Formula 1

Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes and a shareholder of the Silver Arrows, reportedly blocked a new $50 million per year deal that Lewis Hamilton was set to sign during the 2020 F1 season. “In November, when Formula 1 went to Turkey, a contract was ready that meets Hamilton’s requirements: a four-year contract with a salary of 50 million a year. Daimler, however, put a stop to that,” Italy’s Corriere Dello Sport has reported. Daimler currently owns just a third of the Mercedes F1 Team following restructuring last month which resulted in Ineos purchasing a third of the team and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff increasing his shareholding to 33.33 percent. Hamilton and Wolff have repeatedly insisted that the only reason a new deal hasn’t been inked is because they have had other priorities to manage. “If you refer to why haven’t we got a signed contract? The reason is simple. We always prioritised getting this Championship done, and not being distracted by sometimes difficult discussions, as is the nature of negotiation. But then COVID struck,” Wolff said last month. “So it has delayed us a little bit, but we are not worried in eventually getting it done,” the Austrian added, saying he expects a new contract to be inked “sooner or later.” Specifically, Wolff said it could take until just before pre-season testing in March for a contract extension to be agreed.

Nikita Mazepin, in 2021 one of the new drivers at Haas, hasn’t ridden a single meter during an official Grand Prix, but came into disrepute last month anyway. After posting a video in which he touched a woman, a call was made on the internet to keep the Russian out of Formula 1. This does not seem to be happening, but the first sponsor has now spoken out. It concerns Jack&Jones, the personal sponsor of Kevin Magnussen. The clothing brand won’t be a sponsor of the team from 2021 onwards and therefore now feels free to distance itself from Mazepin and Haas. It can’t be said this statement and its timing is very heroic, as they have waited for their contract to officially expire, yet the company’s position is welcomed by a number of F1 journalists and followers.

As part of his training, Haas’ Nikita Mazepin is using the same sensors as seen in lie detector tests to help control stress. The Russian racer is set to make his Formula 1 debut in 2021 with Haas, where he will partner fellow Formula 2 graduate and 2020 champion Mick Schumacher. Mazepin finished P5 in the 2020 F2 standings, picking up two race wins and a further four P2 finishes, a vast improvement on his 2019 efforts when he finished that F2 season with only 11 points. And Mazepin credited his coaches with picking him up off his knees in 2019, and will continue working with them in Formula 1. “After I had an absolute complete failure in 2019, we decided to regroup 90 per cent of my entourage,” Mazepin told Match TV, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “I changed from two coaches: now I have one, a physiotherapist, who is a professional in his field, and one coach, who is responsible for my physical training. “And I plan to move to F1 with them – the people who raised me from my knees in motorsport, I really need to try to succeed in the next years too.” Mazepin has also been working with a member of the Ferrari team – they train using the same sensors as seen in lie detector tests to measure Mazepin’s reaction to different situations and control stress. “I’ve been working with an Italian for the last three years, who also works with the Ferrari team. We prepare with the same kind of sensors that are used in lie detector tests,” he said. “That is, you collect a lot of information from your body and try to control them [certain indicators] with your breathing and other things to reduce stress in moments of heavy pressure at the beginning of the race – or at the end of the race when you’re defending your position.” Mazepin has tested Formula 1 machinery in the past with Force India and Mercedes, and the Russian driver said he is working on his neck ahead of his debut Formula 1 campaign in 2021, remembering how in his first test back in 2016 with Force India he had to stop early due to the pain. “My focus is on my neck. We were talking about my first Formula 1 tests – and I had to end them early because I hurt it,” he said. “The feeling you get when you hit the brakes after a long straight… it feels like you’re hitting the wall. Because the cars are so good at braking.”

The first day of 2021 means that from now on Racing Point will be known as Aston Martin. The team immediately shared a preview of the livery colours for the upcoming Formula 1 season. The team started the day with a tweet that reads: “New year, new me,” with a picture of their new logo. In addition, they posted a video on their YouTube channel, containing an animation in style of the Formula 1 intro video. The animation consists of green stripes with yellow accents, and it is expected that these will be their livery colors for 2021.

