1658500674Sebastian Vettel in talks to stay at Aston Martin amid McLaren speculationSebastian Vettel has revealed he is talking to Aston Martin about staying with them next season and laughed off speculation he might move to McLaren. The four-time world champion is out of contract at the end of 2022 season with his future – and whether he will even stay in the sport – much discussed.
Asked ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix at Le Castellet about his plans, Vettel joked he was racing this weekend and the next one. “Obviously I’ve said that at some point we’ll start to talk, and I’m talking to the team,” he said.
“I think there’s a clear intention to keep going and, yeah, we’ll soon see where we stand.” Aston Martin principal Mike Krack has said he wants to retain Vettel, now in his second season with the team after moving from Ferrari, but it would be up to the driver to decide.
Aston Martin are ninth in the 10-team championship, with Vettel scoring 15 points to Canadian team mate and team owner’s son Lance Stroll’s three. Asked about rumours he could be an option for McLaren, even though under-performing Australian Daniel Ricciardo and on-form British team mate Lando Norris both have contracts for 2023, Vettel grinned.
Sebastian Vettel in talks to stay at Aston Martin amid McLaren speculationThe four-time world champion is out of contract at the end of the 2022 season
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 15:37
1658499174F1 drivers unite in calling for lifetime bans for abusive fansSergio Perez called for lifetime bans for abusive fans at Formula One races and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton urged the community to band together to stamp out the boorish behaviour seen at recent events.
Drivers were shocked at the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago when fans used social media to make F1 aware of rampant harassment, sexism, racism, and homophobia in the grandstands of the Red Bull Ring. F1 condemned the behaviour hours before the start of the race and said it had discussed the problems with the race promoter.
Their statement, however, did not offer fans a mechanism to report problems during the race. As the championship shifts to the French Grand Prix, Perez and Hamilton were among the many drivers Thursday who insisted the poor behaviour must be firmly addressed.
“Those fans don’t represent us as a sport, they don’t share our values and they’re not welcome here. As simple as that,” said Perez of Red Bull. “We should hopefully ban them for life, don’t welcome them again. I think a few fans shouldn’t even be allowed to embarrass our sport like that.”
Hamilton, who was jeered when he crashed his Mercedes during a practice in Austria, said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is working on a solution. “We need to do more. I know Formula One and Stefano are really focused on doing more, and definitely taking it serious especially after the last race,” said Hamilton, who added the entire industry must do its part.
F1 drivers unite in calling for lifetime bans for abusive fansDrivers were shocked at the Austrian Grand Prix when fans used social media to make F1 aware of rampant harassment, sexism, racism, and homophobia in the grandstands
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 15:12
1658497554Lewis Hamilton believes struggles this year have been a ‘valuable lesson’ for Mercedes ahead of his 300th GPLewis Hamilton believes Mercedes have learned a “valuable lesson” given their struggles this season but insists he is “not fazed” as he targets a record-extending race victory in 2022.
The seven-time world champion becomes only the sixth driver to reach 300 Grands Prix this weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet and is currently the only driver in history to win a race in every season he has been competing in Formula 1.
But in his 16th season – at the half-way stage of the 2022 calendar – Hamilton is yet to finish higher than third but remains optimistic that Mercedes are improving race-by-race and will be able to compete with Red Bull or Ferrari, whether it “be now or in five races time.”
Asked in the drivers press conference on Thursday about not winning a race yet this year, Hamilton said: “It doesn’t faze me because I’m getting towards that win. I do believe we’ll be able to compete with these guys, whether it be now or in five races.
“I think more about the journey, we’ve got consistency and we’ve continued to push, no one in our team has given up. It’s been a really valuable lesson and experience learned for all of us, we’ve sharpened our tools in other areas so when we do get back to where we deserve to be, we’ll appreciate it that much more.”
Hamilton – who admitted he wasn’t aware that this weekend would be his 300th Grand Prix – has finished on the podium in the last three races, with third-place finishes in Montreal, Silverstone and Spielberg.
Hamilton believes struggles this year have been a ‘valuable lesson’ for Mercedes Mercedes are yet to win after 11 races this season and Hamilton – ahead of his 300th Grand Prix – has not finished higher than third
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:45
1658496142Toto Wolff: “We’re not where we want to be, we’re lacking pace. It’s early days but the performance in FP1 was a bit underwhelming but we’ll see what it gives in the afternoon.”
“We’re still not getting the tyres in the optimum window. It’s something we haven’t quite understood.”
“Lewis was coaching Nyck, it was interesting to see. If we’re not able to provide him [Nyck] with an exciting F1 project, we might let him go. We can’t really help him or tell any team to look at him as that would be interference.”
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:22
1658495005FP1: TOP 101. Leclerc
2. Verstappen
3. Sainz
4. Russell
5. Gasly
6. Perez
7. Norris
8. Albon
9. De Vries
10. Ricciardo
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:03
1658494963FP1: DONESo with that 1:33:930 lap time late on, Charles Leclerc goes fasest in FP1!
Max Verstappen, with someting loose on the front of his car and bailing out of his last few laps, is second on the timesheets, 0:091 seconds behind, while Carlos Sainz is third, three-tenths behind his Ferrari team-mate!
George Russell is fourth – but 0.951 seconds behind the leader – with Gasly, fifth and Perez sixth. Nyck De Vries remains ninth in his running in Lewis Hamilton’s car!
(AFP via Getty Images)
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:02
1658494440FP1: 10 minutes left…Charles Leclerc goes fastest, 0.091 seconds ahead of Verstappen! An early throwing down of the gauntlet from the Ferrari man against his Championship rival!
Sainz is in third, Russell fourth and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly is up to fifth. De Vries in the Mercedes is down to ninth…
Can anyone affect the top of the standings in the final few minutes?!
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:54
1658493779FP1: 20 minutes left…Max Verstappen goes even quicker at the top of the leaderboard with a 1:34:021, with Leclerc just 0.083 seconds back and Sainz two-tenths further behind.
Russell is a second behind the leader in fourth, Perez fifth and De Vries sixth.
Alex Albon is best of the rest so far in the Williams – seventh in the standings 1.7 seconds off top spot.
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:42
1658493314FP1: 30 minutes gone…Away from off-track notifications, Nyck de Vries – in Lewis Hamilton’s car for FP1 – goes third fastest with a time 1.1 seconds behind first-place Verstappen!
De Vries will be in action at Formula E London next week at the ExCeL centre…
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:35
1658493075BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton also takes a new engine – but no penalty as it’s only his third of the season…
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:31
