Badminton world champion

Ross Brawn hopes Mick Schumacher’s Formula 1 career continues – whether still at Haas or with another team. At the age of 23, Schumi junior already looks to be at a crossroads, Haas boss Guenther Steiner openly discussing in the media that the team are deliberating whether to replace him, potentially with a more experienced driver. Schumacher failing to score points in his debut campaign was no surprise considering how uncompetitive the Haas car was, but this year the German recorded back-to-back top-10 finishes in Britain and Austria. He still finds himself outscored 22-12 by team-mate Kevin Magnussen having crashed too often for Steiner’s liking in the opening third of the campaign, but has won the internal head-to-head battle in seven of the last nine races. That suggests Schumacher is responding to the challenge of knowing his future is under threat, with Steiner having highlighted a lack of consistency . Brawn will naturally side with the son of the seven-time … [Read more...] about Ross Brawn: Mick Schumacher ‘deserves to take next step’ in Formula 1 career

Mattia Binotto has admitted Ferrari are missing the drive to succeed injected into the team by Michael Schumacher during their golden era. Ferrari dominated Formula 1 during the first half-decade of this century, capturing six consecutive Constructors’ titles from 1999-2004 while Schumacher was the Drivers’ champion in the last five of those years. They completed the double again in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen and retained the Constructors’ crown the year after, but this season is set to be the 14th in a row without a title going to the Scuderia. It all looked like being so different when Charles Leclerc won two of this campaign’s first three races and finished a close second in the other, but that hope has unravelled with Ferrari bedevilled by a series of mistakes and reliability problems. Of course, back at the turn of the millennium, the Italian giants had one of the all-time greats in Schumacher pushing the team on – and although Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are among the … [Read more...] about Ferrari concede they are ‘missing winning mentality of Michael Schumacher era’

Damon Hill hopes the FIA’s decision to install a new CEO, Natalie Robyn, reverses what he sees as a “degrading” of the sport’s governing body. The CEO role has been created at the FIA to complement that of the president, Mohammed ben Sulayem, with Robyn appointed due to her considerable experience in the automotive industry at companies including Volvo, Nissan and Daimler-Chrysler, although not in motorsport. In the last 12 months, the FIA’s reputation has taken a hit largely due to the way in which the climax to the 2021 title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was managed, leading to race director Michael Masi being removed from his job. There also appears to be something of a power struggle ongoing between the FIA and Formula 1, with bones of contention including plans to increase the number of sprint qualifying events and, more recently, the timing of the 2023 F1 calendar announcement. Hill, the 1996 World Champion with Williams , feels the FIA’s position has been … [Read more...] about Damon Hill: ‘Degrading FIA need to match Formula 1’s power and weight’

Listen to this article Less than a fortnight after Honda’s least competitive showing of the year at Magny-Cours, Lecuona showed signs of a return to form for the Japanese manufacturer by topping the times across the opening two practice sessions of the weekend. Most of the day’s fastest times were set in the morning session, with Lecuona himself setting his chart-setting top time towards the end of FP1. The Spaniard rider lapped his home track in 1m41.396s, ending the day more than half a second clear of Rinaldi’s Ducati and the Yamaha of reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu. Points leader Alvaro Bautista was quickest in the afternoon session, but his time was only good enough for fourth in the overall timesheets - six tenths down on Lecuona’s FP1 benchmark. Kawasaki star Jonathan Rea made a minor improvement between the two sessions to take fifth, with Andrea Locatelli finishing right behind him on the second of the two works Yamahas. Xavi Vierge rounded off a strong … [Read more...] about Barcelona WSBK: Lecuona tops Friday practice for Honda