Formula 1

File photo of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz© AFP Spain’s Carlos Sainz will miss the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix this weekend with appendicitis and will be replaced by 18-year-old British reserve driver Oliver Bearman, the Ferrari team said Friday. “Carlos Sainz has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will require surgery,” the Italian team said in a statement. “Oliver will therefore take

The Mercedes drivers were struggling with rear-end grip on their short runs. Fernando Alonso appeared to be running a higher engine power mode than his immediate rivals. Max Verstappen might not have been fastest over one lap, but the Red Bull’s pace on a long run was as strong as ever. The three-time champion was

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen shut out the noise surrounding his Red Bull team on Thursday to clock the fastest lap  in opening practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Verstappen topped the times in one minute and 29.659 seconds to finish ahead of two-time former champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin by 0.186 seconds. 

Getty Images By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer Championship-winning engineer Bob Bell has left his advisory role with the struggling Alpine team. Bell was technical director when Alpine won their last world titles, as Renault with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006. He had been in an advisory role since 2018, but is the latest

Getty Images By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer The controversy surrounding Red Bull boss Christian Horner is “driving people apart”, says the father of the team’s F1 champion Max Verstappen. An anonymous email including messages purporting to involve Horner were leaked on Thursday, a day after Red Bull dismissed a complaint of inappropriate behaviour against

Jos Verstappen, the father of three-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, has claimed that the Red Bull team will “explode” if team boss Christian Horner, recently cleared of charges of “inappropriate behaviour” towards a female employee, remains in his job. “There is tension here while he (Horner) remains in position,” the former Dutch

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen began his title defence in flawless fashion on Saturday when he guided his Red Bull team to a crushing one-two triumph, ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, at the Bahrain Grand Prix. In a statement of emphatic superiority, the 26-year-old Dutchman came home 22.5 seconds clear of Perez, who started from

Getty Images By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer in Bahrain Max Verstappen has given qualified support to Christian Horner as Red Bull team boss after setting pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Horner has again denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour after a series of alleged messages were leaked. Verstappen was asked whether he had

Max Verstappen’s quest for a fourth consecutive Formula One world championship began in style on Friday with the Red Bull ace claiming pole for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari will start alongside Verstappen on the front row for Saturday’s first of a record 24 races this year. Verstappen’s 33rd career pole and

Lewis Hamilton warned his Mercedes team not to “get ahead of ourselves” on Thursday after unexpectedly topping the times ahead of team-mate George Russell in practice for this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion, who will leave Mercedes for Ferrari next year, said he felt much happier with the team’s new 2024

Red Bull team chief Christian Horner was cleared Wednesday of wrongdoing following an investigation into complaints of inappropriate behaviour against him made by a female team member. A statement from Austrian energy drinks brand Red Bull, the parent company of the world champion Formula One team, said the “grievance has been dismissed”. Horner, who has been

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images A loose drain cover at Turn 11 caused a fair bit of drama during pre-season testing, disrupting sessions on both Thursday and Friday. On the final day of running, the morning session was red-flagged after only 27 minutes of running. Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images On track, Max Verstappen dazzled his competitors

Getty Images By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are Formula 1’s three biggest characters, and the 2024 season which starts in Bahrain this weekend looks set to be defined by them, on and off track. Verstappen starts the season as a hot favourite for a fourth consecutive world

Getty Images By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer The 2024 Formula 1 season looks poised to start the way the last one finished – with Max Verstappen and Red Bull out of reach at the front of the field. That seems to have been the lesson from three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain this

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the fastest time as Formula One’s winter testing ended Friday on the same Sakhir circuit which will stage the season opener next week but he admitted world champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull have “a good head start”. Leclerc was 0.046sec ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes while China’s Zhou Guanyu was

File photo of Lewis Hamilton© AFP Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton says his switch to Ferrari programmed for 2025 will add a brand new chapter to his sparkling career, but insisted he hopes to leave Mercedes on a high. The 39-year-old Briton has been with Mercedes since 2013, but recently activated a break clause

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Drivers taking part in the morning session were curtailed by a red flag brought on by a loose drain cover at Turn 11. Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was the first to run over the kerb and loosen the cover, before Charles Leclerc did the exact same thing in the Ferrari,

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen gave his struggling rivals little hope for optimism ahead of the new Formula One season when he dominated the first day of winter testing on Wednesday. The Red Bull driver was more than a second faster than Lando Norris in a McLaren with Carlos Sainz, about to start his final