Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Max Verstappen hopes that Oracle Red Bull Racing can maintain their impressive gap to the chasing pack whilst ensuring their reliability is watertight after a problematic weekend in Saudi Arabia.

Verstappen was forced to start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from fifteenth on the grid after problems with his car during Qualifying left him unable to get on the front row, something that had looked near certain after he had topped all three free practice sessions.

He might have been able to fight back to finish second behind team-mate Sergio Pérez, and he maintained his advantage at the top of the Drivers’ Championship by grabbing the fastest lap bonus point on the final lap.

However, Verstappen is keen that reliability does not get in the way of Red Bull’s domination this season, particularly as he is always looking to be involved in the fight for victory as he bids to take a third consecutive World Drivers’ Championship.

“I hope (Red Bull can maintain the gap) for a long time,” Verstappen is quoted as saying by Racer.com. “But it’s not only about the pace of the car: we need to make sure we are reliable without any issues.

Pedro de la Rosa believes a third World Drivers’ Championship for Fernando Alonso would be a fitting way for the Spanish veteran to retire from the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Alonso has begun his 2023 season with two consecutive third place finishes in the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and currently sits third in the Drivers’ Championship behind the two Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers.

His podium in Saudi Arabia was also the one hundredth top three finish of a career than begun in 2001 and saw him take consecutive World Drivers’ Championships in 2005 and 2006.

De la Rosa, who is an ambassador with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team that Alonso now drives for, says his countryman has not lost his edge despite spending years not racing with a competitive car, and it would be a dream to see him take a third title before his career ends.

“There are many world champions who lose their edge when they no longer have a competitive car,” de la Rosa is quoted as saying by Racer.com. “Fernando is not like that.

Toto Wolff still believes he is the right man to lead the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team despite the recent struggles from the once-dominating team.

Mercedes won eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships between 2014 and 2021, the first seven alongside Drivers’ Championships, but they could only win once in 2022 and have found themselves well adrift of front runners Oracle Red Bull Racing early on in 2023.

Wolff has been Team Principal throughout the turbo hybrid era of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and despite the recent run of form, he says he is eager to help the team return to the front of the field.

However, he is aware that should he feel that he is no longer contributing to the team, he would step aside to allow a fresh face to lead Mercedes into the future.

“Whether it is good or bad, I really enjoy being the team principal of the team,” Wolff is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “I think I can contribute.

The ABT CUPRA Formula E Team enjoyed their most competitive weekend to-date since their return to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with Nico Mueller having been on the verge of the top ten before causing a collision.

ABT CUPRA have somewhat become the backmarker of Season Nine, with the side being the only team on the grid to have failed to score a single point. That was the case again at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix; however, Team Principal Thomas Biermaier was pleased to see plenty of “positive points” to take away from the weekend. Mueller demonstrated solid pace all weekend and managed to qualify thirteenth, before running around eleventh and twelfth during the first half of the race.

His afternoon came to a sudden end, though, after hitting Edoardo Mortara at Turn Seven whilst attempting to overtake his Swiss counterpart, sending the Maserati MSG Racing driver into the barrier. Whilst he didn’t end up in a wall, Mueller did enter the pits to retire from the race, due to the damage sustained from the collision. It was nevertheless Mueller’s best weekend since returning to the sport, with him having been able to keep up with the midfield.

On the other side of the ABT CUPRA garage, Robin Frijns finally returned following his fractured hand, with the Dutchman having missed four rounds following his crash in Mexico City. Frijns was slightly off the pace and qualified twentieth as a result, before making up some places during the race to claim fourteenth. The biggest bonus was that he got through the weekend without any issues with his hand, suggesting that he has fully recovered from the nasty injury.

So whilst the weekend was another point-less one for ABT CUPRA, Biermaier was able to take a considerable amount away from Brazil, with the belief being that they are taking “the right steps” and will be even stronger at their home E-Prix in April.

After missing four rounds of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship through injury, Robin Frijns finally returned last weekend at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, where he made it through the weekend without any issues to the hand he broke hin Mexico City.

Having Frijns back was a huge boost for the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team, given the experience that the Dutchman boasts in the all-electric series. As expected, though, it did take him some time to get fully back up to speed, with Frijns having qualified twentieth as a result. Despite qualifying towards the back, Frijns was able to make up some places during the race, with him having come home in fourteenth.

Whilst it still wasn’t a points finish for ABT CUPRA, a big positive for Frijns and the team is that they were able to run comfortably amongst the midfield, suggesting that they are heading in the right direction.

“It’s good to be back in the Formula E paddock and to see that everything is fine again with my hand,” said Frijns. “We were hoping for more in the race and will now work hard over the next few weeks to get even closer.”

“We had a sniff at the points again” – Nico Mueller

On the other side of the ABT CUPRA garage, Nico Mueller showed great pace throughout the weekend in Brazil, only to then retire from the race following a collision.

Dave Robson says Logan Sargeant will need to adapt quickly to the Albert Park track this weekend as he makes his first race appearance in Australia.