It’s finally happened. After years of speculation and waiting, though admittedly not on his part, Lewis Hamilton has finally been knighted. Arise, Sir Lewis Hamilton. The Formula One champion was made a knight in the New Year Honors list just hours ago, both Sky Sports and the Daily Mail confirm. The distinction was only possible after Prime Minister Boris Johnson, admittedly “under pressure” to make it happen, moved Hamilton to the Diplomatic and Overseas list, which meant he could be granted the title even though he’s no longer a UK resident. “The 2021 New Year Honors offer us an opportunity to salute their dedication and recognize many who have gone above and beyond in their contribution to our country,” PM Johnson said in a statement. Hamilton was presented with an MBE (Member Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire) in 2009, and many believed it was high time his title was “upgraded” to knight, especially considering his accomplishments in the sports, his activism and his charitable work. However, the fact that he moved residence from the UK to Monaco and Switzerland, so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes back home, worked against him in receiving said upgrade earlier. For his part, Hamilton always said the move was a necessary one because he spends most of his time overseas anyway. During this time, he still paid taxes in the UK, but they only covered a fraction of the money he made. Even so, according to a recent report, the HMRC’s UK income Tax Liabilities Statistics for 2019 ranks him among the highest 5,000 taxpayers in the country. By being included in the Diplomatic and Overseas list (Hamilton is the first sports figure to have had this accommodation made for him), Hamilton’s knighthood means he’s being awarded for work done abroad to give “exceptional service to the UK.” It also means a technicality was used to sidestep the fact that he’s not paying full taxes here. In short, the backstory to Hamilton’s road to knighthood is a convoluted and, some would say, typically complicated for the Brits. The recognition is way overdue, his supporters believe, but that’s not stopping “haters” from claiming he shouldn’t be given the highest distinction possible for a civilian in a country he no longer calls home. Even one the publications confirming the news does so with the headline “Arise, Sir Tax Exile,” which may be typical of a tabloid but is also indicative of how many must be feeling right now.

Red Bull driver programme boss Dr Helmut Marko said his team are “done” with the Daniil Kvyat topic, suggesting no prospect of a third stint. The Russian driver was recalled to the Red Bull fold ahead of the 2019 season and placed in the Toro Rosso team alongside Alex Albon. But after two seasons with the outfit now known as AlphaTauri, Kvyat was dropped from the programme completely again with Yuki Tsunoda brought in to replace him at AlphaTauri for 2021. And Marko said that another return for Kvyat down the line was out of the question, saying Red Bull are “done” with that topic. “The topic is done for us,” Marko told Motorsport-Total.com. “In the last two or three races, he showed some speed.” However, with Kvyat “always behind” former team-mate Pierre Gasly in Marko’s words, the boss felt that “with all the routine and experience he has, that’s too little.” Kvyat admitted that it was frustrating for him in the early stages of 2020 since the AT01 didn’t work well with his driving style, but ultimately Kvyat got on top of the car and inspired some changes which allowed him to improve his overall performance. Ultimately P4 at Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was Kvyat’s best result and performance of the season. “When that happens, you get frustrated very quickly,” said Kvyat about his struggle to become comfortable in the AlphaTauri early in the season. That being said, he didn’t want that to become an excuse, praising the performances that team-mate Gasly delivered on the other side of the garage. “Of course it would have helped. You always want to start the season well. But I don’t want to talk too much about that because Pierre also drove a fantastic year. We just would have been closer together from the start,” said Kvyat. “Sometimes he made it into Q3 and I was eliminated in Q2. That’s when I often thought to myself, ‘Sh*t!’ I would have liked to be able to fight with him in Q3.” But, with Kvyat’s performances following a generally upward curve in the latter stages of the season, he “proved that it worked,” referring to the updates which he pushed for. Kvyat is now of course familiar with the feeling of being ditched by Red Bull, so this time around he made sure that the uncertainty didn’t influence his performances. “Maybe a few years ago it would have frustrated me a lot more, which would have affected my performance and motivation a lot. But this year, I still stayed cool and worked hard,” he explained.

