Audi’s arrival in Formula 1 for 2026 is making Stake a serious player in the driver market this season despite on-track struggles, according to team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi. The Sauber-run team has yet to score a point in the opening five races and has been hampered by pit stop issues that have caused a number of slow stops, frustrating drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. Despite the challenging results so far in 2024, the fact that Audi will take over the team and enter as a full constructor in less than two years is leading to a lot of interest from drivers, according to ..read more

Ferrari has announced a new title partnership with HP, with the team officially to become known as Scuderia Ferrari HP and to debut a special livery at the Miami Grand Prix. Ferrari hasn’t had a title sponsor since the Mission Winnow deal that ran until the end of the 2021 season, but will add HP to its name with immediate effect. The partnership with the information technology company is a multi-year deal that the team is describing as “historic”, with the global collaboration also involving changes of identity for the teams Esports and F1 Academy entries. More Formula 1! ‘Just add downforce ..read more

George Russell says Mercedes needs to get back to basics and simply add more downforce to its car to try an improve performance after a poor start to the season. Mercedes has scored a best finish of fifth place — achieved by Russell in the Bahrain Grand Prix — so far this season, and is currently fourth in the constructors’ championship. With McLaren comfortably ahead of Mercedes at this stage in third, Russell says the different routes his team has taken in terms of car design show that a more simple approach is needed. “I think we’ve understood enough so far that we just need to add downforc ..read more

Lando Norris says McLaren has good things coming in terms of its updates due for the next Formula 1 race in Miami, as he sees the team continuing the progress it has made since last season. McLaren jumped into the fight for podiums following its major car upgrade in Austria last summer and it has remained there in 2024, with Norris finishing second in the Chinese Grand Prix. With upgrades set to be introduced at the next race, Norris says it’s not a case of momentum building but McLaren showing it can hold its own at the front now it is there. “It’s not building, it’s been there for some time ..read more

During the Chinese Grand Prix, a weekend where teams and drivers got an opportunity to score plenty more points then usual – with an extra eight on offer to the winner of the Sprint and a return for everyone down to eighth place on the Saturday – it emerged that there could be further changes on that front next season. The F1 Commission meets on Thursday by video conference to discuss a number of topics relating to Formula 1 and its future, with different regulations usually among the talking points. This week the subject of point-scoring down to 12th place in a grand prix has been tabled. F1 ..read more

Carlos Sainz wants to review the fight with Charles Leclerc at the start of the Chinese Grand Prix after feeling both lost positions focusing on each other. The two Ferrari teammates had a small collision in the Sprint on Saturday, with Leclerc saying he felt Sainz had crossed the line in the way they race each other but expected the issue to be resolved easily with pre-race discussions. However, Turn 1 on the opening lap then saw Leclerc appear to run Sainz wide and both George Russell and Nico Hulkenberg were able to take advantage. More Formula 1! 'better not to race' in Sprints - AlonsoAnd ..read more

Mario Andretti says he was “offended” by comments from Formula 1 about how Andretti Global would not be competitive if it was granted an entry, as well as disrespect over the General Motors partnership. Formula One Management (FOM) stated it was not open to giving Andretti a spot on the grid in either 2025 or 2026 at the start of this year, after the FIA had approved the team’s credentials to join the sport. Earlier this month, Andretti opened its Silverstone facility that is building a chassis to current regulations as work continues on the F1 project, and the 1979 world champion says comment ..read more

Lewis Hamilton says 2024 has been the worst season of his career to date after finishing ninth in the Chinese Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion qualified on the front row for the Sprint and finished second, but then dropped out in Q1 after making a mistake at the penultimate corner. Hamilton said that he had gone for a major setup change that backfired for the grand prix, and after finishing ninth for the third time in four races – retiring from the other – he admits it’s continuing a challenging season. “It’s the worst one so far,” Hamilton said. “But we had a second in the Sprint and ..read more

Lando Norris says his second place at the Chinese Grand Prix came as such a surprise because he expected to be “nowhere near top three” based on the Sprint. McLaren struggled for race pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari in the Sprint, with Norris losing the lead at the start of the race and slipping to seventh, eventually finishing sixth. As a result he thought fifth place was McLaren’s likely best finish from his starting position of fourth behind the Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso, but he cleared the Aston Martin early on and then used strategy to beat Sergio Perez to second. “A big improve ..read more

A proposal to expand the points structure to include the top 12 finishers in Formula 1 races will be discussed by the F1 Commission this week. Currently the top 10 finishers score points in a grand prix, with the winner scoring 25 points, second 18, third 15, fourth 12, fifth 10, sixth score eight points, seventh score six, eighth pick up four, ninth get two and 10th place receiving one. One of the teams has proposed that is expanded so that the top 12 score points, but with the top seven positions remaining unchanged. The revision would then see eighth place receive five points, ninth get fou ..read more