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Nico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton can get mentally low when faced with a competitive team-mate after finishing behind George Russell at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last week.
Russell finished fourth in Jeddah, with Hamilton coming home fifth as Mercedes look likely to fall short of a title challenge once again this year with Red Bull way out in front so far. Russell also scored 35 more points last season – in his first year driving for Mercedes – than Hamilton, finishing fourth in the Driver Standings compared to Hamilton’s sixth.
And Rosberg, who beat Hamilton to the World Championship in 2016 before retiring from the sport, insists 25-year-old Russell is a “future world champion” and elaborated on how Hamilton fares when faced with a battle in the same garage.
Elsewhere, Nelson Piquet has been ordered to pay damages for making racist remarks about Hamilton, Madrid has emerged as a contender to host the Spanish Grand Prix and Christian Hornerdismissed the prospect of Red Bull signing Hamilton at the end of the year.
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1679927019F1 news: Nico Rosberg hints at Lewis Hamilton weakness in team-mate battle with George RussellNico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton can get mentally low when faced with a competitive team-mate after finishing behind George Russell at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last week.
Russell finished fourth in Jeddah, with Hamilton coming home fifth as Mercedes look likely to fall short of a title challenge once again this year with Red Bull way out in front so far. Russell also scored 35 more points last season – in his first year driving for Mercedes – than Hamilton, finishing fourth in the Driver Standings compared to Hamilton’s sixth.
And Rosberg, who beat Hamilton to the World Championship in 2016 before retiring from the sport, insists 25-year-old Russell is a “future world champion” and elaborated on how Hamilton fares when faced with a battle in the same garage.
“George is the ultimate test, he is a future world champion,” Rosberg told Sky F1. “It is difficult for Lewis to stay in front.”
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 15:23
1679925614F1 news: Nelson Piquet ordered to pay damages for racist comments against Lewis HamiltonThree-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay $953,050 in moral damages for racist and homophobic comments against Lewis Hamilton.
Piquet twice used a racial slur when referring to Hamilton in an interview in November 2021, when commenting on the Mercedes driver’s British Grand Prix crash with Max Verstappen.
The footage of the interview surfaced on social media last June, with Hamilton calling for action to change “archaic mindsets”. Piquet, 70, apologised to the British driver and said his comments had been mistranslated.
In another clip which surfaced later, Piquet used racist and homophobic language against Hamilton in a podcast interview when describing how Hamilton missed out on the 2016 championship to Nico Rosberg. The charges were brought by four human rights groups, including Brazil’s National LGBT+ Alliance, which wanted Piquet to pay 10 million Brazilian Reals for alleged moral damages.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 15:00
1679923514F1 news: Why are Red Bull so quick – and can anyone stop their F1 title charge?Comment by Kieran Jackson
Come on then, who’d have thought this was how it’d turn out already? No, really. Red Bull’s margin of victory in last year’s Constructors’ Championship was a mammoth 205 points but in 2023, that could well be surpassed. In fact, never mind surpassed: ridiculed and knocked out the park.
Just two races down and after a pair of comfortable – bordering on effortless – one-two triumphs, the gap is 49 points to Aston Martin in second. The only point Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen have missed out on was the fastest lap in Bahrain. There’s 21 grand prix left; 27 races including sprints. The signs, for the rest of the pack, are nothing but scarily ominous.
There can be no doubt where most of the acclaim should be directed. Superstar designer Adrian Newey has created arguably his greatest beast yet; the RB19 was described as an evolution of 2022’s all-conquering machine and boy has that proved an underestimation.
Swap evolution for upgrade. Double upgrade. Aerodynamically supreme, as illustrated by the unstoppable surge in speed down the straights with DRS, this breed of car is lightning through the corners too. Their dominance in Saudi Arabia over the weekend was monumental: they topped all five sessions including practice.
Not that he needs an invitation, Christian Horner was basking in the prospect of his team’s greatest ever season.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 14:25
1679921954F1 news: McLaren axe technical director James KeyMcLaren have parted ways with technical director James Key after a start to the season which has seen the Woking-based team fail to score a point.
Key, largely responsible for the car’s design, has come under increased scrutiny after a start to the 2023 campaign which has seen both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri struggle with reliability problems and a severe lack of straight-line speed.
New team principal Andrea Stella, who took over from new Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl in the off-season, has been evaluating McLaren’s pitwall operations alogngside CEO Zak Brown.
And Key’s removal comes alongside a host of changes, including replacing the role of technical director with three specialised roles.
Peter Prodromou will be the new Technial Director, Aerodynamics, while Neil Houldey is promoted to the new role of Technical Director, Engineering and Design.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 13:59
1679920034F1 news: F1 boss urged to correct ‘false’ Bahrain Grand Prix protest claimsFormula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has been urged to correct “false” claims about the arrest of Bahraini protestors prior to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Reports emerged that four Bahraini political protestors were arrested near the Bahrain International Circuit on 5 March, speaking out against sportswashing of human rights abuses in the Gulf country.
Yet the Bahraini government deny that any arrests took place, a view shared by Formula 1, despite evidence first-hand by the protestors and the UK government confirming the arrests.
Now Domenicali has been urged by Paul Scriven, a Liberal Democrat life peer, to correct and respond to these “false” claims about the arrests, as well as speak out “regarding executions and the right to protest without risk of reprisals” in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The two Gulf countries hosted the first two races of the 2023 season.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 13:27
1679918474F1 news: Nico Rosberg hints at Lewis Hamilton weakness in team-mate battle with George RussellNico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton can get mentally low when faced with a competitive team-mate after finishing behind George Russell at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last week.
Russell finished fourth in Jeddah, with Hamilton coming home fifth as Mercedes look likely to fall short of a title challenge once again this year with Red Bull way out in front so far.
Russell also scored 35 more points last season – in his first year driving for Mercedes – than Hamilton, finishing fourth in the Driver Standings compared to Hamilton’s sixth.
And Rosberg, who beat Hamilton to the World Championship in 2016 before retiring from the sport, insists 25-year-old Russell is a “future world champion” and elaborated on how Hamilton fares when faced with a battle in the same garage.
“George is the ultimate test, he is a future world champion,” Rosberg told Sky F1. “It is difficult for Lewis to stay in front.
“George had an awesome season last year and that is continuing. Let’s not forget, Lewis is the best of all time, so if someone can beat George it is him.
“It is a little bit of a weakness that Lewis has that he will mentally go into this down a little bit and lose a little bit of the flow.”
(Getty Images)
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 13:01
1679916854F1 news: Lewis Hamilton warns Mercedes over Red Bull innovationLewis Hamilton insists Mercedes should not just adopt Red Bull-esque sidepods as it could make their troubled W14 car even slower.
Mercedes raised eyebrows at their 2023 car launch when they opted to persevere with their unique ‘no-sidepod’ design from last year, which saw the Silver Arrows relinquish their No 1 tag as they dropped to third in the pack behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
And the gap to Red Bull – who are the runaway team at the front currently – has grown after two races this season, with Christian Horner’s team earning a pair of one-two finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has acknowledged that a change in innovation is needed this season, with a new design in the works for the coming months, but seven-time world champion Hamilton warned his team about simply copying Red Bull’s flawless design.
“I think we have what we have and we’re going to continue to try to work on it and extract more from it, and then we’ll see how quick that can happen, or whether that’s possible with the concept we have,” Hamilton said in Jeddah at the weekend.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 12:34
1679915894F1 race schedule: What time is the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday? The third race of the 2023 season, the Australian Grand Prix, takes place from Friday 31 March – Sunday 2 April at the Albert Park Circuit.
FP1 takes place at 2:30am (BST) on Friday morning, with second practice following at 6am.
After third practice at 2:30AM on Saturday morning, qualifying starts at 6am (BST) with the race on Sunday also at 6am (BST).
(Getty Images)
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 12:18
1679915474F1 news: Madrid to rival Barcelona as host city for F1’s Spanish Grand Prix Madrid has emerged as a potential host of the Spanish Grand Prix after talks in the Spanish capital last week.
While Barcelona has a contract to host the race until 2026, Madrid could become the latest illustrious city to join the calendar from that point onwards and is seen in some quarters to be the favourite.
Spain is unlikely to host more than one race a season, meaning Madrid would replace Barcelona if it were to join the ever-growing calendar.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali met with city officials last week at the opening of the F1 Exhibition in Madrid.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 12:11
1679914694F1 news: Nelson Piquet ordered to pay damages for racist comments against Lewis HamiltonThree-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay $953,050 in moral damages for racist and homophobic comments against Lewis Hamilton.
Piquet twice used a racial slur when referring to Hamilton in an interview in November 2021, when commenting on the Mercedes driver’s British Grand Prix crash with Max Verstappen.
The footage of the interview surfaced on social media last June, with Hamilton calling for action to change “archaic mindsets”. Piquet, 70, apologised to the British driver and said his comments had been mistranslated.
In another clip which surfaced later, Piquet used racist and homophobic language against Hamilton in a podcast interview when describing how Hamilton missed out on the 2016 championship to Nico Rosberg.
The charges were brought by four human rights groups, including Brazil’s National LGBT+ Alliance, which wanted Piquet to pay 10 million Brazilian Reals for alleged moral damages.
Kieran Jackson27 March 2023 11:58
