Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

James Key has left his role as Executive Technical Director of the McLaren F1 Team as part of an organisational reshuffle following a disappointing start to the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

McLaren have failed to score points in either the Bahrain or Saudi Arabian Grand Prix leaving them bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, and Key has been relieved of his duties as a result.

As part of the reshuffle, Peter Prodromou will switch to the role of Technical Director of Aerodynamics, with Giuseppe Pesce being promoted to Director of Aerodynamics and Chief of staff.

David Sanchez will join the team as Technical Director of Car Concept and Performance next January after he ends his gardening leave having recently left Scuderia Ferrari, while Neil Houldey is being promoted to a new role of Technical Director of Engineering and Design.

Another move sees Piers Thynne move into the role of Chief Operating Officer for the Formula 1 Team, with the team admitting all the moves have been months in the making.

After an encouraging Qualifying display on Saturday evening at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Oscar Piastri’s hopes of a first top ten finish of his FIA Formula 1 World Championship career was high, but first lap contact with Pierre Gasly ended his chances.

The McLaren F1 Team driver required a pit lane visit at the end of the opening tour of the track after he and BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Gasly collided at turn three, with the layout of the circuit not helping either driver in the contact.

Piastri did not pit again after that, making one sit of hard tyres last until the chequered flag, and he was able to take the chequered flag fifteenth after a late race pass on Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant.

“Obviously it’s not the day we were looking for, there was contact at the beginning where I lost part of my front wing,” said Piastri.  “I’m not sure if there was anything I could have done really, I was squeezed a little bit.

“There was some good racing at the end, which was nice and obviously I did a long stint on the Hards, so it’s good to get a bit of learning for the tyres but overall, it’s not what we were looking for tonight.”

Alessandro Alunni Bravi admitted it was disappointing to see Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake leave Saudi Arabia without breaking into the points-paying positions, with Zhou Guanyu ending thirteenth and Valtteri Bottas down in eighteenth.

Hopes had been high heading into the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after qualifying twelfth and fourteenth that the team could make progress to score a top ten finish and add to the points that Bottas was able to score in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

However, Alunni Bravi, the Team Representative at Alfa Romeo, admits the pace was not as strong on race day as they were unable to breach the top ten, but the confidence within the team remains and he feels they can return to the pace they showed in Bahrain in the next outing in Australia, particularly with updates the C43-Ferrari due.

“Starting where we were on the grid, we were expecting to fight for the points, but, unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish in the top ten this time around,” said Alunni Bravi.  

“The team had a difficult weekend, and we weren’t able to be at the level for which we aimed: we’ll need to go back to base, analyse the data from this performance and understand where we’ve fallen short, and what steps we need to make to return to the level we were in Bahrain.

Zhou Guanyu believed he was in contention for a possible top ten finish in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the early stages, but the safety car intervention and being stuck in a DRS train put paid to his chances.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake driver ended his day in thirteenth having been able to make progress once stuck behind other cars post safety car, with the points paying positions falling out of reach as a result.

“We looked strong in the first stint, our pace was good and it seemed the top ten was within reach,” said Zhou.  “Of course, track position always makes the difference on street circuits like this one, and, unfortunately, I got stuck in a DRS train once the Safety Car came out.

“My race was compromised from that moment onwards, and there wasn’t much more we could do.”

Zhou believes there is a lot more to come from Alfa Romeo in the upcoming races, and he hopes to break into the top ten for the first time in the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season next time out in Australia.

Yuki Tsunoda admitted it was frustrating to miss out on the top ten with only a handful of laps to go in last Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Japanese driver fighting a losing battle against MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen.

A good first stint saw the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver rise into the top eight, but he was passed by both BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers before fighting against Magnussen in the last ten laps, the two battling almost wheel to wheel lap after lap.

Tsunoda has now finished eleventh in both of the opening races, with AlphaTauri falling behind Haas in the Constructors’ Championship, but the Japanese driver believes more pace is to come from the team in the upcoming races.

