Racetrackmasters

Mercedes, Formula One and its governing body the FIA have issued a joint statement condemning the online racist abuse aimed at Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton, 36, was targeted following his crash with rival Max Verstappen on the opening lap of Sunday’s British Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion delivered a superb comeback drive to record his eighth win on home soil, while Verstappen was taken to hospital following the 190mph shunt which registered at 51G. Red Bull said he was released from hospital at 10pm on Sunday night “without major injuries”. The statement read: “During, and after, yesterday’s British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was subjected to multiple instances of racist abuse on social media following an in-race collision. “Formula One, The FIA and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team condemn this behaviour in the strongest possible terms. “These people have no place in our sport and we urge that those responsible should be held accountable for their actions. “Formula One, the FIA, the drivers and the teams are working to build a more diverse and inclusive sport, and such unacceptable instances of online abuse must be highlighted and eliminated.” Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “We have seen it in the football at the European Championship and the abuse is absolutely not acceptable, and it is the same yesterday. “I still question whether some just don’t get it. This is not acceptable and we will react to it.” Hamilton was handed a 10-second penalty for the accident with Verstappen after the stewards adjudged him to be “predominantly at fault”. The abuse came from a number of countries and started during Sunday’s race in response to posts from both F1 and Mercedes’ social media platforms. It is understood that F1 is compiling a dossier of the offensive posts and will raise them directly with the platforms and call on them to take stringent action. Verstappen’s Red Bull team also issued a statement criticising the attacks on Hamilton. “While we may be fierce rivals on-track, we are all united against racism,” the team said. “We condemn racist abuse of any kind towards our teams, our competitors and our fans. “As a team we are disgusted and saddened to witness the racist abuse Lewis endured yesterday on social media after the collision with Max. “There is never any excuse for it. There is certainly no place for it in our sport and those responsible should be held accountable.”

FIA race director Michael Masi has explained why the stewards decided to punish Lewis Hamilton for his part in the dramatic British Grand Prix clash with Max Verstappen. Hamilton hounded F1 title rival Verstappen during the opening lap of the race and looked to make a move at Copse only for contact to spear the Red Bull into the barriers at high speed. The British driver was handed a 10-second penalty, a punishment Mercedes felt its driver did not deserve but one Red Bull believed should have been more severe. Asked what the stewards believed Hamilton should have done differently to avoid the incident, Masi replied: “I don’t know that they express a view of what he should have done but having looked at it all, their view was that he was predominantly to blame for that. “I haven’t had the opportunity, because I have been going through a whole load of other things to actually read the decision in full, but the big part was, similar to what happened with Charles [Leclerc] later on, he could have, say, tucked further to the apex. “That was where they found – the wording was quite clear as per the regulations – that he was predominantly to blame. “He wasn’t seen as wholly to blame for it but he was seen as predominantly to blame. He could have tucked in further and that could have changed the outcome but we don’t know, we judge it on the incident itself.” Whilst Verstappen’s race ended with the crash, Hamilton was able to mount a comeback to overhaul the deficit created by the penalty and move past Leclerc at the same corner on lap 50 of 52 to clinch victory. On the fairness of Hamilton being able to continue to victory with his rival in the barrier, Masi explained: “One of the big parts that has been a mainstay for many many years, and this came through discussions prior to my time between all of the teams, the FIA and F1, and the team principals were all quite adamant, you should not consider the consequences in an incident. “So when they are judging incidents, they judge the incident itself and the narrative of the incident and not what happens afterwards as a consequence. “That is something the stewards have done for many years and have been advised from the top down. “That’s the way the stewards judge it because if you start taking consequences into account there are so many variables instead of judging the incident itself on its merit.”

