Mick Schumacher is the “one loser” in this past week’s double move in Formula 1’s driver market, that’s according to Auto Motor und Sport. Last Thursday Sebastian Vettel announced that this season would be his last in Formula 1, the German citing a desire to spend more time with his family as his reason for quitting. Immediately there were speculation as to who would take his seat, the four-time World Champion putting forward Schumacher’s name to team owner Lawrence Stroll. He also broadcast his pick to F1’s media. “I do have my opinion,” he said. “I think very highly of Mick. I’m not entirely ..read more

Sebastian Vettel’s retirement announcement  came after Aston Martin ‘requested’ he make a decision before the summer break as the team had already been in talks with Fernando Alonso for a ‘few weeks’. That’s according to a report from Auto Motor und Sport. Vettel announced last Thursday that this season would be his last in Formula 1, the decision surprising many in the paddock. It was thought that it also surprised Aston Martin as team boss Mike Krack said they did not have a “Plan B” in mind should Vettel opt not to continue. But, according to AMuS’s Tobias Gruner, it was with that Plan ..read more

Fernando Alonso posted a thumbs-up video on Instagram at the same time Oscar Piastri announced he would not be driving for Alpine in 2023. A dramatic first couple of days of F1’s summer break for the French team began when Aston Martin announced on Monday morning that Alonso was leaving Alpine to join them for 2023 on a multi-year contract. At that point, it looked something of a no-brainer that Esteban Ocon would be joined for his fourth season with Alpine by their academy driver Piastri, who has been waiting for an opportunity to race in F1 since winning the 2021 Formula 2 championship. Alpi ..read more

Oscar Piastri has shot down Alpine’s announcement that he will be partnering Esteban Ocon in their 2023 driver line-up. A day after Fernando Alonso’s move from Alpine to Aston Martin had been revealed, the French team confirmed the widely expected news that Piastri would be taking the former double World Champion’s place. However, there had been uncertainty before the announcement in the form of reports suggesting Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber, had been sounding out McLaren with a view to potentially taking Daniel Ricciardo’s place there. Now Piastri, an Alpine academy driver, has delivered t ..read more

Red Bull boss Christian Horner reckons Sergio Perez needs some time off to recharge in order to come back stronger in the second half of the year. Perez heads into the summer break after a reasonably uncompetitive stretch of races. Since his Monaco victory in May, the Mexican driver has claimed two podium finishes in six races, with Perez failing to finish in the first three in France and Hungary after being somewhat off his team-mate Max Verstappen’s pace. Despite his struggles to match Verstappen in Hungary, he earned the praise of team boss Horner afterwards due to his willingness to pull o ..read more

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has said Oscar Piastri has contractual obligations to the team, but is not privy to rumoured discussions he has had with McLaren. It was reported in July that Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber has been looking into the possibility of potentially taking on Daniel Ricciardo’s seat at McLaren next season, rather than accept a potential drive at Williams, should Fernando Alonso carry on with Alpine. But Monday saw the bombshell news that Alonso will be leaving for Aston Martin next season, leaving current Alpine reserve Piastri with the opportunity to take the no ..read more

With Charles Leclerc alone losing over 100 points because of Ferrari blunders, David Coulthard says the Ferrari drivers “must be losing the confidence” in the team. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Leclerc once again found himself falling off the podium when earlier in the race he had looked to be a sure bet for the top step. Instead of listening to the driver who wanted a longer middle stint on his medium tyres, Ferrari covered Max Verstappen’s alternate strategy and put Leclerc on a set of hard tyres, tyres that no one was able to make work. Easily overtaken by Verstappen and then George Russell ..read more

Red Bull have announced that their technical support agreement with Honda in Red Bull Powertrains has been extended until 2025. This will see the team work with their former power unit supplier until the end of the current engine regulations, which are set for a radical revamp in 2026. AlphaTauri and Red Bull will continue to have Honda’s assistance beyond their existing agreement, which had been due to last until the end of 2022 as a transition period, while their new Powertrains division developed. The agreement does not involve Honda being directly involved in power unit development with th ..read more

Martin Brundle believes that, while Fernando Alonso moving to Aston Martin is in part down to his ‘multi-year’ contract, his battles with Esteban Ocon will not have helped matters. Alonso was unhappy on team radio at the start of the weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, after Ocon moved across and blocked his team-mate at the start and hindered his progress. “Never in my life I saw a defence like Esteban. Never,” was the two-time World Champion’s assessment of the move as his Alpine colleague moved right in front of him, which he described after the race as being “quite aggressive” on Ocon’s p ..read more

Fernando Alonso has explained his angry team radio message about his team-mate Esteban Ocon’s defensive driving at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Alpine duo are usually one of the friendlier partnerships on the grid, and it had been bearhugs all round 12 months earlier at the Hungaroring when Ocon emerged triumphant – helped by some superb defending by Alonso against Lewis Hamilton. But the boot was very much on the other foot this time after they had launched from fifth and sixth positions, with Ocon just ahead of his soon-to-be-former colleague. Heading to Turn 1, Alonso went for ..read more