingly trying to bolt away from the cars he'd stacked up to create more of a gap to take his penalty. The tactic didn't do much for Russell as he still finished outside the points. In the traffic jam that created, Nico Hulkenberg punted Carlos Sainz's Williams into a spin exiting the Loews hairpin, with Sainz then hit again by Franco Colapinto's Alpine at Portier. Hulkenberg was given a 10s penalty for that incident. Pierre Gasly finished third on the road for Alpine, having also jumped Hadjar at the final race restart, but Gasly had notched up two pitlane speeding penalties so fell to seventh in the results. Hadjar therefore provisionally picks up his first podium for Red Bull but is under investigation for a red flag infringement. McLaren could only manage a muted fourth on the road for Oscar Piastri, with Lando Norris earlier retiring to the pits amid long-running power unit problems. Racing Bulls got two cars in the top six with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad. Williams was heading for a double points finish before Sainz was taken out but Alex Albon at least managed eighth. The litany of penalties and late retirements meant Esteban Ocon took ninth for Haas and Cadillac scored its first F1 point with 10th for Sergio Perez, though Perez faces a post-race investigation for a suspected out-of-position start after the red flag. He earlier served a penalty for the same offence at the original race start. ## Provisional race result 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 3 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 5 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 6 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 7 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 8 Alex Albon (Williams) 9 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 10 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 11 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 13 George Russell (Mercedes) 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) DNF Carlos Sainz (Williams) DNF Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) DNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) DNF Lando Norris (McLaren) DNF Ollie Bearman (Haas) DNF Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) DNF Max Verstappen (Red Bull) ### F1 2026 Monaco Grand Prix results after post-race penalty URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T18:51:47.000Z The 2026 Monaco Grand Prix was a chaotic one - but Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli dominated from start to finish to claim his fifth win in six grands prix. Below you'll find the full result - which changed after the race when Sergio Perez was penalised for being out of position - for a second time in the grand prix - at the restart. That 10-second penalty denied Cadillac its first point in F1 and dropped Perez to last in the classification: ## Monaco GP result 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 78 laps 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +6.271s 3 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +23.394s 4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +24.261s 5 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +26.553s 6 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +29.010s 7 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +30.369s 8 Alex Albon (Williams) +33.413s 9 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +37.410s 10 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +41.899s 11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +42.748s 12 George Russell (Mercedes) +43.353s 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +44.102s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +48.964s 15 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +49.153s DNF Carlos Sainz (Williams) DNF Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) DNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) DNF Lando Norris (McLaren) DNF Ollie Bearman (Haas) DNF Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) DNF Max Verstappen (Red Bull) ### Monaco GP red flagged after F1 cars crash on broken track surface URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-gp-red-flagged-after-f1-cars-crash-on-broken-track-surface/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T15:04:25.000Z Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix has been red-flagged 10 laps from the finish after two separate crashes at the final corner. An initial safety car was called for Lance Stroll crashing his Aston Martin out of 16th place at the final corner. At the subsequent restart, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc went into the wall at the same place while running third. The safety car gathered the field again, but shortly afterwards the FIA suspended the race and it will now inspect the track surface at the area where the two crashes happened, having announced a suspected "track break-up at Turn 19". Ironically both Stroll and Leclerc denied the the track surface caused their crashes, blaming problems with engine braking and brakes respectively. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli has completely dominated so far for Mercedes, with front row partner Max Verstappen's Red Bull [failing at the start](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-ruled-out-of-monaco-gp-immediately/). After temporary repairs at the last corner, the race will restart at 5.12pm local time, just over half an hour after the stoppage. Antonelli will lead it from Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari and Isack Hadjar's Red Bull. The second Mercedes of George Russell fourth but having incurred just a drivethrough penalty for multiple infractions during the race - although Hamilton and Hadjar are also under investigation for safety car procedure infringements. ### Martin penalised for MotoGP pile-up that took Bezzecchi out URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/martin-penalised-for-hungary-motogp-pile-up-that-took-bezzecchi-out/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T14:05:36.000Z Jorge Martin has been awarded a double long lap penalty for his next race after causing a Turn 1 pile-up at [MotoGP’s Hungarian Grand Prix](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-beats-acosta-to-victory-as-aprilias-motogp-title-rivals-collide/). Martin exited Sunday’s race at the first corner after getting out of shape under braking, and lost control of his bike then clattered into Aprilia team-mate and title rival Marco Bezzecchi. It was an incident reminiscent of the pair’s collision in last year’s sprint race at Motegi, with Sunday’s penalty falling in line with what Martin was awarded for his role in that crash last September. The penalty is also consistent with chief steward Simon Crafar’s previous rulings, under which actions that create dangerous situations for multiple riders and/or causing a crash are penalised with a double long lap. Aprilia confirmed both riders suffered contusions after their race was curtailed, though the pair were fortunate to get away with no fractures after being checked at the circuit medical centre. It was a dismal day for Aprilia, with Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez also an unfortunate bystander in the incident, whilst Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer had his race ended as a result of the crash. Fabio Di Giannantonio also was involved, but remounted his VR46 Ducati and rode to a 12th place finish. ### Verstappen ruled out of Monaco GP immediately URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-ruled-out-of-monaco-gp-immediately/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T13:41:52.000Z Max Verstappen retired from the Monaco Grand Prix on the opening lap after his Red Bull Formula 1 engine ‘broke’ already on the formation lap. Verstappen barely moved from second on the grid when the Monaco race began, and was fortunately missed as the entire field came past him. He was at least able to move the car slightly out of the way to the left before getting going at enough speed to bring the car all the way back into the pits to retire. “Already the formation lap was not going very well and the pre-start was terrible and then the engine dropped dead,” Verstappen told Sky once back in the paddock “I only got a little power after one corner and the engine sounded really awful. I couldn’t go full throttle so that was it.” A frustrated Verstappen had told his team on the radio as he returned to the pitlane: “already on the formation lap, the engine is broken. Engine's broken.” Verstappen’s formation lap looked normal from onboard and he completed his burnouts to the grid like normal after instruction from race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. When in position, he was told they needed to select the settings Mode 4 and Strat 3 for the start. There did not seem any issue at this point and Verstappen prepared for the launch as normal but as he dropped the clutch the engine died. “Yep, nice,” he said after the car limped into action. “Completely f\*\*\*ed guys, what the f\*\*k man?” Verstappen then got back to what initially seemed a normal speed, but was clearly compromised and said: “Engine’s broken, guys, come on give some feedback.” After being told to stand by, he had not received further instruction halfway round the lap, so asked: “What should I do?” “Just bring it home,” was the response. “Box, Max.” ### Marquez beats Acosta to victory as Aprilia's title rivals collide URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-beats-acosta-to-victory-as-aprilias-motogp-title-rivals-collide/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T14:06:25.000Z Marc Marquez recorded his 100th career victory after a scintillating battle with KTM’s Pedro Acosta, as both Aprilia riders crashed out in a dramatic Turn 1 at Balaton Park. Marquez and Acosta made it out of the first corner unscathed and commenced battle, which was eventually won by the Ducati rider on lap 13 of 26 after which he pulled away to a dominant two-and-a-half second victory. Both riders were given a comfortable gap for their duel by a five rider crash in which championship contending Aprilia team-mates Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin exited the race at the first corner. Martin got out of shape under braking and wiped out Bezzecchi, as well as Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, in a crash reminiscent of last season’s Japanese Grand Prix incident in which Martin also ploughed into his team-mate. - [**Update: Martin penalised for clash**](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/martin-penalised-for-hungary-motogp-pile-up-that-took-bezzecchi-out/) Gresini Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer and VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio were also collateral damage from the Aprilia coming together, although Di Giannantonio was able to rejoin the action at the back of the field. As the dust settled on the chaotic first corner, Acosta overtook Marquez at Turn 4 on the second lap, but was unable to break away from the Ducati rider in his bid for a maiden MotoGP grand prix victory. Marquez began closing in on lap 11 and made multiple efforts to pass Acosta, who nudged the Ducati rider wide at the penultimate corner next time around. Marquez refused to give up the fight, however, and passed the KTM rider at half race distance, eventually pulling away from Acosta to record his first grand prix victory of the 2026 season and first win in a Sunday race since Misano last September. He is now back within 72 points of Bezzecchi's championship lead. Acosta now holds an unwanted record of being the MotoGP rider with the most podiums without winning a race, as he once again settled for second. Pecco Bagnaia remained out of trouble throughout the race and rounded out the podium with a third place. Aprilia’s sole representative remaining in the race, Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura, showcased his typical late-race pace and outdragged Honda’s Luca Marini to the line in their battle for fourth. Diogo Moreira finished sixth ahead of an impressive stand-in ride from Iker Lecuona, with the Ducati WorldSBK rider passing Jack Miller’s Pramac Yamaha - which had run as high as fourth for much of the race - on the final lap. Enea Bastianini received two long lap penalties, the first for clattering into the side of Honda’s Joan Mir after running wide at Turn 1, but still finished ninth. KTM’s Brad Binder completed the top 10 after getting the better of Toprak Razgatlioglu in the closing stages of the race. Di Giannantonio rejoined the race and finished 12th ahead of Yamaha’s Alex Rins and fellow VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli. Tech3’s Maverick Vinales made sure all four KTM riders earned points by finishing 15th, despite serving a long lap penalty for a shortcut at Turn 10. ## Results 1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 2 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +1.343s 3 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +11.632s 4 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +15.539s 5 Luca Marini (Honda) +18.669s 6 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +21.794s 7 Iker Lecuona (Gresini Ducati) +22.815s 8 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +23.283s 9 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +24.491s 10 Brad Binder (KTM) +24.601s 11 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +25.135s 12 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +28.386s 13 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +29.207s 14 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +31.333s 15 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +32.536s 16 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +54.604s DNF Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) DNF Joan Mir (Honda) DNF Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) DNF Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) DNF Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) DNF Jorge Martin (Aprilia) ### Why Carlyle chose F1 and Red Bull over other sports deals URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/why-carlyle-chose-f1-and-red-bull-over-other-sports-deals/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T10:48:57.000Z What draws a major sponsor into Formula 1? And how do F1 teams get companies to commit to backing them, rather than taking their support to other teams, or even to other sports entirely? In September 2025 Red Bull announced that it was forming the first partnership in F1 between a team and a major global private markets firm, when it signed a multi-year global partnership with Carlyle. Over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Carlyle CEO Harvey Schwartz and Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies sat down with Sara Fischer, media correspondent at Axios, as part of the latest event from The Race x Axios series, which brings together business leaders across Formula 1, media, investment, technology, and global business. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/DSC01874.jpg) Asked why Carlyle got involved in F1, Schwartz said: "We could be involved in a lot of sports. But F1 was a natural fit. "The demographics, it's a young audience, it's more than 40% female. It's global and we're a global firm. We manage $500billion on behalf of people really of all ages. We're one of the largest in the world at doing it. "That was one. Two, we wanted to be attached to an extraordinary brand. Extraordinary people that were focused on excellence. That clearly was Oracle Red Bull Racing. "The trajectory of Formula 1 now is explosive. It's exploding globally with over 800 million fans, and the F1 Movie, and everything happening with Drive to Survive \[on Netflix\]. Because of that, it fits." ## Remarkable timing Schwartz and Mekies revealed that they met in the first week after Mekies took over as team principal at Red Bull in the summer of 2025, with Schwartz joking at the time that if Red Bull didn't win the next race, the deal would be off. As it happened, the next race was the Belgian Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen won the sprint race that kicked off the weekend. Mekies added: "We met about three or four days after I joined. And it's true that he said, 'If you don't win the next race, we don't make the deal'. "But joking aside, I think what resonates specifically with what Harvey said is we choose one by one our partners in order to create a competitive advantage. That's the only thing we do. "We are here to win races. That's the only brief we get from our shareholders. And in order to win races in such a competitive environment against all the other giants of the industry, you need to make sure you surround yourself with the right people. "You get the right people, you win the races. You don't get the right people, you don't win the races. "Red Bull Racing today is 2000 people to invent, design, produce these two cars. And since this year, the Red Bull Ford Powertrain, our own power unit. So it shows that we tend to take things a bit too seriously, but I know the guys do as well at Carlyle. "As soon as we engaged in the conversation with Harvey and his teams, we realised that we were actually in an incredibly similar business. We live and die with our performance." Schwartz said the same thing applies to his team. "We operate a complicated business in a complicated world, but you can really simplify our business too," he added. "Performance is the sole metric by which we have to judge ourselves." ## Personal connections Schwartz also paid tribute to Mekies for the role he's played in steadying the ship at Red Bull, and highlighted the importance of the personal connection they've made away from the track. "As a leader I have deep, deep respect for everything Laurent has done. Our ability to forget is amazing. People forget he stepped into this role at a very critical time when the team wasn't performing very well and instantaneously, like some sort of magic dust landed, the team started performing. "Watching him as a leader and seeing how humble he is and how hard he works and how he's brought the team together, there's a lot to be learned from that. "As soon as we connected with Laurent and the rest of the team, it was quite natural instantaneously. The focus on excellence was a prerequisite, but the personal connection made it special for us. Laurent and I text over the holidays, and I ask how his family's doing." Mekies said that his style at the head of the team is not to think about leadership, but to focus on the culture and environment he can build for the people at Red Bull. "The only thing that matters is to win," he said. "If we win, you get, everything else gets sorted. That's the way we look at it at the factory. So we don't care too much about leadership style. "We only care about building the right cultures, the right environment, the right connection, in order to have our people in a position where they can express their talent the best and fundamentally bring performance to our business. That's really how focused we are on that single aspect." ### What's really going on as McLaren removes new front wing again URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-f1-2026-new-front-wing-removed-again/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T10:08:53.000Z McLaren has admitted that its new front wing concept needs more work after again choosing not to race it at Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix. The world champion team trialled a new front wing concept during practice in Canada a fortnight ago as part of a major update package for the MCL40. However, it elected to not carry it through that weekend because it was not convinced it was a step forward, especially in terms of delivering driver confidence. An updated version of the wing was tested in Monaco, but learnings on Friday were limited when Lando Norris stopped early in second practice. Evaluation continued in final practice with both Norris and Oscar Piastri running it, but in the end McLaren opted to revert to its baseline version of wings from qualifying. The outlier nature of the Monaco track was always going to make it hard to fully understand the benefits of the new wing, but team principal Andrea Stella said McLaren saw enough to understand that the design needs more refinement. Stella said there were "a few more developments coming for the next races" with further testing planned. "In reality, the behaviour of the front wing, which is closer to the expectation, requires a bit more work," he said. "So we will definitely see once more this front wing in the coming events." Stella was not worried that the wing was not working from the off, as he said it was essential McLaren spent its time getting it to work properly rather than rushing through something it was not totally sure about. "It's very important that we do this characterisation very well because, based on this front wing, there will be several developments," he said. "In itself this front wing wasn't expected to be a large step from a number point of view, it was more the beginning of a new concept. "So we wanted to spend enough time, and definitely after Canada there were a couple of things that we needed to rectify, let me say. "But here we are very close to the expectation. I think we are happy with the data we have seen, and from this point onwards, we will start introducing the developments that are based on this new front wing." ## Car characteristics McLaren has not been as strong in Monaco as it had perhaps hoped, with Piastri starting from seventh on the grid and Norris one place further back. But Stella was clear that the team never expected to be a frontrunner due to [two separate factors](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-explains-mclarens-2026-reality-check-in-monaco/): a lack of downforce and it having pursued a design concept that is gentle on tyres, so not ideal for low-energy circuits. But even taking into account the circuit not suiting McLaren, Stella said there was no escaping the fact the team needed to make a push with car upgrades. "It would be a false expectation if you think that we go to a circuit with different characteristics, and now McLaren fights for pole position," he said. "I think this is a bit too optimistic. We know that we have large opportunities in terms of improving the car aerodynamically and the way the car interacts with the tyres, and it's just for us to go and materialise these opportunities. "We're not really hoping for a circuit characteristic. We need to focus on ourselves and improve the car." And although the new front wing may not have hit the ground running, Stella said he was not concerned that meant there was a correlation problem between the factory and the track. "I still think that the rigorous and effective car development remains a point of strength of our team," he said. "We have to say that in the past, when we were delivering packages, they were also very consistent in terms of the downforce that we were able to add to the car. "Because there is so much margin of development, we are adding new components more and more. As soon as they are ready, we add them to the car, because we want to learn as much as possible about the new components and how they behave. "The aerodynamics of the car is not very mature as a consequence of changes in regulations, so we will see more of many parts very often, rather than single packages at specific events." ### F1 2026 is different in Monaco - but it doesn't mean drivers are happy URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-is-different-in-monaco-but-it-doesnt-mean-drivers-are-happy/ Last updated: 2026-06-07T08:26:56.000Z Leading Formula 1 drivers including Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso have warned that Monaco's atypical 2026 spectacle hasn't transformed the divisive driving challenge of these cars into all-out positivity - and has only taped over the cracks in the ongoing engine debate. Changes are already being considered and [debated](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/audis-demand-for-f1s-v8-return-plan/) over the current F1 power units after a rocky start to the new era in 2026 as the new recharge modes have proved divisive and unpopular. In Monaco, however, recharge isn't as much of a factor given the amount of hard braking zones that essentially keep the battery topped up. Drivers remarked that they spent less time worrying about recharging and more time setting quick laps for the first time this season. "What you see today is probably the most pure qualifying laps you've seen all year," said Norris after putting his McLaren eighth on the grid for Sunday's race. "At the same time, I'm not coming in and going, 'Yeah, it was way better, therefore I'm happy'. "You're still looking at your dash, trying to get the recharge off at the right time, get the turbo in the right point, get the battery in the right point. It's just stuff we shouldn't be looking at and trying to figure out. "There's still going to be a crash at some point because someone's just looking at their dash trying to figure stuff out." Charles Leclerc, who [hit the wall](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-driver-issues-that-spoiled-ferraris-monaco-pole-bid/) at the end of qualifying in his chase for pole position - just before Kimi Antonelli crossed the line to grab it for Mercedes - was succinct in his response to Norris's comments. "I agree, there was no energy thoughts during the lap, which is a good thing. It was full attack from the beginning to the end. It's something I enjoy." Audi's Nico Hulkenberg added that Monaco was "encouraging" given its "energy-rich" layout of corners. But Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was far more pointed in his continued criticism of the current regulations. After Friday practice he called this "probably the worst generation of cars I ever drove in Monaco" and suggested "hybrid cars should not be racing" because of how inconsistent the interaction between power unit and brakes is. "The generation of these cars is...they are not good," he said after qualifying. "Obviously, we are not meant to criticise anything. Some are more public, some less public. But we are talking about changing the engine for next year and changing the engine for 2030 on race six. "So that tells you, no one is happy with the current cars. If they are more publicly \[outspoken\] or not, it's their own decision." The fact F1 cars are not using active aerodynamics this weekend, and Monaco is such a good layout for energy recovery that no car is needing to lift and coast or use the combustion engine to charge the battery, means the focus has shifted more towards pure chassis and tyre performance and allowed the drivers to focus more on driving. But even so there is a variance in enjoyment based on an individual driver's frame of reference. Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton bemoaned the lack of downforce and overall grip offered by this generation of car, calling it a "step down" while recalling much fonder memories of his earliest Monaco Grands Prix - in 2007 and 2008. And Alonso's misery must be put in the particular context of Aston Martin being so far off the pace of other cars, something his team-mate Stroll pointed out. "Some guys are going only, I think, one second slower than the ground effect \[cars of 2025\], we're going like five to six seconds slower than the ground effect," Stroll said. "For me it's not so enjoyable, but I guess it depends on the car you drive. Some cars are going five, six seconds quicker \[than us\] so probably a lot more downforce, a lot more grip and then it's more enjoyable to drive." ### How the lack of a debrief ignited Coulthard's post-F1 TV business URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/how-the-lack-of-a-debrief-ignited-coulthards-post-f1-tv-business/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T20:27:33.000Z With the Whisper TV production company he co-founded thriving across Formula 1 coverage and beyond, David Coulthard has created one of the most impressive post-racing business careers of the drivers from his F1 era. And he says it’s F1’s focus on fixing weaknesses that set him up for that success. Speaking at The Race x Axios event in Monaco, in collaboration with Red Bull and Carlyle, Coulthard revealed that the lack of an F1-style analytical debrief in his early television appearances with the BBC lit a fuse for how he could do things differently if he went into the production industry. “We’d done all the pre-briefs and all the things I was used to,” Coulthard recalled of his BBC F1 debut at the start of the 2009 season, “but in Formula 1 the debriefs arguably are more important because that's where you see where you got it right but, more importantly, where you got it wrong. “Because that's your biggest source of potential is where you got it wrong. And sport teaches you every week that you get something wrong. “Even in success, there's something that wasn't quite right. So we did the broadcast and I went back to the TV compound and I said, ‘when are we doing the team debrief?’ And the lead person said, ‘no, we don't do that’. “And my heart sank, having grown up my whole life within a team and sharing the good and the bad and really understanding not what really we've done well, because that's what we're supposed to do. And I'm like, ‘is this really how television is?’ I thought ‘the BBC, you know, world renowned, they must be across every detail’. And they weren't. “So that struck a little spark in my mind. And over the next year, I figured out who are the good people within the BBC and identified two guys particularly. And I went to them and said, ‘if I fund the start-up, will you come and come and work?’ And I said, ‘our goal is we'll produce Formula 1 television one day’. “They believed in it, somehow they saw that I had some sort of vision - and I had no clue about television other than being a commentator. Anyway, we started Whisper. And seven years later, we signed to do Channel 4 broadcast for Formula 1. “And today we do Formula 1, we do Formula E, we're doing Roland Garros, we do the entire host broadcast for Wimbledon, SailGP, and cricket. We're across so many different sports, we have 300 permanent staff. “And we've grown out of my need and my passion to be part of teams with an attitude of ‘what can we do better?’ Not an attitude of ‘you're great, you're great’. “Of course, you want to work with great people. But as human beings, we don't always get it right. And I don't have a problem not getting it right. “That gives me an opportunity to be even better. And that was the sort of catalyst of where Whisper came from.” ## The hotel adventure ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/DSC01715.jpg) Even while still in F1, Coulthard became co-owner of the Monaco hotel that became the Columbus during his 10-year tenure. “I'd been living here for several years and I didn't really have a purpose in Monaco, other than it was my home and the grand prix was here once a year. And I just had that need to have something here that I could be part of, that I could influence,” he explained. “So I bought a hotel with some partners in Fontvieille. And it was a brilliant 10-year experience.” His attitude of ‘how can I make this better?’ was evident in that endeavour as well - as he tried to correct the customer experience mistakes he’d seen at hotels while travelling for his career. “You turn up at a hotel and they kind of act surprised that you've arrived,” he said. “It just takes too long and it's just not a great guest experience. “So anyway, I bought a hotel and got involved for 10 years and annoyed people by the attention to detail and sold it and made a little bit of money. Actually, I made a lot of money, but I'm Scottish and therefore modest…” ### Mercedes rear wing mod potentially decisive in Antonelli's Monaco pole URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-rear-wing-mod-potentially-decisive-in-antonellis-monaco-pole/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T19:07:40.000Z The trick rear wing that Mercedes brought to Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix had an expected laptime gain bigger than Kimi Antonelli’s pole position margin, team sources have suggested. Antonelli secured pole position from Max Verstappen by 0.043 seconds on Saturday, after a [thrilling shootout](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-qualifying/) in the dying minutes of qualifying. The final result was down to a host of factors coming together - including an overnight set-up overhaul - but it was not lost on the team that the marginal gains delivered by the wing could have made the ultimate difference. Mercedes was one of several teams to exploit the active aero ban, introduced on safety grounds, for the Monte Carlo street circuit. With the normal rear wing activation devices not needed, teams had jumped on a legality box allowance to fit some complex mini wings. Team sources have suggested that the predicted gains from the Mercedes design was in the region of 0.045 to 0.05 seconds - greater than the eventual 0.043s gap between Antonelli and Max Verstappen. And while the team did not run any back-to-back tests in Monaco to correlate its findings from factory to track, it found that the wing justified its presence on the car. This was especially true because, without it, Red Bull’s decision to introduce its own winglets could have been decisive in the qualifying battle at Monaco. ![Red Bull rear wing Monaco 2026](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/SI202606050528.jpg) It was certainly a point not lost on Lewis Hamilton, who referenced that Ferrari had potentially missed a trick in not chasing the same exploit. Ferrari had arrived in Monaco as the favourites and backed that up with 1-2s on Friday, but its pace fell away in qualifying, and Hamilton ended up third with team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth. Asked by The Race about the factors that had gone against the squad, Hamilton said: “Apart from wanting more downforce globally, I think when we arrived on Thursday we saw other people, those guys, with trick additions to their wing. “We didn’t have that, which was a little bit of a surprise.” ## How Mercedes cured its Friday woes While the contribution of the wing was an interesting aspect of Antonelli’s pole position, there is no doubt that Mercedes's Saturday set-up changes were a major factor. Both Antonelli and team-mate George Russell had struggled for pace on Friday practice - uncomfortable over the bumps and overheating their rear tyres in the final sector. Mercedes worked hard overnight in the simulator at its Brackley factory to make the tweaks that helped Antonelli. “Yesterday, I’m not going to lie, we were struggling,” Antonelli said. “So the team did a great job with overnight correlation, to do big changes on set-up, and the car just felt much more alive this morning. It was also more forgiving, much more on kerb cutting, bumps... “It made us gain so much in terms of performance between yesterday and today and allowed us to fight for pole.” The Race understands that the changes revolved around mechanical aspects of the car. This included softening the ride to allow Antonelli and Russell to attack the kerbs more. But perhaps most important were adjustments to the mechanical balance that were aimed at evening out the tyre temperatures between the front and rear axles so the W17 was in a more comfortable window for the entire lap. Those tweaks, in combination with Antonelli nailing the preparation laps and dealing comfortably with track grip falling away amid rising temperatures, transformed Mercedes’ fortunes. ### F1 2026 Monaco Grand Prix starting grid URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-starting-grid/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T18:44:36.000Z Kimi Antonelli will start the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix from pole position after winning a thrilling Q3 shootout with Red Bull's Max Verstappen by just 0.043 seconds. Given how difficult overtaking usually is around the Monte Carlo street circuit, Antonelli should expect a clear run to victory in Sunday's race - if he can get off the start line properly... Here's how the rest of the 22-car grid lines up for one of F1's most famous races. ## Monaco GP starting grid 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 6 George Russell (Mercedes) 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 8 Lando Norris (McLaren) 9 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 11 Alex Albon (Williams) 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 15 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 19 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### What explains McLaren’s 2026 ‘reality check’ in Monaco URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-explains-mclarens-2026-reality-check-in-monaco/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T18:09:32.000Z McLaren’s lack of pace at the Monaco Grand Prix should serve as a “reality check”, according to Lando Norris - but why has McLaren struggled so much at a race it won last year? McLaren’s place in the pecking order has swung from track to track, but it was a victory contender at Suzuka, won the Miami sprint race and scooped second amid the Mercedes drivers tangling in the Montreal sprint. But Sunday in Monaco will be a case of damage limitation, with its drivers Oscar Piastri and Norris seventh and eighth in qualifying, over half a second off the pace. “We're just lacking grip compared to the others,” Piastri told media including The Race, after qualifying. “Compared to yesterday, the car actually felt a pretty decent step nicer to drive, which is good but also bad when you're still as far off as we are. “We have got a bit closer, things feel a bit nicer, but when you are lacking grip, unfortunately, there's not too many levers you can pull to make up for it.” Piastri admitted his wall touch at Rascasse on his first lap of Q3 was because “you've got to find a fair bit of time to even stand a chance of being with the others, \[so\] mistakes and then wild moments are going to happen.” Norris called Monaco a “reality check” of how far off the pace the 2026 McLaren truly is. “I'm the one driving the car, so I can tell the difficulty of extracting laptime, how difficult it was already last weekend in Montreal,” Norris said. “That's why I was so surprised last weekend to be as competitive as we were. Coming here... it’s not an eye-opener, but still a slight reality check of how far off we are. “Honestly, when you look at where we've been good, it's still been not, crazy slow speed tracks, where it was Suzuka, Miami… and into Montreal, my expectations were not high. “If you ask me coming into Monaco, I think I said it probably last weekend, I didn’t have high hopes into this weekend. The car is just very difficult to drive, not very compliant, not very forgiving in any way. My confidence level last year was 100, now it's 85 and around Monaco you need to be around 100.” Norris put this down to McLaren’s grip and downforce deficiency. “We got the tyres to work in the end, we were struggling yesterday, I think we got it in a better window but...When you have less grip and less downforce, it's a bigger struggle to get everything to work,” he said. “So maybe comparing to others, yes \[we didn’t get the front tyres working as well\], but the big thing is we just don't have the grip, we don't have the load, the car doesn't perform as well as it needs to and it's as simple as that.” ![McLaren's Lando Norris in Monaco, 2026](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1414101_HiRes.jpg) Team boss Andrea Stella named the McLaren MCL40 being gentle on its tyres as one of two reasons why McLaren had low expectations for Monaco, along with the “clear objective” of addressing the aerodynamic load deficit. “The MCL40, partly by design, and partly because we want to improve this factor as well, it's very gentle on the tyres, and when you have events where you actually have to be good at introducing energy and heat in the tyres, then we struggle a bit,” Stella explained. “So, it was not an easy task to find the right window for the tyres. We needed to work the tyres in the preparation lap in a certain manner, and still we know that, especially in the initial part of a lap, we seem to be losing time compared to some other people. “So, in Monaco, these two factors, overall grip and load, and the second one, the way you work the tyres, are very essential.” ## **More was possible?** Stella felt McLaren could have been on the third row as the team made “significant steps” forward with the set-up overnight, having started “on the backfoot”. “That progression was clear in Q1 and Q2, where the car appeared to be much more competitive, relatively,” Stella said with Norris fourth in Q1 and fifth in Q2\. “Unfortunately, we didn’t quite manage to put it all together in Q3\. Lando was on a very strong final lap and was up by a couple of tenths, but a lock-up at the chicane meant we left some performance on the table. As a result, we will lock out the fourth row for tomorrow's race. “It’s clear this specific circuit configuration doesn't entirely suit our car's characteristics, and we have work to do to improve in these conditions.” Norris put that error at the Nouvelle chicane to “pushing a bit too much trying to find three tenths and locked up”. Had Norris pieced his best qualifying sectors together, he’d have found 0.262s, which would have put him ahead of Piastri but still only seventh. However, you’d expect that without the last lap mistake, Norris could have gone on to improve his sectors and potentially pipped Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull or George Russell’s Mercedes. But instead, McLaren is facing a tough Sunday from seventh and eighth on the grid and is relying on opportunities to “repay the team’s hard work” in breaking the curfew to work until 4am on Saturday to repair and strengthen Norris’s car after his practice stoppage. ### The driver issues that spoiled Ferrari's Monaco pole bid URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-driver-issues-that-spoiled-ferraris-monaco-pole-bid/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T17:57:11.000Z Neither Ferrari Formula 1 driver felt comfortable in the crucial moments of Monaco Grand Prix qualifying as the team's strong start to the weekend failed to translate into pole. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will start third and fourth in a disappointing final result for Ferrari, which had dominated Friday practice and looked like the biggest threat to Mercedes' world championship leader Kimi Antonelli into qualifying. However, Hamilton was left bemoaning a lack of confidence in the car at the start of the qualifying that threw his rhythm through the session, while Leclerc has battled braking issues all weekend. Leclerc aborted his first run in Q3 after running wide at Massenet, briefly went quickest with his second, and his last run was a better lap until he tagged the wall with the rear at Tabac after a bit of oversteer mid-corner. Asked by The Race about that final run, Leclerc described it as "very much on the edge" and came undone with "maybe dirty air" despite there being no direct traffic ahead, which left the car moving around already on corner entry. His bigger problem this weekend, though, has been repeated discomfort on the brakes - which has led to significant complaints over the radio in every session. "Well, the thing is that I'm definitely not knowing what I'm having," said Leclerc when asked by The Race to explain the braking inconsistency and what response he was feeling. "It's a bit of a discovery whenever I get on the brakes and I don't want to go too much into the detail, and I won't go into more detail than what I've said, but it's been extremely inconsistent, and I've just been struggling massively. "Whether it was in Montreal or here, especially when tyres are just not in the right window and the tyre is also digital on top of that, the inconsistency from the car made it very difficult." The digital tyre reference means that Leclerc feels the tyre grip is either there, or not. It is behaving in a binary manner rather than progressively gaining or losing grip, making it difficult to judge the tyre's behaviour. Leclerc, who said he has been "struggling recently" with this problem when asked if it was there all season, also confirmed that "corner to corner it is not really behaving the same way". "It's just extremely tricky," he said. "We are speaking about details, but I think the fact of being in or out the window of the tyre all the time, these fine details makes a huge difference. "I've just been struggling with it." As for Hamilton, he said "I really, really don't know" what made his car balance shift so much from Friday to Saturday. Hamilton felt the car had too much front end at the start of qualifying so he had to reduce the wing angle significantly to settle the rear down. He said this made the Ferrari "a little bit more reasonable" by his final run in Q3, but he needed to start qualifying with that feeling to build through the session "because it's all about confidence" in Monaco. "It was completely gone in Q1 and then I was trying to pull back what I could," said Hamilton. "So I think I'm relatively happy with P3\. Obviously P1 is what I really wanted and I really felt like the team deserved to finally get it. And I felt capable. "I'm in a really good place with the car. I'm in really good place with the team. And you can see that I have decent pace still in me. "There's no lacking pace, which I'm really grateful and happy about, regardless of all the negative comments people have made. "So it's good I just keep on putting the work in, and I'll keep showing up, and I'll keep delivering." ### Winners and losers from MotoGP's Balaton sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/winners-and-losers-from-motogps-balaton-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T17:05:15.000Z MotoGP’s Balaton Park sprint race was underwhelming at best as a spectacle. But nonetheless, we’ve managed to compile a list of winners and losers for their respective Saturday efforts, including… ## Winner: Marc Marquez (1st) Arguably the only winner of the day, Marc Marquez returned to the dominant level of performance we’ve been used to as he completely upstaged the rest of the field. It was a demolition job, really. Marquez described his level as being in “super sport mode” after “going full attack in the first three laps” to break the spirit of Pedro Acosta behind. No matter where he was on the track, the Ducati rider looked by far the strongest of the field and capitalised to take his third sprint win of the season. Admittedly, tomorrow’s race might be a struggle for the reigning world champion so early in his return, even if he’s feeling “stronger than expected”. However, if he gets the start, given the nature of this track, even the typically coy Marquez admitted that anything is possible. **– Eden Hannigan** ## Loser: Pedro Acosta (2nd) On Friday, Pedro Acosta looked like only a major overnight improvement from Aprilia and/or sudden surge of better-than-expected fitness from Marquez was standing between him and a first MotoGP victory. The Aprilia thing has not happened - the Marquez thing has. Though it was fine margins in qualifying for pole, Acosta acknowledged in the race aftermath that even had he led out of Turn 1 Marquez would've found a way past more likely than not at the end of the opening lap. Suddenly, a massive obstacle stands again between Acosta and a first grand prix win with KTM. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: Fermin Aldeguer (5th) Fermin Aldeguer gets some kudos for providing perhaps the sole source of entertainment with his efforts trying to get past both Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez. However, where Aldeguer loses some credit is in the errors he made whilst trailing the pair, which meant the Gresini Ducati rider was fortunate not to crash out of what ultimately became fifth at the chequered flag. Aldeguer conceded that “when you're on the limit, you do this kind of mistake”, which may be true, but those two errors are what undoubtedly cost him a podium from the sprint. **\- EH** ## Winner: Marco Bezzecchi (3rd) This was, all in all, a good day for Bezzecchi's championship - though he'll need to repeat the trick tomorrow, having left himself with a little too much to do in terms of grid position. His race pace was worse than third, but his single-lap performance had been better than sixth. Upset with himself over errors in Q2, he saw an open door into Turn 1 as Aldeguer chose to cover off Pecco Bagnaia and pounced, before holding his nerve over the rest of the race to bag a podium. His championship lead is up to 20 points for the first time this season - and only five were lost to Marquez, though another blow on that front is likely coming on Sunday. **\- VK** ## Loser: Franco Morbidelli (19th) In a bad rut again since midway through the Mugello weekend, Franco Morbidelli is having a particularly bleak weekend also because Gresini’s stand-in Iker Lecuona is clearly outperforming him. He admitted he had "feared" this scenario, and it has so far played out in every competitive session - at a track where Morbidelli picked up a sprint podium last year. **\- VK** ## Winner: Diogo Moreira (7th) A solid rookie season keeps getting better, with Diogo Moreira putting in the consistent performances that proved exactly why LCR Honda called upon his services this season. Moreira qualified well enough in 11th, but the impressive part was how he kept his nerve at the traffic jam that is Balaton Park’s Turn 1 and emerged in seventh. He did more than enough to stay there throughout the race to collect some welcome points. Another good start to the weekend, and Moreira is more than capable of making that count ahead of tomorrow. **\- EH** ## Loser: Fabio Di Giannantonio (10th) Fabio Di Giannantonio has had some pace this weekend, but was simply unable to convert it into any meaningful result. He went backwards after heading up the second row of the grid, and points never looked on the cards, not even with a half-hearted divebomb on Bagnaia on the last lap that was lucky not to have cost the VR46 Ducati rider more. It could have been so much better, but Saturday ultimately proved a fruitless day for Di Giannantonio. **\- EH** ## Loser: Ai Ogura (11th) Considering his usual Saturday morning struggles, Ai Ogura starting from 10th initially looked to be a promising sign of his potential for the weekend. However, it never really materialised after struggling on the brakes, which is something of an abnormality for an Aprilia rider this season, as he was the only rider on an RS-GP to come away without a point. Ogura recognised the need to qualify better which could have found him out of any trouble at Turn 1, but also reckoned with the idea of having to “manage better” when he does find himself in the middle of the pack. That fact was precisely what caused his undoing today. **\- EH** ## Winner: Enea Bastianini (8th) While sprint races are usually the great undoing for Enea Bastianini, today proved that he can make progress exactly when he needs to. From a disappointing 14th in qualifying, Bastianini made it into the top 10 on the start, and held his nerve to get a welcome handful of points. All in all, a good effort from clearly the second best KTM rider this weekend. **\- EH** ## Losers: Brad Binder (16th) and Maverick Vinales (19th) While Acosta leads the line for KTM and Bastianini is at least there or thereabouts, both Brad Binder and Maverick Vinales are coming up empty. Crashes in Friday practice and Q1 have all but undone Binder's weekend (and a fantastic start in the sprint was wrecked by overshooting Turn 1 badly), but he's still well ahead of Vinales - who, though made to look worse in the sprint by a failure to disengage the start device in the first braking zone, remains physically compromised and is also less attuned to the bike than he'd expected to be by this point. **\- VK** ## Loser: The show Balaton Park is not anathema to good motorcycle racing, but good premier-class racing is a different question - and certainly the 13-lap sprint wasn't 'good' by most estimations. It was a processional race - put on in front of not very many fans at all at a venue that isn't expected to keep MotoGP next year - in which the smart move was to stay tucked in and finish in your current position, and ambition seemed to backfire. The identity of the winner made for a nice storyline, but getting there was a tough watch. **\- VK** ### What's so concerning about Russell's Antonelli admission URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/whats-so-concerning-about-russells-antonelli-admission/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T16:47:02.000Z George Russell was at a loss to explain why he qualified a concerning sixth for the Monaco Grand Prix while Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Kimi Antonelli took pole position - and his worries go beyond this weekend. Russell has already fallen 43 points behind Antonelli in the championship prior to Monaco and will be relying on a disastrous Sunday for Antonelli to avoid dropping further behind. He ended up almost four tenths of a second slower than Antonelli in Q3 and has both Red Bulls and both Ferraris between his team-mate and him. When Russell arrived at the assembled media, including The Race, he was at a loss to explain exactly what went wrong - and pointed to a wider, worrying trend. "I don't really know what's going on, to be honest," Russell said. "It's clearly something in my driving that's not helping the car at the moment. "But that was there at the start of the year as well, and if I look at Melbourne and at least China until I had my issues, it was P1 every single session, and every lap I did was good. "The last three races have just been nowhere. Even in Canada, I was nowhere until the last lap of Q3 in both sessions. So I don't have an answer for that." What perplexed Russell even more is that he "went out in FP3 and on my first lap, I was four tenths ahead of everybody, and everything felt back to normal. Then from thereon in it's just not been the same. "So as I said, I really don't have an answer right now, and until I can make some adaptation or adjustments, it's going to continue like this." That's so concerning for Russell because of how thick and fast the 2026 races are going to come with Monaco the first of six races in eight weeks. **The driving style theory** One explanation Russell did float is that the 2026 Mercedes is no longer meshing with his driving style and is instead better suited to Antonelli. That was the reverse of the 2025 trend when the Mercedes developed away from a driving style Antonelli was comfortable with and led to a sizeable mid-season dip. "There's clearly a difference in driving style between the two of us, which has been there last year as well, but played into my hands very well last year and it clearly is playing into his hands perfectly well this year," Russell said. "But it still doesn't answer why I was so good at the start of the year and so poor now. So we need to look at why that is. "It's clear in the data; the difference is how we're driving has such an impact on the tyres, and he's just getting the tyres in a nicer window than me, \[and\] a nicer balance over the course of a lap, and the pace is just coming easier for him. So yeah, I don't know why that is." Russell ruled out the influence of Mercedes' first big 2026 upgrade in Montreal because "we brought the upgrade to Canada and I was on pole". He continued: "I've got some ideas why it is, but as I said, I've been driving this manner my whole career, and now for whatever reason it's not working with this car. "Last year's car, Kimi was trying to drive it my way, and it was also not working for him. So it's no excuse, it's just a reality, and I need to either work with the team to adjust my driving to compensate \[for\] these new tyres, these new cars, or I need to find a different set-up that works for me. "But it's not clicking right now." ### Winners and losers from 2026 Monaco Grand Prix F1 qualifying URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-losers-f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T17:02:08.000Z The Monaco Grand Prix is the only place on the Formula 1 calendar where the championship leader ending up on pole feels like a bit of a surprise. Here's our assessment of who can be proud of their efforts in that stunning qualifying session, and who just blew their weekend. ## Loser: Ferrari (3rd & 4th) It's the hope, etcetera. After Friday's practice 1-2s, this was Ferrari's weekend - until Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen entered the ring. After Q1, Charles Leclerc looked a bit lost. He had a moment through Massenet in Q3 that put him out of sync, forcing him to end the session with two push laps - the last of which ended with him hitting the barriers while Antonelli took pole. It could have been worse than fourth on the grid - but after Friday, he wouldn't have settled for this. Neither would Lewis Hamilton, who was well off the pace in Q2 - and still making front wing angle changes during that session. A baffling fall from Ferrari, which seemed at sea when it mattered most. **\- Samarth Kanal** ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st) Staring, slackjawed in awe, there are few superlatives worthy of Antonelli's pole lap. He put that micron-perfect flying lap in right at the death of an exceptional qualifying battle in Monaco to beat Verstappen by just 0.043s. Given Ferrari's pace in FP1 and FP2, Antonelli was on the back foot going into Saturday. Mercedes found huge gains overnight and in FP3. He then had the measure of team-mate George Russell throughout qualifying and it all came down to that last qualifying run. The Monaco GP is now Antonelli's to lose. **\- SK** ## Loser: George Russell (6th) "Bamboozled" was the word Russell used to describe his confusing lack of pace compared not only to Red Bull and Ferrari, but also to team-mate Antonelli. The pre-season title favourite then spoke about how this generation of cars just isn't conducive to his driving style. He looked, and sounded, defeated after qualifying. On Sunday he could find himself staring at a gulf of more than 60 points to Antonelli. **\- SK** ## Winner: Max Verstappen (2nd) Beaten to pole narrowly by championship leader Antonelli, this was still a vintage performance from Verstappen. You can obviously never count him out around a place like Monaco, where the driver can make that last bit of difference if they're feeling confident in the car underneath them. The 2026 Red Bull looks pretty handy through low-speed corners and that, combined with Verstappen's special talents, made for an absorbing pole position shootout with Mercedes' teenaged sensation. As Anthony Davidson's excellent 'Sky Pad' analysis showed, Verstappen was mighty through Casino Square - absolutely inch perfect and supremely fast, as Antonelli left just a touch of extra margin through the crucial right-hander. Antonelli was almost unmatched at later flicking the car left then right through the chicane after the tunnel - and crucially keeping to the right after jumping the right-side kerb, to try to straight-line the acceleration zone towards Tabac. Verstappen was pretty near matching Antonelli through that bit too, and there was basically nothing in it except for a slightly tidier run through Rascasse for Antonelli. It was a brilliant qualifying battle, one Verstappen clearly enjoyed despite ending up marginally on the wrong side of it. **\- Ben Anderson** ## Loser: Audi (13th & 16th) Audi went into qualifying as a favourite to get its cars into Q3 along with the big four, so both Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto ending up deep in the midfield represents a missed opportunity. Although both cars in theory made it to Q2, it had started to unravel in Q1 when Bortoleto clipped the inside wall at the Nouvelle Chicane entry. Although he'd already set a lap good enough to advance, he took no further part and ended up 16th - kicking himself for the fact he "pushed a bit too much in Q1, where there was no need". Hulkenberg described his Q3 lap as "clean", but struggled as "it plateaued out for us, the grip level, and I'm struggling to find laptime". **\- Edd Straw** ## Winner: Pierre Gasly (9th) This wasn't quite a 'where the heck did that come from?' performance from Gasly, considering the lowest he'd been in any practice session (albeit in final practice) was 13th. But this year's clear midfield benchmark car looked more like Q2 fodder here than it had done at any other point since the Australian GP season opener, so the fact Gasly ended up with best of the rest honours again points to a job maximised - especially in squeaking through to Q3 by 0.025s. That probably owed a little to Audi underperforming, sure, but this by no means looks like Alpine's happiest hunting ground. So all the while it's struggling to get two cars at the same level - for whatever reason, be it car- or driver-related - it's vital it maximises those 'bad days'. On that score, this represents a job well and truly done. **\- Jack Cozens** ## Loser: McLaren (7th & 8th) McLaren team principal Andrea Stella talked up McLaren's low-speed corner performance after Canada, and so perhaps there was some expectation last year's Monaco winner (and world champion) Lando Norris might be a pole contender here, considering drivers from Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari were all in the fight at some stage. Norris himself disagreed with Stella's assessment and the driver ultimately was proven right, as McLaren found itself cast adrift behind the top three teams and unable even to pick off the struggling Russell, with both drivers basically lacking overall aerodynamic load and thus grip rather than chasing any particular balance issue with the car. Norris called Monaco a "reality check" for McLaren, saying the car was "just very difficult to drive, not very compliant, not forgiving in any way". "My confidence level last year was 100, now it's 85 and around Monaco you need to be around 100." **\- BA** ## Winner: Liam Lawson (10th) Given a Racing Bulls car had not climbed higher than 14th place in any of the three practice sessions, it seemed more likely the team would be at risk of elimination in Q1 than reaching the top 10. But not only did both make it to Q2, but Lawson even reached Q3. Although he was a clear last in the final segment of qualifying, 0.186s slower than Gasly's Alpine just ahead, he'd used his last fresh set of softs on the first run so was on used rubber for the best of the conditions. But ultimately, he'd already aced the session by making the top 10. Given Lawson had a tricky FP3, with a couple of lairy moments that required collecting up when the rear end of the car gave up on him, it was a big surprise to see him and Racing Bulls in Q3 and required outstanding execution. **\- ES** ## Loser: Haas (17th & 19th) Both Haas drivers lamented their luck after their Q1 exits. "I feel like I say that every time. The luck is not with us this year so far," said 17th-place qualifier Esteban Ocon. It's true both he and Ollie Bearman were unfortunate; the Bortoleto-induced red flag caused both to abandon laps that would at the very least have been improvements and most likely would've been enough to guarantee passage to Q2. Ocon even pondered whether Q3 might've been possible, Haas having rectified a "weird delivery on downforce" with parts changes for Saturday that meant "suddenly the car woke up in FP3". But as he conceded too, the red flag did expose a weakness: "The problem we have is that we can't warm up the tyres on just an out \[lap\] and a push. We need a prep lap, otherwise we have no grip." Bearman agreed, claiming his final push lap was five tenths down on his abandoned effort by the time he was in the tunnel and saying he'd been "pushing 110%, giving it everything" in search of an "everything" lap. So maybe one car was doomed by the red flag. And maybe it's just a Monaco anomaly. But it should be food for thought - because ultimately one car (Carlos Sainz's Williams, which jumped from a likely Q1 exit to an eventual cusp-of-the-top-10 start in that post-red-flag dash) being able to switch its tyres on and another (the Haas) not being able to is probably the difference now between a shot at points and a point-less Sunday afternoon. **\- JC** ### Antonelli denies Verstappen pole as Leclerc hits wall on final lap URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-denies-verstappen-pole-f1-monaco-gp-qualifying-leclerc-hits-wall/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T15:19:01.000Z Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli snatched Monaco Grand Prix pole position away from Max Verstappen as Ferrari's challenge fell short in qualifying. Rivals had tipped Ferrari as favourite in the build-up and it lived up to that status on Friday, before a more muted start to Saturday in practice and the early qualifying segments as Mercedes driver Antonelli hit his stride. When Charles Leclerc had to abandon his first Q3 lap having slid into Massenet, the pole fight looked like it was down to Antonelli versus Verstappen - who were just 0.001 seconds apart after their first runs. But Leclerc went out early for what would now be his sole pole shot and temporarily snatched provisional pole by 0.024s. He couldn't stay there - first Verstappen put Red Bull back to the top with a time 0.257s ahead of the Ferrari, then Antonelli pipped Verstappen by just 0.043s with what proved to be an unbeatable time. Leclerc tapped the barrier at Tabac on his final effort to fight back and ended up only fourth behind Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton. George Russell had no answer to Mercedes team-mate and title rival Antonelli. He was 0.394s slower than the sister car and starts only sixth, behind Isack Hadjar's Red Bull and ahead of the off-the-pace McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly's Alpine and Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls complete the top 10. Audi's practice pace made it look like a very strong Q3 contender but its qualifying session went awry early when Gabriel Bortoleto broke his suspension against the barrier turning into the chicane. His stranded car prompted a late-Q1 red flag and a two-minute scramble in which Carlos Sainz somehow hurled his Williams from the drop zone to the edge of the top 10. That pushed Esteban Ocon out and meant both Haas drivers were eliminated in the first session, with Ollie Bearman only 19th behind Sergio Perez's Cadillac after his final-practice crash. Completing Audi's underwhelming day, Nico Hulkenberg only qualified 13th behind the two Williams and could not understand why the car had faded so much since practice. ## Monaco GP qualifying times 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m12.051s 2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m12.094s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m12.279s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m12.351s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 1m12.434s 6 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m12.445s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m12.624s 8 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m12.765s 9 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m13.226s 10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 1m13.412s 11 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m13.787s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 1m13.815s 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 1m13.902s 14 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m13.995s 15 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 1m14.248s 16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) no time 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m14.722s 18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 1m14.747s 19 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m14.814s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 1m15.283s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m15.349s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m16.061s ### Monaco Grand Prix 2026 F1 qualifying results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-grand-prix-2026-f1-qualifying-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T15:15:30.000Z Kimi Antonelli narrowly beat Max Verstappen's Red Bull to pole position in qualifying for F1's 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc hit the wall at the end of Q3. ## Results 1\. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2\. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3\. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 4\. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 5\. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 6\. George Russell (Mercedes) 7\. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 8\. Lando Norris (McLaren) 9\. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 10\. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 11\. Alex Albon (Williams) 12\. Carlos Sainz (Williams) 13\. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 14\. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 15\. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 16\. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 17\. Esteban Ocon (Haas) 18\. Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 19\. Ollie Bearman (Haas) 20\. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 21\. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 22\. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ### Marquez dominates for first MotoGP win since surgery URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-dominates-for-first-motogp-win-since-surgery/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T17:07:51.000Z Ducati’s Marc Marquez showcased a dominant level to win the MotoGP sprint in Hungary. On just his second weekend since his return from shoulder surgery, Marquez led from start to finish in a statement performance to the rest of the grid. After converting pole position into the race lead at Turn 1, Marquez saw off some opening lap pressure from KTM’s Pedro Acosta then pulled away to a commanding third sprint victory of the campaign. Despite looking like the quickest rider all weekend, Acosta could do nothing to challenge Marquez and finished over two seconds behind the Ducati rider. Marco Bezzecchi progressed from sixth to third on the first lap, and held onto the final spot on the podium throughout the race. Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez was promoted to fourth after Fermin Aldeguer made an error whilst battling with Bezzecchi, with the Gresini rider fortunate to remain in the race after making a further mistake in fifth. Jorge Martin finished sixth, which allowed Aprilia team-mate Bezzecchi to extend his lead in the riders’ standings to 20 points. LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira claimed seventh at the flag, while Enea Bastianini finished eighth for Tech3 KTM. Pecco Bagnaia took the final point in ninth after overcoming a last-lap challenge from VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio. ## Results 1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 2 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +1.548s 3 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +2.722s 4 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +3.973s 5 Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati) +4.366s 6 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +5.708s 7 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +6.285s 8 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +7.587s 9 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +8.237s 10 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +8.469s 11 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +11.609s 12 Luca Marini (Honda) +12.070s 13 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +14.173s 14 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +15.799s 15 Joan Mir (Honda) +15.961s 16 Brad Binder (KTM) +16.376s 17 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +17.070s 18 Iker Lecuona (Gresini Ducati) +17.381s 19 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +19.490s 20 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +20.662s 21 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +24.063s 22 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +30.947s ### Rest of TT 2026 abandoned, Harrison declared Senior winner URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/rest-of-tt-2026-abandoned-harrison-declared-senior-winner/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T13:16:22.000Z The 2026 Isle of Man TT races has concluded on a damp note, with Dean Harrison declared the winner of the Senior TT after poor weather conditions scuppered any chance of a restart. Saturday’s rescheduled four-lap event was called off following heavy rain that hit the island and has refused to clear throughout the window in which organisers had hoped to run the blue riband race of the event. The race was originally moved forward from Saturday to Friday evening in an attempt to get it completed amid a week of weather disruption - but red flags brought out by Erno Kostamo’s crash at the 11th Milestone as the leaders were on the Mountain section during their second lap brought a premature halt to it. Organisers had originally hoped to run the race in its original Saturday slot alongside the second Sportsbike TT despite the forecast overnight rain, but with showers continuing throughout the day and mist on the mountain refusing to lift, the call was made at 2pm to call off the remaining race action. There was originally a contingency plan to run races on Sunday, but with the forecast looking no better, many competitors booked to travel home on Saturday night, and with no guarantee of being able to secure the minimum number of 580 marshals needed to police the course, that option was abandoned on Friday evening. This year’s TT has been one of the most weather-struck in recent years, despite a week of glorious sunshine during practice week. Only four of the scheduled 10 races went ahead, with both superstock races falling victim to weather delays as well as the suspension of the sidecar class due to aerodynamic issues. Over the course of the event, there were nine days on which racing could potentially have taken place, and rain affected seven of them. “Throughout the event, the weather simply hasn’t worked in our favour,” said TT clerk of the course Gary Thompson. “We have faced low cloud, rain, standing water and changing conditions across different parts of the Mountain Course, which have significantly limited the windows available to us. “We fully appreciate that today’s outcome will be disappointing for competitors, teams, sponsors, volunteers and, of course, the thousands of fans who travel to the Isle of Man from around the world to experience the TT. “However, throughout the event we have remained committed to making the very best use of every available weather window, while carefully managing the operational, logistical and safety considerations involved in delivering racing on the Mountain Course. “The challenges we have faced this year are part of the nature of an event that takes place on 37.73 miles of public roads. That is what makes the TT unique, but it also means that weather and course conditions will always play a significant role in determining what is possible.” Organisers confirmed at the official conclusion of racing on Saturday that Harrison would be declared the winner based on the single lap of action that had been completed when the red flags went out, with Peter Hickman and Josh Brookes joining him on the podium. It means that the pre-race favourite for the 1000cc classes leaves this year’s event with only two of the four wins expected of him. Michael Dunlop was luckier, able to continue his domination of the supersport and supertwin classes to take three. ### TT issues update on injured riders' conditions URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-issues-update-on-injured-riders-conditions/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T12:28:49.000Z The organisers of the Isle of Man TT have released an update on the competitors injured during Friday’s three-race schedule at the 2026 event, with local racer Jamie Cringle the most seriously injured after his crash at Union Mills during the opening Supersport TT race. Cringle was transferred to Noble’s Hospital (only a few miles from where he crashed) by ambulance following his crash, where TT organisers described his condition as ‘conscious, stable and talking,’ before being subsequently transferred to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool by Coast Guard helicopter later in the evening. [A crowdfunding campaign](https://www.gofundme.com/f/pvaaa-help-get-jamie-back-on-his-feet?ref=the-race.com) launched to support the self-employed plumber detailed the full extent of his injuries, with an open compound fracture of his tibia and fibula that led to extensive blood loss among the most serious of his injuries. He also suffered a broken sternum and bruising to his heart. In 2024, the Isle of Man TT’s air ambulances became the first motorsport medical team to carry blood and to be able to give trackside transfusions to injured competitors. In the subsequent Sportsbike TT, Michael Evans had his second crash of this year’s event, this time at Braddan. He was described as suffering no serious injuries, and continues to receive treatment. In the Senior TT, 2022 Macau Grand Prix winner Erno Kostamo crashed at the 11th Milestone, bringing out the red flags. He was treated at the scene before being transferred to Noble’s Hospital and subsequently transferred to Aintree Hospital for further treatment to leg and hip injuries. The [fundraiser for sidecar racer Maria Costello](https://www.gofundme.com/f/maria-costello-mbe-road-to-recovery?ref=the-race.com), who suffered life-changing spinal injuries in practice week when she struck a hare, has now raised an incredible £217,000\. Double British Superbike champion Kyle Ryde has [launched another fundraiser](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZFzCYtOBzW/?ref=the-race.com) for Costello, with plans to ride the 300 miles from his home in Nottinghamshire to Knockhill for the next round of the BSB championship on his Honda Monkey paddock bike Costello’s passenger Shaun Parker, whose [separate fundraiser](https://www.gofundme.com/f/shaun-parker-road-to-recovery?ref=the-race.com) has collected over £10,000, continues to receive treatment for his injuries, while sidecar duo Callum and Ryan Crowe have been released from hospital with fractures following their incident that prompted the sidecar class to be suspended for 2026. ### Everything that happened in final Monaco GP practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-deposes-ferrari-in-final-monaco-gp-practice/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T12:54:43.000Z Kimi Antonelli topped the final Formula 1 free practice session ahead of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, a session interrupted by a red flag caused by Ollie Bearman crashing with just under 15 minutes remaining. Bearman backed his Haas into the wall after turning into the Massenet left-hander from a little wider than he normally would in as a result of passing the Mercedes of George Russell, who was on a slow lap but off line. Bearman sustained damage to the back of the car, apologising over the radio and blaming the car floor hitting the ground, saying “it’s the bottoming” over the radio. This caused a stoppage of around 11 minutes because of the need to inspect the barrier, meaning everyone had their qualifying simulations on their final set of tyres disrupted to a greater or lesser extent. The session resumed with four minutes remaining, but only five drivers improved their laptimes - and none of those to a position higher than Carlos Sainz, who jumped to 12th. This was down to a combination of a crowded track and the yellow flag caused by Alex Albon taking to the Ste Devote escape road.Antonelli, who had posted his lap shortly before the red flag, therefore stayed on top with a margin of 0.327s over Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton a further 0.004s behind. However, both Ferrari drivers weren't able to produce what should have been their best pace at the start of their qualifying simulation runs after both hitting traffic on their first attempted push lap. Neither could improve after the restart, with Leclerc continuing to complain that “the car is doing something different every time I go on the brakes”. However, while both Ferrari drivers could have been quicker, it’s important to note that Antonelli had also outpaced them on the first sets of tyres as Mercedes appeared to have taken a step forward after being off the pace on Friday. Russell, who also had to rely on the time set on his first set of softs, was fourth and three-quarters of a second down. That put him around two-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, who both improved their times before the red flag. Audi continued to lead the way in the midfield battle, with Gabriel Bortoleto seventh and four places ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. In between them were Isack Hadjar, still playing catch-up after his FP1 shunt, and Lando Norris, who was making up for lost time after completing just eight laps in FP2 before an electrical problem that led to McLaren breaking the curfew. Esteban Ocon was 11th ahead of Sainz, with Pierre Gasly having the better session of the two Alpine drivers in 12th given Franco Colapinto backed his Alpine into the barrier at the hairpin just after the halfway mark of the session and suffered rear wing damage, ending up 19th despite improving after the late restart. Liam Lawson was 15th fastest after having spectacular moments in both Swimming Pool chicanes during the session that he did well to get under control, while Sergio Perez was the best-placed Cadillac in 18th after both he and team-mate Valtteri Bottas hit brake overheating problems early on. Both Cadillac drivers improved after the red flag, taking advantage of their position in the pitlane to get out early. At the back, Aston Martin's troubled weekend continued with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll bringing up the rear. ## Results 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m12.720s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.327s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.331s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.763s 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.942s 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.978s 7 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.100s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.157s 9 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.286s 10 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.330s 11 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.558s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.616s 13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.760s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.767s 15 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.867s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.081s 17 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.198s 18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.225s 19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.459s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.731s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.847s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.201s ### F1 Monaco GP 2026 practice results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-monaco-gp-2026-practice-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T11:35:50.000Z Below you'll find the practice results from Formula 1's Miami Grand Prix - with three practices in this non-sprint weekend around the principality. ## FP3 After a muted Friday, Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli surged to the front on Saturday morning. 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m12.720s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.327s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.331s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.763s 5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.942s 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.978s 7 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.100s 8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.157s 9 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.286s 10 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.330s 11 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.558s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.616s 13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.760s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.767s 15 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.867s 16 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.081s 17 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.198s 18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.225s 19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.459s 20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.731s 21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.847s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.201s ## FP2 Ferrari continued its promising form with another 1-2 in second practice, Lewis Hamilton in front this time. 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m13.026s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.111s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.168s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.379s 5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.503s 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.061s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.062s 8 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.068s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.333s 10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.430s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.471s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.486s 13 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.574s 14 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.722s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.732s 16 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.759s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.819s 18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.090s 19 Lando Norris (McLaren) +2.248s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.268s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.733s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.148s ### FP1 result 1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m13.978s 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.226s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.513s 4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.559s 5 George Russell (Mercedes) +1.005s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.313s 7 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.365s 8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.587s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.772s 10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.850s 11 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.011s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.063s 13 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +2.170s 14 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.192s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.211s 16 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.314s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.355s 18 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.411s 19 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +2.453s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.700s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3.482s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.578s ### Marquez denies Acosta pole as Aprilias struggle URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marquez-denies-acosta-motogp-hungary-pole-as-aprilias-struggle/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T09:40:16.000Z Marc Marquez overcame Pedro Acosta in MotoGP's Hungarian Grand Prix pole battle as Aprilia was overshadowed. Despite starting Q2 by crashing his Ducati at Turn 1, Marquez ended it with two laps good enough for pole - which he secured by 0.053 seconds over Pedro Acosta's KTM. Acosta was the only non-Ducati interloper in the top five. Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer produced his best qualifying of 2026 so far to take the final front row spot ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio, who'd crashed in unison with Marquez at the start of the session, and Q1 pacesetter Pecco Bagnaia on the second works Ducati. Aprilia had to settle for sixth through eighth with Marco Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez and Jorge Martin, followed by Fernandez's Trackhouse team-mate Ai Ogura in 10th between the Hondas of Q1 graduate Luca Marini and Diogo Moreira. Having got a Yamaha into Q2 on Friday, Pramac's Jack Miller couldn't do better than 12th in the pole shootout. Gresini's Alex Marquez stand-in Iker Lecuona starts a very respectable 16th for his first MotoGP appearance in two and a half years, ahead of Q1 crasher Brad Binder. **Provisional Hungarian GP grid** 1 M Marquez; 2 Acosta; 3 Aldeguer 4 Di Giannantonio; 5 Bagnaia; 6 Bezzecchi 7 Fernandez; 8 Martin; 9 Marini 10 Ogura; 11 Moreira; 12 Miller 13 Mir; 14 Bastianini; 15 Quartararo 16 Lecuona; 17 Binder; 18 Razgatlioglu 19 Morbidelli; 20 Rins; 21 Vinales 22 Crutchlow ### McLaren broke curfew to fix Norris's practice problems URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-broke-curfew-to-fix-norriss-practice-problems/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T09:15:34.000Z The McLaren Formula 1 team broke curfew on Friday night in Monaco to "comprehensively" address the issue that caused Lando Norris's car to grind to a halt in practice. Norris's car switched off in practice two, losing F1's reigning world champion crucial track time on a circuit where confidence is key. McLaren broke the 10pm curfew - as every team is allowed to do four times a season - to work on Norris's car. "Following Lando's car stopping on track in FP2 yesterday, the team carried out extensive work ahead of FP3 this morning," McLaren said on Saturday morning. "To investigate and address the issue comprehensively, the team elected to break curfew last night and replace the wiring harness, and also changed the ESME pack within the permitted allocation." The energy store main enclosure (ESME) external structure encloses multiple safety elements, sensors and wiring. All changes were made within Norris's allocation, so he shouldn't receive a penalty. Cadillac also broke the curfew on Friday night, the first time it's done so in F1. ### All the headaches Monaco qualifying will give F1 teams URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/all-the-headaches-monaco-qualifying-will-give-f1-teams/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T08:37:57.000Z With engine power and energy levels not a major factor around Monte Carlo, the fight for pole position in Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix is back to being influenced by more typical things. Mechanical grip and downforce count for a lot, but at the top of the list of performance priorities is tyre preparation – with so much of the lap time revolving around getting the rubber into the right temperature. As Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said after Friday practice: "Now we have a kind of convergence of understanding of the car. Tyres are becoming again prominent to the performance." The key to nailing the perfect lap around Monaco is about keeping the operating temperatures of both the front and rear axles in the right window. And that can be quite a difficult thing because it is not easy to warm up the fronts on the low energy circuit, and all too simple to overheat the rears thanks to the numerous traction zones out of the low-speed corners. The evidence from Friday also showed some divergence in terms of where teams were hitting the sweet spot – and where they were out of it. McLaren, for example, lost tenths of a second in the first sector with its front tyres clearly not fired up for the start of the lap, while Mercedes was good at the start but had overheated its rears by the final sequences of corners. Sorting out the tyres is nothing new at Monaco, but there are a host of factors this season that look set to make it even more of a headache for teams and drivers in nailing their grid positions. ## Harder tyres The first is a simple physical one – the tyres are a step harder this season than 2025 thanks to the absence of the C6. In combination with the 2026 cars having less downforce, it means less energy on tap to get them fired up more than they needed before. The rear tyres too this year also need to be more aggressively brought in because the bespoke wheel rim designs teams are using have led to improved cooling – so heat is more difficult to build up. The evidence from Friday suggested that to get the front and rears into the right window, it was beneficial to do an extra preparation lap or even two attack efforts. The latter is possible here because cars are not energy starved for once, which means batteries are not too drained to attack on multiple laps. Both Red Bull and Ferrari experimented with this during practice, as they tried to work out what was going to be the best way to achieve the optimum possible from their package. As Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan said: "Rather than saying 'is there an engine penalty from doing that type of running?', our currency is lap time. "We need the quickest lap on the board that we can get and, if doing that produces the quickest lap time on the board, whether there's an engine penalty or not doesn't actually matter." ## Outside influence But what is theoretically the best approach in terms of preparing laps for that critical qualifying attack may not be possible to achieve in reality because drivers are not alone on track – and traffic risks forcing you to do things you do not want to do. As Monaghan said: "All sorts of things have to come together. I would say Q1 you need space and not get held up, which here, looking at the FP2 start, it was chaotic." The problem with traffic is not just about having qualifying laps ruined, but it also makes tyre preparation much harder because drivers are not necessarily in full control of the speed with which they can do their lap. So first, the chances of having either faster cars coming through, or getting caught out by someone slow ahead of you, have increased this season. The arrival of Cadillac means that there should be 22 cars out on track in Q1\. If everyone is trying to do a flying lap then that means a gap of just three seconds between cars – hardly a comfortable margin to avoid tripping up over someone else. As Vasseur said: "With so many cars on track, it's difficult to do a proper outlap. It means sometimes you are pushing, sometimes you have to slow down and so on. I think it will be the key. "The fact is that to be able to do a proper outlap, to arrive in the right window and to do a clean lap later on will be a challenge." The high chance of someone else derailing your lap means that it is probably not a good strategy to rely on getting two clear laps for a qualifying effort. As Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra said on Friday night: "The ideal situation tomorrow will be going out, doing a preparation-lap, building up the temperature progressively and then going for a push-lap. "I don't think it will be a very good strategy to do two push laps in a row in qualifying conditions. So it's better to prepare perfectly the tyres and then push as much as possible." ## Layout difficulties But Pirelli chief engineer Berra said the Monaco layout makes lap preparation "complicated" – with what's needed to get the front and rear axles fired up quickly requiring a targeted approach late on before nearing the start-finish line. Berra said: "It's difficult to arrive in the last sector and have enough space with the car in front to push properly. "Sometimes it's tricky and it will be very tricky, especially in Q1\. I think we could see some surprises because of the traffic – and not just because of red flags." The situation is also further complicated by the way that an FIA safety request also means gaps to traffic cannot be engineered earlier in the lap. In Friday night's drivers' briefing, an instruction was given for drivers to maintain racing speeds through the tunnel – rather than running at a pace that is best for managing tyre temperatures and gaps to the cars ahead. This call, while sensible from a safety point of view, is not ideal in helping the tyres and it compresses the area where drivers will try to maximise their track position and tyre prep. As Berra said: "The drivers pushing in the tunnel is to avoid what happened with \[Isack\] Hadjar in F2 \[in 2024 when there was a near miss in the tunnel as he avoided a slow car\]. "So, if everybody is pushing in that section, they will try then to generate temperature on other parts of the circuit, which will be the last sector in the end. "You don't want really to exploit the tyres in the first part of the lap, so you want really to use the final part and raise the temperature in that sector, so that's going to be complicated." So the final sequence of corners after the Swimming Pool section is one where some will be backing off to ensure they get gaps to the car ahead for the start of their push laps, but others pushing hard to get tyre temperatures up. The chance of things going wrong are high. F1's most complex hour of the year awaits. ### Vasseur to miss Monaco Saturday for medical reasons URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/vasseur-to-miss-monaco-saturday-for-medical-reasons/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T07:37:43.000Z Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Fred Vasseur won’t be present for Saturday’s Monaco Grand Prix action and will “remain under observation at a local medical facility”. On Saturday morning, Ferrari released a statement that read: “Fred Vasseur will not be present at the circuit today. “Following some medical checks, Fred will remain under observation at a local medical facility. “No further medical information will be provided. “We wish Fred a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back at the track soon.” Ferrari topped both Friday practice sessions in Monaco and most believe this weekend to be the team’s best chance of a victory in 2026. ### F1 grids feel more predictable than ever - what does the data say? URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-f1-grids-are-more-predictable-in-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T12:32:18.000Z The Formula 1 field has felt somewhat predictable this season, with the impression that there are more two-by-two grids than previously with the car/power unit combination dictating performance even more powerfully. If anywhere is going to be an exception, it's probably this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix - where qualifying will be more important than at any other event. But what do the numbers say about the perceived increase in ‘Noah’s Ark’ grids with team-mates lining up two by two up to now? Firstly, why does this matter? Ultimately, one of the appeals of any sport is there being some degree of unpredictability. A more disordered grid reflects a competition where a driver’s good execution, or lack thereof, would represent a bigger swing in terms of position. Generally, more disorder and unpredictability makes for a more interesting season and presents a greater challenge to drivers as even small underachievement relative to your team-mate should ideally cost more in terms of start position. To evaluate this, we’re going to analyse qualifying results using several metrics. First, the average position gap between each team-mate pair. This is judged by the qualifying results rather than the final grid, meaning grid penalties are discounted. The positional gap between team-mates is a more suitable number than the straightforward pace gap, as here we are interested in how ordered the grid is more than the pace gap between cars. For the eight qualifying sessions so far (five full qualifying sessions and three sprint sessions), the average gap between team-mates is 2.6 places. That’s the second-lowest of the past 30 years, albeit only by the slenderest of margins as 2011 has an average gap of 2.59\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/V2-SEASON-Average-Teammate-Qualifying-Position-Gap.png) As the 2026 data so far is limited to just five events, comparing the early stages of the current season with complete historic seasons might distort the picture. But data comparing only the first five race weekends is consistent with the bigger picture. Again, 2026 is ranked second, but this time the 2018 season is ahead with a mean gap of 2.53\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/V2-FIRST-FIVE-Average-Teammate-Qualifying-Gap.jpg) The contrast with last season, the final year of the ground effect rules cycle, is dramatic. The whole year produced the largest average gap between team-mates of 5.26, and the second-largest judged by the first five events of 4.87\. Inevitably, the fact that this is comparing the last season of a rules cycle to the first of a new one plays a part in that. But as the historic data shows, the step from old regulations to new regulations doesn’t create as pronounced a swing as might be expected. What’s more, the next-lowest average gap in a season of a major regulations overhaul is 2014, when the 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid engines were introduced along with significant chassis regulation changes. Next we can look at instances of team-mates being next to each other in the qualifying classification. This includes those who on pace qualify on the same row (ie first and second), but also those who are classified together but would be on different rows (ie second and third). On this metric, 2026 comes out third with a frequency of 43.4%. That’s behind 2015, which has a frequency of 43.9%, and 2016, at 44.2%. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/V2-SEASON-Adjacent-Teammate-Occurrences-1.png) Looking only at a comparison of the first five events, it’s a similar story, with 2026 fourth behind 2015 (53.1%), 2018 (49.0%) and 2016 (47.3%). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/V2-FIRST-FIVE-Adjacent-Teammate-Occurrences-1.png) We can also use standard deviation, which measures the spread of a data set. The lower the standard deviation, the more consistent and therefore predictable the qualifying positions are for drivers. So this looks at the overall order or disorder in a driver’s positional results, and the higher the number the more erratic the data set, the lower the figure, the narrower the distribution of results around the average. This makes it a useful measure of the variability of results. Judged season-to-season, 2026 so far produces the lowest standard deviation figure of 2.28\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/V2-SEASON-Standard-Deviation-Qualifying-Positions.png) Looking only across only the first five events of seasons, the picture is a little different, as 2026 slips to fifth overall. On top is 2001, which has an extraordinarily low figure of 1.65. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/V2-FIRST-FIVE-Standard-Deviation-Qualifying-Positions.png) It’s still early days and to make a conclusive judgement we need the season to play out to build a bigger sample set of data. But there are indications from the way the season has played out so far that when it comes to the qualifying formation, the car/engine package is potentially more influential than ever in dictating the order of the grid. That matches the impression from [producing the driver rankings](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-why-so-hard-to-tell-who-is-actually-good/) after every grand prix, particularly at harvest-poor tracks. While the high standard of drivers plays a part in this, there’s a negligible difference compared to last year in that given only two seats have changed, albeit with the return of two proven grand prix winners to the field in Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac. One possible reason for this step is the influence of the power unit. While it’s difficult to unravel the multitude of factors contributing to this, both the power unit used and also the variations in how the same engine package is used by different teams are having a significant impact on performance. While sometimes this creates big differences between team-mates, the variations from team to team are consistent and often the significant time swings are on the straights thanks to deployment variations. Yes, the chassis still matters, as the big pace gaps between teams with the same engines shows, but variations in time gained and lost across straights independent of corner-exit speed are dramatic this year. That said, the pattern so far is not extreme and 2026 doesn’t lead the way over the past 30 years on all of the data evaluated - in fact, it’s only on standard deviation that it is ranked first. However, it is a trend to be monitored and better understood as the sample size grows, especially as one of the philosophies underpinning the regulations is to create good quality racing. A well-ordered grid will usually result in a well-ordered race, which is why a degree of disorder is a positive. What is clear is that the predictability of F1 in terms of grid formation and qualifying groupings has risen dramatically compared to the 2025 season. Only time will reveal how much of that is the field-spreading effect of rule changes that will reduce with time and how much is baked into the way the regulations, particularly those of the power unit, have been conceived. ### Ferrari looks favourite - but maybe not Leclerc URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-looks-favourite-but-maybe-not-leclerc/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T19:33:24.000Z Ferrari emphatically restated its claim to Monaco supremacy during Friday practice, finishing one-two in both practice sessions and setting the fastest time in all three sectors. That is good news for Charles Leclerc, but while his excellence at home means he has to remain favourite for pole position, and therefore victory given the supremacy of track position here, today's running revealed two looming threats.Leclerc's most immediate danger is closest to home in the form of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who outpaced him by 0.111 seconds in FP2\. That could be shrugged off as Leclerc having an untidy session given he was 0.253s off his theoretical best lap judged by best sector times compared to Hamilton, who did string together his personal bests. But there's more to it than that. On his first flying lap in FP2, Leclerc locked up and took to the Mirabeau escape road in what proved to be a warning for what was to come. Throughout the session, he complained about the feel of the brakes, with the most telling message zeroing in on the problem. "The car feels poor, especially the brakes, to be honest," said Leclerc over the radio. "I don't know, they feel completely cold at the rear, they don't feel like they are working properly." After the session, he connected the troubles to those he experienced in Canada. There, he struggled in the first half of the weekend in particular and although improvements were made he was never fully at ease. On his first run in Monaco FP2, he had to build up his confidence on the brakes into Ste Devote, albeit improving to the point where he could eclipse Hamilton on pace on the medium Pirellis. But on the softs, he never looked at home, particularly in the key braking zone into the chicane. "Unfortunately, it's been two weekends that I am facing some issues on the brakes and I'm just struggling on my side with the brakes at the moment," said Leclerc. "We are trying to find a solution; we haven't found a solution so far. We'll keep working on that and trying to make sure that for tomorrow we do a step forward on that. But in FP2 I just lost a little bit of confidence, but we are working on that." By comparison, just as in Canada Hamilton was happy, saying "the car felt quite good right from the first laps". Confidence is king at Monaco, and even if Leclerc's underlying Monaco brilliance is still in evidence in fits and starts, as the grip ramps up and the barriers are shaved ever-closer if he's uncertain on the brakes on Saturday that could open the door to Hamilton, who is no slouch on the streets, bagging pole position. And even if Leclerc is content tomorrow, then Hamilton's recent form suggests he will still be in the hunt. While the Ferrari, with its strong mechanical performance, smaller and therefore more responsive turbo, a power deficit that doesn't cost time given the track configuration, and a car that has generally performed well in slow corners in 2026, is the weapon of choice, Max Verstappen's pace in the Red Bull also caught the eye. He was just 0.168s slower than Hamilton, and while there is a little more potential in the Ferrari the same could be said about the Red Bull. "I don't think it's really an equaliser, but we know it's a track that suits our speed range," said Isack Hadjar, who crashed at the second swimming pool chicane in FP1 and was well off Verstappen's pace in FP2. "Low-speed circuits so far have been pretty good for us, not so much the high-speed, so it's definitely good. You can see Max is up there and we have a good opportunity." Braking confidence certainly didn't appear to be a problem for Verstappen, at least not compared to the Ferraris, but the question of whether he could challenge for pole likely depends on whether the car's ride is good enough. Kerb and bump riding is key at Monaco, and while the car aerodynamically is working well there's still a question mark over this. That's potentially one of the areas Verstappen was thinking of when he spoke of the need to "fine tune", but overall he was closer to his Miami Grand Prix weekend levels of happiness with the car having struggled in Canada. As for Mercedes and McLaren, neither looked to have the pace. The lack of full-throttle running means the power advantage of the Mercedes engine is neutered, with the driveability and low-speed performance pushed to the forefront. "We expected Ferrari to be the guys to beat," said George Russell. "A lot of people thought that was just chat, but they always seem to be \[in Monaco\]. And I think Red Bull have also been a bit of a surprise for us. "We knew out of the races so far this was going to be our most challenging. It's probably been slightly more challenging than we would have hoped, but we did make some good improvements from FP1 into FP2. "We need to make the same step again overnight, and I don't think we nailed it today. So, there is room to improve, but definitely Ferrari are the team." The other question mark for Ferrari is the tyres. There were differences in approaches across teams as some, such as Red Bull, could reel off a sequence of quick laps while others, including Ferrari, were at their best with a single push lap then a cooldown. The optimum strategy for qualifying in terms of getting the tyres in the window will be the cause of head-scratching overnight. That could be another area of concern for Leclerc given Ferrari appears to be finding it a little more difficult than Red Bull to get the tyres exactly where it wants them, meaning outlap management will be key. Given Leclerc had a few gripes over the radio about poor communication regarding traffic and gaps, that might also contribute to his disquiet. In the midfield group, Audi led the way and showed genuine speed with racing director Allan McNish saying "we're best of the rest at the moment". That is testament to the quality of the Audi chassis and confirms the focus on improving driveability has paid off. And while the Audi has what's reckoned to be the largest, and therefore highest-inertia and least responsive, turbo on the grid, that's partly mitigated by being able to use MGU-K power without paying the price later in the straights thanks to this being an energy-rich track. Alpine, Williams, eyecatching Cadillac, Haas and Racing Bulls followed, which should make the battle on the periphery of the top 10 particularly tight, with troubled Aston Martin the slowest after another difficult day. But it was Ferrari's day at the front, and the stage is set for Leclerc to deliver what everyone expected by taking pole position. Whether he'll have the confidence to do that could depend on the work Ferrari does overnight. ### The Aston Martin issue risking 'stupid' crashes URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-aston-martin-issue-risking-stupid-crashes/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T19:10:24.000Z If there’s one circuit on the Formula 1 calendar that you’d hope would limit the damage of your underperforming power unit, it’s Monaco. That’s not to say Aston Martin was expecting to suddenly parachute into the top 10, but it would have hoped for better than its tricky start this weekend - slowest of the 11 teams in practice, both drivers struggling with an issue that could send them into the wall and a day that produced Alonso’s biggest criticism of the 2026 cars yet. As Alonso said on Thursday: "Monaco is not the place to have a random downshift, and you have rear \[brake\] locking or \[engine\] pushing or something like that. Then you will crash into the wall, and the driver will look stupid.” But it seems that’s exactly what befell Alonso with his [unusual crash in FP1](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-monaco-gp-f1-practice-2026/) as he speared into the wall on the run down to the Nouvelle chicane. “We are losing a lot of front grip in the middle of the corners,” Alonso said after FP2. “It seems that we have this chronic understeer that we cannot solve the problem. We did a couple of set-up changes. We will do more tonight and hopefully improve the situation. But at the moment, it is a challenging topic. “Then the upshifts, downshifts, harvesting level into the corner in Monaco is crucial to be precise and confident into the corners. “At the moment, it is way too inconsistent, the way the car downshifts and the speed you approach the corners. It is not easy to drive.” Confidence and predictability behind the wheel is everything around the streets of Monaco, something that Aston Martin’s drivers are sorely lacking. “\[The drivers\] still have issues, downshifting. It’s not predictable enough, other drivers to be able to attack the corners, the braking areas,” Aston Martin team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa said. “We saw Fernando losing the rear end going into the chicane. It’s not only downshifting, it’s just a bit more complex than pure downshift. It’s just about how much the torque can be consistent, how much trust you have on the rear end, how strong the front is, and which gear you will downshift into the apex. ![Aston Martin F1 car Monaco](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1413309_HiRes.jpg) “So, a lot of things we are working on, but the reality is that the conditions were difficult and we found that very, very unpredictable car today. “Definitely, we need to make a step forward \[for Saturday\].” Theoretically, the driver can make the difference in Monaco, but de la Rosa believes the Aston Martin is too unpredictable for Alonso or Lance Stroll to do so. “I think that if you give a car to your drivers that is predictable enough, although it can have a lack of grip, but it's predictable, if you give a car that has a strong front end, the driver can make a difference,” he said. “But at the moment, we are not in a position that we can deliver a car with these characteristics to a driver. “We really need to give them a more predictable and stronger front end in the car for them to make a difference.” ## Alonso’s biggest 2026 criticism yet A challenging Friday led to Alonso’s biggest criticism of these cars and power units so far. Asked if the 2026 cars were at their best in Monaco, Alonso replied: “No, I don't think so. This is probably the worst generation of cars I ever drove in Monaco”. And when asked if it was ‘the best track for the worst generation”, Alonso said: “I don't know. It's just... The way you charge the battery, with the braking and lifting off and things like that, obviously creates a lot of inconsistency into the engine braking of the car. “Sometimes you have less, sometimes you have push, and sometimes not. If the battery is completely full, then you don't recharge because the battery is full. So you don't have engine braking. It's like pushing. “It's just the rules. Hybrid cars should not be racing. It's as simple as that.” ### McLaren's bizarre Monaco GP fine for 'transparent tape' explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclarens-bizarre-fine-for-taping-a-button-explained/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T19:37:36.000Z McLaren has been handed a €30,000 fine by the Monaco Grand Prix stewards for placing “transparent tape” over the button the marshals needed to press to recover Lando Norris’s stricken car in second practice. Norris’s McLaren suddenly ground to a halt [in FP2](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-gp-fp2-hamilton-leads-leclerc-ferrari-norris-stops/), and he and a McLaren team representative were summoned to see the stewards two hours after the session for a breach of the regulation concerning the clutch disengagement system. That’s to do with the marshals being able to safely and efficiently remove a stranded car by engaging the CDS button. This was the same regulation Racing Bulls was found to have breached in Montreal - because of its CDS button having a dual purpose. It was fined €30,000 with €20,000 of that suspended. But in Monaco, McLaren was handed a €30,000 fine (€10,000 of which is suspended) after the stewards came to a remarkable conclusion. “The team admitted that for aerodynamic purposes, it had placed transparent tape over the button that is required to be pressed to activate the CDS,” the stewards’ verdict read. “This, in the opinion of the FIA representatives and admitted by the team, completely defeated the purpose of the CDS system, which is designed to be activated quickly by a marshal wearing protective gloves. “The team conceded that it was not possible to break the tape and press the button by hand without the use of a tool. “The stewards have determined to suspend a lower amount of this penalty compared to a breach of this same regulation at the previous event, because that breach, and the subsequent penalty, should have alerted all teams to the importance of the CDS System.” The Race understands McLaren was already using the transparent tape prior to the Monaco GP weekend. ### McLaren summoned to stewards over Norris's practice failure URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-stewards-monaco-norris-practice-failure/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T18:04:10.000Z Lando Norris was summoned to see the stewards after his McLaren ground to a halt in the [second Monaco practice session](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-monaco-gp-f1-practice-2026/) and exposed an issue the FIA is taking a dim view of in 2026. Norris said his car “just switched off,” and The Race understands his team will break the curfew on Friday night to understand the issue that ruined his session. He and a McLaren team representative were summoned for a breach of Article C9.3 of the technical regulations, which refers to the clutch disengagement system. The regulation reads: “All cars must be fitted with a means of disengaging the clutch for a minimum of fifteen minutes in the event of the car coming to rest with the engine stopped. “This system must be in working order throughout the competition, even if the main hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical systems on the car have failed. “This system must also shut down the ERS.” It was the clutch disengagement system (CDS) on Liam Lawson’s car (which ground to a halt in practice in Montreal) that led to a lengthy verdict from the Canadian GP stewards. Racing Bulls was fined €30,000 (€20,000 of which is suspended) for what the stewards called “a serious matter” as it red-flagged that session because the stricken car couldn’t be removed. “The stewards note the concern of the FIA Technical Delegate \[Jo Bauer\], over the dual purpose of the CDS on this car.” Bauer “advised that the team had, in 2025, been warned about the CDS system design for its cars”. Norris and a McLaren team representative visited the stewards two hours after the conclusion of second practice. Also at the stewards was Ferrari, who received a formal warning for its part in Charles Leclerc impeding Lawson [during FP1](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-monaco-gp-2026-practice-results/). ### Senior TT red-flagged and postponed URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/senior-tt-red-flagged-on-lap-two/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T10:49:14.000Z The 2026 Isle of Man Senior TT has been red-flagged on the second of its planned four laps due to a crash at 11th Milestone. Organisers said the rider involved was "conscious and talking" and had been taken to Noble's Hospital for "further assessment and treatment". The race will not be restarted on Friday night, with temperatures dropping and limited daylight and closed-road time remaining. But it is hoped that it can be re-run over four laps at midday on Saturday in another revised schedule, with a three-lap second sportbike race than planned for 3pm tomorrow - although organisers will again be battling against a mixed weather forecast. --- **Update:** Poor weather overnight into Saturday led to an immediate delay of at least three hours. "Overnight rain was less heavy than had been forecast, but low cloud on the Mountain is expected to affect the time needed for roads to dry sufficiently for racing," said a statement issued on Saturday morning. A further update made at midday local time then added a further two-hour delay, with more news due at 14:00 on Saturday. Organisers said that while no further rain is forecast before 20:00, conditions around the Course - including low cloud on the Mountain - will need to improve sufficiently for racing to proceed. --- Dean Harrison was pulling away in the Senior TT race lead when the stoppage happened, having led Peter Hickman by 12 seconds after the first lap. Josh Brookes, Ian Hutchinson and Michael Dunlop filled the top five as the field prepared for their mid-race pitstops. No details of the cause of the red flag have been released so far. The start had already been pushed back to 6.25pm local time on Friday following two non-racing incidents earlier in the day, which was the first day racing has been possible since Tuesday in the rain-affected week. Dunlop won the supersport and sportbike races earlier in the day. ### The mind behind McLaren's 1000th race celebration URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-mind-behind-mclarens-1000th-race-celebration/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T17:17:52.000Z The road to 1000 races hasn’t always been smooth for McLaren. However, in recent years, you could say the team has well and truly hit its stride. As they go into Monaco, not only are they arriving as the reigning world constructors’ champions and driver, Lando Norris, as the drivers’ champion, the team will be celebrating their 1000th race - an achievement only one other team (Ferrari, of course) has ever reached. Whilst Zak Brown and Andrea Stella take care of what happens on track and Norris and his team-mate, Oscar Piastri, concentrate on the driving - off the track, Louise McEwen is at the heart of how people interact with McLaren. As the chief marketing officer of McLaren Racing, McEwen wants to make sure that this milestone isn’t just for the team, but also for the fans who have supported them over the last 60 years. “Everything starts with the fans,” said McEwen, who has been with the team since 2014. “Whether they’re attending in person or engaging with us digitally, it’s about making them feel closer to the team in a way that is meaningful and authentic. If they come away feeling more connected to McLaren, more invested in our journey and part of our story, that’s when we know we’ve done something right.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/19-1.png) **McLaren Racing CMO Louise McEwen* Louise joined McLaren Racing as their brand director in 2017 and had worked with the team prior as a consultant since 2014, but her history with the brand goes back even further. For nine years, the now CMO worked for Vodafone group across their global sponsorships, which then included being the title sponsor for what was then Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. McEwen views her role as one of huge responsibility and privilege, looking after the story of one of Formula 1’s most historic teams. I put it to her that her 20-odd year connection to the team meant she was well-placed to be heading up the celebrations. “I think it gives me a unique perspective. I’ve been fortunate to experience a significant part of McLaren’s recent journey, and that brings a real sense of pride when reflecting on what this milestone represents,” she said. However she explained that she didn’t see their heritage as something static - instead something that is forever evolving. “Being part of the team at this point, as we celebrate our 1000th grand prix, feels incredibly significant. It’s a chance to recognise everything that has come before, celebrate what the team has achieved together, and continue to build momentum for what comes next.” McLaren Racing’s legacy, according to McEwen, is one of successes, setbacks and comebacks. It’s only fitting that the road to 1000 races followed that narrative too. The anniversary was initially anticipated as falling at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix and McLaren was all systems go to celebrate its 1000th race in America, with planning having started in early 2025. But as McLaren knows all too well, best laid plans etc etc… In mid-March, Formula 1 announced that the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were to be cancelled due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. At this point, McLaren was fewer than 11 weeks out from McLaren Racing Live: Miami, a massive fan activation at Miami’s Regatta Harbour. “When the calendar shifted, we had to adapt quickly. Rather than seeing Miami as the milestone itself, we repositioned it as the launch of our 1000th Grand Prix campaign,” McEwen explains. “That pivot from Miami to Monaco has also become an important part of the campaign narrative, grounding it in the reality of the sport. “There are no guarantees in Formula 1, and reaching 1000 races is something that has to be earned over time. In that sense, the journey between those two races has come to represent just how significant it is that McLaren has made it through 1000 grands prix.” For all intents and purposes, the Miami event was a success. As someone who was there, you couldn’t say they had missed an opportunity to surprise and delight their dedicated Papaya Army. Speaking to fans on the ground, many had travelled from far and wide to get a taste of the McLaren experience. From the showrun featuring iconic McLaren cars, appearances from drivers past and present, to partner activations and the launch of McLaren Golf - the event was jam-packed with Papaya-donning devotees lapping it up. Even three very good boys called Oscar Pawastri, Landog Norris and Zak Bark popped down to the harbour to mingle with the fans and meet their namesakes. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXyrrqWiNbm/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team 🧡 (@mclarenf1)](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXyrrqWiNbm/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) “Miami was always designed to be our main fan moment, a large-scale, immersive experience where we could bring thousands of fans together and celebrate the milestone in a very open, accessible way.” McEwen added, “Monaco, by its nature, is very different. Logistically it doesn’t lend itself to that same kind of large-scale, fan-first activation, so we took a slightly different approach and leaned into a curated and, in some ways, more emotional experience.” Although the situation with the cancellations was entirely out of their control, McLaren have found themselves in a rather poetic situation in Monaco. In 1966, a Kiwi man by the name of Bruce, entered the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/McLaren_66_Monaco_01.5e1397db69_preview.jpeg) **Bruce McLaren at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix - Photo Credit: The Cahier Archive* Now, almost exactly 60 years later, Bruce’s team will return to the historic principality for their 1000th race. Although they were thrown a logistical nightmare of a curveball, McLaren had been handed a home run of a narrative. “While it wasn’t how we originally planned it, there was something incredibly fitting about reaching this milestone in Monaco,” McEwen mused. “This is where our story in Formula 1 began, with the M2B, our first ever F1 car, racing there in 1966, driven by Bruce McLaren himself.” In contrast to the spectacle of McLaren Live: Miami, McLaren has marked the occasion in Monaco in a more poignant, intimate manner. On Thursday, McLaren race winners past and present gathered for a photo on the track flanked by the original M2B and the current MCL40\. McLaren legend Mika Häkkinen then took the M2B for a run around the Monaco track to celebrate. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1412327_HiRes.jpg) **Past and present McLaren race winners pose for a photo alongside the M2B and MCL40* McEwen was especially proud of bringing the M2B back to life after more than 15 years off track. Seeing it driven by Häkkinen made the moment even more special. “Watching the M2B run on the Monaco circuit alongside our current Formula 1 car was extremely special. It was genuinely quite emotional, and a very visible reminder of how far the team has come, from those early days to where we are today,” “While it may not have been what we originally planned, it ended up being a very special and poignant celebration of the milestone, and in many ways, a more meaningful one,” she adds. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1412816_HiRes.jpg) **Mika Häkkinen driving the M2B in Monaco 2026* For McEwen, that is what McLaren's 1000th Grand Prix has always been about. Not simply celebrating a number, but capturing a journey that stretches from Bruce McLaren and the M2B in 1966 to a team once again fighting at the front of F1. When asked how she would sum up McLaren's history in a single phrase, her answer came quickly: *"Forever Forward."* It's a fitting description because while the sight of the M2B returning to the streets of Monaco was a powerful reminder of where McLaren began, the team's 1000th race was never really about looking back. It was about celebrating how far they have come, where they are going next, and the fans who have been with them along the way. ### Winners and losers from Monaco GP F1 practice 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-monaco-gp-f1-practice-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T19:38:24.000Z Monaco Grand Prix practice offered strong evidence that this weekend could be Mercedes’ first defeat of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Not that Mercedes had a particularly miserable time - unlike some others we’re about to mention in our Friday winners and losers list… ## Winner: Ferrari (1st & 2nd) Ferrari delivered on its pre-event status as favourite with a 1-2 in both practice sessions, Charles Leclerc heading Lewis Hamilton in FP1 and with the positions reversed in FP2. It had a clear pace advantage over Mercedes and McLaren, but a less decisive advantage over Red Bull. But there's nothing to suggest that it doesn't have the potential to repeat that performance and lock out the front row in qualifying, assuming Ferrari does its homework overnight. That homework will include making Leclerc happier with the brakes, but the fact Hamilton eclipsed him by 0.111s in practice gives Ferrari reason to believe it has two drivers capable of putting it on the front row in a car that was always, on paper, well suited to Monaco thanks to its mechanical strengths, slow corner performances and responsive turbo. **\- Edd Straw** ## Loser: McLaren (7th & 19th) Lando Norris’s FP2 ended when he crawled to a halt at the exit of Nouvelle chicane early on but Oscar Piastri’s times did little to reassure McLaren. The Australian was one second off the pace in FP2 - between Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull and Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi. Compounding those worries is the fact that Piastri was over 1.5s behind in FP1 and Norris was 1.3s off - with Hulkenberg between them. McLaren’s bumper haul in Miami now looks a distant memory, given its woes in Canada. If it continues like this in Monaco, Ferrari could pull further ahead in their constructors’ battle. **\- Samarth Kanal** ## Loser: Isack Hadjar (6th, but crashed too) Having matched Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen’s one-lap pace through the Montreal weekend, Hadjar put himself on the back foot in Monaco with his big FP1 shunt. A quick repair job from his Red Bull mechanics (including some help from Verstappen’s side of the garage) meant Hadjar still bagged 24 laps in FP2, but it was still valuable confidence lost. Hadjar said: "I wanted to build the confidence back up again \[after\] we missed a bit of the early laps."To be honest it came right at the very end, I had a better feeling in the car but still not exploring all the limits, so yeah there's a lot of work to do.” The one bit of solace Hadjar can take is that he had a couple of wall hits during practice last year and went on undeterred to a brilliant qualifying and grand prix performance. Doing so against Verstappen, though, will be far trickier, and if the Red Bull is a pole position-challenging car this weekend, any intra-team deficit will look more galling. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: Max Verstappen (3rd) Monaco was never Red Bull’s strongest circuit in the ground effect era, even at the height of its domination. But Verstappen started this Monaco weekend with one of his most impressive Fridays of the year, third in both FP1 and FP2, and only 0.168 seconds off the pacesetting Ferrari in the latter. Of course, Red Bull isn’t getting ahead of itself after only two practice sessions. Red Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan predicted qualifying will be "squeaky tight” after FP2. But it appears the circuit profile of low-speed corners and less dependency on power unit, has given Red Bull and Verstappen a chance to spring a surprise on Saturday. **\- JS** ## Loser: Mercedes (4th & 5th) This is a tad controversial but is simply a consequence of the incredibly high standards Mercedes has set for itself so far in 2026. Fourth and fifth at this stage of the weekend is by no measure terrible, but it’s comfortably Mercedes’ worst FP2 result of the season so far - and the gap to the front is the biggest it’s faced too. But even though George Russell has 0.379s to find and championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished FP2 half a second off the pace, such is the nature of the Monaco weekend that both will feel they are still in the mix - *if* they can make a step on the soft tyre in FP3 and beyond. It was interesting to see the Mercedes fall off the pace after the soft tyres went on, considering Antonelli in particular looked more of a threat to the top of the leaderboard on mediums. Verstappen's was probably a bit of a hero lap in the Red Bull, whereas the pace looks like it's coming much easier for Ferrari. Hamilton and Leclerc just look so comfortable on every lap they turn here, so if they each maintain that groove - and the Ferrari wasn’t running massively light or overpowered on Friday compared to its rivals - then this could genuinely be the first time in 2026 that Mercedes faces being knocked off the front row of the grid. **\- Ben Anderson** ## Winner: Audi (8th & 9th) **The midfield in FP2:** 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.061s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.062s **8 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.068s** **9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.333s** 10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.430s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.471s Audi has the ‘best of the rest’ title, but Hulkenberg was actually within touching distance of McLaren’s Piastri and Red Bull’s Hadjar in FP2\. That was after he split the McLarens in FP1. Team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto was a couple of tenths adrift in FP2 and FP1, although there was nothing concerning for the Brazilian - and that pace would still put him in the hunt for points. That would be a welcome change for Audi, which hasn’t actually scored since the opening weekend. The only caveat is that Norris bowed out early for McLaren, hence his absence from the top 10\. **\- SK** ## Loser: Valtteri Bottas (21st) Valtteri Bottas has brushed off rumours that he was at risk of losing his Cadillac seat, but he did little to assuage worries over his performance on Friday. The Finn was seven-tenths off his team-mate Sergio Perez in FP2 and 1.2 seconds off in FP1\. That is indeed concerning, and the kind of deficit that would be hard to blame on engineering alone. Bottas has it all to do on Saturday. **\- SK** ## Winner: Sergio Perez (18th) At face value, 18th in the order in an FP2 session he ended early, parked up at the side of the road with smoke coming from his car, doesn't look like an awful lot for Perez to be excited about. But there's genuine promise there, as Perez acknowledged on Friday afternoon: "We know if we find a few tenths, we change our lives." Perez has been convincingly the fastest of the 'back four' all day, and even though 14th in FP1 was flattered by a tyre offset to the rest he looked in the groove right from the start of that session. He backed out of a faster lap too in FP2 that should at the very least have rivalled Haas driver Esteban Ocon's time ahead. And that has to be the target for qualifying on Saturday: nail everything, and it does look like an Ocon, one of the Racing Bulls drivers, or maybe even a Franco Colapinto are there for the taking. These are small milestones, but with Perez in the form he's found it's never been more realistic for Cadillac to expect its first Q2 berth. **\- Jack Cozens** ## Loser: Aston Martin (20th & 22nd) The focus in some quarters of the press on Thursday was of this being Aston Martin's chance to spring a surprise, and Fernando Alonso's 2.268s deficit in FP2 does suggest it's at least closer here. But that's where the positives end really. Because it's still being upstaged by Cadillac here - and Perez probably had a little more in hand than the 0.178s gap between him and Alonso on the timesheet suggested - and [Alonso's big fear](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/probably-we-cannot-race-fernando-alonso-pessimistic-monaco-prediction/) coming into the weekend, of downshifts causing rear locking, and the car ending up in the wall, has come true. "Definitely not yet" was team representative Pedro de la Rosa's blunt reply on whether Aston Martin could see light at the end of the tunnel. "A little bit of everything" was Alonso's reply to being asked about the problems that had made the car look a handful. "It seems that we have this chronic understeer that we cannot solve," he added. And however big a role Aston Martin's plight is playing, it's clear Alonso is not enjoying his experience: "This is probably the worst generation of cars I ever drove in Monaco." So yes, if this really is meant to be Aston Martin's one real shot at respectability early in 2026...then it really might be a long time until the end of the tunnel comes into view. **\- JC** ### Another Ferrari 1-2 ahead of Verstappen as Norris stops in FP2 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-gp-fp2-hamilton-leads-leclerc-ferrari-norris-stops/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T16:23:38.000Z Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Charles Leclerc in second practice for the 2026 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix while McLaren's Lando Norris bowed out of the session early on. Hamilton set the fastest time of the session with a 1m13.026s lap, 0.111s faster than Leclerc and 0.168s faster than third-placed Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. Hamilton locked up late in the session and dived into his Ferrari pitbox - the team seemingly unaware that he was about to do so - and pointed upwards, possibly asking for an unexpected front wing angle change. Mercedes' George Russell was fourth and Kimi Antonelli fifth - 0.379s and 0.503s off Hamilton respectively. McLaren's was off the pace in FP1 and the second practice session started badly too, as Norris stopped in the runoff exiting the Nouvelle Chicane around 15 minutes into the session with a suspected battery issue. Isack Hadjar, who crashed out of FP1, thanked his team for repairing the Red Bull and finished sixth - one second off the pace - ahead of the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who was one thousandth of a second slower than Hadjar. Audi had another strong showing with Nico Hulkenberg just off Piastri in eighth and Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth. Ollie Bearman rounded out the top 10 for Haas, 1.430s off the pace. Norris aside, Cadillac and Aston Martin rounded out the standings, and it was Cadillac's Sergio Perez - the fastest of that quartet - who caused a late red flag as his smouldering front-right brake began sending smoke into the cockpit. ## FP2 times 1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m13.026s 2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.111s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.168s 4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.379s 5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.503s 6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.061s 7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.062s 8 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.068s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.333s 10 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1.430s 11 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.471s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.486s 13 Alexander Albon (Williams) +1.574s 14 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.722s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.732s 16 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.759s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.819s 18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.090s 19 Lando Norris (McLaren) +2.248s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.268s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.733s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.148s ### Dunlop takes another two dominant wins as TT resumes URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-all-the-results/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T17:47:06.000Z Michael Dunlop dominated the first outing of the revamped Sportbike class to notch up his second Isle of Man TT win of Friday afternoon. The Sportbike class replaces Supertwins for 2026, and Dunlop carried his form into the new-look category with a commanding performance. His winning margin was just under half a minute. It was much, much closer behind Dunlop's Paton, as Mike Browne and Paul Jordan swapped places right to the finish in second and third. Browne's Paton crossed the line just six tenths of a second clear of Jordan's Aprilia to secure the runner-up spot. Peter Hickman finished fourth despite an alarming problem with his Yamaha leaking substantial amounts of fuel onto him. ## Sportbike race 1 results 1 Michael Dunlop (Paton) 2 Mike Browne (Paton) 3 Paul Jordan (Aprilia) 4 Peter Hickman (Yamaha) 5 Jamie Coward (Paton) 6 Joe Yeardsley (Paton) 7 Dominic Herbertson (Triumph) 8 Baz Furber (Yamaha) 9 Michal Dukoupil (Aprilia) 10 Michael Sweeney (Aprilia) ## Supersport race 2 Isle of Man TT racing finally resumed on Friday afternoon with another commanding win for Michael Dunlop in the second Supersport TT. Poor weather had suspended the programme since the Supersport opener on Tuesday, and led to multiple schedule rearrangements. The second Supersport race followed the same script as the first, with Dean Harrison taking a narrow lead on the first lap but Dunlop jumping ahead with a faster pitstop at the end of that lap - nearly five seconds quicker in his stop than Harrison. Dunlop and his Ducati stormed away thereafter, winning by 26 seconds to take his 10th straight win in the Supersport class and 35th overall at the TT. Peter Hickman moved clear of Paul Jordan for third place, with Jordan then narrowly losing out to Mike Browne for fourth. Josh Brookes won a battle for fifth with Dom Herbertson and then closed right in on Browne and Jordan in an extremely close finish for fourth, fifth and sixth. ## Leading Supersport race 2 results 1 Michael Dunlop (Ducati) 2 Dean Harrison (Honda) 3 Peter Hickman (Triumph) 4 Mike Browne (Yamaha) 5 Paul Jordan (Ducati) 6 Josh Brookes (Suzuki) 7 Dominic Herbertson (Triumph) 8 Jamie Coward (Honda) 9 Shaun Anderson (Suzuki) 10 Ian Hutchinson (Ducati) ## Supersport race 1 Michael Dunlop took a dominant win in the first Supersport race of the 2026 Isle of Man TT, extending his run of consecutive wins in the class to nine. Having switched to Ducati machinery last year, the Northern Irishman took his 34th TT victory by almost 25 seconds ahead of Superbike race winner Dean Harrison. Though Harrison led throughout the first of three laps, Dunlop was a tenth ahead when the field made its mandatory pitstop at the end of lap one. With his stop 1.4s quicker than Harrison’s, Dunlop kicked off lap two in the lead and from there pushed on to extend the gap, running 11.5s ahead by Cronk ny Mona. Another strong tour on the third and final lap meant Dunlop stretched the lead to 24.4s to claim his 16th win in the class. Peter Hickman was third on his Triumph, having first closed the gap to Paul Jordan before passing himon lap three by Ballaugh, even after a slow stop where his crew struggled to get his fuel cap off. Jordan took fourth, seven seconds ahead of Joshua Brookes in fifth. Mike Browne was running inside the top five for the whole race, and would have been classified fourth were it not for a 30-second pitlane speeding penalty which dropped him to 10th. The organisers hoped to run the first sportbike race early in the evening after the supersports, but heavy rain on the west of the island put paid to that plan. ## Full Supersport Race 1 results: 1. Michael Dunlop, MD Racing, Ducati 2. Dean Harrison, Honda Racing UK, Honda 3. Peter Hickman, Trooper Triumph by PHR Performance, Triumph 4. Paul Jordan, Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2, Ducati 5. Josh Brookes, Uggly & Co. Racing, Suzuki 6. Dominic Herbertson, KTS Macadam Triumph Factory Racing, Triumph 7. Jamie Coward, Rapid Honda with DriveLife, Honda 8. Shaun Anderson, Stanford Racing by ARD, Suzuki 9. Ian Hutchinson, Burrows Engineering / RK Racing, Ducati 10. Mike Browne, Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing, Yamaha ## Superbike TT ![Dean Harrison rides his Superbike at the Isle of Man TT](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/art-body-dean-harrison-jpg_7cc5184d.jpg) Dean Harrison took a sensational win in the opening race of the 2026 Isle of Man TT, claiming victory in the six-lap Superbike race ahead of Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop. Honda rider Harrison dominated from the off to take his sixth TT win, and his first in the Superbike class, after a strong practice week set the tone. Harrison crossed the line 15 seconds clear of BMW rider Hickman, despite doubts about his fitness heading into the event, with a further 12s back to Dunlop - also on a Honda after a late switch back from the Ducati he had been set to race. Yorkshireman Harrison quickly built a lead, with an advantage of 4.8s by Glen Helen on the first lap, and continued to built that gap throughout. At one point, he was 33s clear of his closest contender. He has now taken victory in each of the four solo classes, and today's win marked his 36th podium. Hickman and Dunlop repeatedly traded places throughout the six-lap race, and were separated by just tenths for much of the action. Though Dunlop pulled the gap back to a couple of seconds, Hickman took the advantage after the second pitstop and put in his fastest lap of the race on lap six to seal second. Dunlop, who holds the all-time win record on the Mountain Course, had doubted his pace after switching machinery, but made it onto the podium for his 52nd TT podium finish. Josh Brookes was fourth after a thrilling battle with John McGuinness, marking the 30th anniversary of his first TT this year. The gap was down to just 1.5s at one point on lap five, but Brookes rebuilt the gap across the final tour. The Superbike race had been due to be the second race of the week, but Saturday’s Superstock race was rescheduled due to low fog. Monday is currently scheduled to be a rest day before racing returns on Tuesday with a Supersport race in the morning followed by sportbike race one and a solo practice lap in the afternoon. ## Full Superbike race results 1. Dean Harrison, Honda Racing UK, Honda 2. Peter Hickman, 8TEN Racing, BMW 3. Michael Dunlop, MD Racing, Honda 4. Josh Brookes, DAO Racing, Honda 5. John McGuinness, Honda Racing UK, Honda 6. Ian Hutchinson, TeamRST, BMW 7. Jamie Coward, Rapid Honda with DriveLife, Honda 8. Nathan Harrison, H&H Motorcycles, Honda 9. Mike Browne, Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing, Honda 10. Paul Jordan, Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2, Honda ### Are F1 teams actually being 'undervalued'? URL: https://www.the-race.com/business/are-f1-teams-actually-being-undervalued/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T17:03:59.000Z The valuation of Formula 1 teams has boomed in recent years, but the feeling inside the paddock is that there is still much more room for them to grow. Teams that were valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars just a few years ago can now boast valuations in the billions, but Aston Martin's managing director of commercial and marketing, Jeff Slack, believes the 11 teams on the grid are still "undervalued". Speaking at an exclusive event in the Monaco harbour, hosted by The Race and Axios ahead of this weekend's grand prix, Slack told The Race co-founder Darren Cox that F1 teams had much more room to grow. "We're still only trading, in my opinion, low," he said. "Franchises, which is what Formula 1 is, it's not football where you have promotion and relegation, are measured on a revenue multiple. "We're trading six or seven-time revenue multiple. Why is an NBA \[basketball\] team trading 12-time multiple? "There's only 11 Formula 1 teams, that's probably all there'll ever be. You're very risk averse in the sense you have a global footprint. We have long-term contracts, the sport is growing. "I think the teams are undervalued compared to US franchises." ## Benefitting from F1's growth Speaking about Aston Martin's commercial performance, Slack told attendees at the Monaco event how the team's revenue has skyrocketed since its rebrand from Racing Point for 2021, thanks to a clear commercial strategy and F1's own growth. "The sport itself is in great shape, and you've seen all the teams do well commercially, so we've had a really good ride since we became Aston Martin," he said. "I think we're up 20 times or so in revenues. "Part of it is we're benefitting from an expanding pie. But we've also had a bit of a different approach, because we were such a small team when we were Racing Point. "We were the last team in followers and probably last in commercial revenues. I think we're about third or tied for third in that \[commercial\] area now. "We tried to build an organisation that set out to be experts in marketing and delivery and partnerships and guest experiences, all of that. "So again, we're really fortunate to have done all of that during probably the greatest period of growth in Formula 1, where Liberty's done a great job and promoters have done a great job. "All these things have played to our hand that really had nothing to do with us. But the other part, we've executed pretty well." ## Unlocking F1's commercial power Slack believes that gaining a foothold in the US has been key to F1's commercial growth, as previously the paddock wasn't geared up commercially to think in a truly global way. "How can you have a global sport if you don't have the world's biggest economy?" he said. "Traditionally, I think Formula 1 was really a European marketing play for a lot of companies. "You had tobacco companies, you had the OEMs. So you had some money coming into the sport, but it was really about European marketing. "Now it's completely global. So that's been the key to unlocking a lot of the economics of Formula 1. "You can't just come and impose some American sports business model and rationale, but you have to understand where you can make improvements. "I think we've balanced that in Formula 1 in the way that we've handled it. You need to understand what the sport is about. "The culture is very strong in Formula 1, sometimes to the point of, we talk about it as a bubble, but not really understanding what's going on in the rest of the world. "So that was an opportunity for us when we came in. We thought to do some things a bit differently that perhaps were more interesting from a partnership standpoint." Asked where he saw F1's next avenues for expansion, Slack highlighted opportunities in Asia, but also the benefits that can go beyond financial as F1 links up with huge consumer facing brands like Disney, Lego and Pepsi, that can help reach new, younger fans. ### Acosta dominates Hungary Friday but Bagnaia faces another Q1 battle URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/acosta-fastest-motogp-hungarian-gp-friday-bagnaia-in-q1/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T14:13:13.000Z Pedro Acosta dominated the opening day of MotoGP's Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, with Pecco Bagnaia among those who'll have to go through Q1 at Balaton. KTM rider Acosta was top in the session even before the late new-tyre runs and then claimed a 0.413-second margin over this rivals at the end. VR46 Ducati's Fabio Di Giannantonio was his nearest rival, leaping from outside the top 10 to second late on. All four Aprilias got through to Q2, led by Raul Fernandez in third - with his Trackhouse team-mate Ai Ogura showing unusually good one-lap pace in fifth behind Fermin Aldeguer's Gresini Ducati. Marc Marquez lost a late lap to a trip through the gravel but made Q2 in seventh, while Ducati team-mate Bagnaia had another disappointing Friday in 14th. LCR's Diogo Moreira was again comfortably best Honda in eighth. Jack Miller got a Yamaha straight into Q2 in 10th, but stablemates Fabio Quartararo and Toprak Razgatlioglu were compromised while running together after Quartararo ran off track and rejoined in front of the Pramac rider. --- **Into Q2**: Pedro Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Raul Fernandez, Fermin Aldeguer, Ai Ogura, Marco Bezzecchi, Marc Marquez, Diogo Moreira, Jorge Martin, Jack Mller --- Brad Binder was showing strong pace in the first half of a late lap before crashing his KTM and ending up 18th. That put him behind a very impressive performance from Gresini's Alex Marquez stand-in Iker Lecuona. The Ducati World Superbike star, in his first MotoGP session since November 2023, spent a while in the top 10 before the new-tyre runs and was a commendable 17th at the end. ### Big Hadjar crash as Ferrari leads Monaco GP practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/big-hadjar-crash-as-ferrari-leads-monaco-gp-practice/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T13:01:54.000Z Ferrari secured a 1-2 in first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, a session that was twice interrupted by red flags including for a sizeable shunt for Red Bull Formula 1 driver Isack Hadjar. It was home favourite Charles Leclerc who led the way, with his 1m13.978s on mediums - which was two seconds slower than his benchmark from FP1 in 2025 - leaving him two tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen was third, half a second off in his RB22. But it was the other Red Bull driver who was responsible for the session's biggest talking point with just under 25 minutes left in the hour-long session. Moments after defending F1 champion Lando Norris had a significant slide in the middle of the swimming pool chicane, Hadjar had an even bigger oversteer moment and lost the rear of his car. That sent him nose-first into the outside wall, with the impact also ripping the left-rear wheel off his car. Hadjar reported he was OK to his team but added: "I don't understand why it snapped like that. I'm sorry." It was after his crash, in the final 15 minutes of the session, that most drivers set their best times - though that wasn't the case for Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, who ended up fourth and fifth fastest. Championship leader Antonelli did spend a spell at the top of the times after switching to the medium tyre and again looked more comfortable than team-mate Russell; though they were next to each other in the final classification, they were separated by four and a half tenths. Norris was the faster of the two McLarens in sixth, 1.3s off the pace, with team-mate Oscar Piastri eighth and a further quarter of a second behind. McLaren again trialled a new front first introduced in Canada, with Piastri - who also had a near-miss with Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad at Tabac - twice called in for a nose change. The two McLarens were split by Nico Hulkenberg, comfortably the standout performer among the midfield contenders for Audi, which also had Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth. Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Alpine. Fernando Alonso caused the session's second red flag inside the final five minutes when he lost the rear of his Aston Martin exiting the tunnel and grazed the barrier with his front-right corner. That littered debris all over the run down to the Nouvelle chicane, though Alonso - who ended the session 20th, 2.7s off the pace - was able to recover his car to the pits with only front wing damage. Aston Martin's fellow backmarker Cadillac caught the eye through Sergio Perez, who ended the session 14th and three tenths away from the top 10. That was flattered by Perez running the soft tyre - Cadillac was the only team to use that compound in FP1 - but he had been in a similar position on the initial hard-tyre runs at the start of the session. Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson was noted at the end of the session for leaving the pitlane when the red light was on as the field headed back out following Alonso's crash. He and team-mate Lindblad had earlier complained on their first laps that they were struggling to generate sufficient steering lock to navigate the Fairmont hairpin. Lindblad ended the session 18th, one place ahead of Lawson. ### FP1 result 1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m13.978s 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.226s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.513s 4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.559s 5 George Russell (Mercedes) +1.005s 6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.313s 7 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.365s 8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.587s 9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.772s 10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.850s 11 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.011s 12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.063s 13 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +2.170s 14 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.192s 15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.211s 16 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.314s 17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.355s 18 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.411s 19 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +2.453s 20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.700s 21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3.482s 22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.578s ### Audi demands turbos as part of F1 V8 engine return URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/audis-demand-for-f1s-v8-return-plan/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T13:04:10.000Z Audi has indicated that it wants turbo engines to remain in Formula 1, despite a push by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to switch to V8s from 2031 at the latest. With both the FIA and F1 feeling that the current turbo hybrids are too complex and too expensive, there is growing momentum for the next ruleset that is planned for 2031 to address these two factors. Ben Sulayem has talked openly that this will be a V8 engine - most likely normally aspirated - and declared in a social media post earlier this week his reasons behind that move. "V8s are lighter, simpler and more cost-effective, while sustainable fuels mean they can remain aligned with our environmental ambitions," he wrote. "Most importantly, they bring back the unique, visceral sound that fans around the world associate with Formula 1." But ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, in an event discussing the launch of Audi's new Nuvolari V8-turbo hybrid supercar, its CEO Gernot Dollner said that a move to normally aspirated engines is one his company is not eager for. He said the key priority for Audi was having "a regulation that has energy efficiency in the focus", something a turbo offers more than a normally aspirated engine. Asked if that meant keeping turbos, Doellner said: "That's definitely more important than talking about the number of cylinders. "That's crystal-clear from an Audi perspective. We prefer turbo due to the efficiency aspect. More important than the number of cylinders." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/A263143_large.jpg) Dollner emphasised that this stance over cylinders was proven with its choice of V8 power unit configuration for the Nuvolari supercar. Named after pre-war grand prix racer Tazio Nuvolari, who raced for Audi predecessor Auto Union, it is the fastest production car Audi has ever produced, and the company says it is heavily inspired by F1 technology. Capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in 2.6 seconds, it features a 4.0-litre V8 bi-turbo engine with hybrid elements that produces a 1000hp maximum output. The power ratio split between its combustion engine and electrical energy is 80/20, which is very different from F1's current supposed 50/50 split. "I mean the Nuvolari has a V8 so we don't have problems with V8 engines," Dollner pointed out. ## No deal-breaker yet Dollner hoped, as part of the discussions that will take place with the FIA, that the regulations can be framed in a way that continues to make F1 attractive for Audi. "The discussion is led by FIA and we are part of that discussion," he said. "Our focus is on the actual regulation and to optimise that, to optimise our drivetrain to the regulation we have. That's our main focus and the FIA will lead that discussion. "From our perspective, we are talking about the year 2030 or 2031\. The important \[thing\] for us is that we have cost-efficiency in mind. Of course, we just entered, we invested in a drivetrain concept and so we are not keen on changing soon." But Dollner made it clear that, despite his resistance to shifting the regulations towards normally aspirated power units, this was not an issue that would automatically trigger Audi to walk away from F1. Asked if this was a potential deal-breaker for Audi's involvement, he said: "No, not right now - as I think and believe and trust that we will have a good discussion regarding the regulations and we will definitely have sustainable fuels. "\[So\] that's not a topic under discussion. It's more in some areas a philosophical question but let's see what the process brings." ## Stability preferred for 2027 The debate about a V8 future in F1 comes as discussions intensify about potential hardware changes for the current ruleset. Following an agreement in principle from teams to move away from the current 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power and towards 60/40, opinions among manufacturers are now divided about whether this should happen for 2027. While Mercedes and Red Bull are supportive of the shift, Ferrari, Cadillac, Audi and Cadillac have their reservations. Ferrari and Cadillac do not support it because of the consequences of opening up engine development, while Audi's concerns are more about the cost complications that will come from designing new hardware. Asked what Audi's stance was, Dollner said: "Our perspective really is to have stability there. That's our clear view with entering new, this is one reason, and the other reason is that we have to be cost-efficient. "That's the most important aspect from our side, to have the cost cap in mind and to see. "Our innovation path is maybe a little steeper because we started lower and so on that path we are happy with stability." The Race understands that as part of the FIA's plans to get an agreement in place to change the rules for next year - which needs four manufacturers to back it - discussions are planned for this weekend's Monaco GP with senior representatives of the car makers themselves. Dollner hoped that a compromise arrangement could be reached that did not require all-new combustion engines. "The process is running, and it's in good hands," he said. "We are part of that process together with the other engine manufacturers, and so I think in '27 there will be a good solution in place." ### Moto3 frontrunner thrown out of six races over massive engine breach URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/moto3-frontrunner-thrown-out-of-six-races-over-massive-engine-breach/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T08:22:17.000Z Moto3 frontrunner Adrian Fernandez has been thrown out of the results of six of the seven rounds completed in the 2026 season. Fernandez, brother of MotoGP race winner Raul, had sat third in the riders' standings in the lightweight category, albeit 55 points down already on runaway leader Maximo Quiles. But he and his Leopard team have now lost six top-eight finishes - including podiums - following an investigation into what MotoGP stewards have alleged to be "tampering" with two sealed engines. According to the stewards, MotoGP technical director Danny Aldridge initially discovered "wire seals not consistent with the standard wiring procedure" on the engine Fernandez used across the first four rounds of the campaign. It was determined, "based on physical inspection, manufacturer evidence and examination of the engine seals, that the integrity of the approved sealing system had been compromised and that the engine had been opened without authorisation". Moto3 riders are allowed six engines per year without penalty, and each engine is to be "marked and sealed" by the series prior to first use - which is defined as "when the motorcycle with that engine crosses the transponder timing point at the pitlane exit" as per the regulations. The sealing is intended to prevent major components - including "crankshaft and its bearings, conrod and its bearings, piston, piston rings and piston pin, valves and their springs, camshafts" - being replaced without the allocation reflecting this. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1312879_HiRes.jpg) In a separate documents, the MotoGP stewards also reported that an engine Fernandez used in rounds five and six - at Le Mans and Barcelona - was requested for analysis and also "showed evidence of tampering". The stewards have ruled, in both cases, that "the unauthorised interference with the approved technical sealing system constitutes an action prejudicial to the interests" of the sport. The ruling was appealed by Leopard, with the appeal rejected by the relevant panel - which reported that Leopard "were unable to supply a robust explanation regarding the condition of the security seals and consequent evidence that an invasive process had occurred within the engine". Leopard is a mainstay of the class, having won Moto3 titles with Danny Kent, Joan Mir, Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Jaume Masia since its entry into grand prix racing in 2015. In a statement of its own, the team said it "acknowledges" the ruling but "respectfully disagrees with the conclusions reached" and is evaluating "the next steps, together with its legal counsels". The team noted that no "illegal component, performance-enhancing modification, non-compliant part or technical element contrary to the Moto3 regulations" was discovered - and "firmly rejected" that the engines were "opened or modified without authorisation". "The present dispute concerns solely the interpretation of certain elements relating to the engine sealing system and the conclusions drawn from those observations," the team insisted. It added that it "believes that a number of significant technical and procedural questions remain unresolved, including the methodology used to establish the alleged infringement and the proportionality of the sanctions" - and that "no team representative was present during these inspections". Fernandez, who has 93 starts in the Moto3 class down to his name, has now been reduced from 90 to 13 points in this year's classification. The knock-on effects of Fernandez's disqualifications on the individual race results have slightly reduced Quiles's points lead - which now stands at 50 over nearest rival Alvaro Carpe. Rookies Marco Morelli and Veda Pratama have been promoted to the podium at Jerez and Le Mans respectively. ### Every F1 team's tech upgrades for the Monaco GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/every-f1-team-tech-upgrades-monaco-gp/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T10:39:44.000Z The 11 Formula 1 teams have brought a combined 30 upgrades in a busier-than-expected Monaco Grand Prix tech update. The new winglets attached to the rear wings - most aggressively from Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren - sparked intrigue on Thursday, but there's much more to the packages brought by the teams, including one other change that's been adopted almost unanimously across the board. Here's a team-by-team breakdown of what's new: ## McLaren: 6 upgrades McLaren has been by far the most aggressive team ahead of the Monaco GP. As well as its winglet on the rear wing to help with airflow and downforce for exiting corners better, it has other significant tweaks, too. Like a number of teams, it has tweaked the front suspension fairings, "allowing for increased clearance to the wheel at high steer angles". The rear suspension and beam wing have also been tweaked to help aerodynamic efficiency. Finally, a 'stay' has been attached to the diffuser to improve robustness. ## Red Bull: 4 upgrades The headline of Red Bull's upgrade is its squirrel-shaped winglet on the rear wing, but it has three other significant upgrades. New front brake cooling exit ducts and opened-up sidepod exits have been introduced with the cooling demands of Monaco in mind, while a similar-to-McLaren front suspension change should also help here. ## Audi: 4 upgrades ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_0598--1--1.jpg) Audi has removed the straight-mode actuators - they're not needed as the wings are fixed and straight mode has been disabled for this weekend - with a small winglet to the rear wing added. Elsewhere, it has an interesting rear-view mirror design, the only one of its kind brought this weekend, shaping airflow to the sidepod, and a new rollhoop and engine cover to aid cooling. Its changes make for a good cross-section of upgrades spread from front to rear. ## Aston Martin: 3 upgrades ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_0597-1.jpg) Aston Martin's proper upgrades won't come until summer, but there are tweaks here alongside Honda's pre-event driveability gains. A new exhaust wing follows the trend of 2026, while revised front suspension and bodywork cooling louvres are common for this event. Aston Martin, along with Haas, has not brought a winglet to Monaco. ## Haas: 3 upgrades Haas brought a big package to the last event in Canada - and is optimistic it will give a [better account of its upgraded F1 car](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-monaco-gp-everything-we-learned-thursday/) in Monaco - but hasn't stopped there. You'll have started to see a trend across the teams' upgrades; a winglet on the rear wing, front suspension changes, and a new exhaust wing like Aston Martin create the package. ## Ferrari: 3 upgrades The favourite - or is it? Anyway, Ferrari has the typical front suspension tweak, but has two slightly more interesting changes onboard too. It has brought aero-load generating devices for the floor and diffuser. ## Racing Bulls: 2 upgrades The typical front suspension tweak, plus a flap and central winglet on the rear wing complete Racing Bulls' attempts to head the midfield in Monaco. ## Williams: 2 upgrades Williams has a new exhaust tailpipe, described as a "further step" from the previous two grands prix, and is another team with a front suspension tweak. ## Alpine, Cadillac and Mercedes: 1 upgrade We've grouped these three teams together as they've all elected to employ the winglet on the rear wing. The gap in complexity between Mercedes and Cadillac perhaps shows the relative difference between the front and the rear of the grid but, nevertheless, every little helps. ### All the Monaco Grand Prix special F1 liveries so far URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/all-the-monaco-grand-prix-special-f1-liveries-so-far/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T11:05:12.000Z The Monaco Grand Prix invariably tempts a few Formula 1 teams into special livery variations and 2026 will be no exception. We'll round up all the one-off colour schemes on this page as they're revealed. ## Aston Martin ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/651e87d5-7c04-50b6-53ae-fa3e4c2a5d4c.png) Aston Martin's one-off liveries so far have tended to be only very minor variations on its usual colours, but this 'Rock to Racetrack' concept in association with sponsor Maaden - a mining and metals company - really is something different for the team. The livery "traces the transformation of metals and minerals from the earth to high-performance engineering" and "features a colour-shifting, iridescent finish created using a specialist wrap material". It will "visibly change colour" as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll lap the track. ## McLaren ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/MCL40_1000_Livery_Hero_3.png) McLaren's special 'metallic papaya and anthracite' livery will be used across both Monaco and the following Barcelona race weekend, and is designed to celebrate the team's 1000th grand prix. Although, as in often the case with such statistics, that milestone has been [a bit of a moving target](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-f1-special-livery-1000-grand-prix/). ## Audi ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/A268841_large.jpg) There's been little fanfare from Audi about its livery for the Monaco GP, but its replaced the red that usually adorns its F1 car with yellow around the rear of its sidepods and on its rings. That four-ring Audi emblem comes from its Auto Union roots, and it's in honour of one of the pre-war grand prix racing greats, Tazio Nuvolari, that Audi is running this special livery - as Nuvolari used to race in that distinctive colour. ## Williams ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/2RAB0347.JPG) There's a subtle livery change over at Williams as the usual black on the front wing has been swapped out for purple, complemented by purple, back and white roulette wheel covers. ### Marquez back in first place in opening Hungary practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-fastest-opening-hungary-practice-motogp/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T09:39:24.000Z Ducati MotoGP rider Marc Marquez led the way in the opening premier-class practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix at Balaton Park. Marquez - still not at full fitness after surgery to remove two screws and a bone fragment from his shoulder - has been tipped as potentially the rider to beat at what could be the last MotoGP race at the twisty Hungarian venue. He did little to disprove lofty expectations in the opening 45-minute session, for most of which Marquez and future Ducati team-mate Pedro Acosta looked a cut above of the rest. Acosta was the early leader with a significant gap over the field, but Marquez eventually jumped three tenths clear with his 1m38.626s. He was the clear standout in the left-hander-dominated first sector, while both he and Acosta were also notably strong in the chicanes of sector three. Ultimately, Raul Fernandez slotted in between the future factory Ducati team-mates at the very end, lapping 0.169s off Marquez. Fermin Aldeguer, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pecco Bagnaia made it four Ducatis in the top six. Injury stand-ins Iker Lecuona and Cal Crutchlow propped up the timesheets as expected, albeit with Lecuona - who has recent Balaton Park experience in World Superbike - just two seconds off the pace. ## FP1 times 1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m38.626s 2 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.169s 3 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.298s 4 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.472s 5 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.532s 6 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.615s 7 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.639s 8 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.726s 9 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.742s 10 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +0.772s 11 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.823s 12 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.928s 13 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +0.964s 14 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +1.154s 15 Joan Mir (Honda) +1.192s 16 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +1.200s 17 Brad Binder (KTM) +1.269s 18 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +1.357s 19 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +1.407s 20 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +1.854s 21 Iker Lecuona (Gresini Ducati) +2.036s 22 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +3.578s ### Why F1's new challenge is 'too much energy' in Monaco URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-f1s-new-challenge-is-too-much-energy-in-monaco/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T08:28:29.000Z Formula 1’s engine challenge will be turned on its head in Monaco, where for the first time the narrative is about how difficult it could be having *too much* energy. So far this season the dominant topic with the 2026 engines has been the task of trying to charge the battery and optimise electric power deployment. While this was eased slightly by regulation changes for round four in Miami last month, typically F1 tracks are ‘energy poor’ - meaning the battery cannot be topped up enough to use maximum electric power everywhere it can be. In Monaco, though, the mix of many slower corners and few straights flips the script and makes it ‘energy rich’, which has left several drivers excited by the prospect of driving these cars without having to worry about energy-saving tactics. However, Paul Williams, chief trackside engineer at the Williams F1 team, said ahead of this weekend this represents “an energy management challenge unlike anything we have encountered so far this season”. And others have leant into this, too. “There's a risk that we have too much energy and that can really complicate things as well," said Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. “Yes, normally we're quite energy poor, but on a track like this, it's not just as simple as having your battery charged all the time, \[and\] that's a great story. “It's actually not, and it can cause a lot of other issues that we'll be having to manage as well.” As well as it being easier to charge the battery in Monaco, there is a new power cap at this event that will restrict how much MGU-K power can be deployed - the full 350kW will only be available up to 200km/h instead of just under 300km/h. This is to keep speeds from getting dangerously high and it means spending energy on MGU-K power deployment will be lower than normal. So, battery usage will be even lower. And where this may become an issue arises from another Monaco-specific challenge. “The key challenge is maintaining turbo speed to avoid lag," said Williams. “Through the very low-speed hairpin, a drop in turbo speed is unavoidable, and drivers may experience torque under-delivery on exit. The team will work to mitigate this as much as possible across the weekend.” When this turbo lag occurs, the diminished power from the internal combustion engine can be ‘filled in’ by the MGU-K harvesting energy and diverting this as electric power output. However, this involves charging the battery, which cannot happen if the battery is already at 100% - which often gets referred to by F1 personnel as hitting the top of the (battery) pack. As there is a limit on how much MGU-K power can be deployed and therefore deplete the battery, and the Monaco layout means there is not much opportunity to do this substantially anyway, the likelihood is that the drivers will be recharging the battery significantly in the first half of the lap just by driving normally with typical braking and throttle lift-off demands. This means even beyond the challenge of the hairpin, by the time the cars get to Portier two corners later before the circuit’s longest straight through the tunnel, the battery could be at maximum capacity. If that is the case they will not be able to use the MGU-K to assist with turbo lag, meaning diminished engine power and speed off the corner and that will be carried all the way down one of the few straights Monaco has. "Energy isn't an issue here, but definitely hitting the top of the pack coming out of Turn 8 before the tunnel is going to very much be a feature and a possibility,” said Mercedes driver George Russell. “I know we've got some mitigations in place." What is unclear is how much of a feature this is likely to be across all the engines or if it is specific to the functionality of certain designs. If, for example, one engine is particularly efficient at recharging then it could presumably be more prone to hitting the top of the pack than another. But, as with Ferrari, if that turbo does not struggle at low speed then it will be well placed to take advantage of the abundance of energy and use that purely as MGU-K power to maximise the overall engine potential on corner exit and then down the subsequent straight. Though that implies an advantage for the smaller turbo, the situation is such an unknown that an argument could be spun that Monaco’s layout will help those with bigger turbo designs - like Audi. Nico Hulkenberg said: “It's so energy rich here that the MGU-K can compensate quite a bit for that, so it might be actually that this could work in our favour in the end." ### How Hamilton is replicating his Mercedes engineering set-up at Ferrari URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-italian-bono-fuelling-hamiltons-renaissance/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T10:36:00.000Z Lewis Hamilton thinks he has found his "Italian Bono" in race engineer Carlo Santi, as he pinpointed a backroom shake-up as a key factor that has lifted his performance in Formula 1 this year. Peter 'Bono' Bonnington was Hamilton's engineer throughout the latter's Mercedes stint, ending when Hamilton left Mercedes to join Ferrari for 2025. Hamilton had a challenging maiden campaign for Ferrari last year, and there were some obvious moments - including the Monaco Grand Prix - where there seemed to be some tension between him and the pit wall. But after a number of changes over the winter, which included a change of race engineer from Riccardo Adami to Santi (below), there has been a notable improvement that has helped Hamilton to secure two podiums so far in 2026, in China and Canada. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1394399_HiRes.jpg) While Santi had originally been expected to be a temporary arrangement for Hamilton, it is understood that the way the pair have gelled together so well means the relationship is to continue for the foreseeable future. Speaking ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton offered some insight into why things were working so well. “The driver-engineer working together is very, very important,” he said. “I think last year, Adami and I had a really good relationship. He's a lovely guy. We worked relatively well together. “But I think catering to a driver's needs takes time to learn. When you're giving an engineer feedback, they're understanding through-corner balance. They're understanding all the elements that contribute to the struggles that you’ve got. “When you try to describe what it is, the problem you have, corner by corner, entry, middle, and exit, or you dissect it into five sections if you want.” Hamilton said that predicting how relationships would evolve with engineers was never easy, but he said that he had found something similar with Santi to what he enjoyed with his long-term Mercedes race engineer Bonnington. “Having that driver-engineer collab, it's hit and miss sometimes,” he said. “With me and Bono, we hit it \[off\] right from the beginning. He had a good working relationship with Michael \[Schumacher, who Bonnington engineered briefly before Hamilton at Mercedes\]. “I do feel like Carlos is like my 'Italian Bono'. I told Bono that the other day - in terms of, he's a bit of an OG. "He's an older guy that's been around the block. He's very calm. This is a detail that we were able to go into together. Our understanding of the engineering side, I think it's something that's worth remembering." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_966337_HiRes.jpg) Hamilton felt that the improvements he is delivering on track this year are a direct consequence of engineering changes pushed through by Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur. “What most people don't realise is the work that goes on that you have to do in the background,” he said. “Fred \[Vasseur, team boss\] has been great. Working with me and helping me, for example, with engineers. The engineer set-up is a million times better than it was last year. “I'm starting to see the fruits of that through driving the car. Last year, testing on the sim and asking for certain things in the car. We have those today, for example, \[like\] the suspension. “It's great to be able to be a part of working with everyone to move the ship and steer it in the right direction. “We still are sailing and we still have a long way to go. We still need to improve, for example, in some areas, but I think we're on the right path.” ### Gary Anderson on radical Monaco winglets and who's impressed most URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-on-radical-monaco-winglets-and-whos-impressed-most/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T05:55:59.000Z The sprouting of winglets on the rear-wing active aero actuators of multiple cars in Monaco is a reminder that I will never cease to be amazed by what Formula 1 engineers will come up with. That's been the same throughout my F1 career, and Monaco has always been a track where you could let yourself dream a little more because efficiency is not as critical as at other circuits. We have seen wings mounted in front of the drivers (remember the 2001 Arrows in Monaco, pictured below?), X-wings mounted high up off the sidepods, and the secondary wings each side of the actual rear wing coming over the rear tyres. The regulations have been tightened up to eliminate most of these appendages, but the active aero regulations have created an opportunity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_270_HiRes--1-.jpg) There is a position on the car's centreline that makes allowance for the actual actuator and its fairing, which is above the normal wing height and not very wide. Teams are using it to generate that small amount of extra downforce for a track where you need as much as you can find. Most teams have something, but I'm most impressed with the level that Mercedes has gone to, so that's the assembly I'm analysing in detail. Others are doing something similar but to a lesser degree. The objective is to use the area for the active aero actuator to influence the airflow direction and generate downforce. This will work on that central area in conjunction with the main wing assembly and, in turn, the central part of the diffuser where the crashbox and its small turning vanes are located. Working through the Mercedes wing assembly from front to back, I have highlighted each component with different coloured arrows. I have also highlighted the separation point of each element with a green line. This is the position where the airflow splits because of the differing pressures on the top and bottom of the element's surfaces and decides what flow goes over the top and what goes underneath. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image0--31-.jpeg) On the top forward element I have highlighted this flow separation with the orange arrows, showing what goes underneath, and the yellow arrows, showing what goes over the upper surface. From there on in, it's a cascade of elements. The second assembly of three elements is highlighted with the light blue arrows. The third assembly is a two-element component highlighted with white arrows, and the rear fourth two-element component is highlighted with the dark blue arrows. On all of them, there is a small Gurney flap right at the top rear trailing edge. This effectively acts as a trip helping the airflow on the undersurface of the elements stay attached, when generally it is getting a bit lazy. The red line and red arrows from the front of the actual rear wing mainplane going underneath is to highlight the main objective, which is to help optimise and/or improve the consistency of this flow. If this can be done then that lower pressure under that central section of the wing will dissipate further outboard, so it's not just a small section of wing that is improved - it can be the complete rear-wing undersurface. So is such a tiny development really worth it, both in laptime and financial investment? Financially, with current 3D printing machines, this sort of component - once optimised in CFD and modelled for manufacturing - would probably cost £250 to £500 per unit. Assuming that it is all working as planned, I would suggest that as it will help rear-end stability under braking, which is critical for Monaco generally, it would add probably a few kilograms of extra rear end downforce. The teams are playing down the importance of this area of development and some suggest it's only worth a few hundredths of a seconds. Those hundredths all add up but overall I wouldn't be surprised to see upwards of a two-tenths-of-a-second-per-lap improvement from the Mercedes design. So if that all works out it will be the cheapest two tenths of a second that any team could bring to the show, so well done to all at Mercedes. The others have various different, smaller-scale interpretations of the same theme and that's why they are probably playing down what I consider the potential laptime improvement. It's the Mercedes package that I am most impressed with and for sure it has the biggest potential for performance gains. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1412027_HiRes.jpg) The variation between Mercedes and Cadillac just shows why there is a difference in the competitive level from the front to the back of the grid. ### F1 race contracts: How long will each track stay on the calendar? URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-long-f1-grand-prix-circuits-contracts/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T06:44:12.000Z Just how secure is the long-term future of each of the 24 grands prix on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar? We've wrapped up when each race's contract expires, from the shortest to the longest deal. ## Dutch Grand Prix - 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/09/XPB_1368562_HiRes.jpg) In late 2024 the Dutch Grand Prix agreed to a [one-year extension](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/dutch-gp-to-hold-final-f1-race-in-2026/) to its current deal that was due to expire in 2025. The 2026 race - the first Dutch GP to feature a sprint race - will be the final F1 weekend at Zandvoort. Zandvoort was one of the prime contenders to be a part of the rotation of European races from 2026, but the Dutch GP promoter took the decision to take a one-year extension and bow out after 2026. ## Portuguese Grand Prix - 2028 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/12/XPB_1084108_HiRes.jpg) Portimao will return to the F1 calendar in 2027 as part of a new two-year deal announced in December 2025\. F1 raced there twice in COVID-disrupted seasons in 2020 and 2021\. ## Mexican Grand Prix - 2028 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1314606_HiRes.jpg) The Mexican Grand Prix was in the final year of its current contract at the start of 2025 and is now without a home representative on the grid following Sergio Perez's Red Bull exit at the end of 2024\. But its future on the F1 calendar was secured for another three years in April 2025\. ## Singapore Grand Prix - 2028 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1308854_HiRes.jpg) F1's original night race has a deal until 2028, having agreed a new seven-year deal in 2022. ## Japanese Grand Prix - 2029 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1271052_HiRes.jpg) Suzuka signed a five-year contract extension with F1 in 2024 that will keep it on the calendar until 2029. ## Chinese Grand Prix - 2030 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1273650_HiRes.jpg) In December 2024, Shanghai agreed a new five-year deal that will keep it on the F1 calendar until 2030. China won't have its first-ever F1 driver Zhou Guanyu on the grid in 2025. ## Azerbaijan Grand Prix - 2030 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_817678_HiRes.jpg) F1's Baku race has a contract until 2030, having signed a new four-year extension in September 2025. It joined the calendar in 2016 under the 'European Grand Prix' banner before becoming the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2017\. ## Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - 2030 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1324886_HiRes.jpg) The now traditional F1 season finale venue has a deal in place until 2030, as Yas Marina signed a 10-year extension on the eve of the controversial 2021 race. ## Brazilian Grand Prix - 2030 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1317382_HiRes.jpg) The Brazilian Grand Prix signed a new deal in November 2023 to keep it on the schedule until 2030. ## Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - 2030 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1266629_HiRes.jpg) Saudi Arabia signed a 10-year deal to hold F1 races until 2030 with the first taking place at the Jeddah Cornice street circuit in 2021. The event could switch to a brand new complex in Qiddiya in the future but there's no firm date for a change yet. ## Belgian Grand Prix - 2031 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1299195_HiRes-1.jpg) The Belgian Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until at least 2031 - but it won't take place in 2028 or 2030\. That's because [Spa will become part of F1's rotation plan](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/belgian-gp-spa-francorchamps-new-f1-deal-race-rotation/), alongside other yet-to-be-confirmed European races. ## Italian Grand Prix - 2031 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1303877_HiRes.jpg) In November 2024 it was announced that the Italian Grand Prix at Monza will stay on the calendar until 2031\. ## Miami Grand Prix - 2031 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1275810_HiRes.jpg) When the Miami Grand Prix joined the F1 calendar in 2022 it did so as part of a 10-year deal that will last until 2031. ## Turkish Grand Prix - 2031 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1113965_HiRes.jpg) Istanbul Park has always been a track revered by drivers, so it was a welcome surprise when F1 announced the Turkish GP would be [returning to the calendar](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lost-f1-gem-back-on-the-calendar-from-2027/) in April. It has a five-year deal that will begin in 2027. ## Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix - 2032 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1288033_HiRes.jpg) With the emergence of the [new-for-2026 race in Madrid](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-is-new-spain-f1-race-madrid-barcelona-spanish-gp/), the Barcelona circuit's future was uncertain. But on the eve of the 2026 season it's been confirmed it will remain on the calendar until 2032 at least - albeit in rotation. There will be F1 races at Barcelona in 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032\. ## Hungarian Grand Prix - 2032 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1296258_HiRes.jpg) Alongside the promise of the promoter completing significant upgrades to the circuit, the Hungaroring secured a new deal in 2023 to remain on the F1 calendar until 2032. ## Qatar Grand Prix - 2032 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1322436_HiRes.jpg) The Qatar Grand Prix started a 10-year deal when it returned from a break in 2023 (after a break for the FIFA World Cup in 2022) that will keep it on the F1 calendar until 2032. It's currently being held at the Lusail venue that first held an F1 race in 2021\. There was initially a plan to move it to a new purpose-built facility, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen under this deal. ## British Grand Prix - 2034 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1294174_HiRes.jpg) In February 2024, Silverstone announced it will continue to be the home of the British Grand Prix until at least 2034 with a new 10-year deal. ## United States Grand Prix - 2034 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1311855_HiRes.jpg) The oldest of F1's three races in the United States has a deal in place until 2034, having signed a new deal in 2025\. Austin has been a popular race since it was added in 2012 - when it brought F1 back to the US for the first time since 2007. ## Australian Grand Prix - 2035 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1268652_HiRes.jpg) Melbourne's Australian Grand Prix signed a bumper 10-year extension on top of its existing deal in 2022, meaning it will remain on the calendar until 2035. ## Monaco Grand Prix - 2035 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/09/XPB_1349961_HiRes.jpg) F1's most iconic race, the Monaco Grand Prix, [signed a new deal in November 2024](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/monaco-grand-prix-f1-date-2026-change-indy-500/) \- which kept it on the calendar until 2031, but included Monaco giving up its traditional end-of-May slot on the schedule. It's since agreed an extension to that arrangement, announced in September 2025, that runs until 2035. ## Canadian Grand Prix - 2035 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1285126_HiRes.jpg) Back in March 2017, the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal agreed to a bumper deal that secured its place on the calendar until 2029. That was extended to 2035 with a new deal revealed in 2025 shortly after the Canadian GP. ## Spanish Grand Prix - 2035 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/09/Madring-layout.png) The Madrid street circuit, which will taken on the Spanish GP title and host its first race in 2026, has a place on the schedule until 2035. ## Bahrain Grand Prix - 2036 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1263827_HiRes--1-.jpg) The Bahrain Grand Prix has the longest ongoing deal on the current F1 calendar, meaning it will stay on the schedule until 2036 - 32 years after it held its inaugural race. ## Las Vegas Grand Prix - 2037 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1317938_HiRes.jpg) The Las Vegas Grand Prix joined the F1 calendar in 2023 on a three-year deal, but there were options there for the event to be extended by a further 10 years. An announcement in mid-2025 extended it by at least another two years to 2027, and that 10-year deal has now come - as a new extension was announced in June 2026 that takes it into the late-2030s. ## Austrian Grand Prix - 2041 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2025/01/XPB_1290819_HiRes.jpg) F1's race at the Red Bull Ring will run until at least 2041, after a bumper new deal was agreed at the 2025 edition. ### Everything we learned on day one of F1's 2026 Monaco GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-monaco-gp-everything-we-learned-thursday/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T19:53:12.000Z A unique grand prix on the Formula 1 calendar throws up some unique driving challenges, and brand new rules for Monaco in 2026 means we're even seeing some unique car design tweaks too! From throwback rear wing 'winglets' to unusual energy management challenges, via bad gearbox downshifts that leave one driver fearing his team might not be able to race at all this weekend (can you guess who?), here's everything we learned on day one of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix. ## Aston Martin's 'random' downshift crash risk Fernando Alonso warns that Aston Martin may not even be able to race given the crash risk if there is a repeat of what he calls the "random downshift" issue it has experienced recently. "If you have the downshift problem like we had in Miami, probably we cannot even race, because we will crash in one of the braking points due to a very different downshift type," said Alonso. He described the drivers as "passengers" if there's a downshift that creates a push effect from the engine "like going on full throttle". "Monaco is not the place to have a random downshift," he said. "Then you will crash into the wall, and the driver will look stupid." There is also a second Monaco-specific problem. Lance Stroll revealed Aston Martin loses gear sync every time the car drops below around 40km/h, not good news given the Loews (Fairmont) Hairpin is the slowest corner on the calendar. "Every time we go through Loews Hairpin, we’re going to lose sync completely of the gears," said Stroll. And losing gear synch costs laptime, something struggling Aston Martin-Honda does not have to spare. - **Edd Straw** ## Leclerc had two reasons for Ferrari deal Charles Leclerc revealed his two reasons for signing the new Ferrari deal that was announced on Wednesday were "because I love this team and because I believe in the project". Confidence in team principal Fred Vasseur is the reason for his certainty that Ferrari's seemingly never-ending mission to re-emerge as a title winner will pay off. "With Fred, we have a very good relationship and I strongly believe that he's the person that will be able to bring Ferrari back to the top," said Leclerc. Leclerc also indicated loyalty was part of his decision, referring to Ferrari as "one of the first to believe in me and to help me get to where I am today". But there is a caveat that suggests the 28-year-old has not been so foolish as to commit what could be the peak of his career to Ferrari without some kind of get out. "I cannot go too much into the detail of the contract, so I cannot comment," he said when asked about conditions in the contract related to his timeline for success. "But surely, it's part of those discussions." He also confirmed there were other, unspecified options, which is exactly what you would expect for a driver of his calibre whose management will always be in contact with potential suitors. "I'm not going to say who, they can say if they want," Leclerc said of these other teams. "But for me, Ferrari was always the choice." - **ES** ## Bottas addresses 'bulls\*\*t' rumours he's at risk ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1412011_HiRes.jpg) Another race weekend, another driver having to address "complete bulls\*\*t" rumours that their place on the grid is at risk. In Canada, the snowball effect of misquoted and/or mistranslated comments left Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu asking "how is that journalism?" about "just f\*\*\*ing bulls\*\*t gossip" that he and Esteban Ocon had fallen out and that a mid-season split was possible. Ocon was similarly forthright and spoke of the "damage" such speculation can cause. Valtteri Bottas was more contained in that regard as he faced the unenviable task of responding to comments about his own Cadillac future, but it was little surprise he found himself reaching for the expletive. "It's part of the sport. It's not the first time I faced those kind of rumours," said Bottas, when asked how annoyed he'd been. "It's a bit of a shame that somebody's just made \[up\] some complete bulls\*\*t, but that's normal in this sport." Bottas suspected "headlines, clicks" were the goal of that speculation but said Cadillac "know my situation" and that the team "support me 100%, so that's why from my side it was OK in the end". Those reports came in the wake of a Canada weekend where he was clearly second-best to team-mate Sergio Perez, alongside whom Bottas has made an unconvincing start to the season. Bottas was eight-and-a-half tenths off Perez in both sprint and grand prix qualifying in Montreal - but said he and Cadillac had spotted discrepancies that would at the very least have exaggerated that gap. "I caught up with the team last week about it and we could see issues, both on the PU \[power unit\] side and the car-build side," he said. "That's as much as I can give you, but we can see reasons, which is good to see. "But we need to keep working on the quality, on how we build the car, how we fit all the parts and so on." It might not surprise you that Bottas called those car-build issues "understandable" for a new team but, considering it's something he and Perez have both mentioned, he could really do with Cadillac getting on top of that sooner rather than later for his own sake. - **Jack Cozens** ## Novel rear wing designs for most, but not all... The high-downforce demands of Monaco have prompted some crazy wing ideas in the past - and this year has not disappointed either. Attention was caught on Thursday when a host of teams revealed some left-field new winglet solutions fitted to their rear wings. They were all a consequence of the FIA's decision to remove active aero for this weekend on the grounds that it would not bring much benefit and could trigger some safety concerns. With active aero off the cars, teams no longer need their moveable wing devices - and that has opened the door for clever thinking to replace the actuators with something that adds downforce. Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull led the way with some pretty interesting and complex solutions for the new winglets, while others including Audi, Racing Bulls, Ferrari and Cadillac all had simpler solutions attached to their upper flaps. But while the designs grabbed attention and got tongues wagging, nobody believes that the winglets are going to shake up the order much. At best the wings deliver a few hundredths of a second benefit - the kind of marginal gains that Aston Martin and Haas felt was not worth pursuing. But let's see what the final grid is, and how much pole position is won by, before concluding whether or not the efforts have been worth it or a waste of time. - **Jon Noble** ## Hamilton says he's found his 'Italian Bono' Lewis Hamilton's 2026 season is going much better than his 2025 one, and although that's in large part due to the super-stiff, difficult-to-feel-under-braking ground-effect cars he so detests being consigned to history, he feels there's also been a huge amount of unseen work "in the background" at Ferrari to get his side of the garage into a much more productive state. This is certainly about Hamilton becoming more comfortable in his new environment and beginning to assert himself more (as every driver must do). We've learned recently that Hamilton has reverted to his old habits of trying to ignore the team simulator, and he also claims credit for helping develop new Ferrari suspension that he hopes will pay back particularly around the unforgiving streets of Monte Carlo. But it's also been about the fostering of crucial relationships within the team. Hamilton's first Ferrari season began with several high-profile miscommunications, often involving Riccardo Adami - who worked with Carlos Sainz for four seasons before Hamilton took Sainz's seat. One of the most bizarre of those occurred 12 months ago in Monaco, where Hamilton finished a long way behind the lead group and was met with radio silence on the slowing down lap. Following a mid-season engineering reshuffle on his side of the garage, Hamilton feels things are now working much better - so much so that he's calling his current race engineer, Carlos Santi, "my Italian Bono", in reference to Peter Bonnington, the famous Mercedes engineer who guided Hamilton to six of his seven F1 world championship titles. "Having that driver-engineer collab, it's hit and miss sometimes," Hamilton said. "With me and Bono, we hit it right from the beginning. I do feel like Carlos is like my Italian Bono - I told Bono that the other day - in terms of, he's a bit of an OG \[original gangster\]. He's an older guy that's been around the block. "The engineer set-up is a million times better than it was last year. I'm starting to see the fruits of that through driving the car." - **Ben Anderson** ## Alpine investigates mysterious Gasly issues ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1411172_HiRes.jpg) Alpine's been investigating Pierre Gasly's sudden balance issues in the last two F1 races and has something different to try this weekend - although there is a difference in characterisation from driver and team. While Gasly claims "we can see clearly stuff on my side of the garage which is not really working the way they should", and there are "a lot of things to test this weekend", what Alpine has uncovered is described as quite minor. It has left no stone unturned looking into Gasly's issues, and reverted some small items to how they were before the April break. The hope is this will have a bigger impact on car balance than Alpine expects but it may be that Gasly has simply been thrown disproportionately by a small change in feeling. If it is more driver mentality, it could be the inverse of what has happened on the other side of the garage. Franco Colapinto has been aided by a fractionally lighter chassis and some part changes in the last couple of races but not enough to explain his sudden leap in form - so what he calls feeling "much more connected to the car" could be more down to him figuring a few things out than the car being significantly better. - **Scott Mitchell-Malm** ## Sainz started to doubt Williams could do the job "Tested my faith? For sure." Carlos Sainz hasn't hidden his frustration with Williams's start to 2026 at any point so far this season. But his media session on Thursday in Monaco did provide one big revelation. The four-time grand prix winner has regularly referred to Williams's competitive reality this year being a "bump" in the road in its plan to return to the sharp end, but it was in response to that reference that he was asked whether his faith in the Williams project had been tested. "When you go from scoring podiums at the end of last year to suddenly being where we were two seconds and a half of the pace at the beginning of the year, two seconds is a big test of faith or a big shock to the system," he said. "And I was the first one to say to James \[Vowles\] and to the management that it was not expected." Whether that was the extent of what Sainz wanted to say we can't be sure; his pivot to a more positive tone, about how the bump shocked Williams into action it otherwise might not have known needed taking, coincided with Williams's press officer jokingly bringing it to his attention that team principal James Vowles was nearby. But it definitely shed a bit more light on how frustrating this has been for Sainz - a driver who's trying desperately hard to remain patient but who ultimately wants to see a return on the investment he's made as soon as possible. - **JC** ## Drivers might have too much energy For once, all the engine and battery-related talk ahead of a 2026 F1 race has been about having lots of energy and maximum power usage. That's because the Monaco layout makes it easy to charge the battery and a new power cap to keep speeds from getting dangerously high means spending energy on MGU-K power deployment will be lower than normal. However, there can be such a thing as too much energy! These regulations really do get you coming and going... The slow-speed layout will be tough for the engine's turbos to maintain the required boost pressure for optimal torque delivery on corner exit - except for those with Ferrari engines thanks to their smaller turbos, which spin to the required speed easier. When this turbo lag occurs, though, it can be 'filled in' with power derived from the MGU-K when it is harvesting energy. And around Monaco this should be quite easy because there's such an abundance of energy that using the battery for this purpose doesn't come at the normal cost. Except you can't charge the battery if it's at 100%. And the first half of the Monaco lap is such that there's a real chance the cars get to Portier, the corner before the longest straight through the tunnel, with the battery at maximum capacity. The Mercedes-engined teams seem particularly wary of this challenge, and are talking about finding ways to mitigate this - maybe by spending as much energy as possible on some very short bursts of straight. Otherwise they could find themselves hemorrhaging laptime down one of the few straights Monaco has thanks to a slow exit with a struggling turbo. And that comes just a couple of corners after the ultra low-speed hairpin, which will present a similar problem... - **SMM** ## Real Haas weakness unrelated to tricky upgrade debut Haas is optimistic it will give a better account of its upgraded F1 car this weekend after the debut of its package in Canada was undermined by an early, unrelated issue. Ollie Bearman revealed that Haas was briefly scared the upgrade was slower than the old specification in Canada FP1, before the team discovered a different part was not performing as it should. Unfortunately this meant Haas had already gone down a compromised path. It was not until main qualifying that Bearman unlocked the set-up that brought more out of the car but struggled with the handling characteristics that came with this, as Haas was effectively three sessions behind where it should have been. Haas believes a tricky Miami weekend before Canada had already been a warning of some limitations that existed in the car and while these may have been further exposed by the upgrade, it was more the demands of the Montreal circuit that brought out corner-entry nervousness and mid-corner understeer. So while it believes the car will be in a better window this weekend it is also starting a medium-to-long-term development plan to address the weaknesses it now better understands. - **SMM** ### Sainz started to doubt Williams project after poor start to 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/sainz-started-to-doubt-williams-project-after-poor-start-to-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T17:19:16.000Z Carlos Sainz has admitted that the disappointing start Williams made to the 2026 Formula 1 season did make him doubt the project for the first time. Sainz has scored points three times in five weekends at the start of this season - a trio of ninth-place finishes in China, Miami and Canada - but Williams's performance at the start of the new rules era has been a far cry from the level it was at in his first season with the team in 2025. The FW48 has been the ninth-fastest car on average so far this season heading into this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix and adrift of fellow Mercedes customer team Alpine, which sits fifth in the constructors' championship (where Williams finished in 2025) and has been the clear benchmark among the F1 midfield. Asked by The Race whether this year's car - which missed the first pre-season shakedown test and is still significantly overweight - could ever reach the theoretical performance level Williams thought it might have, Sainz said: "I think we acknowledge that fundamentally, even without the weight issue, this car is not good enough for what it could have been or should have been." Sainz added that "speaking very bluntly this year, we've underdelivered in many, many areas" - not just on weight but also the "performance delivery of the car" - and said he would realistically be happy if by the end of the season Williams manages to get to the front of the midfield. He has repeatedly made reference to Williams's reality being a "bump" and did so again here, which prompted a follow-up question on whether his belief in the "Williams project" had been tested. "Tested my faith? For sure," he replied. "When you go from scoring podiums at the end of last year to suddenly being where we were two seconds and a half of the pace at the beginning of the year, two seconds is a big test of faith or a big shock to the system. "And I was the first one to say to James \[team principal James Vowles\] and to the management that it was not expected." Sainz did turn this into a positive - he was jokingly prodded by Williams's press officer to make him aware that Vowles was in the vicinity - saying it had led to a "very thorough analysis with some very important members of the team". "And I think once we all understood where it had started to go wrong and how, I very quickly realised that it might have actually done good things for the team, this bump," he continued. "If we wouldn't have hit this bump, I think there might have been things in the team that we would have never changed, that thanks to the shock of that bump, we definitely - James and his team - put a very strong action to correct them, to erase them from the system, to for sure try and not \[have them\] happen again. "That made me recover a lot that faith and the belief in the project." Sainz conceded that Williams overdelivered with a 2025 car that enabled him to score two grand prix podiums and said that had "maybe also raised my expectations for 2026". But he stressed Williams's main issue, of weight, was "going to take a bit too long for my liking" to be resolved, even with the constraints of F1's cost cap meaning the team needs to have "the right order of priorities, to know what also adds other performance to the car". "I need to be patient," he said. "I know we've hit a pretty big bump at the beginning of this year, and we are just trying to get out of it. "So patience, doing the right steps at the right times, in the meantime I focus on my performance, which has been pretty good this year, and that's it." ### McLaren joins Monaco tech trend with intricate winglet URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-monaco-gp-f1-tech-trend-rear-winglet/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T14:37:37.000Z McLaren has joined the Monaco Grand Prix trend of exploiting the removal of active aero to add extra fins to the rear wing of its Formula 1 car. The FIA has decided not to have any straight mode activation zones for this weekend's race, on what is the tightest circuit on the calendar, meaning F1's moveable aero will not be used for the first time in 2026. Its absence has allowed teams to jump on an opportunity to remove their normal wing actuators and instead exploit legality boxes where bodywork is allowed to introduce some winglets. Under F1's technical regulations, as long as the dimensions of any bodywork here fall within an area allowed for the adjuster fairing then that bodywork is deemed legal. While a number of other teams' winglets were visible earlier on Thursday in Monaco, McLaren waited until late in the afternoon to reveal its design. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/07/SAT_MONACO_F1_GP_8371.jpg) Photo: Daniele Roversi Each team has taken a different approach, and McLaren's is made up of three winglets in the area that the adjuster would normally be in, with two additional wing elements further back. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-2-rear-wing-Mercedes-Monaco--1-.jpg) The design is as intricate as the [Mercedes version](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-red-bull-introduce-radical-winglets-in-monaco/) (above), which features a number of winglets positioned off a central column, with a further aerodynamic element at the front of the fairing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-rear-wing-Red-Bull-Monaco-1.jpg) Red Bull's version is simpler in concept and features two mini wings that are attached to its regular adjuster fairing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1412018_HiRes.jpg) While the Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren designs are the most aggressive, other teams have not totally ignored the impact and have introduced simpler concepts - along the lines of what Ferrari normally has with its Macarena rear wing - of a wing tab fitted to the rear wing itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1412026_HiRes.jpg) Racing Bulls (above) and Cadillac (below) both feature an attachment on the upper flap that is designed to help improve downforce. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-rear-wing-Cadillac-Monaco.jpg) Audi's extra wing flap (pictured below) is a step beyond what others have done on the upper flap, with Alpine having one of the smallest. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-rear-wing-Audi-Monaco.jpg) While the new rear-wing elements have grabbed attention in the build-up to the Monaco GP, it is understood that the performance benefits from them are not so significant. Sources have suggested they are worth just hundredths of a second in laptime improvement which, although not a lot in the world of F1, is still worth chasing. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu suggested that his squad had not pursued the concept because of the limited benefits. "It's such a small thing - it's not a game-changer," he said. ### The final questions as MotoGP 2027 grid nears completion URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/the-final-questions-as-motogp-2027-grid-nears-completion/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T16:12:58.000Z The MotoGP 2027 grid is hardly filled officially, seemingly as a consequence of the ongoing contract negotiations between manufacturers and the series itself. Unofficially, though, most of the dominoes are in place - and fewer and fewer options appear to be realistically on the table. We cannot guarantee that all the various handshake deals and pre-contracts and whatnot will definitely come to fruition - and there is still the question of Marc Marquez's fitness. Marquez is set to stay at Ducati but sounds like he still needs to prove to himself that he will be fit enough to make continuing worth his while. But it's trending the right way. And as for the rest, right now the intrigue over MotoGP '27 appears to concentrate around a select handful satellite seats. The intrigue level is super high. Ahead of a switch to 850cc bikes and Pirelli tyres, the grid will be refreshed in a big way - and some very familiar names face a very real (and, for some of them, very sudden) prospect of leaving a series they had seemed to well-established in. As the '27 grid approaches its final shape, here are the biggest questions on the current agenda, barring any massive last-second twists. ## Does Raul Fernandez have a 2027 plan? ![Raul Fernandez ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1320877_HiRes.jpg) Trackhouse rider Fernandez's fantastic race-winning performance in the Mugello sprint was followed an hour or so later by the first public (semi-) admission that things aren't right between him and his current team for 2027. This was played down internally at Trackhouse, but Spanish reporting in the aftermath suggested the American team has indeed significantly cooled on the idea of bringing Fernandez back - and is instead seriously exploring the candidacy of runaway Moto2 points leader Manu Gonzalez. Fernandez's stature at Trackhouse won't be helped by the fact that team principal Davide Brivio, with whom Fernandez has clearly built a very strong rapport, is off to Honda next year - meaning that while Brivio is welcome to advise Trackhouse on its 2027 strategy, the final decision will rest with team owner Justin Marks (and whoever Marks brings in to run the team, with ex-KTM team manager Francesco Guidotti having been linked repeatedly). On Thursday in Hungary, Fernandez was cagey about his future - but certainly sounded more confident and settled. "I am more relaxed," he said when asked about The Race about his reference to a 'difficult situation' last weekend. "\[Now\] I have a different situation." He also said that results this weekend would not change his 2027 prospects, and no-commented when asked directly whether he would be staying at Trackhouse. ## Will Maverick Vinales 'prove' his fitness? ![Maverick Vinales on the Tech3 KTM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1319234_HiRes.jpg) If Fernandez's future does lie outside of Trackhouse, it is not currently obvious what his alternative would be. KTM satellite team Tech3 has been floated as one serious possibility - by Ricard Jove, Spanish pundit and former manager for current Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales - but Fernandez's previous stint with KTM had ended on a very, very sour note. What is clear, however, is that Vinales is a question mark. Moto2 frontrunner Senna Agius is widely seen as the favourite for a Tech3 seat - and team chief Guenther Steiner confirmed at Mugello that Tech3 was "pretty open" on taking a rookie from Moto2. "I think this is an opportunity for us - because, a team like us, we cannot get Marc, we cannot get Bezzecchi, we cannot get them. That's reality. "I mean, I cannot get around that. Obviously we need experience, but you can mix it up, experience and take the chance on somebody who could be the next star, you know? Maybe a big team cannot take chances - we can. "But what I learned \[in F1\] as well, if you take a rookie, you need to put him in a position that he can develop and \[you\] get the best out of him - it's pairing him with an experienced rider. I would not put two rookies in a team." Steiner talked up the importance of an experienced "reference", and Vinales would certainly qualify. And it helps that there's an easy contractual mechanism - in the form of a KTM-side option - to keep him in place. But Vinales has not been truly fit since Sachsenring last year. This has already cost him a promotion to the factory KTM team. Vinales said when asked by The Race that his target was still being at 100% fitness as early as Brno - and insisted that "the shoulder will be good". His position is that he doesn't need "to convince nobody" that he will be fit again. "I think, when I was OK in KTM, in that moment I was the leader. And then OK, I got injured - but I was in the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, they agreed that I will recover 100%. "Obviously it's not easy because it's seven months that I don't use some muscles - it needs a bit of time. But what is clear is that I'm going to recover 100%. The biggest question was that one, if after the second operation I was able to recover - but I am able." But Steiner had told media at Mugello that he needed to see Vinales get fit, and that Tech3 was in no rush to make any commitments. "I'm very calm about it - because most of the teams have signed their riders! Our candidates have nowhere to go, to be honest. When you're the last one in the draft, the draft is yours." ## What roster shape does Honda prefer? ![Luca Marini on the 2026 Honda](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1293724_HiRes.jpg) In theory, the four Honda MotoGP riders covered under full-time 2027 deals are known already - Fabio Quartararo, David Alonso, Diogo Moreira, Johann Zarco. But you would be a brave person to definitively predict the factory Honda and LCR Honda line-up. Firstly, there is still no known recovery timeline for Johann Zarco, whose knee was damaged significantly in his Barcelona crash. Until Zarco is on the track again and lapping competitively you can't have certainty there - though it is also very important to note that Honda is second to none among MotoGP factories when it comes to honouring contractual obligations, and that it is frankly unthinkable that it would just sideline Zarco, its two-time Suzuka 8 Hours winner and 2025 French Grand Prix winner. Zarco should stay at LCR if he recovers anywhere near well enough. Quartararo will obviously step into the factory Honda team. But what about the two young prospects? Alonso is the more vaunted prospect, but there is clearly a case for Moreira to get into the factory team first. Only one of the two is a Moto2 champion (Alonso is having a slightly difficult time this year, albeit with injuries seemingly a big factor) and only one of the two will have prior MotoGP experience at the start of 2027. Moreira himself preferred to be nonchalant when asked by The Race about which team he'll be representing next year. "I don't know, I don't know yet - but at the end I have the contract, so I'm happy, I have a bike for next year. Where - I don't know. "They need to decide. At the end, we are making our job, we need to keep going like this, because at the end \[some decision\] will arrive." ## Who pivots the best to another paddock? ![The MotoGP paddock](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GnG_1314043_HiRes.jpg) Riders who hope to continue will be phased out from MotoGP against their wishes. This much is clear - the only question is the exact names and the total number. The aforementioned Vinales and Fernandez are in the danger zone, as are the likes of Luca Marini, Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Brad Binder. Of those, Morbidelli and Rins both confirmed that they are not yet ready to give up on continuing in MotoGP - and Marini claimed that the full make-up of the premier class grid should still take some time to sort out, even if only a few seats are still available. But can anyone 'fold' now and secure a potential championship-winning move? MotoGP is expecting up to five rookies from Moto2 to step up next year, but it is also expecting the arrival of World Superbike dominator Nicolo Bulega as a VR46 Ducati rider. Bulega has won 22 races in a row. His team-mate Iker Lecuona - who is in MotoGP this weekend as injury stand-in for Alex Marquez - has made it 15 successive WorldSBK 1-2s for the factory Ducati team. Even if a tyre change is coming to WorldSBK next year (Pirelli-to-Michelin, the opposite to the move MotoGP will make), you would be extremely brave to bet on anyone but Ducati. The seat that Bulega is set to vacate is not thought likely to be particularly lucrative - financially. But it could drown a frustrated MotoGP rider in silverware, and there's no shortage of frustrated MotoGP riders right now who are likelier than not to be left off the MotoGP grid in '27. ## Rumoured 2027 grid Ducati: Marc Marquez - Pedro Acosta VR46 Ducati: Fermin Aldeguer - Nicolo Bulega Gresini Ducati: Joan Mir - Dani Holgado Aprilia: Marco Bezzecchi - Pecco Bagnaia Trackhouse Aprilia: Enea Bastianini - Manu Gonzalez KTM: Alex Marquez - Fabio Di Giannantonio Tech3 KTM: Senna Agius - ? Honda: Fabio Quartararo - David Alonso LCR Honda: Diogo Moreira - Johann Zarco Yamaha: Jorge Martin - Ai Ogura Pramac Yamaha: Toprak Razgatlioglu - Izan Guevara ### 'Probably we can't race' - Alonso's pessimistic Monaco prediction URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/probably-we-cannot-race-fernando-alonso-pessimistic-monaco-prediction/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T13:46:29.000Z Fernando Alonso thinks that Aston Martin probably "cannot even race" in Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix if it doesn't address its most urgent gearbox problem. While the tight and twisty nature of the Monaco circuit should mean Honda's power deficit is not as badly exposed as at other tracks, Alonso said on Thursday that there was a bigger concern for him. He said downshift problems - and especially some random gear selections at unexpected points - are a must-fix if the team is to be able to run properly. "We have struggled with the gearbox since Miami," said Alonso. "Monaco is not the place to have a random downshift, and you have rear \[brake\] locking or \[engine\] pushing or something like that. Then you will crash into the wall, and the driver will look stupid. "We are passengers sometimes when you put one gear down and you have push from the engine, like going on full throttle. "So, that's the thing that we needed to make sure that we make a step in the right direction in Canada, and Monaco will tell the truth." Due to the ease with which Alonso thought the drivers could be sent into the Monaco wall if they experience a random downshift, he even went as far as suggesting it could derail Aston Martin from running. Asked whether there was hope of him overcoming technical deficits with the car to deliver a good result in Monaco, Alonso said: "If you have the downshift problem like we had in Miami, probably we cannot even race, because we will crash in one of the braking points due to a very different downshift type. "If we have reliability issues like at the beginning of the year, that \[meant that\] we completed eight, 12 laps or something like that, then it doesn't change much to be in Monaco. So we need to put everything together. "It's what we've been working on the last two weeks since Canada, because we know that it's an important weekend and we are paying a lot of attention to this weekend and all the details." As well as the downshift problem outlined by Alonso, team-mate Lance Stroll also revealed that there are other gearbox headaches that will hurt Aston Martin in Monaco. One of these relates to gear syncing, which is the process to ensure the alignment between the engine's rpm, the transmission gear dog rings and the hydraulic actuator. If they are not matched up perfectly, the transmission can struggle to engage the next gear seamlessly, which can cause power-delivery delays and slower shifts. While gear syncing is needed most times cars go out on track, Stroll said Aston Martin has to do this every time the car goes below a certain speed. "Every time we're under like 40km/h, we lose sync of the gears," he said. "So we have to re-sync gears. "So here, for example, every time we go through Loews Hairpin, we're going to lose sync completely of the gears. "Then we're going to have to sync those again, which is huge laptime \[loss\] every time you have to sync the gears." ## Alonso rolls back on seat position Alonso will start the weekend with a revised seating position, after experiencing discomfort in Canada that forced him out of that race. The issues that he has encountered are linked to a more reclined seat position in the ARM26 cockpit this year, which has been adopted by team principal and technical director Adrian Newey - who this weekend is due to make his first appearance at a race since the Australian season opener in March - in the pursuit of performance. Following efforts made in Monaco on Tuesday to adjust his seating position and other parameters in the cockpit, Alonso said he has reverted to something closer to what he had last year. "We have four different seat positions," he said. "We changed a lot since Canada, so I'm very relaxed, optimistic that the problem of Canada, that I was very uncomfortable and with pain, it's not \[going to be\] anymore there. "We went back nearly to the 2025 seat position. So basically, we are in a known baseline now. No experiments." Alonso explained that the differences in position were tiny, but should help considerably. "It is one or two millimetres of different angle or different pressure point underneath your hip area or whatever, and it can press some nerves," he said. "Then you start losing sensitivity, and that was the case." Alonso reckoned that the seating issue he had was the sort of thing that is normally discovered in pre-season testing, but had not been noticed because Aston Martin's pre-season mileage was so limited. "The longest run in Bahrain \[testing\], I think it was eight laps," he said. "So we're still in Bahrain preparation in certain things in the team. "But we were not fighting for the points or anything in Canada. I think if I was in the points, I would keep driving probably and you know, you keep up." ### Mercedes, Red Bull introduce radical winglets in Monaco URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-red-bull-introduce-radical-winglets-in-monaco/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T13:19:07.000Z Red Bull and Mercedes are among the Formula 1 teams to have seized on the removal of active aero for the Monaco Grand Prix to introduce some radical winglets on the rear wing. For the first time this season, F1 teams will not be allowed to run moveable wings because there are no designated straight modes for the Monte Carlo street circuit. That decision means teams do not need to continue using their regular activation mechanisms on either their front or rear wings because the flap configuration will remain unchanged throughout. But in the chase for marginal chains, teams have seen opportunity from no active aero and have re-engineered the mechanism areas on their rear wings to introduce some unique extra winglets that will add extra downforce. These have exploited allowances within F1’s aerodynamic regulations that gives teams freedoms within certainly legality boxes to do what they want Normally these mini wings would not make sense when active aero is available because they would be too intricate and complex for airflow when the flaps switch frequently between corner mode and straight mode. But with everything fixed for Monaco, the opportunity to seek performance gains in this area has clearly proved to be an attractive one. Red Bull’s design (main picture, above) features two wing elements attached on top of its normal central mechanism. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-2-rear-wing-Mercedes-Monaco.jpg) Mercedes (above) appears to be much more of a wholesale redesign, with its entire mechanism having been trimmed back and replaced with a complex set of wings. McLaren is expected to feature a similar concept, while the Ferrari that has appeared does not to feature any exploitation in this area, so far. As well as the changes at the rear of the cars, Audi has used the fact that the front wing elements do not move to remove the bulky mechanism fairings it has used since the start of the season. ### McLaren fined by series it doesn't race in anymore URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/mclaren-fined-by-series-it-doesnt-race-in-anymore/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T08:45:18.000Z McLaren has been fined €400,000 by a series it doesn't compete in any more. The now defunct McLaren Formula E Team has been found to have breached the Formula E teams cost cap in the 2024-25 Formula E season, the last of its three seasons in the all-electric world championship. The breach, which has been described by the FIA as a "minor overspend", arose primarily from "costs associated with the orderly wind-down of the team following its decision to cease participation in the championship at the conclusion of Season 11 (2024-25)". The holding company of the team, McLaren Electric Racing Ltd, which still trades, has subsequently signed an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) and must pay a fine of €400,000. In the official public summary of the ABA, it states that McLaren voluntarily notified the cost cap administration of the minor overspend breach of 4.54% of the cost cap, prior to any formal investigation. The Cost Cap Administration did not find "any indication that \[McLaren\] acted in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner or wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration". McLaren’s reported costs in the official reporting documentation, for the period ending on September 30, 2025, was £12,802,394\. This exceeded the cost cap of £12,246,766, an overspend of £555,628. In addition to the fine of €400,000, to be paid within 30 days, McLaren will also pay "reasonable costs" incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA. McLaren has waived its right to appeal or otherwise challenge the ABA. Jaguar and Nissan have both had sanctions for overspends in the official Formula E cost cap, with Nissan and Jaguar serving sporting penalties for their breaches which came in the first cost cap year of 2022-23\. They each served a half-day ban from the first day of the official pre-season test at Jarama in November 2024. Nissan was also fined €300,000 for an ‘under 2% breach’ (equivalent to €269,252), while Jaguar was hit with a financial penalty of €100,000 for a 0.6% infringement, which equated to £73,849. ### What happened to McLaren in Formula E ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/EPS1002_100320_FC19543-2048x2048.jpg) The McLaren Formula E, known as NEOM McLaren, in deference to its Saudi sponsor, was born from the team that won the 2021 and 2022 Formula E world championships, Mercedes EQ. When Mercedes gave notice of its intent to leave Formula E in August of 2021, it did so with a year’s grace, meaning that Stoffel Vandoorne’s title he secured at Seoul in August 2022 was the last act of Mercedes in Formula E. By that time its team principal, Ian James, had an agreement from McLaren that the existing team could use the brand as a racing name to run a customer team with Nissan hardware for the Gen3 rules set. Rene Rast and Jake Hughes were drafted in as drivers to replace the F1-bound Nyck de Vries and Vandoorne who had already committed to move to the DS Penske squad for Gen3. The team scored pole positions and podiums in its first season, before Rast's replacement Sam Bird took the teams only Formula E win with a memorable last lap overtake on Mitch Evans to win at Sao Paulo in March 2024. But by January 2025 rumours were already swirling that NEOM could curtail its involvement with the team and by the spring it went public with the news that McLaren would exit at the end of the 2025 season. James was again faced with attempting to salvage the operation and came close with a plan to hook up with the Stellantis group of automotive brands for this season falling through at a late stage, influenced to a large degree by Maserati - a Stellantis brand - fighting a similar battle for survival. By June last year time had run out and the following month McLaren started its wind-down of the operation, returning its licence to Formula E Operations and ceasing to operate, meaning that the grid was reduced from 22 cars to 20 for the present campaign. ### Leclerc risks wasting his best years with new Ferrari deal URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/leclerc-risks-wasting-his-best-years-with-new-ferrari-deal/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T08:27:13.000Z Charles Leclerc’s loyalty to the Ferrari Formula 1 team is admirable, and rare, but it risks wasting the best years after extending his contract with the team into what is understood to be the 2030s. Leclerc is arguably the most unfulfilled talent of his generation already. At this rate, Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will outstrip his tally of eight wins. He was already surpassed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri last year. And the statistical anomaly that is Leclerc’s 27:8 pole-to-win ratio, and the fact that his 52 grand prix podiums comprise only those eight victories, play into the bigger problem: that there is no trend suggesting Leclerc is any closer to the ultimate goal of winning a world championship. Since joining Ferrari, his final finishing position has been 4th, 8th, 7th, 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 5th. He sits 3rd in the 2026 standings after five races, just ahead of Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The bottom line is at Ferrari, Leclerc has never been able to be more than a driver who is usually very close to the front but only rarely *at* the front. Sport doesn’t fairly reward ability, and this is just at the extreme end of the sort of thing that can happen when an F1 driver never ends up in the right place at the right time. Still, for Leclerc to not even have had a full championship chance is a waste, even if you did want to argue that Leclerc has not been able to affect meaningful change in Ferrari’s fortunes (although given multiple team leaders have failed in this regard, and that is their actual job, it would seem harsh to assume Leclerc somehow should have). So, the question should be asked, why has a 28-year-old who should be entering what would stereotypically be his prime years as an F1 driver, just [committed those years with a renewed deal](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-new-ferrari-f1-contract-could-run-into-2030s/), for a team that has consistently only produced those sorts of numbers for him? Obviously, there is no immediate better alternative on the table. So a medium-term recommitment firming up his Ferrari contract beyond 2026 is straightforward in that regard. And he will be extremely well recompensed for committing longer-term - there is only so much sympathy that can be afforded someone willingly signing a deal worth tens of millions of euros a year! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1408944_HiRes.jpg) Money is not Leclerc’s biggest driver, though. His big motivation is to be a world champion. What this new deal makes tough to determine though, given it supposedly runs into the start of the next decade, is whether that motivation is outdone by his desire to be world champion *with Ferrari*. Leclerc loves the idea of being an F1 Ferrari ‘lifer’ as even his rookie season with Sauber was with Ferrari power and he was obviously only there on loan. He has grown up with the team and sentiment can be an incredibly powerful factor. Leclerc can’t be world champion with Ferrari if he leaves Ferrari. He might not be world champion if he stays. Some Ferrari cynics would say that’s a definite, but it isn’t guaranteed, and it seems Leclerc is willing to risk the possibility it never comes together for the chance that it some day might. Of course, it’s not now or never for Leclerc. If he isn’t a world champion by, say, 2030 - which his Ferrari deal runs to in some form or another - that’s not to say he couldn’t win a title with Ferrari with the *next* deal. Leclerc will look to the man he now shares the team with - Hamilton - for evidence that, if he does everything right, there is a decade or more of trying, trying, and trying again. But the other way to look at it is if it hasn’t worked in eight seasons of believing in the project, and doesn’t work in three or four more, will Leclerc’s confidence not finally be eroded? Will he finally start to seriously evaluate alternatives and put himself in the shop window or will Ferrari be able to take advantage of his loyalty indefinitely because Leclerc can never quite bring himself to break ties? This is the kind of partnership that it would be wonderful to see achieve the ultimate goal. What a story - from sporting and human perspectives - a Leclerc-led Ferrari championship would be. And for now Leclerc can afford to keep believing. He’s in a holding pattern for the next year or two, which probably made this easier. The years beyond that could be too valuable to waste. ### Why rivals are convinced Ferrari will produce first F1 2026 upset URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-rivals-are-convinced-ferrari-will-produce-first-f1-2026-upset/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T08:22:55.000Z Ferrari will have the fastest car at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend and goes there as favourite - at least according to its Formula 1 rivals. To be fair it's not just rivals who are talking up Ferrari's chances, as F1 awaits an end to Mercedes' dominant start to the grand prix season; even Charles Leclerc, in the midst of his Canadian GP weekend misery, looked ahead to his home race optimistically. "We need to be careful," said Leclerc, who has since had his [Ferrari contract extended](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-new-ferrari-f1-contract-could-run-into-2030s/). "Mercedes is a very, very good team. I think it's a very strong team and a very all-round team, whether it's in corners or in the straight. "If there's one race this year where I feel we could have more of a shot at pole, it would be Monaco. And I hope it will be the case." But why is that the case, is it as clear-cut as being made out, and what are Ferrari's rivals saying? McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris was convinced Ferrari will be on pole, and said its low-speed performance is "far better" than the opposition's, while Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli felt Ferrari's engine will be key to it being very quick in Monaco. Meanwhile, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said he saw Ferrari as "probably the favourite". It's the package as a whole that's led people to believe Ferrari will be strong in Monaco. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1282651_HiRes.jpg) Part of that is a little bit of bias towards its Monaco prowess in recent seasons - even if it has only won once (2024, above) in the last six attempts - but even though this is an entirely new set of regulations and a brand new car, Ferrari's DNA of good kerb-riding tendencies and short-duration corner performance has continued into 2026. Now, McLaren is good at low-speed as well. But Stella hinted that there is a type of very-slow-speed corner unique to Monaco that’s in a more extreme bracket where Ferrari will further excel. "When we look at the overlay based on the GPS speed, we can see that Ferrari is definitely a competitive chassis in the corners," he said. "The first sector, they've been always very competitive and it's not only a low-speed sector, but it's also a sector with kerbing and normally these features tend to be worked in a track like Monaco." He added: "Unlike what it looks in Monaco there's a few medium-high-speed corners. "If you think the Casino corner is more than 150km/h, Tabac is 170-180km/h, the Swimming Pool is more than 200km/h. "So, actually medium-high-speed performance is important in Monaco but some of the low speed is extremely low speed and in a way is in its own range if you think \[about\] the slow-speed section in the second sector. So, it's one of its own." And there has been a narrative throughout the early rounds of the season that Ferrari has a better chassis than Mercedes, with Ferrari's weakness firmly on the engine side. So, not only will Monaco potentially bring the best out of the Ferrari car, it could also mitigate that V6 engine weakness, because this is not a power-sensitive circuit. If there is any weakness on the electric recovery side, that may be mitigated too, as Monaco is a circuit where it is very easy to charge the battery and deploy the MGU-K at full power where and when it's needed. If Mercedes has an edge in eking out that last little bit from the battery, that simply is not going to matter as much. Finally, and this is what Antonelli was hinting at, the Ferrari engine package has been tipped to be well-suited to Monaco. Ferrari runs a smaller turbo than its rivals, which has played a part in strong starts (although [that advantage has been mitigated](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-ferraris-big-start-advantage-has-been-wiped-out/)) and more importantly strong corner exit performance, because the turbo spins to the required speed more easily - so there's less lag compromising the combustion engine. On a normal circuit, rivals have to fill that gap with electric power by deploying the MGU-K more off the corner, which drains the battery. ## Why the reality could be different ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1349941_HiRes.jpg) The first thing that needs to be stressed is that the extreme demands of Monaco push everybody into a different operating window in terms of optimising the car: what's been seen conventionally in the first few rounds, and what rivals are trying to extrapolate from, is not necessarily going to translate. And there's a significant new variable for this race compared to others as new limits are being imposed on how the electric part of the engine can be used compared to the early rounds. Monaco is going to be energy-rich anyway with massive charging opportunities and not many places to deploy excessively, but there are also restrictions on how much power can be used relative to the speed of the car. Put simply, the MGU-K will be running at maximum capacity far less in Monaco than at other tracks. There are fewer places to use the battery and the energy spent will be less when it is used because the MGU-K will have to be shut off earlier in the car's speed range. That is not great for Ferrari's assumed position as favourite because it means the overall engine compromises are going to be reduced. If Ferrari's rivals do need to spend more of their battery earlier off a corner to fill in the gap left by a slow-spinning turbo, that is not going to be punished in the same way it would on an energy-poor track such as Albert Park or Suzuka. There aren't consecutive big straights or long power-sapping runs anyway, and now there's going to be less MGU-K usage, so spending more battery energy to help with corner exit performance will be easier. On the car side, yes, the Ferrari package should be well-suited to Monaco - but it's not alone in that. Teams will be dialling their cars more into the low-speed stuff because there is not the same corner-performance trade-off as at other circuits. If a team has been sacrificing some low-speed performance because its strength is in medium- or high-speed corners and it wants to accentuate that positive, it will not be doing that in Monaco. There will be a far greater emphasis on ride quality, low-speed performance and direction change for everybody. And rivals are not bad at low speed. McLaren believes its car is actually best-suited to this type of corner rather than medium and high-speed, where Stella feels Ferrari and Mercedes are superior, and that this should set McLaren up well for Monaco. Plus there are a couple of corners in Monaco where medium-speed performance is still relevant, which could bring Mercedes into play even if it is further adrift in the slow stuff relative to Ferrari. And the Mercedes advantage has been significant so far this year, so Ferrari needs to find several tenths of a second to suddenly leapfrog it. McLaren might also be closer to Ferrari than engine supplier Mercedes in a key technical area in Monaco, too, as it runs lower gear ratios than the works Mercedes team - so could have that little bit extra punch off the corners. ## Will Leclerc's 2026 shackles come off? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1411346_HiRes.jpg) If the Ferrari is capable of being in the mix in Monaco, there will be a massive expectation that one or both of its drivers will be capable of getting the most out of it. Lewis Hamilton is going to Monaco off the back of his strongest and happiest weekend in Ferrari colours in Canada. But let's see if he can piece it together on a unique weekend like Monaco and avoid another false dawn. Leclerc is the really interesting one, because it's his home race, he always loves driving in Monaco, and is usually fantastically quick there. And Leclerc is excited to qualify with the 2026 car for a change, primarily because of what the circuit is going to ask of the engines and batteries. Like almost every driver, he is expecting Monaco to make for a more natural experience compared to what 2026 has felt like elsewhere. Ideally this means leaning on the car as much as possible, not worrying about battery recharging tricks or deployment complexities. Leclerc is at his very best when he dances the car right on the edge of grip, with small slides and throttle and brake overlap. This manipulation is super effective when he is really in the swing of things in Monaco. But with these engines, the complexities of how they work, the software involved and the rules around them, Leclerc's way of driving has run him into trouble. Little lifts when correcting slides and getting back on full throttle means the engine has sometimes deployed electric power where it shouldn't for an optimal lap and he's been left lacking a critical bit of energy and power where it's more useful - most drastically in qualifying for the [Chinese GP sprint race](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-lap-f1-2026-qualifying-ruined-cars-confused/). It's this Leclerc is referring to when he says he does not enjoy qualifying in these cars because you get disproportionately punished for the kind of driving that previously gave him an edge. That could be better in Monaco this weekend. The batteries will be regularly topped up and there are not so many places where a long power run would be punishing if there is slightly less energy to play with. And with this reduction in terms of how much maximum power is available with the Monaco-specific power cap, maybe it all adds up to mean that Leclerc won't necessarily be punished this weekend if he drives how he likes. However, the fundamentals of the engine and the rules around using it are still there. They haven't just disappeared. So the actual consequences will be interesting to observe. Maybe Leclerc will be the ultimate barometer for whether Monaco does give drivers the qualifying experience they are all hoping for. If he can be at his best, and if the Ferrari is as good as so many of its rivals are teeing it up to be, then this should be its best chance of beating Mercedes so far. But that's a lot of caveating already for a scenario rivals are talking about as a sure thing. ### What time is F1's 2026 Monaco Grand Prix? Full weekend schedule URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/what-time-is-f1-2026-monaco-grand-prix-how-to-watch/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T14:03:40.000Z **Presented by** [**Apple TV**](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) The most iconic race on the Formula 1**®** calendar is up next with the Monaco Grand Prix taking place this weekend. Monaco has moved back from its usual late May slot for 2026, avoiding a clash with the Indianapolis 500 and taking place in June for the first time since 2003\. Below you'll find the all-important session times for the weekend, as well as all the information on where to watch the action on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com). ## Monaco GP schedule (US times) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1349529_HiRes.jpg) *EDT = US Eastern daylight time, PDT = Pacific daylight time* **Friday June 5** **Practice 1**: 4.30am (PDT), 7.30am (EDT) **Practice 2**: 8am (PDT), 11am (EDT) **Saturday June 6** **Practice 3**: 3.30am (PDT), 6.30 (EDT) **Qualifying**: 7am (PDT), 10am (EDT) **Sunday June 7** **Monaco Grand Prix**: 6am (PDT), 9am (EDT) --- Watch the Formula 1® Louis Vuitton Grand Prix de Monaco 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), June 5-7\. U.S. only. --- ## Monaco GP schedule (UK time) **Friday June 5** **Practice 1**: 12.30pm **Practice 2**: 4pm **Saturday June 6** **Practice 3**: 11.30am **Qualifying**: 3pm **Sunday June 7** **Monaco Grand Prix**: 2pm ## Monaco GP schedule (local time) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1349688_HiRes.jpg) **Friday June 5** **Practice 1**: 1.30pm **Practice 2**: 5pm **Saturday June 6** **Practice 3**: 12.30pm **Qualifying**: 4pm **Sunday June 7** **Monaco Grand Prix**: 3pm ## How to watch the Monaco GP [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) is the new home of F1 in the US from 2026\. Fans can view every minute of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend live by signing up to [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) and accessing [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com)’s new dedicated F1 channel. [Apple](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com) has every F1 2026 practice, qualifying and race live, as well as a full catch-up and highlights catalogue in case you miss any of the action live. As well as pre and post-race programming, there are additional live feeds to follow the action, including 22 onboard driver cameras, live timing, driver trackers and more. --- Watch the Formula 1® Louis Vuitton Grand Prix de Monaco 2026™ on [Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/channel/tvs.sbd.241000?itscg=30200&itsct=therace%5Fformula%5F1&at=1010l3dvX&ref=the-race.com), June 5-7\. U.S. only. ### Senior TT moves to Friday as another new schedule issued URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/senior-tt-moves-to-friday-as-another-new-schedule-issued/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T05:46:39.000Z The 2026 Senior TT at the Isle of Man TT will now run for four laps instead of six, and will move forward to Friday from Saturday as part of a revised schedule released on Wednesday by organisers and then revised again on Thursday morning, amid torrential rain and low fog that has severely disrupted this year’s race week schedule. The Senior TT, the race’s blue riband event, will now join a three-lap Supersport TT and a two-lap Sportsbike TT (both cut by a lap) on Friday. Thursday's schedule initially featured the first Superstock TT race, but that was only on the proviso that the forecast poor weather changed. Early in the morning on Thursday, organisers confirmed that low cloud, rain and showers expected all day meant the superstock category would now only get one race in 2026. “I’ve had to take the decision today to cancel the activities due to the inclement weather,” TT clerk of course Gary Thompson explained on Wednesday evening. “We’ve had a lot of rainfall, there’s low cloud and mist on the mountain, and today is cancelled - which moves us on to tomorrow. We’re looking at the same sort of thing; prolonged showers throughout the day. “If there is any window of opportunity we will hold the superstock race, but if we lose tomorrow then one of the superstock races will be cancelled. Not ideal, but unfortunately with the time left, we are where we are. “On Friday the weather is looking good, and we’re looking at running three races. We’re bringing the Senior race forward, because obviously it’s the headline race of the event and we’re bearing in mind that we lost it last year.” That will then mean that Saturday, originally scheduled to have only the Senior TT, will feature both the second sportsbike and second superstock races take place for their scheduled three-lap full distance. But, with further rain on the forecast for the start of the weekend, organisers have also admitted that the contingency option of racing on Sunday is an option that they’re seriously considering, should Saturday be disrupted. “We’ve got inclement weather on Saturday and Sunday,” Thompson added, “but right now Saturday is looking like the better day, and on either day we’re looking at running the second superbike and second sportsbike race. “That’s where we’re at. It’s hugely disappointing for everyone, be it competitors, teams, officials, marshals or of course spectators. We’ve been hit by bad weather this week, but we’re absolutely doing what we can to get races in.” **Friday 5 June** 10:30 – Free Practice \[1 lap\] 11:45 – Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 2 – \[3 laps\] 14:15 – Carole Nash Sportbike TT Race 1 – \[2 laps\] 16:15 – Milwaukee Senior TT – \[4 laps\] **Saturday 6 June** 11:00 - Carole Nash Sportbike TT Race 2 - \[3 laps\] 14:00 - RL360 Superstock TT Race - \[3 laps\] **Sunday 7 June** *Should Saturday’s schedule be postponed, Sunday’s schedule will be as follows:* 13:30 - Carole Nash Sportbike TT Race 2 - \[3 laps\] 15:45 - RL360 Superstock TT Race - \[3 laps\] ### Why Perez is convinced he is one of F1's best drivers again URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-perez-is-convinced-he-is-one-of-f1s-best-drivers-again/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T16:44:48.000Z Sergio Perez's Formula 1 return with Cadillac has already eradicated his own doubts about coming back to the grid - and convinced him he is "one of the top drivers". Time has served Perez well, and so have just a few races with F1's newest team. Though he is at the back of the grid and has not yet made it out of Q1 this season, much less scored a point, that of course is not a valid metric to judge him against given Cadillac's position. Joining this project was never going to yield short-term success in the conventional sense but there is no doubt a strong start alongside Valtteri Bottas has provided an excellent immediate boost to Perez's reputation and given him clear satisfaction. Where there was previously self-doubt and a bruised public reputation after the manner of his Red Bull exit at the end of 2024, there is now a rock-solid conviction in his own ability and wider paddock plaudits to go with that. "I have to be realistic, and honest - I had doubts on coming back," Perez told The Race in an exclusive interview. "The main reason was my family. I felt like I've had a great career. I knew my circumstances. I gave it everything and I was very happy with the career I've had. I'm in a very fortunate spot in my career because I didn't need to be back in F1. "But I felt like at the same time I didn't want to leave the sport the way I left it. Because I believe myself that I'm one of the top drivers here. And coming back makes me realise that I'm one of the top drivers." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1411587_HiRes-1.jpg) This is a punchy self-appraisal. But what is hard to dispute is that Perez looks a lot more like his best self again, a long way removed from the under-pressure individual who faded badly alongside Max Verstappen in the most difficult-to-drive Red Bull of Perez's four-year career there. His confidence is back and, out of that pressure cooker and a world that revolves around someone else, so is the performance. Off-track, Perez seems very comfortable in his new environment, happy and extremely motivated. On-track, the emerging trend of him being faster and consistently stronger than team-mate Valtteri Bottas means Perez is clearly being seen as the early leader there. He's been quicker in four of the last five qualifying sessions (sprints included) and apart from a battery deployment issue on his final run in Miami Q1, it could be 5-0 in that time. There are even suggestions other teams in the midfield have taken notice that this is a driver back at his personal best – not one defined by the Red Bull slump that led to him falling off the grid just a few months after signing a new contract there. "People that understand the sport, they can easily see the level that I'm driving at, the pace I'm having and the performance I'm having," Perez said. "More than proving to everyone else, it's about proving it to myself again. The last six months at Red Bull were very tricky. And there were some circumstances that I had there that prevented me from performing the way I should have been performing. "I'm very happy that I came back to prove it to myself. And that was the main thing." What has happened at Red Bull since - the double failure of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda - has earned Perez something of a reappraisal. While Perez did not cope as well as he should have given Verstappen was still winning races in late 2024, and Perez was nowhere near that by the end, what he was achieving in the second car still went beyond what either of his successors managed. There is no shame in being somewhere between one of the greatest of all time and perfectly decent midfield drivers who also shrunk in a harsh spotlight. And how bad 2024 got meant Red Bull was still justified in making a change. But it was handled poorly, to say the least, and Red Bull should have taken more responsibility for the failings of the second car and the environment that driver was operating in. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/XPB_1411498_HiRes.jpg) Also, it's worth stressing that Perez being dumped late on by Red Bull didn't mean he deserved to be on F1's scrapheap entirely. Had he been released earlier he surely would have found a seat somewhere else because he quite clearly had plenty to offer in the right environment. This is now being proven. And while Perez cannot pinpoint exactly when it happened, he has the assurance he needed. After a few sharp comments Red Bull's way last year when he was rejoining the F1 grid, his feeling in these first few months of 2026 certainly conveys a sense of closure about that disappointing final chapter. "That whole insight made me feel like, ‘yes, I was right' and the last six months doesn't mark my career," Perez said. "I was in very difficult circumstances. Now it's clear to everyone. But the biggest thing is that it's clear for me that I belong at the top of the sport. That to me was the main thing of coming back." Now Perez is deserving of more than he has, and wants more, too. It is not ‘I've moved on from Red Bull/made the world re-evaluate me, job done' - Perez needs to achieve something meaningful with Cadillac. Judging its two drivers has been tricky this year because of Cadillac's varying operational performance. And that is something Perez is really pushing the team on because the pace is pretty respectable. Cadillac's vying with big-spending, underachieving works team Aston Martin every weekend to avoid being last, and even starting to annoy some established midfielders. Where Perez has already grown "impatient" is Cadillac's operations. He dropped out of easily the team's most competitive race so far in Canada with a freak suspension failure, and said the operational side of the team is "lacking tremendously". There have been myriad problems less dramatic than that suspension failure that the team has had to work through: systems to troubleshoot, processes to improve, technical issues to overcome. For example, Cadillac's had problems with the low-pressure fuel system that has made collecting and pumping fuel difficult, which have now been fixed. Aspects other teams take for granted such as ensuring the perfect finish and fitting of aerodynamic parts to minimise performance loss, or making rapid changes in the garage between runs in qualifying, have also had to be improved too. Then there's the problem of making the most of the car set-up wise over a weekend. Not only is Cadillac light on historic data, but it's inevitably playing catch-up in processing the vast amounts of data gathered during an event that must be interrogated to understand how to improve performance. Progress is being made, it just cannot be linear, or fast enough, because F1 is such a brutal place to be learning while competing. Perez describes being part of it as "one of the biggest challenges that I've faced in my career" and it is certainly one he seems to be pushing hard with. Nobody could accuse him of being a passive player in the process and the novelty of Cadillac making it to the grid (an achievement in itself!) did not last long. "I know that I don't have all the time in the world," he said. "I came here to make a successful project. And I know that every single weekend is crucial, in making sure that we make progress. "For me, that's the main driving factor, I want to see more progress. I want to see progress quickly because unfortunately Formula 1 doesn't give you time. "Everyone is impatient here. So for me, the next couple of races are very important, because they will determine how much progress we are making as a team. "And for me, as long as we are making good progress, good steps in the right direction, it will give me enough motivation to carry on." That is significant because, as mentioned previously, there has at least been a sniff around Perez in the wake of his strong start to 2026\. Describing it as concrete interest from rival teams would probably be a stretch - and Perez is under contract at Cadillac - but he is creeping back onto the radar of teams that want to have a shortlist of options in case they end up needing a line-up change. And while Perez is a loyal, committed driver and person, he is also realistic. As he says, "I don't have all the time in the world", and he does not want to end his F1 career with a point-less return. That's why he is quite relentlessly harrying Cadillac's hierarchy with suggestions on personnel to chase, or areas to improve - it's then down to the leadership to navigate the realities of that process, the timelines that have to be respected and so on. Perez is craving progress, though. He wants to contribute directly to it - on-track, he has, as he's been leading the movement closer to the main midfield teams, and even start to race and run ahead of some of them. Drivers from Haas, Racing Bulls and even Williams have been behind Perez at some point, especially in sprint races. But he clearly has a short-term timeline in mind for certain things to get better, too. "It's in all the areas," he said. "We as a team want to see progress in the pitstops, we want to see progress in the strategies, on understanding the tyres, on all the different departments. "The bigger things will take time, like everything. But I think having the right structure will show good progress in the next couple of races. And that's the main objective in the team. "We have all the resources in place, but we don't have all the tools or all the experience to look after them all. So it's a very tricky scenario in that regard. "But I think the next couple of months are going to be the biggest test for Cadillac so far on how much we are able to progress." ### Norris and Piastri to race their own Lego helmet designs URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/norris-and-piastri-to-race-their-own-lego-helmet-designs/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T16:00:06.000Z Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will race with the designs of their newly released McLaren special edition Lego helmets in Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix. As part of the celebrations to mark McLaren’s 1000th grand prix, the duo will adopt the colours they have created from Lego’s latest partnership venture with McLaren. The plan to race in the Lego colours, revealed during a special event in the Monaco harbour on Wednesday, has had to be in the works for more than two years due the long lead time it takes to create the models sets. The designs for both drivers are split concept – with their traditional colours being matched with a one-off element for the 1000th celebrations. Norris and Piastri both helped work with Lego to come up with the final versions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6081.jpeg) Norris said: “It was a pretty cool project to do with Lego, and I’m excited we are one of the very few people that have been able to do it.” As well as enjoying being involved in the project, Piastri said one of the best things for him was having his own figurine at the end of it. “It's not every day you get to say you have got your own Lego figurine,” he said. “As F1 drivers we get some pretty cool stuff that not many people have, but Lego figurines...it looks like me! It's got flip flops or thongs, it’s got a T-shirt. And the hair is pretty much perfect as well!” ### A two-year planning process The unique way that things have been done – with the Lego helmets being released for general sale at the same time as the 1000th GP that they will be raced in – meant that decisions on the designs had to be made long ago due to the long lead times needed to create the model kits. Furthermore, the timescale was impacted by the fact that making a round helmet out of square bricks was never going to be a straightforward project. Piastri said: “Obviously making a helmet out of Lego bricks is pretty tough, because Lego bricks are not very round. So there was a lot of work that went into that, and then trying to translate that onto a round object, the actual helmets, was pretty challenging as well. But it's pretty much a like for like translation.” This is why Lego had to green light the project as long ago as 2024 – so it could get things ready in time for this weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6105.jpeg) Lego Group’s chief product & marketing officer, Julia Goldin said: “Our product development times are about two years – and that was especially true for helmets because they are a different form. “So, there were certain things that we had to create from an engineering perspective that were different from the usual Lego brick form in order to make them look as authentic as possible. “And it’s unique \[the real helmets being a copy of the Lego helmets\]. In most cases we have to follow \[the real thing\], because of our timelines and because of how deliveries or costs change. But in this particular case McLaren also said we will do this together, so we did it together.” McLaren Racing chief marketing officer Louise McEwen said that a two-year planning process - which included a new livery for the race - was a much longer timeline than is usual for special, one-off events. “We would never have ordinarily designed a car livery that far out,” she said. “The livery kind of came about because we knew we had this incredible opportunity with Lego. “Normally we're planning liveries a good year or so out, because you have to go through submission processes etc, but this was definitely one where Lego pushed us for the first time to be that far ahead. "We did it just because we knew it would have great appeal.” ### When does each 2026 F1 driver's contract expire? URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-driver-contracts-when-do-they-expire/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T12:49:08.000Z Save for the significant arrival of a new Formula 1 team and two returning drivers, there were scarcely any changes to the grid for 2026. But that could all change over the remainder of the season, as more than 50% of the field are due to be out of contract come the end of the year. Here's what you need to know about when each driver's contract ends. ## McLaren **Lando Norris - 2027** **Oscar Piastri - 2028** Norris's current deal - [announced in January 2024](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lando-norris-mclaren-f1-contract-new-long-term-deal/) \- confirmed he would be with the team until the end of 2026 along with Piastri, although the "long-term" wording used by McLaren means Norris is likely tied up for the 2027 season, too. Piastri extended his contract in March 2025 with a "multi-year" deal that you'd suspect will keep him at McLaren until the end of 2028 at least. ## Mercedes **George Russell - 2027** **Kimi Antonelli - 2026** F1 2026's two title protagonists were only officially confirmed for this season in [October last year](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/our-verdict-george-russell-new-mercedes-f1-deal-curious-omission/). Max Verstappen's potential availability earlier in the season contributed to that hold-up and that could be a factor again this year. Russell's contract is understood to run into 2027, though the way it was presented could still leave both team and driver free to do something different next year. ## Red Bull **Max Verstappen - 2028** **Isack Hadjar - 2026** Verstappen signed a [new deal with Red Bull](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/an-easy-decision-verstappens-f1-deal-to-2028-explained/) in 2022 that in theory keeps him at the team until 2028. But there are also performance-related clauses in that contract on Verstappen's side, and the four-time champion said explicitly recently that [he will quit F1](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-says-hed-quit-f1-if-2027-rule-changes-are-blocked/) for 2027 if planned changes to the new rules (of which he has been the most vocal critic) are blocked. Hadjar was brought into the Red Bull line-up at the expense of Yuki Tsunoda - that announcement stated only that he would be part of the 2026 line-up - and has compared reasonably well to Verstappen in his first season in the senior team, even if the car's overall competitiveness has been a limiting factor. ## Ferrari **Charles Leclerc - 2030+** **Lewis Hamilton - 2027** In announcing Charles Leclerc's deal had been renewed, Ferrari released an ambiguous statement ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix that was light on details and stated merely that he would "continue to wear the team's colours for the coming seasons". As Leclerc's existing arrangement (also publicly announced at the time only as being for "several more seasons") was in place until 2029, The Race understands that the new deal is an extension to that and as such will [keep him at Ferrari until beyond 2030](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-new-ferrari-f1-contract-could-run-into-2030s/) \- the current longest F1 driver contract. While the length of Lewis Hamilton's contract has never been made official, it was widely accepted to be a two-year-minimum affair and the seven-time champion said at the recent Canadian GP that he was committed at least until the end of 2027. ## Williams **Alex Albon - 2026+** **Carlos Sainz - 2026** Albon was signed through to at least the end of the 2026 campaign with a new ["multi-year" deal in 2024](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alex-albon-new-long-term-williams-f1-contract/). Sainz joined Williams from 2025 on what was described as a ["two-year agreement with options to extend"](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/carlos-sainz-williams-f1-deal-two-years/). ## Racing Bulls **Liam Lawson - 2026** **Arvid Lindblad - 2026** Lawson regrouped well following his demotion to Racing Bulls just two rounds into the 2025 season, sufficiently so that he was [retained for 2026](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/yuki-tsunoda-f1-2026-no-seat-red-bull-line-ups/). Lindblad, the only rookie in this year's field, scored points on an eye-catching debut at the Australian GP and added to his tally in the Canadian GP sprint race. They have been presented as Racing Bulls's drivers for 2026 only. ## Aston Martin **Fernando Alonso - 2026** **Lance Stroll - 2026** Two-time champion Alonso and [Stroll](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/four-consequences-aston-martin-lance-stroll-f1-contract-driver-market/) are currently contracted only until the end of what is proving to be a gruelling first year of Aston Martin's works partnership with Honda. ## Haas **Ollie Bearman - 2026** **Esteban Ocon - 2026** Though both [Bearman](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/who-is-oliver-ollie-bearman-ferrari-f1-debutant/) and [Ocon](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/haas-signs-esteban-ocon-multi-year-f1-deal-explained/) are contracted until the end of the current season, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu recently had to [shut down "bulls\*\*\*" speculation](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/an-f1-team-boss-fury-at-absolute-bulls-driver-exit-rumours/) of a rift between Ocon and himself, and the possibility of a mid-season split. ## Audi **Nico Hulkenberg - "multi-year"** **Gabriel Bortoleto - "multi-year"** Audi's having a mixed first season in F1 - with a decent turn of speed being paired with more reliability issues than it would like - and should really have more points on the board than the two Bortoleto scored at the season opener. The 21-year-old is racing alongside Hulkenberg for a second season, following the team's transition from Sauber into the works team. [Hulkenberg's deal](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hulkenbergs-big-deal-is-bad-news-for-a-certain-type-of-f1-rookie/) includes 2025 and 2026, though reports have suggested 2027 is in the mix as well. ## Alpine **Pierre Gasly - 2028** **Franco Colapinto - 2026** Gasly's Alpine deal was extended further into the future midway through the 2025 campaign. Colapinto's form in the early part of 2026 - featuring a seventh in Miami and then a career-best sixth in Canada - has put him on the right trajectory to stay with the team for 2027, according to Flavio Briatore - though the Alpine executive advisor also said he [wants to keep his options open](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-f1-2027-line-up-mercedes-driver-admission/) in case Verstappen does move to Mercedes and one of Russell or Antonelli becomes available. ## Cadillac **Sergio Perez - 2027** **Valtteri Bottas - 2027** Grand prix veterans Perez and Bottas were both signed on "multi-year" deals that brought them back to the grid with the new Cadillac team. Perez has generally been the more impressive of the two so far in 2026, though speculation that Bottas's place could be at risk - for now or for 2027 - [appears to be wide of the mark](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-worried-bottas-should-really-be-about-his-f1-future/). ### Isle of Man TT's options as weather disruption drags on URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-weather-disruption-continues-schedule-options/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T11:57:02.000Z With the news that the fourth race day of the 2026 Isle of Man TT has now been cancelled, and only two of the scheduled five races so far completed, the event organiser is now in a rush against time to ensure this year's schedule is at least partially completed amid forecasts of yet more inclement weather later in the week. The opening day of this year’s race week, last Saturday, was the first to be disrupted, with the three-lap Superstock TT called off. Sunday's Superbike TT went ahead as planned for the full six-lap distance, with Dean Harrison emerging as the winner, before yet more bad weather meant only a shortened three-lap Supersport TT ran on Tuesday, where Michael Dunlop secured his 34th win. Heavy rain in the morning and again in the afternoon meant the original plan to run three races on Tuesday was amended and, as a resutl, both the Sportsbike TT and Saturday's delayed Superstock race are still to go ahead. Those won't be happening on Wednesday, either. A day originally scheduled only to have the second superstock race following the suspension of the sidecar class for 2026, more heavy rain meant that at lunchtime the organiser made the call to not run any races. "Due to poor weather conditions around the course and further showers forecast throughout the day, there will be no scheduled racing today,” it was announced. "The clerk of the course continues to work closely with the Met Office to identify all available opportunities for racing to take place during the remainder of the event." The forecast for both Thursday (originally scheduled as a rest and contingency day) and Saturday, the new finale of the TT and set to host the Senior TT, is also not good, meaning that there's now a chance some races are scrapped rather than postponed, and those that remain could be shortened. With Friday's forecast so far clear, it may present an opportunity for a busy day of track action as the organiser tries to run Supersport, Sportsbike, and Superstock races, all likely to go ahead over three laps thanks to the unofficial rule whereby officials are unwilling to run more than nine racing laps in a single day. With more rain due on Saturday, clerk of the course Gary Thompson has already admitted that Sunday's final contingency day is likely to be used for the Senior TT, possibly alongside the second Sportsbike TT, with one of the week's two Supersock races then a casualty of the weather. ## Potential new schedule **Friday** Superstock TT (three laps) Sportsbike TT (three laps) Supersport TT (three laps) **Sunday** Sportsbike TT (three laps) Senior TT (three laps) ### Ferrari extension set to take Leclerc F1 contract into 2030s URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/charles-leclerc-new-ferrari-f1-contract-could-run-into-2030s/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T08:15:19.000Z Charles Leclerc has committed himself to Formula 1's current longest driver contract with a new deal at Ferrari that is expected to keep him there beyond 2030. Ahead of Leclerc's home race, the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari announced a "renewal of its agreement" with Leclerc that was light on details beyond simply saying that he will "continue to wear the team's colours for the coming seasons". But with Leclerc already having a contract in place until 2029, The Race understands that the new deal is an extension from that - so likely keeps him committed at Maranello into the 2030s. The timing of the Leclerc announcement is somewhat of a surprise, as this year was viewed as a crucial one in dictating his long-term F1 future amid his desire to be a world champion. Ferrari has not started the year as strongly as it hoped, with Mercedes having won all the main grands prix and the SF-26 held back by a lack of power and straightline speed. But Leclerc has still clearly seen enough at Ferrari to believe it is the right place to be longer term, especially as there are limited options elsewhere. While Mercedes would likely be a good alternative option, it currently has George Russell and Kimi Antonelli on tap for next year and any interest it has shown outside of that duo has revolved around Red Bull's four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen. At McLaren, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are locked down to long-term contracts and have no reason to change if they continue their current performance levels. Speaking about his new Ferrari deal, Leclerc said: "I couldn't be happier to continue this journey with Scuderia Ferrari HP. "It has always been so much more than just a team to me. It's the team I've loved and dreamt of being part of since I was a child, and after all these years it has become a second family. "Together we've shared incredible moments and some tougher ones, but I believe in this team more than ever, and I'm deeply grateful that we will keep pushing side by side toward our shared goal of bringing the world championship back to Maranello." Leclerc originally joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016, securing the Formula 2 title in 2017 and stepping up to F1 with Sauber the following year. He was promoted to Ferrari in 2019 and is behind only Michael Schumacher in terms of grand prix appearances made for the team. If he sees out his contract he will beat that record. Getting Leclerc to stay on such a long-term deal is an obvious choice for Ferrari, as it ensures it has one of the very best drivers on the grid locked down. Team principal Fred Vasseur said that there was nothing unusual in extending the deal with Leclerc. "Charles has been part of the Ferrari family for many years now and this renewal feels like something very natural for us," he said. "Over these seasons we have seen him grow, to become not only one of the strongest drivers in Formula 1, but also a person who is completely at one with the team and everything Ferrari represents." With Leclerc's future sorted, attention will shift to what happens with Ferrari's second car. The length of Lewis Hamilton's contract has never been made official, but the seven-time champion said at the recent Canadian GP that he was committed at least until the end of 2027. Asked if everything was clear for him for next season, Hamilton said: "Yep. I'm still in contract, so everything is 100% clear to me. "And yeah, I'm still focused, I'm still motivated, I still love what I do with all my heart, and I'm going to be here for quite some time, so get used to it. "There's a lot of people that are trying to retire me and that's not even on my thoughts. I'm already thinking of what will be next, planning for the next five years. But yeah, still plan to be here for some time." ### Yamaha's MotoGP sacrifice has robbed riders of all enthusiasm URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/yamaha-motogp-2026-sacrifice-riders-disillusioned/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T07:22:05.000Z The Yamaha V4 bike has given its project leaders the occasional reason to crack a smile or two during the 2026 MotoGP season - but its riders are clearly the unhappiest bunch on the grid. The decision to introduce an entirely new engine configuration in the final year of a regulations cycle should give Yamaha a much better runway into 2027, when the V4 engine will be a must. But it has also turned the manufacturer's 2026 into an extended off-season, and its riders are struggling to cope with that reality. Fabio Quartararo has delivered some scintillating laps but usually sounds either irritated or checked out, with a Honda move on the horizon for 2027. Though he's led the line for Yamaha the vast majority of the season, he made it clear at Mugello that it was not worth the risk trying to salvage some of the weekends. "There is a way where you are happy to fight for 12th. Or like this race, you know, when you're almost two seconds per lap slower - you don't really want to push," said Quartararo. "When you're getting closer, you have something that you are feeling well with - you want to push, even if you are slow. But now it's more of a nightmare than enjoyment. That's why I feel it's not necessary to push that much." That was perhaps a particularly cynical way of looking at it - but Quartararo's Yamaha peers, who should have a greater motivation to place as high as they possibly can, likewise seem disillusioned with just how meaningful the whole affair is. Put rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu aside, for a second. Though he too is upset at his place in the classification most days, he seems to be able to channel his focus into learning the MotoGP riding style and the Michelin tyres (even if they will be replaced by Pirellis next year). His level of frustration has been high - but it has not become ennui. For Alex Rins and Jack Miller, it certainly feels that way. Rins is known to be out of the factory Yamaha line-up next year; he himself announced that. Miller has been more cagey, but his chances of retaining his Pramac Yamaha seat appear slim-to-non-existent, with Izan Guevara - already on Pramac and Yamaha's books - expected to step up from Moto2. Both need to ride at their best to help their market value, and Rins - it felt - was doing exactly that at Mugello, a contender (despite the Sunday DNF) for his actual best weekend as a Yamaha rider. But he just could not show any enthusiasm for beating his fellow Yamaha riders - even when The Race put to him these were the only riders he could realistically target beating right now. "For example, \[Takahiro\] Sumi-san, the really big \[Yamaha\] boss, congratulated me," Rins said after the sprint. "And I said, 'Sumi-san, thank you, but I'm not happy'. He said, 'Actually, here you are the best Yamaha'. I said, 'Yes, but it's not enough! I want to improve the bike. I want to have a better bike'. "Maybe it's my fault, it's my mentality, but it's like this. I'm pushing hard, like every day at home, to be a better rider. But then I arrive here and it's like there is a limit." And Miller said it was all too easy to empathise. "At the end of the day he finished 17 seconds behind first. We're clutching at the straws at the moment. We're trying to chisel our way up the leaderboard - but it's f\*\*\*ing difficult." But the progress of the project should, in theory, matter much less to Rins and Miller than individual bragging rights - if it's true that neither has a big future with Yamaha, as certainly appears to be the case. The other problem, though, is that they're known quantities, perhaps 'damaged goods', and never on TV in their battles - out of sight, out of mind. Asked by The Race whether it felt people just didn't care or notice at all which of the Yamaha riders were performing better, Rins said: "Yeah...can be \[like that\]. Can be." And his outlook for future racing employment sounded as dreary as ever. "Same as I said before: I don't have a good bike to show all my potential," Rins lamented. "And what is going to happen, I don't know. "I would like to continue here, but time flies, and it's difficult to find something, so honestly, I'm quite - how to say - not 'relaxed', but I'm calm, because I know my potential. "And if in the end I cannot find anything, it's what it is, it's life. I mean, luckily I have a good family at home." ### Honda's surprise engine gains for Aston Martin URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/aston-martin-hondas-key-focus-with-no-upgrade-until-summer/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T13:45:08.000Z Honda may not have its first proper engine upgrade available until around Formula 1’s summer break, but it says driveability improvements should arrive as early as this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. Honda has had a challenging start to the 2026 campaign with Aston Martin, as it has battled reliability problems triggered by excessive vibrations. However, a lot of progress has been made in addressing the early difficulties and that means the focus has shifted to delivering performance gains. Work is ongoing at Honda’s Sakura R&D facility in Japan to unleash an engine upgrade for later in the season, but that does not mean it is sitting back and not trying to make progress before that arrives. In fact, Honda’s trackside general manager, Shintaro Orihara, has revealed that engineers in Japan have found a way to improve driveability, which comes ahead of a Monaco weekend where that characteristic is really important. “Driveability is very critical in Monaco," said Orihara. "So the positive thing is we found the way to improve our driveability. "So in HRC Sakura, our development factory, they will work hard to improve by Monaco - that is our main target.” While no single factor has held back Honda on the driveability front, Orihara said that efforts across a number of metrics had helped unlock more performance. “It’s data settings, for example, and calibration," he said. "So, ignition timing, lambda \[air-fuel ratio\] setting, injection timing. We have a lot of parameters to control driveability.” Honda has also "conducted specific driver-in-loop sessions" at Aston Martin's Technology Campus to optimise its energy management settings for Monaco. “On the cooling side, Monaco’s slow speed sections make this challenging," Orihara added. "We need to find a good cooling specification, working closely with Aston Martin \[fuel supplier\] Aramco to achieve this for the power unit in clean air and heavy traffic, which is common here." ## Upgrade plan While the short-term work is on improving driveability, Honda’s efforts for the planned engine upgrade will revolve around improving combustion and reducing friction. “We know where we need to improve," said Orihara. "For example, on the combustion side we have some ideas to improve and we have seen some positive signs on the dyno data. “Also, we need to reduce friction to improve performance. So that type of list we have now in the factory, and we keep working to improve those things. Then once we get something, we will boost our development phase.” Asked about the timeframe for the next development step to come through, Orihara said: “Engine development is a long-term job, but it won’t be at the end of the season. “At some point, let's say around the summer shutdown, we will see some improvement. That is our target.” Longer term, Honda says its development plans for 2027 will not be impacted by any potential change to hardware for next season aimed at improving the current rules. The FIA is currently trying to pull together a proposal to shift the 50/50 power ratio between combustion and battery nearer to 60/40 - but it does not yet have the necessary support from manufacturers. Honda appears to be on the fence over the issue, with Orihara saying that its job will be unchanged by whatever is finally decided by the FIA. “Performance-wise, the direction is the same,” he said. “We need to improve the combustion performance - and it doesn't matter if it's 60%, 40%, or 50-50\. We need to improve our combustion. “Then, if the fuel flow rate is increased next year, we will just do additional tuning. But the direction is the same. “We will keep working hard for this year, and that will connect with next year's engine development. But reliability-wise, it's maybe quite challenging if we had more fuel flow rate. That is a more challenging point from this regulation change.” ### Isle of Man TT shares updated 2026 schedule after poor weather URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-updated-schedule/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T12:57:34.000Z The Isle of Man TT organisers have shared a new schedule for this year's event after poor weather forced changes to Tuesday's racing. A one-hour delay to the second day of racing was announced at 5:50, with poor conditions on the course. A further one-hour delay was then announced at 9:30. At 10:30, organisers revealed a revised schedule due to the conditions, with only the four-lap Supersport race now due to take place, and with the Sportbike and Superstock races rescheduled. Another one-hour delay was announced at 12:00, with the Supersport race cut to three laps and pushed back to 15:00. There had initially been no running planned on Tuesday evening, but organisers said the outlook for the evening is improving better than had been originally forecast, and the 3-lap Carole Nash Sportbike Race 1 will now take place at 18:30. This is the second weather delay to cause disruption after bad conditions on Saturday prompted the rescheduling of the opening Superstock race. The first day of racing was scrapped after heavy fog blanketed the lower sections of the course just as the three-lap Superstock TT was due to get underway at 11am local time. Organisers first announced an initial one-hour delay to the schedule, followed by a second one - but, with rain forecast for the afternoon meaning that they had a smaller and smaller window in which to run the race, they made the decision at 11:30am to suspend the entire day’s action. Sunday's racing went ahead as planned, with Dean Harrison claiming victory in the [opening Superbike race](https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-all-the-results/). The changes come after the Sidecar races were cancelled following a serious incident. On Thursday, organisers [immediately suspended the class](https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-suspends-sidecars-for-rest-of-2026-event-in-unprecedented-move/) due to "an immediate technical and operational review to assess the circumstances" of the red flag crash involving pre-race favourites Callum and Ryan Crowe during Wednesday night's qualifying session. ## Full updated schedule: ### Tuesday 2 June - RACE DAY 3 14:00 – Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 1 – \[4 laps\] ## Wednesday 3 June - RACE DAY 4 10:45 – RL360 Superstock TT Race 2 – \[3 laps\] 14:00 – Solo Practice – \[1 lap\] ### Thursday 4 June - Rest Day ### Friday 5 June - RACE DAY 5 (TT Bank Holiday) 10:45 – Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 2 – \[4 laps\] 14:00 – Carole Nash Sportbike TT Race 2 – \[3 laps\] 16:00 – Senior TT Practice – \[1 lap\] ### Saturday 6 June - RACE DAY 6 11:00 – Milwaukee Senior TT – \[6 laps\] ### Isle of Man TT likely to be extended amid weather disruption URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-likely-to-be-extended-amid-weather-disruption/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T13:03:46.000Z Racing action at this year’s Isle of Man TT looks set to continue into Sunday as the event faces ongoing weather disruption to the schedule. The opening day of racing on Saturday was scrapped due to heavy fog on the course, before [Tuesday’s schedule](https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-updated-schedule/) was forced to be altered due to rain. Three races had been planned for what became the second day of racing on Tuesday (June 2), but that was reduced to one as rainfall hit the island. The Sportbike and Superstock races will be rescheduled and the Supersport race is now due to get underway at 1500 on Tuesday, after a further delay. There had initially been no running planned on Tuesday evening, but organisers said the outlook for the evening is improving better than had been originally forecast, and the 3-lap Carole Nash Sportbike Race 1 will now take place at 18:30. Speaking after the latest announcement, TT Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson said racing is now likely to continue into Sunday - beyond the event’s planned final day of Saturday - due to the disruption yet to come. He emphasised the importance of rider safety when making decisions about racing and pointed to forecast poor weather across the next few days as the reason for the likely contingency. In a video on Tuesday morning, he said: “Obviously we've had some inclement weather over yesterday, we've got more disruption today and the likelihood is we're going to have more disruption, weather disruption over the next couple of days. “So firstly I want to thank everybody for the patience, whether that's competitor, team, marshal, officials, spectators. Obviously it's frustrating for all of us, we're all frustrated but obviously we can't help the weather. The primary thing for me is rider safety and obviously we'll only put the riders out in the best possible conditions. “So looking towards the end of the week, we've got this inclement period of weather now and the use of Sunday afternoon, the contingency on Sunday afternoon is becoming more likely. "So although it's not confirmed yet, I think we all have to be realistic and have that in the back of our minds that we're likely to be racing on Sunday afternoon. “Obviously it's down to me to get all the race programme in and we're going to do that the best we can, but that's only if the conditions are suitable to put the riders out \[on track\]. "Safety is absolutely paramount.” Last year’s Senior TT was scrapped due to poor weather conditions, with previous events also having been heavily affected. ### First concept image for Hamilton's HybridV10 series revealed URL: https://www.the-race.com/single-seater-open-wheel/first-concept-image-for-hamiltons-hybridv10-series-revealed/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T12:23:50.000Z The first concept image of the car design that is planned for Anthony Hamilton’s new [HybridV10 series](https://www.the-race.com/single-seater-open-wheel/anthony-hamilton-hybridv10-formula-series-project-v8/) has been revealed. Hamilton, the father of seven-time world champion Lewis, has been working on pulling together plans for an independent motor racing series that will feature high-performance cars running V8 and V10 engines. Limited hybrid functionality intended for pitlane and safety car use is expected further down the line. The idea is that the V10 cars will run initially in 2028/2029, with a V8 category potentially following later in 2029/2030. Work has been progressing behind the scenes in advancing the project, with the intention of getting the first HybridV10 'festivals' in play for 2028. Writing on social media a few days ago alongside a teaser silhouette image of a car, Hamilton wrote: “I’ve spent the past few months raising the funds to help get it off the ground. “Since December, the project has continued progressing quietly behind the scenes. The initial car design phase is now complete, and we have now moved into the first stages of CFD development. “The target remains the same: 2028.” The first image of that HybridV10 design has now been revealed in a digital render. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/v10s-1.png) As can be seen above, the car is a closed cockpit design, but features aerodynamic elements and open suspension that are more akin to a traditional single seater. Hamilton has been clear that the success of the series goes beyond just having a V10 element. This is why a lot of attention in being put on the development of the car, its raceability, its sound, the appeal to fans and the driver challenge. Hamilton wants no racing gimmicks as part of HybridV10, so that means no DRS and a push to ensure that the cars can race each other properly, so they don't produce too much dirty air. The aim is to keep car weight down as low as possible too. While the limited hybrid functionality had originally been explored for pitlane and safety car use, the opening season is now expected to focus primarily on a pure naturally aspirated V10 package. Early feedback from CFD testing is said to be encouraging about overall performance levels, and design efforts will continue in the digital world before the transition to some windtunnel running. Speaking last year about the idea behind the cars, Hamilton said that what he wanted to create was something that would be spectacular for fans and drivers. “My intention is to strip away complexity and put the focus back on the driver,” Hamilton told The Race. “That means no artificial performance management – just real racing. Ultimately, I want pure, authentic racing focused on driver talent.” ### Why Lecuona not Bulega is MotoGP's latest injury stand-in URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/why-iker-lecuona-not-nicolo-bulega-is-motogp-latest-injury-stand-in/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T08:48:48.000Z Gresini has drafted in Ducati's World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona as an injury stand-in for the Hungarian MotoGP round at Balaton Park. Lecuona will ride in relief of the injured Alex Marquez - still recovering from his terrible crash in Barcelona - and will make his first MotoGP appearance in just under three years, when he had a stint as a replacement rider from Honda. Prior to that, he was a MotoGP full-timer for two seasons with KTM satellite outfit Tech3. Neither 26-year-old Lecuona, nor his WorldSBK team-mate Nicolo Bulega, were available to substitute Marquez in this past weekend's MotoGP round at Mugello, as it clashed with World Superbike at Aragon. So Ducati's 39-year-old tester Michele Pirro stepped in - but Pirro is more important in his test role for Ducati's new 850cc prototype for 2027. The same appears to be true for Bulega, who is romping to a maiden WorldSBK title - having finished second twice in the years before to Toprak Razgatlioglu (who now rides for Pramac Yamaha in MotoGP). Bulega, who like Lecuona is 26, is on a record streak of 22 consecutive wins in WorldSBK. And it seems that nothing should be read into Lecuona getting the Balaton call-up over him - as Italian media reported last weekend that Bulega's 2027 MotoGP move has been rubber-stamped, and that he will represent the VR46 Ducati team (having in the past been one of Valentino Rossi's VR46 Academy riders). Ducati presumably won't see too much of an upside in getting Bulega another MotoGP runout given he's already been testing the 850cc prototype on Pirellis (so doesn't really need the additional 1000cc and Michelin tyre experience that '26 MotoGP offers) - and given that his fitness is a priority both ahead of his MotoGP move and in his championship position in WorldSBK. Lecuona has finished second to Bulega in a scarcely-believable 15 consecutive races, and the MotoGP call-up should also be a reward for him having proven himself a more-than-capable WorldSBK number two - putting Bulega under significant pressure in several of the races and racking up consistent points. Picked up from Honda's struggling WorldSBK project by Ducati on an initial one-year deal, he now looks an absolute no-brainer to be retained in the Italian works team in WorldSBK next year - especially if, as is expected, Bulega is moving on. He also proved himself a solid enough MotoGP rider in his time at KTM and a capable stand-in during his call-ups with Honda - but, unlike Bulega, there currently appears no viable path for him to return to full-time MotoGP competition. There is no return timeline yet for Alex Marquez, who suffered a marginal C7 vertebra fracture and a right collarbone fracture in Barcelona. Meanwhile, veteran Cal Crutchlow will continue to deputise for Johann Zarco - who suffered significant knee injuries in that same Barcelona race - at LCR Honda. ### Everything Marquez's return told us about his MotoGP future URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-marquezs-return-told-us-about-his-motogp-future/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T06:20:48.000Z Marc Marquez's return to MotoGP action at the Italian Grand Prix significantly broadened our understanding of the two main questions surrounding him right now. To Marquez himself, one of those questions - whether he can get back into the 2026 title fight - matters substantially less than the other: whether he can recover sufficiently to make continuing in MotoGP worth his while. Marquez is known to have already committed to a new two-year Ducati deal. But nobody will force him to ride against his will, and he is not yet prepared to say he will definitively be on the grid. But it's trending in the right way. The same cannot be said of his chances of defending the title this year. ## The surgery verdict Marquez was as productive as [anyone could reasonably expect](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/italian-grand-prix-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/) at Mugello, given his limited physical resource and the track's reputation for exposing any such shortcoming. Coming off a surgery to remove two screws and a bone fragment from his long-suffering shoulder, Marquez was the quickest Ducati in qualifying, then put up a strong fight in the best-of-the-rest group in both races for as long as he could. He was fifth in the sprint and seventh in the grand prix. "I just gave everything until the right arm said, 'OK, stop'," he said on Sunday. "I remember feeling super tired and I checked the pitboard and 10 laps still remained." He gave up six seconds to the leader over those remaining 10 laps - but was not bothered by that one bit. The fatigue was expected, but the key was for it not to be accompanied by any sign of lingering nerve issues. "For me, the most important \[outcome\] of this weekend is that the numbness was not there. I feel I had a new feeling on the arm this weekend, so this for me was the most important and was the target of the surgery. "I'm happy with the decision I took to come here. One part of me was like: 'Come on, stay at home and come back in Balaton, that is an easier track, a slower track'. But another part was saying to me: 'All your career you have given your 100%, so if you are not on the bike \[when you can be\], with the OK of the doctors, you are not Marc'." ## The championship picture But any who believed Mugello can kickstart a Marquez resurgence towards the two Aprilia riders at the top of the current standings will have been disillusioned. Neither of the factory Aprilia duo had a perfect weekend. Marco Bezzecchi erred in the first braking of the sprint, and Jorge Martin wasn't totally in the groove after a bruising Barcelona. And at the same time both put up around 30 points - more than double of what Marquez scored. He is now 102 points back from Bezzecchi. A maximum of 407 is still up for grabs - but Marquez isn't ready to score 407, and Bezzecchi is averaging around 25 points per round, with Martin not far back. A fit Marquez would be a game changer. As he himself alluded to - miming a person using a juice squeezer as he struggled to find the right words in English - the Ducati's true peak level remains a mystery because Marquez cannot yet know how well he's exploiting it. "I cannot answer your question, if it's better or worse \[than the Aprilia\], because I'm not... the juice of the Ducati, still I think it has more juice!" he giggled. Right now it's Fabio Di Giannantonio who has been squeezing the most 'pace juice' from this bike - and Marquez should rightly believe that, at his 100%, he can handle Di Giannantonio. But all through the weekend he treated the points picture as a total irrelevance. ## What about the future? Marquez's current mission is an exploratory one instead: to see what kind of physical level he can get to with the MotoGP bike now, to find out what his new '100%' is. He made several references to this through the weekend - and they seemed to come with an undertone of 'this will decide whether I stick around'. It felt the most pronounced on Sunday. "Let's see where I can arrive. Nobody says that I will come back for the future as I was before - but I will try. You know my mentality. "I'm ready to try, then let's see, but I don't want to give up without trying." He added later, when asked directly whether he had 100% confidence about continuing into 2027-28: "If I'm here, it's because I want to push my career on - just because this year I don't enjoy it, but last year I was enjoying a lot, so, I want to try. "Then let's see which will be my physical condition in the future. But if I'm here, it's not that I'm here to fight for the title and to take points. I'm here to try to prolong my career." Mugello was a clear positive step for two more years of Marquez - but it's also clear that it is not yet a foregone conclusion. ### What we know about Red Bull's overweight car problems URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/where-red-bull-stands-in-tackling-overweight-car-problem/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T10:57:39.000Z Red Bull may face challenges getting on top of some "complex" problems with its RB22 design, but the quickest route to closing the gap to the front in Formula 1 could be a simpler one. Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar have had a tough time on occasion as Red Bull tries to resolve balance and handling difficulties with its 2026 F1 challenger. Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted earlier this year that the squad was "wrestling" to understand what was happening at times as it focused on tweaks for Miami that would help deliver more of a consistent platform. But, despite some signs of progress, with Verstappen taking a front-row start in Miami and the team's first podium of the year with his third place in Canada, Red Bull knows that it still needs a lot more before it can think of challenging the dominant Mercedes team. Sources close to the team have said that the performance profile right now is being clouded by the RB22 being overweight - potentially costing it around two tenths of a second per lap. While those sources would not reveal exactly how many kilograms too heavy the car is right now, a 0.2s deficit would point to it being somewhere around 6-7kg over the 768kg minimum. Having started the year believed to be even heavier than it is right now, Red Bull made a big step in Miami in getting some mass off the car - with a further leap expected for its home race in Austria in late-June. ## Ending the risk approach Beyond the pure physics of the deficit a heavier car brings, Red Bull is well aware that if it can get close to or even under the weight limit, then that will bring other performance benefits too. One tool that teams under the weight limit have is the ability to move car ballast around, which can help with the centre of gravity and the car balance, bringing gains in terms of handling and tyre management. Another element is that because Red Bull knows it has a car that isn't a match in pure pace terms compared to its main rivals, that at least opens the door for it to take more risks with aggressive set-ups in a bid to punch above its weight. Sometimes this can work in bringing extra performance but, equally, there are times it backfires and leaves the drivers fighting handling characteristics that they are not happy with. This is what Mekies suggested happened in Canada, where Verstappen bemoaned handling problems with the car, especially in qualifying. Speaking about this approach, Mekies said: "We take risks every time we don't feel we are at the right balance, or at the right gap to competition. "When you do take risks like that, you do explore set-up directions, with both cars. "Then we improve our understanding of the car, what is working, what is not working, what is bringing something for quali, and what is bringing something for the race." The hope is that if Red Bull improves the performance of its RB22 and closes the gap to the benchmark Mercedes, it won't need to take as many set-up risks and will reach a more consistent level. ## The kerb and bumps issue While finding a couple of tenths of a second from taking weight off will lift Red Bull up into the chasing pack behind Mercedes, it knows that other elements need to be sorted too. One aspect that it has historically struggled with - and that flared up in Canada and is likely to be a factor in Monaco this weekend as well - is a difficulty the team has long had with kerbs and bumps. Mekies admitted that while dialling out problems with bouncing over kerbs was straightforward in itself, the challenge really comes from doing it in a way that does not give up laptime. "The guys are doing all the analysis in the world back at the factory to try to come up with a solution that not only fix the issues, but fix the issues by bringing lap time," he said. “It will probably be quite easy to fix the issues, but it would make the car slower. So you want to fix the issues and to bring laptime. It's a complex issue, but we love complex issues. "We have plenty of them and I have every confidence that in the same way that we have cracked quite fundamental issues since the beginning of the season, we will be managing to do a few more." Asked if these were things that could be dialled out of this year's car, or whether that was a project for next year and beyond, Mekies said: "There is nothing yet that we are saying cannot be fixed in '26." ### McLaren reveals special livery to mark 1000 F1 races URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-f1-special-livery-1000-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T15:48:43.000Z McLaren has revealed the special livery it will use to celebrate its 1000th Formula 1 Grand Prix across Monaco and Barcelona. Lando Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri will race in Monaco and Barcelona with a metallic papaya and 'anthracite' livery on the McLaren MCL40. The team is celebrating 1000 grands prix in F1, with Monaco also the scene of its first grand prix back in 1966, with founder Bruce McLaren at the wheel of the M2B. The M2B will line up alongside the current MCL40 during a special commemoration on the grid in Monaco on Thursday. Norris, Piastri, team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown will be joined for the celebration by multiple grand prix winners from McLaren's history, as well as F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. McLaren's 1000th grand prix start has been something of a moving target. It was originally supposed to be the Miami Grand Prix, before the cancellation of the [Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-bahrain-saudi-arabia-races-cancelled-no-replacement/) shuffled it back to Monaco. But the subsequent failure to start either car in China means this year's Monaco GP will actually be McLaren's 999th start, with the Barcelona round, one week later, marking the team's 1000th. Both drivers will wear special overalls throughout both weekends in line with the special livery. McLaren has won 203 grands prix en route to 13 drivers' championships and 10 constructors' titles, and will become only the second team (after Ferrari) to reach this milestone. ### Crowdfunding campaign for injured sidecar rider after TT crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-crowdfunding-campaign-maria-costello-injured-sidecar-crash/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T15:58:54.000Z A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to support popular Isle of Man TT competitor Maria Costello, after the full details of the life-changing injuries she sustained during sidecar practice for the 2026 race were detailed. Costello, who was celebrating 30 years racing on the Mountain Course this year, crashed on the approach to Brandish corner last Tuesday night during practice for the two [ultimately scrapped sidecar races](https://www.the-race.com/tt/why-the-isle-of-man-tt-has-suspended-sidecar-racing/). The crash occurred when Costello and passenger Shaun Parker struck a hare at well over 120mph while approaching the fast left hand corner only two miles from the end of their second lap of the night. She was initially described by the race organiser as being in a 'serious but stable' condition, and was transferred to Liverpool's Aintree hospital. The full extent of Costello's injuries have been revealed by her friends and sponsors as they launch a crowdfunding campaign to support her rehabilitation, with the most significant of those being a spinal fracture that has left her paralysed. The [GoFundMe page](https://www.gofundme.com/f/maria-costello-mbe-road-to-recovery?ref=the-race.com) said she has also broken her arm, sternum, nose, eye socket, and multiple ribs as well as sustaining a laceration to her liver. Costello's passenger, Shaun Parker, continues to receive treatment for chest, leg, arm and facial injuries in Aintree hospital. Speaking in a video on social media, he said: "I'm doing OK. My left ankle has been fixed, my collapsed lung has been fixed. My ribs will obviously take some time, my clavicle has been fixed, and my jaw is obviously still broken which is quite uncomfortable, and I still have some blurred vision." Costello has been a regular road racing competitor in both the solo and sidecar classes. She was awarded an MBE for services to motorcycle racing in 2009. The crowdfunding page, created on Monday, read: "Maria will need specialist help with physio care and perhaps surgeries to hopefully help Maria regain use of her legs. "One thing that is clear from Maria's injuries is that this will have a lifelong impact on her, not just preventing and affecting a return to sport but impacting Maria's every day life. "Maria will need to adapt almost all aspects of her life. After a life of giving everything to a sport she loves, she will now turn that determination to recovery and recuperation. "From the initial determination of her injuries it is already clear that Maria will need to move house or make house alterations, with accessibility adjustments needed wherever she is based. She will need an adapted bed, shower, kitchen, stairlift and specialist vehicle for transport. Maria will need further surgery over the coming weeks and months and require specialist rehab and physio support." That message added that Costello was "beyond determined to bounce back and apply every ounce of focus to being back as well as possible" and that "after a career spent raising money from sponsors and backers for racing we now find ourselves asking for support for a very different but all too real problem". ### Dunlop: 'Nobody to blame but myself' for TT superbike performance URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/dunlop-nobody-to-blame-but-myself-for-tt-superbike-performance/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T13:27:47.000Z Michael Dunlop has admitted that his lack of preparation time for the 2026 Isle of Man TT on the Honda machinery he’s racing in the superbike class has so far hurt him, after a disappointing run to third in the opening race of the week. [In Sunday's race](https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-all-the-results/), Dean Harrison was almost unassailable for the win, and Peter Hickman was able to eventually triumph in a close race-long battle with Dunlop for second. The most successful TT racer of all time came into this year’s event flirting with Ducati’s V4 Panigale superbike machine, off the back of a successful 2025 where he handed the Italian brand its first wins in 30 years in the supersport class. But after making the last-minute decision that the Ducati wasn’t quite ready yet for road racing, and having been forced to revert to the Honda machinery that he fought for wins on 12 months ago, Dunlop exclusively told The Race afterwards that he just hasn’t had the time to get the bike working the way he wanted it to. “There's nobody else to blame but myself here,” he explained. “Just with the lack of time, what happened, and stuff out of my hands. “I can assure you for the future, we can't keep coming like this here and say it's not quite good to go, because you're not showing your true self and your speed. “My speed's there, and I know what I can do. “But it's up to us to do something better to a degree, and at the minute we know it's not good enough. It's not giving me that feeling. You can see it - the boys just said to me while watching it, it was horrific to watch. “The bike's just not doing anything that I want it to do and I'm working far too hard, and with that it's not good. “Dean's riding bikes he's been here on the last two years, and he rides them well; they do a bit of speed. I've done no laps on the bike, and there's a lot of stuff come up. “Probably if we had done a lot of tests beforehand we would have known this, but at the end of the day, it's just the way it is.” Though he was forced to settle for a podium finish in the opening race of the weekend, Dunlop is still confident that there’ll still be opportunities to extend his win record on the smaller bikes - even if this might not be his year on superbike and likely superstock machinery given Harrison’s pace. “That's life,” the normally taciturn Dunlop admitted, “and we have to sit down, gather what's going on, and listen. “We've got a good idea where the issue's coming from and it's just finding it. We just can't get away from it at the minute. “You go from being about three seconds off the Supersport lap record, breaking the twin lap record and being about 50 seconds off the superbike. “I haven't lost it just yet, so there's obviously something hanging over us. “It's just that we haven't got a package at the minute to play games with, so it's just the way it is. “But we've got a long week yet, we've got a lot more races to come, and hopefully we can try and work on something and try and make it better. “But it's not good enough where we're at at the minute, that's for sure.” ### Italian Grand Prix 2026 MotoGP rider rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/italian-grand-prix-2026-motogp-rider-rankings/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T12:01:23.000Z An Italian rider winning the Italian GP for an Italian team, one important return to action after injury, another return after years out, and sudden-yet-significant doubts over one rider's future - there was plenty to keep tabs on during MotoGP's Mugello weekend. Amid all of that, Val Khorounzhiy did his best to pick out who actually performed best and worst for his rider rankings. Let him know what you think of his judgements - and ask any questions - [on this post in The Race Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/posts/quiz-val-on-his-159809037?ref=the-race.com) and he'll reply in his debrief later this week. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/DUCATI_MM.png) **Qualifying**: 4th **Sprint**: 5th **Grand Prix**: 7th This weekend has all but pulverised any lingering belief I've had left that Marc Marquez can win the 2026 title. Paradoxically, he is also my rider of the weekend. Marquez came to Mugello with the mindset of just feeling out the initial effects of his crucial shoulder surgery, and in that aspect it was a massive success as he felt no numbness or other nerve issues in the shoulder - but rather just the expected lack of strength. But he still couldn't quite resist aiming for the stars, in that he conserved his energy on Friday (doing just enough to reach Q2), turned up the intensity in Q2 to place as the top Ducati, and in both races boxed clever with riders that by rights should have had the pace to beat him. "If I need to sell my skin, I'll make it expensive" was his slightly curious metaphor, but its on-track representation was the lengths he went to to make Pedro Acosta's life difficult on Sunday and keep at it - before Ai Ogura nudged him out of the group (and the stamina was gone anyway). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/APRILIA_MB.png) **Qualifying**: 1st **Sprint**: 4th **Grand Prix**: 1st A weekend with just one substantial mistake - though one that clearly cost him points. Bezzecchi did enough on Friday before he and Aprilia took their increasingly familiar single-lap leap overnight and he ran riot in Q2 for pole position. It was very ably converted to 25 points on Sunday despite the challenges from Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia, but the Saturday points haul was not as it could have been - entirely as a consequence of an "evaluation mistake" in Turn 1 braking at the start. He scrubbed off too much speed and, in his own words, "the sprint was gone". Better then than in the main race. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/KTM_PA.png) **Qualifying**: 10th **Sprint**: 9th **Grand Prix**: 6th Friday suggested the makings of an 'off' weekend for Acosta, who went into the gravel on his final attempt to make Q2 - but even without that error he looked in difficulty, as the Arrabbiatas were coming up and the time loss there would've probably stopped him from getting into the top 10. But piece by piece the weekend was recovered, even if on paper the end result is nothing special. Given the limitations in bike stability and top speed - the KTM looked desperately outmatched against Marquez's Ducati on the main straight - and the aero damage from contact with Ogura that Acosta didn't look particularly culpable for, the two race results add up to a good rescue job. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/LCR_DM.png) **Qualifying**: 8th **Sprint**: 10th **Grand Prix**: 10th Good track position in practice and qualifying - in terms of reference points - was clearly the chief building block to Moreira's superb weekend. He'd strategised it well, too - telling his crew to send him out behind some local rider because they know the best lines at Mugello. A "perfect" start in the sprint set up a brief podium cameo - so the rest of that race was about going backwards, and the front tyre had been used up. He seemed to adopt a more measured approach in the grand prix, culminating in a last-lap overtake on Brad Binder, but ultimately both races finished with Moreira as the lead Honda - a serious achievement for a rookie who has looked good but hadn't really led the line for his employer until now. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/VR46_FD.png) **Qualifying**: 7th **Sprint**: 3rd **Grand Prix**: 5th Little things conspired to deny Di Giannantonio on a weekend in which he was probably the only rider with the pure performance to give the factory Aprilias anything at all to worry about. The irritants of a stomach bug and a finger injury from Barcelona proved lesser than what really caused him to underdeliver in terms of grid position, which appeared to be a mixture of suboptimal track position and the technical issue in the Saturday morning practice. A good start (seemingly aided by something Ducati brought for him) made an impressive sprint possible, but it wasn't replicated on Sunday - and making things worse was Moreira cutting across him, leading to Di Giannantonio scrubbing off too much speed and ending up boxed in. His grand prix was strong from there, as he managed the front tyre temperature while picking his way through, but the pace was better than the end result. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/APRILIA_JM.png) **Qualifying**: 3rd **Sprint**: 2nd **Grand Prix**: 2nd Six crashes across the grand prix weekend and test at Barcelona had put the fear into Martin, and the last of those left him banged up and with foot ligament damage. It was a lot to overcome, but by and large it was overcome, even if team-mate Bezzecchi again had more in qualifying - and by and large looked the stronger of the two. But Martin played his usual start card well on both days, before both times having to settle in behind fellow Aprilia riders that he couldn't quite match. If you can't beat them, finishing right behind will do. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/DUCATI_PB.png) **Qualifying**: 6th **Sprint**: 7th **Grand Prix**: 3rd This was an emotional home podium for Bagnaia, and he deserved it for the grace he's carried himself with through this (ongoing) frequently painful denouement to his time as a Ducati rider. To read more into it, though, seems presumptuous. This is a good place for Bagnaia and his style, as his Friday result and own comments corroborated, but he took a step back on Saturday - with a Turn 10 mistake in Q2 hurting his grid position and an "unbelievable" bad start all but writing off the sprint. He was combative and then clever in the grand prix, accepting the works Aprilias were out of his league and playing his cards superbly against Ogura in the end. But the fact Di Giannantonio was five seconds back as Bagnaia led the race, yet ended the grand prix right on the #63's heels, tells me this is still not the Bagnaia of old. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/TRACKHOUSE_RF.png) **Qualifying**: 2nd **Sprint**: 1st **Grand Prix**: 9th Fernandez's weekend played out under a cloud of stomach sickness and, more dramatically, sudden significant doubts over his employment status for 2027. And amid that he blew hot and cold, though his weekend was better than that sounds. Missing the top 10 on Friday (a red flag meant a compromised front tyre warm-up cycle, and he made a mistake in the third sector) was corrected emphatically on Saturday morning, and his sprint performance was the best he's ever looked as a MotoGP rider. The grand prix? Fernandez should have been there or thereabouts but for one reason or another didn't downshift to the gear he wanted into Turn 1, so got the corner all wrong and torpedoed his podium chances. He was fast enough to recover reasonably, though also barged Luca Marini out of the way in the process to earn a one-position penalty. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GRESINI_FA.png) **Qualifying**: 5th **Sprint**: 6th **Grand Prix**: 8th You can no longer immediately tell just from seeing him walk around that Aldeguer is coming off a brutal leg injury in the off-season - but he's still not 100%, and Mugello was always going to be a serious test. But it was passed fairly emphatically. The "best Friday of this season" was the right way to start, and he qualified well despite "not the best lap" in Q2. Usually a strong Aldeguer qualifying is very ominous for races, but it didn't quite work out that way. He had a slightly tardy start in the sprint and checked up for a trajectory overlap with Di Giannantonio, so lost more ground and had to work his way back through. On Sunday, the first lap worked out, but he appeared hamstrung by having to battle the more straightline-capable Ducati GP26 of Marquez (versus his Ducati GP25) and anyway chewed through the front tyre, so just had to see things out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/LCR_CC.png) **Qualifying**: 22nd **Sprint**: 19th **Grand Prix**: DNF Thrown in at the deep end after no starts for three years and just a 40-lap private test at Misano to check whether he was still up for it, Crutchlow made up the numbers - but brought a welcome level of enthusiasm and appreciation to the gig. His bike was not yet tailored enough to his liking (given the short-notice nature of the whole affair) and while he's a fit guy, the MotoGP-level muscle mass just isn't there right now. This Honda, he admitted repeatedly, is "way better than me" currently, and the changes of direction are sapping massive laptime - though braking is apparently OK. He built the weekend up as he should have - but suffered an apparent muscle tear early on Sunday that all but guaranteed a grand prix DNF (though he stretched things out to 11 laps ultimately, joking that he did manage a full race across the sprint and the grand prix). He's expected to be back in the saddle at Balaton Park this weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/YAMAHA_AR.png) **Qualifying**: 12th **Sprint**: 12th **Grand Prix**: DNF Rins was the clear standard-bearer for Yamaha this weekend - something that basically hasn't happened before in its current four-bike set-up. Though his Q2 entry on Friday was tow-assisted he did seem to have tangibly more than his stablemates, as evidenced by his actual Q2 lap - a very reasonable 1m45.0s that left him "devastated" upon arriving to the pitbox and seeing he was last. He hounded Binder through the sprint but could find no way past, then tucked the front out of 15th - "same brake pressure, same line, same angle" as usual, he insisted - on Sunday. Even if he had seen out the weekend as Yamaha's clear top performer, he'd made it clear earlier any such accomplishment was bringing him close to no joy at all. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/TRACKHOUSE_AO.png) **Qualifying**: 13th **Sprint**: 8th **Grand Prix**: 4th Ogura was Q2-marginal on Friday despite a handful of corners in which he was "misunderstanding when to hit the apex and how". He should have had enough to go through Q1 the following day, but just didn't put the sectors together. It's ultimately just not great when you're 13th on the grid and the other Aprilias are 1-2-3, but at least Ogura is proving very adept as damage-controlling these situations. He was maybe one corner away from the podium on Sunday in the end. But his charge also included a clumsy barge into Marquez (that he did sound a bit remorseful for) and a no-less clumsy clash with Acosta after going wide at San Donato. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/PRAMAC_TR.png) **Qualifying**: 20th **Sprint**: 17th **Grand Prix**: 16th Razgatlioglu was a contender for last place in these rankings for much of the weekend: out of sorts on Friday, slow in Q1, crashing after post-Q1 practice starts (the bike "fully destroyed") as he laboured desperately to disengage the start device. And then his weekend came alive, first with an improved sprint showing and then with a change initiated by crew chief Alberto Giribuola that delivered "a completely different bike" on corner entries, enabling Razgatlioglu to take profit from the engine braking. He parlayed that into a genuine points challenge on Sunday, but came up short via two minor errors - one mid-race, another in breaching track limits at the very end. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/HONDA_JM.png) **Qualifying**: 15th **Sprint**: DNF **Grand Prix**: 12th A truly 'conventional' weekend continues to evade Mir. This one featured an immediate retirement from the sprint due to excessive vibrations caused by what Mir theorised was some sort of heat-related component failure. The rest of it was a bit more normal but unfortunately this also just wasn't a very strong round for Mir. The single-lap pace was thoroughly unremarkable, and two suboptimal starts made things harder - while Mir also made it clear he adopted an "it was not worth the risk to do something more here" philosophy that could've served his points tally well in other weekends. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/PRAMAC_JM.png) **Qualifying**: 17th **Sprint**: 16th **Grand Prix**: 15th Miller felt like the median Yamaha rider for most of the weekend, through both the single-lap and race portions. Both Friday practice (which included a San Donato crash) and Q1 were fine but not at Rins's level, and in the sprint a Turn 10 mistake dropped him out of a fight up ahead that anyway was never going to yield any points. Team-mate Razgatlioglu's track limits breach gave him a point on Sunday, after Miller himself had lost valuable ground running wide in battle with Franco Morbidelli. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/KTM_BB.png) **Qualifying**: 14th **Sprint**: 11th **Grand Prix**: 11th I'm not convinced Binder would've made the top 10 on Friday if he had got a fair chance. He never did - thanks to technical issues and a forced last-second switch to the "little bit different" second bike. Q1 showed there was OK single-lap speed in Binder's locker here. For once, the race performance let him down - "just missing pace, just not able to roll fast enough, especially through sector three, missing some edge grip and missing a bit of speed onto the main straight". He spent the majority of both races in clear 'hanging on' mode - successfully in the sprint for no points (he fought off Rins), less successfully in the grand prix for some points (he let Moreira through but not the other Hondas). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/HONDA_LM.png) **Qualifying**: 16th **Sprint**: 13th **Grand Prix**: 13th Marini's weekend looked all over the place starting with a "really disastrous" Friday - during which he also hinted at a dodgy rear tyre - and peaking with a grid penalty in Saturday practice for a too-abrupt pit entry/slowdown right in front of Franco Morbidelli. It was a penalty Marini had felt unwarranted, though replays seem to support the stewards' decision. In any case, the penalty only applied to the grand prix and yet his grand prix looked stronger than the sprint - and he probably would've been the top Honda in the end if not for being pushed out by Fernandez early in the race and losing a chunk of laptime and three places. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/TECH3_MV.png) **Qualifying**: 19th **Sprint**: 15th **Grand Prix**: 17th There is not all that much to say about Vinales's current MotoGP form without being privy to the nitty-gritty of his physical condition right now. His only task is convincing Tech3 boss Guenther Steiner that he can get back to his normal MotoGP-level fitness. Vinales is eyeing Brno - 11 months from his original shoulder injury at the Sachsenring - as the time to be 100% fit again. He still looked far off that at Mugello but it is a famously physical track, one that left Vinales feeling that "the bike rides me everywhere" when in time attack mode. Even within that context, there was a strange performance drop between Friday practice and Q1 on Saturday morning. And the two races were nothing much in the end, seemingly treated by Vinales as just extra practice sessions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/GRESINI_MP.png) **Qualifying**: 21st **Sprint**: 18th **Grand Prix**: 19th If this was a 'battle of the stand-ins' between him and Crutchlow, Pirro won it handily, of course - as was to be expected given his Ducati tester role and affinity for Mugello. Nothing more was really on offer, though a couple of times it looked like he may nip on the heels of a Yamaha straggler here and there. He admitted to being "affected" by a crash in practice, but ultimately delivered a much better sprint-and-GP combo than at Buriram. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/YAMAHA_FQ.png) **Qualifying**: 18th **Sprint**: 14th **Grand Prix**: 18th There was a strong whiff of surrender emanating from Quartararo's weekend. His previous rounds in 2026, against the backdrop of a widely known impending split with Yamaha, defended him well against any such accusation - but not this one. "Very slow" and surprised by it at his "favourite track", Quartararo seemed to take the Friday crash at Materassi as a warning and spent the rest of the weekend in crash-avoidance mode. There were no particular signs of his usual prodigious pace that tends to separate him from the other Yamahas, and he slowly trundled out of the fight for the singular point that was made available to the M1s on Sunday. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/TECH3_EB.png) **Qualifying**: 11th **Sprint**: DNF **Grand Prix**: DNF By rights should be last in these rankings - but a little too fast, from the very outset, for me to condemn this as a truly terrible weekend. Unusually for Bastianini he seemed more comfortable on new tyres than used at the outset, but he never really got to run them used in either race - after a stellar Friday and reasonable enough qualifying. He caught himself out in the sprint trying to stay with Aldeguer, crashing on a wide approach to Scarperia that Bastianini said was a normal line for him but not the best for mitigating crash risk. The grand prix crash was also at Scarperia but further into the corner, and seemed to come as more of a surprise. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/VR46_FM.png) **Qualifying**: 9th **Sprint**: DNF **Grand Prix**: 14th Morbidelli's weekend looked genuinely promising across Friday - and Saturday morning practice, where he's convinced he had showed the third-best pace. But Q2 looked a little suboptimal and was then rendered irrelevant by a pair of brutal starts (ninth-to-16th in the sprint, ninth-to-17th in the main race). That was obviously unsalvageable, even without the sprint also bringing a crash while trying to manage temperatures in the pack. ### Williams's 'Director of Smooth' shows how to cut through in F1 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/williamss-director-of-smooth-shows-how-to-cut-through-in-f1/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T08:13:37.000Z Formula 1's transformation under Liberty Media - and especially its shift in attracting a younger generation of new fans - has made it a no-brainer for consumer brands to get involved. But while a gold rush of companies coming on board is great news for F1 and teams, it has created a different kind of challenge for sponsors themselves: how do you get your message targeted to the right audience in a crowded landscape? This is something that Williams sponsor Wilkinson Sword, which is the squad's official men's grooming partner, aims to do this week with the use of a bit of humour and personality. The personal care company has just launched a fan campaign platform called 'Partners in Smooth', which includes a new hero film that revolves around a character known as the Blade Master becoming the Williams team's first ever Director of Smooth. The campaign runs across social and digital advertising, creator content, fan experiences and retail activations – and makes full use of Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, reserve Luke Browning plus team boss James Vowles. The tone is playful and witty, with a clear intention to stand out. For as the Blade Master himself nicely sums up about the F1 landscape: "We are competing in a tough market in this sport. Even the pets are famous." Jonathan Norman, senior marketing director of Wilkinson Sword's parent company Edgewell Personal Care, said that doing things differently is critical now for sponsors when it comes to activation. This is what prompted it to think a little bit outside the box. "It provides a bit more personality rather than just your standard sponsorship," he told The Race. "So whilst we recognise the importance of seeing the brand within the arena, as the growth of the sport has brought more partners in than ever before it feels quite important for us that we actually cut through that. "We wanted to do something different, and the campaign is designed exactly to do that: become more meaningful to the fans, and have not just visibility for our brand as we move forward." ## An old brand chasing a young audience Wilkinson Sword is one of the oldest companies that is involved in F1 sponsorship (Barclays Bank may hold the record from 1690) – having originally been founded as a firearms manufacturer in 1772. Having taken on its current moniker in 1824 when it added sword protection, the shift into shaving happened in 1903 following the invention of the safety razor. It has clearly had to move with the times, but when it found its target audience aligning with the kind of fans F1 was getting more recently, that prompted its entry into sponsorship with Williams at the start of this season. The partnership with Williams came hot on the heels of Wilkinson Sword Intuition, its female shaving brand, sponsoring the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2025. Norman is clear though that its own iconic name, and sports partnerships like with rugby or F1, are not enough alone to maximise success. Brands cannot just be present; they've got to get out there and shout about it. This is why it has put so much effort into its Partners in Smooth campaign. "What's important for us as you walk into those situations is that you offer value within that space," he said. "It's no good coming in and sheltering our name within what is quite a competitive space. "We have had to work for it. We had to offer the value, but we had to do it in an authentic way. "I think what we have found through sports partnerships, first with the Women's Rugby World Cup, but now with Williams, is an opportunity to reach a growing audience, and reach quite a changing audience that is more diverse and younger than ever before. "That really is a huge opportunity, and probably why there are so many more brands actually operating in this space than we've seen before." ## F1's attention value As became obvious during last week's announcement of the Gucci title sponsorship of Alpine, brands are jumping into F1 because of its audience demographic. The metric that matters is not the number of people that are watching; it is who those people are. The increasingly younger fan dynamic is falling into a sweet spot for companies to know they need to be present to grab attention. Norman added: "We need to reach a young level of audience, because it is a changing audience, and we need to grow. We need to recruit within that space, and with F1 that younger audience that was growing was perfect for us. "Certainly that under-40 age group is of particular interest. I think primarily because they are quite involved in terms of their personal care and their routine. "They look for quality and they want products and brands that are very effective, and that offer them that precision and that performance. "When you take a step back and you look at what activity represents that, F1 absolutely ticks all of those boxes." And while the Williams deal is currently as men's grooming partner, the explosion in female engagement in F1 is something Wilkinson Sword is aware of for its wider company interests. "That growth of the younger female fan certainly becomes quite interesting for us as we go forward across our portfolio," he said. Where F1 appears to be in a particularly interesting place is that the attraction for companies like Wilkinson Sword is not just that it is a top sporting competition. It is where it fits into people's lives and what it is competing against. "I think it's entertainment per se," said Norman. "I think it's quite difficult to cut things down into silos or segments. "Ultimately, we're competing for people's attention, and that's exactly what F1 is doing - irrespective of whether it's another sport or something else. "Consumers don't necessarily look at things in such distinct ways. What they're really looking at is: what's going to entertain me? What do I find interesting? What excites me? "I think that's the real battlefield, which can take you from sport to TV to cinema to style to fashion to whatever. "When you look at F1, what it's done incredibly well over recent years is it's transcended sport, so it's become more of a cultural movement, which encompasses art, style, music, and whatever else. "That I think has really fuelled its growth. Having that perspective is quite important, because ultimately it's about entertainment, and it's about attention." ### The realities Formula E's running into as it finalises Gen4 format URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/the-realities-formula-es-running-into-as-it-finalises-gen4-format/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T05:54:03.000Z Ambiguity. There has been very little of that from Formula E when it comes to the Gen4 project, which publicly broke cover at Paul Ricard last month. Subtle it is not. To its credit, Formula E has generated a great deal of noise about the car and it's now got a big image and big promises to uphold. And big is the operative word. Bigger in every department, the 600kW car may be a heavier, punchier big brother to the current Gen3 Evo but when it comes to how it will race in terms of sporting format and outright logistical structure... well, that's where the ambiguity comes. At the recent Paul Ricard Gen4 launch that topic was, for the teams and manufacturers at least, taking the shine off the project a fair bit. But seven hours after entering a meeting room in the south of France, as the Gen4 car blasted down the Mistral straight just a few metres away, some ease and clarity started to emerge from the extensive meetings. From that point on, the FIA and Formula E Operations helped, with a lot of discussion and forthright opinion, to stem some of the doubts. But there is still work to do before the full package - of how the Gen4 car will race and what teams will need to prepare come December, when Gen4 racing sparks into life for the first time - comes together. The key points that needed addressing were: - The race weekend sporting format - How the two-tiered aerokits will be practically used - Freight and logistical plans After the Paul Ricard launch, another meeting took place in Berlin, then another remotely after Berlin, and one more was held in Monaco. Next up is a technical working group meeting this week and a final sporting working group one shortly after. An intensive period of discussions should conclude imminently. Where things are presently is that the Formula E Teams and Manufacturers Association is submitting "a piece of work that needs to be done by the manufacturers to be presented with the next SWG \[sporting working group\], which will go quite a long way to formalising some of the things", according to its chair, Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths. "The main one still up for debate is around the race weekend format and how that's going to work, particularly the two different downforce levels, the different power modes that we have; what is the right combination from a sporting aspect, from a product on the racetrack aspect, from an operational position?" added Griffiths. This is where there appear to still be some conflicts, yet traction is seemingly being gained ahead of this month's all-important FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting. "In an ideal world, you want to do everything perfectly, but we don't live in that ideal world," says Griffiths. "We may have to make some compromises to just help the flow of the weekend go a little bit easier. "But because we do live in a cost-cap world, we do also have a limit on the freight and how much - not just weight, but also volume - we can send. Some of the things that are being proposed, which are all great in the theoretical world, are not so straightforward to manage in the practical world. So, there are some things that are still under discussion." It is believed that the teams' association has been very clear on its position and what it would like to see in Gen4\. It realises that Formula E, as a promoter, will want to showcase the Gen4 car at its highest performance level in qualifying but, with tight turnarounds between sessions and the intricacies of downforce-level changes, these practicalities are not so straightforward. "If it was a case of pressing a button and the car changes downforce mode, that would be one thing. But when you've got to physically change our parts, it's not so easy," reckons Griffiths. "We just sort of try and find the best compromise." As well as making sure qualifying fully shows the car's speed, teams are keen that the current duels format that sets up varied grids without losing meritocracy is retained. “I think the qualifying is mega," said Porsche motorsport chief Thomas Laudenbach. "I wouldn't change anything there because I think it's really good and it's really fair and I think it's good for the fans." There's still some work to be done and the next few weeks will have to produce some definitive conclusions because a large amount of the regulatory points will have to be submitted at that World Motor Sport Council meeting in mid-June. "Each meeting that we have, there is positive progress and we get closer and closer to establishing the race format. And a lot of this was set out from the meeting that we had in Paul Ricard, where the teams' voices were heard loud and clear," adds Griffiths. The Race has learned that it is highly likely the sporting format for single-header race weekends will be broadly the same as it has been in the Gen3 era. There had been some discussion about the possibility of spreading free practice/qualifying and the race over two days, but this has been dismissed. A single free practice session on one day before second practice, qualifying, and the race is still highly likely to be the structure of an E-Prix. But changes to a double-header weekend have more chances of being mandated. This could result in more Friday races, although that will likely depend on the specific circuit and promoter. And as far as Laudenbach's concerned, Formula E needs to be ready to make changes on the hoof as the early events of the Gen4 era play out. "I'd like to do two or three races for the fans with the Gen4 and then we see how good it is, how big the step is and if we have to change, if we have to tweak it a little," he said. “I think we already have got a very good combination between the fact you cannot dominate, so that means you will always have close racing and you have different cars winning, which is good." ### How Ferrari's big start advantage has been wiped out URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-ferraris-big-start-advantage-has-been-wiped-out/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T05:11:37.000Z One of Ferrari's stand out advantages early on in the 2026 Formula 1 season was its starts – but it is an edge that it may now have lost. The rocket getaways enjoyed by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were thanks to Ferrari going for a smaller turbo that was much easier to spool up on the grid compared to those who had different concepts. But Ferrari quickly found out that the difficulties others faced in getting off the line triggered a safety debate that led to pressure on the FIA to change things. The response, an extended period that came in before the lights sequence began, helped those in trouble to not botch things up. And Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur was unhappy about what he felt was a change of the rules. "To have half of the grid, 40% of the grid, complaining that it's mega dangerous and so on, politically \[it\] was well played but not very fair," Vasseur told The Race recently. Despite being unhappy about what came in, the tweaks did not completely wipe out Ferrari's jumps off the line, with a Prancing Horse car surging into the lead in Australia, China and Miami. But after a Canadian Grand Prix weekend where for the first time in 2026 a Ferrari car did not go through Turn 1 in the top three, has Ferrari's advantage already been wiped away? The data from this season certainly points in that direction. Based on the criteria of where the Ferraris are going through the opening turn at each race (on some occasions positions change after the corner exit), there is an obvious trend if you compare Melbourne to now. From the cumulative seven places gained by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the season opener in Melbourne, the positions forward have steadily decreased over each race. At the recent Canadian Grand Prix, both drivers gained just one place off the line in the main race, with only Hamilton moving forward in the sprint. **Australian GP** Charles Leclerc: 4th \> 1st Lewis Hamilton: 7th \> 3rd **GAIN: 7** **Chinese GP** **Sprint** Leclerc: 6th > 4th Hamilton: 4th > 3rd **GAIN: 3** **Grand Prix** Leclerc: 4th > 2nd Hamilton: 3rd > 1st **GAIN: 4** **Japanese GP** Leclerc: 4th > 2nd Hamilton: 6th > 5th **GAIN: 3** **Miami GP** **Sprint** Leclerc: 4th > 3rd Hamilton: 7th > 6th **GAIN: 2** **Grand Prix** Leclerc: 3rd > 1st Hamilton: 6th > 6th **GAIN: 2** **Canadian GP** **Sprint** Leclerc: 6th > 6th Hamilton: 5th > 4th **GAIN: 1** **Grand Prix** Leclerc: 8th > 7th Hamilton: 5th > 4th **GAIN: 2** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/image--3-.jpg) ## A relative game Ferrari getting hauled in is not the result of it doing any worse a job than it did earlier in the year, but is more the consequences of others getting their acts together. There is an element of Ferrari perhaps being flattered as others were either miles off or not featuring at all. McLaren, for example, has emerged as a team that has been pretty on top of starts from testing. As Oscar Piastri said in Canada: "Our starts have been better than the Ferrari's all year, so we're confident in ours." But the side-by-side potential of McLaren and Ferrari was not clear early on because McLaren was often sidelined. Piastri did not start in Australia and neither McLaren made the grid in China. Max Verstappen had his fair share of start dramas early on too which he and Red Bull have now got on top of. Furthermore, the Mercedes cars that have regularly locked out the front row were not too good at getaways early on – and them dropping back added more to Ferrari's gains. But there's been a big change here. ## Mercedes' changes ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/highlighted-comparison-clutch-Antonelli-Mercedes-Canada.jpg) In Canada last weekend, following a lot of work by Mercedes, both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell had much improved getaways – leading for the first time in Turn 1 in the sprint and only losing out to the intermediate shod McLaren of Lando Norris in the grand prix. The improvements from Mercedes targeted two key areas. The first was better judging grip levels at the start through improved software, with the team having been caught out by this aspect in Miami in particular. The second area was helping Antonelli in particular have better feel with his clutch paddle, having been a bit too optimistic with his release at times earlier in the year. So for Montreal, as our exclusive photograph shows, he refined the finger holes that are used at the starts – appearing to adjust the depth and location of the channel. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/06/comparison-clutch-Antonelli-Mercedes-Canada.jpg) Speaking about it before the weekend, Antonelli said: "It's just a different shape, just to help me to be a bit more consistent with the drops." Heading to the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, where making a good start from the front row is critical, everything points to Ferrari not being able to count on the kind of advantage it had a couple of months ago. ### Gary Anderson's take on the upgrade Mercedes seems unsure of URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-andersons-take-on-the-upgrade-mercedes-seems-unsure-of/ Last updated: 2026-05-31T13:25:08.000Z It was a brave decision for Mercedes to introduce its first major upgrade package of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Montreal given how competitive it was in Canada last year, it being a sprint weekend and its early-season dominance. Amid all that, Mercedes could easily have tripped itself up when striving to improve performance. Even though it locked out the front row of the grid for both races and won twice, this was not straightforward. George Russell won the sprint with Kimi Antonelli third after what could only be called an adventurous race between them, and then Antonelli went on to win the grand prix after Russell’s retirement when they were running 1-2\. Team principal Toto Wolff admitted to uncertainty about whether the upgrade had delivered the expected performance gain. The Mercedes pace advantage in race conditions was at worst about three-tenths of a second per lap. But Wolff is right to warn that it’s difficult to judge how effective the developments are given it’s a sprint weekend, the tricky conditions and the fact it’s a track Mercedes has a good handle on. While it wasn’t a bad day at the office for Mercedes, these question marks are why Wolff is right to be cautious in his evaluation. “At times I’ve felt it didn’t bring the performance gains that we expected on paper, but it’s very difficult to assess,” said Wolff. “We didn’t see the McLarens today at all and we had the pace, we had the gap, but how much that is, is it what we have anticipated? I think it’s very difficult to judge. “And also, Montreal was a sweet circuit for us last year, so is that shining a better light on our performance than it would be on any other circuit? Probably Monaco, we won't know it either, so we need to continue to monitor and to analyse.” Looking in detail at the upgrade and starting from the front, Mercedes introduced a completely new front wing assembly and profile. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/image0--1-.jpeg) The leading edge separation point (highlighted in red) is now similar to what Red Bull has had since the start of the season. It is now much more integrated with the separation point (highlighted in light blue) of the endplates. Being integrated like this means that the airflow structure on the undersurface of the wing is much more unified. As a result, there is less potential for transverse airflow, and because of this the inwash and outwash created as the front tyre rotates onto the track surface will be easier to manage and more consistent when varying degrees of steering lock are applied. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/image1.jpeg) There’s a small change to the endplate fin and the upper-rear endplate side view profile in front of the tyre. There’s no big performance gain here and it’s likely just a consequence of the changes required to the footplate area explained above. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/image3-2.jpeg) Another small fin has been added to the upper surface of that endplate fin. Its profile and angle of attack reveals that it is to increase the outwash going around the front tyre. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/image2-1.jpeg) Like the front wing, the bargeboard area is subject to some fairly serious developments. When you get a change in the flow direction coming around the front tyre, everything else needs to be optimised around it. Mercedes has removed or repositioned the two element separators (highlighted with red ellipses) and moved them to where the green arrows point. To improve the stiffness of the assembly and therefore remove or reduce the need for obtrusive slot gap separators, and looking from the floor upwards, the two-piece first and second element have been replaced with single piece components, which are stiffer and lighter. Although the comparison is at a slightly different angle, it looks like the chord length (highlighted with the double arrow) of the elements is reduced. Also, the trailing edge angle and detail of the first element is less aggressive, as is the profile of the edge of the floor (highlighted in light blue). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/image4-1.jpeg) To go with those bargeboard developments, the edge detail of the rear part of the floor has also been revised fairly dramatically. This area is where you need to create some form of aerodynamic sealing, otherwise the low pressure underneath the floor giving you the underfloor downforce won’t be as low as it could be, which would mean less downforce and with that less grip. The light blue arrows will team up with the inboard rear tyre squirt, and together that airflow will be pulled upward by the multitude of turning vanes mounted on the inner face of the rear brake ducts - circled below. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/image0-1.jpeg) This generates downforce directly to the rear upright and wheel assembly, so basically on the unsprung mass, which means this load doesn’t suffer from time delays under braking when the rear suspension is moving to a new position due to the speed change. These turning vanes also improve the performance of the diffuser by helping reduce the leakage into it by the rear tyre displacement. The dark blue arrows will team up with the outboard rear tyre squirt. Any airflow you can get to go outboard means that the inboard airflow can be optimised and work harder and more consistently. The changes make sense from the outside, and the performance in Canada suggests they have at least been reasonably successful, but let’s see how the car goes in Monaco and, more importantly, Barcelona before making a definitive judgement. ### Aprilia emphasises its MotoGP superiority in its home race URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/mugello-motogp-race-report-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-31T12:57:00.000Z Marco Bezzecchi led Jorge Martin in an Aprilia 1-2 as they overcame Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati in a commanding Italian Grand Prix MotoGP performance. And an all-Aprilia top four was entirely possible, with Ai Ogura only just missing out on the podium from 13th on the grid and Raul Fernandez going wide while fighting for the lead into the first corner then recovering from 17th to eighth. Ducati did manage to lead over half its home race with Bagnaia, who snuck through an early Aprilia lead fight. Trackhouse's sprint winner Fernandez slewed wide and tumbled down the order trying to fight polesitter Bezzecchi into the first corner, with Bezzecchi then getting pounced on by team-mate and title rival Martin before swiftly passing him back. Martin dived inside Bezzecchi into the first corner starting lap two, but ran wide and fell behind Bagnaia to third, with Bagnaia then drafting down the outside of Bezzecchi at the same spot next time around to take the lead. But he could not escape from the Aprilias, who passed him in turn just after half-distance. Bezzecchi was 1.4 seconds clear of Martin at that point and was able to extend that to 3.6s and win his home grand prix for the first time, bringing his championship lead over his team-mate back up to 17 points. Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta initially battled ferociously for fourth, later joined by Fermin Aldeguer. But all three were caught by the superior race pace of Ogura - flying up from 13th on the grid - and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who had only qualified seventh and fell to 12th at the first corner. They even caught Bagnaia at the end, with Ogura slicing past the Ducati on the last lap but running wide enough for Bagnaia to get back ahead and cling on to third by 0.034s. Acosta, Marquez and Aldeguer ended up sixth, seventh and ninth, with the recovering Fernandez among them in eighth. Diogo Moreira fought past Brad Binder's KTM for the final top 10 spot and top Honda honours. Jack Miller was elevated to the final point and 'best Yamaha' status when Pramac team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu was given a track limits penalty on the last lap. ## Results 1 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 2 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) 3 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) 4 Pedro Acosta (KTM) 5 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) 6 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) 7 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 8 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) 9 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) 10 Brad Binder (KTM) 11 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) 12 Joan Mir (Honda) 13 Luca Marini (Honda) 14 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) 15 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) 16 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) 17 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) 18 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) 19 Michele Pirro (Gresini Ducati) DNF Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) DNF Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) DNF Alex Rins (Yamaha) ### Why the Isle of Man TT has suspended sidecar racing URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/why-the-isle-of-man-tt-has-suspended-sidecar-racing/ Last updated: 2026-06-01T12:05:10.000Z The news that the sidecar class has been suspended from the 2026 Isle of Man TT came as a huge shock - not just for fans, but for the TT paddock, given that regulation changes had already been put in place for this year’s event to try to slow the class down. Those changes were put in place after a big qualifying crash 12 months ago for victory contenders Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley, but with a very similar crash for dominant pre-race favourites and quadruple back-to-back winners Callum and Ryan Crowe during this year’s practice week, organisers took the unprecedented step of [pausing the class’ participation](https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-suspends-sidecars-for-rest-of-2026-event-in-unprecedented-move/). The next step is ‘an immediate technical and operational review to assess the circumstances surrounding the incident and the continued participation of the Sidecar class at the event’. Over the last few years, the sidecar class at the TT has made big leaps and bounds forward in terms of performance. Where there was no TT action in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, it gave the top sidecar outfits - led at the time by Tom and Ben Birchall - the opportunity to do a lot of experimentation while everyone was stuck at home in lockdown. At that time, they weren’t just the fastest two guys racing around the TT but were also the leading TT sidecar developers, having taken over famous Swiss brand LCR's production and started building their outfits as well as racing them. Experimenting with aerodynamics, they had started to do some things to smooth out the airflow around the front of the bike to create better downforce, mainly working with fairing shape. The class saw the benefits of that when the Birchalls came back in 2022 and had an exceptional TT that essentially led to their Project 120, becoming the first outfit to do a 120mph lap around the TT course in 2023. They’re able to do that because, in many ways, the sidecar is the last true prototype class in road racing. The rules are considerably less restricted, not just in terms of custom chassis and aerodynamics, but also with features like engine development, where they're running supersport powerplants, but with an even greater flexibility to tune. That in turn triggered something of an aero arms race. TT organisers were aware of this and there were big changes put into this year's regulations to try and slow things down again, by fitting restrictor plates to the engines to deliver less fuel with the intention - according to the organisers - of reducing lap speed by as much as 3-4mph. However, that, it turns out, didn't really address the root cause of the problem last year with Founds and Walmsley, and then again this year with the Crowe brothers. One of the key areas they’ve been working on is a Formula 1 style flat floor, a sealed unit underneath the sidecars that can create downforce in a manner more akin to F1 than MotoGP. However, with the TT far from a flat and smooth race track and featuring numerous very fast jumps (like Crosby, where the Crowes crashed, and Rhencullen, where Founds and Walmsley were lucky to escape last year), those areas have the unintended effect, especially in high wind conditions, of creating lift rather than downforce when the front wheel comes up off the ground. Importantly, the designs in question are not prohibited under current TT regulations, even with 2026’s major update. The latest rules continue to permit these aero floors, meaning the machines involved were operating fully within the existing framework. Despite that, several teams had already raised concerns about the risks associated with that kind of design prior to the recent crashes, and had opted against pursuing similar solutions of their own. “It's a careful, planned-out process,” Tom Birchall told The Race of the Birchalls' own aero development process earlier in the week before the Crowes’ crash and the subsequent news that the class would be suspended. “It's not just been a stab in the dark, because it's unknown territory, and what we don't want in sidecar class is blokes in sheds making aerodynamic packages. It's got to be really spoken about openly with everybody - because if it's not right, it needs addressing pretty soon. “We saw some difficult pictures last year with Founds and Walmsley. I think them doing what they did, what they thought was right, was maybe just a bit of misguidance. We've got to be careful with that, and ideally somebody should get involved and give a good overview of all of it. “For guys like Ben and the Crowes, they came up with a package last year and they've had outside help with it. But not everybody can achieve that, so we just need to monitor that for everybody really in the class. At the end of the day, what the guys are putting a sidecar through at the TT is not like anything else in the world.” A number of potential solutions have already been suggested by the sidecar paddock, too. One proposal would see the banning of fully enclosed floors in favour of more open or perforated structures, allowing air to pass through the chassis and reducing the potential for significant downforce - or unintended lift - to be generated. Another, more comprehensive option would involve the introduction of a homologated aerodynamic bodywork package, similar in principle to regulations used in NASCAR, where all competitors would be required to use a standardised, tested shell proven to meet specific aero criteria. Finding a solution is viewed by organisers as essential for the long-term future of the sidecar class at the Isle of Man TT. Throughout the week, they’ve been keen to emphasise that the current pause and review of the category should not be interpreted as a permanent cancellation. There remains a strong commitment within the organisation to ensuring sidecar racing continues at the event. TT Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson has spoken openly about the desire to retain the class. Beyond their status as road racing's last true prototypes, sidecars occupy an important place within the TT schedule, providing a break in competition for solo riders while delivering a unique spectacle for fans. “We’re not saying that’s it for sidecars,” he told Manx Radio. “We’re going to have a consultation process after this event, and see what we can do to stabilise sidecars, to make them safer, and hopefully for them to continue.” ### The traits that explain Vettel's lopsided F1 career URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/the-traits-that-explain-vettels-lopsided-f1-career/ Last updated: 2026-05-31T07:59:26.000Z Why was four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel a driver whose Formula 1 career swung from him being crushingly dominant to looking completely lost on track? Just as during his career, Vettel's legacy and place among the F1 greats still remain the subject of fierce debate. At the heart of that was a unique driving skillset that explains why his F1 career was so lopsided, something Edd Straw and Mark Hughes explain in the [latest episode of Driving Style Secrets](https://www.patreon.com/posts/driving-style-s3-159545592?ref=the-race.com) \- our [exclusive members-only podcast](https://www.patreon.com/collection/1486512?ref=the-race.com) that takes an unapologetically deep dive into the driving techniques of the biggest names in F1. By signing up to The Race Members' Club, you can listen to the full podcast - as well as other episodes from [all three series of DSS](https://www.patreon.com/collection/1486512?ref=the-race.com) on other greats including Michael Schumacher and Max Verstappen. But below you'll find a taste of what to expect from the Vettel analysis episode… ## The 'extraordinary' glory years ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/XPB_460515_HiRes.jpg) Vettel hit his pomp early in his career with Red Bull Racing, becoming only the third driver in history to take four consecutive F1 titles. He benefitted from Adrian Newey's genius turning Red Bull from F1 midfielder to frontrunner following the huge aerodynamic rules overhaul in 2009\. But it was Vettel, not his more experienced team-mate Mark Webber, who best exploited the machinery, with particularly dominant seasons in 2011 and 2013\. "He was helped in the sense that he was in a rocketship of a Red Bull for a good five seasons, but I think some of those blown diffuser titles were extraordinary," Hughes said. "He was able to drive that particular type of car, which required a very unusual driving technique to really fully exploit. "Very counterintuitive, in the sense that in slow corners in particular, as the car's beginning to oversteer, you need to stand on the gas, which feels like you're about to spin, but it didn't, it actually increased the gas flow through the diffuser. And give you more rear grip. He was able to balance that very, very well indeed. "That made him, in a blown diffuser car, that made him absolutely magnificent." That essentially gave him what Straw calls "a rear instability off-switch if you can assess it", which was handy for Vettel, given rear instability was his big weakness. Hughes continued: "He had to sort of overcome his fear of rear instability and do the opposite. "Sometimes you could be a lot more bold with it than you might expect. "It was something that Mark never got his head around in the same way. He could do it, but he couldn't do it to the same level of accuracy and exploitation that Seb could. "That was the main differentiating thing for them then. He was generally, even when they took the blown diffuser away \[from 2012\], he was generally a bit better than Webber in the slow corners. "But in the fast corners, Webber was the man. And then Seb couldn't live with Webber through the fast stuff. So Turn 9, Campsa at Barcelona, Webber was the first one to take that flat. Just absolutely no lift whatsoever. It was fantastic, into a blind corner. And Seb never did. He never, never nailed it. "In that sort of competitive one-upmanship that they had, Webber's was always that, ‘Seb's not quick through a quick corner'. Then somebody said that ‘German drivers never win in Indianapolis.' He said, ‘well, they're rubbish through quick corners, aren't they?' "He'd always say things like that within Seb's earshot. And he did. You could see Seb didn't like it. But you've got to say Vettel held a decisive upper hand through their five years together." ## The mindset contrast ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/XPB_424446_HiRes.jpg) Vettel's title-winning run wasn't just about his driving style meshing perfectly with the Red Bulls though… "I would say one of the outstanding things about him wasn't so much his technique, blown diffuser technique aside, but just his management of himself, his mind management," Hughes explained. "Typically, he'd get into the lead, open out a devastating gap in the first two or three laps, and then just monitor it from there and just keep just out of reach, just so that he couldn't be out of undercut range and all that. "He was outstanding at that and was very comfortable running there, but probably less impressive when he was in the pack." But it was that same solid mind management that would desert him later in his career during some key moments with Ferrari. "He was quite an emotional driver as well and I wonder whether that played a part because there are a few high-stress moments where he let himself down," Straw said. "In his Ferrari career with \[Charles\] Leclerc, when he hit him at Interlagos \[in 2019\] and you can see just in moving across on the straight and he just goes a bit too far. "He wasn't great at accepting the mistake." Nowhere was that more evident than at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where a furious Vettel drove his Ferrari into Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes under the safety car. Hughes said of that: "His button had been pressed and that was it. That wasn't calculated. "That was just pure fury. And he could struggle to contain that sometimes. He's a very emotional character, actually, beneath the sort of sunny disposition." Vettel certainly wasn't helped by his environment at Ferrari. He'd been signed by Luca di Montezemolo as the team's new spearhead, its first true spearhead since Michael Schumacher, given Fernando Alonso had been brilliant but was seen more as an individual than a Schumacher-like team builder. However, di Montezemolo was gone by the time Vettel arrived in 2015, and he faced a very different feeling from the new Ferrari leadership. In Hughes's words, Vettel was "being challenged by the team to prove to them that he was worthy of that status, and it really didn't work well with \[team boss Maurizio\] Arrivabene and him". - [**More from Mark Hughes: Vettel's Ferrari dream was doomed before it began**](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/vettels-ferrari-dream-was-doomed-before-it-even-began/) Vettel and Ferrari went head-to-head with Hamilton and Mercedes for the 2017 and 2018 titles, with the latter the real missed opportunity. "The errors seemed to feed upon themselves. From Hockenheim when he crashed \[out of the lead\] there onwards, it really got a bit scrappy and messy," Hughes explained. Straw added: "That Hockenheim mistake, the fallout from it is so profound, because it seemed to be used as a stick to beat him within the team. It's like yes he's gone off, he knows it's a mistake. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/XPB_950720_HiRes.jpg) "And it was really weird because some of the stuff he said in public about it, he was quite defensive. I don't feel like he was defending against the notion he'd made a mistake or people pointing it out or whatever, but it's almost like the internal thing, because teams ultimately have to take the point of view of ‘errors happen' and it's annoying, but the driver knows." For Hughes, it "underlines the point about the support he didn't get from within the team, from the way it was being run at that time, the management philosophy or lack of it. "It did contribute to Seb's performances, you've got an emotional character, you need to make sure you support them as much as possible." ## Vettel's legacy ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/XPB_1063522_HiRes.jpg) How to sum up a driver then, with four world titles but some tricky seasons such as being thrashed by Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in a bruising 2020 season, or 2014 when Daniel Ricciardo was promoted into Red Bull and immediately outperformed him? "I would say his epitaph as a grand prix driver is that brilliant when in the right window, but ultimately not adaptable enough to be in the absolute top echelon of the great drivers," Straw said. "Being in the second division there is still outstanding, still not many drivers at that level. But I think probably he was never going to have the car under him and the team around him to be the Red Bull peak Vettel for 15 years of his career. "That was never really going to be possible." Hughes believes Vettel "was flattered a little bit by the circumstances of his career, but he was an absolutely brilliant driver and would have probably won titles regardless of those special circumstances". "But whether he would have had quite the run of success he did, I think is an open question." **If you want to hear the full episode - including why BMW didn't rate Vettel as highly as Robert Kubica, the real standout moment in 2008 beyond the Monza win and why Ricciardo got the better of him at Red Bull, make sure you're signed up to The Race Members' Club and** [**head to this post**](https://www.patreon.com/posts/driving-style-s3-159545592?ref=the-race.com) **to listen to the episode.** **The final episode of this series of Driving Style Secrets will focus on 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, you'll get exclusive access to it in The Race Members' Club - plus all of the other bonus content there, including the ability to ask questions for the post-race podcast at the Monaco Grand Prix next weekend.** ### Winners and losers from MotoGP's 2026 Mugello sprint URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/winners-and-losers-from-motogps-2026-mugello-sprint/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T17:06:31.000Z MotoGP’s Mugello sprint featured some surprise early stars and a victory battle between two stablemates who’d enraged each other last time out. Here’s our pick of the stars and flops of the day. ## Winner: Diogo Moreira (10th) This will just show on the results sheet as a point-less 10th place. But in the early laps this was the breakthrough ride of what’s already an impressive rookie season. In Johann Zarco’s absence, Diogo Moreira slotted straight into his team-mate’s usual place in the order - thrusting the LCR Honda much higher up the field than it really should have been, then making himself as hard to pass as he could. And he was a long, long way ahead of the works Hondas too. The early third place never looked like it would last, and the ultimate 10th place was in the end a bit disappointing, Moreira admitting he simply went too hard too soon. Most rookies do, the first time they’re this close to the front. The best learn fast and can hold their own for longer next time. **\- Matt Beer** ## Loser: Marco Bezzecchi (4th) Not too much damage to the championship point - down three points to 12 - but this was an opportunity lost. It's felt like a while since Marco Bezzecchi actually looked like the fastest rider in the field but pole here was a good sign. An average start and too tentative first corner (where he seemed surprised by the arrival of the far more assertive Moreira) left him sixth and he could only recover to fourth. He didn't think choosing the soft rear tyre while the top two uniquely went all-medium made much difference. This was a race lost at the first corner. **\- MB** ## Winner: Raul Fernandez (1st) This was arguably the most impressive ride of Raul Fernandez's MotoGP career, even though it's worth precisely 48% of the points of his Phillip Island win from last year. But whereas last year the double long-lap penalty for Marco Bezzecchi - and the absence of Phillip Island specialist Marc Marquez - were crucial factors in Raul getting a relatively clear run to the win, here Fernandez had to make his own luck to a much greater extent. Making it even more impressive is that Fernandez has come down with some sort of stomach bug - so looked downright pale facing the media after his triumph. "This morning I didn't really eat too much and yeah, right now I feel super uncomfortable. "I don't know, I will go to the medical \[centre\] to see how I can recover well for tomorrow - because it's important to eat and prepare well for the race." - **Val Khorounzhiy** ## ...Loser? Raul Fernandez (1st) But there was apparently another element to Fernandez's discomfort - as he alluded repeatedly to the fact the victory has come while he's in "not the best moment" and "not the best situation" that he "cannot speak 100% about". Is it about 2027, The Race asked? "Maybe" was the answer. The implication was clear that something is going on in the background that has made Fernandez feel he is on shakier ground than anyone has expected - and it's not clear how much of an influence this win will have. A significant report dropped, also on Saturday, that might be relevant to the situation. Nicolo Bulega is en route to MotoGP after all in 2027, with VR46 Ducati (according to Sky Sports Italy) - which means even fewer spots for established riders, and perhaps an extra competition (from someone like, say, Luca Marini?) for Fernandez's Trackhouse ride. **\- VK** ## Loser: Ai Ogura (8th) Ai Ogura overtaking one or more riders in the final laps of a race is one of the most consistent and familiar sights in 2026-spec MotoGP - but, as he himself acknowledged on Saturday, a charge to eighth was nothing to scream about, and the qualifying underperformance that had necessitated the charge was all on him. He said Fernandez was going "faster in all the corners" - and that, in addition to failing to put his sectors together in Q1, he just doesn't have the overall performance he wants. He's still a very trustworthy rider in terms of stretching out his performance over a race distance, but it's tough to put a positive spin on a result like this when the other Aprilias went 1-2-4\. - **VK** ## Winner: Marc Marquez (5th) When he qualified fourth and very briefly surged into the lead at the start, it looked like maybe this would be a very special Marc Marquez comeback. But this was Marquez firmly in sensible mode, managing his energy levels through the race so he had enough left to avoid a late fade - and executing that strategy very effectively. It's more points lost to the Aprilias, but we're thinking about that much more than Marquez is. The highlight for him was that after the race he was able to write some notes down - proof to him that the arm surgery has worked because the nerve problem meant his hands had been shaking too much to write after recent races. A low key result, but an ideal first step in his latest recovery mission. **\- MB** ## Loser: KTM (9th/11th/15th/DNF) KTM was simply left behind by Aprilia and Ducati on Saturday, and Pedro Acosta had no particular answer over why. He felt he’d managed to catch up with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini, who he couldn’t match on Friday, but then KTM had hit a ceiling. Bastianini crashed out while battling Acosta as both just tried in vain to cling on with the top pack. - **MB** ## Winner: Jorge Martin (2nd) Jorge Martin was out of sorts on Friday and admitted his litany of Barcelona crashes had spooked him and he was just expecting to fall pretty much every time he braked. But getting through Friday crash-free did wonders for Martin, who insists he’s really still learning this Aprilia after his winter injury, and paved the way for a much smoother Saturday. He went for the all-medium tyre strategy once he saw Fernandez was doing likewise, and learned a bit about where the winner was quicker than him in the race too. And trimmed a bit more out of Bezzecchi’s points lead. Not a race win, but an important day. **\- MB** ## Loser: Pecco Bagnaia (7th) This was far from Pecco Bagnaia’s worst race in the last year. His weekend hasn’t been especially straightforward so far, and an eventual seventh was OK considering how much ground he lost with a poor start. But this is Mugello. Bagnaia is the fully fit works Ducati rider. That shouldn’t mean seventh place. **\- MB** ## Winner: Alex Rins (12th) Being best Yamaha was absolutely no comfort to Alex Rins, who felt miserable in qualifying when he saw his best effort was only good for 12th, and found the bike almost impossibly heavy to turn in the race. He’s not here to be 12th. We get that. He’s a grand prix winner whose MotoGP career has fallen apart. But getting that bike into Q2, beating Fabio Quartararo (who’s been much more impressive again lately) by 3.6s and two places in the race, chasing a works KTM to the line. As far as we’re concerned, that’s gold standard Yamaha rider achievements in 2026\. **\- MB** ## Loser: Franco Morbidelli (DNF) Fourth and in the mix at the sharp end in the Friday classification, Morbidelli took a backwards step in performance - though it was lesser than the backwards step he ended up taking off the line. "A really poor start" relegated him towards the back - a recurring issue this year - and he then crashed out "without knowing why" while trying to set up some sort of recovery ride. "I lost the front in turn 10 without knowing why. I was slower in that corner, but anyway I lost the front. And it's a pity because my pace was really interesting this morning." His seat appears to have been taken by someone else (Bulega, as mentioned above) for 2027 in the meantime - and while that was the expected outcome, that last sliver of hope will presumably have been the hardest to lose. **\- VK** ### Fernandez defeats Martin for Mugello MotoGP sprint win URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/mugello-motogp-sprint-report-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T15:28:04.000Z Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez kept works Aprilia rider Jorge Martin at arm's length to win the Mugello MotoGP sprint, a fortnight on from their Barcelona collision. After the returning Marc Marquez burst from fourth to briefly lead at the start, Fernandez muscled into first place by the exit of the first corner and stayed there. Martin got the gap down to four tenths of a second at one stage but Fernandez had an issue to his pace and won by 1.3 seconds. Practice pacesetter Fabio Di Giannantonio picked his way forward from seventh on the grid to complete the podium for VR46 Ducati. Marco Bezzecchi's championship lead over team-mate Martin is down to from 15 to 12 points as he lost his pole advantage with a lacklustre start and first corner and had to settle for fourth. Marquez was edged down the field in the opening laps but regained some ground to mark his MotoGP return with fifth ahead of fellow Ducati riders Fermin Aldeguer and Pecco Bagnaia. LCR Honda's rookie Diogo Moreira charged through from eighth on the grid to third on lap one and held his ground in the first half of the race, before his pace faded and he was elbowed right back out of the points in 10th. With KTM not on the frontrunners' pace here, Pedro Acosta battled valiantly just to finish ninth. Tech3's Enea Bastianini crashed out mid-race while battling with him to be top KTM. ## Results 1 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) 2 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) 3 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) 4 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 5 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 6 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) 7 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) 8 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) 9 Pedro Acosta (KTM) 10 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) 11 Brad Binder (KTM) 12 Alex Rins (Yamaha) 13 Luca Marini (Honda) 14 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) 15 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) 16 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) 17 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) 18 Michele Pirro (Gresini Ducati) 19 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) DNF Joan Mir (Honda) DNF Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) DNF Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) ### MotoGP's answers to six big safety and future questions URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogps-answers-to-six-big-safety-and-future-questions/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T11:49:01.000Z MotoGP's technical package for its new era in 2027 is long known, and so too is the make-up of the grid - in terms of both entries and the majority of the riders. But the finishing touches are still being put on the '27 package as a whole, and decisions are being made in this current process - which has included something of a stand-off between the series promoter Dorna/MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (and new owner Liberty Media) and the manufacturers, as represented by the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association. MotoGP's chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta faced a select group of media, including The Race, during the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Mugello to discuss some of the most pressing matters on the current agenda - for '27 and beyond, but also before, given MotoGP is coming off a particularly 'heavy' round at Barcelona. Here are some of the things Ezpeleta addressed. ## 'Not a negotiation anymore' between MotoGP and factories The hashing out of the final agreements between MotoGP and its five manufacturers, which are due to cover the customary five-year period (in this case, 2027-2031), has [clearly dragged on](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogps-teams-vs-liberty-impasse-explained-as-deadline-looms/). The most evident impact of this has been a relative lack of rider announcements - even as it is known that major commitments have long been made between many riders and each of the factories covering 2027-28. News has also trickled out over proposals being fought over such as the introduction of mandatory reserve riders or a pivot to one-bike per rider. Ezpeleta wasn't keen to go into details of specific proposals but insisted "the conversation is very positive". "We're looking at any other ways that we can improve the sport, and let's say, targeting the investment of the manufacturers at what the fans want to see, and actually make sense for them also as bike brands that are then selling bikes. "We're in the final stages of the negotiation - it's not even a negotiation anymore, because, I mean, we're all committed. The 11 teams, the 5 manufacturers in the championship, we're all committed for at least another five years, and we're just having dialogues about ways in which we can improve the sport." ## The vacant bikes question But Ezpeleta did, slightly indirectly, touch upon the topic of more permanent stand-ins - which has been thrust back onto the agenda by the events of Barcelona. Two riders, Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco, have been ruled out for potentially a long-term spell. With Marc Marquez's participation at Mugello uncertain until a few days prior to the weekend, Ducati wasn't definitively sure it would be able to commit its test rider Michele Pirro to replace the other Marquez, at satellite team Gresini. LCR, meanwhile, scrambled for a replacement, eventually settling on [a recall for Cal Crutchlow](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/why-crutchlow-turned-down-motogp-return-then-changed-his-mind/) \- who hadn't raced in three years. LCR partner Honda's replacement rider pool has been limited - it has three riders on the books outside of the main roster with substantial MotoGP experience, but Aleix Espargaro is injured after a testing crash and Stefan Bradl has effectively retired from racing. Ezpeleta, however, insisted that it was "not true" that LCR and Honda were short on options. "I mean, \[Taka\] Nakagami is testing now. Honda just decided not to bring Nakagami, to not risk \[him being unfit for 850cc testing\]. "Actually, we're very happy that Cal is here. So, I think it's great news for everybody. So, out of the terrible circumstances, I think the result has been OK." And as for Gresini being potentially left rider-less for this weekend, Ezpeleta hinted that this was exactly the scenario MotoGP wanted to avoid in the future by getting teams to have riders permanently on-call. "Is Cal going to win on Sunday? Is anybody who's not a current rider going to win on Sunday? So, then there's a question about, should riders be substituted, knowing that in 99% of the chances, no non-current rider is ever going to be in the top 10 or hardly be in the points. “Maybe Pol \[Espargaro\] is the exception to that, last year in Australia, but that's the reality. “And we think, and most of the teams agree that, whenever possible, riders should be substituted." Ezpeleta also expressed his view that next year's bikes will be "more simple" and thus easier for stand-ins to just show up and ride, and that there's indeed an interest in echoing Formula 1's third-driver model. He added that "substituting injured riders is unfortunately a part of this sport" and that "we do everything that we can to diminish that risk" - but, in a separate answer, hinted that a reduction in the number of sprint races was not on the table and not something in active discussion with teams and riders. ## Don't hold your breath yet for China and Turkey Ezpeleta was asked directly about the possibility of new races in China or Turkey (boosted by the hyper-popular Toprak Razgatlioglu joining the grid) as early as next year. He replied by pointing to the fact two new tracks were already announced for 2027 - a new Australian Grand Prix venue in Adelaide and a return of the Argentine Grand Prix, in Buenos Aires - and that "the calendar is probably already close to being confirmed". "You can only be so ambitious and you don't want to bring three, four new circuits into one same year because of the organisation, the teams, everything - I mean, every new event is four or five times more complex than an existing event. "Both markets that you named we're interested in for the future - but I don't see them for the immediate \[future\]." ## "Really confident" about Adelaide layout On the topic of the [controversial Adelaide street race](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp-axing-phillip-island-for-adelaide-street-circuit-is-unjustifiable/), Ezpeleta said that he believed "fans and media will be pleasantly surprised" with the final layout of the venue - which he hopes to unveil "within the next weeks or a month". "I think almost all the riders will like it. The riders have actually seen every iteration of the layout, since we announced it before the season started. And again, it looks good. "We're really confident about this. "And again, from the safety side, it's mathematical to us \[in terms of the requirements\]. It's not subjective." ## The post-Barcelona action plan Ezpeleta had earlier in the weekend mentioned four potential responses to the events of Barcelona - where both Alex Marquez and Zarco were lucky to escape without catastrophic injury. Marquez [crashed into Pedro Acosta's KTM at speed](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/alex-marquez-suffered-neck-fracture-in-barcelona-motogp-crash/) as Acosta slowed with a technical issue, and Zarco was involved in a fairly typical Barcelona Turn 1 pile-up, but with the complication of [his leg getting trapped](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/johann-zarco-ligament-surgery-wait-horrific-barcelona-motogp-crash/) in Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati and Zarco being dragged through the gravel. Ezpeleta said that two of the aspects that would be looked at were "protection around the rear wheel, swingarm area" to avoid what happened to Zarco, and a "warning" system for failing bikes, though in the Acosta/Marquez case he admits it wouldn't have kicked in fast enough to help . As for the Zarco's crash being part of a wider pattern of Turn 1 pile-ups, Ezpeleta said that there was a conversation to "leave more space between the riders" in their grid slots and bringing forward a ban on "holeshot" ride-height devices that will already anyway kick in for 2027. But why can't that ban be brought forward on safety grounds, so through MotoGP bypassing a manufacturer vote? Ezpeleta insisted this ban is not something to be pushed through "unilaterally" because the implications are not fully worked through yet. "Imagine we take them off and then on Sunday \[without the device\] somebody has a bad wheelie and turns the other way \[off the line\]. "So the conversation right now is to the manufacturers: 'can you prove that it is more safe with them than without them?' And by the way, as you can imagine, the conversation is not unanimous among the manufacturers." ## What about a sixth manufacturer? MotoGP had long eyed a new manufacturer under its current regulations cycle, but while the long-speculated BMW interest never truly materialised, there now appears to be a more concrete candidate. Chinese manufacturer CFMoto is indeed evaluating a plan of entry into MotoGP, according to Jorge 'Aspar' Martinez, whose Aspar Racing team runs with CFMoto title sponsorship in Moto2 and Moto3. Ezpeleta said he would not comment on any potential CFMoto project, especially as he himself has not spoken to Martinez about it. But as for the wider idea of grid expansion and whether existing teams might be seriously opposed to it, he said: "I mean, that decision resides purely with the championship, not with the teams themselves. "We like the 22 \[bikes on the grid\] number. We're not, let's say, convinced that having more bikes on the grid is actually better for anybody. "There's tremendous value in the teams right now and it's something that we want to preserve. And, of course, new manufacturers are always welcome, but there's a pathway and a process into competing in MotoGP. As all of you well know, it's really hard to get to that level." ### Opening TT 2026 race day called off URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/opening-tt-2026-race-day-called-off/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T10:39:38.000Z The opening day of racing at the 2026 Isle of Man TT has been scrapped due to weather concerns. Heavy fog blanketed the lower sections of the course on Saturday morning just as the three-lap Superstock TT was due to get underway at 11am local time. Organisers first announced an initial one-hour delay to the schedule, followed by a second one - but, with rain forecast for the afternoon meaning that they had a smaller and smaller window in which to run the race, they made the decision at 11:30am to suspend the entire day’s action. “The weather has closed in,” TT clerk of course Gary Thimpson announced in the paddock, “and visibility is severely reduced from the Bungalow through to the start line. “It’s unlikely to lift now, and will get progressively worse in the afternoon as a band of rain is due to come through. “The decision is that today’s three lap superstock race is cancelled for now. We will amend the schedule during the week, and try again tomorrow with the six-lap superbike race.” Sunday’s forecast looks better, with only the remnants of Saturday evening’s rain due overnight before a clear day that should allow TT bosses the chance to run the race in dry conditions. Saturday’s schedule had already been reorganised once as it was originally due to feature the first sidecar race too, before the category [was suspended for 2026](https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-suspends-sidecars-for-rest-of-2026-event-in-unprecedented-move/) following the Crowe brothers’ qualifying crash. ### How worried Bottas should really be about his F1 future URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-worried-bottas-should-really-be-about-his-f1-future/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T10:24:56.000Z Valtteri Bottas has unexpectedly found himself under scrutiny for an unconvincing start at Formula 1's newest team alongside Sergio Perez, even though his Cadillac seat is not immediately at risk. Changing driver line-up is very far down the to-do list for Cadillac and there is no real chance of Bottas being dropped during this season or, barring a major change in circumstances, for 2027. That did not stop a huge amount of online speculation developing in the wake of a Canada weekend where Bottas was clearly second-best to Perez. Some individual opinion shared during Sky Sports Italy's coverage was twisted into a factual declaration that Cadillac could imminently replace Bottas. The swirl of noise around this completely overlooked the fact that there is no obvious, immediate upgrade available even if Bottas had somehow shown Cadillac in just five weekends that he should be dumped. Colton Herta is not (yet) eligible for a superlicence and reserve Zhou Guanyu is hardly a guaranteed improvement. However, Bottas is probably on slightly thinner ice than he would have liked to be at the start of the season, and the situation in Canada did him no favours. Perez was clearly the faster Cadillac driver there, building on a Miami weekend in which he had been quicker again. This was despite Bottas using a different chassis that he was “definitely feeling better” in compared to previous races. Bottas had been adamant in Montreal that something fundamentally was not right with the old one, and he put it down to part of the learning curve for a new team. It's a reasonable caveat as the operational problems, performance inconsistencies, and reliability issues have made clean weekends difficult for Cadillac across both sides of the garage, so Bottas's various issues so far have hardly been entirely of his making. But there has also been a degree of Bottas not doing as well with the machinery he does have as Perez at his best. In Canada, Bottas chased the set-up all weekend. The sprint became a test with an extreme set-up direction. In qualifying, he messed up his final Q1 run which meant he ended up eight tenths of a second adrift of Perez for the second time in two days, although the sprint qualifying deficit was exaggerated by a badly timed red flag ending a better Bottas lap early. The race was no better. Bottas said the car was over-rotating and oversteering throughout and they couldn't cure it even with a fully locked diff, so was consigned to a lonely race while Perez was in the thick of it racing other midfield cars beyond Aston Martins for the first time this season. Across the five race weekends so far, though, a trend has emerged. Five times out of seven where a comparison is possible, Perez has been quicker in qualifying - one exception was China, where Perez had a badly compromised session and deployment issues, the other was Miami where wrong deployment spoiled his final lap. It's not a whitewash, but when things have been clean for Cadillac, Perez has the higher peak. He's running better in races, doing a better job in qualifying in general, and is more often the faster of the two. The on-track picture is only part of it, because nobody outside the team really knows what contribution is being made behind closed doors or what the team is asking of the drivers. But equally that off-track value will diminish over time and at some point Cadillac will not need two drivers of the same vintage. That's not going to be the case after Monaco next weekend, but what if Cadillac builds on a promising start performance-wise throughout this year and Perez properly turns out to be its North Star? Both drivers came to Cadillac in similar positions: experienced, having spent 2025 on the sidelines, convinced they weren't done with F1\. Each had something clear to offer in terms of knowing what a title-winning operation looks like. The question was always what level of on-track ability they would then bring. With Bottas, the assumption coming in was that even at the tail end of his Sauber stint he'd retained that qualifying turn of pace, the thing that always gave him something a little extra, even if racecraft was never his strong suit. With Perez it was kind of the opposite: the one-lap pace was a major question mark after a particularly difficult final year at Red Bull, but it was always his racecraft that set him apart, making him first one of the most formidable midfield operators and ultimately a multiple race winner. So far, the move is working out considerably better for Perez in terms of reputation. He came to this project extremely hungry, wanting to prove not just to the wider world but to himself that he could still hack it, and wanting to achieve something meaningful rather than simply being a safe pair of hands while Cadillac finds its feet. You saw that from the very first race weekend: the novelty of making it to the finish in Cadillac's debut grand prix wore off within seconds of the chequered flag, when Perez was already demanding improvements over the radio. He's also been pushing hard in meetings, lighting a fire under the team, flagging areas he feels need urgent attention. Bottas is a naturally quieter character, and there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to be perpetually intense to be a driving force within a team. And clearly he wants to be an F1 driver more than he wants to drive somewhere else. But Perez has looked and sounded like he needs to be one since getting the Cadillac seat confirmed last year. It's a small but potentially significant difference in how they might be wired into this project. The motivation doesn't need to be dramatically different to produce a tangible difference in output. By now, Cadillac will have extracted a lot of the low-hanging fruit from two experienced drivers during the start-up phase. The question of what can actually drive the team forward, and whether either or both drivers can be part of that longer term, becomes more pressing from here. Cadillac won't want two experienced veterans indefinitely but one of them might have a place beyond the team's first couple of years. On current evidence, as limited as the sample set is so far, you'd take Perez. That is the real threat to Bottas's F1 future - much further down the line than recent speculation would suggest, but real nonetheless. ### Aprilia stuns Ducati in qualifying after breaking MotoGP speed record URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aprilia-turns-tables-on-ducati-to-dominate-mugello-qualifying/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T10:47:06.000Z Marco Bezzecchi led an all-Aprilia front row in qualifying for MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, as Aprilia overturned Ducati's Friday advantage. There were five Ducatis in the top six at the end of Friday practice, but none could crack the front row here as Bezzecchi stormed to the first-ever sub-1m44s MotoGP lap at Mugello, a 1m43.921s. Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez ran behind him after progressing through Q1, and was 0.224s off, while Jorge Martin completed the 1-2-3 - having headed the field after the opening runs. Martin had set the new official MotoGP top speed record in the earlier practice session, clocking in at 368.6km/h (229mph) in the speed trap (aided by a slipstream from a pair of Hondas). The returning Marc Marquez was the lead Ducati rider in qualifying in fourth, and looked to have strong front row potential - but his decision to follow KTM's Pedro Acosta on his fastest lap backfired, with Acosta simply not fast enough in the third sector and thus costing Marquez crucial laptime there. Slotting in behind Marquez were Gresini Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer and factory Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia. Bagnaia was at the head of a nine-rider group in the opening runs, but that strategy backfired, and he made a point of running all alone on his second rear tyre. Friday pacesetter Fabio Di Giannantonio was only seventh, perhaps hampered by being limited to just his spare bike - after his main bike shut off in pre-qualifying practice. Rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda), Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati), Acosta (KTM), Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Alex Rins (Yamaha) completed a Q2 field covered by 1.128s. --- **Provisional Italian GP grid** 1 Bezzecchi 2 Fernandez 3 Martin 4 Marquez 5 Aldeguer 6 Bagnaia 7 Di Giannantonio 8 Moreira 9 Morbidelli 10 Acosta 11 Bastianini 12 Rins 13 Ogura 14 Binder 15 Mir 16 Marini 17 Miller 18 Quartararo 19 Vinales 20 Razgatlioglu 21 Pirro 22 Crutchlow --- Ai Ogura was the only Aprilia rider absent from the front row - or Q2 as a whole, after missing out by a tenth versus Acosta (and three tenths versus team-mate Fernandez) in the opening segment. He will share the fifth row of the grid with KTM's Brad Binder, who was closer to Acosta than in most qualifying session this season but is still yet to beat his team-mate, and Honda rider Joan Mir. Mir and team-mate Luca Marini were split by just 0.005s (with Marini now 0-7 against Mir in qualifying for 2026). LCR Honda's Johann Zarco stand-in Cal Crutchlow shaved off a second from his fastest Friday time - but was still last in the end, nine tenths back from fellow injury replacement Michele Pirro. Pirro, shrugging off a crash in pre-qualifying practice, was just a quarter of a tenth down on Pramac Yamaha regular Toprak Razgatlioglu, who ended his Q1 with a bizarre crash on the lap to the pits. ### Mercedes backs out of race for Alpine F1 stake - What you need to know URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-withdraws-from-alpine-f1-team-bidding-process/ Last updated: 2026-05-30T10:42:36.000Z Mercedes has withdrawn from the bidding process for a stake in the Alpine Formula 1 team. The German manufacturer was one of the parties interested in taking on the 24% shareholding in the Alpine squad that is currently owned by American investment group Otro Capital. But, as first reported by the [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cy724mmrmgjo?ref=the-race.com) on Friday and confirmed by sources to The Race, it has now elected to step back from a bid, with the sale price from Otro in excess of what it is willing to pay. The BBC suggested that Otro, which purchased its stake for around $230 million in 2023, is seeking around $720 million for the stake. This values the team at around $3 billion – a figure in excess of what Mercedes believes it is worth. With bids understood to have been submitted this week, and Otro’s target higher than what was being offered by Mercedes, the German manufacturer has elected to pull out of discussions rather than return to the table with an increased bid. Mercedes has been contacted for comment. The decision by Mercedes not to continue discussions boosts the chances of former Red Bull boss Christian Horner pushing forward with an attempt he is making to purchase the stake. Horner is seeking a return to F1, with it clear he wants a financial interest in any competitor he joins rather than simply taking on a team principal role. He has been linked with the Alpine bid for a while now, but has also more recently held [discussions with Chinese car manufacturer BYD](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/horner-in-talks-over-new-byd-f1-team-entry/) about helping set up a new squad with it. Any offer for a takeover of the Otro shareholding must be approved by Alpine’s parent company Renault for now, with it having a veto right over the sale until September this year. After then, Otro will be free to sell to whoever it wants without needing any approval from Renault. Speaking in Paris earlier this week, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief was clear that the French car manufacturer was in no rush to make a decision. “We are not going to do something we are not happy about,” he said. But he is clear that whatever happens with that Alpine stake, it will not be a first step to Renault selling out totally. “We will keep the 76% of course,” he said. “In terms of shareholding, we are part of the board and we take some decisions together. “But anyway, we are keeping the majority \[stake\] because it's part of the plan for Alpine to continue in F1.” A potential involvement for Horner comes with it well known he gets on well with Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore – who interestingly made several references earlier this week to needing some more experienced hands on board at the F1 squad. “I’m missing a few quality people with experience, because the team is still very young,” he said. Mercedes’ interest in a financial stake in Alpine triggered some pushback within the F1 paddock, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown writing to the FIA to urge action in stamping out future co-ownership of teams. But Mercedes was clear that, if the purchase had gone ahead, it had no plans to make Alpine a junior team and was instead only interested in a financial stake as part of a long-term investment. ### Who's going to win at the Isle of Man TT 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/whos-going-to-win-at-the-isle-of-man-tt-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T18:36:57.000Z It’s been a somewhat stop-start week of qualifying at the 2026 Isle of Man TT. With red flags, high winds, and a new practice week rest day, it feels like the start of racing on Saturday has somewhat sneaked up on competitors despite most of the field having a solid week of high speed, dry, practice laps under their belts ahead of the three-lap opening Superstock TT. Yet while it might be the case that we’ve had a somewhat uncertain week of laps, one thing is clear - there is very much a well-established favourite for each of the four solo classes in a way that there perhaps hasn’t been for quite some time. ## Superstock TT ![Dean Harrison on his Superstock bike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/art-intro-jpg_a468876c.jpg) Right now, there’s only one man to watch in the opening production-spec race: Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison. Already a favourite for the class thanks to his double victory twelve months ago, Harrison came into this year’s TT as many peoples’ established man to beat, and practice week has done little to dissuade that notion. Michael Dunlop hasn’t looked completely up to speed yet on his own superstock BMW, and while that often means very little when the flag drops at the start of a TT race week, it might be conceding a little too much to the on-form Harrison. In fact, it looks like Dunlop might not even be a clear favourite right now for P2, with a surprisingly strong Josh Brookes concentrating on superstock over superbike and snapping at Dunlop’s heels throughout practice week. 1 | Dean Harrison | 135.484mph | 16:42.538 2 | Michael Dunlop | 131.952mph | 17:09.371 3 | Joshua Brookes | 131.943mph | 17:09.444 4 | Ian Hutchinson | 130.700mph | 17:19.237 5 | Nathan Harrison | 130.318mph | 17:22.283 ## Sportsbike TT ![Michael Dunlop on his Paton Supertwin machine](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/dk__0081-jpg.jpg) However, while Harrison might be the man to beat in the superstock class, the newly-renamed Sportsbike TT class sees Honda not fielding an entry for the factory-backed Yorkshireman, and Dunlop not only the favourite but the dominant frontrunner in qualifying. Riding a factory-backed Paton machine in what is likely the 650cc twin’s final outing at the TT ahead of a full switch to the new sportsbike regulations for 2027, Dunlop is the master of the class anyway without the speed advantage the boutique Italian marque gives him, and the only way someone else has a sniff of a win is if he encounters technical regulations. With many of the big names sitting out the smallest class, it means a possibility for others to contend for podium success, though, with names like Mike Browne, Michael Evans, Paul Jordan, Jamie Coward and Dom Herbertson likely to bring the fight to Dunlop and possibly Peter Hickman’s Swan-backed Yamaha R7. 1 | Michael Dunlop | 123.557mph | 18:19.313 2 | Mike Browne | 121.348mph | 18:39.325 3 | Peter Hickman | 120.803mph | 18:44.377 4 | Paul Jordan | 120.649mph | 18:45.813 5 | Michael Evans | 120.299mph | 18:49.090 ## Supersport TT ![Michael Dunlop on his Supersport bike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/dunlop-supersport-jpg-1.jpg) If a Dunlop victory looks like a sure thing in the sportsbike class, then it’s practically a certainty in the two four-lap Supersport TT races, such has been his absolute domination on the middleweight machines over past seasons. Already impressive on old Yamaha R6 machinery before making the switch to Ducati for 2025 and promptly handing them their first wins in thirty years, he comes with increasing backing from Bologna and an even faster machine. Harrison, who rides supersport bikes all year round for Honda in the British championship, should be his biggest threat, while Hickman’s height will always work against him even given his factory Triumph machines. Brookes, riding an older Suzuki package, might not be too far away either. 1 | Michael Dunlop | 129.557mph | 17:28.401 2 | Peter Hickman | 127.301mph | 17:46.985 3 | Dean Harrison | 127.242mph | 17:47.481 4 | Joshua Brookes | 126.848mph | 17:50.793 5 | Paul Jordan | 125.897mph | 17:58.879 ## Superbike TT and Senior TT ![Dean Harrison rides his Honda Superbike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/art-intro-jpg_dd5d66e7-1.jpg) The one that everyone wants to win, the two superbike races might actually be the most open of this year’s event and the one with the best chance of seeing the promised fight between the TT’s Big Three of Harrison, Hickman and Dunlop (in the absence of reigning champion Davey Todd, still sidelined by injury). Harrison, who lines up on a hybrid bike with elements of both his superbike from last year and his victorious superstock machine, has been blisteringly fast in practice, though, while both Dunlop (who made a last minute switch from Ducati to Honda) and Hickman (still carrying nerve damage from his practice crash last year) have struggled. In fact, it’s once again Brookes who is something of a dark horse to get involved in their fight after practice - and you can never ever discount TT veteran John McGuinness from pulling off a surprise given just how quietly competent he has looked all week. 1 | Dean Harrison | 134.877mph | 16:47.053 2 | Peter Hickman | 132.712mph | 17:03.475 3 | Joshua Brookes | 132.220mph | 17:07.288 4 | Michael Dunlop | 132.149mph | 17:07.840 5 | John McGuinness | 130.903mph | 17:17.622 ### What Marquez learned on first day back from pivotal surgery URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-motogp-mugello-shoulder-surgery-return-nerve-issue/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T16:43:28.000Z Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez says that he felt no repeat of the nerve issue that affected his previous appearances in 2026, following surgery that was aimed at addressing it. Marquez has returned to competition at the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello after a lay-off triggered by a foot injury at Le Mans - but more importantly featured surgical intervention on his right shoulder, to remove two screws and a bone fragment. The hope was that this would bring him closer to his performance from last year, with Marquez having looked limited at the start of this current campaign, something he eventually traced to a nerve being affected while he was in the riding position - thus denying him full control over his riding. Marquez, who finished Friday in sixth place, two tenths off first, said that the early signs at Mugello were positive. "For me the most important today was to try to understand how the nerve was working. It was very important that I didn't feel any numbness - numbness in the hands, numbness in the fingers and numbness in the elbows," he said. "At the moment it’s working well - so I’m super happy because it was the main target of the surgery. "Of course, when now the nerve starts to work in another way, a normal way, we start to work with other muscles. So I have other pains, I have another feeling on the bike, but step by step let’s see if we can improve- I will not say this weekend, next races. "This weekend, theoretically I have to be just worse, worse and worse because I will be more tired. For that reason today I was super calm in FP1 and practice - and I just pushed one lap to try to be in Q2." Marquez said that he does not yet feel the confidence to push for any sustained number of laps - and isn't convinced he has the performance for the top five over a race distance. "Honestly speaking, I was thinking that I would feel better on the bike. But still on the right corners, on the changes of direction, I’m losing a lot of time. "It’s true that for one lap I can do it, but for the race distance - at the moment I’m half a second slower than the top riders. And yeah, still I don’t feel well \[enough\] to push on the limit." Marquez trails championship leader Marco Bezzecchi by 85 points, and normally Mugello should present a significant opportunity to start closing the gap - especially as the Ducatis, which Pecco Bagnaia said Mugello is "perfectly suited" to, collectively look very strong. But Marquez doesn't see it that way. On whether the sprint or the main race would be harder for him, and whether the full-push battle of the sprint would be too intense, he said: "I don’t care. If it’s more intense, I will reduce my speed. "So I don’t care, and I’m very honest because I would like to say 'yeah, I will try to take maximum points, to try to be there in the championship'. But at the moment, I’m here to try to rebuild my right arm to continue my future. I don’t have another target." ### Silverstone launches 'mystery seat' tickets for 2026 F1 race URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/silverstone-launches-mystery-seat-tickets-for-2026-f1-race/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T15:07:58.000Z Silverstone has announced the launch of a new 'mystery seat' ticket as a new way for fans to experience the British Grand Prix. Fans looking to attend the race can purchase a ‘mystery seat’ grandstand ticket for the 2026 race weekend or just Sunday, however, they won’t know where they are sitting until 24 hours beforehand. Although there are still general admission tickets on sale, most grandstand tickets for Sunday or the three-day weekend are now sold out. The mystery seat tickets for Sunday-only start from £399 and cost £459 for the three-day (Friday, Saturday Sunday) weekend. Of the 25 grandstands currently on sale, only two still have tickets available for sale for Sunday-only, ranging in price from £629 to £639\. Additionally, only four grandstands have the three-day weekend option still available for purchase, ranging in price from £609 to £779. This means that fans willing to take the risk on where they sit could save up to £320. However, due to the nature of the mystery seat offering, the saving also comes with the risk that people on the same booking may not be seated together. ### Ducati firmly on top on Mugello MotoGP Friday URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ducati-firmly-on-top-on-mugello-motogp-friday/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T14:23:30.000Z Fabio Di Giannantonio maintained his superb recent form to top the second and final Friday practice session of the MotoGP weekend at Mugello. The session, much like the grand prix race at Barcelona last time out, was interrupted by red flags, albeit for much less substantial incidents. The first, at around halfway point, came as Fabio Quartararo crashed his Yamaha at Materassi and it slid back onto the track after hopping through the inside gravel trap at Borgo San Lorenzo. The second was triggered by Brad Binder parking up to the side of the main straight after his KTM developed a fault, too late for him to duck into the pits. --- **Advanced to Q2:** Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, Bastianinbi, Morbidelli, Aldeguer, Marquez, Bezzecchi, Martin, Rins, Moreira **Will contest Q1:** Ogura, Fernandez, Acosta, Vinales, Mir, Miller, Quartararo, Binder, Marini, Razgatlioglu, Pirro, Crutchlow --- The session delivered a real show of strength from Ducati, with five of its bikes in the top six and only tester Michele Pirro - riding in relief of injured Gresini rider Alex Marquez - absent from that lead group. Di Giannantonio headed Pecco Bagnaia by 0.091s, followed by Tech3 KTM's Enea Bastianini (who capitalised on a mild slipstream from Aprilia's points leader Marco Bezzecchi), as well as Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and Marc Marquez (factory Ducati). It was a smooth return to competitive one-lap pace for the elder Marquez, who was just 0.202s off the pacesetter. But both of the points table-topping Aprilias made Q2, too, with Bezzecchi seventh and team-mate Jorge Martin in eighth. Martin succeeded on a last-ditch push to avoid Q1, relegating Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura to the first qualifying segment in the process. The two remaining riders in Q2 were rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) and factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins, both tucked in firmly behind Bagnaia as they set their fastest laps. A top 13 completed by usual Q2 fixtures Raul Fernandez and Pedro Acosta was covered by only 0.486s - the latter ending up upright in the gravel trap at the second Arrabbiata after a mistake during a desperate final effort to make Q2. The only other major incident in the session involved a San Donato crash for Jack Miller, though he rejoined practice afterwards. Series returnee Cal Crutchlow, in his first appearance after a three-year absence, placed last - 3.3s off the pace and 1.2s off fellow stand-in Pirro. ### F1 to limit cars' top speed potential on Monaco straights URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/new-f1-engine-mode-to-cap-top-speed-potential-in-monaco/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T13:55:51.000Z Formula 1 drivers will have their top speed potential pegged back at the Monaco Grand Prix as the result of energy deployment restrictions imposed for the street track, The Race can reveal. The tight and twisty layout of the Monte Carlo circuit will deliver a very different experience compared to other venues, where problems have been more about there not being enough energy available. Monaco is at the other extreme – with the short straights, heavy braking zones and slow speed corners being the perfect stomping ground for the current generation of cars. There should be few problems in harvesting energy, which means there will be plenty of power on tap and without long straights to drain the battery. But this characteristic has triggered a different type of headache, with the potential for maximum power deployment leading to safety concerns because it can make the cars too quick for the layout. Higher top speeds means cars arrive at corner entries much faster. This is one of the factors that prompted the FIA decision [not to have any straight mode activation zones](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-f1-cars-wont-run-active-aero-in-monaco/). To further help minimise the risk of trouble, the FIA is mandating for Monaco the use of a different engine mode setting that limits maximum power deployment on the straights. As our exclusive image shows, the engine map known as ‘Rev 1’ means that maximum deployment of the MGU-K has to start tapering off from its 350kW cap at 200km/h. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/png-2.png) This is much lower than the standard mode setting – known as ‘Base’ – which begins restricting maximum deployment from 290km/h. The ‘Rev 1’ setting for Monaco means that the cars will not be allowed to run any battery deployment once they are up to 300km/h. With overtake mode still in play for Monaco, that engine mode sees the reduction rate reduced less aggressively – with the offset ending up with drivers who have it activated to having 150kW at 300km/h. It then tapers off more dramatically to be at zero deployment by 310km/h. ## No silly lift and coast The restrictions that are being imposed for Monaco come with the venue having the shortest power limited distance of the season. These are areas of the track where mandatory power-reduction rates have to be used by drivers. Monaco’s power limited distance of 1388 metres is a fraction of what F1 is going to experience at venues like Spa (4594m) and Monza (4218m). Here are the tracks where the power limited distances are the shortest this season. ### Top 10 shortest power limited distances 1\. Monaco 1388m 2\. Hungaroring 1885m 3\. Mexico City 2101m 4\. Singapore 2185m 5\. Interlagos 2278m 6\. Zandvoort 2411m 7\. Barcelona 2440m 8\. Montreal 2682m 9\. Austin 2847m 10\. Red Bull Ring 2923m While the extra power restrictions because of the ‘Rev 1’ mode means cars will not be running at maximum potential on the straights, the expectation is still that the venue will show off the 2026 regulations at their best. Drivers anticipate that, after the annoyances over end of straight speed drops off and extreme harvesting tactics needed so far this year, Monaco could be one of those places where things are as natural as they were in the past. Haas driver Ollie Bearman said: “Maybe they'll be a bit more fun to drive! That could be nice. “I don't think there's really much opportunity to innovate in terms of energy in Monaco, just because of the limits with the speed, it's very early in Monaco for obvious safety reasons. “But I think it's just going to be a bit more like last year, where we can just drive how we want, use the gears that we want, and not have to do any silly lift-and-coast and these things. “I'm actually quite looking forward to it. It should be good.” Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc echoed Bearman’s thoughts about a weekend where the focus was back on intuitive driving. “I think Monaco is actually going to be one of those races where these cars might be very good,” he explained. “First, we have now lighter cars, which for a track like Monaco, I think this has its benefits. “The electric side is going to be a lot less big in Monaco, just because we'll be recharging quite a bit with all the corners that there are. So I think, yeah, I'm quite excited for Monaco. I think it should be a good track for these cars.” ### The 2026 Isle of Man TT favourites according to a big absentee URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/davey-todd-picks-his-2026-isle-of-man-tt-favourites/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T20:12:15.000Z The 2024 Senior TT winner Davey Todd has had to watch this year's Isle of Man TT build-up from the sidelines as he continues to recover from the injuries he sustained at the Daytona 200 in March. Todd crashed twice in qualifying for the iconic Daytona race in early March, with missed crash damage from the first incident causing him to fall a second time and break his femur and tibia in the process. It saw him [ruled out of both](https://www.the-race.com/tt/davey-todd-defending-winner-isle-of-man-tt-superbike-ruled-out-2026/) the North West 200 and the 2026 Isle of Man TT. But that's at least given him a chance to assess his usual rivals' form from a different perspective - and to make some predictions for us. "I was thinking of it in the terms of who's going to be strong as opposition, and now I can sort of look from the outside a little bit more and just openly see who's going to be strong and who's not," he said. Here's Todd's pick of the riders to watch, as told to Simon Patterson. ## Peter Hickman ![Peter Hickman on his Superstock bike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/hickman-superstock-jpg.jpg) One of the event’s biggest contenders over the past few years, Hickman is sure to be fighting up the front throughout this year’s event after missing out in 2025 due to a qualifying crash. The 14-time TT winner crashed at Kerrowmoar during the Friday evening session of practice week last year, suffering chest, back, shoulder and facial injuries. His practice week this year has gotten off to a good start, with a lap of 132.039mph placing him second on the Superbike leaderboard behind Dean Harrison, while he was seventh-fastest in the Supersport/Sportbike session. As the other half of 8TEN Racing, Todd will be cheering on Hicky as he heads down Glencrutchery Road. "My team-mate Pete, of course, is fast. He's a lap record holder still. He had a bit of a tough year of it, a bit of a tough last 12 months since his accident. "I don't think he's quite 100% yet. Still a few of the injuries are bothering him a little bit, but we've made some changes to his superbike, to the electronics package, that should make the bike a lot easier to ride, which is a big thing for him right now and should be a lot better, I think. "So for sure he'll be strong, and you can never write him off." ## Michael Dunlop ![Michael Dunlop on his Supersport bike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/dunlop-supersport-jpg.jpg) The man who has won more times on the Mountain Course than anyone else, Michael Dunlop has been at the sharp end at the TT since he made his debut in 2007. With 33 wins to his name across all four solo classes, Dunlop will be one to watch in every class - but none more so than Supersport, where he has taken 15 of those victories. He is unbeaten in Supersport races at the TT since 2019, having won eight in a row across the following four years. Despite some early uncertainty about which superbike he would ride after a lack of preparation with the Ducati he had planned to race, Dunlop has now settled on the Honda Fireblade - the bike on which he previously set his fastest lap. As Todd says: “You can never write Michael off. He’s always fast, no matter what's happening, when his back's against a wall. "He was riding a Ducati, now he's riding a Honda superbike, he's riding a BMW Superstock bike, he's riding a Ducati Supersport bike, and a Paton. "Not making it easy for himself with four manufacturers, but he's always got some fantastic bikes underneath him. "He hasn't had a bunch of time on that Honda, but Michael's personal best lap that he's ever done is on a Honda from a couple of years back. He’s got his settings from that bike, the Honda hasn't really changed since a couple of years ago, so he'll be able to put them settings back in, and I'm sure he'll be straight back into the 135s." ## Dean Harrison ![Dean Harrison on his Superbike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/art-intro-jpg_dd5d66e7.jpg) Kicking off the road racing season in style, Harrison took three podiums from three starts at this year’s North West 200 - and could have gone on to do even better were it not for a shortened end to the final day of racing. After winning both Superstock TT races in 2025, the NW200 showed that Harrison's renaissance last year was no flash in the pan - and that after a six-year absence from the top step of the podium in the Superbike class, the Honda rider might well be going into this year's Isle of Man TT as the favourite. TT practice week has also painted a positive picture for the Yorkshireman, setting an impressive 133.925mph lap - the fastest ever opening-day effort of the 37.73-mile Mountain Course circuit - during the first night of timed practice. Harrison's pair of 133mph laps left him considerably ahead of the best average time of Dunlop, a 130.341mph, in second. "Honestly the man for me is Dean,” says Todd. “He's been incredibly strong, he's riding really well in the British championship, and he's in a good place with the bike. "I don't want to say he's copied me, but the last few years since I've been at the TT, I've never run a full-blown superbike. I like to ride two stockers, and usually just a bit of a faster engine in the superbike, but the rest of the chassis is stock. "You often see people struggling with the superbike, like last year Dean was. I have two very similar bikes, but I was more worried about Dean in the superstock class than in the superbike. "He had a full-blown superbike, but he wasn't as quick, and he's twigged onto that and realised the stock chassis actually suits him better as well, and I see that he's moved in that direction too, running two very similar superstock chassis. A superbike with a faster engine, and a few other bits, I think he's running brakes and stuff as well, but I think he'd be now really strong in the two big bike classes. "Of course he's super-fast on a supersport bike, but is he ever going to beat Michael on that factory V2? I don't think so, there's no one beating him on that - Michael rides the supersport bike really well anyway, and on that Ducati missile there's just no competition. "Honestly I think Dean in that class is riding the hardest, riding the best, but the Honda is not really the bike to be on in supersport, so it'd be interesting." ## John McGuinness ![John McGuinness on his Superbike](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/art-intro-jpg_bc46f88a.jpg) Wouldn’t it just be the ultimate fairytale to see John McGuinness back on the podium in the year he celebrates 30 years since his first TT? Ever a fan favourite, the 23-time winner - third in the all-time leaderboard behind Michael Dunlop and his uncle Joey - has been setting personal bests all over the place this year, lapping faster than ever before at the NW200. And amid endless questions about when he will finally hang up his helmet, McGuinness was quick enough in opening practice to be sixth-fastest on his superbike amid a very competitive field. He went even faster on Wednesday, breaking the 130mph barrier on his opening lap and setting an 130.863mph on his second attempt, even after cruising from Governor’s Bridge. "A lot of people will just write this off straight away, but John McGuinness - people keep asking him when he's retiring, and funnily enough it's actually firing him up,” says Todd. "It's annoying him that people are asking him when he's going to retire and why hasn't he stopped yet, but the facts are that he's faster than he's ever been before, so it shows how much the game's moved on. "But when you're the fastest you've ever been at every track you go into - when he's doing a BSB test, when he's been to Donington Park he's done his personal best lap times, when he's gone to Oulton Park, personal best lap times, North West 200, personal best lap times. How can you ask a guy to retire when he's going the fastest he's ever been? "How much would everybody love to see John McGuinness back on the podium here at the TT? The world would explode, wouldn't it. It'd be awesome, so that I would love to see. "You never know. It's the TT isn't it, it's the nature of it." ### Steiner and riders hit out at MotoGP's one-bike plan URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/steiner-and-riders-hit-out-at-motogps-one-bike-plan/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T09:46:39.000Z Tech3 team boss Guenther Steiner has backed the MotoGP riders in decrying the idea of switching the series to a single-bike format in 2027. MotoGP teams make two machines available to each of their riders at all times during the weekend, with a change possible in-session - including in wet-weather races, when riders often end up coming into the pitlane to jump from their 'wet' bikes to their 'dry' bikes or vice versa. But this has been targeted as a potential area of cost-saving ahead of the switch to new regulations next year, with [Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont reporting](https://es.motorsport.com/motogp/news/moto/10822342/?ref=the-race.com) last week that a new rule could be introduced that would limit riders to just one bike in the garage (and likely a spare that could be introduced into the weekend upon request). A topic of public discussion during the Italian Grand Prix media day, the idea was roundly excoriated by riders, with KTM's Pedro Acosta most firm in saying "it's a really bad idea" but many others speaking in unison. And the riders gained a surprise ally in Steiner, despite the Tech3 boss coming over from Formula 1 - where one-car-per-driver is now the norm and has been for a long time after the previous one spare car per team system was scrapped on cost grounds. "This one, I was just waiting for that. Because now I don't stop talking to you guys!" said Steiner jovially when asked about the potential savings of going to one available bike. "Maybe I'm too dumb to understand it, but I don't think what the saving is by having two or one bike - less mechanics? Somebody needs to explain that to me. “You need a second bike anyway, but you've got the bits and pieces behind the wall, correct? So if you need to put it together, do you think you need more or less people? I don't think you need less. Maybe you don't need more in the beginning - but it will end up that you will actually bring more people. Because you have a crash, the main bike is crash-party, you know? "We steal from the show, for the spectators, and who is the most important part of any sport? The fans out there. If we take the \[second\] bikes away, we think we save money. "I personally think there is no saving, I was told there is a small saving. One mechanic a year. "If you want to save money, there's a very easy solution. The budget cap. I mean, it has worked somewhere else, and we all know where it worked. To very good results, you know? The solution is so easy, you know. "\[Or\] go less testing, very easy. \[Banning\] the second bike, I think we are taking away from the spectacle. For no good reason. "I'm quite passionate about that one. I don't get it." ## Stealing from the show The riders aren't a totally united front when it comes to this matter as some are clearly less passionate about it than others - with Honda rider Joan Mir one figure who said that it would be "fine", as it was already the case in Moto2 and Moto3 and thus "not something to worry" about. But team-mate Luca Marini was emphatic in feeling it would be a decision robbing from the entertainment side of things. "I think for the show it's just worse. One of the best things is seeing a rider crash in qualifying and run, jump on the other bike and make the pole position with the other bike. I think it's something really good to see, gives you a lot of adrenaline. "If it's a matter of cost, money, I don't think it would change anything. "For a manufacturer, I don't think one mechanic makes a difference in all the budget. I think changing from 1000cc engines from 850cc is a much more expensive idea - but that's already done." And Steiner too is clear MotoGP should be taking away from one of the unique selling points of its product. "A flag-to-flag race - what is cooler than a rider jumping in the rain on a bike with a rain tyre on? "I mean, look at the social media results. When that happens, it is booming. "For me, you crash in a practice - you jump on a scooter \[on a service road and get back\], you jump on a bike again. It's f\*\*king cool. "I understand \[having just one\] in Moto2 and Moto3\. But MotoGP is the pinnacle. "You don't have it anywhere else. It's something unique. Why do we have to make it 'bone dry' like everything else. It's something which stands out in MotoGP. It's what I always say - MotoGP can write their own story, they don't need to always look at something else. "I mean, a flag-to-flag race. There's nothing \[like it\]. You see it, 'these guys must be nuts'." ## Those in favour "on an island" Steiner, whose Tech3 team has re-committed to a close partnership with KTM from 2027 onwards, said he did not know which manufacturer was the originator of the idea - but felt that "common sense" and majority preference in the paddock needs to prevail. "The manufacturers are for it, it seems like. But I haven't understood who really is driving this, you know?," he said. "Because Dorna is not for it. It's obvious - we take away from their show. "But the manufacturers - they are taking away from their own show! It's their show, it's not my show or your show. It's their show where they can show their product, you know. For the gain, which, if there is any… I think people come to their senses and realise that, actually, it's one of these ideas that wasn't very good. “But you know, sometimes, it's more ego getting in the way, in admitting that it was an idea which wasn't very good." The wrangling over the number of bikes appears to be part of what is known to have been a very fractious wider negotiation between the manufacturers (represented by the MSMA manufacturers' association) and series' long-time promoter Dorna (now MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group) and its new owner Liberty Media. The hashing out of new commercial contracts for 2027 and beyond between the series and the five manufacturers is known to have been extremely arduous, and has been responsible for what is now a months-long delay in unveiling several blockbuster rider signings made by manufacturers for '27. Steiner continued: "The common sense is the fans like two bikes, Dorna likes two bikes, the riders like two bikes. I cannot talk for the independent teams, because I think we haven't discussed it in IRTA, with Lucio \[Cecchinello, LCR boss and head of the independent teams' association IRTA\] - but I think most of the independent teams want two bikes. I think there is a majority - and the governance should give credit to the majority. "I don't know which manufacturers are so adamant on it. They put themselves on an island here." ### What happened in damp first MotoGP Mugello practice URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/what-happened-in-damp-first-motogp-mugello-practice/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T09:41:32.000Z Fabio Di Giannantonio followed up his Barcelona win by leading first practice for MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. But this will not be the most representative session of the weekend, with the track still damp in places from rain that is expected to stay away for the rest of the event. VR46 Ducati rider Di Giannantonio was fastest by 0.369 seconds over Aprilia's Jorge Martin, with both running new tyres at the end. Ai Ogura used a fresh medium rear but kept an old front soft for a last gasp lap that put him third on the Trackhouse Aprilia. Marc Marquez spent most of the session near the bottom of the times on his return to action, before briefly popping up in seventh and then being edged down to 15th, 1.2s off the pace - though he did not take fresh tyres at the end, unlike many ahead of him. He will be assessed after the session to confirm whether he is fit enough to proceed with the rest of the weekend following his recent shoulder surgery and foot break. Marquez's Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia had an embarrassing crash at the first corner when he ran wide into the gravel and stalled and tipped the bike over while moving very slowly. > 💥 [@PeccoBagnaia](https://x.com/PeccoBagnaia?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) has gone down at San Donato[#ItalianGP](https://x.com/hashtag/ItalianGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) 🇮🇹 [pic.twitter.com/UFDjBSIDnp](https://t.co/UFDjBSIDnp?ref=the-race.com) > > — MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) [May 29, 2026](https://x.com/MotoGP/status/2060292467887321336?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) LCR"s surprise Johann Zarco stand-in Cal Crutchlow ended his first MotoGP session in three years slowest, 3.7s off the pace. ### Aprilia gets long-awaited title sponsor as Monster joins second team URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/aprilia-gets-long-awaited-title-sponsor-as-monster-joins-second-team/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T08:52:13.000Z Aprilia has struck a mid-season deal with Monster Energy as its new MotoGP title sponsor in the midst of its best-ever premier-class season. The multi-year deal begins immediately, featuring the "presence of the iconic, three-claw logo on the factory RS-GP bikes, on the riders’ leathers, and on the team’s key assets" according to the announcement. The manufacturer leads the riders', teams' and constructors' standings after six rounds, with its factory duo Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin the two leading contenders for the riders' title. Aprilia had already been a regular contender at or near the front since the start of the decade - but its factory team had remained without a title backer, something publicly lamented by Aprilia racing boss Massimo Rivola. This has changed now via the Monster deal, meaning the energy drink company now acts as title sponsor to two separate MotoGP factory teams, the other being Yamaha. It is also a major sponsor of the works Ducati team. "This agreement represents a milestone for Aprilia Racing and the crowning moment of our path of success," said Rivola. The mid-season deal is a particular curiosity given that the factory team has been operating under a not-unusual-for-MotoGP energy drink sponsorship split between its two riders - with Bezzecchi backed personally by Monster but Martin a Red Bull athlete. Martin's Red Bull sponsorship now appears to be on pause. There will be no such complication next year, as Martin will move on and Bezzecchi will be joined by Pecco Bagnaia, another Monster-backed rider, as his team-mate. While Martin in theory moves to another outfit with a Monster title sponsorship, it is not known whether Yamaha's arrangement with Monster will continue in 2027 - when it no longer employs star rider Fabio Quartararo (also a Monster athlete). ## How we knew this was coming ### Simon Patterson I've actually had my suspicions that this announcement was coming for a while, given that while I was sat next to Rivola on Saturday night at Barcelona, Monster Energy's senior vice president of sports Mitch Covington arrived for a somewhat covert meeting with the Aprilia team boss - and that Rivola returned to the table fist-pumping the air in happiness! It's been a long-term project for him to secure a big-name sponsor for Aprilia without compromising on its perceived value while doing so - and it seems in Monster Aprilia has found a willing partner at a very opportune time for both brand and new partner. It has undoubtedly taken some wheeling and dealing with Martin and his management to allow it to happen, considering his extensive Red Bull links, but with both Bezzecchi and next year's Martin replacement Bagnaia being well and truly entrenched in the Monster structure thanks to their place in the VR46 Academy, it makes complete sense for 2027 and beyond. ### Hamilton's big Ferrari F1 'breakthrough' explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-big-ferrari-f1-breakthrough-explained/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T08:53:18.000Z Take a look at the difference in tone between the two Ferrari drivers after Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc: "It's been one of, if not the, worst weekend of my career. I have work to do to get to Lewis's level on a day like this. I will look into the data. I've gone through difficult races \[before\] where you analyse after and you learn a lot." Lewis Hamilton: "The happiest day of my Ferrari days so far. I finally have the engineering team that I've been working towards. I think our car is great. I can understand it and am a lot more comfortable with it. While we're not exactly where we want to be, getting this result has capitalised on our great reliability. I feel very light right now, mentally in a good place." Hamilton looked like his old self in the car, hustling it hard between the walls, rescuing the odd moment in practice as he keyed himself into the track, but totally at ease with exploiting the SF26's lovely low-speed handling, the way its attitude responds to the throttle and brakes. The Ferrari has by far the best mid-corner adjustability of any car on the grid and Hamilton's bold way of attacking the corners - braking late but still finding the perfect sweet spot of rotation in how he comes off the left pedal into the turn without scrubbing away on the exit the speed he's gained on entry - was working beautifully. He's able to drive this car in his natural way. And he's happy that his engineering team has developed a better understanding of what it is he needs. In a ground effect car, that style was never going to get him to his previous level: too much aero balance migration towards the front into low- and medium-speed corners, then the exact opposite as the aero shifted quickly rearwards again in the next phase as the brakes were released; too much disruption to an aero platform that needed to stay level to give its best. Late braking, big steering inputs really didn't allow him to squeeze the last couple of tenths out of the car on a consistent basis. But we're no longer in the ground effect era. These cars have ride heights you can see, have more compliant suspension, and can more easily accept a workable downforce/balance combination. Hamilton's muscle memory, which has probably been working against him since 2022, is suddenly perfectly appropriate to the car. Not only is the SF26 not a ground effect car, but it's been developed with a greater understanding from the engineering team of what traits he needs in the car. But let's be cautious about heralding his fine performance in Montreal as a permanent return to vintage Hamilton. For two reasons: Montreal, Shanghai and Singapore have historically been his three standout circuits. So we've just had two of his standout tracks in the last four races and he outperformed Leclerc at them both (just as he did in his lacklustre 2025 campaign). Secondly, using Leclerc having the self-described worst performance of his career as a barometer with which to judge Hamilton's absolute level is not very revealing. It was great to see Hamilton with all his old confidence between Montreal's walls, but let's get a broader sample set to see how representative it was. Leclerc described his problems in Montreal as not being able to get the tyres anywhere near their performance window (typically between 85-110°C). If you cannot reach that threshold with the front tyres - and it really is like a switch - you will be nowhere near the pace. Montreal’s gripless surface, slow, short corners and low track temperatures were the perfect mix to expose any difficulty with that. Leclerc drives with an extreme tolerance for oversteer, is typically slightly earlier on braking than Hamilton, dynamically dances with the weight distribution of all four corners to get rotation, and relies less on big steering angle. He will often use some trailing throttle (though less so now that it costs battery energy) on corner entry to stabilise the rear, which can increase understeer but by locking the diff more gives great traction. It's a busier style than Hamilton's and perhaps doesn't load up the front tyres as much. On a track where you are having to push the tyres to get them to their window, rather than holding back to prevent them overheating, that can create difficulties. It will not be like that at Monaco, scene of virtuoso Leclerc performances for the last five years. If there was only one F1 race per year and it was Monaco, Leclerc would be without a shadow of a doubt F1's greatest driver. He really is very special there. The Ferrari - with its dynamite slow-corner performance, adjustable balance and great small-turbo response, is perfectly configured for that track too, a place furthermore where its power deficit is less important than anywhere else. So an all-Ferrari front row would not be a surprise. If Hamilton can get anywhere near Leclerc around there, we can say he's definitely back. But even if he can't, it doesn't mean he isn't. Hamilton has made much of the fact that he doesn't believe the Ferrari simulator is accurately bringing out the issues he faces when he first arrives at a track and that it needs further development to incorporate what for him are some crucial details. He discarded it in preparing for Shanghai and Montreal - and they've been his two best performances to date. But they almost certainly would have been anyway. He always excels at those venues. Whether he will gain more than he loses by not using the sim for subsequent tracks is an open question. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/Leclerc-vs-Hamilton-Post-Canada-2026.png) Has the 2026 generation of power units stymied Leclerc, the battery demands reducing the reward for his magical throttle usage? Quite possibly. Have the revised aero regulations helped Hamilton out of the dead end he was in with the ground effect cars? It looks like it, yes. So their performances have converged compared to last year. But that was Hamilton's first year with a very different car to the Mercedes in an environment where Leclerc was long ensconced. How are they really comparing this year? Take out Shanghai and Montreal as the specific tracks Leclerc dislikes and Hamilton likes, we are left with Melbourne, Suzuka and Miami. At those venues their performances were close - much closer than in 2025 - but it was definitely Leclerc who was Ferrari's cutting edge. Only the next few races will give us a more definitive picture on the extent of Hamilton's return to form. ### How MotoGP data tech has evolved URL: https://www.the-race.com/promoted/how-motogp-data-tech-has-evolved/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T18:15:00.000Z ***Presented by*** [***Lenovo***](https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/?ref=the-race.com) Ducati have established themselves as the dominant force in motorcycle racing in the past years, thanks to the success of the Ducati Lenovo Team in MotoGP as well as their world and domestic superbike projects. But it hasn’t come as a bolt out of the blue - and a key part of the success the company has delivered is due to the work they’ve done specifically to evolve motorcycle electronics and data capture. The team is at the forefront of development that has seen the very first rudimentary and crude systems evolve into - thanks to their collaboration with partner Lenovo - something that is at the very forefront of innovation. With that, the team can trace a direct lineage from the very first Ducati with electronic fuel injection, the 851 superbike, to today’s MotoGP machine. “At that time,” explains Ducati Lenovo Team manager Davide Tardozzi, “I have to say that Ducati was already ahead of the times with Marco Lucchinelli and the 851\. So we immediately recognised that this new system was really helpful and powerful. “That's why Ducati, I think, since the end of the '80s, was already ahead of its time on technology compared to the other brands.” However, while it might have been the starting point for what came after, it’s still a long way away from what they’re using these days, according to the team’s head of data analytics, David Attisano. “At the time, the only thing that was controlled by electronics was the engine,” he told The Race. “In particular, fuel injection. “But in general, electronics were not so important on the bike. It was the first attempt to make some electronics in the bike. For example, there was no sensor to measure dynamic behaviour. “So it's very different from the time that we are living in now. The level of data was very, very little, and even the importance of data was very far from now.” That first started to develop with the debut of Ducati’s most iconic superbike, the 916, and its evolution into first the 996 and then the 998. Under legendary designer Massimo Tamburini, the Bologna factory started to think more and more about not just electronics, but also aerodynamics, to lay the foundation for today’s MotoGP machines. “That generation of bikes introduced some sensors and electronics about the dynamic behaviour of the bike,” explained Attisano. “I think this is the first bike that is going forward to a new era in which electronics change the behaviour of the bike, though this change was only related to the engine and not the dynamical behaviour, so there was no traction control and so on. “But of course, the rider could give feedback to the engineers, and the engineers could see in the data the effect of some changes in setup. It’s the first time that we have a link between engineers and rider in a certain way. But the amount of data was very little; we talk about some megabytes for every session!” That soon changed, with the arrival not only of Ducati’s MotoGP project at the start of the four-stroke era, but also with more computing power on hand to process the data that could be captured. By the time Attisano joined the factory in 2004, he says they were working in a radically different way from only a few years before. “Between 2005 and 2007 we introduced a lot of engine controls, bike controls, and so on,” he explained. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/GnG_38985_HiRes.jpg) “I joined Ducati in 2004, at the very beginning of the MotoGP programme. I went through all the passage from the first bike that was very user-unfriendly — for temperature, for the comfort of the rider, and so on — step by step. “In the last bikes of the 990cc era, in 2006, we arrived at a bike that was much more comfortable, although we cannot say comfortable at all, because it’s MotoGP, and the rider could have the aids of the electronics in terms of traction control, wheelie control, and in particular the throttle body that was controlled by electronics and not by the hand of the rider. “It’s a huge step even for the confidence of the rider. I think it is the first very modern MotoGP bike. In terms of number of sensors and amount of data, it was more than the Superbike and the first MotoGPs, but not so huge. The huge step in this era was connecting the dynamic behaviour to the electronics.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/GnG_577716_HiRes.jpg) That step arguably peaked with the Desmosedici GP (2015), a bike with the shared characteristics of being both the last MotoGP machine with fully open electronics rules, and the first one built by Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall’Igna after he joined the company from rivals Aprilia. The machine that took Ducati back to winning ways after a long absence at the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix in the hands of Andrea Iannone, and the bike that laid the path to today’s dominance, Tardozzi says they knew what they had on their hands as soon as they started testing it. “The 2015 Desmosedici GP is the bike that Gigi Dall’Igna designed with his engineers,” he said. “The main goal was that we never make revolution, we only make evolution. We were able to keep all the good things of the first bike that was born in a very good way. “I still remember the first comment of Dovizioso in Sepang 2015\. After a couple of laps he came in very serious, took Gigi on the side and said ‘we are ready to win'. The evolution came up every year in a good way.” However, while it might have been the bike that launches Ducati onto its current winning streak, Attisano admits that the introduction of control software, followed later by the partnership with Lenovo, helped make the current generation of bikes even more advanced. “We reached some peaks that even nowadays we didn’t reach anymore,” he admitted. “But for our job it was a kind of gate because we changed our approach. “After the unified control software in 2016 and the change of rules about the tyres, we had to change our mind. We were forced to understand that we can do something even if the software is not our own. “From that point on, we did a lot of simulation before the races and not during the races, a lot of post-elaboration of the data for offline analysis, and a lot of virtual sensing. “At the beginning of the change of rules we had these needs about power calculation, but we didn’t have a partnership with Lenovo yet. Now, the partnership with Lenovo gives us the possibility and the capability to do what we could ever imagine before. “The amount of data became very critical, with all the calculations, virtual sensing, and so on. The partnership with Lenovo in developing our department and our approach to the races became fundamental and crucial for our success in the last years.” With that partnership now far beyond any sponsorship deal, but instead one that sees Lenovo as a key member of Ducati’s winning team in MotoGP, it means the team can do things that Ducati’s first generation of engineers could only have dreamed of. “The number of sensors is not very high, around fifty, because the list of additional sensors is limited and deposited at the beginning of the year,” Attisano explained. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/GnG_1306007_HiRes.jpg) “But the dimension of the data has had an incredible increase. Nowadays we produce around one thousand virtual sensors, and with six riders and twelve bikes (six on track at the same time) we produce around one hundred gigabytes of data per weekend. “That was impossible in the years before without the technology infrastructure that Lenovo supports us to install and maintain. We are scaled about one thousand times the data compared to the first bikes equipped with electronics. You can imagine how much work we have to do to analyse them.” With a radical new rule change coming in 2027, that will in many ways see bike development set back somewhat in an attempt to slow them down and improve safety, the veteran engineer says that this simply makes the work of the electronics and data department more important than ever. “I think that from the side of the rules and the bikes it is not a real revolution,” he explained. “There are changes, a step back in some aspects like ride height devices being banned, change of displacement, but in terms of technology the engine is quite at the same level. The impact is not so much. “But we will have less performance overall, so simulation and calculation are fundamental. We are introducing a lot of technologies that in the past five years were not at our disposal, for example artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is a field in which we are developing a lot. Lots of exciting times ahead.” ### 'Three second rule' among reasons F1's dropped active aero for Monaco URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-f1-cars-wont-run-active-aero-in-monaco/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T18:02:47.000Z Formula 1 drivers will not run active aero over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, with the FIA deciding that there will be no straight mode zones. As part of the 2026 rules package, cars have featured active front and rear wings as a means of reducing drag on the straights. Drivers switch their wings to run flat in FIA designated straight modes, with the flaps then reverting to a normal raised stance in corners for maximum downforce. But as the first track map for the Monaco Grand Prix has appeared, it has emerged that there will be no straight mode zones featured at all. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/IMG_9482.jpg) This comes despite there appearing to be some locations where the wings could be opened. For example, previously DRS – which opened the rear wing flap – was allowed on the short start-finish straight. ## FIA criteria in play The Race understands that the FIA decision to not feature any straight modes in Monaco is the result of the circuit not featuring any areas that fit in with criteria that has been applied at all tracks. Primarily, the governing body’s stance is that straight modes should only be in places where the cars are not operating at the limit of tyre grip. This counts not only for lateral loads when cornering but also traction and braking zones – where activation and deactivation of straight mode could impact car stability. Monaco features plenty of areas where traction and braking are critical, so this has significantly steered the straight mode call. However, there are other implications that have come into play that have ruled active aero out for Monaco. There is a minimum duration element where the FIA has decided that each zone needs to last more than three seconds. This helps avoid short burst uses of it that can unnecessarily add to driver workload without bringing any benefit in terms of performance or fuel efficiency. It is also essential that any straight mode chosen can remain safe in all conditions – which means not only on low-fuel qualifying laps but also at the end of race stints when tyre performance has dropped off. The priority here is the safe running of the cars. What also is factored into the equation is the impact that the top speed boost that drivers get from straight mode being activated has on the approach to following corners. With straight mode reducing drag by around 20%, and boosting top speeds by up to 20km/h, that can have implications if drivers are then arriving at subsequent turns too quickly. For Monaco, with little to gain from having straight mode in play, safety considerations in not having cars arriving at corners too fast have therefore played a role in the final decision. ## Overtaking mode remains It is also important to understand that the choice of straight modes is different to how things were with DRS, which was used as an overtaking tool. Straight mode is intended to reduce drag and therefore limit energy consumption to power a car through the air. This year, for overtaking, F1 relies more on power modes - with drivers getting extra energy if they are within one second of the car ahead at a set activation zone. In Monaco, the overtaking activation zone will be before the final corner. ### Everything Marquez revealed about his injuries and MotoGP return URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/everything-marc-marquez-revealed-about-his-injuries-and-motogp-return/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T15:45:18.000Z Defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez says if he goes into his return from injury aiming to fight for this year’s title he’ll only end up getting injured again. Marquez, who is 85 points back from current leader Marco Bezzecchi, missed the previous round at Barcelona as he had undergone double surgery in the lead-up - on his right foot, injured at Le Mans, and his right shoulder, which has not been right since Mandalika last year. His return at Mugello was not viewed as a certainty until very close to the round - but, speaking on Thursday at the Italian Grand Prix venue, he described the foot injury as "peanuts" and something that won't limit him on track. But the shoulder intervention, originally scheduled to remove a screw that had been pushing on a nerve and thus seemingly limiting his ability and feel on the bike, ended up even more substantial than anticipated. "I have another big scar there. They opened \[it up\] well, because to get to that screw - they had planned to take out only one, but when they opened, there was more damage than what they expected. And then they took out two screws plus one bone \[fragment\]." Marquez said the surgeons did well to avoid any extra cuts to the muscle but that "still I'm not feeling perfect" - and that the nerve that was being affected cannot yet be back to 100%. He has been provisionally passed fit to ride at Mugello but with a check-up to follow on Friday - though Marquez made it clear that "of course, if I'm here, it's because I feel like I can do all the weekend - not with the maximum intensity, obviously". "It takes time because the screw was touching the nerve, the nerve 'disconnected' some muscles. It will take time, but we analysed with our doctors that now is the correct time to jump in on the bike and continue with my evolution - but with the correct mentality." In an interview with MotoGP.com, he made it clear that he cannot have the gap to Bezzecchi and others up front on his mind - and that the priority instead is to "rebuild" himself more fundamentally. The implication is that this is about 2027, for which he already has a signed contract with Ducati - but which, contract or no contract, he hinted will have been untenable to go into as a MotoGP rider in his earlier condition. "f I came back with the mentality of I can win this 'championship', I will be injured again," he said. "So now it's not the correct one. "I'm with the mentality to rebuild my future, because, like I rode the first races, I wasn't able to continue. So let's see if in the next races I can rebuild my right arm - and from that point I know that the speed will arrive." ## Marc's update on Alex Brother Alex Marquez being present at rounds with Marc absent through injury - and thus giving updates to media on Marc's condition - has been a familiar sight in MotoGP since the elder Marquez's career-changing arm injury in 2020. But the roles are reversed currently, with the [younger Marquez sidelined after a terrifying collision with Pedro Acosta](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/alex-marquez-suffered-neck-fracture-in-barcelona-motogp-crash/) at Barcelona - in which he suffered fractures to his neck and collarbone. Marc revealed Alex had to return to hospital for another couple of days soon after coming back home. "The first week for Alex was tough. It was tough. I picked him up at the airport on Monday, arriving in his house and \[once I left\] after two hours his girlfriend called me, \[saying\] 'please, your brother is \[doing\] super bad, we need to do something.’ "Then he went again to the hospital and stayed there for two days. It was bad. "But after seeing the image \[of the crash\] from home, I was like ice \[frozen\], I was watching the situation - and we know the risk we have, it's always there, but when it happens to some of your family or some riders that are very close to you, the impact is even more. "So, yes, all Sunday I was suffering a lot, honestly speaking, because I know that this kind of crash, sometimes the \[real\] damage arrives later. "So I was suffering a lot and I gave a big hug on Monday to him. Not only him, but also Johann Zarco was super lucky. “That Sunday in Montmelo, all the MotoGP family, the motorcycling world, was super lucky and it was a moment that we need to remind everybody that we are humans - we are riders, we are competing, but life is the first thing." ### Why Crutchlow turned down MotoGP return - then changed his mind URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/why-crutchlow-turned-down-motogp-return-then-changed-his-mind/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T14:46:40.000Z Cal Crutchlow has explained why he is [returning to MotoGP competition](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/cal-crutchlow-motogp-return-zarco-replacement-lcr-honda-reunion/) at the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello this weekend - after having originally rejected the offer. Crutchlow, who last raced in MotoGP in 2023 as a Yamaha wildcard, will ride as replacement for the injured Johann Zarco - who sustained significant damage to his knee in a crash at Barcelona a fortnight ago. No timeline has been published, but [Zarco's injuries suggest a lengthy recovery](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/johann-zarco-ligament-surgery-wait-horrific-barcelona-motogp-crash/) before he can reclaim the #5 LCR Honda - and LCR had no easy stand-in solutions. This led to a call to the retired Crutchlow, whose comeback was rubber-stamped after a preparatory test at Misano on Wednesday. Crutchlow said that after he got the call from LCR, he "went home and \[my wife\] Lucy said, 'did Dako \[Dakota Mamola, LCR team coordinator\] call you? And I said, 'yeah'. "She said 'oh, yeah, because they called me first'! To get the blessing. "And I said, 'I'm not interested'. And she said, ‘why not?’ She said, 'you've done it your whole life, so I don't understand why you're not doing it'." Crutchlow then mulled it over for a few hours before getting back to LCR. He told media his wife's insistence was a major reason why. "I mean, she's been by my side my whole career, as we know. And I made decisions with her and she said to me - the words were, 'your life and our life has been an adventure our whole life. So why are we stopping now?' So 'I said, OK, I'm going'." ## Only for LCR Crutchlow also insisted, however, that Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR squad - with which he spent six seasons in MotoGP and took all three of his MotoGP wins - was the only team in the paddock with which he'd come back. "I wouldn't have done it for another team. If the factory Ducati team rang me, I wouldn't have done it. If Aprilia rang me, I wouldn't have done it. "I did it because Lucio and the team asked me to do it." But he also insisted the possibility of a private test in the lead-up was a crucial prerequisite. "If not, it's not right to come here after so long not riding and go into FP1 at 360km/h into Turn 1, you know?" Crutchlow did not want to elaborate too much on whether he expected to do more rounds if anything goes well - though this was mostly because of "the situation with Johann, he is my friend". "So I hope to see him soon." ## The shock of the test Crutchlow described the Misano test day as "not great, to be honest" because "everything was strange - but this was to be expected". "I expected to be slower than what I was - but when I was not fast enough, I was pissed off." He said the initial touch with the bike was "the biggest shock". "I had the lap timer \[on\] -and I knew the laptime when I did when I was on the podium in Misano. "And if I didn't look at the lap timer, when I was riding, I \[would've\] thought 'there is nobody can go around this track faster than me. Ever. It's f\*\*king impossible. You know, I'm completely at the limit. Nobody will go faster than me.' "And I was 10 seconds too slow. This was in the first lap. And I looked down, I came in - I was thinking, 'I don't know whether to ask them whether the lap timer is broken or I just keep quiet for a minute'. "But over the day, obviously, everything improved. "They \[the new MotoGP bikes\] are hard to ride. But I don't think they are any harder. It's just hard with the amount of time I've had not riding. It's as simple as that." ### Simon Patterson: Why I hate that I love the Isle of Man TT URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/simon-patterson-why-i-hate-that-i-love-the-isle-of-man-tt-2/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T14:30:36.000Z *Four years ago, our MotoGP correspondent Simon Patterson wrote a column about how he balances his love of the Isle of Man TT with the danger of the event.* *In light of the tragic start to the 2026 event, Simon has written an updated version of that article:* There’s no race on Earth quite like the Isle of Man TT. Spectacular for a spectator, mind-blowing for a competitor, and sometimes gut-wrenching for someone in the paddock, there’s nothing comparable in terms of delivering the highest of highs and the lowest of lows – something that the opening days of 2026 have once again highlighted. First, a bit of background. I’ve been full time in MotoGP for over a decade now, but the TT is still my first love, and what I grew up with. Before going to work in MotoGP, I hadn’t missed a running of the TT, working every year as one of the official photographers, and this year I’ll break a 195-long streak of consecutive MotoGP races to stay on the Isle of Man for three weeks. Irish road racing was basically all I knew growing up, thanks to a family background in the sport (my great uncle was Robert Dunlop’s most loyal sponsor) – so please don’t for one minute think that this is a hit piece on the race. Quite the contrary, in fact. It’s something that’s in my blood, and to be honest that’s not something I’m particularly happy about, because the best way I can describe my relationship with the TT is to say that I hate that I love it. When you experience it, you immediately understand it. When I first went to Mugello for MotoGP, everyone insisted I go stand on the crest on the start-finish straight where MotoGP bikes are closing in on 230mph. I wasn’t that impressed, to be honest. That’s because when you can go to places like Hillberry (my favourite spot on the TT course), MotoGP loses some of its shine. Hillberry is somewhere that John McGuinness and Giacomo Agostini have both described as one of the best places to watch from, and you’re stood literally centimetres away from superbikes doing 160mph as they tip into a fifth-gear corner. And if the draw is that strong for someone like me just standing on the sidelines, just imagine what it’s like for a racer. In an interview before the 2022 event, 23-time winner [McGuinness described the TT as a drug](https://www.the-race.com/motorcycle-racing/the-tt-is-all-i-ever-think-about-john-mcguinness-interview/), admitting that all he does from July to May every year is anticipate his next fix of it. The thing is, too, people like him are all too aware of the risks in what they’re doing. This year’s TT has [got off to an awful start](https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-debutant-daniel-ingham-dies-after-qualifying-crash/), with TT debutant Dan Ingham dying in Wednesday night’s practice session and multiple other racers and, even worse, spectators injured and hospitalised. One of those hurt and currently described as serious but stable is Maria Costello, one of the few women racing against the TT and an old friend of mine who I’ve known for years. I was at Buckingham Palace with her the day she was awarded an MBE for services to motorsports. I try very hard every time a friend is hurt or dies at the TT not to make light of their deaths in any way when I use any of the old cliches that always get rolled out at times like this: that they died doing what they loved, that they’d do it all over again, that they knew the risk. But the truth in all of those perhaps-overused statements is that it is very much the reality. No one goes to the TT not intending to come back, but everyone who races on the 37.73-mile course knows what can go wrong, sometimes even without any fault of their own. David Jefferies, a nine-time winner in 2003 when he lost his life, crashed on someone else’s oil spill. Gene McDonnell was hit by a horse startled by an air ambulance. Nick Crowe lost an arm when a hare ran in front of his sidecar. But danger happens in all walks of life and in plenty of other sports too, and it sometimes feels like the TT’s problem when faced with opposition from people who’ve never experienced it is an issue more of branding than of genuine concern. Reckless hooligan bikers taking over a small island and going wild and reckless for days? An uproar. But when the same number of people die every year on Everest (which averages five deaths a year)? Well, they’re mountain men, adventurers; brave, heroic, fearless. I’m not particularly a libertarian; I don’t for a minute believe that we should be scrapping safety rules and tearing up ‘red tape’ in an attempt at deregulation. But the TT isn’t unregulated, no one is forced to be there, and it’s always trying to be as safe as it can be – something I wish I could say for some of the other series I cover. I’m pretty well-known for being vocal about always pushing for improved safety measures at MotoGP, and that normally leaves one question I get asked a lot around TT: how on earth do you reconcile asking for better safety at one series while continuing to support another that’s orders of magnitude more dangerous? Yet the TT is, in my opinion, far more proactive than MotoGP in many ways. Proactive rather than reactive responses? Check. Better concussion protocol? Check. Mental health care for riders and support staff? Check. An ability to actually learn from what has happened rather than continuing to make the same mistakes? Also check. Don’t get me wrong; there are still some things that need to be worked on. Communication is one – it still feels like deaths are something that the organisers would rather sweep under the mat sometimes, with notices coming late in the day and often conveniently only after the remainder of the racing has been completed. And of course, there’s one major problem with trying to make the TT safer, as I’ve already touched upon: the course can simply never be fully safe, for all the reasons mentioned and more. But as long as there are people willing to race on it – and I have a feeling that there will be for as long as there are motorbikes to race – then there’ll be others drawn in by the drug that is the TT. I sort of wish that I’d never become addicted to it, but I fear that it’s far too late for rehabilitation now. ### TT debutant Daniel Ingham dies after qualifying crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-debutant-daniel-ingham-dies-after-qualifying-crash/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T13:47:51.000Z Organisers of the 2026 Isle of Man TT have announced the death of competitor Daniel Ingham following a crash at Doran’s Bend during Wednesday night’s qualifying session. The incident at Doran’s, a fast left hander leading into the Glen Helen section, occurred before the red flags brought a premature halt to the night’s proceedings after [a crash for the Crowe brothers](https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-sidecar-favourites-hospitalised-after-crash/) in the following sidecar session. Dan was a TT debutant in 2026, but had enjoyed considerable previous success around the Mountain course since making his debut on it a decade ago, most notably winning the Senior Manx Grand Prix in 2024. The Race joins the wider racing fraternity in wishing our deepest condolences to Dan’s wife Helayna, his son Joey and daughter Phoebe, and his family, friends, and team. The Crowe brothers’ condition has been described as conscious and talking, with Ryan receiving treatment for arm injuries and Callum for shoulder injuries. Maria Costello remains serious but stable, and her sidecar passenger Shau Parker continues to receive treatment for chest, leg, arm and facial injuries following their crash on Tuesday. ### Alpine is ready to act if Verstappen joins Mercedes URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-f1-2027-line-up-mercedes-driver-admission/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T15:24:02.000Z Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore wants to be sure that one of Mercedes' current drivers is not suddenly available next year - potentially through a shock Max Verstappen switch - before he finalises his own Formula 1 team's line-up. While Franco Colapinto is well-placed to retain his seat for 2027 off the back of recent strong performances, Briatore - Alpine's de facto team boss - said that the potential for surprise movement elsewhere meant he would be keeping his options open for now. In a clear hint about where he sees opportunity for a shake-up in the entire driver market picture, Briatore said that what happens with Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli is a prime focus for him. Asked by The Race about the team's driver plans for 2027, Briatore said: "We don't know what is going to happen with Mercedes. "We don't know if Mercedes will pick up Max, or whatever. So let's see what we have in the house before we proceed." While F1 2026 title rivals Russell and Antonelli both have clear options with Mercedes into next season, that has not stopped speculation that the manufacturer could become a home for Verstappen if he elects to move on from Red Bull but stay in F1. Verstappen is currently pondering his future and, while he recently made it clear that he would remain in F1 if the rules change - and likely only if they do - he has drawn short of committing to that being with Red Bull. Speaking to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf in Canada about whether he was definitely staying at Red Bull, Verstappen said: "I'm in no rush. Ideally, I'd like to stay associated with Red Bull for the rest of my life; I've always said that. But making that decision doesn't have to happen today or tomorrow." It is understood that Verstappen's current contract with Red Bull that runs until 2028 has performance-related clauses that mean he can walk from the squad if he is not second in the drivers' championship by the summer break. Verstappen is currently seventh in the standings, and 45 points behind second-placed Russell. This timeline means that Briatore is likely to wait a while before finalising what Alpine does with its second seat alongside Pierre Gasly, who has a long-term contract. ## Colapinto praise ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/XPB_1411168_HiRes.jpg) While Colapinto had a troubled time with Alpine last year, failing to score a point at the 18 rounds he contested, he has made an impressive step for this season. He has been the faster of the two Alpine drivers at the past two race weekends, finishing seventh in Miami then taking a career-best sixth in Canada most recently. This progress is something Briatore was delighted about, especially since he has seen a change of attitude from Colapinto - who turned 23 on Wednesday. Speaking at a media briefing that announced Alpine's new title sponsorship deal with Gucci for 2027, Briatore said: "Last year Colapinto was only criticised by everybody - and \[people asked\] why would I take Colapinto? Big mistake, Colapinto, this and that. "But I believe Franco has a talent. We spend a lot of time together, and when you're talking with him, he's much more mature. Last year he was still a kid. "There was a lot of pressure \[on him\], because every race you don't know if you stay in the team, if he's out, and this and that. Now he's calmed down." Briatore said that if Colapinto remains on the trajectory he is on now then he has every chance of keeping his seat into 2027. "Franco, honestly, I believe he has the talent to be one of the top drivers," added Briatore. "In Canada he's done a super job. On Friday he did not do FP1 because he had a problem with the battery. "Then he jumped in the car, qualified and got in the top 10\. Stuff like this is not usual, not for a driver doing stuff like that. "For the moment, we have Gasly and we have Colapinto. For 2027, we have Gasly because we signed with him long term, and then we see. "I hope that Franco is doing a very good job from now until the end of the season to continue." ### TT suspends sidecars for rest of 2026 event in unprecedented move URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-suspends-sidecars-for-rest-of-2026-event-in-unprecedented-move/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T11:36:10.000Z The sidecar class has been immediately suspended from the 2026 Isle of Man TT races as the organiser launches "an immediate technical and operational review to assess the circumstances" of the red flag crash involving pre-race favourites [Callum and Ryan Crowe](https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-sidecar-favourites-hospitalised-after-crash/) during Wednesday night's qualifying session. The pair escaped with fractures after their outfit flipped on Crosby jump amid high, gusting wind conditions around the Mountain circuit, in circumstances very similar to a crash last year for their fellow podium contenders Peter Founds and passenger Jevan Walmsley during qualifying at Rhencullen jump. The race organiser announced in a statement released on Thursday afternoon: "This precautionary measure has been implemented in the interests of competitor and spectator safety and reflects the race organisation's commitment to reviewing all aspects of event safety and operational delivery whenever an incident occurs. "All sidecar competitors and teams involved in the event have been briefed by race officials on the outcome of the initial review and the next stages of the assessment process. "We recognise the long-standing history of sidecar racing at the TT, together with the commitment of the competitors, teams and supporters involved in the class. "This decision has not been taken lightly. However, the safety of competitors, spectators, marshals, officials and all those involved in the event must remain the priority." Sidecars have long been a part of the TT's history, first running at the 1923 event and holding world championship status from 1954 until the TT as a whole lost it in 1976. However, increasingly high sidecar speeds and the inherent instability that comes with it has been worrying the race organiser for some time. A big rule shake up for 2026 introduced a restrictor plate to reduce inlet port dimensions from 38mm to 27.5mm, in a move that TT bosses hoped would drop the average lap time by as much as 3-4mph and cut top speeds by up to 15mph. ### Shock MotoGP return for Crutchlow in place of injured Zarco URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/cal-crutchlow-motogp-return-zarco-replacement-lcr-honda-reunion/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T08:36:41.000Z Cal Crutchlow is making a sudden return to MotoGP competition, as LCR Honda's replacement for the injured Johann Zarco. Crutchlow spent six of his 10 full-time seasons in MotoGP with LCR, taking all three of his premier class wins there, and stepped away at the end of 2020 - while picking up a Yamaha test rider role. He was limited in that Yamaha role due to a hand injury in his final years there, and was officially relieved of the role at the end of last year. But now a sudden return to MotoGP has materialised for Crutchlow, following the knee injury sustained by LCR regular Zarco during his crash at Barcelona. Zarco's leg had become entangled with Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati and while he was fortunate to avoid grave injury in being dragged by the bike through the gravel trap, the twisting to his leg did result in damage to his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments and the meniscus. His knee is yet to be operated on, and though a recovery timeline has not been estimated the wait for a surgery and nature of the injuries suggests a long recovery. But LCR's options of slotting in a rider who could fulfil the Zarco stand-in role for any extended period of time appeared limited - hence the likely impetus behind the Crutchlow call-up. Of Honda's test riders, Aleix Espargaro suffered a significant spine injury in testing last month, Taka Nakagami is presumably busy working on the 850cc project for 2027, and Stefan Bradl has effectively retired from competition. Any riders Honda could take from its World Superbike programme are constrained by clashes (and also not necessarily in peak fitness). This all opened the door for a rider like Crutchlow, who should at least be relied on to be vaguely competitive on the bike given his wealth of prior experience. The LCR team thanked Crutchlow for "his availability, commitment, and willingness to ride the Honda RC213V, reflecting the long-standing bond between the rider and the team throughout the years, and the valuable memories shared together". Crutchlow has, however, not competed in MotoGP since a 2023 wildcard at Motegi - so could face a steep adaptation challenge. His call-up reflects a true shortage of MotoGP-ready and capable riders that teams can call up amid the physical toll on the full-time grid exacerbated by the sprint format and expanded calendar; as well as the logistical impossibility to use such stand-in opportunities to evaluate young talent, with all the top prospects who could be given a 'trial run' tied up in Moto2, both contractually and in terms of world-championship ambition. ### All the ways $150million Gucci deal changes Alpine's F1 future URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-we-learned-about-alpine-150-million-gucci-deal/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T12:29:56.000Z There is no doubt Alpine’s big-money Formula 1 title sponsorship deal with Gucci, announced in Paris [on Wednesday](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-brings-gucci-into-f1-as-new-title-sponsor/), is a statement of intent for both sponsor and team. It is the first time a luxury brand has become a title partner in F1, and there are clear parallels with how Alpine executive director Flavio Briatore helped take Benetton to title glory in the early 1990s. As Briatore remarked, he and his Enstone team (Benetton once upon a time) have "shown that fashion can finish first in F1". The scale of the Gucci deal is huge – and not just in monetary terms, with it estimated to be worth upwards of $150million over the next few years. Instead, the nature of Gucci's arrival will not only change the appearance of the F1 grid but also the paddock and pitlane too. So let’s take a look at what it all means, and what we can expect when the partnership kicks off in 2027. ## New name, new livery Gucci has created an all-new brand platform known as Gucci Racing to help capitalise on its involvement with Alpine in F1. The title partnership deal will include the official name becoming Gucci Racing Alpine F1 team. The Italian fashion house has created an all-new logo for this, which will be used globally as part of a new product line that it will sell, linked to its involvement in F1\. It has promised a lot of brand activations too. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/Gucci-1.png) But the anchor point for everything will be a full-on Gucci-branded car. Gone will be the pink that has been a mainstay of the Alpine cars since current title sponsor BWT secured that deal in 2022. The intention is for Gucci’s famous black and gold colours – including the iconic G logo – to have as much real estate as possible on the A527. But, as Alpine CEO Philippe Krief made clear, the corporate colours of Alpine itself will not be gone entirely. He said that, as well as the Gucci colours, there will be "a little blue". ## Best-dressed mechanics Gucci isn’t planning to just sit back as a passive partner and only use F1 as a means of just getting its logos in front of people. There will be activations based around every race, and the intent is clear that Alpine personnel will be dressed in Gucci products next year. This counts not only for clothing around the paddock, and team travel kit, but also for mechanics and drivers when they are hard at work. So it won't just be smart suits. Gucci intends to create performance products that will be worn by mechanics, as well as coming up with its own driver overalls. It has been promised that its famous artistic director Demna will be fully involved in everything Gucci does in F1 – a project he is well up for. The plan is for Gucci to try to balance its own style and identity into team wear that can be used in the garage and in the car. Alpine’s mechanics could become the best-dressed in the pitlane. ## Briatore prefers action over excuses The completion of the Gucci deal is clearly good news for Alpine – as the estimated $150million that the deal is worth is fantastic news for the bottom line. But despite having a lot of key elements in place for Alpine to get back to the top – which includes the Mercedes engines – Briatore knows that more change is needed if his team is going to get there. When asked what was now missing for Alpine to be winning races, Briatore quipped back: “Half a second…” There are plans in place to find that missing time, though. In the short term that will include a major upgrade for Barcelona in a fortnight that is aimed at curing some of the high-speed instability problems that have beset Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto this season. There are however bigger picture changes that are necessary, which probably includes signing some big hitter names. “We need to be pushing hard in the factory,” he said. “We need better quality people. We have not achieved what I want.” Elaborating more on what was still lacking at Enstone, he said: “I’m missing a few quality people with experience, because the team is still very young.” The quest for some experienced senior personnel to come on board takes place amid speculation about a new shareholder potentially taking on the 24% stake that is currently owned by Otro Capital. A lot of interest has surrounded the possibility of either the Mercedes squad, or former Red Bull boss Christian Horner taking this. The latter would clearly fit the profile of the kind of person that Briatore wants to help deliver the next step for Alpine. And the team could be leaning that way amid the controversy, partly triggered by [Zak Brown's recent letter to the FIA](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/brown-escalates-team-alliance-crusade-in-letter-to-fia/), about co-ownership of teams that could make it awkward for a Mercedes deal to happen. Until the outcome of the Otro sale is finalised, Briatore will keep hunting. But he well knows that statement deals like Gucci can only help his task in attracting people who believe in the project – and ensure that he can fulfil what he says is his number one priority. “Our job is to make the car competitive. It’s as simple as that,” he remarked. “If you don’t have the car competitive then whatever press conference you are doing, it will only be an excuse. We don’t want excuses. We want to be competitive.” ## Alpine is fully committed to F1 The manner of the new Gucci Racing team name has, perhaps inevitably, fuelled theories that the current arrangement could mark the first step towards an eventual F1 exit for Alpine. There have, after all, long been rumours that Briatore’s motivation for pulling together elements like the Mercedes supply, and now the Gucci deal, is about getting a package together so the whole project can be offloaded. Alpine has long denied that it has any interest in an F1 exit though, a message it reiterated once again in Paris. But there appears to be more substance to its claims now, as the Gucci deal has strengthened its reasons to stay in grand prix racing rather than weakened them. First of all, with a major chunk of Alpine’s F1 budget being covered by Gucci’s involvement, the onus on Alpine to fund any shortfalls has fallen away. Krief thinks there are also other opportunities that come from the Gucci partnership – which include limited edition co-branded models as well as some lessons to be learned about luxury brand markets. “We are aiming to sell cars that people want and not necessarily that they need,” said Krief. “We need to learn from Gucci about their personalisation, exclusivity and these sorts of things.” And while the issue of the 24% stake remains in the air – with Briatore suggesting it could be months before things are finalised – Krief is clear that anyone taking that shareholding will remain with only a minority involvement. “We are keeping the majority because it’s part of the plan of Alpine to continue in F1,” he said. “ “It is still part of our plan to push in F1 with the Alpine brand, because we need to do it. It is part of the big story. “We need to develop products, we need to develop a network, and more important than anything, we need to develop the brand. That’s why F1 is important and the partnership with Gucci is even more important.” ## F1 is a winner for big brands As one of the world’s most recognised companies, with revenue close to $12billion (USD) per year and more than 500 stores around the world, you would think that Gucci would not need F1’s help to promote itself. But it is the changing nature of F1 over the past few years that means even companies like Gucci believe they need to be part of it. The reason is not just F1’s overall global reach but more how the fanbase is changing – and where the audience is now coming from. Gucci’s analysis suggests that the average age of fans is now 32 – and critically half of the new fans that are being attracted to grand prix are female. As Alpine executive advisor Briatore said: “Five years ago, the average age was 50/55.” Gucci thinks that tapping into the opportunities that are offered on this front is huge. And just as Gucci is attracted to F1 because of the younger and more female audience, the same is even more true for Alpine. Krief says females account for 30-35% of new car purchases, but they influence more than 70% of purchases. This is why tapping into F1’s fanbase is critical for both team and title partner. ### TT sidecar favourites hospitalised after crash URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/tt-sidecar-favourites-hospitalised-after-crash/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T06:33:51.000Z Isle of Man TT sidecar class favourites and 2025 champions Ryan and Callum Crowe have been hospitalised after a crash during Wednesday night’s qualifying session for this year’s event, the pair crashing at Crosby jump on their opening lap of the evening session. Both brothers were reported as conscious and talking to the medical team after the crash, only four miles into their 37.73 mile lap. Conditions around the TT course have remained clear and sunny all day, but there has been a notable increase in wind speed and gusts into Wednesday afternoon, something that could well have played a contributing factor given the nature of the fast jump where they crashed. Organisers also confirmed that a separate incident occurred earlier in the session at Doran's Bend. There had also been a crash on Wednesday at Greba Castle involving Mike Evans, who was conscious and talking, and has been taken to hospital. The Crowe brothers went into this year’s TT as the almost unassailable-looking favourites for the class after their utterly dominant double victory performance 12 months ago. It remains uncertain right now whether they will be able to participate in this year’s races, the first of which is scheduled for Saturday. Before the session came to a stop, there had been two solo class sessions, with Dean Harrison again upping the pace in the superbike class, while Josh Brookes once again led the superstock machines. A visibly frustrated Michael Dunlop bounded back from technical problems in the superbike session to top the supersport times on his Ducati V2 Panigale, while Jamie Coward led the way in the supertwins. The red flags in the sidecar class marked the second night in the row that their session has ended prematurely, after a crash on Tuesday night for Maria Costello and Shaun Parker at Brandish. Costello has since been transferred to Aintree hospital in Liverpool, where her condition is reported as serious but stable, and she continues to be assessed and receive treatment for injuries sustained. Passenger Parker is receiving treatment for chest, leg, arm and facial injuries. ### Is Verstappen held to a higher standard? Debating our F1 rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/debating-our-canadian-gp-f1-driver-rankings-new-podcast/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T14:24:59.000Z Each grand prix weekend, Edd Straw's Formula 1 driver rankings feature is among the most popular across The Race and our [Members' Club](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com). But what did he get right and wrong in his final order from the Canadian Grand Prix? The Race Members' Club has always been the place to let him know that but, in a new regular post-race series from The Race F1 Podcast, each episode we'll be enlisting the help of a special guest to interrogate Edd using your feedback. Glenn Freeman is first up to put your questions to Edd on topics including why the Mercedes drivers locked out the top spots, what prevented Franco Colapinto from earning another 'rankings podium' and, as we'll explore in more depth below, whether Max Verstappen gets held to a higher standard than his peers. You can watch episode one below or [listen to it here](https://shows.acast.com/the-race-f1-podcast/episodes/canadian-gp-driver-rankings-did-we-get-them-right?ref=the-race.com), and if you want to hear your questions being put to Edd but aren't yet part of The Race Members' Club, [explore our Membership packages](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) and all the benefits that come with being part of our community. ## Marking Verstappen Verstappen scored his and Red Bull's first podium of the 2026 season in Canada, albeit aided by George Russell's retirement and McLaren's strategic misstep, and after ceding a place to Lewis Hamilton late in the race. So was he undermarked? Perhaps, according to our Champions' tier members - who also get the chance to [submit their own rankings](https://www.patreon.com/posts/159280608?ref=the-race.com) each race weekend - as their aggregate rankings had Verstappen one place higher in fourth, with Hamilton in the alternative top spot. --- ### Champions' Canadian GP top 10 (Edd's position in brackets) 1 Lewis Hamilton (3rd) 2 Franco Colapinto (7th) 3 Kimi Antonelli (2nd) 4 Max Verstappen (5th) 5 George Russell (1st) 6 Carlos Sainz (8th) 7 Liam Lawson (9th) 8 Arvid Lindblad (6th) 9 Lando Norris (4th) 10 Ollie Bearman (14th) --- And the majority of questions we got on Verstappen centred on what he could have done to earn a higher ranking. **Adam B asked**: Do you think Max is held to a higher standard because his typical performance is higher than most other drivers? "Fifth's still high, I should say for a start," said Edd. "I still think that's a very good ranking but I think he could have beaten Hamilton. "If you look at the race pace, I always do some race pace calculations and try and work out baselines for what they were doing. Actually the Red Bull was probably quick enough to have beaten Hamilton. "So again this is when I mean not quite at his best: he wasn't completely comfortable with the car, wasn't completely happy with the car. And on weekends like that, he doesn't tend to be able to achieve, to deliver the levels of pace that we're used to. "He's still very good and very quick. I don't think he was perfect, though. "Certainly if he'd beaten Hamilton in the grand prix, which I think was doable because Hamilton got ahead of him - and that was obviously, there was an unfortunate moment in terms of him just running out of energy and Hamilton went past, but he still had to keep himself ahead. "So, I thought that in terms of who had a better grand prix, Hamilton versus Verstappen, it was very marginally Hamilton." Edd conceded Verstappen was "difficult" to judge but did not think he was judged against a higher bar. "Usually he comes out on top of these rankings, ultimately on average ranking for the past however many years," he said. --- ### End-of-season rankings winners **2025**: [Max Verstappen](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/every-2025-f1-driver-ranked-from-worst-to-best/) **2024**: [Max Verstappen](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/2024-f1-drivers-ranked/) **2023**: [Max Verstappen](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/every-2023-f1-driver-ranked-worst-best/) **2022**: [Max Verstappen\*](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/edd-straws-2022-formula-1-season-driver-ratings/) **2021**: [Max Verstappen\*](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/edd-straws-2021-f1-season-driver-ratings/) *\*as driver ratings* --- "Actually ever since we've had them he's been the top-ranked on average and I suspect when we were still doing numbers ratings he was best on average as well. "So, I don't think he's held to a higher standard, but yeah, it just came down to \[the fact that\] there was probably a little bit more in the car. "Could he have got help and got the set-up direction a little bit better for what they took into the main part of the weekend? Because we give drivers credit for when they do that and they're part of that and so if they don't do it, well, there's a little bit of a negative there. "So, it's all just sort of small negatives and yeah, he did struggle a little bit on the medium tyres, but I think there was a way for Verstappen to beat Hamilton and Verstappen absolutely nailing it would have probably just been able to." **Looking for even more F1 content from The Race?** [**Join our Members' Club**](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) **\- the home of all of our exclusive extras and more!** ### Alpine brings Gucci into F1 as new title sponsor URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/alpine-brings-gucci-into-f1-as-new-title-sponsor/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T12:47:50.000Z Italian fashion house Gucci is to enter Formula 1 for the first time next year as title sponsor for Alpine. It is the first time that a luxury clothing brand has tied up with an F1 team in such a partnership, as Gucci replaces Alpine's current backer BWT. While the official announcement of the Gucci/Alpine deal did not reveal any details on the scale of the partnership – beyond that it is multi-year – it is estimated that the new deal is worth somewhere between $50-60 million per season. That means, with the contract expected to run for at least three years and having a bonus payment on top if Alpine achieves certain success thresholds, it is set to be worth in excess of $150 million. Gucci is going all-in with its involvement, with the official name of the team to become ‘Gucci Racing Alpine F1 Team’. A new black and gold logo for Gucci Racing has been revealed, using the company's famous G logo, and its colours are set to dominate the livery of Alpine’s 2027 car. Gucci is understood to want to have “as much as possible” real estate on the car, although Alpine is determined to ensure that there remains some of its own blue branding. While a lot of the plans for next year have not been finalised yet, as the deal has only just got across the line, Gucci does plan to design bespoke products for the Alpine team, which will not only include paddock wear but also performance products for mechanics and drivers. The Gucci deal was spearheaded by Alpine’s executive advisor, Flavio Briatore, who shot to fame in F1 when he took the fashion house Benetton to title success in the early 1990s. Ex-Renault CEO Luca de Meo is now the CEO of the Kering parent company that includes Gucci. As well as the financial boost from the partnership, Briatore sees an opportunity to exploit the presence of Gucci in F1 and repeat the successes he has achieved in the past. “Partnering with a prestigious brand of Gucci’s calibre in F1 as title partner of Alpine is something I am incredibly proud of,” he said. “Not only that, but I am also excited about the possibilities the partnership with Gucci brings and the great things we can achieve together at a global level. “The Enstone Team has a history of doing things differently to others and has previously shown that fashion can finish first in F1.