Ben Pon

Sauber developed from a back-of-the-grid rival of Williams in the early races to being a regular top-10 qualifier and point-scorer by the end of the season.<br>Leclerc's own qualifying improvements meant he, and not his more experienced teammate Marcus Ericsson, led that charge.<br>Examining Leclerc's qualifying performance in greater detail showcases impressive raw numbers on the surface, but ...

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Full details of the new system will be presented at an FIA meeting next month but FIA Formula 1 medical delegates Ian Roberts and Alain Chantegret gave a brief outline to select media including Motorsport.com in Brazil last weekend. The basic premise is being able to send data to race control without using radio, and feed back video, which is in its early stages. It is a system that has been ...

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In September, F1 announced that it had signed a deal with the Interregional Sports Group concern to promote new ways of in-play betting on the championship, using live data. In addition, ISG acquired the right to sub-license betting partnership rights to betting brands worldwide. The move had led to criticism of F1 linking itself with betting at a time when the relationship between sport and ...

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Rich Energy failed in a bid to buy Force India earlier this year, and the drink company's CEO William Storey was in the Austin paddock last weekend. He held a meeting with Steiner in the paddock on Sunday morning and was also seen in conversation with Williams and McLaren. Four days later, Haas announced the new title sponsorship deal for 2019 and confirmed its cars would be painted in the ...

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The deal will prompt a rebranding of the team's livery, and is Haas's first title sponsor since it joined F1 at the beginning of 2016. The UK-based Rich Energy company has been looking at various opportunities to link up with teams, and tried hard to buy out Force India as recently as this year. But with that door now closed following a takeover by Lawrence Stroll's consortium, Rich Energy ...

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The deal between McLaren and Coca-Cola runs until the end of this season, but there are likely to be options to extend it if the tie-up proves a success. Coca-Cola as a company has been involved in grand prix racing before, when its energy drink Burn was a sponsor of Lotus from 2012. The McLaren deal is the first time the parent company's name and logos have been utilised in such a way in F1 ...

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Uralkali is suing the administrators because it believes that the winning bid from the consortium led by Lawrence Stroll was ‘significantly inferior’ to what it had offered itself. It has suggested that there was a lack of transparency with how the team was awarded to Stroll, and it wants the High Court in London to rule on the matter. Having finally been issued with legal paperwork on ... ...

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An independent research and development project is looking at making it easier for F1 drivers to race one another, with an initial change being implemented for 2019 ahead of a bigger overhaul as part of F1's 2021 revolution. Lowe, one of the key players in F1's Overtaking Working Group a decade ago, said F1 has not benefitted from such a dedicated approach before and will help avoid unintended ... ...

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Straightline speed performance is essential, even if it means that life can be a bit tricky through the chicanes. It sets the scene for the most outrageously low downforce rear wings you’ll see all season. In fact, for the most part, they’re designed specifically for the famed ‘temple of speed’ and instantly become obsolete after the race. Dueling duo Punching a hole in the air is ... ...

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Honda will sponsor this year's Suzuka event, while Mercedes will support next year's race at Hockenheim. Honda is also the owner and promoter of Suzuka through its MobilityLand subsidiary, but this is the first time that it has attached its name to the race, which has been confirmed for a further three years. In the past, Mercedes has helped the German GP through initiatives such as buying ... ...

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Interviewed on air by Sky F1 immediately after Max Verstappen retired from the Hungarian GP with an MGU-K issue, Horner expressed his frustration, which was exacerbated by the fact that it came so soon after an engine failure for Daniel Ricciardo in Germany."I am not going to get drawn into saying too much," said Horner."But we pay multi millions of pounds for these engines, for a ...

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As previously reported, a discussion and vote on the race had been scheduled for July 26, as part of a regular City Commission meeting that covers multiple topics. Four out of the five City Commissioners will have to vote in favour of the plans.However, a final decision has now been delayed, with an August summer recess pushing it back further.City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, the man ...

