Paddy Driver, F1 driver

The Red Bull star scored a record-breaking 19 wins from 22 races in 2023 and clinched his third world title with six grands prix still to go.Autosport readers have voted Verstappen the best racing driver of 2023, ahead of F1 rival Fernando Alonso, IndyCar champion Alex Palou and Formula E title winner Jake Dennis.Verstappen’s victory was announced on 3 December at the Autosport Awards at ...

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The 2023 Formula 1 season came to its conclusion in Abu Dhabi, with many eyes now turning to the start of 2024.The year was dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, with a few teams such as McLaren and Ferrari starting to improve their car towards the end of the year.Alfa Romeo is set for a name change in 2024 after its current title sponsorship will come to an end. The team is expected to change ...

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In response to the investigation that motor racing's governing body launched as a consequence of the physical troubles drivers faced at this year's Qatar Grand Prix, solutions are now being put in place. At last week's meeting of the F1 Commission, plans for a small scoop – with the opening likely to be fitted underneath the car to help direct cool air into the cockpit – were approved for ...

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Just one seat is officially vacant for the 2024 Formula 1 season, with many teams opting to keep their driver line-up for next year.Williams is yet to confirm the re-signing of rookie Logan Sargeant, who in 2023 has scored just one point compared to the 27 of team-mate Alex Albon, but looks the favourite to be retained.It has been a much quieter driver market than 12 months ago, where six of the ...

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Drivers are not allowed to drive slower than a certain delta time between safety car lines two and one, which covers everything but the pit area, to avoid dangerous situations in which cars approach each other at wildly different speeds.At recent races that meant drivers were using the pitlane and pit exit instead to leave a gap to the car in front and get clean air for their qualifying lap, while ...

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Sainz made the comment after he found himself stranded in 16th place on the grid for the Abu Dhabi GP after hitting traffic in his last run in Q1.The Spaniard's weekend had already been made difficult by a crash in FP1 after he bottomed out on a bump in Turn 3.Sainz suggested that drivers deliberately try to make life harder for rivals."It's tricky," he said. "There were cars out there today… ...

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O'Ward will contest FP1 at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale in place of Lando Norris, with McLaren complying with FIA regulations by running a rookie driver in both of its cars.But that will be the only change McLaren has to field for a practice session this year since Oscar Piastri, completing his maiden F1 season, qualified as a rookie for the opening Bahrain and Saudi Arabian ...

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F1's inaugural race around the Strip's casinos provided an enthralling spectacle on Saturday night, vindicating the series' decision to chase a race in the gambling capital.While drivers and team were all pleased with how the event was run, the punishing schedule was one outstanding piece of feedback.As teams travelled eight timezones west to then work on what was effectively the Japanese Grand ...

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While last weekend’s event ultimately delivered a spectacular race, there were aspects of the weekend that have clear room for improvement. The late timetable, with qualifying starting at midnight and the race at 10pm, pushed F1 personnel to the physical and mental limit.  And that was before factoring in the travel and timezone adjustment needed for this weekend’s F1 finale in Abu ...

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As is customary for every race, the 20 drivers are presented to the grandstands around the track by completing a parade lap. Often, classic cars are sourced and are driven around by their owners.Approximately 90 minutes before the race start, the car carrying Oscar Piastri dropped oil on the grid on the side closest to the pit wall leaving marshals to spread cement dust to soak up the slippery ...

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In his original event notes, Wittich made it clear that starts were not permitted at the pit exit during the weekend.As has been the case for other races that face such a compromise, they were only allowed on the grid at the end of practice sessions.However, both FP1 and FP3 were curtailed by red flags, which meant that the only time the teams got to try starts was after the 4am finish of FP2, in ...

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The new surface has been made trickier by the fact that there are no support events laying rubber down in Las Vegas, and because the public street section is reopened to normal traffic for most of the day, leaving it dirty for the start of F1 action.Daniel Ricciardo suggested that greater efforts could have been made to create a grippy surface that more closely resembled that of the Saudi Arabian ...

