The Iron Dames, a groundbreaking project committed to promoting and supporting women in sports, announced its entry into the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA). This single-seater series is categorized between Formula 4 and Formula 3 — a great opportunity for young drivers to show their talent and potentially move to a higher level category. Iron Dames go into it with a first-ever all-female line-up, featuring Doriane Pin and Marta Garcia. Dorian Pin is currently racing in F1 Academy, sponsored by Mercedes and part of the team’s junior program. Twenty years old, from Fra ..read more

In the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint qualifying, Lando Norris of McLaren claimed pole position after his previously disqualified lap time of 1:57.940 was restored, putting the Brit ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin in a session impacted by wet conditions at Shanghai International Circuit. As the final part of qualifying (SQ3) concluded amidst rain, Hamilton had initially secured the provisional pole with a lap of 1:59.321. Norris had experienced an off-track moment on his preceding lap, leading to the initial disqualification of his time. However, upon r ..read more

2024 Chinese Grand Prix: Sprint Qualifying Tyre Analysis – The first day of the Chinese Grand Prix was action-packed with plenty of surprises, especially in the final part of Sprint Qualifying. After a few drops of rain began to fall towards the end of Q2, the final part was run on a completely wet track with a very slippery surface. That produced eight spectacular and exciting minutes, with off-track excursions, big corrections on the steering wheels, great car control, all ending with a very unusual grid order. Lando Norris will start the Sprint Race from pole in his McLaren, with the Merce ..read more

Dr Helmut Marko admits Red Bull is keeping an eye on McLaren’s contracted driver duo “for the future”. Heading into Shanghai, McLaren boss Andrea Stella sounded hopeful the team will not only cement its status as the third-fastest team in 2024, but perhaps even win races later this season. “If we deliver the same type of development that we did last year, then why not?” he is quoted by France’s Auto Hebdo. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but this is certainly the mindset that everyone at McLaren has.” The Woking based outfit has taken some minor developments to China, but both Lando Norris a ..read more

Aston Martin has just inked a new contract for 2025 and 2026 with Fernando Alonso, but team boss Mike Krack warned in Shanghai that 25-year-old Stroll’s future will only be dealt with “in the coming weeks”. However, he also insisted that Aston Martin “is Lance’s home” – an obvious comment given that the Silverstone-based team is owned by the Canadian driver’s billionaire father Lawrence. 1996 world champion Damon Hill joked this week that Stroll might actually decide to give up on F1 to play “tennis”, while former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan echoed that view by predicting Stroll will stop at t ..read more

Dr Helmut Marko has continued to divulge the apparent details of Audi’s contract offer to Ferrari refugee Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez appears headed for a new contract at Red Bull Racing next year, as Red Bull’s top F1 consultant Marko admits that he brings more than just pace to the seat alongside Max Verstappen. “He brings Mexican sponsors with him,” Marko, 80, told Osterreich newspaper. “His demands are more about the length of the contract.” Indeed, paddock rumours suggest Red Bull is only offering 34-year-old Perez a one-year deal for 2025 – while Audi-owned Sauber is rumoured to be offer ..read more

As long as Red Bull remains “peaceful and calm”, Max Verstappen says he’s going nowhere. For months now, rumours and counter-rumours amid the loud and intense Red Bull leadership power struggle have suggested the triple world champion might find a way out of his 2028 contract. That might go a long way to explaining why the power struggle has suddenly become so quiet – notwithstanding a new report suggesting a new and less biased lawyer is now in charge of the internal appeal lodged by team boss Christian Horner’s female accuser. “No comment,” Dr Helmut Marko told Osterreich newspaper when ask ..read more

Dr Helmut Marko admits he is surprised Mercedes has still not mastered the new-in-2022 ground effect regulations for three consecutive seasons and running. Former F1 driver Christian Danner said recently that he thinks the death of Toto Wolff’s former sparring partner Niki Lauda might explain Mercedes’ ongoing struggles, which have resulted in Lewis Hamilton departing for Ferrari for 2025. “It’s not that simple,” Marko, the top Austrian F1 consultant at Red Bull, told Osterreich newspaper. “You don’t enter a slump like this overnight,” he added. “But what is alarming is that they have not bee ..read more

Valtteri Bottas is among the Formula 1 drivers who is yet to find his seat amid the 2025 driver market ‘silly season’. The experienced Finn and former Mercedes race winner looks likely to be left out of new team owner Audi’s plans at his existing team, Sauber. Multiple drivers are linked with the 34-year-old’s place, as well as that of his Chinese teammate Guanyu Zhou – including Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. It is believed Audi is so keen to wrap up its lineup for 2025, 2026 and perhaps even 2027 that strict deadlines on the drivers with solid offers are now looming within ..read more

Williams, along with two other teams, is yet to score a point in 2024. What more, the team had to deal with some unusual problems regarding the lack of their spare chassis, resulting in an uncomfortable decision. James Vowles, the team principal, has been criticized by numerous fans for his logical and business solution of having only one drivable car in Australia – leaving out Logan Sargeant. Now, we’re probably all hoping the team has a calm weekend without crashes like the one of Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo in Japan. The debated spare chassis still isn’t ready, and with an action-packe ..read more