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Max Verstappen's headline times in both of Friday's Formula 1 practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix proved that Red Bull's misfortune in Singapore was a mere blip. The championship leader atoned for a difficult weekend at the Marina Bay Circuit last time out by stamping his authority on FP1, capturing a 1m31.647s to sit above Singapore winner Carlos Sainz by 0.6s as Ferrari continued its recent resurgence with the runner-up spot in the noon-time session. He proceeded to claim FP2 over the other Ferrari in the afternoon, outpacing Charles Leclerc by the smaller margin of 0.3s with a 1m30.688s while Lando Norris sat in the top three of both sessions to demonstrate McLaren's credentials as a podium contender at Suzuka. Verstappen's efforts were in stark contrast to those of his team-mate Sergio Perez , who languished down the order relative to his team-mate having been more than a second behind in both sessions. The story of the day Lewis Hamilton … [Read more...] about What we learned from Friday practice at the F1 Japanese GP

This week 40 years ago, an Italian fashion label signed a deal which began one of the most successful, influential and colourful sponsorship programmes in Formula 1 history. Benetton’s entry into F1 with Tyrrell was successful from the outset, but the brand aspired to do more than just put its stickers on an F1 car. Within three years it had a team of its own and was winning races as a constructor, and in time it enjoyed championship-winning success with one of F1’s all-time great drivers. The idea a brand that was ‘just a T-shirt manufacturer’ could succeed in F1 was greeted with scepticism with some on their arrival. But Benetton soon disproved the doubters and inspired other brands to do the same – notably the soft drink producer which goes into the 2023 season as defending champions. 1983: Tyrrell Plucky underdogs Tyrrell had Denim logos on their cars when Michele Alboreto won the 1982 season finale at Las Vegas. But Luciano Benetton refused to share space on their car with … [Read more...] about Benetton, 40 years on: How a fashion label conquered Formula 1

Before we got here this week Yas Marina Circuit was hit by a powerful sandstorm, which bent the trees backwards and dumped tonnes of sand on the track. This being Abu Dhabi they have a machine for sucking up the sand, so the racing will not be affected. I've been at plenty of championship showdowns over the years. There is nothing like being here to look the contenders in the eye and see how they are coping with the pressure. There have been some stormy ones, I recall Jerez 1997 for example and ten years later the acrimony at McLaren in the final race. But today we had a phoney war between the contenders in the press conference. Perhaps it is because this is not a duel for the title, but a battle between four contenders (albeit one with a slim chance) it seems to diffuse the tension. None of the drivers was giving anything away. Webber was subdued, not about to hand any more hand grenade quotes to journalists. Vettel was relaxed and bouncy, he has nothing to lose and he's … [Read more...] about Phoney war between drivers during calm before storm in Abu Dhabi

Sergio Perez admitted he hasn’t been able to get on terms with team mate’s Max Verstappen’s pace at Suzuka this weekend. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The two Red Bull drivers were consistently separated by more than half a second during practice and qualifying. While Verstappen claimed pole position, Perez lapped 0.773 seconds slower than his team mate and will line up fifth. “I think definitely P2, front row, was on the cards today,” he admitted afterwards, saying he had been left at a disadvantage by only having one new set of soft tyres for Q3. “Just missing that second set in Q2, when he used an extra set was not ideal and that put us on the back foot to the McLaren mainly by just having a one set of new tyres. That was not ideal.” Perez admitted he hadn’t been on Verstappen’s pace throughout much of the weekend. “It was hard,” he told the official F1 website. “We did struggle through the weekend. “We kind of were always two steps behind and … [Read more...] about Perez admits he’s “two steps behind” after qualifying 0.7s off Verstappen at Suzuka