Former McLaren driver turned Formula 1 pundit David Coulthard has called for Daniel Ricciardo reappraise some of his life choices in his year off to get back to his best before 2024.
Ricciardo has confirmed that he won’t be on the grid next year after turning down options to race in the lower reaches of the midfield following his sacking by McLaren.
The Australian is targeting a reserve-driver position for 2023, with Mercedes and Red Bull Racing believed to be in negotiation for his services.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSFerrari has denied it will sack Mattia Binotto at the end of the year despite numerous reports in the Italian media that the team principal is set for the chopping block.
Both the prestigious Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy’s most widely read sports paper, and the Italian edition of Motorsport have reported Ferrari will call time on Binotto’s career after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.
The team released a short statement overnight describing the reports as being “totally without foundation”.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSRacing drivers aren’t like normal people.
When a bad case of food poisoning would be enough to keep the average person away from work and in bed for days, the same clearly doesn’t occur to a Formula 1 driver, who feels compelled to ignore the calls for natural recuperation and jump back in the car.
Just ask Lando Norris, who was running as high as third in the São Paulo Grand Prix despite having been unable to eat or drink anything for two days in Brazil.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSA front-row lockout converted into an easy one-two finish — Mercedes had the São Paulo Grand Prix so firmly in its grasp that it felt like we were back in the mid-2020s, as though this season had never really happened.
The only difference was the scale of the celebrations, and not just in acknowledgment of George Russell’s long-awaited first victory.
It had been more than 11 months since Mercedes last won a race and more than two years since its cars finished first and second.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSIt’s sometimes the case in Formula 1 that the most interesting races produce the most miserable drivers — and there was a fair bit of misery on track as the field took the chequered flag at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Max Verstappen was committing a minor mutiny by ignoring team orders, sending Red Bull Racing into meltdown and freeing Sergio Perez to say a bit more of what he really thinks of being teammates with the Dutchman.
Charles Leclerc was slamming his team for not allowing him past Carlos Sainz for a spot on the podium to bolster his chances of finishing runner-up in the championship.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe battle for second in both championships is suddenly alive after a chaotic race in Brazil to set-up a showdown of sorts between Mercedes, Ferrari and the Red Bull Racing drivers at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
George Russell claimed the first Grand Prix win of his Formula 1 career with a superbly controlled drive to victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The Briton aced his getaway from pole and mastered two safety car restarts to grind out the win ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, securing Mercedes’s first win of the year and first one-two finish since 2020.
“This is just the beginning,” he radioed his team. “I’m so proud of all of you. I knew we could do this.”
Continue reading on RACERGeorge Russell is a winner at last in Formula 1, although the hard work is still to come on Sunday.
Russell followed Max Verstappen past pole-getter Kevin Magnussen early in the sprint to set up a private duel for first place in the 100-kilometre dash, and after biding his time, he began his siege on the lead.
Twice he tried around Verstappen’s outside at the first turn but was rebuffed.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSGeorge Russell has won his first Formula 1 race after a thrilling duel with Max Verstappen for victory in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint.
Russell started third behind pole-getter Kevin Magnussen and Verstappen in second, but the Dutchman was the only driver among the frontrunners to start on the medium tire, giving him a grip disadvantage off the line.
The Briton attempted to take second from him immediately at the start, and again through the first lap, but was constantly rebuffed. By the start of the second lap, Verstappen’s yellow tires were up to temperature and he set his sights forward to the lead.
Continue reading on RACEREsteban Ocon beat Sergio Perez to top sport in final practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
It was a typically straightforward Saturday practice session on a sprint weekend, with parc fermé conditions in effect after qualifying on Friday. The focus was on assessing the endurance of the soft tire ahead of the 24-lap sprint race later today.
Ocon started the hour with nine laps on the medium tire, but the yellow compound found little favor among the drivers, and he subsequently switched to a 16-lap run on the soft compound.
Continue reading on RACERThey say if you want excitement on track, just add water. But sometimes just the threat of wet weather is enough.
Rain has been on the forecast all weekend, and having dampened the track before the start of qualifying, it was looming large on the radar again as the top-10 shootout got underway.
It forced teams and drivers to do their best to harmonise the radar, the conditions in the pit lane and their gut instincts to make a decision on how to approach the make-or-break first minutes of the Q3.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSKevin Magnussen took a sensational maiden Formula 1 pole position for himself and his Haas team at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with a perfectly timed qualifying lap on slicks before rain soaked the Interlagos circuit.
Q3 started with rain looming on the radar, and nine of the 10 cars in the shootout lined up at pit exit on the soft tire to bank a lap before the heavens opened.
Magnussen was the first in the queue to take to the damp track in the drizzle, and his position on track paid dividends as conditions worsened, putting him on provisional pole with a 0.203s margin ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Continue reading on RACERSergio Perez edged Charles Leclerc at the top of the time sheet in the crucial first practice session for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Perez took top spot around 30 minutes into the session with an early switch to the soft tire, and his best time of 1m11.853s couldn’t be beaten before the end of the hour.
Leclerc came agonizingly close when Ferrari undertook its qualifying simulation laps near the end of the session, with just 0.004s splitting the Scuderia driver from taking control.
Continue reading on RACERDaniel Ricciardo has acknowledged he could be starting the final two races of his Formula 1 career as he prepares for year on the sidelines in 2023.
Ricciardo had his McLaren contract terminated a year early in August and has been unable to secure a competitive seat on the grid for next season.
He’s heavily tipped to join Mercedes as a reserve driver to keep himself in the paddock ahead of an attempted 2024 return.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe final fortnight of Formula 1 is upon us, but there’s no time to relax for Red Bull Racing with a couple of important achievements still in sight.
RBR has turned a shaky start to the year into a season for the ages, and while the team and Max Verstappen have already set some new benchmarks for domination, there’s still more to achieve.
Verstappen took the overall record for most wins in a season with his 14th victory last time out in Mexico City.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe 2022 championship fight has been straightforward in every way its predecessor season wasn’t, with the racing on track largely uncontroversial and the aggro of 2021 almost entirely absent, with only the cost cap fracas briefly disturbing the peace.
But that only rings true if you look exclusively at the battle up front.
Just behind the frontrunning pack, the battle for fourth is anything but quiet.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSIt hasn’t taken long for Max Verstappen’s place in the pantheon of driving greats to be weighed up.
His second championship has put him in rare air. He’s now won more titles than 17 of F1’s most iconic legends and is tied with legends like Fernando Alonso, Mika Häkkinen, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Alberto Ascari.
Only 10 drivers have won more than two championships.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSReigning champion Shane van Gisbergen says he’ll wait to see what the Gen3 era of Supercars looks like before deciding on how long he’ll continue racing in the category.
The freshly minted 2022 champion has dominated the season on the way to his third title, winning an unprecedented 21 races so far.
It’s an especially impressive record given the 15-season veteran has been increasingly experimental off track. This year he made debut entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (fifth in class), the Australian Rally Championship (second place) and the World Rally Championship (third in class, ninth overall) as well finishing third at the Bathurst 12 Hour.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTS