Walt Brown, F1 driver

New Williams team boss James Vowles has passionately sought to give the team a way to catch up on its ageing Grove base's facilities.Under F1's financial rules teams have a $36 million allowance over a four-year period to invest in capital expenditure, with an exception made for wind tunnels.But according to Vowles that figure is nowhere near enough if Williams is to catch up with F1's top ...

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The FIA has received several entry requests to expand the grid beyond the current 10 teams.Michael Andretti's high-profile bid is believed to be close to being approved by the governing body. But Andretti is still facing fierce resistance from F1, which will also have to approve any entry, and the majority of the teams due to concerns over their prize fund being diluted.Speaking to Motorsport.com ...

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The FIA announced after the Italian Grand Prix that all competitors have been issued with their Certificates of Compliance to confirm that they had not busted the cost cap limit in 2022.This came despite rumours over recent months that some teams were at risk of having been found to be in breach, following in-depth investigations by the FIA to probe their spending.One area of particular intrigue ...

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Over the winter, newly promoted team principal Andrea Stella led a thorough review of the Woking design department.It subsequently let go of technical chief James Key, restructured its leadership, and hired David Sanchez from Ferrari and Red Bull veteran engineer Rob Marshall.With elements of that revised set-up in place, McLaren upgraded its current MCL60 from what was a backmarker car in the ...

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McLaren missed its 2023 season targets with a draggy launch car, which led to significant changes within the organisation led by incoming team principal Andrea Stella.The first fruits of Stella's revamped technical structure were brought to the track in the final races before the summer break, propelling Norris to two podiums while his impressive rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri scored second in ...

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McLaren Racing chief Brown says Palou’s IndyCar results this year have been “very impressive”, alongside which the 26-year-old Spaniard has conducted multiple tests in its TPC (testing previous car) F1 programme.
Palou is currently 110 points clear of his IndyCar opposition after a stunning first half to the season for Chip Ganassi Racing that has included four race victories.
His most ...

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Constant track limits abuse by drivers in Turns 9 and 10 of the Red Bull Ring flooded the FIA stewards with incidents to review.
On Sunday afternoon the FIA had to look at over 1,200 potential transgressions to determine if drivers deserved to be penalised. 
That manual process took over four hours after the race and resulted in a revised classification, with Carlos Sainz, Lewis ...

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The current Concorde Agreement, F1's crucial three-way commercial deal between the commercial rights holder (Liberty Media-owned FOM), the FIA and the 10 teams covers the 2021-2025 period.
With two more years remaining beyond the current season, there's no rush to thrash out a fresh deal, but in a recent call with Wall Street analysts Liberty Media president Greg Maffei said he was keen to ...

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McLaren published its annual sustainability report on Thursday, with the team boasting significant improvements.
These include a 22% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from a 2019 baseline and a 19% reduction in total waste compared to 2019 with nothing sent to landfill.
F1 has made a significant sustainability push in recent years, with the sport publicly targeting to be net zero carbon ...

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McLaren introduced a new package in Baku which represented the car it felt it should have started the season with, adhering to a different floor philosophy that tried to address the lack of efficiency of the Woking team's launch spec MCL35.
But while the new floor delivered a small boost once it was put on the car in last week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the car's continued inefficiency was still ...

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The 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year has become the latest member of the Formula 1 team’s junior line-up, alongside 2021 Award winner Zak O’Sullivan.
Browning currently competes for Hitech Pulse-Eight in Formula 3, and sits 10th in the drivers’ standings with 14 points and a best finish of fifth in Bahrain.
His rookie F3 season follows a hugely successful 2022 ...

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After the Saudi Arabian GP, the team announced that technical director James Key had left and that a new arrangement had been put in place headed by three technical directors, namely Peter Prodromou (aerodynamics), Davide Sanchez (car concept and performance) and Neil Houldey (engineering and design).
Brown says that the changes were motivated by the lack of development of the 2022 car, and ...

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Albon was running in sixth place when he had a high-speed spin into a barrier and his damaged car rolled back towards the edge of the track.
The first drivers on the scene, Pierre Gasly and Hulkenberg, had virtually no warning – and only just missed the stricken Williams as they passed it at full speed. Hulkenberg admitted that he had a narrow escape.
"Holy moly, I mean seriously I had a ...

