Ben Pon

The concession has been made to allow engine manufacturers more time to conduct dyno testing before they head into a race weekend committed to the new restrictions.<br>The move to a single mode for qualifying and the race was first outlined in a letter sent to the teams by the FIA’s secretary general for motorsport Peter Bayer last week.<br>Under the heading “power unit ICE modes – reduction ...

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At the moment Pirelli is expected to retain the current tyres for a third season, but the Italian company wants to refine them if it can do so, in order to meet the challenge of rising downforce levels.<br>With no opportunity for dedicated tyre testing outside races, the 2020 FIA Sporting Regulations were changed to allow prototype running in the first 30 minutes of Friday FP2 sessions, with all ...

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Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz all suffered front left failures in the closing laps of the British GP after pushing their C1 tyres for an unusually long stint, a result of an early safety car intervention.<br>For this weekend as a precaution Pirelli has upped the minimum front pressures by 2psi and the rears by 1psi.<br>In addition Pirelli believes that the move to a one-step ...

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As predicted by Motorsport.com last week, McLaren has agreed a deal with Gulf Oil that will cover both its F1 team and supercar company.<br>The move comes on the back of a previous partnership with Brazilian oil company Petrobras having been terminated at the end of last year by the Brazilian government as part of a cost-cutting drive.<br>The Gulf logos will appear on the McLaren engine cover and ...

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Mercedes has taken three poles and three wins in the opening three races of the season, and in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying its cars were 1.3s and 1.4s respectively ahead of the best placed Ferrari and Red Bull.<br>While acknowledging that it may run alternative strategies at some events this year in order to promote a race between its drivers, Wolff says there’s little the team can ...

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ROKiT previously served as Williams' title sponsor from the start of the 2019 Formula 1 season, only for the deal to be terminated by the team at the end of May.<br>But ROKiT is now on course to become a sponsor of the Mercedes F1 team ahead of the new season, with confirmation of the deal understood to be imminent.<br>A Mercedes spokesman said the team "can't offer comment on any confidential ...

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The news comes as no surprise as the race had not featured on any recent version of a revised calendar that F1 has been working on.<br>The Netherlands remains subject to tight restrictions on events, and the promoters had made it clear that they were not keen to hold their first race behind closed doors, having sold out some months ago.<br>Race boss Jan Lammers told Motorsport.com recently: “It ...

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The Dutch TT at Assen, which had been scheduled as the opening MotoGP event of the season in the final weekend of June, should now fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic ruling, as will the track’s World Superbike Championship round, which had previously been moved from April to August.<br>The government's decision to extend the ban follows advice from the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) which ...

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Scheduled for June 14th, the Montreal event is the ninth to be lost thus far, putting the French GP on June 28th on the bubble as the first race of this year’s World Championship.<br>Although it was supposed to be held only a week after the Azerbaijan GP, which was postponed on March 23rd, Montreal had extra time to make a decision, because it is requires less preparation than a street ...

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In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic wrecking the F1 schedule, and teams likely to face huge financial pressure with a likely cut in prize money and sponsor incomes, the sport’s chiefs have moved to make drastic changes over recent weeks.<br>Following discussions between teams, the FIA and F1, it has been agreed that the current generation of cars will be used for next year as well; with a ...

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The Baku street event, scheduled for June 7th, becomes the eighth grand prix to be lost from the 2020 calendar as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.<br>It joins Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, the Netherlands, Spain and Monaco.<br>F1 is continuing to look for dates in which to slot postponed races later in the year, with only Monaco definitively cancelled for 2020.<br>In a statement, BCC said ...

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The coronavirus pandemic has already forced F1 to call off the first seven grands prix of the year, but there had been some hope that the event in Azerbaijan on June 7 could be lined up as the first race of the campaign.<br>But with the scale of the virus outbreak showing no sign of slowing down in Europe, it is understood that Baku’s promoters have decided it makes no sense to push on with the ...

