F1 News

Kimi Raikkonen is now the most experienced Formula 1 driver ever, but Antonio Giovinazzi measured up well against him in their second season as team mates.

McLaren pipped rival Racing Point to third at the season finale in Abu Dhabi last weekend, with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz finishing fifth and sixth.
The jump from fourth to third represents a significant step in the team’s share of the F1 prize fund, and may also have triggered sponsor bonuses, as contracts often specify extra payments based on championship performance.
The result came ...Keep reading

Red Bull reserve driver Sebastien Buemi admits he wasn't expecting his opportunity to test the race-winning RB16 in Formula 1's young driver test at Abu Dhabi on Tuesday

Nikita Mazepin did himself no favours when he posted a video of him groping an Instagram model onto social media earlier this month.

But, although the Haas F1 Team were quick to condemn the “abhorrent” incident, it seems the Russian racing driver will escape relatively unscathed.

READ: Abu Dhabi GP Could Be Valtteri Bottas’ Last Race In F1, Ralf Schumacher Warns

Discussing the incident, Dutch journalist Louis Dekker has said he believes the American racing outfit simply cannot drop Mazepin – despite a petition urging them to do so receiving over 30,000 signatures – as they would be bankrupt without his father’s investment.

“Without Mazepin, I’m afraid Haas is bankrupt. The team brought him in purely for the money,” Dekker said.

Nikita Mazepin’s father, Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, is believed to be paying the Haas F1 Team around $20 million per year as part of the multi-year contract his son signed with them earlier this month.

Meanwhile, ex-F1 driver Jan Lammers said people with the sort of wealth of the Mazepin family can usually get away with stuff like this, as they have “f*** you money.”

“People who are so rich are also called people with f*** you money. They can do whatever they want.

“This behaviour is, of course, reprehensible. He has overdue maintenance in parenting. His behaviour does not fit into the world of Formula 1.

“He’s very controversial at the moment,” he added.

READ: Sergio Perez Fires Jibe At Lance Stroll As He Praises McLaren

The post ‘I’m Afraid Haas Is Bankrupt Without Nikita Mazepin’ – Dekker On Instagram Model Groping Incident appeared first on Formula1News.co.uk.

An original plan for a 22-race schedule had to be abandoned because of the coronavirus pandemic, and in the end the revamped schedule was cut down to 17 races.
The reduced opportunity to score points means that, with the entry fee based on the final points standings, everyone's costs have come down.
As part of a restructuring of F1's finances in 2013 to help the FIA get some of the sport's ...Keep reading

Racing Point missed out on third in the 2020 F1 Constructors’ Championship to McLaren after Sergio Perez retired from the Abu Dhabi GP due to a mechanical failure and Lance Stroll could only manage P10.

This was especially disappointing for the Silverstone-based team, which will be rebranded Aston Martin Racing next year, as they had the third-fastest car throughout the season.

READ: Sergio Perez Set To Replace Alex Albon At Red Bull – Kravitz

Speaking after his DNF at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Perez described the outcome of the race as a “shame” and fired a thinly veiled jibe at Stroll, suggesting that he isn’t a “strong” racing driver.

“It’s a shame, because it cost us a lot in the Constructors’ Championship and they beat us,” Perez said.

“No doubt we had a better car than McLaren, but in the end they overtook us. I’ve always said finishing the races would make a difference, but we had problems with our cars.

“McLaren deserves it a lot too, proving that having two strong drivers in the team makes a very important difference,” the Mexican added.

In total, Racing Point scored 210 points, but they were docked 15 points earlier in the season after the FIA determined that they had illegally copied the brake ducts of the 2019 Mercedes F1 car.

So, they finished their 2020 campaign with 195 points, seven points adrift of McLaren’s tally of 202 points.

Perez scored almost twice as many points as his younger team-mate, bringing in 125 points to Stroll’s 75 despite the Canadian competing in one more race than him.

Nico Hulkenberg also scored ten points for the team, as he competed in three grand prix due to Perez testing positive for COVID-19 towards the start of the year and subsequently missing both races at Silverstone, and Stroll later missing the Eifel Grand Prix for the same reason.

The McLaren drivers’ points distribution was considerably more even, with Carlos Sainz scoring 105 and Lando Norris contributing 97.

Despite his retirement at the season finale, Sergio Perez still finished fourth in the Drivers’ Standings with six points more than Daniel Ricciardo.