Toto Wolff says he will do what he can to enable Valtteri Bottas to have a “great future” in Formula 1. Amid sweeping rumours that the Finnish driver is set to lose his seat to George Russell for 2022, Mercedes boss Wolff hailed Bottas’ role in supporting Lewis Hamilton throughout the British GP weekend. “Valtteri was really fast today,” he told Ilta Sanomat newspaper, after Bottas first gave Hamilton a slipstream in qualifying and then obeyed team orders in the race. “Lewis came from behind with hard tyres and was just in a different class than everyone else. Valtteri was second fastest and helped Lewis,” Wolff admitted. “He’s a great team player with the right kind of personality,” he added. However, it is widely believed that Bottas, 31, is currently weighing up his options for 2022 – with Alfa Romeo or Williams looking to be his best ones. Previously, Wolff was personally involved in the management of Bottas’ career alongside Mika Hakkinen and Didier Coton. Today, Hakkinen and Coton are still handling the Finn. When asked if he will also do his best to help Bottas, Wolff answered: “If there is a situation where we want to give someone else a chance, it’s not just about my relationship with him. “I see it as my duty, because he deserves a great future,” he added. “He has been a teammate of the best Formula 1 driver in history, and it is not always easy to shine in those circumstances. But he has been fantastic.”

Red Bull may request the FIA to take further action against Lewis Hamilton for causing a collision with Max Verstappen in Formula 1’s British Grand Prix. F1 2021’s two title protagonists came to blows on the opening lap of the British GP at Silverstone as they battled hard for the lead. Hamilton attempted a dive down the inside of Verstappen into Copse but tagged the rear-end of his main rival’s car, sending him into a high-speed, 51G impact with the barriers. Hamilton was hit with a 10-second time penalty for the incident but still went on to claim an eighth British GP win to cut Verstappen’s championship lead down to eight points. Speaking to Sky Germany, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko argued that Hamilton should face a ran ban for his part in the coming together. “You can’t do that with the normal sporting code,” Marko said. “I don’t know what the maximum penalty would be, but such dangerous and reckless behaviour should be punished with a suspension or something. “If a competitor massively touches our rear wheel with his front wheel, then that’s no longer a racing accident in the fastest corner of the course. That is negligent to dangerous behaviour.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his side will consider its options before launching any kind of protest. “I think there are rights available to us but unfortunately the stewards are pretty set in their decision and it’d be meaningless to take things further, but we’ll look at it, talk it through shortly, and that would be my initial reaction,” he explained. Horner added: “Of course you’re putting your fellow competitors safety at jeopardy and I think a move at that corner, every grand prix driver knows, is a massive massive risk. “You don’t stick a wheel up the inside there without there being huge consequence. We’re lucky today, after a 51G accident, that there wasn’t someone seriously hurt. “What I’m most angry about is just the lack of judgement and desperation in this move, that thankfully we got away with today. But had that been an awful lot worse a 10-second penalty would have looked pretty menial.” Horner also confirmed Verstappen’s car was completely “written off” in the crash. “It is a very expensive accident, written off the car,” he said. “We still lead both world championships but with a much diminished lead. “It has been a very frustrating day after such a strong day yesterday and I think that probably added to Lewis’ desperation, having lost the sprint race, he was pretty wound up and probably why he made an ill-judged move.”

Max Verstappen has brandished F1 championship rival Lewis Hamilton as “dangerous” and labelled the British Grand Prix winner’s celebrations as “disrespectful and unsportsmanlike”. The Red Bull driver started from pole at Silverstone and was defending from a hard-charging Hamilton when the pair collided at Copse, sending Verstappen into the barriers with an impact of 51g. Whilst Hamilton overcame a 10-second penalty for the incident to take victory with a move on Charles Leclerc at the very same corner in the closing stages, Verstappen has been taken to hospital for precautionary checks after the violent incident. Writing on social media, Verstappen said: “Glad I’m ok. “Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. “Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behaviour but we move on.” Verstappen’s lead in the championship has been cut to just seven points.