Lewis Hamilton will be knighted after Boris Johnson bypassed concerns over the world champion’s tax status by placing him on the ‘Diplomatic and Overseas List’. It is understood that no previous British sporting figure has been accommodated in this controversial way — a measure of the Prime Minister’s desire to see Hamilton recognised in the New Year Honours on Thursday after the Mercedes star won his seventh Formula One title in November. The 35-year-old was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and grew up on a council estate before becoming grand prix racing’s first black driver. He has spent this year campaigning for greater diversity in his sport. Hamilton, who is worth more than £250million, has lived in tax exile in Monaco for a decade, having first moved from the UK to Switzerland after completing his debut season in 2007. Former Labour Cabinet minister Lord Hain, vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Formula One, has twice written to Downing Street with evidence that Hamilton is among the top 5,000 UK taxpayers. But the sport honours committee did not believe this clinched the argument because Hamilton’s Monaco residency meant HMRC could not adequately vet his tax affairs — a prerequisite for all domestic awards. The Prime Minister has since sidestepped this concern by using the ‘Overseas’ designation that ‘recognises people who have given exceptional service to the UK abroad and internationally’. Hamilton, who was awarded the MBE in 2008 after his first world title, will become the fourth F1 driver to be knighted, following Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jackie Stewart. Hamilton won BBC Sports Personality of the Year for a second time last weekend. A source close to the Government told Sportsmail: ‘Boris made it clear he wanted Lewis knighted so everyone was backed into a corner.

Nico Hulkenberg was given only 10 minutes’ notice that Sergio Perez would be announced instead of him as a Red Bull driver next year. The German was in the reckoning to replace Alex Albon for 2021 after putting his name in the frame with impressive performances in the Racing Point when deputising for Perez and Lance Stroll while they were sidelined due to illness. Those were Hulkenberg’s only F1 drives of 2020 having been dropped by Renault at the end of the previous season to make way for Esteban Ocon. Although the 33-year-old former Williams, Force India and Sauber driver had reportedly been Max Verstappen’s first choice as his next team-mate, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claimed talks had never got beyond a “brief discussion”. However, in an interview with Motorsport-total.com, Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s head of driver development, admitted Hulkenberg had only been informed just before the official confirmation of Perez’s signing that he would not be getting the job. Reminded that Albon had been told shortly before the announcement that he was being demoted to reserve driver for 2021, Marko was asked whether Hulkenberg knew earlier that he would be passed over. “No. I called him 10 minutes beforehand and told him that unfortunately it wouldn’t work,” said the 77-year-old Austrian. Marko also revealed that Perez and Hulkenberg had each approached Red Bull rather than vice versa, just after the time when the Mexican was informed by Racing Point that his contract for 2021 was being ripped up and Sebastian Vettel coming in to replace him. “Both of them asked us,” said Marko. “In autumn, at the races in Italy [Monza and Mugello in September] it got more intense.” Ultimately, as well as Perez’s superb form throughout 2020, his recent knowledge of driving a car with a Mercedes engine swung the decision his way, according to Marko. Red Bull are keen to tap in to what Perez has learned about the Mercedes power unit as they aim to launch a World Championship challenge next year. “It spoke for him [Perez] that he had driven the Mercedes engine for many seasons and knew about drivability, responsiveness and all these things,” said Marko. “’Hülki was last at Renault. The three races he drove [for Racing Point] with the Mercedes engine, you probably can’t take it because he was more busy adjusting to the car than collecting data.”

