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Lewis Hamilton admits that he is "counting down the days" until Mercedes bring their Formula 1 upgrade after a season-worst showing in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Hamilton qualified fifth and pitted early on to swap to Hard tyres, but lost out under the Safety Car when it was deployed for the stricken Nyck de Vries on the next lap. He rebounded to sixth, executing a move on teammate George Russell after the restart at Turn 1, but could not make further progress to pass the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. He finished 46.1s behind race-winner Sergio Perez and revealed post-race that he cannot wait for the much-vaunted upgrade s to come at Imola, after the next race in Miami. Viewed by others: Esteban Ocon Ocon: Azerbaijan GP pit lane near-miss could have been 'major incident' ...

Mercedes ' returning Technical Director James Allison has suggested a "wholesale revamp" of the W14's design philosophy would end with the team throwing away "an awful lot of baby along with a small amount of bathwater ". Allison returned to the role he left to become Chief Technical Officer 20 months ago after a swap with Mike Elliott, with the Silver Arrows attempting to rediscover the competitiveness that saw it dominate F1 for eight years. The current car concept left the team with a small working window for set-up last season and despite improvements this year, the performance remains a distance from challenging Red Bull whilst the pecking order fluctuates with Aston Martin and Ferrari. Upgrades to the W14 are set to arrive at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola next month with 'visible change' promised to fans by Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin earlier this year. Viewed by others: ...

It's now three Pole Positions from the last three visits to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Charles Leclerc - who will be hoping for better Formula 1 luck than he got in 2022. Last June, he was in contention for victory but a blown engine put him out and was the first big dent in his title ambitions following another failure in Spain beforehand. This time, Leclerc badly needs to get his season firing, having just six points to his name for seventh in Jeddah, coupled with two retirements. He is the big winner of Qualifying - but who joins him on the good list, and who had a shocker on Friday in Baku? Viewed by others: Charles Leclerc Leclerc fires Ferrari Red Bull warning despite Azerbaijan GP pole ...

After a four-week break in the calendar, the 2023 F1 season resumes this weekend with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Baku City Circuit has played host to some memorable moments in the past. Max Verstappen took victory in the 2022 event, leading teammate Sergio Perez home in a Red Bull 1-2. Can the team repeat that success this time around, during a weekend in which the Sprint returns alongside the introduction of a new Sprint Shootout? When is the 2023 Azerbaijan GP? The 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be held across the weekend of 28-30 April. With the Sprint making its debut appearance of the season, the schedule of the event will look a little different. A practice session on Friday will be followed by traditional qualifying later in the day, which will determine the grid for Sunday's main race. There will then be a new Sprint Shootout in place of Free Practice 2 on Saturday, which will decide the start ing order for the Sprint taking place afterw...

AlphaTauri have announced that former FIA executive Peter Bayer will join the team as Chief Executive Officer, with Team Principal Franz Tost set to step down at the end of the 2023 Formula 1 season. After TheFOXposts.Com learned that Laurent Mekies would be leaving Ferrari in his position as Sporting Director, AlphaTuari confirmed that he would be Tost's replacement and join the team at a later date. The management shakeup is one of the largest for the Faenza squad since they joined the grid as Toro Rosso in 2005 after having bought out the Minardi team. Tost has spent 18 years as the team's Team Principal, overseeing their two Grand Prix victories in Italy in 2008 and again in 2020. A poor start to the 2023 season with just one point from three races has prompted the change, with the team looking to turn their fortunes around and challenge further up the grid. "I would like to thank Franz Tost for his hard work at AlphaTauri over the past 18 years," s...

Formula 1 will introduce a new format for the Sprint race weekend in Azerbaijan with the aim of improving com Pet itiveness in the Sprint race itself. Previously, the qualifying hour determined the grid for the Sprint, and the result of that set the grid for the Grand Prix. This sometimes resulted in more cautious approaches from the drivers in the Sprint races, who didn't want to jeopardise their Grand Prix by making a mistake in the shortened race. Now, Formula 1 has isolated the Sprint race and given it a separate qualifying session, called the Sprint Shootout, meaning the Sprint will have no impact on the main race. The Sprint Shootout will replace FP2, meaning Saturday will now be dedicated to the Sprint qualifying and race. The traditional qualifying hour will remain on Friday and only count for the Grand Prix on Sunday. The Sprint Shootout qualifying sessions (Q1, Q2 and Q3) will be shorter than conventional qualifying and each session will have a dedicate...

British Grand Prix venue Silverstone has made modifications to the Turn 1 run-off in response to Zhou Guanyu's 2022 Formula 1 crash . At the start of last year's race, Pierre Gasly was caught in a wedge between Zhou's Alfa Romeo and the slow-starting Mercedes of George Russell. As Gasly tagged Russell, the Mercedes was turned and clipped Zhou's car, flipping him into a series of rolls. He eventually came to a stop after vaulting the catch-fencing, and was stuck in the car until he could be extricated, although he was fortunately without injury. In response to the accident, the gravel trap to the side of the fast-right hander of Abbey has been removed and replaced with an asphalt run-off. Managing director of Silverstone Stuart Pringle explained that this was because Zhou's Alfa Romeo dug into the gravel, causing the car to continue rolling. As a result of the incident, the FIA also tweaked the rules for testing the roll-over hoop, with more stringe...

