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.<\/p>\n
Asked ahead of this weekend\u2019s French Grand Prix at Le Castellet about his plans, Vettel joked he was racing this weekend and the next one. \u201cObviously I\u2019ve said that at some point we\u2019ll start to talk, and I\u2019m talking to the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a clear intention to keep going and, yeah, we\u2019ll soon see where we stand.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Aston Martin are ninth in the 10-team championship, with Vettel scoring 15 points to Canadian team mate and team owner\u2019s son Lance Stroll\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n
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 <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 15:37<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose fans don\u2019t represent us as a sport, they don\u2019t share our values and they\u2019re not welcome here. As simple as that,\u201d said Perez of Red Bull. \u201cWe should hopefully ban them for life, don\u2019t welcome them again. I think a few fans shouldn\u2019t even be allowed to embarrass our sport like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton, who was jeered when he crashed his Mercedes during a practice in Austria, said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is working on a solution. \u201cWe 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,\u201d said Hamilton, who added the entire industry must do its part. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 15:12<\/p>\n
1658497554Lewis Hamilton believes struggles this year have been a \u2018valuable lesson\u2019 for Mercedes ahead of his 300th GPLewis Hamilton believes Mercedes have learned a \u201cvaluable lesson\u201d given their struggles this season but insists he is \u201cnot fazed\u201d as he targets a record-extending race victory in 2022.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cbe now or in five races time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked in the drivers press conference on Thursday about not winning a race yet this year, Hamilton said: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t faze me because I\u2019m getting towards that win. I do believe we\u2019ll be able to compete with these guys, whether it be now or in five races.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think more about the journey, we\u2019ve got consistency and we\u2019ve continued to push, no one in our team has given up. It\u2019s been a really valuable lesson and experience learned for all of us, we\u2019ve sharpened our tools in other areas so when we do get back to where we deserve to be, we\u2019ll appreciate it that much more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton – who admitted he wasn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n
Hamilton believes struggles this year have been a \u2018valuable lesson\u2019 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 <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:45<\/p>\n
1658496142Toto Wolff: \u201cWe\u2019re not where we want to be, we\u2019re lacking pace. It\u2019s early days but the performance in FP1 was a bit underwhelming but we\u2019ll see what it gives in the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still not getting the tyres in the optimum window. It\u2019s something we haven\u2019t quite understood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLewis was coaching Nyck, it was interesting to see. If we\u2019re not able to provide him [Nyck] with an exciting F1 project, we might let him go. We can\u2019t really help him or tell any team to look at him as that would be interference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:22<\/p>\n
1658495005FP1: TOP 101. Leclerc<\/p>\n
2. Verstappen <\/p>\n
3. Sainz <\/p>\n
4. Russell<\/p>\n
5. Gasly <\/p>\n
6. Perez<\/p>\n
7. Norris<\/p>\n
8. Albon <\/p>\n
9. De Vries <\/p>\n
10. Ricciardo <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:03<\/p>\n
1658494963FP1: DONESo with that 1:33:930 lap time late on, Charles Leclerc goes fasest in FP1! <\/p>\n
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! <\/p>\n
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\u2019s car! <\/p>\n
(AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 14:02<\/p>\n
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! <\/p>\n
Sainz is in third, Russell fourth and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly is up to fifth. De Vries in the Mercedes is down to ninth… <\/p>\n
Can anyone affect the top of the standings in the final few minutes?! <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:54<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Russell is a second behind the leader in fourth, Perez fifth and De Vries sixth. <\/p>\n
Alex Albon is best of the rest so far in the Williams – seventh in the standings 1.7 seconds off top spot. <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:42<\/p>\n
1658493314FP1: 30 minutes gone…Away from off-track notifications, Nyck de Vries – in Lewis Hamilton\u2019s car for FP1 – goes third fastest with a time 1.1 seconds behind first-place Verstappen!<\/p>\n
De Vries will be in action at Formula E London next week at the ExCeL centre… <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:35<\/p>\n
1658493075BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton also takes a new engine – but no penalty as it\u2019s only his third of the season… <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson22 July 2022 13:31<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n