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Pato O'Ward has revealed what was going through his head when it looked like a terminal issue might bring his debut FP1 appearance to an early end. The Mexican managed to get out of Turn 5 in the McLaren before slowing on the main back straight, with the team instructing him not to change out of second gear. O'Ward has recalled the moment it happened on his F1 weekend debut . "I was definitely like, 'Oh, I really hope it doesn't get cut short', you know?" he told media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "Because it was [a] very exciting time for me to get my first FP1 under my belt." Once he made it back to the pits it took the team a couple of minutes to sort the problem, before he emerged back out on track to complete a total of 22 laps. O'Ward said: "At that point that was just trying to make sure my communications to the team were clear, because I was getting bounced around quite aggressively in the car. "I don...

Mercedes say they knew their W13 was going to be a difficult car even before the first official test of 2022. After almost unbroken success from 2014 to 2021, Mercedes fell back to earth with a bump in 2022, as F1 's new technical regulations saw the Silver Arrows struggle badly with porpoising and bouncing at the start of the season. Having been accustomed to challenging for top honours, Mercedes were instead relegated to scrapping for points and occasional podium finishes, as Red Bull and Ferrari instead duelled for race wins. As Mercedes' Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin explains, the team realised the W13 was going to be a handful even before it had turned a wheel in anger. "The signs were there from the very, very early running, even on a filming day that we did at Silverstone," said Vowles. "We then went for three days in Barcelona and the car was not that com Pet itive, but we were expecting a big update that we were going to...

Alex Albon has targeted the circuit characteristics that will suit Williams in their quest for F1 point s this season . The Grove-based outfit has made an impressive start to the new campaign as it fights back from a lacklustre effort last year, with Albon securing a point in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Despite signs of pace in Saudi Arabia and Australia, the Thai-British driver has failed to add to his tally whilst rookie teammate Logan Sargeant has struggled to pair promising pace with consistency. Albon was running well at Albert Park having qualified in the top 10, only to crash out early in the race in an accident Team Principal James Vowles explained was triggered by a chain reaction of events. Addressing the strong pace shown by the Williams FW45 across the opening three events of the year, Albon pointed to specific conditions that suited his machinery. Viewed by others: ...

McLaren have explained how the chain of team boss changes at other teams led to Andreas Seidl making an earlier than originally planned exit from the squad. It was confirmed on 13 December that Seidl has left the outfit to join Sauber as CEO, in a move influenced by Audi's recent strategic buy-in to the team ahead of its 2026 entry into F1 . This followed on from the news that Fred Vasseur will depart his role as Team Principal at Alfa Romeo to take up the position of Team Principal and General Manager at Ferrari from 9 January. Elswhere, Jost Captio has exited Williams as CEO, with a replacement yet to be announced. At McLaren, Andrea Stella will step into Seidl's position as Team Principal, but team CEO Zak Brown has revealed that the plan had actually been in place for some time, yet was brought forward earlier than planned following the flurry of moves across the paddock. Brown...