“I ended the race in P11, it’s frustrating to lose the position with only four laps to go,” said Tsunoda. “The team did a really great job, everything went perfectly.

“The pace on the medium tyre was very strong and it improved compared to qualifying. I’m happy with what the team and I achieved together, but at the same time, I’m disappointed we didn’t reach the points in the end.

Franz Tost has heavily criticised his engineers after an under par start to the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season for Scuderia AlphaTauri, despite promises the AT04 would be stronger than last years AT03.

The team has not scored any points in either the Bahrain or Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, although Yuki Tsunoda has ended both races in eleventh.  Nyck de Vries, in his rookie season, has finished both races in fourteenth as the team sit ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, the same position they ended the 2022 season.

Tost, the Team Principal of AlphaTauri, says he has lost the trust of his engineers due to the car not performing as strongly as they had promised it would, and he will only accept responses on the track until he is able to trust them again.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s currently the performance level of the car, because we expected a much better car,” Tost is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com in between the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“We struggled in Bahrain. It looks a little bit different here. I hope that at least, we are with one car in Q3 of qualifying, but we have to do a lot of things to make the car faster. Especially on the aerodynamic side, there are different programmes going on.

Sheldon Creed hoped to finally turn around his abysmal luck in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of the Americas, and looked to be on the right track when he won a stage for the first time and led sixteen laps.

Unfortunately for him, the misfortune continued for another race as contact with A.J. Allmendinger sent him into a spin with fourteen laps remaining. As Creed was left trying to salvage position, Allmendinger faced off against fellow Cup Series driver William Byron and scored his eleventh series win on a road course and second in a row at COTA.

“Hate that I had contact with Sheldon, he got under me, I was trying to stay off him,” Allmendinger explained.

Creed, who eventually recovered to finish ninth, told FOX Sports shortly after, “I’d seen him and I thought I gave him enough room, but I don’t know. I feel like if I’m leading and I give him a little room that he can’t overdrive a corner, I need to watch it. I really don’t know. I could have came down on him.”

With Creed out of contention, Byron became Allmendinger’s biggest opponent but was too far back to close the gap. Allmendinger’s eleven road course victories are the most in Xfinity Series history and complements his two at the Cup level for a baker’s dozen total. Zane Smith‘s win in the Truck event earlier in the day meant both NASCAR support divisions saw their 2022 COTA winners repeat.

Haas F1 Team Principal Günther Steiner was pleased with the outcome of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the team earning their first point of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season just two races in. 

Having contended with a mid-race safety car, Steiner said that the team had to truly battle to remain in contention for the points, with others benefitting from the neutralized period.

“First point this season. We had the speed but didn’t luck into it as some people were in a better position after the safety car, but the drivers fought hard, and we got a point.”

In the end, it was Kevin Magnussen who secured the point for the team after battling Yuki Tsunoda for tenth place into the closing laps, while Nico Hülkenberg crossed the line in twelfth. 

Steiner praised the efforts of the entire team to claim this strong result, and is excited to see them continue this momentum going into the Australian Grand Prix.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen saw his fortunes turn around on race day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, claiming a strong finish in the points after facing technical challenges in sessions prior. 

The Dane crossed the line in tenth place, earning the team’s first point of the season after coming out on top after a tight battle with Yuki Tsunoda. He overtook Tsunoda for the key position on lap forty-eight, closing out a successful campaign for Haas at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. 

Magnussen was pleased with the outcome of the race overall, saying that he had a solid start from thirteenth place and was able to minimise tyre degradation well– an element of his race that likely helped him in his pursuit of the final points position. 

“A point means a lot. We didn’t start the weekend on the right foot but it seemed like we really turned things around and found a groove for qualifying. Unfortunately, we had this issue with the gearbox that we didn’t have today, which was really nice.”

“We were able to have a good race, get a good start, manage the tires well – especially on the hard compound when I was on older tires than Tsunoda and actually had less degradation. I was then able to get past him at the end, and we managed to get a point.”

Leading the vast majority of the first half of Saturday’s inaugural São Paulo E-Prix was seemingly Stoffel Vandoorne‘s biggest mistake during the sixth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, after the reigning World Champion struggled for energy in the latter stages of the race.

Vandoorne had shown strong pace throughout the weekend in Brazil and even managed to claim his first pole position of the season, something that put him in with a shout of the win. The DS Penske driver made an excellent start to the race and led the opening stages; however, this turned out to be the wrong strategy. The Belgian driver burned up too much energy whilst leading the race, with those behind having been able to preserve their energy thanks to the slipstream Vandoorne was giving off.

As a result, he ultimately tumbled down the order to sixth, in what soon became a race of damage limitation. It was a really disappointing way for the race to go for Vandoorne, given how badly he needs some huge points in a bid to put up any sort of a title defence. To summarise his challenging season so far, his sixth place finish in Brazil was his best result this season. The three points for pole position and the points awarded for finishing sixth did see Vandoorne rise to eleventh in the standings; alas sixty-four points behind Pascal Wehrlein.

Vandoorne was “a bit disappointed” after the race given how strong his pace was; however, he openly admits that he “spent too many laps leading the race”.

“I‘m obviously a bit disappointed with the end result of P6 having started from pole. We knew before coming here that leading the race is not actually a good thing around this circuit, because it’s so energy sensitive and the drivers following behind benefit so massively from the slipstream. That’s kind of what happened.  We spent too many laps leading the race, and at some point our energy deficit compared to the others was just too much, and we had no way to fight with them anymore.

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team will have likely left the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix believing that they missed-out on a huge chance to extend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship, following a driver error from both António Félix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein.

Da Costa actually enjoyed a sensational start to the weekend and made it all the way to the final of the duels, where he went on to qualify second. Somewhat concerningly, he was the only Porsche-powered driver in the top thirteen, with Wehrlein having qualified fifteenth. Whilst he qualified fifteenth, the German started the race in eighteenth following a three-place grid penalty for the collision he caused in Cape Town.

To no surprise, Wehrlein made excellent progress during the race to claim seventh, with the German having also extended his lead in the championship to twenty-four points. His race was extremely difficult, though, following contact with title rival Jake Dennis, resulting in the Porsche driver completing the bulk of the race with significant damage.

Da Costa on the other hand showed stunning pace all race and even led momentarily, with the Portuguese driver having looked set for a third consecutive podium at the very least. A huge error late on, though, saw his chances of a podium vanish, after having to momentarily stop as a result of cutting the opening chicane, due to locking-up at Turn One. This demoted him from third to seventh; however, he did recover to claim fourth.

Overall, it was another big haul of points for Porsche who certainly had the pace for the rostrum, only to be outdone by driver errors. As a result, their lead in the Constructors’ Championship has been cut by just one-point, meaning they lead Envision Racing by forty-one points.

António Félix da Costa‘s excellent run of form continued on Saturday at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix; however, a costly error late on in the race saw the Portuguese driver’s hopes of a third consecutive podium go up in smoke.

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team driver has been showing strong pace since Hyderabad, with the Season Six Champion having narrowly missed out on pole during the duels. Da Costa was narrowly beaten by reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne, in what was a close final. Staggeringly, Da Costa was the only Porsche-powered driver to make it into the duels altogether, with Jake Dennis having been the next in fourteenth.

This fact further highlighted the exceptional job Da Costa did in qualifying, with it making him an early race favourite. He certainly showed exceptional pace and was always amongst the leading group, whilst he even led the race for brief moments. A third consecutive podium was looking all but certain for the Porsche driver, before a huge error saw his hopes of a rostrum disappear.

After locking-up at Turn One, Da Costa was forced to cut the opening chicane, resulting in him having to come to a complete stop before rejoining the circuit, as per the regulations. This resulted in him slipping from third from seventh, ending any chances of a podium or victory. He did recover to fourth in the final few laps, to at least salvage a third consecutive top five finish.

Reflecting on the race, Da Costa hails it as a “very positive” E-Prix but that his error “cost us a podium”, something which would’ve seen him make further ground on his team-mate in the championship.

