Aston martin

Wanting more from Aston Martin after falling behind Mercedes in Spain, Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has confirmed that “something is coming” for the Canadian Grand Prix. Off the podium at his home race in Barcelona, Alonso wasn’t dejected by the result but instead determinedly said that “it will not happen again” and that Spain was Aston Martin’s “last race without podiums”. But with Mercedes having taken a notable step forward with the introduction of their B-spec W14, Alonso is facing tight competition for that final spot on the podium. In Spain it went to Mercedes where Lewis Hamilton and George Russell capitalised on an off-weekend for Sergio Perez to finish 2-3 behind race winner Max Verstappen. Alonso has made it clear he not only wants that to be a one-off but he wants to be fighting Verstappen for the race wins, and soon. “I think that in two weeks we will see a completely different picture and, hopefully, we will fight with the Red Bulls soon,” he said. “In … [Read more...] about Aston Martin tease ‘something is coming’ to rival Mercedes upgrades

The TDS-entered ORECA-Gibson 07 entered under the Tower Motorsports banner suffered heavy damage when Thomas clouted the TF Sport-run D'station Aston Martin Vantage GTE that Casper Stevenson had spun into the barriers at the fast sweeper before Tertre Rouge. Several cars avoided the stranded machine before bronze driver Thomas, who was a late replacement for the original entrant John Farano following the Canadian's IMSA SportsCar Championship crash at Laguna Seca, locked up and hit British rookie Stevenson. The stewards found that Thomas had failed to slow sufficiently before the impact, and will have to serve his penalty within four laps of it being formally announced by the race director when the 24 Hours gets underway. TDS and D'station both missed qualifying on Wednesday afternoon while replacement chassis were sourced, and so will start from the back of the grid. TDS driver Rene Rast told Motorsport.com: "We're going to lose probably one and a half laps within the … [Read more...] about TDS LMP2 car gets three-minute penalty for Le Mans FP1 crash

At last week's Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell scored a double podium after the Brackley team's comprehensive upgrade package delivered a solid step forward. While Hamilton still finished 24 seconds behind dominant winner Max Verstappen , Mercedes' W14 was the second-strongest car on the high-downforce circuit, providing the team with a solid baseline to continue its recovery. The double podium also elevated Mercedes above Aston Martin to second place in the constructors' standings. But Shovlin, the team's trackside engineering director, expects the Canadian Grand Prix to be a more difficult weekend for the Silver Arrows due to the low-downforce nature of Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is the polar opposite of the Barcelona circuit that its revamped 2023 car was competitive at. "The fact is that the update kit works very well around circuits like Barcelona with a lot of high-speed performance," Shovlin said in Mercedes' post-race … [Read more...] about Mercedes: Canada a “bigger challenge” than Barcelona for upgraded F1 car

The SF-23 has been quick over one lap in qualifying thus far this season, but has usually lost out to Mercedes , and often Aston Martin as well, over a race distance. That pattern was repeated in the Spanish GP, where Carlos Sainz qualified second but was jumped by both Mercedes drivers, as well as the Red Bull of Sergio Perez , in the race. Vasseur believes that Ferrari will be able to challenge Mercedes in races once it has solved its issues. "I think as soon as we will unlock the situation with consistency we can imagine to fight with them all over the race," he said. "With Red Bull it's another story, especially with [Max] Verstappen. He is still much faster than us in quali, much faster in the race." He insists that Ferrari is keeping up with Mercedes in the development race as both teams strive to catch Red Bull. "An upgrade when you increase the potential of the car, we are speaking about the top," he said. "You have to think that Mercedes, they are not … [Read more...] about Vasseur: Ferrari can fight Mercedes once F1 consistency issues are solved

With Charles Leclerc baffled by the inconsistent Ferrari SF-23, ex-Red Bull driver Mark Webber foresees trouble for the team in the present time and beyond as they work on future developments. Ferrari introduced their new-look SF-23 challenger for the Spanish Grand Prix, which most notably featured reworked sidepods to follow a concept more in-line with that of the dominant Red Bull team. But, while rivals Mercedes seemingly took a clear step forward with their alterations, the same was not true for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz finishing P5 while Leclerc managed only P11 after starting from the pit lane, following a shock Q1 exit in qualifying. Speaking after the race, Leclerc, wide-eyed in confusion, admitted he does not understand what is going wrong with the SF-23, a car that has already been described as peaky, which is therefore not giving the drivers confidence to push at the limit. Leclerc though said the inconsistency has spread to a point where comparing his first and last … [Read more...] about New ‘double concern’ identified for Ferrari amidst SF-23 struggles