Michael Schumacher would have been proud to see Lewis Hamilton match his record of seven F1 Drivers’ Championships in 2020, Martin Brundle believes. The Brit achieved the feat in 2020, making Formula One history in the process. And with a new Mercedes contract in the works, it appears he’s now eager to move out in front. Hamilton won the title at the Turkish Grand Prix back in November, matching Schumacher in the process. And Brundle, speaking to Sky Sports, has hailed the 35-year-old for both that performance and for winning the title again. “Where do you start? It has been one of the most remarkable seasons I’ve ever experienced in 37 years of this business,” he said when asked to pick a highlight. “But I’ve gone for Lewis Hamilton winning the Turkish GP, in great style. “He did not have the fastest car on the track in that day in history yet lapped his team-mate and won by half a minute in treacherous conditions when people couldn’t find any grip. “That, of course, meant he matched the great Michael Schumacher’s tally of seven Formula 1 world championships, in a style in which Michael would have been very proud and very impressed by.” Hamilton may have his eyes on another F1 title, but he’s also revealed he’s looking to balance other projects at the same time. The Brit has been vocal in his calls for more diversity within the sport, while he’s pursuing a new adventure in Electric E. And Hamilton recently said: “I’m trying to find a balance. “I like to live life day-by-day because you just never know when your days are up.” “And I’ve had people pass in my life who have said ‘I was planning to do this and that and I ran out of time’. This year, I’d say more so than ever, there’s been a huge focus on the present. “However, yeah, I generally like to be forward-thinking – I’m so excited about what the future holds. But also, as I get older, I’m aware things take so much time to put in place.

Sergio Perez is the new driver of Red Bull Racing for the 2021 season. The Mexican himself asked for an opportunity to join Red Bull Racing, according to a new interview with Helmut Marko. Halfway through 2019 Pierre Gasly was told he could return to Toro Rosso and Alexander Albon was given the chance to drive for Red Bull Racing. The young Thai didn’t make many mistakes, but wasn’t very fast either. In 2020 this continued and there were rumours about Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. These possibilities were called for by the drivers themselves. ”Both have asked us,” Marko says in conversation with Motorsport-total.com. However, the drivers were put on hold. They both had no alternative, so Red Bull could wait and see how the season would unfold. At the end they couldn’t get around Perez anymore. ‘The growing shape he showed is of course an important point to mention. I think this is his best season ever what is Formula 1. In addition, in the race he won you could see that Russell was not getting any closer in the Mercedes on better tyres. That he can drive so fast on old tyres, he has proven in several races”, concludes the Austrian.

Red Bull boss Helmut Marko has taken an unexpected shot at Daniel Ricciardo while explaining his team’s decision to replace Alex Albon with Sergio Perez for 2021.Marko was discussing the struggles Albon had this year, both with handling the car and the pressure of competing with teammate Max Verstappen when he also clipped the Aussie. “All the reports and the unsatisfactory results unsettled him,” Marko said of Albon, in an interview with motorsport-total.com. “His deficit on Verstappen widened over the course of the season, not decreased. Admittedly (it was) marginal, but it got bigger. “But if you have a teammate who drives at the absolute top level, no matter what the car is, that plays a subordinate role. “If you look at it that way, no one except Ricciardo has existed on the same level as Max. And the longer the combination Ricciardo and Max was, the clearer Max was able to set himself apart.” Verstappen replaced Daniil Kyvat as Ricciardo’s teammate early in the 2016 season. The Australian won the qualifying battle with his new partner 11-6 that year and also outscored Verstappen 220 points to 191. The Dutch youngster started showing his pace in 2017 by outqualifying Ricciardo 13-7 but the more experienced man was still better on Sunday, claiming 200 points to Verstappen’s 168. It wasn’t until 2018 – Ricciardo’s last season at Red Bull before moving to Renault that the tables turned. Ricciardo slipped to sixth in the championship, 79 points behind Verstappen, despite winning two of the first six races of the season. After Ricciardo’s victory at Monaco, Verstappen outqualified him 11 times in a row to win that battle 15-3 with an average qualifying advantage of 0.131 seconds. But the Aussie defended his record after the season, citing reliability problems and other issues he wouldn’t go into as contributing factors to the underwhelming results. “I am happy with how I’ve been this year and I certainly feel that the points and the qualifying tally don’t show the true picture,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to take the credit away from Max because he is getting better every year and he’s a top-level driver. There is no doubt that he is extremely fast and he’s not easy to beat on any day.” “But even on those days where he has outqualified me, I’ve still been comfortable with that and most of the time I’ve understood why. “Sometimes I’ve taken my hat off and said that it was just a bloody good lap, but there have been other times, where there have been some issues and I’ve had some little things which haven’t quite gone my way … “I’m happier than what the statistics show, let’s say that.” Verstappen has five wins and 20 podiums in his two years at Red Bull since Ricciardo left. It’s perhaps not a true measure of his ability because of the advantage Mercedes has enjoyed with its car in recent seasons, but a driver touted as a future king of the sport still hasn’t really done anything Ricciardo didn’t do in his breakout season in 2014. As for Albon, Marko said the 24-year-old had enough talent but lacked consistency and “lost a disproportionate amount of time” when weather conditions turned on the wind-sensitive Red Bull car or when his tires had worn off.