Nick Cassidy is without a doubt the most in-form driver currently in the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, as the New Zealander claimed a sensational third consecutive podium finish at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix.

After claiming second in Hyderabad, third in Cape Town and second on Saturday in São Paulo, the Envision Racing driver has thrown himself right into title contention, with Cassidy having moved from fifth to third in the Drivers’ Championship. After his excellent performance in Brazil, the New Zealander is now just twenty-five points behind leader Pascal Wehrlein, with ten races remaining.

Cassidy made an excellent start to the race thanks to having qualified in fifth, before settling into the E-Prix in the leading pack. He did well to manage his energy by attempting to avoid being in front, with early race leader Stoffel Vandoorne having tumbled down the order due to having used more energy whilst leading. Cassidy used the slipstream to full-effect in order to preserve energy, a strategy which allowed himself and Mitch Evans to escape towards the end of the race.

Cassidy did eventually move into the lead on Lap Twenty-Five, after Evans had led for a few laps. Cassidy led for several laps before being overtaken by Evans late on, with the Envision driver having admitted after the race that “something pretty special” would’ve been needed to beat his compatriot. Cassidy did give it his all but ultimately had to settle for second.

The New Zealander absolutely loved the race and was “super happy” with yet another podium, something he’s starting to become very familiar with.

Sunday 25 March 2023 is a day that Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal James Barclay will never forget, as Jaguar powertrains claimed a first ever 1-2-3 at the inaugural São Paulo E Prix, with Mitch Evans claiming the honours.

It was a sensational day for Jaguar, with the factory team duo of Evans and Sam Bird having claimed first and third, whilst their customer side Envision Racing finished second thanks to Nick Cassidy. All three drove a brilliant race, with Bird in particular having worked his way through the field after starting tenth. The Briton was ultimately unable to fight for the victory due to having opted to play it safe and claim third, with the Hyderabad incident having been on the back of his mind.

Evans on the other hand was in the leading group throughout the race after starting third, with the New Zealander having saved his energy by remaining behind another driver. He ultimately made his move for the lead on Cassidy in the closing laps, with Cassidy having had no response due to the pair having boasted similar energy levels.

As a result of the team’s 1-3 finish, they’ve risen from sixth to third in the Constructors’ Championship, marking an “incredible day” for Barclay and the team.

“What an incredible day! A historic first with three Jaguars dominating the podium. Today’s result and the team’s performance after a few challenging weekends was all the more sweet. With a strong car and a proven team, we knew it was about executing a clean weekend with a great strategy and that’s what we did today. Mitch and Sam drove exceptionally, showing patience in a strategic race and raw speed when it was needed.

After enduring considerable bad luck in the opening five rounds of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Mitch Evans finally tasted glory at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, to kickstart his campaign after what has been a challenging start to the year.

Whilst he’s by no means in title contention just yet, Evans will have felt his confidence go through the roof following a remarkable drive in Brazil, where he timed his attack to perfection. After starting third, Evans very quickly settled into the race amongst the top five, with it having become clear very quickly that leading the race wasn’t the right strategy. Efficiency played a huge part in the sixth round of the season, which meant whoever was leading the race had less energy at the end of the hectic E-Prix.

Evans conserved his energy and remained in the draft of the likes of Nick Cassidy, who he overtook for the lead with just a couple of laps remaining. With both Evans and Cassidy having boasted almost identical energy levels, there was nothing the Envision Racing driver could do to snatch the victory from his fellow New Zealander.

The win comes as a huge relief to Evans who has been below par so far this year; however, he’ll be hoping to carry the momentum from winning in Brazil into the remainder of the season. His win has seen him move up to ninth in the Drivers’ Championship, with Evans admitting himself that the win “has come at the perfect time”.

“This win has come at the perfect time, because we’ve had a tough start and the Jaguar has been quick. To finally get a victory is incredible – Nick pushed me all the way. This is all down to the hard work of the team, there’s a lot of graft that goes in, so much work into the strategy, to try and put it together is not easy so I’m super happy to get some big points on the board.”