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Antonio Giovinazzi was a main contender to replace Mick Schumacher at Haas for the 2023 Formula 1 season, according to boss Guenther Steiner. Following a two-year spell at Haas, 2020 F2 champion Schumacher lost his race seat at the end of the '22 campaign to be replaced by Nico Hulkenberg. However during the season, both Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen were forced to hand over their cars to Giovinazzi in FP1 sessions - outside of the mandatory rookie running to give the Ferrari tester experience in the new machines. This led to speculation that Giovinazzi could be set to replace Schumacher, but this cooled after he crashed early on during a runout in the United States. Steiner says that Haas are comfortable that they have got the right driver in Hulkenberg. Steiner on Giovinazzi vs Hulkenberg "He was in the beginning on the list of driver s," Steiner explained to media, ...

McLaren boss Zak Brown has called for Formula 1 teams to be given more technical freedom now the series operates under a cost cap. Introduced for the 2021 campaign, teams are now limited in the amount of money they can spend in a season on car development, although there are some exceptions to it including the top three salary earners in each squad. In 2021, teams were allowed to spend $145 million, with the limit gradually being reduced year on year, with $140 million the limit in 2022 – although this was raised by 3.1% to allow for global inflation and spiking of energy costs. However, now the cap is firmly in place, McLaren's Brown would like to see the technical rulebook relaxed to give teams more "innovation." Brown calls for rule changes "If you've got a cost cap, then there should actually be some more technical freedom within the cost cap," Brown ...

Christian Horner admits he is not entirely shocked by Mattia Binotto 's exit from Ferrari . After weeks of speculation, it was recently confirmed that Binotto had resigned from his position as Team Principal and will leave the role at the end of December, with a replacement set to be finalised in the new year. When asked whether he was surprised by Binotto's departure from the team, Horner told Sky Sports F1 : "Not really. It's obviously Ferrari's choice." Horner also reflected on the fact that the Scuderia have had a change of leadership on more than one occasion in recent years. "I think it will be the sixth team principal I'll have sat opposite since I've been at Red Bull," Horner added. Horner committed to Red Bull Horner went on to express sympathy for Binotto, who will leave Ferrari after 28 years with the squad. "[It's] ob...

McLaren Executive Racing Director Andrea Stella says pit stops are among the areas the team can still improve upon, as they seek to close the gap to F1's top teams. "I think there's some aspects where we can lean to the top," Stella told media including TheFOXposts.Com when asked to rate McLaren ’s performance relative to the rest of the field. "We can do very quick stops. According to some metrics, we now lie between the second and third best team on pit stops. [To] become the best, I think there's a good one year of work, if we take that single part of going racing, for instance. "There's some other aspects of going racing where I think we are quite com Pet itive already – the race strategy, for example. "There's some other aspects in which we want to do a better job. There's some elements of the operations this year [in which we] have some opportunities. "So, I would say, work to do, but not necessarily too far. We...

The 2022 F1 season may have finished, but many drivers will still carry over penalty points accrued over the course of the campaign into 2023. Drivers can accrue penalty points for indiscretions over a given race weekend which are kept on their Super Licence for a 12-month period. If a driver reaches 12 penalty points within the 12-month period, they will receive an automatic one-race ban. Pierre Gasly is the driver most at risk of a race ban, with the Frenchman currently sitting on ten penalty points. The Frenchman is not due to lose any points until May 22, after the 2023 season's first seven Grands Prix - or six if the Chinese Grand Prix is not replaced. Behind Gasly, Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo are on eight points - though with Ricciardo not set to race in 2023, his tally is less of an issue. At the other end of the table, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz currently have no penalty points against their names. ...

George Russell admits that his dynamic with Lewis Hamilton may have differed had Mercedes had a more competitive car in 2022. Russell stepped up to the Silver Arrows following a three-year stint with Williams, replacing Valtteri Bottas as Hamilton's teammate. While the team had previously dominated the sport in recent years – having won eight consecutive Constructors' Championships between 2014 and 2021 – the 2022 campaign proved more challenging, with the W13 unable to match the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari's challengers. However, the struggles that Mercedes faced may had had a positive influence on the relationship between Russell and Hamilton. Russell reflects on dynamic with Hamilton "I think, for sure, the dynamic [between myself and Lewis] would have been slightly different had we arrived at the first race and had the fastest car on the grid," Russell told ...

Esteban Ocon says he is sure Mick Schumacher will return to the Formula 1 grid at some point, after the German was dropped by Haas following two seasons with the American outfit. Despite scoring his first ever championship points during 2022, Schumacher scored only 12 to 25 for teammate Kevin Magnussen over the course of the season, and drew the ire of team boss Guenther Steiner after suffering several high-profile and costly accidents. Shortly before the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it was announced that Haas would replace Schumacher with F1 returnee Nico Hulkenberg for 2023. Ocon himself spent a year on F1 's sidelines in 2019 after he was dropped by Force India before return ing in 2020 with Renault, and the Frenchman drew on his own experience to suggest that Schumacher would be able to make a comeback to the sport. Viewed by others: ...