Zak Brown has told Williams’ new owners they need to spend big if they are to work their way up the Formula 1 pecking order. Williams were the subject of a buyout in August when Dorilton Capital took over the team that was founded by Sir Frank Williams, debuting on the F1 grid in 1977, and had been run by he and his family ever since. Nine constructors’ World Championships came their way between 1980 and 1997, with Williams drivers claiming seven individual titles during the same period. But the last couple of years have represented very lean times, Williams finishing last of 10 in the constructors’ standings in both 2019 and 2020, with Sir Frank and daughter Claire exiting as team principal and deputy respectively in early September. McLaren CEO Brown would like to see a renaissance of the team with which his current outfit were particularly big rivals through the 1980s and 1990s – but warned that progress would only be made with substantial investment. “They are a great racing team,” said Brown, quoted by Motorsport.com, about Williams. “They will need to invest, the new investors, a lot of money. They are behind in revenue from finishing 10th in the Championship and don’t appear to have much sponsorship. “They have the people, the knowhow, the skill. They just need the resources, which they have lacked. “So it will take some time, but I think they made a big step this year. While they didn’t score a point, they were certainly in a position to a couple of times. “There’s no reason why they can’t, but they will need to continue to invest in the team because it looks to me that they don’t have the same level of revenue that we had. “As we know in Formula 1, it takes money to go fast, so they just need to continue to get their chequebook out.” Williams’ best chance of scoring points in 2020 slipped away when George Russell crashed out behind the Safety Car in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. Both Russell and Nicholas Latifi recorded P11 finishes in the season just ended, the Canadian doing so three times, while the Briton achieved his in the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello. The most recent point scored by Williams was for Robert Kubica’s P10 in the 2019 German Grand Prix, but only after penalties were issued to both Alfa Romeo drivers hours after the race for using an illegal launch aid at the start.

Red Bull is looking at building its own Formula 1 engine when a new set of regulations are finalised for either 2025 or ’26, which will see the introduction of a more simplified power unit run entirely on bio-fuels. Red Bull has always been a customer team, running Cosworth and Ferrari engines during its early seasons before switching to Renault, with which it enjoyed great success, scoring four consecutive World Championships between 2010 and 2013. However that relationship quickly fell apart when new hybrid regulations were introduced in 2014, with Red Bull agreeing a deal to run Honda engines in 2019, essentially giving them a works engine deal. That resulted in some success, with Red Bull scoring three wins in their first season with Honda and two in ’20, but that relationship is set to come to an end next year after the Japanese manufacturer announced its total withdrawal from F1. It’s left Red Bull in a predicament for ’22 with two options available; rekindle its relationship with Renault, or lease Honda’s current power unit and develop it as much as it can in the knowledge it won’t be able to pour the tens of millions Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault do into developing their engines. That’s why Red Bull is pushing for an engine development freeze to come into force at the end of next season until new engine regulations are set, which is expected to happen in 2025 or ’26. It’s expected that engine formula will be similar to the current power unit, but could drop the complicated and costly MGU-H, making it much more affordable for new manufacturers to enter the sport Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says if that’s the case, the energy drinks company would look at developing its own power unit to become a true manufacturer team. “If the hints become true that the new engine is much simpler in design; that the MGU-H is eliminated, and that it remains innovative but the annual cost limit is somewhere around 50 million, then it’s no longer such a complex issue as the current engine,” he told Autosport. “That means you could then do the development for such an engine with the paraphernalia we will have in Milton Keynes.” Asked if that meant building their own unit, he replied: “Correct. Whether on its own or in cooperation, that’s a matter of negotiation then, I would say.” Red Bull’s deal to continue using Honda engines post ’21 is almost complete but hangs on the agreement by all the manufacturers to agree to a development freeze. So far Mercedes and Ferrari have supported the idea, but Renault remains on the fence.