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After an intriguing silly season saga last summer, Brown snapped up 2021 Formula 2 champion Piastri to replace fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who had struggled to match Norris in his two challenging years with the team.
While Piastri was a highly regarded prospect in the paddock, the decision still carried some risk as the 21-year-old had not even tested for the team before being ...

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The FIA announced earlier this month that it was appealing for expressions of interest from potential new F1 teams, with a view to expanding the grid to 11 or 12 teams as early as 2025. 
Andretti Global is currently the most vocal party looking to join the F1 grid in the future, securing a partnership with US automotive giant General Motors for its entry proposal. 
But the reaction ...

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Andretti CEO Michael Andretti has made no secret of his ambition to get his eponymous team into F1 and, although his bid for an entry was heralded by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the 10 teams in the series have been less welcoming.
That stance from some of the teams, particularly Mercedes, has softened slightly with Andretti's tie-up with GM's Cadillac brand, while Alpine is believed to ...

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The FIA is currently evaluating its next steps after announcing last week that Red Bull had breached last year's cost cap limit, as well as having committed a procedural offence.
Aston Martin was also found to have broken the rules with a procedural breach.
Both Red Bull and Aston Martin have the option of going down an Accepted Breach Agreement if they concur with the FIA's findings, or ...

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The FIA has been completing its audit of each F1 team's financial submission for the 2021 season in recent months, judging if each outfit complied with the $145 million limit for last year.
Speculation arose over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend that two teams - Red Bull and Aston Martin - may have been in breach of the cap, although both outfits fiercely denied the allegations.
The FIA was ...

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F1 is currently enjoying a boom in popularity in the United States, with three American races announced on the calendar for 2023 as Las Vegas joins Austin and Miami.
But it has been over 15 years since an American last raced full-time in F1. A recent push by Red Bull to secure IndyCar driver Colton Herta an AlphaTauri seat for next year fell flat as the FIA was unwilling to grant him an ...

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In the wake of Alpine's driver drama, Red Bull was willing to release Pierre Gasly from his 2023 contract to join the Enstone team, but only if it could get multiple IndyCar race winner Herta to replace him at AlphaTauri.
But with Herta on just 32 superlicence points out of the 40 needed to be allowed to race in F1, that avenue appears to have closed as the FIA announced it wouldn't make any ...

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Piastri will race for McLaren next year after F1's Contract Recognition Board (CRB) ruled Alpine's claim it had an agreement in place with the Australian for next year was not correct.
Ahead of the CRB hearing, Alpine team boss Szafnauer said at Spa he was "very" confident Alpine would win the case, as well as questioning Piastri's integrity given all of Alpine's support for ...

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McLaren is aiming to give an F1 drive to Oscar Piastri for 2023 but the reigning F2 champion is engaged in a dispute with current parent team Alpine. A Contract Recognition Board hearing is set for Monday to rule on the matter.
Over in IndyCar, McLaren has signed a deal with reigning champion Alex Palou for 2023, but the Spaniard is also engaged in a contract wrangling with current team Chip ...

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Ricciardo?s long-term future at the Woking-based team has been thrown into question after Brown last week made comments that the Australian driver?s results had not lived up to expectations.
Ricciardo accepted that his time at the team had not delivered the results he or his bosses would have liked, but he was clear in Monaco that he was committed for the full three years of his contract ...

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Following his first IndyCar win of the season and the third of his career at Barber Motorsports Park last Sunday, O?Ward revealed that he was on the cusp of renewing his contract with the Arrow McLaren SP team.
This followed a couple of months of speculation surrounding the two parties? future together, as O?Ward had initially been affronted that McLaren will be testing his long-time U.S ...

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The inaugural Miami Grand Prix that takes place this weekend has generated a huge amount of hype and interest, with F1 chiefs capitalising on the championship's booming following in the United States.
But with other countries looking to grab a race themselves a grand prix, and Las Vegas is already confirmed for 2023, there is a growing likelihood that some of the current events will have to ...

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