Lewis Hamilton denied Charles Leclerc a sensational victory in Formula 1’s 2021 British Grand Prix, after Hamilton collided with Max Verstappen on the opening lap, putting the Red Bull out. Hamilton was penalised for the controversial incident at Copse, just after which Leclerc had surged into the lead before the race was suspended. Leclerc led the majority of the restarted race, including while managing an intermittent engine problem, but was unable to resist Hamilton’s late charge back to the front following his lengthy pitstop, where he had served his penalty. Unlike in the sprint race, Hamilton made the better getaway at the first start and was alongside polesitter Verstappen as they raced into Abbey, with the Red Bull hanging on around the outside– nearly going into the runoff area – to lead at the race’s first braking point – Village. The battle continued, the pair running so closely side-by-side they appeared to touch, down the Wellington straight, at the end of which Hamilton surged ahead on the outside line, with Verstappen then skating over the inside kerbs and to stay ahead, even though it took him wide on the exit. Verstappen’s tighter entry through Luffield meant Hamilton was able to surge into his slipstream on the national pit straight, diving to the inside and very close to the barriers after Verstappen had moved to cover the inside line for Copse. There, with Hamilton a long way alongside, the pair collided as they ran through the rapid right-hander, with Hamilton’s left-front clipping Verstappen’s right-rear and popping it off the car, which was spun around at high-speed and sent into the barriers in the outside. Verstappen hit the tyre wall side on, where he gingerly climbed from the wreckage after the race had been red flagged, from an initial safety car intervention. The Red Bull driver was later taken to a nearby hospital “for further precautionary checks”, per an FIA spokesperson. Leclerc led at this point after the Ferrari had surged past Hamilton, who had lost speed in the clash with the Red Bull, exiting Copse. The race was suspended for nearly half an hour, during which Red Bull and Mercedes presented their opposing viewpoints to race director Michael Masi, as the stewards investigated the incident. At the standing restart on the race’s third lap of 52, Leclerc stayed ahead of Hamilton off the line, while Lando Norris passed Bottas identical fashion to Leclerc at the initial start to run third ahead of the second Mercedes. Leclerc surged to a 1.2-second lead at the end of the first lap and he kept Hamilton – who had been told to push after being handed a 10s time addition for the incident with Verstappen – at arm’s length for the next phase of the race – where they traded fastest laps in the high 1m32s. Ferrari informed Leclerc that it was switching him to “Plan B” – a one-stopper with an elongated first stint – as Hamilton struggled to make progress following in the dirty air. But the world champion was able to close in and run in DRS range approaching lap 20 after Leclerc suffered a series of engine power “cuts”, with Ferrari hurriedly having to tell him to alter the power unit’s settings. The issue appeared to be rectified (although Leclerc reported the issue on an additional occasion before being told to avoiding upshifting if the cut occurred again) and so the Ferrari driver was able to pull out his advantage again as Hamilton reported blistering on both his front tyres, after he had pushed to try and take advantage of Leclerc’s power problem. Leclerc’s pace was so strong that Ferrari kept him out until lap 29, two laps after Hamilton had stopped to switch his medium tyres for hards – and one lap after Carlos Sainz had lost over 10s with a slow left-front change. But Leclerc had no such problem and started his stint on the hards with a lead of 7.7s over Bottas, which he quickly set about extending. Hamilton ran behind Norris after his long stop, the McLaren having fallen behind Bottas as a result of his own pitstop delay as a result of a slow right-rear change that cost him around four second. The Mercedes driver quickly closed in on Norris and passed him on the run to the inside of Copse on lap 31, at the end of which Leclerc led Bottas by nearly 10s and was 13.5s in front of Hamilton. Over the next 10 laps, as Leclerc managed his pace in the mid 1m31s up front, Hamilton charged up to his teammate with a series of laps in the mid-high 1m29s, with Mercedes ordering Bottas not to hold the world champion up and then let him by at Stowe on lap 40. That left Leclerc with 7.6s lead to defend over the final 12 laps, with Ferrari ordering him to “full push to the end”, as Hamilton continued to eat into his advantage. The Mercedes driver regularly took up to a second a lap from Leclerc, reaching DRS range with just over three laps remaining, where Leclerc was struggling with lapped traffic. On lap 50, Hamilton once again looked to the inside at Copse, with Leclerc desperately trying to hang on around the outside. But the Ferrari driver had to catch a snap of oversteer and went wide over the exit kerbs and ran off, rejoining just behind Hamilton, who surged clear to victory by 3.8s. Bottas finished 11.1s off the lead in third, with Norris fourth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who defied Sainz to the finish. Fernando Alonso was another driver who suffered a slow pitstop, before which he had briefly battled Bottas when the Mercedes came out of the pits from its only stop, and he eventually came home seventh after passing Lance Stroll following the slow service. Stroll took eighth ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine, with Yuki Tsunoda claiming the final point in 10th. Pierre Gasly had…