Pedro de la Rosa has predicted that the future Audi F1 team will ultimately be challenging for World Championship titles. It was revealed last year that Audi would enter Formula 1 as an engine supplier to coincide with the sport’s next planned regulation change in 2026. The Four Rings subsequently announced in October that they had entered into a strategic partnership with Sauber, with the German marque set to acquire the team and turn it into Audi's factory outfit. Ahead of Audi's official takeover of Sauber – currently badged as Alfa Romeo – the firm has already hired former McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl as CEO, and purchased a minority stake in the Swiss-based team. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, de la Rosa acknowledged the current shortcomings of the Alfa Romeo-badged Sauber team, and said Audi would be willing to invest the time and effort necessary for the team to become title contenders. Viewed by others: ...

Alex Albon has praised Williams for their recent progress amid the potential " uncertainty " of key figures within the team leaving over the winter. Along with several other personnel moves that took place across the paddock, the squad saw changes at the top after Team Principal Jost Capito and Technical Director FX Demaison both left. James Vowles became Williams' new Team Principal ahead of the 2023 season, while the position of Technical Director remains vacant. Despite this, the team look to have made steps forward on the track, with Albon claiming a point at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Albon on Williams' progress When asked if this progress has come of something of a surprise given the staff changes, Albon told media, including TheFOXposts.Com : "It's hard to know, if I'm honest. "I think we have made good steps over the winter, so there's no hiding that. We've really been able to address some of the...

Mercedes has reshuffled its technical department after its 2022 struggles filtered through to the new campaign, TheFOXposts.Com can confirm. The Silver Arrows failed to sustain its dominance into the new regulatory era in F1 , slumping at the beginning of last year before fighting back, albeit only securing a single race victory at the penultimate round of the season. After a disappointing start to the new year, with Lewis Hamilton claiming only one podium for the team in Australia and a gulf in performance to Red Bull still apparent, Mike Elliott has switched roles with James Allison. The move sees Allison return as Technical Director just 20 months on from handing over to Elliott before becoming Chief Technical Officer. That role took in opportunities surpassing the F1 project, but Elliott has now deemed his skills to not be suitable to perform his role to the best of his ability. It was therefore agreed that the pair would swap positions, with Allison now taking a more...

Former Minardi team owner Paul Stoddart believes XH63M F1 sT2's budget cap would have helped the outfit provide a 'hungry' Jos Verstappen with a com Pet itive opportunity. Stoddart was at the helm for Minardi's final years in F1, with the team hitting financial trouble on numerous occasions and proving largely uncompetitive, though the Australian saved the outfit before selling to Red Bull. The squad went on to become Toro Rosso. He was a leading voice calling for a budget cap in the sport during the 2000s, with manufacturers throwing extortionate amounts of money at creating race-winning machinery, leaving the Minardi team with little chance of scoring consistent points. The financial constraints were finally passed as regulations for the 2021 season to restrict com Pet itors to a set spending limit, though caveats mean areas such as the top three earners in a team do not contribute to regulated expenditure. Viewed by others: ...

Sergio Perez has been backed to remain with Red Bull after his current Formula 1 contract expires at the end of 2024 by former driver Pedro de la Rosa. The Mexican joined Red Bull in time for the 2021 season, signing a fresh deal before the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix to extend his stay at Milton Keynes until the end of the 2024 season. However, given intra-team tensions with Max Verstappen, there has been some doubt about his long-term future with the team. But veteran de la Rosa - now an Aston Martin ambassador - believes five-time Grand Prix winner Perez has done enough in a vital area to stay where he is. Viewed by others: Red Bull Racing Former driver claims Red Bull showed potential F1 champion the door ...

In the search for a more exciting battle between the 10 Formula 1 teams, the financial regulations were created in 2021. The rules dictate that the teams are only allowed to spend a certain amount per year, with of course some exceptions. In 2021 that started at $145 million, followed by $140 million in 2022, and in 2023 that has decreased to $135 million, plus an increase of $1.2 million owing to additional races. The teams will submit their figures for each season at the start of the year for the previous season, after which the FIA will audit the teams accounts. In 2022 this came in October, when the results showed that Red Bull had went over the cost cap and committed a minor breach. A penalty followed: a seven million dollar fine and a 10% reduction in aero development time (wind tunnel and simulations) for one year. Both the former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto and now his successor Fred Vasseur have reached the same verdict on Red Bull's punishment: That the ...

George Russell has given his reaction to Max Verstappen calling him a " potential World Champion". Verstappen recently spoke of how impressed he was by Russell during their early days of racing each other in karting, leading the Dutchman to suggest that Russell has the capability to claim a title in Formula 1. "George is part of the generation with Lando [Norris] and Charles [Leclerc] and me that grew up together," Verstappen told the Daily Mail . "I raced against George a bit in karting, though he's a year younger. You could see straight away he was good. "It came naturally to him – he didn't need a lot of laps to be quick. "He has the potential to be a World Champion." Russell: A handful of drivers are World Champion worthy Russell admits that he is flattered by the comments, but also feels that several drivers on the grid could be classed as possible World Champions of the future. "Obviously it...

As a Formula 1 World Champion, and the new man to beat, Max Verstappen 's words carry a greater deal of weight, especially with only two other champions currently active on the grid. Verstappen's responsibilities often come with a healthy helping of no-nonsense straight talking, and when he says he won't be racing in F1 into his 40s like Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and perhaps Lewis Hamilton, that's as a cast iron guarantee as there can be. And he is also a purist in that he believes the sanctity of a traditional Grand Prix weekend should be respected - and is not a fan of the Sprint races, even through he's won three of the six held to date. Recent comments from F1 chief Stefano Domenicali were wrongly interpreted as him wanting to do away with practice, with the Italian instead open to the idea of revamping those sessions, perhaps incentivising them for teams and drivers. And with all this change about as F1 tries to keep itself ahead of the cur...