Sargeant made his FIA Formula 1 World Championship race debut in the Bahrain Grand Prix at the beginning of March and has finished both of his starts so far, with a best finish of twelfth coming in his first race.  However, unlike in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the American has not driven the Albert Park track in junior formula, so will need time to adapt to the tricky layout on Friday morning.

The Australian Grand Prix will be the first race held during daytime hours in 2023, and Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, has high hopes that Sargeant and team-mate Alexander Albon can have a strong weekend.

“Following two evening races in the Middle East, the Melbourne event marks a return to daytime sessions,” said Robson.  “The weather can be variable as Victoria heads into autumn; rain is possible, and it is very likely to be cooler than at the opening races.

“The Albert Park circuit was modified ahead of last year’s event and there are only minor adjustments to the track for 2023. However, Logan has never driven at this circuit and, although he has completed a lot of laps in the simulator, there is no substitute for real experience. He will need to get to grips with this physically demanding track early in FP1.”

Alexander Albon has fond memories of his 2022 Australian Grand Prix, with the Thai driver scoring his first point for Williams Racing at Albert Park twelve months ago, something he would like to duplicate this season.

Albon waited until the final lap to make his one and only pit stop, gambling by staying out despite safety car and virtual safety car interventions, and he was rewarded by staying ahead – just – of Zhou Guanyu on pit exit.

Looking ahead to a weekend that has the potential to be affected by wet weather, Albon says there could be opportunities for Williams to fight amongst the midfield and look to score points for a second time in three 2023 events.

“I have great memories from last year’s race here and I love coming to Melbourne; it’s a great city and the fans create an amazing atmosphere,” said Albon.  

“It looks like it might be a wet weekend so that’ll be something we’ll be keeping an eye on, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Max Verstappen is looking to end the barren run for Oracle Red Bull Racing at the Albert Park circuit this weekend as he bids to extend their winning start to the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Not since 2011 has Red Bull tasted victory in the Australian Grand Prix, and last year saw another defeat for the team as Charles Leclerc took victory for Scuderia Ferrari while Verstappen was forced to retire with a mechanical issue.

Verstappen admits Albert Park has not been kind to Red Bull in recent years, but with the way the season has started gives him confidence that he can take his first victory at the track this Sunday.

“I’m looking forward to going to Australia again, it’s always nice to be there and experience Melbourne a little, although from a racing point of view, it is not one that has been too kind to us over the years,” said Verstappen.

“The track is great with some high-speed corners, and one I enjoy driving so hopefully we can have a good race this weekend. We just need it to be straightforward and consistent.

Avalanche Andretti Formula E suffered a miserable weekend at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, with both Jake Dennis and André Lotterer having failed to score points. As a result, Andretti have slipped from third to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Brazil was a weekend that Andretti had “high hopes” for ahead of the E-Prix; however, it quickly became a nightmare for Americans. Dennis qualified in fourteenth whilst Lotterer started twenty-first, after clipping a wall during his best lap. The race started no better for Lotterer after damaging his front wing on the opening lap, resulting in an immediate pit-stop. He was able to catch the field back up, though, following a Safety Car, with the German having eventually recovered to twelfth.

Dennis on the other hand made it into the points places early in the race before he was forced to retire at the side of the track with broken rear suspension, after Dan Ticktum ploughed into the back of him. As a result of the impact, Dennis has now failed to score points in the last three races.

Reflecting on the disappointing weekend, Griffiths knows that qualifying in particular is something that “we need to work on”, especially if the side want to get back towards the front of the championship.

“The race in São Paulo didn’t play out as planned. The Avalanche Andretti Formula E team came to Brazil with high hopes of a strong finish as we believed the track suited the Porsche powertrain very well. However, once again our Achilles heel was Qualifying which is something that as a team we need to work on. Early contact in the race for André put us on the back foot so it became a case of seeing how many places we could make up as the race unfolded. André did manage to make up several places though not quite enough to make the points.

Mario Isola believes teams will have more strategic options during this years Australian Grand Prix than in 2022 thanks to the changing of the softest compound from the C5 to the C4.

The 2022 event saw Charles Leclerc win with a one-stop strategy with the C5 tyre being ignored on race day, but the change to the C4 should enable all three compounds to be used on Sunday afternoon.  And it sees Pirelli Motorsport reverting back to the tyre choices they made in the final Australian Grand Prix before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Isola, the Motorsport Director at Pirelli, is also expecting the Albert Park track to be quicker than it was twelve months ago, and he is hopeful of a good weekend of racing.

“We’ve made the same tyre choice as we did back in 2019 for the Australian Grand Prix,” said Isola. “Following a two-year absence from the calendar due to the Covid pandemic, we went for a gap in the nominated compounds last year: selecting the C2, C3 and then the softest C5 compound.

“That race was a one-stopper won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with all the teams using the hard and the medium tyre, while the soft was just used for qualifying. This weekend, the teams will have the C2, C3, and C4 at their disposal, which means that they have more options for the race in terms of strategy: on paper at least.