Max Verstappen has been taken to hospital for ‘precautionary tests’ following his crash at the British Grand Prix. The Dutchman was on pole at Silverstone on Sunday but lasted less than one lap in the Midlands after colliding with Lewis Hamilton in the early stages. Verstappen and Hamilton’s wheels touched as the Red Bull veered off track and hit the barriers at 180 MPH. Somehow the former managed to escape the incident unscathed, as he exited his car and walked into an ambulance to be checked over. Verstappen’s Red Bull was later towed away and was completely destroyed following the high-speed collision. A Red Bull statement read: “Following a first-lap incident at Copse Corner between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix, we can confirm that Max Verstappen walked away from his car and was immediately taken to the Silverstone Circuit Medical Centre. “Following an assessment by the trackside doctors at Silverstone Circuit Medical Centre, Max Verstappen has been taken to a local hospital for further precautionary tests.” Hamilton went on to win the British race, despite receiving a 10-second penalty for his role in Verstappen’s exit. The Mercedes man left it late, overtaking long-time race leader Charles Leclerc with just two laps remaining. Those fans packed into Silverstone were delighted with the hard-fought win. Hamilton went on to win the British race, despite receiving a 10-second penalty for his role in Verstappen’s exit. The Mercedes man left it late, overtaking long-time race leader Charles Leclerc with just two laps remaining. Those fans packed into Silverstone were delighted with the hard-fought win. But Red Bull chief Christian Horner felt Hamilton should have been given a more severe penalty. Team boss Horner said: “Everyone who’s driven that corner knows you don’t stick a wheel up the inside at Copse. He’s put him in the fence. Thank God he’s not been hurt. It was a desperate move. “You do not stick a wheel up at Copse, one of the fastest corners in the world. That’s just dirty driving.” Hamilton now sits just eight points behind Verstappen in the race for the 2021 title.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen crashed after suffering a collision with Lewis Hamilton during Sunday’s British Grand Prix. The two F1 title rivals were battling it out for the entire opening lap at Silverstone, with the Red Bull race-leader on the defensive throughout. But just halfway through lap one, disaster struck for Verstappen after he was sent veering off the track and into the barriers. Hamilton was alongside his fellow driver as his front-left wheel touched Verstappen’s back-right tyre. The Dutchman escaped unscathed but will be unable to continue, while Hamilton also minor suffered damage to his car. The British race was temporarily suspended due to the incident, as race control began investigating the incident to see if Hamilton was at fault for the collision. The Mercedes driver instantly began blaming Verstappen for the crash. Meanwhile, Red Bull were furious in their garage as they lamented the incident and the behaviour of the Mercedes driver. Team chief Christian Horner called it “dirty driving” from the world champion while speaking to Channel 4. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he had sent an email to the FIA, showing diagrams of the incident, defending his man. Verstappen was seen exiting an ambulance, appearing to be without injury. And it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who benefitted from the crash, overtaking the Brit as he sent Verstappen off the track. Hamilton managed to keep second-place, ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas. The incident caps off a poor weekend for Red Bull, who watched second driver Sergio Perez spin off track during Saturday’s sprint race. The Mexican started Sunday’s race at the back of the grid. Red Bull still lead the drivers and constructors championship. But Hamilton will be hoping to capitalise on this incident and close the gap on his title rival Verstappen this afternoon. To add, the home fans in attendance in the Midlands this afternoon will be delighted to see their man in with a shout of taking maximum points this weekend.

