RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says that the team is open to supply power units to Alpine from 2026. There are rumours that Renault is considering whether to cease its F1 power unit production in 2026. That would leave its Alpine team without a PU supplier. Mercedes who lose Aston Martin to Honda that year could now become a contender to supply PU‘s to Alpine. Wolff says that they like the thought of replacing Aston with another team. 🗣️ He says that talks are still at an early stage: “I think Alpine would take a decision, do they want to continue with their Formula 1 engine programme or not? And only when they have taken that strategic decision, we would dive into our agreements. But we’re open-minded, and that’s what we have told them.” Any decision won’t come before the summer break. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #Mercedes #MercedesAMGF1 #AlpineF1 #Alpine #RenaultF1 #Renault #MercedesF1 #HungarianGP #F1Race #FIA #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Mercedes‘ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained the reason for the call to George Russell to retire his car from the British Grand Prix. Russell retired from the race after taking pole on Saturday. According to Shovlin, Russell‘s DNF was caused due to a water leak. This issue has been traced since the first stint and made a run to the chequered flag for Russell impossible. 🗣️ “Unfortunately we knew that we had an issue relatively early in the race, so we were tracking this from the first stint,” Shovlin explained. “We didn’t know that it was going to be terminal, but it’s all linked to a leak that was in the water system.” The retirement was also done to protect Russell‘s power unit. Mercedes didn’t want to finish the race but destroy the PU at the same time. A grid penalty later this season was feared so a retirement was “preventative”. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #GeorgeRussell #Russell #GR63 #W15 #Mercedes #MercedesAMGF1 #MercedesF1 #BritishGP #Silverstone #F1Race #FIA #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Lance Stroll admitted that Aston Martin‘s development programme hasn’t gone to plan over the past 12 months. Last year, Aston had a great start, finishing in the points at every race and being in Top 3 contention. However, with the races going by, the performance started to lack at certain tracks. The upgrades brought to the AMR23 didn’t work as expected. But when reverting back, the performance looked better again. 🗣️ “I think ultimately we took a bit of a wrong direction in terms of development philosophy,” Stroll said. “We went down the wrong path and we’ve slowly been realising that more and more. Now it’s a matter of changing path and then giving it time to develop and get good again by going down that different path.” Also this year, upgrades didn’t work as expected. In Imola a huge upgrade package was introduced but it didn’t show a big performance jump. Last weekend at Silverstone, the team finally had a better weekend. Stroll thinks that they now start to understand where they went wrong. 🗣️ “We’ve done a lot of exploring and a lot of aero testing over the last 12 months,” he said. “Every upgrade we’ve brought, we haven’t seen the benefit that we were hoping to see over the last year. I think we’ve learned a lot and now we’re really just trying to execute, fix the problem and make the car a lot faster.” Currently, Aston Martin sits in fifth position in the teams standings with only 68 points to their name. Their drivers Fernando Alonso and Stroll are ninth and tenth in the drivers standings, way behind the Top 4 teams. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #LanceStroll #Stroll #FernandoAlonso #Alonso #LS18 #FA14 #BritishGP #AstonMartinF1 #FIA #AstonMartin #F1Race #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Formula 1 is considering glued gravel traps as the best solution to enforcing track limits, as teams and FIA are already in discussions. Pirelli‘s chief engineer Simone Berra said that adding glued gravel traps could help prevent chaos around track limits. These gravel traps have first come into use at the Dutch Grand Prix last year. These are a better solution to real gravel traps with stones that can be dragged on track and damage tyres. 🗣️ “Probably the best solution, and it’s something that I know that the teams are speaking with FIA and FIA is speaking with the teams, is trying to use a solution like we have in Zandvoort where they glue the gravel. That could be a good solution because you don’t bring a gravel into the racing line.” Zandvoort added the glued gravel traps last year, as they wanted to avoid stones to be dragged on track by cars going through gravel at some places. This year, the FIA requested tracks to add or extend gravel traps, with Austria showing the biggest change. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #DutchGP #Gravel #F1Race #FIA #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🚨 BREAKING: Red Bull have unveiled the RB17 hypercar, a project by Adrian Newey. It was first announced in 2022 significant changes being made during the last two years. The RB17 now has a 4.5-litre V10 engine instead of an F1-inspired V8 turbo power unit. With 1,000 bhp the hypercar is equipped with a very powerful and also light engine. Only 50 units of the RB17 will be made. Newey still is committed to finishing the project until March 2025 before he leaves Red Bull. This was announced earlier this year. “It is possible” that the RB17 could one day race in WEC and at Le Mans. “A big redesign of, particularly, the aerodynamics” and different engine would be needed. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #RB17 #RedBullRacing #RedBull #F1Race #FIA #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🚨 NEWS: Sergio Perez‘s time at Red Bull could come to a close sooner than expected, as the team will evaluate during the summer break. Over the past few weeks, Sergio Perez‘s future at Red Bull was once again questioned. His performance in Austria and Silverstone didn’t make his CV look better. Now Helmut Marko confirmed that Red Bull will assess the situation during the summer break. 🗣️ “All Formula 1 contracts have exit clauses, most of them related to performance – or let’s say for the top drivers,” Marko told ‘Grandprix 247’. “As I mentioned before, we will have an evaluation during the summer break – and then we will make a decision.” The upcoming two races in Hungary and Belgium will be important for Perez‘s future. He urgently needs to step up his performance and get closer to the top positions again. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #SergioPerez #Perez #RedBull #FIA #RB20 #RedBullRacing #MaxVerstappen #HelmutMarko #F1Race #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Toyota is working hard to return to Formula 1 with the Japanese company reaching out to Haas about a potential collaboration. According to ‘RacingNews365’ and ‘Formula.Hu’ the collaboration would be similar to the one Alfa Romeo and Sauber had between 2018 and 2023. Given the already positive conversation between Haas and Toyota, the collaboration could start before 2026. The collaboration could also see Toyota partnering up with Haas in building car parts with the Italian manufacturer Dallara still included. Toyota want to be included in the chassis build of the 2026 car. Plan is to use the old Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne (Germany). To supply F1 engines is currently not in Toyota‘s immediate plans, however it can’t be ruled out. As of now a technical sponsorship is planned with Haas, but Toyota can also sponsor other teams next to them. The sport would be happy with a return of the Japanese manufacturer. Interestingly, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu was in Le Mans for the 24 hour race and met with Toyota Gazoo Racing boss Masaya Kaji. Kaji was present in Haas‘ garage during the British Grand Prix last weekend, which signals conversations are still ongoing. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #Toyota #ToyotaF1 #HaasF1 #TGR #FIA #BritishGP #Silverstone #F1Race #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Rolex will cede its Formula 1 sponsorship to LVMH Group after 11 years as the sports Global Partner and Official Timepiece. Formula 1 and Rolex signed their agreement in 2013. The contract valued at tens of millions of dollars annually. Now LVMH takes over as the official chronometer next season, beginning in January. The new annual contract is reportedly worth $150 million, sources report. There is no official reasoning from Rolex‘s side, since it’s a rumour reported by sources in Geneva. But it could be due to contracting party in form of LVMH, which has a financial wherewithal of $86 billion euros in yearly revenue. That is difficult to match, even for Rolex. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #RolexF1 #Rolex #LVMH #BritishGP #FIA #Silverstone #F1Race #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🗣️ QUOTE: After a sensational P6 finish at the British Grand Prix, Nico Hülkenberg believes that Haas is now fighting to be the fifth-fastest team. Speaking after the British Grand Prix, the German Hulk said: “It is obviously a nice, rewarding feeling to get eight points again, P6 two times in a row. It’s unexpected, but I think deserved. We worked for it. We stayed clean, no mistakes, good strategy. Very good.” Haas brought a major upgrade package to Silverstone to improve the aerodynamics of the car. It delivered an impressive step forward for the American team. "I think that the best of all, though, is the performance that we’ve had”, Hülkenberg says. “The update really did something to the car, and I genuinely think we're in the fight for fifth-fastest team now with sometimes Aston, sometimes Alpine and sometimes some others maybe.” Currently, Haas sits in seventh place in the constructors standings. With 27 points they are just four points behind sixth-placed VCARB. Aston Martin is with 68 points still a bit far off. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #NicoHülkenberg #Hulk #HaasF1 #VF24 #Hülkenberg #Hulkenberg #BritishGP #Silverstone #FIA #F1Race #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #GP #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate

🔴 NEWS: Valtteri Bottas has ruled out a return to his former Mercedes team and reveals talks with teams up and down the paddock. The Fin‘s contract with Sauber will end at the end of this year. He is rumoured to return to Williams or stay at Sauber for another year. A return to Mercedes was also on the cards but Bottas finally ruled it out despite talking “about everything” with Toto Wolff. Antonelli remains front-runner for the Mercedes seat. 🗣️ “For next year, I want something multi-year with a clear plan for the years ahead and work together for that time”, Bottas told ‘MirrorF1’. “I think that's what I need, a good challenge and a clear plan. If I just do one year, then you're back to square one again and looking at what's next.” Bottas would like to have more security after signing five consecutive 12-month contracts with Mercedes between 2017 and 2021. He felt way better when signing a three-year contract at Sauber. He wants another multi-year deal, which would make a Mercedes return difficult. ⬇️ What do you think? #F1 #Formula1 #ValtteriBottas #MercedesF1 #Bottas #FIA #VB77 #AudiF1 #WilliamsF1 #BritishGP #Silverstone #GP #F1Race #F12024 #Race #Racing #Racer #GrandPrix #F1Tech #Official #Car #RaceCar #News #Update #F1Racing #Motorsport #RacingUpdate