May 4 (GMM) Pierre Gasly is keeping his 2025 cards close to his chest. The Frenchman’s contract with the struggling Alpine team expires this year, as does that of his teammate Esteban Ocon. Ocon is at least seeing light at the end of the tunnel. “Things are changing,” he told RTBF in Miami. “You saw the announcement of David Sanchez joining us. The team is making efforts to change the situation as we are all unhappy about it. “Obviously it’s very important for me to realise that they want to move forward, develop, and not just be happy with the situation we are in,” Ocon added. As for Gasly, h ..read more

May 4 (GMM) It’s possible the proposal to tweak the points system in Formula 1 could be even more radical than first thought. At the end of last month, the F1 Commission met in Geneva amid speculation the current system could be expanded so that P11 and P12 also score points. F1 and the FIA jointly declared afterwards: “It was agreed that further analysis of proposed changes was required with a view to a proposal to be presented to the F1 Commission meeting in July.” Now, in Miami, it emerges that one idea now being discussed is that every single car – from the grand prix winner to the driver ..read more

May 4 (GMM) Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli is being prepared for an imminent Formula 1 race debut. Heading into the Miami GP weekend, rumours were already swirling that it will be struggling Williams driver Logan Sargeant’s last race for the team. F2 rookie Antonelli is the protege of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who is famously close to Mercedes-powered Williams’ team principal James Vowles. Vowles tried to play down the rumours in Miami. “Let’s put it this way,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to Kimi since Abu Dhabi last year. Hopefully that puts it in context.” Antonelli has been testing older Mercedes F ..read more

May 4 (GMM) Kevin Magnussen is not assured his place at Haas for 2025, team boss Ayao Komatsu has warned. The small American team is upset to be farewelling Nico Hulkenberg at the end of the year, with the German having accepted an offer from Sauber-Audi. “Nico has been a good reference for how fast our car is,” Komatsu told Ekstra Bladet newspaper in Miami. “He is a driver on whose feedback you can develop a car from. His work ethic is amazing. “We will try to replace him with someone who has the same kind of characteristics. We need that as a team,” he added. Given that Magnussen has been wi ..read more

May 4 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo is relieved to finally be getting his 2024 season on track. Mere weeks ago, speculation was rife that Red Bull had lost patience with the Australian’s ongoing struggles and would be dropped by the junior RB squad mid-season. “If there is a change in our team, there will probably be a big favourite and that is Liam (Lawson),” admitted RB CEO Peter Bayer, according to RTBF. “Helmut (Marko) has been clear about this. He will not hesitate to put Liam (Lawson) in the seat to find out what he is worth in the long term.” Ricciardo, 34, looked disconsolate prior to China ..read more

May 3 (GMM) Formula 1 has slammed the door in the face of another Russian driver. At the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Haas ousted Nikita Mazepin and his sponsor Uralkali – as F1 axed the Russian GP and imposed restrictions on other FIA-sanctioned Russian drivers. And now, new world karting champion Kirill Kutskov, who has been racing under the flag of Kyrgyzstan, has discovered that Formula 1 teams are not interested in even talking to him. “At the FIA gala ceremony we spoke with Christian Horner,” said 15-year-old Kirill’s father, Ilya. “When I started to introduce my son, he repl ..read more

May 3 (GMM) Alpine has confirmed rumours that fleeing Ferrari and McLaren engineer David Sanchez is joining the struggling F1 team. Last year, the Frenchman left his post as Ferrari’s head of vehicle concept, before re-emerging for 2024 and beyond as technical director at McLaren. But Sanchez then suddenly left McLaren after just three months in his post, with McLaren explaining that his role “did not align with our original expectations when he agreed to join us”. He is now re-emerging in the F1 paddock yet again, this time to oversee the technical team at Alpine. “When the (McLaren) announce ..read more

May 3 (GMM) Andretti, the hopeful Formula 1 team entrant, will struggle even to get teams up and running in the support categories Formula 3 and Formula 2. As part of its push to convince F1 owner Liberty Media to green-light Andretti-Cadillac’s grand prix dream, Michael Andretti revealed that he would also commit to setting up F3 and F2 outfits. But Bruno Michel, the CEO of both Formula 2 and Formula 3, plays down the likelihood that that happening. “For Formula 3,” he told France’s Auto Hebdo, “I think it is completely out of the question to increase the number of cars. “Thirty cars is alrea ..read more

May 3 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll are yet to bury the hatchet, two weeks after their bizarre run-in behind the safety car in China. Stroll, whose billionaire father owns the Aston Martin team he drives for, rear-ended Ricciardo’s RB in Shanghai and initially blamed the Australian – before turning his attention to the “concertina” effect. When he heard that Stroll had blamed him, Ricciardo told the media at the time: “F*ck that guy, and I’m being nice.” Two weeks on, and 25-year-old Canadian Stroll was asked by a reporter if he’s cleared the air with Ricciardo. “(That’s) not for thi ..read more

May 3 (GMM) Kevin Magnussen doesn’t sound too worried about losing his seat at Haas. A week ago, Nico Hulkenberg – who has generally been the quicker of the duo since the German joined the team last year – was unveiled as the first Sauber-Audi driver for 2025 and beyond. Magnussen told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet that the news caught him by surprise. “Honestly, I thought it would be Nico and me again next year,” said the 31-year-old in Miami. “That seemed most likely. “He has accepted the opportunity at Sauber and Audi, and I wish him all the best with that,” Magnussen added. Although t ..read more