LDS, F1 constructor

Pirelli says it has cleared up matters with Mercedes driver George Russell after his criticisms of “infuriating” performance fluctuations between its different tyres.Russell spoke out after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in saying that Pirelli’s current products were not “good enough” because of the wild swings in pace.Having struggled on the medium compound in Baku but then proved really ...

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1m31.447s. The fastest lap of the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix, set by Pedro de la Rosa, remains the official lap record at the Sakhir circuit - something the Spaniard will boast about whenever the opportunity arises. And it doesn't take him even a second to name the McLaren MP4-20 his favourite car of all time.The McLaren of the 2005 season was a formidable weapon in the hands of Juan Pablo Montoya ...

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Max Verstappen stayed clear of a late-race charge from Lando Norris to clinch victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, having got ahead of the polesitter into the first corner.Verstappen held the inside line for the opening corner to take position from Norris, although George Russell snatched the lead from both, but the Red Bull driver easily cleared the Mercedes on the third lap with DRS as Russell ...

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A new front wing contributed to a good performance from Valtteri Bottas in the Melbourne race, although a pit stop delay meant that it wasn’t converted into points as he slipped back to 13th.At the next event in Suzuka, the team will have another upgrade package – which will be its third in four races – as it tries to find an edge in the tight midfield pack."Of course we know that this ...

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The Spaniard led every lap of a slow-burning race from pole position, and delivered a tactical masterclass to ward off a rapidly approaching Mercedes duo in the race's second half by employing Norris as a bodyguard.Mercedes had forecasted a potential strategic advantage after qualifying on Saturday, with Russell stating that he had saved an extra set of medium tyres available for the race should ...

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Speculation in the Italian press last week suggested that Ferrari had set its sights on luring Albon onboard after Sainz's current contract runs out at the end of next year.However, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has dismissed the idea of there being any movement with Albon, who himself made it clear in recent weeks that his own focus is on a long-term future with Williams.Vasseur, who ...

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Aston Martin lodged its appeal against the provisional race classification after claiming that a number of cars were not penalised for potentially having breached track limits repeatedly.
The FIA has since revealed it was unable to review all reports of cars having strayed beyond the painted white lines with all four wheels during the race since there were over 1200 cases during the 71 ...

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Ocon has already made contact with the Hollywood star and is planning to visit him on the set of the next Deadpool 3 film in London.
Reynolds and his colleagues Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan are part of a consortium of three US-based entities that have combined to acquire 24% of the Alpine team.
When asked by Motorsport.com about the team’s new Hollywood connections, Ocon said ...

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On Monday Alpine's parent group Renault announced it has sold the shares, valuing the team at $900m, to an investment group including Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments.
US investment firm RedBird's portfolio includes the third-largest stake in Fenway Sports Group, a group which owns the MLB team Boston Red Sox and Premier League club Liverpool FC. It ...

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Initially signed on a three-year deal, McLaren has been a Mercedes engine customer since 2021. This followed its turbulent divorce from Honda and three-year tie-up with Renault.
But ahead of the new 2026 engine regulations, which will ditch the expensive MGU-H and boost the electrical assistance to 50%, Brown has been to visit the fledgling Red Bull Powertrains site in Milton Keynes for very ...

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Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, motor racing's governing body issued a technical directive (TD) to teams announcing its intention to help limit the amount cars were bouncing after complaints from drivers.
The FIA wanted to create an Aerodynamic Oscillation Metric (AOM), that would help define a limit that cars would be allowed to bounce up and down.
Once the metric had been put in place ...

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The race had already been twice interrupted by virtual safety car activations, which put Verstappen and Sainz on different two-stop versus a likely one-stop strategy for the Ferrari ahead of the closing stages, before the safety car closed them up and set up a straight fight for the victory on the same hard tyres, albeit with the Spaniard on younger rubber.
Behind, Fernando Alonso's front row ...

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Valtteri Bottas led the field out at the start of Friday?s second one-hour practice session, although he immediately pitted at the end of his first lap, and remained there for the next 20 minutes as Alfa Romeo worked on his car.
That meant Bottas? teammate Zhou Guanyu went through to set the first place benchmark at 1m20.145s, which was quickly beaten by Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll ...

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Carlos Sainz finished third ahead of a hobbled Sergio Perez, with George Russell coming fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton after gaining massively with the safety car timing and then beating his teammate in battle afterwards.
At the start, Leclerc shot away from pole position in the lead, while alongside his teammate Sainz could not make a similarly quick getaway from away from the racing line on ...

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In the wake of the completion of its investigation into the handling of the safety car restart at last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem unveiled its findings at a meeting of the F1 Commission in London.
But rather than taking the moment to propose the changes that the FIA will make in response to the events, the governing body has elected to wait a little longer ...

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Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have not only locked out the front row of the grid at the Yas Marina Circuit, but they are on different strategies as well.
Verstappen's decision to get through Q2 on soft tyres, after flat-spotting a set of mediums, means that he will be starting from the front on the more aggressive compound.
Behind him, Hamilton and his Mercedes team have opted for the ...

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Red Bull had to use an undercut strategy to get Verstappen back in front, which meant Mercedes later left Hamilton out longer to set up an attempt at sealing a last-gasp victory.
At the start, Verstappen and Hamilton launched in unison but the Mercedes accelerated much better and the pair were almost immediately side by side as the began to climb the hill to the Turn 1 left-hand ...

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Like most teams, Mercedes opted to run different wing levels on its cars during practice on Friday to try to find the right compromise between straight-line speed and downforce for the long Spa circuit.
With rain falling in the lead-up to qualifying on Saturday afternoon, teams faced a difficult call on whether to lean more towards the conditions or to still plan for a dry race on ...

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The first crash at Turn 1 was caused by Valtteri Bottas, whose mistake sliding into the back of Lando Norris impacted both Red Bull cars and left Max Verstappen battling back to eventually finish the race in 10th.
At the initial start, Hamilton and Verstappen made good getaways on the damp track after rain had fallen steadily in the 30 minutes before the start, which meant all the cars lined up ...

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With the German car manufacturer locked in a super tight fight with Red Bull for the world title, the small differences between the two outfits are being exposed as their performance fluctuates.
The Mercedes appears to have a car that is better in the races, but the Red Bull looks to be faster over a single lap ? which is perfect for qualifying.
And while the gap ...

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Mercedes and Red Bull deployed differing tyre strategies, with Verstappen's offset rubber life advantage in the final stint meaning he was chasing Hamilton after leading the early stages from pole.
With four laps to go, Verstappen attacked Hamilton around the outside of Turn 4, which was been heavily policed for track limits by the FIA, and as the Dutchman went too wide off the kerb he was ...

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Perez will leave Racing Point at the end of the 2020 season to make way for four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, with his exit being confirmed two weeks ago.
Perez said on Thursday that some members of the Racing Point team had started to withhold information from him since his exit was announced, and called for greater transparency to aid the team?s bid for third place in the ...

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