Haas Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen has won the prestigious Lorenzo Bandini Trophy for efforts in the 2022 season. Dane Magnussen left Haas at the end of 2020, and was replaced by Nikita Mazepin, but following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February and his close family links to President Vladimir Putin, Mazepin's contract was ripped up just before the new season. At short notice, Haas turned to Magnussen who returned and finished fifth in the season-opener in Bahrain, adding a further five points finishes across the campaign. He claimed a maiden Pole Position in the Brazilian Grand Prix - being officially credited with it during the Sprint weekend and starting eighth for the main Grand Prix. The Bandini Trophy is named after the former Ferrari driver Bandini who perished in an accident at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix after a crash. Founded in 1992, the award honours the achievements of those in motorsport and Formula 1 . Previous winners include World Champ...

Sebastian Vettel admits that he felt he could see his younger self reflected in former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc . The four-time World Champion raced alongside several drivers during his F1 career, having shared a garage with the likes of Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen. It was in 2019 that Vettel was first partnered by Leclerc at the Scuderia, with the youngster joining the team in only his second year in Formula 1 . This occurred during a period of time in which Vettel admits that he had already started to have some thoughts about his life away from the sport, given the difficulties faced by Ferrari. "In '17, we had a great car, and we fell short," Vettel told the Beyond The Grid podcast. "[In] '18, we had a great car, [but] we fell short again, at the end. Just both years, we didn't keep the development pace up, and we just fell back, so we got beaten. "'19 was a bit of an odd year, because the start o...

The RB18 is undoubtably one of the best chassis produced by Red Bull in Formula 1 , having taken 17 wins over the course of a 22-race season. It is a remarkable achievement after F1 radically changed its car design rules to make the racing closer for 2022, which in turn led to a lot of teams suffering from a porpoising and bouncing phenomenon at the start of the season. Red Bull appeared to be the only team without any proposing issues, but Max Verstappen reveals there were still some "unexpected" problems with the RB18 in an exclusive interview with TheFOXposts.Com . "We could more or less just focus on weight reduction and performance," he explains. "But that weight reduction was really unexpected, so while other teams were solving their porpoising we were solving our weight. "It's very expensive, which is a problem. With a budget cap, when you have already calculated certain upgrades and you suddenly have to shift it to weight reductio...

Formula 1 are aiming to modify the regulations on shortened races, following the confusing conclusion to the Max Verstappen's title challenge. When Verstappen crossed the line at Suzuka in the rain-shortened race, it was assumed that he was not the 2022 Formula 1 World Champion. Even after Charles Leclerc copped a five-second time penalty by cutting the final chicane on that last lap and gaining an advantage that would drop him to third and promote Sergio Perez, it was still not enough. As the race had not reached 75% of its scheduled distance needed for full points to kick in following the two-hour rain delay, the expectation was that the sliding scale of reduced points would be referred to - this having been refined in the aftermath of the abandoned 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. It was believed that Verstappen would be left one point short of the total he required to seal the title and that the coronation would roll on to the United States two weeks later. However, a q...

After eight years of consecutive seasons winning races, the 2022 season will go down as the first winless in Formula 1 for Lewis Hamilton . Mercedes had to grapple with their difficult W13 car at the beginning of the year, when the regulation change came into effect which forced more emphasis on ground-effect aerodynamics. The W13 appeared to suffer most from the porpoising and bouncing effect, which led to them abandoning their initial car concept mid-season, according to team boss Toto Wolff. By this stage the team started to find more pace, getting close to wins in Zandvoort, Austin, and Mexico. This resurgence in pace culminated in a win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, which turned out to be a one-two for the team with George Russell finish ahead of Hamilton. Viewed by others: ...

Mercedes have given fans a glimpse into preparations for the 2023 F1 season by sharing footage of George Russell having a seat fitting. While the 2022 campaign might have only recently come to an end, work for next year is already well underway. In a video released by the Silver Arrows, Russell is seen visiting the factory to get acquainted with a mock-up of his seat for the team's 2023 car. Not much is given away in the clip about what we can expect from the W14, but one noticeable change is the appearance of the roll hoop, following a regulation change in light of Zhou Guanyu's crash at the British Grand Prix. Watch the video below! Source: https://thefoxposts.com/video-mercedes-show-first-glimpse-of-2023-f1-car-TheFOXposts-3095.html?utm_...

Nico Hulkenberg has revealed how he " broke the ice" with new Formula 1 teammate Kevin Magnussen by repeating his own words back to him. Hulkenberg is to replace Mick Schumacher at Haas in 2023 and drive alongside Magnussen as he returns to full-time Grand Prix racing for the first time since 2019. The two had an infamous incident at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, where Magnussen pushed Hulkenberg's Renault wide through Turns 2 and 3. In the media pen post-race, Hulkenberg confronted Magnussen who retorted that the German should "suck my b***s". Magnussen has been adamant that he has no problems with Hulkenberg joining the team, whilst the German says he greeted his new teammate with the same words used in Budapest earlier in 2022. Hulkenberg greets Magnussen "Of course, I expect to have a good relationship with him," Hulkenberg told media, includi...