Yuji Ide, F1 driver

Alonso took fourth in the drivers' championship, finishing ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on countback and one point ahead of McLaren man Lando Norris, as Aston Martin's AMR23 enabled him to take regular podiums in the early part of 2023.The Spaniard claimed a podium in six of his eight first races at the Silverstone outfit. And while the going got tougher for Aston as the season progressed ...

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Mekies will officially join the soon-to-be-renamed Faenza outfit on January 1. He will work alongside CEO Peter Bayer in a two-man arrangement as former boss Franz Tost heads for retirement.Former Ferrari sporting director Mekies remains a Maranello employee until the end of this month, but he has been on gardening leave and has not worked since the summer break.He believes that the time off has ...

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The Anglo-Italian squad grabbed attention with its raft of steady floor upgrades in recent months, that according to McLaren team boss Andrea Stella had made the AT04 the best car in low-speed corners by the season finale in Abu Dhabi.It allowed the team to have a late go at Williams for seventh in the constructors' championship, but from sixth on the grid a one-stop gamble for Yuki Tsunoda didn't ...

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Verstappen raised some eyebrows in second practice when he muscled his way past other cars in the narrow tunnel pit exit that passes under the main track at the Yas Marina circuit.While his actions were not a strict breach of the regulations, the fact that he came close to being squeezed into the wall highlighted the potential safety issue.So, in a move to prevent any repeat problems for the ...

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The Hinwil-based squad announced last year that it would become the Audi works team in 2026 when new engine regulations come into play.With its current title sponsorship with Alfa Romeo coming to an end this year, it will have a new naming partner and is expected to change to the Sauber brand for 2024 as it continues its long-term project.But while the blank sheet for next year could give it an ...

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The McLaren driver crashed heavily on the third lap of the race when his car snapped out of control at the Turn 11 left-hander.After the race his team boss Andrea Stella highlighted a bump at that point of the track, suggesting that needed to be flattened out next year.However, speaking for the first time since the accident, Norris suggested his off was caused by a perfect storm of factors, with ...

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Ferrari’s SF-23 car proved well-suited to the high-speed Las Vegas track last weekend, as Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz were able to lock out the front row of the grid for the race in terms of qualifying pace. Sainz ultimately dropped down the grid thanks to a power unit change penalty. In the race, Leclerc took the battle to Red Bull and he appeared to have the pace to grab his first win ...

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This is the sport’s 15th visit to the Middle East track and the tenth time the race has run with the drivers’ championship already concluded – but that certainly does not mean it no longer matters. In fact, it matters not only to Verstappen – who will want to make his already hard-to-beat season race wins total even harder to beat – but also to Mercedes and Ferrari, who are battling for ...

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Verstappen and Ocon were part of a gaggle of drivers that backed up at the end of the main straight as they prepared to start their final laps of the session.Keen to get a clear lap and worried about complying with the FIA's minimum delta requirements, Ocon passed Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and his own team-mate Pierre Gasly before blasting by Verstappen just before the start of the lap.A clearly ...

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F1's flagship Vegas race weekend endured a turbulent start after the first practice session was red-flagged eight minutes in and then FP2 was delayed by 2hrs30mins as steps were taken to cement 30 water valve covers in place after one was lifted by Esteban Ocon and then ran over by Sainz.The major impact on the underside of the SF-23 resulted in Ferrari needing to build a new chassis and swap the ...

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Sainz's car was badly damaged when he ran over a water valve cover that had popped up early in the first session at the new venue, while Esteban Ocon also ran over it and suffered serious floor and chassis damage.Both drivers had to switch to spare chassis for FP2, while Sainz picked up a 10-place grid penalty for taking an extra energy store and internal combustion engine.Stella said that the ...

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Sainz's car suffered severe damage after running over a water valve cover early in the opening session of practice.The team had to rebuild the car around the spare chassis, and also swap the power unit and gearbox.Unfortunately for the Spaniard, one of the damaged items was the energy store, and by taking a third example for the season he automatically triggered a grid penalty.Vasseur tried to ...