Luck certainly isn’t on Jake Dennis‘ side at the moment, with the British driver having retired from a third consecutive race at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix.

After enjoying such a strong start to the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, it’s all starting to fall apart for Dennis and Avalanche Andretti Formula E, after he was taken out for the second time in the past three races. The weekend in Brazil didn’t start well for Dennis after he could only manage fourteenth in qualifying, something which made his race that much more difficult.

Despite this, he enjoyed a strong start to the race and had worked his way into the points places, before being rammed into by Dan Ticktum. The impact broke Dennis’ right rear suspension, resulting in an immediate retirement. Dennis was understandably furious with Ticktum following the incident and labelled him as a “plonker”, something Brits will certainly know the meaning of!

Nevertheless, it marked another race without any points, meaning Dennis slipped further behind championship leader Pascal Wehrlein. Astonishingly, Dennis is still second in the Drivers’ Championship but is now twenty-four points behind.

The Brit admitted that the side “lacked some pace” in qualifying which is an issue they’re “working hard to fix”, but that ultimately it’s “zero points again” for reasons “out of my control”.

Andrea Stella says the nine teams behind Oracle Red Bull Racing have ‘no excuses’ as they try and close the gap at the front of the field, although he fears that not even the limitations enforced by the FIA over their wind tunnel and CFD usage will stop them dominating.

Red Bull have won both of the opening two races of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season in convincing fashion, with a victory apiece for Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez.

Stella, the Team Principal of the struggling McLaren F1 Team, accepts that Formula 1 could have a year of one team dominating the sport, as has happened in the past, but the other teams know they only to look at the RB19 to know where they can do better to improve their own pace.

“We’ve had really phenomenal seasons in the previous years in terms of how close the competition for the victory was,” said Stella to Motorsport.com.  “We might even have to accept that there’s a season in which one team is dominant. 

“But I think with all the information you have now, even with the possibility that you have to look at the car, like we have cars on display on Friday, there’s no excuses for the other teams to say we don’t know what to do.

Mahindra Racing Team Principal Frederic Bertrand has admitted that the Indian manufacturer “really need races without mistakes”, after a disappointing weekend at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix.

Unlike in Cape Town, Mahindra did compete in the entirety of the weekend in Brazil, after addressing their safety concerns with their rear suspension. This was at least a positive for the side, given the shock that was caused when they pulled-out of South Africa. This was about as positive as their weekend in Brazil got unfortunately, after home hero Lucas di Grassi qualified last after hitting a wall. Oliver Rowland was only a few places further up in nineteenth.

The race was significantly better than qualifying for the team, with Di Grassi having recovered to thirteenth whilst Rowland finished fifteenth. Despite their point-less finish, the team remain seventh in the Constructors’ Championship.

Reflecting on the sixth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the team boss openly admitted that “too many mistakes” are being made and that they remain well behind “the rest of the field”, but that they should “hopefully” be able to improve the car before next month’s double-header in Berlin.

“The first priority for us here was to show we had an operational car, which thankfully, we did. We had a car that was reasonably good for qualifying, but the session was bad for both drivers. For one, a lack of feeling in the car and for the other, an incident that ruined a promising lap time. Starting from the back, the race was a big fight with a lot of crashes and safety cars. I think Lucas and Oliver managed this quite well and they both had reasonable pace.

James Vowles insists it is not clear cut that Williams Racing will continue its power unit partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team beyond the current contact, with the Team Principal of the Grove-based team insisting all avenues will be evaluated before a decision is made.

New engine regulations are coming into force in 2026, and Williams may not continue with Mercedes into the new era, particularly with five other power unit manufacturers being on the grid.

Audi Sport and Ford Red Bull Powertrains will join Scuderia Ferrari, Renault Sport, Honda and Mercedes as power unit supplies in 2026.  Williams have had passed history and success with Honda and Renault, while more recently they have been powered by Mercedes.

Vowles, who replaced Jost Capito as Team Principal at Williams during the off-season, insists that they will be looking at all options for their future, with a continuation with Mercedes not a guarantee.

“We are at the moment still in the process of making sure we understand all the options available to this team,” Vowles is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.

Alan Permane feels the BWT Alpine F1 Team are showing performance levels closer to that of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Scuderia Ferrari so far during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, but the improvements from the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team has surprised everyone.

Alpine have scored a best finish of eighth across the first two races and sit fifth in the Constructors’ Championship heading into this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, but Aston Martin have scored two podium finishes with Fernando Alonso and are second in the standings, only behind Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Permane, the Sporting Director of the Enstone-based team, says they are not where they want to be with their own pace and performance and wants the team to be fighting for regular podium finishes, but Aston Martin’s jump in pace has caught everyone out.

“It’s not satisfying that we’re not where we want to be in terms of pace,” Permane is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “We want to be a bit quicker than that, up fighting those guys.

“I think we are closer to Ferrari and closer to Merc than were last year. I haven’t really had a good analysis of it yet, but I’m sure we’re closer to Ferrari, because at this time last year, they were fighting for wins.