Williams CEO Jost Capito has indicated they’re preparing for life after George Russell with a “long list” of replacement drivers being lined up. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is facing increased questions on what he plans to do with his driver line-up next season. Lewis Hamilton has already committed to a new two-year deal, meaning he will still be driving for Mercedes at 38 years of age. But a decision is yet to be made on Valtteri Bottas, who has struggled to match Hamilton and Max Verstappen this year. The Finnish driver currently sits fifth in the Drivers’ Championship behind Sergio Perez and Lando Norris, although that in part is due to two retirements. Wolff has had to deal with more queries on Bottas’ future at Mercedes heading into the summer break. But the Mercedes chief has been open in the fact that Russell is definitely in the running for a seat alongside Hamilton. Speaking on Friday ahead of the British Grand Prix spint race, Wolff admitted that contract conversations will be held during the August summer break. “I think it’s important for George and Valtteri to know whether they’ll be driving next year and that’s, that’s gonna happen,” said Wolff on Friday. “I expect some questions in Spa.” Russell’s contract at Williams expires at the end of the year and Capito had previously expressed his hope in tying the British driver down to a new deal. But the Williams CEO has now indicated they’re now preparing for life without Russell. Nico Hulkenberg has not held a permanent F1 seat since the 2019 season, but has made no secret of his desire to change that. He’s currently a reserve driver at Aston Martin this year, but there could be a few seats available next season. And Capito has confirmed that Hulkenberg is among several drivers Williams are looking at should they need to replace Russell. “I think at the moment we do not exclude any driver who would be available for next year. Nico is available for next year,” Capito told The Race. “So we’ve got quite a long list.”

It has been a disappointing weekend so far for the Scuderia AlphaTauri team at the 2021 British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit. Both drivers, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda,finished the Sprint Qualifying race in the same position they started. Gasly has consistently qualified and started the race in the top ten positions this season. But he ended Friday qualification in twelfth position only. The Frenchman did not improve during the Sprint race and finished in twelfth position only. A disappointing Gasly said: “I’m quite frustrated this evening, it was just not what we wanted out there today. We started this weekend badly in FP1 and with only one practice session we couldn’t really react to that ahead of Qualifying, then today I’ve really struggled again. “It’s very disappointing because I know the car has much more potential but so far, we just haven’t managed to get it working here this weekend. We will look at all the data tonight and try everything we can to make our way up to the points in the tomorrow’s race.” Yuki Tsunoda had a disappointing Friday qualification when he was eliminated in the first session itself (Q1). The Sprint Qualifying race did not help him improve his position as he finished where he started in sixteenth position. Tsunoda said: “I’m obviously disappointed with today’s performance, I’m not finishing in a position that I’m happy with and I’m then starting the race tomorrow from the same place. “I feel that this weekend’s format is quite difficult for rookies, as you only have one free practice session before Qualifying, which is tough, but I hope the spectators enjoyed this new schedule. We’ve struggled with the performance of the car this whole weekend, so we just need to go away tonight and review the data so we can learn more for tomorrow’s race.”