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The first F1 race weekend on the famous Strip has been blindsided after Esteban Ocon ran over a water valve cover, with his Alpine lifting it proud of the resurfaced asphalt. His Alpine sustained damage and a yellow flag was waved but Sainz still clattered over the loose cover.Ferrari has been forced to replace the survival cell, internal combustion engine, energy store and control electronics ...

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The first on-track session for the inaugural race weekend on the streets of Las Vegas was abandoned after just eight minutes on Thursday evening when Ferrari's Carlos Sainz ripping up the concrete frame of a manhole cover on the flat-out Strip section.The Spaniard's car suffered huge damage to the chassis, floor and power unit and in a separate manhole incident, Alpine's Esteban Ocon also damaged ...

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F1's second-longest track is also one of its fastest, with cars set to be at full throttle – and working their engines to the limit – for around 85% of the time. Lap times are tipped to be around the 1m30s mark.On paper, it should suit Red Bull but with sessions running late into the night, lower temperatures could make things tricky and the fact that grip levels will be constantly changing ...

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The race has obliged Irish rock band U2 to pause its residency at the recently-opened venue for over three weeks.U2 has played a series of acclaimed concerts at the Sphere, which cost $2.3 billion to build and features high definition video screens across its inner and outer surfaces.However, because of the race the band has had to take a break, playing its final show of the initial run on ...

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Although Perez missed out on a podium finish to Fernando Alonso in last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix by just 0.053 seconds, it was still his most competitive weekend since he finished runner at the Italian Grand Prix back in September.Coming off the back of massive progress he made in a mammoth three-day simulator session at its Milton Keynes factory prior to the United States Grand Prix, Red ...

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Haas studied onboard videos, including shots from following cars, and the team believes that Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant all committed multiple offences at Turn 6 that went unpunished.The review request will be considered by the original FIA stewards of the event in an online gathering on Wednesday.Their first task will be to decide whether or not the Haas request ...

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Exiting the pitlane in Q1, ahead of the first flying laps of the session, Russell slowly rolled down the pit exit on the inside of the Senna Esses to create a gap to the cars in front.Because of the narrow nature of the pit exit Russell impeded Alpine driver Gasly, who complained over the team radio about the Briton's antics.The FIA had actually included a provision for this weekend that allowed ...

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Well, if Verstappen continues the form that saw him achieve a comfortable 16th race victory in 2023 in Mexico last weekend, then probably not. Including the Sprints – of which there is another here – he has won 19 out of 24 events.Two more wins are on offer this weekend and while anyone other than Verstappen is a long-shot, there is still plenty to watch out for from the front to the back of ...

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Fittipaldi will prioritize his RLL program next year, but he still has the scope to retain his links with Haas, for whom he competed in the last two races of the 2020 season as a replacement for the injured Romain Grosjean.With the IndyCar season ending on September 15, he will potentially be free for the final seven races of the F1 calendar, while also having some spare weekends earlier in the ...

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While Daniel Ricciardo qualified a surprise fourth, Gasly is only 11th on Sunday's grid, while his team-mate Esteban Ocon struggled even more and couldn't better 16th in Q1, before gaining a spot from a grid penalty for Yuki Tsunoda.Gasly, who drove for Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri in Mexico City five times between 2017 and 2022, suggested that the Faenza team has a very specific approach to the track ...

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Ahead of the final runs in Q1, Verstappen, Alonso and Russell all backed up other cars while leaving the pitlane in a bid to create a gap and find clear air.All three drivers were summoned by the FIA's stewards for "unnecessarily impeding" at pit exit, but they decided not to take any further action.The drivers and their team managers successfully argued that their actions were the result of the ...

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Last weekend Leclerc took pole for Austin's United States Grand Prix, but was unable to convert that into a podium after losing the lead at the start and going the wrong way on strategy.He ended up dropping back to sixth at the finish, but was later disqualified for excessive wear on his floor plank.The end result masked what has been a stronger spell for Leclerc as both he and team-mate Carlos ...

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This is not F1’s first visit to Sin City – in 1981 and 1982 the sport turned up in town to race in the car park at Caesars Palace. This time things are very different, with a layout that takes the drivers around some of the city’s most famous streets.Expect to see cars flying under pedestrian bridges, past monorail tracks and between many of the big casinos on the Strip, racing on resurfaced ...

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