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Max Verstappen admits he was slightly surprised to see Mercedes struggle to match Red Bull and Ferrari in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Despite achieiving their first win of the 2022 F1 season last time out in Brazil, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could only finish P5 and P6 respectively in Saturday's session, with Verstappen and Sergio Perez securing the front row while Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz claimed third and fourth. In terms of whether Mercedes or Ferrari will be Red Bull's main threat in the race, Verstappen voiced his hope that they can simply stay ahead of both teams, with Perez battling Leclerc to claim P2 in the World Championship. "It's difficult to tell at the moment," Verstappen told media, including TheFOXposts.Com , when asked which team posed the greater challenge. "I think, from our side, we looked good in FP2 with the long runs, and it seemed like both Ferrari and Mercedes seemed to struggle a little ...

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says he was convinced of Lando Norris' potential as a Formula 1 driver from an early age. Norris was signed as a McLaren junior driver in 2017, and graduated to F1 with the Woking-based team two years later at the age of 19. The Briton has impressed at McLaren, comprehensively overshadowing teammate Daniel Ricciardo over the past two years, and coming very close to winning the 2021 Russian Grand Prix before falling foul of a late rain shower. With Norris' stock on the rise, McLaren moved swiftly earlier this year to tie the Briton down until 2025. Norris is set to take on the role of team leader at Woking in 2023, with rookie Oscar Piastri replacing Ricciardo, and Brown says the Briton's rise through the racing ranks came as little surprise. "The goal was always to get him into Formula 1 . I'm not surprise d [that's he’s made it]," Brown said in response to a question from TheFOXposts.Com . "I guess you are surp...

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...

Lewis Hamilton feels that he surprised himself in 2022 through how he coped with a "challenging" year. After winning the Constructors' Championship for eight consecutive years, Mercedes found themselves struggling when the new season got underway and were unable to match the pace of rivals Red Bull and Ferrari. The W13 was affected by issues including porpoising, though the team slowly made progress as the campaign progressed. Hamilton admits that the frustration of those early-season difficulties was "tough" to take. Hamilton reflects on 'frustration' for the team "I think, at the beginning of the year, it's more frustration of just not being able to ... You know what you need out of the car, you know where to put it, but it won't [do it]," Hamilton told Channel 4 . "It just doesn't want to go where you want it to go, and it ...

Guenther Steiner admits that he was surprised by how strongly Nico Hulkenberg performed during the first few races of his Formula 1 comeback. Hulkenberg made his full-time return to the grid with Haas for the 2023 season after three years on the sidelines, a time in which he made several substitute appearances at Racing Point/Aston Martin for drivers forced to miss races due to COVID-19. While Steiner expected Hulkenberg to be strong, the team boss had anticipated that it might take some time before this happened. "For Nico, coming back after three years as a part-time driver, he came back really strong," Steiner told the F1 Nation podcast. "I expected him to be strong, but I expected that form to come a little bit later, so I was quite surprised myself. In the beginning, he was just strong." Hulkenberg 'demanding in a good way' With Hulkenberg's level of performance in 2023 already impressing Steiner, the Italian hopes tha...