READ: ‘Your 2021 Car Is Ready For Collection’: Red Bull Pokes Fun At Racing Point

The post Sergio Perez Fires Jibe At Lance Stroll As He Praises McLaren appeared first on Formula1News.co.uk.

Formula 1 boss Ross Brawn says Mick Schumacher's arrival in the championship with Haas is a reminder of the "tragedy" that befell his father Michael

For the Italian team emerged in first free practice with a brand new rake at the rear of the car that offered clues to the complexity of understanding the impact of next year's tweaks.
The framework of the rake was heavily contoured to limit its displacement of the airflow and minimise the affect it has on the readings captured by the kiel probes mounted on it.
Interestingly, this extremely ...Keep reading

The Mercedes W11, which allowed Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to comfortably win the 2020 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Titles, is the fastest racing car ever – and it’s likely to remain so for a while, with next year’s cars set to be considerably slower.

Following the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Mercedes posted a tweet of its two drivers doing donuts ahead of the W11 being retired.

READ: Sergio Perez Set To Replace Alex Albon At Red Bull – Kravitz

Serving them up HOT Sending W11 into retirement with some fresh ! #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/9FwcvCXXcq

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 13, 2020

Red Bull were quick to reply to the tweet to poke fun at Racing Point following the Copygate scandal earlier this year.

“Retirement? Your 2021 car is ready for collection, @RacingPointF1,” Red Bull posted in response to the tweet.

Other teams and the broader F1 community reacted to the exchange with more jokes and memes.

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) December 13, 2020

lmao you guys are wild pic.twitter.com/QedZlA5K2l

— mari IS SO PROUD OF ALEX ALBON (@lovelyalbon) December 13, 2020

At least the banter was fresh.

— BWT Racing Point F1 Team (@RacingPointF1) December 13, 2020

pic.twitter.com/hM6btUYKne

— Liam New (@LiamNewMedia) December 13, 2020

READ: Lewis Hamilton Looking To Sign New Mercedes Contract Before Christmas

The post ‘Your 2021 Car Is Ready For Collection’: Red Bull Pokes Fun At Racing Point appeared first on Formula1News.co.uk.

The Milton Keynes-based team has a tradition of ending campaigns robustly thanks to a rapid development push, but then it struggles to carry that momentum forward.
Max Verstappen's dominant victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a difficult start to 2020 appears to show history repeating itself, but the team believes it can break the cycle this time and kick off 2021 in style.
It thinks ...Keep reading

George Russell says it was harder returning to the Williams Formula 1 car in Abu Dhabi than it had been stepping up to Mercedes

Pictures of Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso, Stoffel Vandoorne and other in action at today's Formula 1 test at Yas Marina.

The Australian will make an off-season switch from the Renault Formula 1 squad to McLaren, giving him a direct link to Supercars through Zak Brown.
The McLaren boss is part owner of the Walkinshaw Andretti United Supercars team and has already floated the idea of a Ricciardo/Lando Norris wildcard entry at Mount Panorama.
Ricciardo himself has now dropped his own hint about a Bathurst ...Keep reading

Plenty of driver who are switching teams or leaving F1 took the opportunity to say their goodbyes over team radio after the race in Abu Dhabi...

The ingredients were all in place for Daniil Kvyat to sign off in style after an impressive qualifying session in Abu Dhabi, but the Russian says he felt like “a sitting duck” as he failed to end his AlphaTauri career with points on race day.

All season long we’ve provided our Power Rankings – our assessment of the drivers’ performances, taking machinery out of the equation. We’ll be publishing our Abu Dhabi ratings, as well as the final end-of-year standings, on Wednesday, but in the meantime we want YOUR ratings!

Max Verstappen signed off a remarkable 2020 Formula 1 campaign with a dominant victory for Red Bull in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as an intense fight for P3 in the constructors’ championship played out behind. We pick out five winners and five losers from the twilight race at Yas Marina Circuit...

Even though Haas have had a difficult few seasons, getting to say goodbye to the team in his final race weekend was a highlight of the year for Kevin Magnussen as he prepares to switch to racing in the United States.

F1 teams combining forces to build medical-grade ventilators, a delayed calendar featuring the likes of Mugello, Istanbul Park, Portimao and Imola, and Charles Leclerc dressed as a banana. Yes, 2020 has truly been an unprecedented year in the history of Formula 1.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix brought the curtain down on an extraordinary and unique 17-race season that took place during a global pandemic. Formula 1 Managing Director, Motorsport, Ross Brawn discusses the key talking points…