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The F1 world championship leader was given a three-place grid penalty at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr's Renault in Q2.Vettel explained after qualifying that Ferrari had not informed him of Sainz approaching, though the stewards ruled that "being aware of the issue of rear vision with his mirrors" he should have come off the racing line just in ...

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Grosjean said it was "absolutely nonsense" that he was handed a five-second time penalty for a clash with Esteban Ocon on the run from the startline to Turn 1 at Paul Ricard.In response to Grosjean's comments, FIA race director Charlie Whiting met with selected media in the Red Bull Ring drivers' briefing room after practice for this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.Using footage of the ...

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Haas was fined €5000 by the FIA after releasing Magnussen's car from its pit without the right front wheel properly attached during Friday's second free practice session at the Red Bull Ring.According to the stewards' judgement "the team admitted that there had been a problem, with the accidental triggering of the blue ("OK") light on the wheel gun, falsely signalling that the wheel ...

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Both the Spanish and the Catalan anthems were played ahead of the start of the race on Sunday, with the Spanish and the Catalan flags also displayed on track during the ceremony.While both anthems have been played since the first F1 race at the circuit in 1991, the Spanish federation's president Manuel Avino said the body had been "surprised" by what it labelled as a change to the ...

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One consequence of a constantly changing rule book is that sometimes rules can end up contradicting each other – or a clause aimed to stamp out a certain design gets made irrelevant.This is something that happened with the 2017 floor rules, as a regulation originally intended to stop teams exploiting holes in the floor was made inconsequential.That's because when the floor width was ...

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Hartley raced the Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 from 2014-2017, winning the world championship twice, and brings significant experience in how to get the maximum performance out of such technology.Although the technology that forms part of F1’s current V6 turbo hybrid engine packages and those used by Porsche are different, Hartley has brought some new ideas about how to use the electrical ...

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The Brackley-based outfit spent the middle phase of the Sakhir race convinced that Valtteri Bottas was well-placed to triumph because it appeared that leader Vettel would need to make a second stop.But in the end, Vettel managed to keep his tyres alive just long enough to not need to change them and, by the time Mercedes woke up to the fact it needed to close the gap to the front, it ...

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Hamilton was heard calling Verstappen “a dickhead”, prompting questions about it in the post-race press conference – when Sebastian Vettel leapt to Hamilton’s defence.Appearing on the Dutch TV show Peptalk on Ziggo Sport on Monday night, Verstappen was shown this clip via Skype in his hotel room in Bahrain. After hearing what was said, Verstappen remarked: “He is just out of the car ...

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Earlier this month McLaren became the first team to poke fun at the similarities between the halo and the upper strap of a flip flop by agreeing a Gandys sponsorship deal for this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.Now Force India has revealed a modified halo design to incorporate Havaianas, one of the world’s biggest flip-flops brands, at several races across the 2018 ...

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McLaren has announced a new partnership with Gandys, a British lifestyle brand founded by brothers Rob and Paul Forkan after their parents died in the December 2004 tsunami that struck southeast Asia.Gandys’ success enabled the Forkan brothers to open a charitable foundation called Orphans For Orphans in Sri Lanka, where their parents were killed, and the company and its charity work ...

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For a man who is religiously at his desk 6.30 each morning (so he can get two hours of work done before the factory gets busy), and loves the catchphrase 'the early bird catches the worm', the start to last week's Formula 1 pre-season test must have felt like heaven.With Mercedes once again aiming to extend its tradition (in the hybrid era) of being first out on track for the start of ...

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Martini brought its famous white, blue and red colour scheme back to F1 in 2014 when it signed the Williams deal that resulted in a full rebranding of the car.The colour scheme was last seen on the Brabham cars in 1975 and marked Martini's largest F1 programme since it backed Lotus in 1979.Motorsport.com understands Martini discussed an extension with Williams as well as speaking to ...

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Having this week confirmed a major new partnership with computer company Dell, Brown expects further deals will be sorted before racing gets underway – and that even more could follow if the team confirms its step up the grid."Everything commercially is going really well," said Brown, when asked by Motorsport.com about the team's sponsorship situation."We announced ...

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