Toyota driver Jose Maria Lopez bounced back from a mistake on his first hot lap in qualifying to claim pole for Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship round at Monza. Lopez went straight on at the first chicane on his opening attempt, but two laps later he was able to get down to a 1m35.899s in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to snatch the pole from teammate Brendon Hartley. Hartley’s 1m35.961s left him just six hundredths behind Lopez, who has been fastest in every session of the Monza weekend so far, and was good enough for second position. Lopez said: “It’s not usual to be quickest in every session: I felt confident, but I put a bit of suspense into it. “We’d discussed with the team that we were only going to go once, so I went for it and still managed to do the lap after three laps on the tyres.” Nicolas Lapierre was only two tenths off Lopez in the Alpine A480-Gisbon grandfathered LMP1 car with a best lap of 1m36.121s. The Frenchman made a last bid for pole after the 10-minute session was red-flagged when Stoffel Vandoorne crashed his JOTA Oreca 07 LMP2 on the exit of the second Lesmo righthander, but failed to improve his time. The best of the two Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMHs got within a second of the pace after a late improvement from fourth-placed Pipo Derani. The Brazilian found three tenths with a 1m36.686s right at the end of the session, although he did not improve his position in the five-car Hypercar field. Richard Westbrook, who didn’t go for a time after the red flag, ended up fifth with a best lap of 1m38.323s. Charles Milesi took a maiden WEC pole in LMP2 for the Belgian WRT squad. The Frenchman’s 1m38.527s aboard his Oreca 07 set before the red flag secured him the top spot despite a late improvement from Filipe Albuquerque after the break. The United Autosports Oreca driver got to within three hundredths of the WRT car with a 1m38.557s to move up to second. Ben Hanley took third position for DragonSpeed with a 1m38.663s, while Nyck de Vries was fourth for Racing Team Nederland. Kevin Estre maintained his monopoly on the GTE Pro pole with his third qualifying top spot of the season — and fourth in a row — for Porsche. The Frenchman posted a 1m45.412s on his second flier after straightlining the first chicane on his opening lap to just do enough to beat Alessandro Pier Guidi in the best of the factory AF Corse Ferraris. Pier Guidi’s 1m45.477s in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo gave him a margin of just over a tenth over the second Porsche 911 RSR in which Gianmaria Bruni made a late improvement to 1m45.844s. Miguel Molina took fourth in the #52 Ferrari with a 1m46.214s. Ben Keating came out on top in a battle for GTE Am pole with Francois Perrodo that continued after the chequered flag had fallen. Both drivers set their fastest times on their last laps of the 10-minute session, TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage driver Keating’s 1m47.272s just shading Perrodo’s 1m47.541s in the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