Mick Schumacher has stated he still believes his dad Michael is “the all-time best in the sport.” Mick Schumacher, aged 21, is set to make his debut in Formula 1 where he will get behind the wheel for manufacturer Haas. He will be going up against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who has dominated the sport over the past few years. As a result, the British driver equalled the record of seven world championships set by Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher. On top of that, Hamilton is continuing to break records in the sport such as race wins – currently at 95, overtaking Schumacher’s record of 91. Another record the Brit broke is the number of podium finishes – now 165, with Schumacher’s number of times on the podium at 155. There are many expectations of Hamilton to continue dominating the sport, where he would eventually surpass Schumacher’s accomplishments on the track. However, Schumacher Jr has dismissed comments that Hamilton has overtaken his father in the greatest-ever rankings. In an interview with Bild, Mick Schumacher was asked to comment about the comparisons being made by fans across the world, and said: “I’m ok with all that; all the questions and comparisons with my father do not bother me. “For me, he is the all-time best in the sport, to which he has given his all. I don’t see why I should disregard that.” Schumacher Jr continued, where he was asked about his upcoming debut campaign in F1, adding: “It will generally be a very special moment. “It will certainly be a very moving moment, but I want to stay focused on my objectives, my races and the work with the team.” The German driver, who will be racing for Haas, is eagerly-awaited by the fans, as his promotion to F1 has come from his strong performances in F2, where he finished top of the standings.

Hamilton delighted as Wolff commits to Mercedes ‘for life’Lewis Hamilton couldn’t hide his delight after Toto Wolff committed to remaining team boss at Mercedes for three more years at least. The announcement last week came after the Austrian had been indicating at, at least, partially altering his role within the Brackley-based team after seven years at the helm. That, in turn, had led to suggestions that Hamilton was holding off on signing a new deal until Wolff’s future plans had been decided. And now that his future is secure, Lewis has also confirmed attention will soon turn to his own “We haven’t started the conversation, Toto and I plan to do that over the coming days, we’ve been moving quite a bit over the past days, travel-wise,” he said. “But otherwise on the super, super plus side I’m really proud and grateful to see Toto signing, he’s such an important leading figure within this team, and the success that we have achieved would not have been possible without him. “He is such a great figurehead and I think that the team is better for it to have that longevity, and it’s great to see the commitment from Mercedes, and then the added bonus of having INEOS, who came in this year and have been a part of our success this year, it’s great to see they’re going to part of this team and help with the stability of this team moving forwards, in growing to be better. “It’s going to take a big push from us to continue to raise the bar in this organisation as I think we’ve done such a great job over these past years, but I think the right people are in the right place and it looks good, the future looks bright for this team I think.” Though the headlines from Wolff’s new deal focused on a three-year continuation in his current role, the Austrian suggested that had been misinterpreted. “That is a misunderstanding,” he said. “I haven’t committed to a further three years. I have committed for life. “We are three shareholders that own the company today, and irrespective of my own role, I could team principal, CEO, executive chairman, at any time.