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The Automobile Club de Monaco announced the news in a statement that followed the news from F1 earlier today that the race has been postponed along with the Dutch and Spanish events.<br>Monaco said that the event was "no longer tenable".<br>The ACM made it clear that the decision was a result of a combination of circumstances, including the potential availability of the workforce required to build ...

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With the impact of the virus outbreak expected to last for months, F1 chiefs confirmed on Thursday that the earliest the season could now start would be Baku in June<br>In a statement issued by motor racing's governing body, the FIA, it was said the decisions were prompted by the desire to ensure the safety of competitors and fans.<br>"Due to the ongoing and fluid nature of the COVID-19 situation ...

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In a phone conference this week, team principals discussed a wide range of scenarios including not just unchanged technical rules for 2021 but also a freeze on the development of key components, including chassis, gearbox and other mechanical parts<br>Aero development would however be allowed to continue to run through 2020 and into 2021 as a key performance differentiator.<br>It’s understood ...

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With Italy being the European country that has been impacted the most by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Italian government has imposed a strict lockdown across the entire country to try to limit community transmission.<br>While some businesses were allowed to continue operating, Ferrari has found its road car division unable to maintain production because of supply chain issues.<br>In a statement ...

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When asked to offer what he thought was the reason why the race was set to go ahead as scheduled during the pre-event press conference on Thursday, Mercedes driver Hamilton replied, "cash is king", before adding "honestly, I don't know".<br>"I can't really add much more to it – I don't feel like I should shy away from the fact of my opinion," he continued, referring to his feeling that it was ...

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The new multi-year deal was announced ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, with the team tweaking its yellow-and-black livery for 2020 as a result of the tie-up.<br>With Renault's board yet to decide on whether or not to commit to F1 for the period of the next Concorde Agreement, which runs from 2021, the extra cash from the sponsorship will at least help better balance the team's financial ...

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Renault presented its new RS20 car fully decked out in the team’s 2020 livery for the first time in an event at Albert Park on Wednesday, retaining its traditional yellow and black colours.<br>The 2020 version of the Renault livery is largely similar to last year, the most noteworthy difference being the rear wing changing from yellow to black.<br>That comes as part of a new title partner deal ...

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While motor racing’s governing body has long stated it was monitoring the situation, it has stepped up its efforts with a committee that will get together every other day to discuss matters regarding the virus.<br>In a statement issued by the World Motor Sport Council on Friday, it said the decision to create the cell was in response to feedback from Professor Gerard Saillant, who is president ...

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The move is a response to the increasingly tight restrictions in place in Italy in the light of the coronavirus outbreak.<br>The wet weather test was supposed to be the second of 25 'mule car' days scheduled for 2020 and shared between the 10 teams, following a session with Ferrari and Charles Leclerc at Jerez earlier this month.<br>It was also the only opportunity for any F1 car to run between ...

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With ongoing uncertainty around the fate of F1's first three races, despite the events in Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam all on for now, Williams says that careful thought needs to be given about personnel and fan movement.<br>Speaking at an event in London with her team's title sponsor ROKiT, Williams said that the situation was a difficult one for everyone involved.<br>"It's an incredibly ...

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He will report directly to CEO Chase Carey as the organisation continues to evolve following the recent departure of erstwhile commercial chief Sean Bratches.<br>Pincus replaces Murray Barnett, who held the slightly different title of director of sponsorship and commercial partnerships, and who leaves the company this week.<br>Pincus has demonstrated his potential value to F1 over the past four ...

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Grosjean, who has started 164 grands prix over an 11-year span, has 10 podium finishes to his name and has led laps in seven races, coming close to a maiden win on occasions in 2012 and 2013.<br>But though the Haas team he joined in 2016 has had results that were perceived as it punching above its weight in F1, it has been nowhere near scoring a win since its arrival.<br>Asked ahead of the 2020 ...

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