After the sprint race Red Bull Racing announced that Sergio Perez would most likely have to start from the pitlane on Sunday. The FIA has now confirmed that the Mexican will indeed have to start from the pitlane, after replacing a number of parts under the Parc Fermé regulations. On the car of Perez are a number of things renewed and replaced. The driver of Red Bull gets his third Energy Store and his third Control Electronics. Both parts are probably installed because of the high speed spin which caused some damage. Also the rear wing has been changed for the Mexican. The FIA writes that the team has requested written permission to replace the part, but because it has a different specification the FIA is forced to allow the Mexican to start from the pitlane instead of P20. This is also because changes have been made to the setup of the suspension and the cooling of the front brakes.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clocked in fastest in Friday’s single practice session before qualifying. The Dutchman enjoyed a comfortable 0.779s margin over McLaren’s Lando Norris, an edge that likely left Mercedes and third-placed man Lewis Hamilton once again with more questions than answers. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas completed the top-five in the incident free session. Silverstone’s innovative format compelled F1 to schedule Friday’s action later than usual, but the first practice session kicked off under cloudy skies but on a dry track. However, with lower temperatures all round later today, qualifying will likely unfold under different conditions which is but another factor to throw into the mix. And because teams and drivers were only given a single 60-minute session, everyone was up and running at the outset, focused on set-up and aero balance. Home favourite and darling of the crowds Lewis Hamilton took to the track under a roaring crowd, a sight and a sound that the Briton had not felt for since his last visit to Silverstone in 2019. However, it was Verstappen who set the first representative time, the Dutchman running on the hard tyre. But just to get their rivalry rolling, Hamilton shot back with a lap on the mediums that put the Mercedes ahead by 0.584s. Bottas followed suit, also advancing ahead of Verstappen but slotting in second behind Hamilton. The Finn pressed on and overhauled his teammate, but the Mercedes duo’s 1-2 was short-lived, disrupted by an impressive effort by Perez who set back Bottas by 0.518s. But whatever Perez does, Max can do better, as he proved when he edged his teammate by 0.326s with a lap in 1m27.745s. Behind the Red Bull-Mercedes top four combo, a diverse set of drivers led by Esteban Ocon – armed with a new Alpine chassis – jockeyed for position. Confined to the bottom half of the field during the first 30 minutes, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz vaulted to third and fifth respectively, the pair sandwiching Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel. With 20 minutes left on the clock, as the track rubbered in and improved, the action was frantic and rotations behind Verstappen were fast and furious, with Lando Norris, Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly getting a grip on the top five. But as the session unwound, Verstappen remained out of reach, and by a comfortable 0.779s margin over Norris, with Hamilton 0.780s behind. The Mercedes camp will have been scratching its heads once again, noting that the upgrades implemented on its W12 will have had little effect so far on closing the gap to Red Bull. Behind the top-three, Leclerc, Bottas and Sainz rounded off the top six while Vettel, Perez, Ricciardo and Ocon completed the top ten. Both AlphaTauri drivers clocked in outside the first half of the field, as did Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Alfa Romeo’s drivers, while George Russell’s brought up the rear for Williams. 2021 F1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m27.035s 2 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m27.814s 3 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m27.815s 4 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m27.828s 5 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m27.897s 6 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m27.923s 7 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m28.062s 8 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m28.163s 9 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m28.211s 10 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m28.415s 11 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m28.449s 12 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m28.600s 13 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m28.827s 14 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m28.873s 15 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m29.220s 16 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m29.227s 17 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m29.227s 18 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m29.597s 19 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m29.808 20 George Russell GBR  Williams Racing 1m29.857

F1 revealed the first images of a full-sized 2022 car at Silverstone on Thursday, as the sport prepares for its biggest technical overhaul since the introduction of the V6 hybrid engines in 2014. The design commissioned by F1 looks radically different to what’s currently used in the sport, with a low rear wing and front wheel arches two of the most visually striking elements on the car. The aim of the overhaul is to improve the quality of racing and make it easier for drivers to follow each other in traffic without compromising the performance of their cars. Ground effect is one way the rulemakers are planning to achieve this goal. F1 presented the car in a colour scheme of its own, incorporating logos of its sponsors and partners on the bodywork. Now, nine of the 10 teams have shown how next year’s cars will look like with their current liveries using computer-generated models, offering fans a better view into the future of F1. Red Bull 2. Mercedes 3. Mclaren 4. Aston Martin Cognizant 5. AlphaTauri 6. Alpine 7. Williams 8. Alfa Romeo 9. Haas

will continue to have Frederic Vasseur at the helm for 2022, following confirmation earlier this week that the Italian car manufacturer will continue its partnership with the Sauber team. With Vasseur’s contract as team boss also coming to an end at the conclusion of 2021, he confirmed that the renewal of the Alfa Romeo deal will also see him stay on as Team Principal into next season. Speaking on a media call, which included RacingNews365, Vasseur confirmed he would be staying on. Asked about the driver situation for next season, given that Alfa Romeo are yet to confirm either Kimi Raikkonen or Antonio Giovinazzi for 2022, the team boss said that decision is yet to be made. “It’s far too early,” Vasseur explained. “I had the same question last week and it has absolutely nothing to do with Alfa Romeo [the company], the driver choice is the responsibility of the team. “We have to take time to discuss and think about this, but we are not in a rush. “I want to see what happens in F1 and in the junior series also, and I will take the decision on the second part of the season – not before.” As well as having their current drivers as options for next season, rising star Theo Pourchaire is making waves as a Sauber junior, while Ferrari Academy driver Callum Ilott has also tested extensively for the team, including a recent first practice appearance.