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And things are only set to get worse as the entire circus transits to Abu Dhabi next weekend, going through a 12-hour shift forward in time.While the whole paddock is in the same boat, the focus is inevitably on the drivers. They may enjoy private jet or business class travel and have physios looking after their every need, but it's still a struggle to be 100% rested and prepared.And that’s why ...

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Block, whose late father Ken built up a huge following for his viral Gymkhana videos, will make her single-seater debut with the ART Grand Prix team as the all-female series forges closer ties with F1.All 10 F1 teams will have a nominated driver in F1 Academy running in its colours in 2024, with Block becoming the second driver to be linked to an F1 outfit.McLaren announced that Bianca Bustamante ...

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After an action-packed opening salvo, the Interlagos race fell into a mid-race slumber, but it was revived a few laps before the end by a knife-edge duel between Red Bull driver Perez and Alonso's Aston Martin.After hounding Alonso for a third place through the third stint, Perez finally found a way past in Turn 1 into the penultimate lap.But despite the Spaniard believing his podium chance was ...

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Despite some entertainment in the Brazil sprint this weekend – especially in battles for midfield spots – there is a growing feeling that the current standalone Saturday format is not delivering what it should for F1.And having failed to capture the imagination of drivers, with some wanting sprints to be got rid of completely, Horner says the way sprints work at the moment is not favoured by ...

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While race winner Max Verstappen and polesitter Lando Norris were able to break away at the front, the mid-pack was defined by DRS trains and high levels of lifting and coasting to control tyre wear and temperatures.All but three racers started the 24-lap Saturday race on soft tyres, while the three medium runners (both Haas cars and Logan Sargeant of Williams) complained of similarly bad wear ...

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After eventual winner Max Verstappen dived past polesitter Lando Norris into Turn 1 of the 24-lap Saturday race at Interlagos, almost the entire field then complained of having to manage temperatures.While Charles Leclerc climbed from seventh to fifth place and Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz gained a spot to finish eighth, both were severely restricted by a need to jump off the throttle.Sainz ...

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I have always liked the technical aspects of racing and felt that understanding the engineering aspect would work in my favour. Sure enough, I managed to beat drivers who were probably more talented than me because I understood better how the car works. For me, this was always as important as the driving skills.Probably the years that I learned the most in my racing career were in 2011-12, when I ...

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The race at Interlagos is the sixth and final sprint event of the 2023 season. The sprint format caused teams some headaches earlier this year because cars are put under parc ferme conditions after Friday's single free practice session, meaning key items such as ride heights are locked in for the remainder of the weekend.At the last sprint event in Austin Charles Leclerc's Ferrari and Lewis ...

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A recent move by the FIA to avoid dangerous traffic problems on track in qualifying has seen a maximum lap time imposed on in laps and out laps.This has, however, triggered an unintended consequence of drivers being unable to find clear gaps behind rivals once they begin their preparation laps, so they try to engineer this clear air in the pitlane.There have been several occasions where drivers ...

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The Brazilian drove the AMR23 in the Bahrain test earlier this year and will replace Fernando Alonso in FP1 in Abu Dhabi, having already had a Friday session at Monza in Lance Stroll’s car.He has also been conducting an extensive programme of private testing in an AMR21 this year, bringing his total mileage in the green cars since he joined the team late last year up to 6,000km.Drugovich has ...

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Zak O’Sullivan will drive an FW45 in FP1, while Franco Colapinto will join his fellow F3 graduate in sharing driving duties in the following week’s young driver test.Sir Frank Williams always had a soft spot for rookies. Just consider that the list of those who made their F1 race debuts with the team includes David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Nico Rosberg ...

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Seventy-six laps were deleted in FP1 in Austin as drivers strayed beyond the painted while lines defining the edge of the track with all four wheels.This led to concerns that track limits would be a major talking point for the second round in a row, with the Qatar weekend dogged by laps being deleted in qualifying and penalties dished out in the GP.Amid pressure from competitors during the Friday ...

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The race was a perfect storm of high ambient temperatures, humidity that ramped up on race day, draining heavy g-loadings through the fast corners, and the one-off tyre rules that turned the race into a series of four sprints, with little respite for the drivers.The FIA soon promised an investigation into the factors involved, and that has quickly developed into the subject being added to the next ...

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