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/Gucci.png) While Gucci has looked at getting involved in F1 in the past, it has elected to join up now because it sees the changing fan base as something it needs to tap into. It thinks a booming global audience, which is increasingly young and more female, is exactly the market it should be chasing. Francesca Bellettini, president and CEO of Gucci: “It reflects our ambition for the brand and the role we want Gucci to play on this stage. “F1 represents today a unique convergence of performance, culture, and global reach, and Alpine is the right partner to bring this vision to life.” ### How 'new' F1 game has included big 2026 quirks URL: https://www.the-race.com/gaming/f1-25-game-2026-season-pack-review-super-clipping-lift-and-coast/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T09:14:56.000Z EA and Codemasters have the unenviable task of recreating this year's divisive Formula 1 cars for its 2026 season DLC to F1 25. We've had a hands-on look at the 2026 season pack ahead of its June 3 launch and can now give our thoughts on how this new generation of cars has been implemented into the game. To answer what is possibly the biggest question: super clipping *is* a factor with the 2026 cars in this season pack. As was seen in real-life at the Japanese Grand Prix, on the run towards Spoon Curve and 130R, the drop-off in speed is noticeable at the end of the straights as energy is harvested and your battery fills up. The drop is severe enough that you lose roughly 20mph rounding 130R while flat-out, and if you're playing with automatic transmission it will decide to change down a gear. Whatever your opinion on that aspect of F1 in real-life, it is commendable how accurately super clipping has been replicated in the game. Another new addition is the overtake mode - the de facto replacement for DRS that allows drivers to override the normal energy deployment drop-off to help pass another car if you're within one second of it at the activation zone. Functionally, this exists in the game as effectively a supercharged version of the pre-existing boost mode to the energy recovery system (ERS). If you have overtake mode then the battery meter on the heads-up display changes from yellow to blue and you'll notice a profound increase in power when you or another driver activate it. It is not uncommon for the lead car in a pack to be overtaken by multiple cars down a straight in the 2026 season pack, such is the effectiveness of the overtake mode. This includes the start-finish straight at Canada which, given what we saw on track last weekend, shows the overtake mode is more powerful in the game than it is in real life. Conversely, you will not want to use too much energy as dropping to 0% charge will bring you to a relative crawl and you could be easily overtaken by any cars behind. When you're within a second of another car and therefore without overtake mode, the ERS functions as it does with the 2025 cars, with the ability to manually use the regular energy boost whenever you want. As is to be expected with the new power units for this year, energy management is a big part of the driving experience with these 2026 cars. The battery charge fluctuates much more over the course of a lap than it does with last year's cars. However, there is the option to automate the boost and overtake deployments in the assists menu if you'd rather not focus on that while driving. It's not just about when to activate your electrical energy though as lift-and-coast driving is the optimal approach with these new cars. Although in our experience it is in no way essential to do so if you play the game more casually and without the desire to chase the ultimate laptimes. No doubt though that all Esports drivers will be optimising their lift-and-coast technique as you are rewarded with more energy and ultimately faster laptimes. For better or for worse, it is a faithful implementation of what has become an increasingly important driving skill in F1. The other major change with this year's cars is the straight and cornering aero modes. Naturally these have also been implemented and function the same way as DRS did previously. Cornering mode is active by default, with straight mode activated with a button press when in the zone and automatically deactivated when out of the zone or when you brake. Given how many more times you'll have to activate straight mode than you would DRS, it is convenient that there is an assist to automatically turn on straight mode for those who prefer not to have to deal with it. But not every aspect of this year's ruleset has been added to the season pack, at least in the preview build we tried out. Most notably when it comes to race starts. There seems to be no variation between the teams when it comes the speed at which they get off the grid. So driving the Ferrari won't necessarily mean you jump up a few places at the start. Likewise, the pre-start procedure before the actual start hasn't been included, although since in the context of the game it would only serve to delay the race start it's not a huge loss. There's also no way to change where on the circuit you use your electrical deployment. Again, not a huge omission but as there have been occasions this year where teams have deployed their energy at different parts of the track it would've been great to include. It could at least be the basis for a new practice programme in career mode for F1 27. Finally, there's handling changes for this smaller and lighter generation of F1 cars. They also have around 15% less downforce in the game than the 2025 cars do. Inherently though with this being built on top of F1 25 there's not a huge difference in how the cars feel to drive. In our experience, you'll notice the reduced downforce at some tighter, medium-speed corners, Dunlop Curve at Suzuka being a good example. The other major addition with the 2026 season pack alongside the new cars is the Madring circuit. Unfortunately that wasn't available for us to try in the preview build - but it will be included when the DLC launches on June 3. ### Why Mercedes' F1 2026 driver fights may not last URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-f1-2026-driver-fights-may-not-last-russell-antonelli/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T07:28:46.000Z Mercedes thinks it may have to 'put the handbrake on' giving Kimi Antonelli and George Russell total freedom to race each other in Formula 1 this season. Despite some intense battles between the drivers in both the Canadian Grand Prix sprint and main race, which included them nearly coming to blows several times, Mercedes elected to steer clear of any team orders last weekend. The only message that came from the pitwall during the race was alerting both drivers that they needed to "tidy up" their battles otherwise there could be the need for intervention. But while Mercedes wants to allow Russell and Antonelli to fight among themselves with equal opportunities, team principal Toto Wolff said that circumstances could force it into a change of policy. This is for two reasons. The first is that in fighting so hard for position, including their minor collision in the Canada sprint and some off-track moments in the main race, they risk a retirement. Wolff cited Antonelli's lock-up early in the Canadian GP, when the championship leader made a mistake and nearly slid into the back of Russell at the final chicane, as evidence of how close the pair came to things going wrong. "Kimi tucking back in and locking the tyres could have ended up in a double-DNF," said Wolff. "That's not because of overaggressive driving with each other. It is simply by a mistake. "So it's important to analyse the race and discuss with the drivers whether they felt it was a bit close. "And if that is the case, it is how we can avoid these very, very tough situations or, let's say, situations where we deem it a little bit too close." But the other issue that could trigger a change of mindset from Mercedes is the risk that in allowing the pair to fight, the door is opened to rivals making up time. One of the quirks of the current rules is that when cars are battling for position the time loss is exacerbated compare to previous years. This is as a result of the altered braking and acceleration phases to defend and attack meaning that harvesting and deployment is not optimised, which costs laptime. So if drivers end up doing this and losing tenths of a second per lap to rivals behind, then it does not make sense to keep them battling and open the door to another team challenging for victory. And this could become even more of a problem if other teams are closer to Mercedes in pure pace terms. Wolff said: "We had a pace advantage that when they were driving behind each other, we were going half a second quicker than everybody behind us. But there could well be times when we are not. "When they were fighting we were losing a second to all the others. So we had the gap, we had the margin, and then it's easy to accept that they are fighting to a certain degree. But obviously that's not going to be always the case. "So as much as we look very sportsmanlike allowing it, there could be a situation where we would maybe turn it down a notch." ## Time for review The fights between Russell and Antonelli in Canada were spectacular and intense, with both drivers revelling in the experience. While Russell ended up disappointed after a power unit problem that caused his retirement - Mercedes has since explained this was caused by battery failure and heat damage - he said the opening stages of the race were truly memorable. "I loved it. I thought it was great," he said. "I've not had a battle like this in years. I haven't seen a battle like this probably since Lewis \[Hamilton\] and Nico \[Rosberg\] in Bahrain 2014, and these new cars allow you to do that. "These new engines allow you to do that. I don't know why anybody wants to change them." Antonelli added: "It was a tough fight. I think a couple of times it was maybe a little bit on the edge, but we were going at each other. We were both pushing and we both wanted to win. And it was, I think, for everyone watching, pretty entertaining." But Wolff said Mercedes may need to evaluate whether the duelling became too much, and whether some different rules of conduct need to be established. "We want to look at the pictures and have them \[the drivers\] come to the conclusions, to the right conclusions, in terms of saying, 'Do you think that was the level of fighting you think is right?' And if that is, why is that?" he said. "We will say why we think one or two situations could have been avoided, and what do you want to do to mitigate it? But definitely, more than ever, this fight is on. There's so much at stake for both. There's so much at stake as a team." And Wolff insisted he would have no issue intervening if it came to that. "As uncomfortable as the ride is sometimes, you have to accept that this is the fight they've been trained for," he said. "But equally if there was a situation where we believe the team's points are at risk of being lost, or there was a situation where we were losing so much time to our competitors behind, then we would not be a millimetre hesitant in putting the handbrake on." ### Fastest ever day-one lap: What happened on Tuesday at Isle of Man TT URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-practice-day-one-what-happened/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T20:56:03.000Z Dean Harrison laid down a marker on the first night of timed practice for the 2026 Isle of Man TT by setting an impressive 133.925mph lap - the fastest ever opening-day effort of the 37.73-mile Mountain Course circuit. The Honda rider, who comes into this year's event as many people's favourite given the strength of his build-up and a strong North West 200, set not one but two 133mph laps and was the only rider to go above the 130mph mark at the first attempt after [Monday's opening session was cancelled](https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-incident-eight-spectators-hurt/) due to a red flag. Harrison's pair of 133mph laps left him considerably ahead of the best average time of Michael Dunlop, a 130.341mph, in second, while local racer Nathan Harrison was the third and final racer in the Superbike class to lap faster than 130mph on Tuesday night. Outright lap record holder Peter Hickman, still recovering from the injuries he sustained 12 months ago in a practice crash, was seventh among the Superbike field. In the Superstock class, Josh Brookes topped the times with the night's fourth and final 130mph lap, while Dunlop was unsurprisingly fastest in the Supersport class on his [factory-backed Ducati V2 Panigale](https://www.the-race.com/tt/inside-michael-dunlop-latest-race-winning-collaboration-with-ducati/). Paul Jordan was quickest in the newly renamed Sportsbike class. Tuesday's running was not stoppage-free, though - with the red flags coming out halfway through the Sidecar class's first timed session. Race control said that sidecar pair Maria Costello and Shaun Parker had come off at Brandish, near the end of the lap, on their second attempt. Both were taken to Noble's hospital - Costello by helicopter and Parker by ambulance - and were reported as conscious as talking. Costello had reported head injuries, while Parker had reported leg and arm injuries. Qualifying will resume on Wednesday with a [new-for-2026 daytime schedule](https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tts-modified-2026-schedule-explained/) that will involve roads closing at 12.30pm, before Thursday's rest day. ### Isle of Man TT's modified 2026 schedule explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tts-modified-2026-schedule-explained/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T16:03:41.000Z Isle of Man TT clerk of the course Gary Thompson says that changes to this year’s schedule have been met with approval from riders, as the TT moves to a modified calendar for practice week. The 2026 schedule has, for the first time, introduced a rest day on Thursday to give teams the chance to better prepare for race week. To make room for that, Monday's [ultimately aborted full session](https://www.the-race.com/tt/first-day-of-isle-of-man-tt-2026-cut-short-by-red-flag/) was otherwise due to become the first of two full-day practice and qualifying sessions alongside Wednesday - which is no longer simply an evening session, in order to make up for the introduction of the rest day. "I've read what people say on Facebook, that it's unworkable and all this sort of thing," Thompson told The Race ahead of the start of TT action. "But it's not far removed from where it was, and we have got enough contingency sessions in place to to vary the schedule as and when and if we have to. "Qualifying two goes out Tuesday evening as normal, but then the first change is Wednesday. We'll go Wednesday afternoon, roads close at 12.30pm, we have Q3 in the afternoon, open the roads for an hour or so, and then Q4 in the evening. "Thursday is a rest day, a contingency day. I was talking to Michael \[Dunlop\] the other day, and he was very positive about it, because it gives the teams a chance to change engines, or do whatever they have to do to the bikes, and they can do it in relatively peace and in a relaxed mode in the day, instead of having to finish practice, or finish qualifying, and then change engines overnight. "And then the other big change is on Friday, we've got qualifying five in the morning, a short break, and then Q6, the final qualifying session on Friday afternoon before we go racing on Saturday. "It's a good schedule - I would say that anyway! - but it's a good schedule and there is plenty of flexibility to get it in with whatever we get thrown up." While this year's event might have got off to a bad start after a [red-flag incident on Monday](https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-viewing-area-where-eight-spectators-were-hurt-to-remain-closed/), in which eight spectators and a rider were injured, Thompson said that the course is in fantastic condition ahead of the rest of the week's action. "We did the formal course inspection on Wednesday \[last week\]," he added, "got the course licence issued, and the course is looking really, really good. "There's been some extensive resurfacing over the winter, or since winter. "The island had a fairly bad winter, really, and lots of storm damage, so we've had some resurfacing at Ballaspur, which is on the exit of Ballacraine, Ginger Hall through to Kerramore, Ramsey Hairpin up to Waterworks 1, Waterworks 2, Guthrie's, up at Brandywell, and then Keppelgate through to Kate's Cottage." ### Marc Marquez to attempt MotoGP injury return at Mugello URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/marc-marquez-motogp-injury-return-attempt-mugello/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T13:26:52.000Z Marc Marquez will attempt to return to MotoGP competition this weekend at Mugello, having been ruled out of action since he fractured his foot at Le Mans earlier this month. The defending champion fell in the Le Mans sprint race and missed the grand prix there and the entire Barcelona weekend. He used that injury break to get corrective work on his right shoulder, a lingering issue that he planned to fix in the next calendar gap, something he only revealed after the foot fracture. Marquez explained that he’d been struggling with his right shoulder ever since his big crash with Marco Bezzecchi at Mandalika in October last year. The primary issue was treated successfully last year, but he’d sustained damage to screws that were already there from past surgery that he’s now taken the opportunity to fix in his post-Le Mans injury break. And now, after much speculation, Ducati confirmed on the Tuesday before the Mugello weekend that “following a positive medical check, Marc Marquez will travel to Mugello” on Wednesday. “He is scheduled for a final trackside assessment on Thursday to secure the fit to race clearance for the Italian GP,” a statement from Ducati continued. That trackside assessment should be a formality, based on precedent. Marquez’s 2026 championship rivals haven’t exactly sprinted clear in his absence. He was 51 points adrift of Aprilia rider Bezzecchi after his Le Mans sprint fall, and he’s now a not-insurmountable 85 adrift of the points leader in ninth. Michele Pirro will stand in for Alex Marquez at Gresini for Mugello and Balaton Park. The 30-year-old suffered a neck fracture at Barcelona. ### Inside Michael Dunlop's latest race-winning collaboration with Ducati URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/inside-michael-dunlop-latest-race-winning-collaboration-with-ducati/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T12:25:35.000Z Michael Dunlop is the biggest name in road racing - so when he turns up to an event, there is obviously a lot of attention surrounding him. Fans will wait patiently outside of his awning tents to get a glimpse of the most successful rider in Isle of Man TT history, but their attention is rarely focused on the people around him, who help make it all tick along like clockwork at each road race. I decided to take a walk up to Dunlop's awning set-up within the North West 200 paddock earlier this month during the main Saturday race programme. Crowds of people stood observing his MD Racing crew making changes to his BMW Superstock machine, and the Hawk Racing mechanics working intensely to get the best electronics setting for Dunlop's Honda Superbike. It's been a successful day, another Supersport win added to his tally at the Triangle circuit. The bike I'm looking at has the winner's laurel wreath draped around the fly-splattered screen as it sits proudly in the tent. The machine in question is a Ducati V2 - a new generation Supersport bike on which Dunlop has already taken four international road racing wins, including the first Ducati victories at the Isle of Man TT for 30 years in 2025. While racing continues and the sound of Supertwin bikes screams along the Portstewart coastline, Scars Racing - the team that runs the Ducati in partnership with Dunlop - is packing up for the day as it readies itself to get back into short circuit mode at Donington with British Supersport rider, Luke Stapleford, who is currently leading the series after two rounds. "I'll be with you in two minutes," is what team co-owner Leigh Finlay says to me as I stand watching him and a few of his team try to load a massive toolbox into the side of a van. Toolbox loaded in (just), we walk into the awning and stand at each side of the history-making Ducati and begin our chat about how the partnership with the TT's greatest ever rider started. "It came at a time when Michael was looking for something else, and the Ducati was showing its potential," says Finlay. "So there were a few calls made between myself, Michael and Dale McElveen \[Scars Racing team co-owner\] and it all fell into place, basically. It was something that both parties wanted: we wanted Michael on our bike and he wanted to ride it." ![Michael Dunlop's bike sports a Scars Racing sticker](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/MD-Scars.jpg) The Ducati V2 was originally run through TAS Racing, Northern Ireland's most successful team and one that Finlay spent years at. It was backed by Milwaukee UK, which is headed by Dale McElveen and had success with Alastair Seeley and Davey Todd on the roads in 2023 and 2024. The partnership started off with immediate international success, as Dunlop took victory and a podium at the North West 200 in 2025\. The main goal was getting the job done at the Isle of Man TT, but how can preparation at the North West translate, with two very different tests of rider and machine? "It helps to be fair; I wouldn't say it's a 'test', but it's the same principle for him \[Dunlop\]," Finlay says. "He knows where he needs to be with the bikes and he knows what he wants to do. "Bike set-up-wise, we probably run a different suspension link here \[NW200\] and different parts of the bike that you can't run at the TT. Purely because it's a different style of circuit, the undulations and the bumps just make it so unique compared to the North West, as its so flat. You almost can get away with a more BSB \[circuit racing\] set-up." The key takeaway for set-up crossover for the TT is top-speed stability and, with another year of data under the team's belt, Finlay explains how things are constantly being tinkered with to get even more improvement out of a top-spec Ducati V2. "It's basically all about getting back on the roads and seeing how it reacts with bumps, wind and all the other elements. There are parts on the bike that we used at the TT last year and there are some new bits on there, you just can't stand still and we are constantly trying to give Michael the best bike he can ride." The collaboration also extends to a close working relationship with Ducati, as the team collaboration gets official support from the Italian brand, and there is a real sense of pride that a team and rider from Northern Ireland has helped put the Borgo Panigale factory back to winning ways at the Isle of Man TT. Finlay says Scars Racing has a "close relationship" with world championship team, Feel Racing, which won the World Supersport title with Nicolo Bulega and Adrian Huertas in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Dunlop's V2 Panigale even sports the team's logo to show the strength of the partnership, and the bike is pretty much as 'factory' as you can get at world championship level. ![Michael Dunlop's Ducati sports a Feel Racing sticker](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/Tank-_-Feel-racing-sticker.png) "We work quite closely with them, in terms of bike development and settings," Finlay says. "It is a real luxury to have such a good relationship with a factory and use the knowledge that they have to help us." Though Finlay keeps his cards close to his chest when asked about the 'factory' bits on the Scars bike - "I can't go into a lot of detail!" - he stresses how the small details make the difference with their effort. "We evaluated last year's bike and looked at what we could improve, especially with this bike coming to the end of its cycle as the new model is currently being tested for release next year," he says. "So the development in a Ducati sense has stopped, but with us we are constantly just adding bits, we're just trying to make small, incremental changes to make it better." A key testing method for the North West 200 heading into the TT is that Dunlop's Ducati Supersport was racing with a TT-style fuel tank, one that is a custom built factory part by Ducati and one that certainly isn't cheap. A larger tank is to cope with the mountain course distance over two laps before making a pitstop. "We actually run it here, a lot of others wouldn't do that," says Finlay. "So we carry more fuel to the North West than we probably need to, but the pay-off is that we are setting it up for the TT and when we turn up on the island, we are ready to go straight from practice." ![Michael Dunlop takes victory in the Supersport race at this year's NW200](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/Michael-Dunlop-nw-wins.jpg) It didn't seem to hinder Dunlop, as he took victory in the Supersport class at the 2026 North West 200 ahead of Honda Racing's Dean Harrison. As well as holding the outright win record, Dunlop is the most successful Supersport rider at the Isle of Man TT with 14 victories in the class, which includes the two victories for Ducati taken last year - its first since 1995 with Robert Holden in the singles class. Scars Racing also ran a special gold livery in the second Supersport race in 2025 to celebrate the success. All roads lead to the TT for Finlay, McElveen and the rest of the Scars Racing team as it tries to emulate its double Supersport success of 2025 with Dunlop once again. A team from Northern Ireland with the support of Italy's iconic motorcycle brand is a great story and one that Finlay hopes that can be repeated. "It would be brilliant, it would be a dream come true for us. A team and rider from here to go and do that again, especially as this team collaboration is so new along with Michael, it would be quite the achievement for us, but we will just keep doing what we are doing and we'll do our best…so far, so good!" ### Ross Brawn makes surprise motorsport return with MotoGP team URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/ross-brawn-surprise-motorsport-return-motogp-team/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T09:58:55.000Z One of Formula 1’s most successful figures, Ross Brawn, is a surprise new addition to the board of directors for the Pramac MotoGP team. Brawn was a key part of Benetton and Ferrari’s title-winning machines with Michael Schumacher in the 1990s and early 2000s, before leading his own Brawn GP team to a fairytale F1 title victory in 2009, as well as steering the early years of the Mercedes works team it morphed into. Having retired from F1 competition, Brawn served as F1 managing director on behalf of new owner Liberty Media (which now also owns MotoGP) from 2017. He exited that role at the end of 2022 and now has made a surprise motorsport reappearance in MotoGP, joining the board of directors of Yamaha satellite outfit Pramac. Brawn will serve as “strategic advisor” to Pramac team principal and friend Paolo Campinoti. Brawn said he was “delighted to join” Pramac: “Motorsport has always been about people, teamwork and continuous improvement, and I look forward to supporting Paolo and the team and contributing where my experience may be useful. “Pramac has built an impressive organisation with a strong spirit and ambition, and I‘m excited to be part of its future.” Campinoti said of Brawn: “Beyond his extraordinary career and achievements in Formula 1, Ross is someone with whom I have shared a friendship and a relationship of great respect for many years. “I believe that his vision, knowledge and winning mentality will make a valuable contribution to the continued growth and development of Pramac.” ### Isle of Man TT viewing area where eight spectators were hurt to remain closed URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-viewing-area-where-eight-spectators-were-hurt-to-remain-closed/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T13:25:26.000Z The viewing area where eight spectators were hurt in a serious incident during the opening Isle of Man TT practice on Monday will remain closed for the duration of this year’s event after a safety review. On Monday afternoon, a crashed bike on the exit of Ramsey’s Parliament Square entered a fan area and pushed crowd barriers back into spectators. The incident saw the opening day of practice for this year’s event curtailed and left one competitor and eight spectators hospitalised. A statement from organisers on Tuesday said that two spectators remain in hospital and continue to receive treatment. The competitor and all other spectators involved have now been discharged from hospital. They have now taken the step to close the viewing area where the incident took place for the remainder of the event “as part of the structured safety review undertaken". The full statement said: “As part of the structured safety review undertaken following yesterday’s serious incident, the spectator viewing area at Parliament Square will remain prohibited for the duration of the 2026 Isle of Man TT Races. “Given the unusual nature of the incident, this precautionary measure has been implemented following an initial assessment by race, safety and operational personnel and reflects the Isle of Man TT Races’ commitment to reviewing and responding to safety considerations whenever an incident occurs. “The review has involved detailed consideration of the circumstances surrounding the incident and the wider operational environment. While the multi-agency investigation process will continue, a number of immediate measures have been identified and implemented ahead of any further activity on the Course this evening. “The safety of competitors, spectators, marshals, officials and all those involved in the event remains our highest priority. “Two spectators remain in hospital and continue to receive treatment. The competitor and all other spectators involved have now been discharged from hospital. “Our thoughts remain with those involved in the incident, together with their families and friends. We would also like to once again thank the marshals, medical teams, emergency and hospital services and all personnel who responded so quickly and professionally.” ![A map showing the prohibited viewing area at Albert Square, Ramsey](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-26-at-14.18.01.jpeg) A further statement clarified that the prohibited area was at Albert Square, Ramsey, located on the left-hand side after the exit from Parliament Square. Organisers said the area - which must not be entered by spectators - was: ‘Albert Square, Ramsey. The left-hand side of the course - from the left-hand gatepost of No.1 Albert Square, diagonally across the road, to the prominent tree situated within the grassed area, then to the multi-directional information sign, and thereafter to the yellow barrier located at the end of the grassed area.’ All other previously accessible spectator locations in the Parliament Square area remain unchanged. Action at the TT is set to continue on Tuesday with a scheduled evening practice session set to get underway at 6:30pm local time. ### Why Audi is now key to Verstappen's F1 future URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-audi-is-now-key-to-max-verstappen-f1-future/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T07:13:16.000Z While some in the Formula 1 paddock have viewed Max Verstappen’s threat to quit if the rules are not changed for next year as a political ploy, sources close to him are clear that he is dead serious. They say that the four-time champion’s comments on Saturday night in Montreal - that it was “not mentally doable” for him to continue driving with the cars as they are - come from the heart. Sure, Verstappen’s public criticisms of the quirks and characteristics of the current cars may be less frequent than they were at the start of the year. But this is because he just doesn’t see the point of coming off like a broken record and saying the same stuff on repeat for the sake of it. His message has remained consistent, though – and it was quite telling that he was happy to tell the F1 cameras in Montreal after qualifying exactly what he thinks of F1's rules. “I mean the whole energy management stuff is just a joke,” he vented. “Yeah, it's super painful at the moment. “You know, you try to push more. Then you have less energy, it's clipping more, and then you have to use a different gear, so you go slower in the corner but faster in the next straight. "It has nothing to do with racing for me. It's really, really frustrating.” ## Faded unanimity The recent agreement in principle from teams to make some fundamental changes to the power unit hardware for 2027, to shift the 50/50 power split from combustion and battery towards 60/40, appeared to have given Verstappen optimism that things would become more normal again. But it became clear over the Canadian GP weekend that [paddock politics had ridden roughshod over that unanimity,](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-set-for-crunch-2027-talks-as-proposed-changes-in-doubt/) and left F1 lacking the necessary support needed to vote through changes into the regulations for next year. This is why a proposal tabled by the FIA has not even got as far as a formal ballot yet - because it is obvious it does not have enough backing right now. If support fails to materialise and the changes fall by the wayside, then Verstappen will walk. And, as he made clear also in Montreal, it won’t just be a sabbatical to bide time until a proper reset in 2028\. He will be gone. ## The super majority Verstappen’s stance has added some urgency to efforts being led by the FIA and FOM to try to get a proposal in place that can win enough support to get over the line. For change to get the green light for 2027, it will require backing from four of the six manufacturers - to secure a supermajority in the Power Unit Advisory Committee. Right now, only Mercedes and Red Bull are in favour. Audi, Ferrari and Cadillac are firmly against for different reasons, while Honda sits somewhere between these two camps. Audi’s concerns about rushing things through for 2027 relates to costs and technical constraints. It is of the belief that it does not have the resources nor ability to redo a power unit for next year, considering it is new to F1. Ferrari and Cadillac’s disapproval is more related to the implications of opening up engine development for everyone next year, as that could impact the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) catch-up mechanism. Right now, Ferrari is clearly hoping that it gets granted ADUO - which can help it improve its power unit to close down the gap to Mercedes both this year and into next season. Take ADUO away, or open up homologation to allow everyone to develop their engines, and that could mean Mercedes not only staying as far ahead as it is now but also potentially stepping further clear. This is why Ferrari is eager for more time to understand the implication of any hardware change for both 2027 and 2028. But waiting is not something the FIA has much patience for. ## Pressure point Time is tight to get a deal across the line, as all manufacturers need to get rolling with their 2027 plans immediately if change is coming. So if a deal is going to happen to get things through next year rather than waiting for 2028, then it needs to be done quickly. The urgency to get things moving is why FIA single-eater director Nikolas Tombazis was seen marching up and down the paddock in Canada for a series of discussions with manufacturers to try to work out a way to reach some form of consensus. While there is understood to be a level of frustration within the FIA that the unanimity expressed after Miami evaporated so quickly, pragmatism has taken over and the push now is not to bend over backwards and seek support from everyone – but instead play the numbers game and get the supermajority over the line. Ferrari seems quite entrenched in its position. Its focus is locked on ADUO and all the implications surrounding that. That is a topic that is going to be hugely complicated and politically complex to unpick. Cadillac appears to be in line with this, too. Winning those two over seems to be fraught with difficulty, which is why sources suggest that Audi is now central to the deal instead, as that is the manufacturer that is perhaps most amenable to some form of arrangement. The theory is that if Audi can be convinced, then Honda will quickly fall into line in joining the pro-change camp – especially as it does not seem too wedded to things. Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said in Canada: “We just respect \[the\] FIA decision. So we are waiting.” From Audi’s perspective, an anticipated $10 million extra spending to revamp hardware for 2027 is too much to stomach right now off the back of all the investment it has made to get onto the F1 grid. But there may be mechanisms available within the constraints of the cost cap, or some tweaking to the rules that do not require a full-scale engine revamp, that can convince Audi to commit to a 2027 package. What the FIA and F1 are keen to avoid, though, is that next year ends up being just a compromise arrangement and then efforts have to start again to get things fully sorted for 2028\. They want one agreed hit in place that stands firm for the duration of this rules set until the V8s [arrive by 2031 at the latest.](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-v8-engine-plan-2030-2031-fia-ben-sulayem/) ## Political fallout If Audi and Honda can be won over, joining Mercedes and Red Bull, then Ferrari and Cadillac will be powerless to stop change happening. That may trigger some major political controversy in the paddock but that may be a smaller problem for F1 than giving up the fight entirely for 2027 and continuing with rules that clearly do not work and could force a superstar like Verstappen to walk. If a supermajority is secured, Ferrari's hands may even be forced in coming to a table for a compromise deal - as that would be better than it having won no concessions at all. Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies, whose team would be the biggest loser if the changes do not happen for next year and it loses its best driver, is calm about things – and reckons in the end everyone will see sense. “When it comes to what matters for the sport, I think at some stage we will all put on the side what we feel it \[the change\] may or may not do to our relative competitiveness, to do a step in the right direction for the sport,” he said. “I think ultimately we'll get to that point.” All eyes now then on what the FIA does to win that crucial Audi backing. ### Edd Straw's 2026 F1 Canadian Grand Prix driver rankings URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/canadian-grand-prix-f1-2026-driver-rankings-edd-straw/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T17:58:07.000Z Even without the full anticipated impact of the rain, the Canadian Grand Prix put Formula 1 drivers through a serious test this year - one that most largely passed. Here is our ranking of how the 22-driver crop stacked up in Montreal. ***Want to quiz Edd on his driver rankings? S***[***ign up to The Race Members' Club***](https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheRace/membership?ref=the-race.com) ***to do exactly that and we'll put your points to him in a brand new video debate format later this week'. Just head*** [***to this post***](https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-format-ask-159211897?ref=the-race.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/MERCEDES_GR.jpg) **Started:** 1st **Finished:** DNF While this was a bad weekend for Russell in terms of the race result thanks to a power unit failure that wasn’t of his making, his performance overall was impressive. Yes, there were times when Antonelli potentially had a slight underlying edge, but the fact remains that Russell ticked every box he could - sprint pole, sprint victory, pole position and leading the race when he retired. Antonelli caused some headaches and there were close moments in battle, but Russell had been getting the better of him - *just* \- while both cars were still on track. **Verdict:** Pushed hard by Antonelli, but stood up to it well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/MERCEDES_KA.jpg) **Started:** 2nd **Finished:** 1st There were hints that at times Antonelli might have had the underlying pace edge on Russell, but (perhaps as you’d expect from a 19-year-old early in his second season) there were still signs of slightly rough edges. That stood out in the sprint race, when Antonelli could well have defeated Russell with better judgement of risk-versus-reward in battle and instead cost himself second place to a rash move amid the frustration of the Turn 1 incident. He had the chance to make up for that in the grand prix and was giving Russell a hard time, which may have yielded victory, but he didn’t have the chance to prove it and the way things played out relied on his team-mate’s power unit failure. **Verdict:** Pace outstanding, but didn’t always use it to best effect. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/FERRARI_LH.jpg) **Started:** 5th **Finished:** 2nd Having dispensed with pre-weekend simulator work and focused on data analysis aimed at improving the set-up for ride stability and braking improvements, Hamilton was delighted with the feel of the car in Canada. That made this weekend a rare occasion when he was positive with the performance despite not maximising the potential of the sprint race, in which he was shuffled from fourth to sixth by Piastri and Leclerc, or main qualifying, where a combination of the active aero not engaging at the start of the lap and a mistake meant he aborted his final run. However, he saved the best for last with a strong drive to a best-possible second in the grand prix, prevailing in a battle with Verstappen that required him to be at something like his best. The contrast versus Leclerc’s struggles was marked, and it’s only the rough edges on Saturday that cost Hamilton a potential top spot in the rankings. **Verdict:** Delivered his best grand prix drive for Ferrari. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/McLAREN_LN.jpg) **Started:** 3rd **Finished:** DNF Throughout the weekend, Norris had a slight edge on team-mate Piastri in terms of pace and seemed to be fractionally more confident in the car. He probably maximised the results in sprint qualifying, the sprint and main qualifying, although perhaps you could argue there might have been a way to have beaten Russell in Saturday’s race had he delivered perfection. Starting on inters put him on the back foot in the race after briefly taking the lead, but he was making progress in recovering when a gearbox problem put him out. **Verdict:** Extracted the potential from the McLaren well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/RED-BULL_MV.jpg) **Started:** 6th **Finished:** 3rd After a strong Miami weekend, Verstappen was back to struggling with the Red Bull a little in Canada. He was pushed by Hadjar in qualifying, albeit having the edge in both sessions, and raced well, although Verstappen at his best would perhaps have been able to prevail in the tight battle with Hamilton. That said, it was still a good weekend’s performance and he overall was stronger than his team-mate, coming away with two good results in a tricky car. **Verdict:** Good, but not at his best. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/RB_AL.jpg) **Started:** 9th **Finished:** DNS This was Lindblad’s most impressive all-round weekend since starring in Australia, albeit without the opportunity to show what he could do in the grand prix thanks to the gearbox problem he suffered on the grid. On his first outing at this track, he made SQ3, then converted that into a point in the sprint race despite being the only driver to start on hards, finishing ahead of the closing Colapinto. That was a preview of what likely would have been his battle in the race. Although his retirement doesn’t count against him, it did deny him the opportunity to excel and potentially achieve an even higher ranking. **Verdict:** Bad luck meant he couldn’t close out a great weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/ALPINE_FC.jpg) **Started:** 10th **Finished:** 6th For the second successive event, Colapinto performed strongly. That was particularly impressive given he missed practice after an electronics problem emerged at the start of the session, forcing a control electronics change. Despite going into sprint qualifying blind at a track he’d never driven before, he did a good job to qualify 13th for the sprint, which he turned into ninth and closing on Lindblad late on - overtaking Hulkenberg, who put him on the grass, and Sainz along the way. His performance in the grand prix was mostly excellent, but his ranking suffers because of the error emerging from the pits under the VSC when he had a moment rejoining the track and slapped the wall on the left side. It was a hard enough hit that he has to be considered fortunate to have escaped without damage. **Verdict:** Pit-exit error hurts his ranking. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/WILLIAMS_CS.jpg) **Started:** 15th **Finished:** 9th While the Williams continues to improve, Sainz overachieved to make it to SQ3\. Equally, he could have done better in qualifying proper even if a repeat of a top 10 was unlikely - but didn’t have the tyres in the right window for the start of his final Q2 lap. That put him towards the back of the midfield group, but despite the mistake of starting on intermediates that he took responsibility for he recovered well, particularly after that initial stop, to prevail in his battle with Bearman. **Verdict:** Other than slight qualifying underachievement, a strong weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/RB_LL.jpg) **Started:** 12th **Finished:** 7th A hydraulics problem restricted Lawson to just two push laps in free practice, with the resulting power unit change keeping him out of sprint qualifying. In those circumstances, his sprint race was impressive, although qualifying could have been better as “I didn’t help myself, made a couple of mistakes in Q2 and then put a lot of pressure on that last lap”. That left him 0.349s slower than Lindblad, who made Q3\. Lawson produced a strong race drive to seventh, managing to hold off Gasly despite the Alpine having a race-pace advantage - and the brief moment at the end of lap 66 when Gasly nosed ahead approaching the final corner, with both cutting the chicane. **Verdict:** Q2 disappointment the main negative. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/CADILLAC_SP.jpg) **Started:** 20th **Finished:** DNF Perez led the line well for Cadillac, outpacing Bottas and managing to beat Stroll in both qualifying sessions as well as picking off Gasly in sprint qualifying. He starred in the sprint, starting on softs and jumping to 11th and robustly holding onto the position throughout. Too robustly - he earned a penalty that dropped him to 14th for forcing Lawson off the track that he called “totally unfair” (even though it was a fair cop), but that was perhaps an understandable risk on his part given the racing situation. Despite the time lost to starting on intermediates, he had a good race before retiring with a front-right suspension failure that didn’t appear to be the result of any misadventure on his part. **Verdict:** Led the line for Cadillac well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/FERRARI_CL.jpg) **Started:** 8th **Finished:** 4th Qualifying proved a major headache for Leclerc on what he described as “the most complicated weekend” of his Ferrari career. That said, he did make progress - having battled braking troubles in sprint qualifying that he at least felt were resolved by qualifying proper. Even then, he struggled as he was unable to get the tyres in the right window in Q1 and Q2 before at least feeling he had the car under him in Q3\. Despite his troubles, he did a decent enough job to be only 0.084s and 0.108s slower than his team-mate in the qualifying sessions. The races were better, as he was able to grab fifth off Hamilton late in the sprint, then come through to fourth in the grand prix. **Verdict:** Limited the damage despite struggling with the car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/RED-BULL_IH.jpg) **Started:** 7th **Finished:** 5th Hadjar bounced back after his difficult Miami weekend, lapping just 0.101s off Verstappen in sprint qualifying, then just 0.028s off in qualifying proper - despite what he called, with characteristic self-criticism, a “tour de merde” thanks to overdriving. That reveals much about his hopes of outpacing Verstappen. The sprint race was short-lived, as he ran eighth but was held back by engine problems that soon led to his retirement. In the grand prix, he lacked a couple of tenths to Verstappen and picked up a couple of needless penalties, one for mistakenly chopping Leclerc on the straight when “I just got confused where he was heading”. Nonetheless, he salvaged a decent result aided by the McLarens not being a threat. **Verdict:** Back on form after Miami struggles. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/WILLIAMS_AA.jpg) **Started:** 18th **Finished:** DNF The sprint element of the weekend was ruined through no fault of Albon’s after hitting a groundhog in FP1 and ending up in the wall, requiring a gearbox and power unit change that kept him out of sprint qualifying. This meant his first taste of low-fuel running was in Q1\. He lapped almost six tenths slower than Sainz and was eliminated after what he called a “messy” session. His grand prix was short-lived as he was eliminated after being torpedoed by Piastri at the hairpin while running 12th, denying him the chance to contend for a minor points finish. **Verdict:** Groundhog incident put him on the back foot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/HAAS_OB.jpg) **Started:** 16th **Finished:** 10th Bearman ran the upgrade package from the start of free practice as Haas split the specifications across its two cars. While the expected downforce was there, he struggled initially on the brakes and traction as problematic characteristics were introduced. That led to him not having the pace to escape SQ1, which was an underachievement despite the problems, although he put the car broadly where it appeared to be on merit at the bottom of Q2 in qualifying proper after gains were made that increased confidence but meant he ran into a problem with front-locking. With the Haas the ninth-best car, he relied on circumstances to be able to score a point but drove in a good race (that should've been better if not for a 25-second pitstop). **Verdict:** Struggled valiantly with a tricky car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/ALPINE_PG.jpg) **Started:** 14th **Finished:** 8th This was one of those weekends when Gasly never really got on top of the car, complaining variously of a lack of grip, braking problems and deployment troubles. Both of his qualifying sessions were messy, although partly due to factors outside his control such as hitting a groundhog in Q1 on his final lap and suffering floor damage he carried into Q2\. But he was a clear step behind Colapinto and not extracting the potential from the car. The sprint race was a write-off after starting from the pits following spec and set-up changes, but he drove a good grand prix to climb to eighth, although the Alpine had the speed to have beaten Lawson. **Verdict:** Salvaged a good result on a tough weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/ASTON-MARTIN_FA.jpg) **Started:** 19th **Finished:** DNF While the Aston Martin-Honda was, as expected, fighting with the Cadillacs at the back, its underlying pace was better than in Miami. Alonso made SQ2 with the assistance of Lawson and Albon not running, but relied on a lap completed before he pushed too hard and nosed into the barrier. As others improved, there was no realistic chance of repeating that in qualifying proper, although he at least kept it out of the wall. He briefly ran 14th in the sprint but was gradually shuffled back before retiring to save the car. He also failed to finish the main race after pain from the seat became too much for him, but not before briefly surging to 10th at the start. **Verdict:** Quick, but this wasn’t one of his best thanks to Friday crash (and forced retirements). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/AUDI_GB.jpg) **Started:** 13th **Finished:** 13th Bortoleto was usually on the wrong side of the battle with Hulkenberg pace-wise, although the qualifying deficits of 0.032s and 0.185s respectively in sprint and main qualifying show it wasn’t by much. The driveability and low-speed balance weaknesses of the Audi meant that while it was competitive in the midfield group, the car was not at the level of the Alpine or Racing Bulls, meaning there was no disgrace in finishing outside the points after the time lost to starting on inters. However, he did pick up a penalty for a VSC infringement, and had a couple of brief chicane excursions across the two races. **Verdict:** A very middling weekend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/HAAS_EO.jpg) **Started:** 17th **Finished:** 14th With Haas introducing a significant aerodynamic upgrade package, Ocon ran the old spec for practice and the sprint components of the weekend before switching to the new spec for qualifying proper. He had problems with both, struggling with a car that was too stiff early in the weekend, crashing nose-first after losing it at the exit of Turn 4 on Friday, but recovering to make SQ2\. He was eliminated in Q1 in main qualifying, lapping four tenths off Bearman in a car he found difficult to drive. He climbed to 11th during the sprint, only to suffer a lock-up and go off at Turn 8, which cost him four places - although he got two of those back to penalties for Perez and Hulkenberg. He had a poor main race, saying there was “clearly something that failed on my car”, although the team said both cars had similar troubles. **Verdict:** Not at one with the car in either spec. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/ASTON-MARTIN_LS.jpg) **Started:** 22nd (pits) **Finished:** 15th Although Stroll quite rightly pointed out that the Aston Martin wasn’t able to do anything more than fight with the Cadillacs in Montreal, he had the air of defeat before he’d even started. Alonso was clearly quicker, although in main qualifying the gap was exaggerated thanks to Stroll having a small off at Turn 3 that prevented any improvement on the final lap. He also complained of grip struggles. The sprint race was ruined by a pitlane start after a suspension problem arose on the grid. The grand prix was another pitlane start after a battery and control electronics change and set-up modifications. That led to an anonymous main race in which he never ran higher than the 15th place he finished in, always having Bottas covered but running behind Perez when the other Cadillac retired. **Verdict:** A nothing weekend in a nothing car. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/CADILLAC_VB.jpg) **Started: 21st Finished: 16th** There was a concerning deficit of around eight and a half tenths to Perez in both qualifying sessions, which although not entirely representative did demonstrate Bottas didn’t have the pace of his team-mate. He never looked entirely at one with the car, opting to try a risky set-up direction but ruining his final run in Q1 with a lock-up and off at the first corner that created too big a flatspot for a successful second attempt. After the sprint race was rendered a test thanks to set-up changes and a pitlane start, he earned a five-second pitlane speeding penalty in the main race and struggled for pace while battling oversteer problems in a car Perez extracted far more from. **Verdict:** Well off his team-mate’s level. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/McLAREN_OP.jpg) **Started:** 4th **Finished:** 11th In terms of performance, Piastri was second-best McLaren driver but only by a tiny margin. That appeared to be the result of a slight confidence disadvantage relative to Norris, but - with a decent drive in the sprint to beat Hamilton and decent qualifying performance - he still had the makings of a good weekend. Until, that was, he made a misjudgement while attempting to pass Bearman’s Haas into the hairpin, locking up and sailing past him and clattering into Albon. That forced him into the pits for a new front wing and condemned him to a frustrating run to a pointless result. **Verdict:** Error means his ranking plummets. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/AUDI_NH.jpg) **Started: 11th Finished: 12th** Pace-wise, Hulkenberg put the Audi on the fringes of the top 10 by setting the 11th-fastest time in both qualifying sessions - making it six times out of eight that he’s ended up in that position this year. That’s despite finding the low-speed balance of the Audi a little off on a weekend where the car’s low drag compensated partly for its power limitation. A good start by Audi standards was squandered by cutting a chicane on the first lap, which earned him a time penalty that dropped him to 15th in the final sprint results. Starting on intermediates compromised his main race, but while he finished ahead of team-mate Bortoleto and had a pace advantage over him throughout the weekend, Hulkenberg also earned a penalty for speeding in the pitlane (by just 0.3km/h), and spun at Turn 1 after dropping a wheel on the grass **Verdict:** Quick, but far too many in-race errors. ### Eight spectators hurt in Isle of Man TT 2026 incident URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/isle-of-man-tt-2026-incident-eight-spectators-hurt/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T16:55:03.000Z The incident that saw the opening day of practice for the 2026 Isle of Man TT curtailed has left one competitor and eight spectators hospitalised, after a crashed bike on the exit of Ramsey’s Parliament Square entered a fan area and pushed crowd barriers back into spectators. Practice got underway on schedule, with opening practice in the Supersport and Supertwin class on Monday morning passing without incident. The same was true for the following Sidecar session. However, a red flag during the Superbike and Superstock session brought a halt to proceedings around 1pm, following ‘the implementation of serious incident protocols’ after the incident in Ramsey. That incident, organisers explained after the remainder of the day’s scheduled timed qualifying sessions were cancelled, caused a number of injuries to both the rider involved and some of those spectating. “The competitor was taken to Noble's Hospital,” they explained in a statement, “and is currently reported as 'conscious and talking' with leg injuries, and continues to receive further treatment. “Eight spectators were identified as requiring treatment. All were reported as conscious, and were transferred to Nobles Hospital for further assessment and treatment. “To ensure the incident was managed as effectively as possible, the decision was made to suspend any further racing activity for the remainder of the day. “In accordance with the event’s standard operating procedures, an investigative process is now underway involving race, medical and safety personnel.” Action at the TT is set to continue tomorrow (Tuesday) with a scheduled evening practice session set to get underway at 6:30pm local time. ### First day of Isle of Man TT 2026 cut short by red flag URL: https://www.the-race.com/tt/first-day-of-isle-of-man-tt-2026-cut-short-by-red-flag/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T15:05:37.000Z The opening day of practice for the 2026 Isle of Man TT has been cut short, after an incident on the exit of Parliament Square in Ramsey brought out the red flag during the third of the day’s untimed practice sessions. A lengthy delay followed the incident, and just before 4pm it was announced that there would be no further track action. Practice got underway on schedule, with opening practice in the Supersport and Supertwin class on Monday morning passing without incident. The same was true for the following Sidecar session. However, a red flag during the Superbike and Superstock session brought a halt to proceedings around 1pm, following ‘the implementation of serious incident protocols’ after the incident in Ramsey. “Following the earlier Red Flag incident,” TT organisers said in a brief statement at 4pm, “the Clerk of the Course has confirmed that no further activity will take place on the Course today, as management of the incident continues. A further update will be issued in due course.” There was originally supposed to be the first of the week’s timed qualifying sessions following the stopped Superbike session - so a change in the schedule might now follow. The incident marks the second time in two years that the first day of TT action has been curtailed, with wet weather causing last year’s opening sessions to be cancelled after only the controlled-speed newcomers' lap was completed. ### What Aston Martin will reconsider after Alonso's Canada exit URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/fernando-alonso-canadian-gp-f1-discomfort-aston-martin/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T14:45:21.000Z Aston Martin thinks it may have gone a step too far with its reclined seat positioning this year in the wake of Fernando Alonso's retirement from Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix. Alonso ran as high as 10th place in the early stages of the Montreal race, before steadily slipping down the order and then eventually pulling into the pitlane to retire on lap 24. The two-time F1 champion felt he could not carry on because he was too uncomfortable in his seat, which was increasingly hurting him. Speaking afterwards, Alonso said: "I felt more and more uncomfortable with the laps. The position doesn't feel the right one and we were obviously out of the points, quite far from the points and no threat of rain anymore. So we decided to stop the pain." While such driver discomfort can sometimes be the result of a made-to-measure seat fit not being perfect, Alonso's Aston Martin issue appears to be more closely related to a fundamental design choice. According to chief trackside officer Mike Krack, the drivers' positioning has changed for this year and they have been given a more reclined stance in the car. This will have been triggered by a desire to both lower the centre of gravity but also minimise aerodynamic influence of having the drivers' helmets too high up in airflow. However, the step the team has made has left Alonso with an uncomfortable seating position that gets worse the longer he runs. The troubles may only have flared up so much now because the Aston Martin is more reliable and therefore able to run more consistently. Krack explained that what Alonso was facing was linked to being too far reclined in the AMR26 cockpit. "He has been uncomfortable for a while - and never to the point where it was really, like, a show-stopper," said Krack, when asked by The Race about what was causing the seat problems. "It's like a pressure point where you feel that it gets worse and worse. "I think we need to reconsider, a little bit, the positioning. You try with these cars to be as low as you can - and when you look at how the drivers used to sit over the last years, it goes more and more and more into a lying position. "Maybe we have gone a step too far, but it's something we will need to check." While Aston Martin has tried to make modifications to the seat at grands prix, including on Saturday night in Canada, a proper solution may require an adjusted position in the next week. Alonso said that efforts would revolve around getting a new seat ready for the next race in Monaco at the start of June, with Krack suggesting Aston Martin may need to go back to a previous design. "I think we need to reconsider maybe a little bit and go a little bit back to how we have been in the past," he said. ### Everything we learned from F1's 2026 Canadian Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-canadian-grand-prix-everything-we-learned/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T11:58:16.000Z From major variations in Formula 1 team-mate fortunes to a lot of missed opportunities in a single weekend, here's everything we learned from a very eventful Canadian Grand Prix. ## Two totally different Ferrari weekends in one Canada was Charles Leclerc's self-described worst weekend in F1, at the same time that Lewis Hamilton seemed to be enjoying his best with Ferrari. Leclerc had zero feeling with the car from the first lap of Friday practice to the last lap of the race. On Friday it was the brakes, as he described getting into corners and hoping he didn't go straight. In qualifying it was the tyres, and the threat was either the wall or eighth place. In the race, he spent the final 15 laps driving one to one and a half seconds off the pace just to avoid crashing, still finding moments that were "too close for comfort". Fourth place was “more out of luck than a reward of my hard work” he said afterwards. He attributed it partly to his driving style never having suited Montreal's corner rhythm, but that was about it. Leclerc also admitted the most difficult weekend of his career was juxtaposed sharply against an "absolutely incredible" Hamilton. The seven-time champion arrived having spent his preparation not in the simulator but deeper in the data, and claimed he chose a set-up Ferrari had never tried before, which transformed the car from the first session. By Sunday he was hunting down Max Verstappen for second place, relishing every lap, and describing a feeling he hadn't had all season. Hamilton was clear he still sees value in the simulator for deployment work and correlation, but it was specifically his personal driving preparation where he's now convinced old-school suits him better. We've seen false dawns in the Hamilton-Ferrari relationship before, so his task is to sustain it. At least for Leclerc he should shrug this off quite quickly - as he does have the odd weekend in no-man's land when he's struggling for the right feeling on a low-grip surface. ## Mercedes will intervene with warring drivers Mercedes has painful experience of an intra-team title fight descending into destructive internal rivalry. Its determination not to let George Russell versus Kimi Antonelli end up in Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg territory, and not to risk letting any of the rivals that aren't actually that far behind its drivers in the championship back into the fight, was very evident in Canada. It made sure Russell and Antonelli knew that being allowed to race each other hard was a privilege, not a right, with its firm "if we can't keep it tidy then we'll have to stop you racing" message to both drivers. And that approach extended to trying to squash any narrative of intra-team tension building, with a 'nothing to see here' or 'we've had much worse' tone from Toto Wolff in some media appearances that was at odds with the tone of some of his radio interventions. Mercedes doesn't want its drivers risking taking each other out, it doesn't want the world hearing them lashing out at each other on team radio, and it doesn’t want to give the media a chance to stir it all either. Wolff did admit after the grand prix that Mercedes got "close a few times" to situations that could have taken both cars out, and that internal conversations would focus on when close racing becomes too close and when it's best not to - as he put it - "elaborate on emotions" over the radio. At least it has a little bit of headroom to work with after Russell's retirement made it clearly advantage Antonelli with a 43-point lead. So it'll probably take a little while before this fight gets back into 'each race could swing the balance of power' territory. ## Red Bull's breakthrough was flattered Red Bull's definitely a part of the lead group again, and a direct Ferrari threat, having "cracked quite fundamental issues" since the start of the season according to team principal Laurent Mekies. But while Verstappen's first podium of 2026 represented genuine progress it was aided by Russell's retirement and McLaren's strategic misfire, and it did flatter a difficult weekend. Verstappen admitted he felt more comfortable back in Miami. He made the best of it in Montreal but the car didn't make it easy and he was unhappy with some of Red Bull's choices through the weekend. Isack Hadjar had a harder time still. He looked strong on Saturday: confident, close to Verstappen, happy with the set-up work done overnight despite arguably underachieving in Q3\. But then he described reverting almost entirely to his Friday feeling by Sunday, unable to explain where the pace had gone - and picked up a needless penalty for a dodgy swerve on Leclerc. This was definitely another weekend in a better direction for Red Bull but it hammered home part of its Miami message that there are clearly still improvements to be made. ## Keeping these engines will cost F1 Verstappen While words are cheap, sources close to Verstappen insist he is dead serious in his claim in Canada that if F1's rules do not change for next year then he will walk away. Such is his dislike of the scale of energy management with the current generation of cars he'd rather go off and have fun elsewhere than go through what he described as the mental torment of putting up with something he just does not like. So a lot is riding on the FIA and F1's efforts to try to put together a package of rules tweaks that can move the current 50/50 power split between combustion engine and battery towards 60/40. The move does not yet have the necessary support of four of the six car manufacturers that will be required for a super majority, but there appears to be some room for negotiation that could open the door for Audi and Honda at least to join Mercedes and Red Bull in backing it. It is in Red Bull's interest for the change to happen so it can keep hold of its star asset, and Mekies is convinced that common sense will prevail and everyone will in the end go for what's best for F1. ## Albon can't catch a break If it's not one thing for Alex Albon this year, it's another. A weekend that started with the "freak accident" of striking a groundhog and crashing out of the only practice session - which also forced him to miss sprint qualifying - ended with Oscar Piastri spearing him early in the grand prix. Albon felt he was making good progress through the field before that, and was close to fighting for a points-paying position. He was measured about the Piastri clash and said there wasn't malicious intent - which was obvious, as Piastri seemingly lost all grip while two cars back and cleaned out the helpless Albon with a huge hit to the side. Above all else, Albon feels he just needs more time in the car than he's currently managing. "We've got a tricky car and we're also not getting many laps to learn from it," he said. For example, In Canada he felt he was still learning deployment management even on lap 12 of the race. Which was just when Piastri ploughed into him. The combination of reliability issues, accidents and disrupted weekends has left Albon consistently on the back foot with barely any uninterrupted running while team-mate Carlos Sainz has managed three points finishes. ## Development war proves inconclusive Mercedes brought its first major upgrade of the 2026 season to Canada, one race after McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull did so in Miami. The upgrade comprised changes to the front wing, front wing endplates, front and rear corner assemblies, floorboard, floor corner and floor body. But despite continuing to dominate with a race pace advantage reckoned to be around three tenths of a second per lap, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the upgrade hasn't yet proved completely convincing. He expects the picture to become more clear with time, albeit with the caveat that the next track in Monaco won't be a good test. And it's not that the upgrade didn't work as such, simply that Mercedes isn't certain it has delivered as big a step as anticipated. On the plus side, it has made tweaks to improve its starts, which paid off in Montreal. That includes Antonelli having a modified clutch paddle to improve his sensitivity and consistency. Rival McLaren effectively completed its Miami upgrade in Montreal by introducing a new front wing design, a new halo winglet, and updates to the coke bottle/engine cover, floor edges and rear suspension. However, like Mercedes it proved inconclusive. McLaren took the front wing off its cars after free practice pending further running in upcoming races. ## Where Cadillac is 'lacking tremendously' The evidence of Cadillac’s first F1 season so far suggests its car itself is progressing faster than the team operations around it. This was a great weekend for Cadillac in terms of being a bigger nuisance to others in the midfield. Sergio Perez led the charge and has spoken encouragingly about the performance trajectory but Canada also exposed the gap between potential and delivery in stark terms. After wrongly gambling on intermediates at the start, Perez recovered well through the field before a freak suspension failure ended his race. In the end there wasn't an unlikely point to be grabbed here even in a grand prix of high attrition but easily Cadillac's best result so far went begging. "Operationally we are lacking tremendously," Perez said afterwards. "We are not maximising the results." On operations - whether that's strategy calls, reliability, or the mechanical execution of a race weekend - Perez said he is impatient. Some growing pains are inevitable but the margin for the kind of costly mistakes that defined Canada is shrinking fast. ## Alpine drivers have traded lives In the first races before F1's April break, the dynamic at Alpine followed most of last year's: Pierre Gasly was the established, faster side of the garage, and Franco Colapinto was struggling to piece things together. After Colapinto flipped the script in Miami, he proved it was no one-off in Canada. Right now the two drivers have traded lives because it's not just that Colapinto's quick and Alpine has two drivers in the mix - Colapinto's thriving and Gasly's struggling. Colapinto had a tricky sprint qualifying after losing most of free practice due to a technical problem but was still faster than Gasly, then raced strongly to a point-less ninth in the race. He built on this with a Q3 result in main qualifying, which he turned into more points on Sunday - although got lucky to escape running off track in the pit exit and bumping the wall. Gasly, meanwhile, was on the back foot all weekend and continued a miserable narrative from Miami - as he said "I'm absolutely nowhere" since Alpine upgraded its car. He clawed back to eighth in the Canada race, but was mainly aided by attrition, and continued after to vaguely allude to feeling something in the car and seeing something in the data that isn't right. After Alpine spent the earlier part of the season managing noise from Colapinto's fanbase, which directed sabotage accusations at the team amid his difficult results, now it's Gasly who is scratching his head wondering what's going on. ## Key McLaren weakness has lingered into 2026 While McLaren has faced accusations of being too cautious with its strategy at times in the recent past, it certainly diverged from the pack in Canada as the only frontrunning team to start on intermediates. But with pre-race drizzle having eased off, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's doubts were obvious as early as the formation laps. McLaren was open afterwards that it made a mistake, but was also adamant its decisions needed to be judged based on the information available at the time. With drizzle coming in, it felt warming up the slicks with the unknown quantity of 2026 cars in the wet could have been a nightmare. It also argued there was a chance going for the inters could have paid off better if the start hadn't been delayed. The six-minute window between when the original start would have been and when the race eventually got going - after Arvid Lindblad's stranded car was removed - did shift things much more towards the slicks. Without that delay, perhaps the whole picture would be completely different - McLaren mused as much anyway. Some of its rivals were quick to dismiss that; they said they knew once the tyre blankets came off that McLaren had made a big blunder. ## Aston Martin has unusual new reliability problem Aston Martin and Honda started 2026 with vibration problems regularly shaking car parts or drivers into retirement. But Fernando Alonso's exit from the Canadian GP was for something totally different: a problem with his seat, "where I feel more and more uncomfortable with the laps". While Alonso would not go into too many details about what had happened, just that the position wasn't right, Aston Martin later elaborated on it being a problem that may need a design tweak. As part of a deliberate trend to make the drivers' seating positions as optimal as possible for car performance, the seating position has been rotated backwards. This means both Alonso and Lance Stroll are laying back more than before. This appears to have triggered a pinch point somewhere for Alonso, which only fully manifested itself in the race to the point where he could not continue in Montreal. It should be fixable in the short term and will be a focus prior to the next race in Monaco. ## Midfield decided by luck not judgement Audi started both drivers on intermediates, which immediately undermined their race having lined up on the grid with Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto on the fringes of the points. Hulkenberg also picked up a penalty for speeding in the pitlane, and had a spin in the race. Another poor start for Bortoleto in the sprint race part of the weekend was a frustrating repeat of the car's known weakness at launches too. Having needed a cleaner weekend, Audi's ended up with poor execution again. This time not through operational, engineering or mechanical limitations as such but poor decisions and driving errors married to its known problems. That's a missed opportunity given the attrition of this race, and how much of the midfield result was determined more by luck than judgement. Racing Bulls and Haas were able to come away with points finishes but only because others dropped out. Linbdlad was excellent all weekend but Racing Bulls lost him at the start with a problem on the grid. Team-mate Liam Lawson wasn't particularly happy despite finishing seventh, as the race pace just wasn't there - so this team didn't fully capitalise on its upgraded car being really strong over one lap in particular, as it seemed to fire up its tyres well in cold conditions. Haas, meanwhile, had myriad problems all weekend with its new upgrade package - which seemed to introduce some troubling characteristics and left the team on the back foot in terms of set-up progress and general discovery of how the car behaved on the limit. ### Why MotoGP's not interested in Moto2's best rider URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/why-motogp-not-interested-in-best-moto2-rider/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T10:19:12.000Z The MotoGP 2027 field will have multiple Moto2 graduates in it, almost certainly more than two, but there is no current expectation that the 2026 points leader will be among them. Manu Gonzalez has been the standout rider in the Moto2 field through six rounds so far, the only rider able to run at or near the podium places week to week, as reflected by his 18.5-point lead. He has 46.5 points over David Alonso and 55.5 points over Dani Holgado, the two Aspar riders who had been widely touted as the pre-season favourites - and who are believed to have agreements in place to join MotoGP with Honda and Gresini Ducati respectively. Izan Guevara is thought to be the frontrunner for the remaining Pramac Yamaha MotoGP seat. Celestino Vietti [is in the frame at VR46](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/the-four-contenders-for-rossis-teams-2027-motogp-seat/). Senna Agius has been rumoured to be in the mix too. That's five names in total potentially heading for the 2027 MotoGP grid - none of them being the points-leading Gonzalez. "You can believe it or not, but the fact is that I am not speaking to anybody in MotoGP," his manager Eddy Rovelli told Speedweek.com before the most recent round at Barcelona. In that same interview, Rovelli pointed to World Superbikes as Gonzalez's most viable route forward - and lamented a "shocking" lack of knowledge about the Moto2 field among the MotoGP managerial class. An emphatic Gonzalez win at Barcelona might have changed something but there is no sign of that as of yet. In the meantime, he is known to be firmly on Honda's World Superbike radar - as reported by both GPOne and Speedweek.com, he would slot into the factory team as replacement for Somkiat Chantra (who would be moved to a separate entry). This would be the financially secure choice. Alternatives - in a paddock where Gonzalez had already established himself in the lower classes before pivoting to Moto2 - appear to be BMW (if one of its two veterans leaves) or Ducati (if Nicolo Bulega gets his MotoGP move and nobody else swoops in). But why not MotoGP, where Gonzalez has already had an encouraging toe-in-the-water test last year as injury stand-in for Ai Ogura at Trackhouse? Why, barring a change of heart from an entry like Tech3 KTM or Trackhouse, are his avenues closed off? Rovelli is surely at least partly right that MotoGP team managers could take more interest in the intricacies of Moto2 rider performances. Many decisions on who to promote in recent years have come off as scattershot and spur-of-the-moment - though a lot of those ended up really, really working out. But perhaps a lack of firm interest in Gonzalez is, in fact, a sign of a more systematic approach. Gonzalez has clearly been the best rider in Moto2 so far this year and, if you value linear progression year-on-year by a rider in the intermediate category, his performances should delight you. He should, of course, already have been champion last year, but the eventual title collapse need not be a primary consideration in scouting a rider for MotoGP (else we would not have Ogura on the grid, would we?). But there's a couple of minor 'red flags' for Gonzalez's MotoGP viability - though red flags only relative to his direct competition. Of the riders in the top 11 in the standings in Moto2 right now, only Vietti has more Moto2 starts. Of those same riders, only Vietti and Alonso Lopez are older than 23-year-old Gonzalez. Twenty-three is nothing but you can hardly fault MotoGP team bosses for wondering how much of a factor Gonzalez's extra experience is in his current edge over the likes of Alonso and Holgado, or fellow sophomores Ivan Ortola and Collin Veijer, or even closest title rival Guevara. The same all applies to Vietti, but he has an established MotoGP structure relationship that might just get him over the line - otherwise he would have no chance. And, of course, Gonzalez's Spanish passport [already came up last year as a hindrance](https://www.the-race.com/motogp/the-unusual-motogp-obstacle-facing-moto2s-top-rider/) \- and it is true that he would surely waltz onto the MotoGP grid with his current results were he from a more under-served market, but it's just part of the full puzzle. Gonzalez himself had this to say about riders he's beating in Moto2 right now getting a MotoGP look-in over him: "Really, if I'm honest, I don't care. In the end, time puts you in the place you deserve - and I really think this, so I push myself every day. "Even if the opportunity doesn't come, I will continue improving, and continue pushing - and if it doesn't come now, I will win the next race, or do what I have to do the next day. "Maybe it's something that can help you push...one step more, to show, 'If you don't want \[me\], look what I'm able to do'. But, as I said, I'm always at my 100%." His current "100%" is MotoGP-worthy already. It would be very good to have Manu Gonzalez on the premier class grid in 2027; do not mistake anything written above as an argument to the contrary. But if it doesn't come off, there would be a certain logic to it. The situation is not necessarily unjust - just unlucky. ### Why McLaren's so convinced its failed tyre gamble wasn't 'stupid' URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-convinced-f1-canadian-gp-tyre-gamble-not-stupid/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T07:53:50.000Z Lando Norris insists the intermediate tyre choice that derailed McLaren's hopes in Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix was not a "stupid" one despite ultimately backfiring. Second-row starters Norris and Oscar Piastri were two of seven drivers - as well as the two Audi drivers, the two Cadillacs and Carlos Sainz in the Williams - who opted not to start on slicks in the uncertain conditions. But it quickly became clear that the choice was not a good one, with both McLaren drivers feeling on the formation laps that they were on the wrong tyre and it was probably worth switching to slicks. The duo duly took the start on intermediates, though, with Norris surging into the lead at the first corner. But it was clear that the wet-weather rubber was not going to last. Piastri pitted for slicks at the end of the opening lap while Norris followed him in a lap later just as he was about to be passed for the lead by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli. While the inter choice was ultimately a wrong one, the team's drivers and management are convinced that unusual circumstances made its strategy look to be a worse call than it was. And this, Norris said, was backed up by the fact that even with factors conspiring against McLaren, he was still able launch past the slick-shod Mercedes duo of Antonelli and polesitter George Russell at the start. "I just had a lot more grip," he said. "Simple as that, honestly. "It shows how slippery it was for them in the beginning, and I had a two-second gap after one lap. "It wasn't like it was stupid to be on that tyre. It was just drying out - and of course when they got a bit of temperature into the tyres, it worked out for them. "1% more rain or a few little bits of drizzle here or there and it really would have suited us a lot more." McLaren argued that it was not just the rain easing off that worked against its intermediate choice. It felt that the delays caused by an unusual call for two aborted starts meant that a time window to capitalise on the wet-weather compounds had closed. Shortly before the original start was due to get going, Arvid Lindblad's Racing Bulls car caused the light procedure to be aborted when it suffered a suspected gearbox problem. A second formation lap was called and a third then followed because Lindblad's car had not been cleared off the grid before the pack came around to their slots again. The third formation lap proved successful but, with more than six minutes having elapsed by this time, conditions had improved by some margin. And it was this shift that McLaren team principal Andrea Stella felt potentially made all the difference in holding back the advantage of the intermediate and not hurting the slicks. Stella noticed in this phase that "if you looked at the pitlane, it went from being dark grey to grey, like dry" as the drizzle faded. "I would have been pretty interested in seeing the cars with the dry tyres had the race started at the time it should have started," he said. "I think it's a bit unlucky with the fact that the rain just stopped, and the fact that there was a double extra formation lap which I'm not sure exactly when is the last time that we saw it. "So, in hindsight, we were penalised by the decision. But at the time that the decision needed to be made. I think the conditions existed to fit an intermediate tyre." He later added: "With the rain lasting for a few more minutes and the race start happening at the right time, we could have seen, I think, cars struggling on dry tyres." McLaren said that the call to go for the intermediate tyre did not feel like a gamble at the time it was made and that both drivers and team management all supported the idea prior to the three-minute board, when tyre selections have to be made. Piastri, who said over the team radio before the start that he felt being on the intermediates was a mistake, said the feeling had been very different in the moments McLaren committed to the tyre. "It was a group call, I was one of the people that said yes to the inters," said Piastri, who was ultimately [classified two laps down](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1-2026-canadian-grand-prix/) in 11th having also hit Alex Albon's Williams during the race. "Between the \[Canadian national\] anthem and getting in the car, it had got significantly wetter on the ground. "And given how difficult getting to the grid was, I thought that the inters, if you could get temperature into them, would be faster. That was our whole thinking." Stella said: "It \[the decision\] was relatively shared by the people and the drivers. I even gave my input myself because when, like I said before, a call needed to be made. I just wanted to be sure that we were on a tyre that we could withstand the first lap." Norris said the call was more motivated by feeling that "the slicks would be terrible" and he felt that there were "valid reasons for doing what we did". And he reckoned that while with hindsight McLaren could have minimised the damage by pitting for slicks on any of the formation laps, there were justifiable reasons why it felt better to commit to the race. "We thought there would still be a very high chance of a safety car and things like that," said Norris, who eventually retired with a gearbox failure having climbed back into the top 10. "Even with staying out on track, our safety car loss is 10 seconds. I was leading by two - and, if a safety car came out, not everyone would be on their delta. "I still could have come out on a new slick, probably inside the top 10, maybe even better. I probably would have been better than that even. "There were a lot of positive things that could have come from it. Just none of those things came our way. It was a shame. "Apart from the very good start and a good lap one, we were just unlucky." ### The biggest problem Russell faces after Canada blow URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/george-russell-mercedes-f1-2026-title-problem/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T00:47:31.000Z Given George Russell outscored Kimi Antonelli by 169 points across their first season as Mercedes Formula 1 team-mates, the current 43-point gap with at least 17 rounds remaining should be surmountable. But this isn’t the 2025-spec Russell vs Antonelli power balance anymore. And though Russell took both Montreal poles, won the sprint and was leading the Canadian Grand Prix when his car failed, he did not look massively quicker at any stage of the weekend. Antonelli actually looked like he had better underlying pace throughout - and that’s a concern. Russell batted away his awful Miami round, calling it a bogey track - so to then have to fight tooth and nail to just about edge Antonelli at a Russell stronghold (he’s taken every Montreal pole since 2024 and won there last year) wasn’t exactly a swashbuckling return to form. Montreal does tend to flatter the car that’s following as it’s a big advantage to have the tow, and the extra bit of recharging permitted in 2026 if you’re within a second of the car in front, but Antonelli was at the very least on Russell’s pace throughout. Moreover, the points just aren’t coming. Russell can’t buy a non-sprint win at the moment. He’s complained about his misfortune a few times already this year, with a technical problem in qualifying in China where he was on top that weekend, and a badly timed safety car that dropped him back behind Antonelli in Japan. He could, maybe should, have won in Canada. But instead he’s had to watch Antonelli rack up his fourth win in a row. No wonder he feels a bit hard done by and like “the gods don’t want me to be in this fight”, as he put it. That’s also why he reacted so emotionally to the retirement - flinging his headrest out of the car onto the track, and getting himself into trouble with the FIA as a result, with a suspended €5,000 fine for what was termed an ‘unsafe act’. Clearly, beating Antonelli once is hard enough. Russell needs to do it seven times in a row just to guarantee getting back in the championship lead. With Mercedes still more likely than not to be first and second unless they get in their own way, Russell can expect that if he does win it’ll likely be Antonelli following him home and minimising the points loss. Antonelli’s step is similar to what Oscar Piastri did from his year two in F1 to year three, to put Lando Norris in so much trouble in 2025\. But that same example carries an obvious warning, though. Russell was right to call this Antonelli's "to lose" - but it's very, very early in a long season to write anything off, and Piastri went from strong championship favourite at the end of August last year to only third in the final standings. There's a lot further to go in this season for Antonelli than when Piastri's title bid crumbled, too. Plus, Antonelli is still messy in his execution, and this weekend was guilty of some unnecessary team-mate belligerence that could bite him at some point. All that’s to say it’s round 5 of 22 - maybe more if one of the cancelled Middle Eastern races gets re-added. And there’ll surely be more swings between now and the end of the year. But perhaps the most relevant point to make about Russell is the odd swing won’t be enough. Antonelli looks like a formidable opponent. For all the talk in pre-season and back in Australia that Russell was the clear favourite and had learned how to maximise these new engines and rules so quickly, Antonelli looks extremely at home with F1 2026 himself. He is quick, a nuisance, aggressive - and at his best he’s been simply too good for Russell to match. ### Winners and losers from F1's 2026 Canadian Grand Prix URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1-2026-canadian-grand-prix/ Last updated: 2026-05-25T00:28:56.000Z The big Formula 1 championship swing offered some easy scope for our Canadian Grand Prix winners and losers picks… and so did a few teams’ reactions to the weather… ## Loser: George Russell (DNF) A worrying weekend for George Russell, not just because he’s now facing a 43-point deficit in the championship due to the power unit issue that put him out of the race while leading. But worrying because of how much of a nuisance his 19-year-old Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli was all weekend long on one of Russell’s strongest circuits. Russell looked more composed in battle on Sunday, but Antonelli looked *faster*, as he had for much of the Montreal weekend. That’s as big a headache for Russell to solve as the meaty points deficit. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: Lewis Hamilton (2nd) We’ve seen Lewis Hamilton have plenty of strong starts to weekends at Ferrari, but comparable endings have been few and far between. Not here, at a Montreal track he’s had so much success at. Though boosted by ditching the simulator before this event and taking a new set-up direction, his podium chances looked to have ended when Max Verstappen passed him early on. But excellent execution in the pitstop phase helped Hamilton reduce a gap that was over five seconds down to nothing, and the pass to best Verstappen was every bit as worthy as you’d expect as he fired it around the outside on the entry to Turn 1, darting to the apex to control the exit and, in-turn, the entry to Turn 2. A weekend where you could forget the last season and a bit of disappointment of Hamilton at Ferrari and roll back the years - he looked every bit a relevant and fierce threat in Montreal. **\- Jack Benyon** ## Loser: McLaren (11th & DNF) On what’s otherwise been a very stellar weekend, Montreal Sunday was verging on embarrassing for McLaren with multiple errors. Picking the right tyres in mixed conditions is never easy, but putting both its cars on intermediates on a track that clearly wasn’t wet enough for them was a clear-cut, no hindsight needed mistake. That was compounded by some driver errors: Lando Norris’s trip across the grass and Oscar Piastri punting Alex Albon’s Williams at the hairpin. The resulting damage and 10-second time penalty ruined any chance of Piastri recovering to a point, while Norris had mounted a solid recovery into the top 10 before retiring with a reported gearbox issue. **\- JS** ## Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st) The biggest thing today is the 25 points versus zero for Russell. Russell could now beat Antonelli in three straight all-Mercedes victory duels - and he would still be one point short of negating the impact of today. But you have to take the main course of the points swing with the seasoning of the dynamic inside Mercedes. Sure, Antonelli was too hot-headed in the sprint and dropped out of the top two; sure, he lost pole; sure, he was second in the grand prix when Russell's car conked out. That's not how it *felt,* though. That's not the gist of it. On a weekend that was supposed to restore normality to the balance of power between Mercedes' steady veteran and young sophomore, Antonelli consistently looked like he had Russell on the ropes. He just looks way too good for Russell to feel at all optimistic about overturning what is now a 43-point lead. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: Charles Leclerc (4th) Charles Leclerc said on Saturday that this had been one of his worst weekends in F1 and it didn’t feel like it got much better on Sunday, either. Struggling with brakes, then tyres, then all around feeling, Leclerc was stuck in fifth in the race until he was jumped by Isack Hadjar during the pitstop phase, and then Hadjar almost drove Leclerc off the road - which cost him more time. He made it through, but was then a distant fourth for the rest of the race after Russell’s retirement promoted him a position. And when he was told Ferrari team-mate Hamilton had picked up his pace at one point in the race, Leclerc scolded his engineer and told him not talk to him until the final lap in a no-nonsense, spiky message. A really disappointing weekend and a rare one in recent years - Leclerc well overshadowed by his team-mate. "It feels good to still maximise points on a day like this, but I will say the bigger feeling out of a race like this is the disappointment of such a poor performance," he said. **\- JB** ## Winner: Franco Colapinto (6th) Franco Colapinto has been in good form at Alpine in recent races, going from what was a foregone conclusion of a loss to Pierre Gasly last year to repeatedly besting his team-mate and looking good value for his F1 seat again just like he did at Williams. There’s not a lot to report from his race which could have been an eighth if the McLarens hadn’t imploded, but you can’t control other people’s results and performances. He and the Alpine were nowhere near the top three teams in the race, but Colapinto delivered another error-free weekend. And his reward is the best finish of his F1 career so far. **\- JB** ## Loser: Alex Albon (DNF) This has been a strong contender for the most brutal weekend of Albon’s F1 career so far. It begins with Albon colliding with a groundhog that sends him into the wall in practice, which forces him to miss sprint qualifying. He’s then having a decent grand prix despite limited track time, only to be torpedoed out of the race by Oscar Piastri at the hairpin. Albon simply couldn’t catch a break in Montreal. **\- JS** ## Winner: Liam Lawson (7th) Liam Lawson probably described his seventh place better than any of us could: “Considering everything this weekend, it's been a good result.” He’s definitely not wrong. After missing almost the entirety of Friday’s running, Lawson had to start from scratch in the sprint. Admittedly capitalising on the misfortunes of other drivers ahead of him to get into the points on Sunday, Lawson also had to deal with tyre temperature struggles and general strategy bugs to get it over the line. It was the best he could do given Colapinto’s superior pace in the Alpine ahead, but Lawson showed he was more than up to the challenge by holding off Gasly in the closing stages to bring home a welcome seventh. Exactly as Lawson said, a good result that rewarded Racing Bulls with some well-deserved points from an all-around tough weekend. **\- Eden Hannigan** ## Loser: Arvid Lindblad (DNS) Lawson’s eventual result was probably all the more satisfying because he’d been overshadowed at Racing Bulls up to the point its two cars’ fortunes abruptly switched on the grand prix grid. Rookie Arvid Lindblad had been enjoying his most convincing weekend since his standout start in Melbourne, with ninth-eighth-ninth in the competitive Montreal sessions pre-race. But Lindblad didn’t get a chance to continue that form in the grand prix as a clutch issue meant he couldn’t take the start. **\- JS** ## Winner: Carlos Sainz (9th) Salvaging two points from a race you started on the wrong-weather tyre is obviously an enormous win, especially for a team in Williams's position. Given his team-mate's horror weekend of various calamities, Carlos Sainz was almost flying solo for Williams here - and nearly ended all hope with the start-on-intermediates call that he took credit for and admitted quickly became evident as a disaster. Points-scoring needed attrition up ahead and an assist from Haas, which offered up a free spot through a brutally slow pitstop for Ollie Bearman. "He wouldn't have \[beaten me\] - but I was stationary in the pits for a while," Bearman lamented. "But that goes to show that as long as you basically complete the race, you're finishing the points today with a half-decent car." But there is a key word - "half-decent", or even better than that, which Sainz genuinely felt the FW48 was in the race. "After the first stop from inter to mediums, we had mega pace. Honestly, for moments I was matching or quicker than the McLarens around me, but we were on the same strategy. "That allowed us to get back into points, back into contention and get our race sorted because we needed something quite special to come back from the back." **\- VK** ## Loser: Audi (12th & 13th) On paper, at least one Audi could, and probably should, have got a point from Sunday’s race, but it never looked on the cards after the team was lulled into the wrong call of starting on the intermediates. Both drivers defended the decision, explaining that Audi’s documented struggles with getting heat into its tyres on cold tracks made it seem like the correct call to start on the inters, though Nico Hulkenberg also acknowledged with hindsight “it was absolutely not the right thing to do.” Gabriel Bortoleto remained exactly where he qualified in 13th, even after three drivers starting ahead of him failed to see the finish. He put this down to feeling like “driving on ice” after experiencing the coldest race of his short F1 career to date. Hulkenberg dropped one place to 12th from his starting position in part due to a penalty for speeding in the pitlane, although he felt “it didn’t really matter in a race like this.” The pair did echo their faith in the strong Audi package, but it was the tyres and the wrong decision that meant both drivers left Canada without the points they’d been hoping for. **\- EH** ## Loser: Aston Martin (15th & DNF) Aston Martin knows it isn't going to have a particularly fast car any time soon, so until that happens it should ideally be maximising its chances of profiting off others' misfortune by becoming more adept at finishing races. Retiring your faster driver due to a seat problem doesn't scream "adept at finishing races" - though Fernando Alonso claimed it was more frustrating how quickly 10th place after five laps turned into double-digit seconds out of the points before his retirement. The less said about Lance Stroll's weekend overall, the better. **\- VK** ### Our verdict on Russell's heartbreak and Antonelli dogfight URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/our-verdict-george-russell-heartbreak-and-kimi-antonelli-dogfight/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T23:10:37.000Z Formula 1 2026's title fight kicked into a new gear in the Canadian Grand Prix with Kimi Antonelli's fourth consecutive victory and a heartbreaking retirement for George Russell. Our team give their verdict on Antonelli opening up a 43-point championship lead, something [Russell says](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-title-now-antonellis-to-lose-russell/) means it's now Antonelli's title "to lose". ## Antonelli's 'monster' leap is baffling **Valentin Khorounzhiy** Russell outscored Antonelli by 169 points last year. If you gave him a 43-point deduction to start the year, I would have still backed him at that time to overturn it versus Antonelli. But that was before these five rounds, which offer a convincing sample size that suggests Antonelli has taken a 'monster' leap. Like Oscar Piastri did from year two to year three to put Lando Norris in so much trouble - except maybe even bigger, and now (like Piastri) aided by a big dollop of attrition. Antonelli is still messy in his execution, and I cannot imagine that he will have endeared himself to Mercedes with hints of some serious team-mate battle belligerence this weekend. But he also looks fundamentally on top of qualifying and racing under these regs, and so much unlike the young driver that Russell had such a comfortable edge over for all but a couple of freak occurrences last year. ## This headache isn't going anywhere for Mercedes **Scott Mitchell-Malm** Russell put it well when he called this championship Antonelli's "to lose" - but it's very, very early in a long season. You only have to look back a few months to how rapidly Piastri's 2025 season fell apart for a reminder of the way a young driver who looks rock solid can suddenly haemorrhage points. And there's a lot further to go in this season for Antonelli than when Piastri's title bid crumbled. I'm much more interested in the impact this will/could have on the dynamic at Mercedes. We saw things start to boil over this weekend as the two went wheel-to-wheel properly for the first time. It started in the sprint, continued into the grand prix, and was a sustained, hard fight. And clearly it was on the brink of going too far, as Mercedes had to intervene with a threat to call the fighting off entirely. Is that going to get any less tense with Russell desperately trying to claw back points? I doubt it. Russell being removed from the picture today defused the situation for Mercedes, and in terms of having to deal with a 'winner-takes-all' swing, the can's been kicked down the road. But I can see this Canada spectacle becoming a recurring theme of the next run of races, and I'm very much here for it. ## There's no need for Russell to panic **Luke Hinsull** Russell needs to suck it up - any title fight has its downs as well as ups, and he's not out of it yet. His despair in the [media pen interviews](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-title-now-antonellis-to-lose-russell/) afterwards show he's taking this hit a bit more than he normally does. That tells me he's starting to feel it. 43 points is a big gap, no doubt, but we're on round *five.* There's literally tonnes more racing to go, and there's no telling what on earth Monaco will throw up next. I don't think he's rattled, and he's probably been the more level-headed of him and Antonelli across the weekend - Kimi quite fast but scruffy and lost his head a little on Saturday - but if he carries on like this, Russell is going to come off as rattled. Get back to base, get it together. This retirement wasn't in his control, so why let your head dip? As for Kimi, he's living in the moment, and it's fantastic that his maturity is building and locking into regular winning ways - he just needs to stay cool and keep plugging away. I'd like to see how he'd deal with the same scenario as Russell and if things go wrong. As for the dynamics between them, Toto Wolff will likely keep a tight leash on the pair. I'd not want to have been monitoring his pulse rate, but it's massively entertaining in a sometimes painful season to watch, and nice to see two of them actually going at it. More of it, please. And I don't mind if there's the odd shunt between them to really spice it up. ## Russell's playing clever games **Jack Benyon** Russell is a very clever and impressive operator and he likely knows it will take every trick in the book to beat Antonelli. Before his DNF, he had triumphed in the weekend by forcing Antonelli into more errors and riling up his volatile team-mate. So this new line - all but conceding the title and saying the pressure is off - is just the latest spear fired in Antonelli's direction from the Russell arsenal. Put all the pressure on Antonelli, remind everyone of how many issues you've had yourself, and that Miami was the only weekend you've truly been at a tangible loss to Antonelli, and keep pushing the hot-headed team-mate into mistakes. That's how you get back into this title. The McLaren team-mates showed anything could happen last year, and I'd say both of their drivers are more mature than Antonelli. So that's a window of opportunity. The problem is, Antonelli is so quick, even playing games with him might not work by the time he gets himself into the best possible window to attack and play his own games in return. ## Mercedes must keep one eye behind it **Gary Anderson** It’s definitely gloves off at Mercedes and it's great to see, but it must be hell in the pits. Four grand prix wins in a row for teenager Antonelli shows he has really integrated with these cars, and overall, between Antonelli and Russell, Mercedes has won everything so far this year. Now with a stretched gap of 43 points to Russell, mainly because of Russell’s DNF, the job just got easier for one driver and tougher for the other. However, both of them need to keep an eye on the rear view mirror as McLaren (when it doesn’t make stupid mistakes like it did today), Ferrari, and Red Bull are also there, nipping at Mercedes' heels. My advice to Antonelli would be to tidy it up a little bit. Compared to Russell, there were a few occasions this weekend when he was basically out of control, but he still survived and took the win, so that’s all you can ask of a teenager. The only thing I would like to add beyond Mercedes is: why did McLaren start on inters? Yes, it *might* have been a little better on the first lap or two, but after that it was on a hiding to nothing. ## An alarming deficit for Russell **Eden Hannigan** I must admit that as soon as he got ahead on the start, I felt as if Antonelli was going to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings today - even with the twists and turns that the intense Mercedes battle presented. What I did not account for, though, was that his lead in the championship would grow by an entire 25 points after Russell’s DNF. A cruel blow that not only took the fire out of the race but also handed his team-mate a healthy margin in the standings. It’s harsh on Russell that it’s something completely out of his control that has strengthened Antonelli’s grip at the top, but I do believe that these kinds of things generally even out over the course of the season. Russell’s not beaten just yet; it’s far too early for him to start thinking this way, but he’ll no doubt be alarmed after missing out through no fault of his own today. However, the one thing he should definitely be alarmed by, in my opinion, is that the fastest driver in the world is getting away - and that driver is Antonelli. ## Intra-team fights are better than ever in 2026 **Josh Suttill** A key early 2026 F1 takeaway for me seems to be that intra-team fights are more exciting than ever this year. Whether it be the Ferraris at Shanghai or the Mercedes duo in Montreal, the back-and-forth, elbows-out racing between team-mates is great to see. That is partly a symptom of the yo-yo racing this 'battery world championship' produces, but it feels more refined when its two cars have the exact same battery. So often in the past, team-mate A would pass team-mate B, and that would be the end of the battle. But in 2026, those battles are lasting all race long (or until a technical problem strikes). That's all the more encouraging to see on a weekend where Mercedes looks to have pulled even further clear and the prospect of a one-team title fight grows. If we get more battles like this week-in, week-out, it will be a lot easier to stomach. ### Russell's bleak F1 title prediction after Canadian GP blow URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-title-now-antonellis-to-lose-russell/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T22:39:46.000Z George Russell says the 2026 Formula 1 title is Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli’s "to lose" after Russell retired while leading the Canadian Grand Prix. A power unit issue interrupted Russell and Antonelli’s dogfight for victory in Montreal and has opened up a 43-point chasm between Antonelli and Russell after just five events. It continues what Russell feels has been an unlucky 2026 season so far, after he was compromised in qualifying at Shanghai and by the safety car timing that cost him victory to Antonelli at Suzuka. "I mean, right now it's his to lose," a despondent Russell said after the race when The Race asked about the title fight. "It's so many points ahead. It feels like... the gods don't want me to be in this fight - when I look at the safety car timing in Japan, breaking down in China Q3 \[while\] fighting for pole, breaking down from the lead here today. "But pressure's off. Go out, enjoy every single race, try and win every single race - and I've got nothing to lose, so I don't want to be stood here talking like that. "It is, of course, frustrating and I want to be in that fight. Hopefully, the luck turns." Just as they had during the sprint race, Russell and Antonelli raced each other hard during the grand prix, even banging wheels at one stage, leading to calls from Mercedes to calm things down. "I loved it. I thought it was great. I've not had a battle like this in years," Russell said. "I haven't seen a battle like this probably since Lewis \[Hamilton\] and Nico \[Rosberg\] in Bahrain 2014\. And these new cars allow you to do that. These new engines allow you to do that. "I don't know why anybody wants to change them - because we had amazing battles in Melbourne, we had great battles in China, Kimi and I have had a great battle today and yesterday - and that's only possible because of how these power units are. "So, yeah, that's my viewpoint." Russell called it "extremely difficult" to break the one-second overtake mode barrier, which ensured the Mercedes cars remained close together from the start of the race until Russell’s problem. "It was just challenging," Russell said of the conditions. "In these cold conditions, the only way you get grip is by pushing the tyres to get the temperature. "So you're just threading that needle of how hard you push but knowing the consequences are quite big - but the pace was strong." ### Antonelli wins Canadian GP after another fraught fight and Russell DNF URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/antonelli-wins-canadian-gp-after-another-fraught-fight-and-russell-dnf/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T22:20:21.000Z George Russell retired from the Formula 1's 2026 Canadian Grand Prix and ensured a fourth straight victory for Kimi Antonelli, while Mercedes' closest pace threat McLaren endured a torrid day. After earlier rain, McLaren chose to start the race on intermediates, but the track had virtually dried and further rain stayed away, forcing Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to pit for slicks soon after the start. Piastri would end up 11th after receiving a penalty for taking out Alex Albon, and Norris was out of the race with a reliability issue. Meanwhile, Antonelli and Russell engaged in repeated wheel-to-wheel battles before Russell was forced to retire with a power unit issue. Lewis Hamilton overtook Max Verstappen for second place late on. Split by half a second, the Ferrari driver and Red Bull driver shared the podium for the first time since the 2024 British GP. ## The Antonelli-Russell battle continues Antonelli lost the lead to Norris at the start but regained it when the McLaren pitted, leading to a Mercedes duel that tested the team's rules of engagement. Russell attempted to pass Antonelli at the start of lap three but backed out. He made a concrete bid for the place at the end of lap six, passing Antonelli at the back straight. Antonelli locked up in avoidance and went straight on. The back-and-forth continued at the end of lap 12 of 68 when Russell locked up and Antonelli caught up, but backed out of a move. On lap 17, Russell locked up at the hairpin. The Mercedes were alongside into the final braking zone but Russell hung on and Antonelli realised that he had to back out. Four laps later, Antonelli closed in again but Russell defended well. As the Mercedes met backmarkers at the end of the next lap, Russell locked up at the hairpin once again and Antonelli passed him on the back straight. Antonelli locked up at the hairpin on lap 24 and now Russell was ahead, but not by much. The pair were wheel-to-wheel - Pirelli paint rubbing off - into the final chicane and Antonelli was forced over the grass and rejoined in front. Antonelli argued against giving the place back: “Why mate?! He pushed me off, and I was ahead! What's the point?” But he relented. Mercedes then stepped in. “So we've got to tidy up this racing. We need to keep it clean. So if we can't keep it tidy then we'll have to stop you racing. Message to both cars,” engineer Pete Bonington told Antonelli, while Russell was delivered a similar message from Marcus Dudley. Russell was struggling to stay ahead, however, and Antonelli continued to give chase. Then on lap 30, Russell went over the grass at Turn 8 and stopped just after the chicane, visibly furious. A power unit issue ended his race. To add insult to injury, Russell was noted by the stewards for throwing his headrest out of the car. Antonelli went on to win by 10.7 seconds over Hamilton and now holds a 43-point championship lead. ## McLaren's disastrous race The indecisive rainclouds meant there was no consensus on the tyre compounds. The McLarens opted for intermediates from the second row (as did the Audis, Carlos Sainz of Williams, and the Cadillacs). The Racing Bulls and Alpines opted for mediums - and the rest opted for softs. Arvid Lindblad's Racing Bulls was stationary on the grid, which led to one aborted start, and then another. Meanwhile, Piastri made his case for a swap to slick tyres to no avail. When the lights finally went out, Piastri dropped to fifth while Norris shot into the lead. They pitted at the end of lap one and two, respectively, and went on to lose three seconds a lap to the leading Mercedes. It was all deemed somewhat arbitrary as Piastri locked up at Turn 12 and t-boned Albon out of the race for a 10-second penalty that was served during the second VSC of the race (for debris) on lap 53. Norris was told he had a possible reliability issue and continued until lap 42 before stopping in the Turn 1 runoff, while Piastri finished a distant 11th. ## Verstappen vs Hamilton and Hadjar's day to forget Verstappen was rapid early in the race, overtaking Hamilton with a late-braking move at the start of lap nine. The Red Bull struggled for pace and tyre temperature as the race went on and, when the second VSC ended, Verstappen was under a second ahead of Hamilton. Hamilton passed Verstappen at the opening sequence on lap 62 but couldn't consolidate second place. Verstappen didn't relent and was within half a second of the Ferrari as the race reached its final lap, but couldn't overtake his rival. Charles Leclerc settled for fourth. When the first VSC was deployed, he was past the pit entry, and Ferrari was therefore forced to double-stack its drivers. Leclerc then found himself in a dicey battle for fourth with Isack Hadjar, who moved much too late and multiple times in defence. Hadjar eventually lost fourth to Leclerc but was given a 10-second time penalty for his troubles. After serving that, he was given a stop-go penalty for a yellow flag infringement. Despite making an error after emerging from the pitlane during the VSC, Franco Colapinto capitalised for sixth place ahead of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson. Pierre Gasly lost out in an early bout against Ollie Bearman and Fernando Alonso but recovered to eighth. The Alpine driver was on Lawson's tail late in the race but missed out on seventh by three tenths of a second. Sainz finished a lonely ninth despite starting on intermediates and Bearman completed the top 10 for Haas. Sergio Perez joined the other retirees as his Cadillac's suspension broke on lap 43. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso made up nine places on the opening lap but retired late on with the team citing a problem with his seat. ## Results 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +10.768s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +11.276s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +44.151s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1 lap 6 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1 lap 7 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1 lap 8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap 9 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1 lap 10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1 lap 11 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +2 laps 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +2 laps 13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2 laps 14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2 laps 15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4 laps 16 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4 laps Sergio Perez (Cadillac) DNF Lando Norris (McLaren) DNF George Russell (Mercedes) DNF Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) DNF Alex Albon (Williams) DNF Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) DNS ### F1 2026 Canadian Grand Prix results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-canadian-grand-prix-results/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T21:40:23.000Z Kimi Antonelli emerged victorious at Formula 1's 2026 Canadian Grand Prix as his Mercedes team-mate George Russell retired while leading. ### Canadian GP results 1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +10.7s 3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +11.2s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +44.1s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1 lap 6 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1 lap 7 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1 lap 8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap 9 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1 lap 10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1 lap 11 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +2 laps 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +2 laps 13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2 laps 14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2 laps 15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4 laps 16 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +4 laps DNF: Sergio Perez (Cadillac) DNF: Lando Norris (McLaren) DNF: George Russell (Mercedes) DNF: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) DNF: Alex Albon (Williams) DNS: Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) ### Russell retires from lead of F1's Canadian GP URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-canadian-gp-2026-george-russell-dnf/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T21:01:33.000Z George Russell retired while leading Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix as his Mercedes ground to a halt on track with a suspected power unit issue. Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli were in the middle of an elbows-out fight for victory in Montreal, swapping the lead on multiple occasions and coming scarlily close to contact. So close was their battle that Mercedes had to issue a plea to its drivers over the team radio: "So, we've got to tidy up this racing. We need to keep it clean. So if we can't keep it tidy then we'll have to stop you racing. Message to both cars." But before that message could be properly digested, the fight was inadvertently called off by Russell’s Mercedes hitting instant trouble at the Turn 8/9 chicane on lap 30 of 68. Russell slowed on the entry and had to pull off to the side of the circuit with a suspected power unit issue, allowing Antonelli into the lead. Should Antonelli convert that lead into a fourth consecutive grand prix victory, Russell will fall 43 points behind him in the drivers’ championship. He was also noted by the stewards for throwing his headrest out of the car when he came to a halt. ### F1 2026 Canadian GP starting grid URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-canadian-gp-starting-grid/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T17:02:34.000Z George Russell will lead a Mercedes one-two on the starting grid for Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri form an all-McLaren row two with ex-F1 title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen lining up on row three. Lance Stroll qualified 21st but will start the race from the pitlane as the team has "taken the strategic decision to replace the battery (ESME) and make several other set-up changes to the car". 1 George Russell 2 Kimi Antonelli 3 Lando Norris 4 Oscar Piastri 5 Lewis Hamilton 6 Max Verstappen 7 Isack Hadjar 8 Charles Leclerc 9 Arvid Lindblad 10 Franco Colapinto 11 Nico Hulkenberg 12 Liam Lawson 13 Gabriel Bortoleto 14 Pierre Gasly 15 Carlos Sainz 16 Ollie Bearman 17 Esteban Ocon 18 Alex Albon 19 Fernando Alonso 20 Sergio Perez 21 Valtteri Bottas Pitlane: Lance Stroll ### McLaren warns everyone loses if 2027 F1 changes are blocked URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-warns-everyone-loses-if-2027-f1-changes-are-blocked/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T15:24:56.000Z McLaren boss Andrea Stella thinks “everyone” in Formula 1 will lose if a push to change power unit rules for next year is blocked by manufacturers. The FIA and F1 chiefs are trying to pull together a package of regulation tweaks that can move F1 away from a 50/50 power split between combustion and electrical power and towards 60/40. But while teams unanimously agreed in principle to shift things for 2027 in a meeting that took place after the Miami Grand Prix, since then it has emerged that proposals put on the table do not have the necessary support from manufacturers to be voted through. Mercedes and Red Bull are both understood to be in favour, but other manufacturers are more resistant to change before 2028. It is understood Audi does not want to commit to a hardware revamp for next year on cost grounds, while Ferrari wants more time to evaluate the potential impact a change will have in terms of development potential and homologation. Cadillac and Honda also have separate reservations. For the changes to go through, it requires four of the six carmakers to back it – with sources suggesting that key to the situation now could be in convincing Audi to change its mind and support some measures. Time to get everything lined up is short though, because of the need for manufacturers to commit imminently to their 2027 designs. And there is a big risk that if discussions drag on for too long then it could force a delay anyway because it will be too late for anyone to commit to revamping hardware. For Stella, who is adamant that F1 would be in better shape if the notional 60/40 shift happens, there is an element of frustration about things potentially getting bogged down. “This is a general interest that should prevail over the particular \[self\] interests, because if we don't have a good sport, if we don't preserve the value of the business, the value of F1, everyone will have a loss,” he said at the Canadian Grand Prix. “So I do hope that the conversation ongoing will lead to a successful position because this will overcome, finally, some of the limitations that are fundamentally inherent to this hardware that we are using at the moment.” Stella thinks that the ideas the FIA is talking about to make a 60/40 move possible in the short term are acceptable for teams, but ultimately he knows that the final decision will be made by manufacturers. “I think this is a credible package and feasible, but the opinion I gave before was also as a stakeholder in F1,” he said. “I think this is the right thing to do for F1\. "It's feasible from a chassis point of view, is the right thing from F1, and now it's really in the hands of the powerunit manufacturers. “I hope that there will be the possibility to find a way of making this feasible, even from a powerunit point of view.” **The need for more** While tweaks to adjust the energy management of the current power units have worked in getting rid of some of the worst extremes of the 2026 rules, Stella thinks it would be wrong to believe that everything is working perfectly now. He says that fundamental problems and drivers’ unhappiness remain – but are no longer being talked about because they are a constant. “We just don't want to repeat ourselves,” he said. “But if I listen to the debrief , once again the drivers say I did such a good job in going on power so early out of corner seven, and so early out of corner nine, that I'm gaining in exit a little bit, and then the other car gains because he was slower going on power and now he has more deployment. “I think this is something that we want to cure, and we have a possibility to do it in 2027.” ### Why wet Canadian GP prospect unnerves F1 drivers so much URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-wet-canadian-gp-prospect-unnerves-f1-drivers-so-much/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T08:33:17.000Z Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix is at risk of turning into an "elimination game" if forecast wet weather on Sunday sticks around until race time. What has been labelled a perfect storm of circumstance could inject some extra chaos and a potential curveball in tyre choices should the bad weather linger. The current forecast points to rainfall arriving at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve early on Sunday morning – with steady mist and light rainfall throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. While the intensity of rain will taper off towards race time, the cold temperatures that are predicted – around 11C – will result in mist sticking around and the track not drying out. It points to conditions that drivers, already mindful of the challenges of racing the current power units in the wet, think will be extremely challenging. Alpine's Pierre Gasly, who conducted a wet tyre test for Pirelli after the Miami Grand Prix, said: "I wouldn't be surprised if we end up having a bit of an elimination game. But I might be wrong. "Just this track by itself in the dry is difficult to warm up the tyres. So I think in the rain it will be extremely difficult." Max Verstappen, who also has experience of 2026 car wet running because Red Bull was one of two teams to run in the rain during the pre-season Barcelona test, expects huge difficulties. "Even on slicks, you barely switch them on at the right time" he said. "So on wet tyres, I think it will be a big struggle for all of us to make it work." The FIA could face a conundrum on how to manage things, because keeping drivers behind the safety car for longer periods to try to reduce the chance of incidents could make things worse for everyone in terms of cooling tyres down. As Verstappen said: "It's almost like when there is an incident, you don't want the safety car, you just want a VSC or something for us to at least get a bit more speed in other places. But it's going to be tricky." ## The tyre curveball The situation could be so extreme that F1's long-derided wet tyres could even be the better option than the preferred intermediates on even a damp track. For years now, the inter has been the no-brainer choice to take in rain-hit races – with there being only rare occasions where the more extreme wet is better. This is primarily because when conditions become so bad for the wet to be better, track running is often suspended because visibility is so poor – so there is little incentive to use them. It was often remarked that the wets were effectively only 'safety car tyres'. But the Canadian GP could buck that trend thanks to a host of circumstances coming together that could force drivers away from the intermediates due to the risk of them dropping out of the operating temperature window. This is due to the dual impact of both the track layout and the cooler than normal weather conditions. The layout of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is very low energy – with no high speed nor long duration corners that are useful for generating heat in the rubber. The surface is also very low grip. Things are further exacerbated by the long straights that make it a struggle to keep temperature up. Added on top of this is that, with the Canadian GP having been moved from its usual June slot to a May date, the weather is cooler than it has been at the event in the past – further exacerbating temperature headaches. Current tyres are not designed around running when things are so cold. The combination of low energy and low temperatures has left F1 tyre supplier Pirelli convinced that the wet tyre may become the default choice. Chief engineer Simone Berra said: "I think it is the perfect storm because we have cold temperatures and a low energy circuit. If it rains here, it will be complicated. "We never had these conditions. We never designed the tyres for these conditions, because it's very cold, and it can be tricky." Berra explains that the wet compound could be better because it not only has a deeper tread depth – so there is more rubber that can retain heat – but it also has a lower operating temperature as it is a softer compound so could be easier to switch on. "I guess the wet will struggle a little bit less," he said. "It is a possibility that we could end up that the wet is, for one time in the last few years, faster than intermediates." ## Blankets no help Getting temperature into wet tyres is critical to making them usable and at the recent Miami Grand Prix, where severe rain had been forecast but never materialised, efforts were made to help on this front by lifting blanket temperatures. It was agreed that the intermediates would be heated up to 70C, with wets to 40C, to help drivers be able to switch them on easier. But Berra thinks that the situation in Canada will not be helped by this as the headaches are about keeping temperature in the tyres, rather than getting it there in the first place. So even if tyres were made ever hotter coming out of the pits, things would ultimately not be much easier. "We could increase the blanket temperature to 140 degrees, but if you lose temperature and reach 50 degrees, then you gain for the first, second or third laps, but then you end up in a very similar situation. "It's always a matter of the energy you are able to generate and to put into the tyres and how you generate the grip and the temperature." He added: "If you start losing temperature, and you never find a way to generate the temperature to regain it, then it becomes a problem because you start to struggle, and you have no grip. "So, basically then you cannot run with these low temperatures. So that's why, in my opinion, the wet can work properly here." ## FIA to be cautious? All the elements coming together has left Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz convinced that the FIA will take a cautious approach to race management. He has called for fans to be patient with how things unfold, as this may mean not letting the race run in conditions that some will think are safe. "I think the FIA will take caution in their approach, which I think all drivers are backing right now - on how they will manage the rain situation," he said. "I kindly ask you guys in the media, and maybe the fans, not to be too pushy. "It's the first time with these cars, with the speed differentials we see, and a set of inters and wets that haven't been fully developed for these cars, that we will go and check out a very, very cold, very difficult track. "Don't be surprised if the FIA plays it safe." ### Major McLaren and Mercedes performance difference explained URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/major-mclaren-and-mercedes-performance-difference-explained/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T08:23:45.000Z A significant difference between McLaren and Mercedes' 2026 Formula 1 cars impacting performance around the lap has been showcased by the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. McLaren has opted for slightly shorter gear ratios than Mercedes this year, meaning that its drivers are reaching one gear higher on three occasions around the Montreal lap, as well as shifting up earlier as they accelerate. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/Gears-crop.png) The choice has advantages and disadvantages, most noticeably contributing to the time lost on the long runs to the Turn 10 hairpin and final chicane that contributed to the 0.151 seconds deficit to polesitter George Russell's Mercedes from Lando Norris's McLaren. However, it also means better acceleration for McLaren that will represent a time gain elsewhere in the lap. The choice would also have subtle impacts on the energy recovery strategy. Although McLaren uses the Mercedes power unit, it designs and produces its own gearboxes. This gives it free choice on gear ratios, whereas fellow customer teams Alpine and Williams use Mercedes gearboxes and are therefore limited either to the same ratios as the works team or those used the previous year. "There are definitely pros and cons with the ratios," said McLaren team principal Andrea Stella when asked by The Race about the apparent shorter gear ratios. "Your observation is correct, we are on the shorter side compared to Mercedes. "This may give you some advantages in acceleration, for instance possibly it may give you advantages in a start, it may give you advantage in a straight line depending on the speed. "But it may have some disadvantages, for instance when we have speeds in a long straight, like from corner 10 to 13, then you may want to have a slightly longer, for instance, eighth gear. So it's a bit of a mixed bag as to where you want to be with the ratios." Forward gear ratios must be nominated at the start of the season and are fixed for the year. But in 2026 the regulations permit what amounts to a 'joker' change to ratios and final drive. However, Stella says that McLaren has no plans to change its ratios despite being permitted to do so. "At the moment, we are happy with where we are," said Stella. "We are not considering to review our availability, even though the regulations would allow you to do so. "But we think that some of the advantages that we cash in in other conditions than the longest straights are overall a positive." ### Why last-gasp Russell pole lap was so surprising URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-last-gasp-russell-pole-lap-was-so-surprising/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T23:16:12.000Z George Russell surprised himself with a Canadian Grand Prix pole position lap that turned a qualifying nightmare into a "rush of adrenaline within the space of 10 seconds we all live for". Russell was only eighth and fifth in the first two segments of qualifying in Montreal, abandoned his first run in Q3, and was briefly down to sixth while closing out his very final lap on a push-cool-push strategy at the very end. It looked like an extreme manifestation of something that had been threatened even when Russell claimed sprint pole and victory: that Mercedes team-mate and Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli might actually be the faster of the two here yet again, and that Russell wasn't all that comfortable. "I just had no grip at the beginning of the lap," said Russell of his abandoned opening run in Q3\. "The car was just out of sync, out of balance. I didn't have the confidence. "On a circuit like this where you're dancing with the walls, it's really difficult to get that flow. You need a huge amount of commitment to find that last couple of tenths." Russell felt that car changes by the team had made it harder to consistently get the tyres working well enough to hit their peak on each push lap. And going onto his final lap he admitted he was "not massively" confident - but he knew he needed a big lap partly because he was acutely aware he was struggling but he had also clocked Antonelli going fastest on the big trackside screens around the lap. "I never had it hooked up until that last lap in Q3," Russell admitted. But he did when it counted, as Russell felt he "just managed to redial my driving for that last lap and put it together". The second push lap on the tyre seemed to give him more of the feeling that he wanted, although that did not result in a massive gain in the first sector. He was still half a tenth slower than Antonelli there but perhaps it was more of a psychological factor - a better feeling behind the wheel that meant the lap kept building from there with some gains under braking and in corner minimum speed. Russell was a full 0.16s quicker than Antonelli in sector two on their best laps, and Antonelli's final sector was not an improvement on what he had done before. What he left on the table there was enough to let Russell sneak in and steal pole by 0.068s. In the end that perhaps all supports the notion that Antonelli did have a higher peak on the day after all. But he didn't put it all together, whereas Russell clawed it all back enough when it counted to nip ahead - critically aided by the extra push lap he bought himself on the final run by abandoning his first attempt, when others including Antonelli only had time for a conventional outlap/push lap combination. Antonelli certainly lamented how "it was very difficult to get the tyres in the right window, especially for lap one". On his final lap he also described a "little missed downshift into Turn 6, which threw me off a little bit". Still, Russell addressing his own unease through qualifying was already proof that he was on the back foot. And the combination of factors at play only underlines how Russell's final improvement "came out of nowhere". This, rather than any broader implication for the championship fight or Russell regaining some much-needed momentum, seemed to genuinely be what was sweetest of all for him. "It's just such a special feeling because there are times when you expect to be on pole and every lap you do is the quickest," said Russell. "But the times when you are fighting for it and you're never up there and then it comes together on that final lap to be the one, it's the best feeling in the world." ### Winners and losers from Canadian GP F1 qualifying 2026 URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-canadian-gp-f1-qualifying-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T22:56:54.000Z Mercedes ended up 1-2 on the grid again at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix, but its route there was not entirely straightforward. Here’s our pick of who has most to celebrate from qualifying and who desperately needs a better Sunday. ## Winner: George Russell (1st) Qualifying was not going to plan for George Russell until the last 70 seconds or so that earned him pole position. The Mercedes driver was clearly knocked off his stride by a tricky session, which he put down to some set-up changes for the race and the general challenge of getting the tyres working in colder conditions and a generally tricky track for warm-up. But that just made the feeling of besting team-mate and title rival Kimi Antonelli to pole a lot sweeter compared to qualifying on top when everything's already been going your way. "It was just such a great feeling because I did a really great lap," Russell said. "It all was hooked up together. "I crossed the line, I see my name's gone to the top of the leaderboard and I knew that was pole - and that rush of adrenaline within the space of 10 seconds is what we all live for." Russell said it wasn't about the championship picture, it was the thrill of the moment. But given how much scrutiny he's been under after a trickier run and a particularly underwhelming Miami weekend, this felt like a particularly important last-gasp triumph. **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm** ## Loser: Lance Stroll (21st) Lance Stroll has been outqualified by Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso in every session they've done together so far in 2026 - and it is absolutely true that, were that to flip 100%, he probably would still have the same amount of points he has right now. Two-three tenths won't matter very much right now to the Aston Martin-Honda project in the grand scheme of things. But this weekend has been a bit of a mauling between the two drivers - Alonso one thousandths away from being a full second clear in Q1 as Stroll felt all at sea and confidence-sapped in his AMR26. Going by the weather forecast, tomorrow's performance patterns will have little to do with today's - and Stroll's weekend could yet somehow end up a very, very good one. But there have been some eye-catchingly large gaps between this team-mate pairing this season, obscured by the general woes of the technical package. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Winner: Lando Norris (3rd) This may seem like a blindingly obvious thing to say for someone who finished second in the sprint race and qualified best-of-the-rest behind the two Mercedes cars, but Lando Norris is having a superbly effective weekend in Canada. He's not been mind-blowingly quick in the sense of having a massive margin over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, or produced a giantkilling feat. But Norris has been on the right side of fine margins to Piastri when it's counted in two qualifying sessions, split the Mercedes drivers in the sprint, and was right at the sharp end in all three qualifying segments. He's driving really well in Montreal and it showed with another very good qualifying result. **\- SMM** ## Loser: Charles Leclerc (8th) Charles Leclerc promised a crash or eighth place coming into Q3, and he was a man of his word in the end, with no crash and thus eighth place. The gap to pole (0.398s) and to Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton (0.108s) actually looked a considerable upturn relative to Q1 and Q2, even if the result didn't. Leclerc corroborated all this speaking after the session, describing himself as "on ice" through the first two segments as he "struggled incredibly" to warm up the tyres. He said Q3 was finally an "acceptable lap" but with a "not really acceptable" position, a consequence of having struggled so much through most of qualifying. He could still do some good work from eighth on the grid - but does not relish the prospect of a cold and wet race on a weekend in which tyre temps have already been a "nightmare" for him. **\- VK** ## Winner: Isack Hadjar (7th) Isack Hadjar lamented his Q3 effort, feeling he "made it difficult with my mistakes" and squandered a car that was "really working". That's less important, though, than the conclusive evidence across yesterday's and today's qualifying segments that he is genuinely in the groove again, looking like the impressive version we saw in the opening rounds and not the what-is-going-on version of Miami - a weekend he says has now been consigned to the "bin". "I feel a lot better in the car. I'm not getting destroyed in every corner and it feels more normal, more like the first three rounds." **\- VK** ## Loser: Valtteri Bottas (22nd) Qualifying last was kind of what Valtteri Bottas signed up for when he committed to his F1 return with the fledgling Cadillac team. That’s not why he’s in our loser category. The issue is that whenever you spot a Cadillac far higher up the field than you’d expect, it’s Sergio Perez producing those heroics. The time gap between them this weekend has been massive, and Bottas’s last-lap lock-up and excursion in Q1 doesn’t account for all of it. Perez is making it look like his lack of a 2025 seat was an injustice and he still has plenty more to offer F1\. Bottas’s comeback isn’t giving that impression yet. **\- Matt Beer** ## Winner: Arvid Lindblad (9th) Arvid Lindblad was a little disappointed with his eventual ninth, having been far higher at times during the three parts of qualifying. But his assessment that ninth is the best possible for Racing Bulls when none of the top four teams has a nightmare is spot on. This weekend’s performance is exactly the kind of form a Red Bull junior needs to be producing. And quite well timed when Red Bull’s lead driver is talking seriously about not being on the 2027 grid. **\- MB** ## Loser: Pierre Gasly (14th) A run of two weekends adrift and four qualifying defeats within them (relative to Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto) is clearly beginning to weigh on Pierre Gasly, who was distinctly un-chipper discussing his qualifying struggles after the session. "I don't really know what's going on since Miami - but at the moment, on my side we're absolutely nowhere," he lamented. "It was easy top 10, quite consistent, good car - and at the moment... can't brake, can't turn in, can't accelerate, there's no grip. I think we've got a lot of work and hopefully the team can help to find the answers." He stonewalled questions about whether he'd gone back a spec on some bits of the car, but did say "there's just more to it" as "fundamentally something is not clicking since Miami". "I think there's something more fundamental, which obviously we're trying to understand. On the data, there's quite clearly stuff which doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, at the moment, we haven't found the fixes yet." **\- VK** ### Verstappen says he'd quit F1 if 2027 rule changes are blocked URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-says-hed-quit-f1-if-2027-rule-changes-are-blocked/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T22:00:40.000Z Max Verstappen has made clear that if planned rule changes for next year are blocked then he will not stick around in Formula 1. The four-time F1 world champion had come into the Canadian Grand Prix optimistic that moves to make the current cars better for 2027 would make things more normal and allow him to enjoy F1 again. This is why he spoke openly at the start of the weekend about [committing to remaining at Red Bull](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-suggests-2027-engine-proposal-would-keep-him-in-f1/), despite uncertainty about his future earlier this year amid his open dislike of the new cars. However, it has since emerged that plans for hardware changes for next year - to shift the balance between combustion and electrical energy to 60/40 - [could be derailed because of a lack of support](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-set-for-crunch-2027-talks-as-proposed-changes-in-doubt/). While it is understood that Red Bull and Mercedes are in favour of the move, other manufacturers are not supportive and want any major redesign delayed until 2028. This is because of either costs or the consequences it will mean for F1's catch-up mechanism known as ADUO (Additional Design and Upgrade Opportunities). While the FIA and F1 are working hard to try to find some common ground between manufacturers that will get some changes through, there is a risk that grand prix racing may have to wait until 2028 before being able to implement a substantial shift. And for Verstappen that is too long to wait, he says, because he could not stomach another full year with the cars as they are. "If it stays like this, it's going to be a long year next year, which I don't want," he said after qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. "It's just mentally not doable for me to stay like this. Absolutely not." Asked if he would perhaps consider a sabbatical to come back for 2028 if things improved, he said: "No. There's a lot of other fun things out there." ## Pushing the FIA While the FIA managed after the Miami GP to get all teams to agree in principle to hardware changes for next year, its hopes of getting them easily implemented have been derailed by some manufacturers now being resistant. Verstappen well understands that politics are a constant in F1, but he hopes that the governing body stands firm and forces change through. "Let's stay on the positive side - we're still, I think, looking towards making those changes," he said. "Of course some people at the moment that maybe have a bit of an advantage will try to be difficult about it, but if the FIA is strong and also from the FOM side, they just need to do it." Asked if he backed Carlos Sainz's viewpoint that the FIA should be hard about things and push changes through, Verstappen said: "Of course. I agree. And it will be better for the sport as a whole." ### Russell denies Antonelli Canadian GP pole URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russell-denies-antonelli-canadian-gp-pole/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T21:21:04.000Z George Russell took pole position for Formula 1's 2026 Canadian Grand Prix and denied Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli a fourth-straight pole by 0.068s. The pair ignited their rivalry with a fierce battle in the sprint race earlier on Saturday. Russell aborted his first Q3 lap and his first proper lap, with 2m30s remaining, put him a provisional third. A last-gasp salvo secured his third consecutive pole in Montreal, while Antonelli ensured a front-row lockout for Mercedes. McLaren locked out the second row with Lando Norris third - having held provisional pole before the Mercedes improved - and Oscar Piastri improving to fourth, just 0.05s behind. A trip through the grass cost Lewis Hamilton but he still managed fifth for Ferrari, three-tenths off pole. His team-mate Charles Leclerc only narrowly avoided a Q2 elimination as he complained of a lack of clean air then could only manage eighth in Q3. Max Verstappen avoided being outqualified by Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar but struggled to sixth, while Hadjar was just 0.03s behind in seventh. Verstappen had previously remarked in Q2 that it was like “driving on ice” as he grappled with getting the tyres into their operating window. Arvid Lindblad added to his sprint point with ninth in the Racing Bulls, while Franco Colapinto put in another good performance in 10th for Alpine. Audi's Nico Hulkenberg missed out on Q3 (to Colapinto) in 11th. Liam Lawson took 12th for Racing Bulls and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was 13th. Pierre Gasly, 14th, complained of a lack of speed on the straights and a lack of traction. Carlos Sainz was 15th for Williams. Haas's Esteban Ocon was eliminated in 17th and Williams's Alex Albon, who suffered a crash in practice, was 18th and out in Q1 for the third time this season. Neither Aston Martin nor Cadillac made it through Q1\. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso (19th) was caught out by a slow-going Cadillac of Sergio Perez (20th) at the final corner while 21st-place Lance Stroll avoided a trip into the barriers with a sharp save. Valtteri Bottas rounded out the timesheets for Cadillac, having gone off at Turn 1 on his last lap. ## Results 1 George Russell 2 Kimi Antonelli, +0.068s 3 Lando Norris, +0.151s 4 Oscar Piastri, +0.203s 5 Lewis Hamilton, +0.290s 6 Max Verstappen, +0.329s 7 Isack Hadjar, +0.357s 8 Charles Leclerc, +0.398s 9 Arvid Lindblad, +0.702s 10 Franco Colapinto, +1.110s **Out in Q2** 11 Nico Hulkenberg, +0.029s to Q3 12 Liam Lawson, +0.040s 13 Gabriel Bortoleto, +0.214s 14 Pierre Gasly, +0.330s 15 Carlos Sainz, +0.416s 16 Ollie Bearman, +0.559s **Out in Q1** 17 Esteban Ocon, +0.070s to Q2 18 Alex Albon, +0.076s 19 Fernando Alonso, +0.421s 20 Sergio Perez, +0.654s 21 Lance Stroll, +1.420s 22 Valtteri Bottas, +1.497s ### F1 Canadian GP 2026 qualifying results URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-canadian-gp-2026-qualifying-results/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T21:15:23.000Z George Russell saw off Mercedes team-mate and Formula 1 title rival Kimi Antonelli in a nail-biting qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. - [Full qualifying report](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/russell-denies-antonelli-canadian-gp-pole/) 1 George Russell 2 Kimi Antonelli, +0.068s 3 Lando Norris, +0.151s 4 Oscar Piastri, +0.203s 5 Lewis Hamilton, +0.290s 6 Max Verstappen, +0.329s 7 Isack Hadjar, +0.357s 8 Charles Leclerc, +0.398s 9 Arvid Lindblad, +0.702s 10 Franco Colapinto, +1.110s **Out in Q2** 11 Nico Hulkenberg, +0.029s to Q3 12 Liam Lawson, +0.040s 13 Gabriel Bortoleto, +0.214s 14 Pierre Gasly, +0.330s 15 Carlos Sainz, +0.416s 16 Ollie Bearman, +0.559s **Out in Q1** 17 Esteban Ocon, +0.070s to Q2 18 Alex Albon, +0.076s 19 Fernando Alonso, +0.421s 20 Sergio Perez, +0.654s 21 Lance Stroll, +1.420s 22 Valtteri Bottas, +1.497s ### Inside the first icy moment of F1's 2026 title fight URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-f1-canadian-gp-sprint-tension-russell-antonelli/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T19:32:59.000Z They arrived at the press conference separately. They sat alongside each other but did not make eye contact. And their exits were staggered as they further avoided any interaction. For team-mates sitting next to each other on the famous white F1 press conference sofa, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell could not have been further apart. Having been shuffled upstairs to the paddock building straight from the post-sprint television interviews, Russell had arrived in the press conference room a few moments after runner-up Lando Norris, to take up his spot at the centre of the sofa. Around one minute later, Antonelli walked in alone – eyes fixated in the distance as he sat down to the left of Russell - who stared straight ahead. While emotions, with the adrenaline winding down, may not have been quite as high as they were in the car, such press conferences still offer a fascinating snapshot of mindsets and feelings. Well aware that they are going to be probed on the key flash points of a race, what answers they give can tell an awful lot. From Russell’s perspective, there was very much the stance of taking the high ground – and he repeatedly made reference to the stewards having not even 'investigated' what happened between them at Turn 1. He called it a “good hard battle” and “kudos to Kimi for giving it a go”, but he absolutely did not see anything “untoward” having happened. “I didn't think I did anything wrong,” he said. “I wasn't investigated so I guess the race directors and stewards thought the same. But I need to check it. “It is clear that between team-mates we race hard and fair, with no contact and that's always the objective. I wasn't racing Kimi any harder than I would have raced Lando in the same position.” That phrasing of "no contact" was interesting - because what appeared to have been a slight brushing between the two cars seemed the most likely element that prompted Antonelli to be so upset – and triggered that radio message where he said: “If we need to race like this, good to know.” The Italian referenced early on that “there was definitely contact” – an element that is most likely on the must-avoid list from Mercedes' race morning briefings. “We do meetings before races and that's what we say in the room,” explained Antonelli. “Then, of course we race to win, and we try to do our best to defend our position. So of course, probably, I understood the significance of that meeting a bit differently." It was on this point that Antonelli suggested there needed to be “clarity”. “The main thing for the team is that there's no contact, that we don't crash into each other - which today at the end was very close,” he said. “I think that's the most important for the team. Also as a driver, you don't want to crash into your own team-mate. "We all want the best for, first of all, each other, but also for the team. So for sure we will clarify and everything's going to be fine.” With the press conference wound-up, this was the potential moment where the Mercedes team-mates would exchange some remarks with the microphones and cameras off. But it did not happen. Instead, Antonelli jumped up from the sofa and made an instant beeline for press conference host Tom Clarkson. ![F1 Canadian GP sprint press conference](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/press-conference-on-site-Canadian-GP.jpg) They chatted intently - but this was not about F1\. Antonelli was simply checking in about whether Clarkson’s feet had recovered from running the London Marathon, which the pair had talked about in Miami. As Clarkson and Antonelli spoke to each other, Russell walked out with Norris in his slipstream – heading down first to the television media pen prior to what would likely end up some interesting meetings in the Mercedes offices later. ### Why F1 stewards didn't investigate Antonelli-Russell clash URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/canadian-gp-f1-stewards-antonelli-russell-no-investigation/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T19:00:30.000Z Race stewards at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix briefly evaluated the sprint race incidents between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli - but felt what happened was not worth an official investigation. Russell and Antonelli came to blows in two separate moments on lap six of Saturday’s sprint race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. First of all, Antonelli attempted an overtake around the outside of Russell at Turn 1 but, as his team-mate drifted wide, he ran out of room and skipped over the run-off area and grass. Then, on the charge down to Turn 8, the recovering Antonelli made another attempt to take the lead as he dived to the inside under braking. But after appearing to hit a bump, he locked up and ran across the grass – dropping behind the pursuing Lando Norris as a result. Antonelli came on the team radio afterwards and claimed that Russell had been “naughty” in the way he defended the corner at Turn 1, and reckoned it had been enough to warrant a penalty. The FIA stewards did not agree with Antonelli’s view. The clash was not even ‘noted’ by the stewards on the official timing screens – a process that often happens before formal investigations. The Race has learned, however, that the stewards did briefly look into what happened – after race control messaged them to check that they were aware the two incidents had taken place. The stewards had indeed spotted the incidents and, having been happy after a first glance that the rules had been followed both times, they felt that there was no need for any more detailed look at things that would then have triggered anything being officially “noted”. ## What the rules say F1’s driver guidelines are clear that a car attempting an overtake on the outside is only guaranteed to be left room if it fulfils three strict criteria. It must have its front axle ahead of the front axle of the car it is trying to pass at the apex; it must be driven in a controlled manner from entry to apex and to exit; and it must be able to make the corner within track limits. The onboard footage from Antonelli’s car does not make it explicitly clear if he was ahead of Russell at the apex - with the pair of them appearing to run quite deep. The stewards may have felt, though, that even if Antonelli was deemed to be ahead of the apex, the trajectory he was on may not have guaranteed him remaining on track in a controlled manner - even without Russell taking the line he did. Speaking about the incident afterwards, Russell was clear that he felt he had driven in a perfectly acceptable manner. ![George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/05/XPB_1410930_HiRes.jpg) “From my side, it's as kids in karting, we know with overtaking on the outside, there's a certain element of risk that comes with that,” he said. “They're amazing overtakes when they come off, \[but\] the chances are quite slim. “There was only one direction I was going and I was going to close the line, because that's my right to do so.” Antonelli said he had no problems with what happened at Turn 8, as that was down to a mistake he made - but he still felt Turn 1 needed reviewing. “I was quite well alongside and there was definitely contact, so I need to recheck that,” he said. “But yeah, it was hard racing. “Then in Turn 8, to be fair, I was definitely too optimistic. I also took a massive bump, and I almost spun in a straight line.” ### Canada F1 sprint 2026 winners and losers URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/winners-and-losers-from-f1s-2026-canada-sprint-race/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T22:58:04.000Z Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix sprint was extremely fraught at the front - and it’s that battle that (mostly) fills out both columns of our winners and losers list. ## Loser: Kimi Antonelli (3rd) Without Kimi Antonelli’s feud with George Russell, this sprint could’ve been forgettable, so, while Antonelli’s being placed in the loser column, that’s not to say his driving wasn’t the highlight. Antonelli could have finished second if he hadn’t run across the grass after losing the Turn 1 battle against Russell. Worse still, he almost lost the car in the second incident at Turns 8-9\. Maybe he was ‘driving angry’, maybe he was rattled; it’s also likely his tyres picked up a lot of debris after his Turn 1 off. It’s easy to see why Antonelli was annoyed given Russell’s driving but the young Italian let it show and annoyed his Mercedes boss in the process. A valuable learning experience, and thankfully nothing worse than that for Kimi. - **Samarth Kanal** ## Winner: George Russell (1st) This looked like hard work. If I'm being totally honest, it looked like harder work than it probably should be. But after four consecutive races of finishing (on the road) behind his team-mate, Russell has turned the tide here, and he's a winner just for managing to avoid the alternative outcome. Another defeat to Antonelli - who continues to look a far more relentless foe than his experience deficit of over 100 grand prix starts versus Russell would suggest - would've been far more damaging to his title prospects than a two/three-point swing would suggest. **\- Valentin Khorounzhiy** ## Loser: Mercedes (New angst) We say 'every point matters' but come Abu Dhabi, if Mercedes loses either the drivers' or constructors' title, the odds are overwhelming that it won't lose either by just one point. So, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3 - whatever, the big points are tomorrow. Also, a team boss as experienced as Toto Wolff - even in a vacuum, without the specific experience of the 2014-15-16 Hamilton/Rosberg dynamic - will have always known a day like today is coming this season, with two drivers facing their first real chance at the title and Antonelli too fast to allow a walkover. So we don't have to over-dramatise. But what we can say - what I'm sure of - is that Mercedes would have loved for this moment to come later. The later, the better. The later in the season, the less time you need to manage the intensity of a title rivalry. The less time there is for significant baggage to form. Unfortunately, the way Antonelli hounded Russell suggests he is acutely aware that chances are only one person stands between him and a first F1 title - the bloke on the other side of the garage. The way Russell defended suggests he has long come to a similar realisation. It's obvious, sure. But the more they both know this to be true, the harder it gets for Mercedes. **\- VK** ## Winner: F1's 2026 title fight Sorry Mercedes, but we need more of this. After its upgraded car qualified a comfortable 1-2 and then didn’t even go backwards at the start, those tepid opening laps felt ominous until Antonelli launched his attacks. With the rest of the field already being cut adrift in the points, either Antonelli just building his lead over Russell from here or Russell flipping the form and taking the title most expected him to after about three laps of Melbourne would’ve made for a grinding season with so many months and so many races still to go - unless there was some extra spice in this all-Mercedes battle. Now there might be **\- Matt Beer** ## Loser: The TV direction One of the most exciting 2026 races so far was let down by some of the weakest TV direction we’ve seen this year. Take the key Russell vs Antonelli flashpoint at the first corner, for example. We had a bizarre artistic angle as they approached the corner side-by-side, rather than one that showed what was happening. Then there was the lack of replays of the Turn 8/9 incident, with some angles only showing on the small second screen on the timing tower - hardly ideal for anyone trying to work out who was at fault. The long-held obsession with showing a pitstop of any kind - even for a driver with zero hope of finishing in the points - rather than the actual lead battle on track, also continued. **\- Josh Suttill** ## Winner: Cadillac (Ran 11th!) A post-race penalty for forcing off his 'best friend forever' Liam Lawson means Sergio Perez's eye-catching 11th turned into a relatively unremarkable 14th in the classification. No matter. It's the same amount of points either way (and sprint finishes are irrelevant for points tiebreaks), and Cadillac can definitely pat itself on the back for a race in which its MAC-26 successfully camouflaged itself among the cars produced by established midfield regulars. A puzzling lack of performance from Esteban Ocon's Haas coupled with Ocon so ably playing cork-in-the-bottle despite it probably helped muddy the waters, in the sense that in terms of peak pace the Cadillac was still the second-slowest car - but it was quick enough to stay in the mix. **\- VK** ## Losers: Midfielders in the sprint format Yes, they finished a race, yes, they gained valuable learning about their cars and the tyres, but, I doubt it was very rewarding for Colapinto and Sainz to cross the line in ninth and 10th, without points. I doubt it felt rewarding as a fan of either driver. And they actually properly participated in the race. Many behind didn't. The fact several teams felt it was better to just start from the pitlane and sacrifice the race to try to troubleshoot issues or test new ideas ahead of qualifying, or made pitstops to try different tyres, shows just how little value the sprint has to so many from a competitive perspective. Some drivers also talked about not wanting to risk any damage or complications with qualifying just a couple of hours away - which also explains one or two of the pitstops as a precautionary measure. It's not a particularly new thought that the sprint needs to have more value for more drivers but this situation exposed that quite harshly. The bigger picture is that F1 hasn’t found out how to make the sprint relevant beyond, say, the fleeting battle for the lead. If 12, instead of 24 cars, started the sprint, would you notice? Or care? - **SK** ## Winner: Lando Norris (2nd) Lando Norris had a front row seat to Russell and Antonelli’s gloves-off battle and leapt at his chance to claim second place when Antonelli skated across the grass at the Turn 8/9 chicane. Thereafter, Norris kept Russell on his toes and Antonelli in his mirrors - managing a penultimate lap Antonelli attack well and bringing home second place. Norris believed he was “lucky” to be second and thinks Mercedes is out of reach on pure pace. But McLaren looks clear of Ferrari and Red Bull this weekend as Mercedes’ closest rival, so Norris can be well poised to take advantage of any further dramas. - **JS** ## Loser: Lewis Hamilton (6th) There’s been plenty of really encouraging flashes from Lewis Hamilton this weekend, but each session seems to be ending in disappointment. He looked in the mix for a top three in sprint qualifying, only to end up fifth. And in the sprint race Hamilton made a good start to overtake Oscar Piastri and was on the back of the final podium place. But then Hamilton’s pace tailed off and suddenly he was only looking rearwards. Piastri made a forceful move at the final chicane that meant Hamilton also slipped behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, leaving him an underwhelming sixth when he’s teased the potential for much better in Montreal. **\- JS** ## Winner: Arvid Lindblad (8th) Arvid Lindblad was very much the best of the rest here. He picked up a point by holding off Alpine’s Franco Colapinto (also a very good performance by the Argentinian) and finished one place behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen - in the Racing Bulls. Meanwhile, Lindblad's team-mate Liam Lawson was more than 30 seconds behind in 11th and Isack Hadjar had engine issues that classified him 21st. A solid performance in Canada to arrest a run of three frustrating point-less weekends after that great debut drive in Australia. - **SK** ## Loser: Isack Hadjar (21st) Isack Hadjar bounced back strongly from a bruising Miami Grand Prix error by qualifying right alongside Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen on Friday. But it all went wrong early in the race as Hadjar’s RB22 was struck by an engine issue, dropping him out of the points and three laps down while Red Bull worked on the issue. It’s *only* one point lost, but the issue cost him any chance to benchmark himself directly against Verstappen, who he was running just behind beforehand. **\- JS** ### Our verdict on Russell and Antonelli's fiery Canada sprint battle URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/canadian-gp-sprint-mercedes-battle-kimi-antonelli-george-russell-verdict/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T17:23:59.000Z Mercedes’ return to managing intra-team Formula 1 title battles had gone pretty smoothly so far in 2026, but things boiled over between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in the Canadian Grand Prix sprint. The way Russell defended his lead in Montreal enraged Antonelli, who twice went off the road in their early battle and lost second place to Lando Norris’s McLaren - prompting radio fury and strong words from team management urging Antonelli to stop “moaning”. Here’s our take on the battle and both Antonelli and Mercedes’ handling of it. ## A lesson for Antonelli **Josh Suttill** Antonelli had the pace to win this race and didn't need to throw it away with what looked like a needless retaliation lunge at the third chicane - or at the very least, a mistake while still reeling from Russell's earlier tough defence. Regardless of whether Russell should have given him more room at the first chicane (and I think he should have), Antonelli should have bided his time better. There are ample overtaking opportunities in Montreal, but the third chicane is rarely a good one - especially when you're steaming in far too late on the brakes. Antonelli was somewhat lucky not to pick up race-wrecking damage. He's got the speed to win the title, but he has to sharpen up on how he deals with these decisive incidents. As for Russell, he'll surely have a sleepless night unless Mercedes finds something that explains why he was once again unable to match the pace of his 19-year-old team-mate... ## Inevitable in a title fight **Gary Anderson** All’s fair in love and war. When you have two drivers fighting for wins, and in turn the championship, this is what you are going to get. Was it fair? Both cars still finished and had all their bits still attached - so it must have been reasonably OK. However, this was in reality the first time they have been wheel-to-wheel like this - and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last time. Team camaraderie has just gone out of the window, and that means personally I’m looking forward to tomorrow. For sure, if the opportunity offers itself, it’s going to be gloves off. And I suppose that’s true of all the drivers in the top four teams. ## Wolff will try to use this **Edd Straw** It's clear Toto Wolff will take this opportunity to teach Antonelli a lesson and, hopefully (from his perspective), reduce the chance of the battle between his two drivers boiling over on track. There's nothing wrong with Antonelli trying to pass Russell - as he should do, because he's fighting for a championship and he appeared to have a pace advantage. Indeed, qualifying hinted at that, given across a good proportion of the lap he was faster. However, calling for your team-mate to be given a penalty is not a good look for Antonelli. Think of it from Mercedes’ perspective: it will be seen as a driver putting their interests above that of the team. There can be a time and a place to do that in a drivers' championship fight, but it's not in a relatively low-stakes sprint race and it would have been better for Antonelli to make his point in private after the race rather than fishing for a penalty for his team-mate. Not that it was an unreasonable thing for him to want based on Turn 1, but the key point is how he expressed it and the potential consequences for his team. Antonelli is fast, young and he could well assert himself over Russell this season - indeed, that's *exactly* what he is, and should be, aiming to do. There is a time for control and the experience gained here when, ultimately, it didn't result in a collision or a major loss of points, could well ensure there's not a repeat with more serious consequences in the future. Also, in this case Antonelli's given Russell the high ground inside the team - when actually Antonelli could have had it, had he kept quiet given the legitimate point that Russell should have given him room. Wolff will know all of this and will see this as a good chance to signal to his drivers that they need to stay in line and not put their own cause above that of the team. That doesn't mean 'don't try to pass your team-mate and drive around in formation', but it does mean 'don't publicly (and the radio is public in this case as you know it will be heard) do something that could cost the whole team'. From Antonelli's perspective, this will all be a needless distraction from the fact that on a track where Russell is strong he had the speed to seriously trouble Russell. And it's a lesson that he can handle it better, and to his own advantage, in future. The fight he's shown is a good thing, and just as you'd expect for any young driver it's learning how to harness that to your own advantage. ## Antonelli right to be annoyed - but handled it badly **Scott Mitchell-Malm** Antonelli's right to feel annoyed, as I'd like to understand properly why Russell avoided a penalty for their Turn 1 clash. Russell also got lucky that moving across on Antonelli and squeezing him in the braking zone for the final chicane didn't end in anything worse. However, Antonelli's not handled it at all well. So this will be an important lesson for the 19-year-old in retaining his composure next time. Being so determined to take the lead whatever the cost with a big dive down the inside into the Turn 8-9 chicane, when Russell had ensured only the tightest line was available, was slightly foolish. His reward for that act of vengeful glory was briefly taking the place...then firing himself across the grass and being slightly fortunate not to lose control and have an even worse outcome. Antonelli then also got a little lucky that his Hail Mary on Norris around the outside into Turn 1 didn't result in a spin. Throw in the repeat radio moans that clearly irritated Mercedes and this is something Antonelli needs to use as motivation to channel his frustration better next time. He could, maybe should, have won the sprint - and while he was done a little dirty by Russell, Antonelli only has himself to blame for finishing third. _Includes the latest 500 public posts. Use `/sitemap.xml` for the complete archive of public content._