Toto Wolff is reportedly “not convinced” Mercedes’ new sidepod concept is better than the zero-pod design but the team changed it anyway, says F1 journalist Christian Menath. Having run a zero-pod design, dubbed that because of the lack of bulk to the sidepods, Mercedes won just one race in 28 in F1’s new ground effect aerodynamic era. But while the team stayed true to their philosophy even after last season’s disappointment, team boss Wolff conceded at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix that the team would probably not win a race without radical changes. Those changes included axing the zero-pods, although that wasn’t the only new part on the W14 at the Monaco Grand Prix with the team also introducing a new front suspension and floor. It’s the latter that from Motorsport-Magazin’s Menath believes it the key to Mercedes’ upturn in form. “What is a concept? You’ve heard that question from the Mercedes engineers quite a lot,” he said on the F1 Nation podcast. “They now have … [Read more...] about ‘Toto Wolff still not convinced the new Mercedes sidepod concept is the better one’

Ferrari secured a front row lock-out in hyperpole qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours, claiming their first pole in the famous race in half a century. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The number 50 Ferrari shared by Antonio Fuoco – who drove the pole-winning lap – Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen will start famous 24-hour endurance race from the front of the field, ahead of their team mates in the number 51 car. Toyota will start third on the grid with the number eight car, ahead of the number 75 Porsche Penske. The half-hour hyperpole session, unlike other rounds of the World Endurance Championship, saw all classes on the track at the same time. After Wednesday’s qualifying session, the eight hypercars participating included both Toyotas, both Ferraris, two Cadillacs – the number two and number three – and two Porsche Penskes, the number five car and number 75. The Toyotas were the first cars over the line to begin their first flying laps of the session … [Read more...] about Ferrari locks out front row on its return to the top flight at Le Mans · RaceFans

Toyota had seemed set to return to the top of the Le Mans timesheets for the first time since opening practice on Wednesday with Kamui Kobayashi heading the majority of the session. However, a late 3m26.579s from Antonio Fuoco in the #50 499P LMH smashed Kobayashi's best by almost a second. And, with eight minutes to go, Alessandro Pier Guidi set a 3m27.013s lap to go second, despite the #51 Ferrari having spent the first half of the three-hour session in the pits. The Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs were denied the chance to respond as a late full-course yellow, when Manuel Maldonado went off, hampered any further late improvements. Instead, Kobayashi had to settle for third in the #7 Toyota. Mathieu Jaminet in the #75 Porsche 963 LMDh was the initial pacesetter on a 3m28.454s but was soon usurped by the two Toyotas. Kobayashi claimed top spot with a 3m27.822s in the #7 car, before Sebastien Buemi went second in the sister #8 machine on 3m27.879s. However, Kobayashi … [Read more...] about Le Mans 24h: Ferrari locks out 1-2 ahead of Toyota in third practice

Fuoco paced the 30-minute session, featuring the fastest eight cars from Wednesday's first qualifying, with a best time of 3m22.982s at the wheel of the 499P he shares with Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen . Both of the Ferrari LMHs jumped to the top of the timesheets early on, with Alessandro Pier Guidi initially leading the way on a 3m23.987s in the #51 car ahead of Fuoco in the sister #50 entry. Pier Guidi then improved to a 3m23.478s, which was scrubbed for a track limits infringement, before Fuoco upped the ante by posting the first sub-3m23s effort of the week so far, outpacing his team-mate by 0.773s despite getting baulked by a GTE Am Ferrari exiting Indianapolis. That time remained the benchmark when the session was red-flagged with five minutes left on the clock as a result of Cadillac driver Sebastien Bourdais stopping at the first chicane after suffering a dramatic fire. Bourdais was able to escape the smouldering #3 Cadillac V.Series-R unscathed, having … [Read more...] about Le Mans 24h: Ferrari locks out front row, Cadillac suffers fire