Adrian Newey’s departure will not hurt Red Bull – at least in 2025. That is the view of two well-known former Formula 1 team bosses, Gunther Steiner and Gian Carlo Minardi. Some are predicting that Red Bull is already beginning to lose its dominant edge in 2024, with Ferrari and McLaren winning races this season so far amid the energy drink-owned outfit’s internal problems. That power struggle and the Christian Horner scandal have cost Red Bull the renowned design and technical talents of Newey, who has already stepped back from F1 matters before departing the organisation completely in the e ..read more

Audi intends to enter Formula 1 and be “at the very front” of the grid, the Volkswagen-owned German carmaker’s CEO Gernot Dollner insists. This year, Audi surprised the F1 world by ramping up its original plan to eventually buy 75 percent of the Swiss team Sauber – and instead took 100 percent control. It followed a period of speculation that Audi was actually thinking about completely reversing its decision to enter Formula 1 for the new rules era beginning in 2026. “We discussed it intensively and decided to significantly accelerate our involvement in Formula 1,” Dollner explained to German ..read more

Italy will try to “resist” Formula 1’s gradual shift away from Europe, as Imola seeks a new race deal with the sport’s owner Liberty Media. During an investors call this week, Liberty CEO Greg Maffei admitted capping the calendar at 24 grands prix for now has created a “great incentive scarcity” amid plenty of extra interest from potential new race hosts. “We’ve been able to find attractive pricing and good uplifts,” he said. “So, so far so good on promotion.” Imola returned to the F1 calendar during the covid era, with the circuit – set to host next weekend’s round of the world championship ..read more

Growing unrest between Charles Leclerc and his race engineer has led to the departure from the role of the latter at Ferrari. That’s the claim of authoritative Italian media sources, as the Maranello team announced that Leclerc’s race engineer since 2019, Xavi Marcos, is moving to “other important company programs”. Alessandra Retico, a Formula 1 correspondent for La Repubblica newspaper, claims that “more than a few times in recent years, and also in the last race in Miami, Leclerc was not entirely satisfied with his race management”. “It seems there was some nervousness between the two, lik ..read more

A key door seems to have closed for Carlos Sainz, amid new rumours that Red Bull has agreed a new single-season deal for Sergio Perez next year. It is believed the Ferrari-departing Spaniard recently let a deadline set by Audi-owned Sauber pass, as he holds out for better options at Red Bull and Mercedes. But another rumour is that Toto Wolff is only offering Sainz, 29, a single-year offer to race at Mercedes next year – keeping the door open for the team chief’s 17-year-old protege Kimi Antonelli for 2026. “All the stories about Kimi do him no good,” Wolff said, “because he has to focus on F ..read more

Ferrari is set to give its Imola-spec car upgrade a trial run during a ‘filming day’ at the Italian team’s own Fiorano circuit. Red Bull is also planning a car upgrade for Imola next weekend – the second major aerodynamic update for the dominant outfit so far this year. Lando Norris won in Miami last weekend at the wheel of McLaren’s heavily revised ‘B’ car, giving Formula 1 hope of a closer contest going forward. “Miami was a good race for Formula 1,” Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur said. “We had a good all-round battle for victory and the podium places – three or four teams were in the fight ..read more

Ferrari are simply one of the most consistent teams out there in the current Formula 1 season. With Carlos Sainz gathering three podiums this year, which included a mega race win in Australia and with Charles Leclerc also continuing the silvery run of form amplified by his most recent podium finish at Miami, things are looking good for the Maranello-based outfit at the moment. As a matter of fact, in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari even scored a spectacular 1-2 finish, punctuated by Leclerc closely-following his race-winning teammate. Most recently, Ferrari were found to be quick and ..read more

A former FIA steward has slammed the current state of Formula 1. On the surface, the sport is actually thriving in popularity, with F1 declaring that last Sunday’s Miami GP was the largest US television audience in F1 history. But Joaquin Verdegay, a regular F1 steward in the past as well as a high-ranking Spanish motor racing official, thinks the sport has actually lost focus. “The races now are more intended to be a party than a sporting spectacle,” he told A Diario. “I got the impression that the Miami GP was a happening organised to sell trays of nachos.” Verdegay was also asked about Fer ..read more

The 2024 pecking order looks set to keep evolving at next weekend’s return to action in Imola. When the championship-leading Red Bull trailed McLaren’s Lando Norris home last Sunday, the German newspaper Bild cheekily declared in its headline: “Formula 1 winner is NOT Verstappen”. Max Verstappen did, however, emerge fastest from both of the qualifying sessions, as well as winning the Saturday sprint. But he also complained of poor car handling all weekend and on Sunday damaged his car by hitting a bollard. Dutch racing driver Tom Coronel told Viaplay: “We heard Max say ‘I can’t turn in’. I se ..read more

Christian Horner says he has “no concerns” about the ongoing health of Red Bull Racing, even though key rivals are predicting a staff exodus. Design guru Adrian Newey has stepped down from his Formula 1 duties at the energy drink company’s premier team – without naming his next destination. A clear frontrunner is Ferrari. But the Maranello marque’s CEO Benedetto Vigna told Formula Passion: “He (Newey) is one of our clients, participating in track events. “But a lot of things are always said in the newspapers,” he added. Another rumour is that Red Bull’s long-time sporting director Jonathan Wh ..read more