Charles scott

Le Mans winner and driver coach Matt Howson told the On Track GP Podcast about the connection he has to multiple drivers on the current Formula 1 grid, having coached several of them through their days in Formula Renault. Howson, who counts himself as Lewis Hamilton’s first ever team-mate in car racing, going alongside him in the same series back in 2001, coached the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lando Norris when they made the step up from karting, and has been able to assess their natural talent first-hand. He went into detail about the “alien” talent these drivers in particular possessed, even at a young age, and was put on the spot about who he feels will eventually end up with the most titles come the end of their Formula 1 careers. Matt Howson joins On Track GP Podcast for intriguing conversation Howson, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class alongside On Track GP regular Richard Bradley, joined the podcast to discuss his career to date, as well … [Read more...] about George Russell, Lando Norris or Charles Leclerc to win the most titles? Their ex-coach tells all

The 2022 Formula 1 season was full of drama on track and in the paddock, some of it leftover from the previous year’s controversies. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free With all that going on, it was easy to overlook some of the strange and surprising stories of the last 12 months. Red Bull ‘launched’ a show car Formula 1 car launches always attract huge interest as they can give the first indication of how the teams will compare against each other for the season ahead with any innovative designs. That was especially the case this year as teams produced their first designs for radically new regulations. Preferring not to give the opposition an early peek at their real RB18, Red Bull instead presented a repainted show car at their launch on February 9th. The real thing, which appeared in testing two weeks later, looked very different. Red Bull presents first images of new car for 2022 F1 season Magnussen’s F1 return has big repercussions After … [Read more...] about Helmet rows, hot mics and more forgotten motorsport stories from 2022

Max Verstappen was “not happy” when the Safety Car was deployed in the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix because he expected it would leave him vulnerable to Carlos Sainz Jnr. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The Red Bull driver was chasing down the race-leading Ferrari when the Safety Car was deployed with 21 laps to go. Verstappen had given up the lead to get onto fresher rubber, and knew the Safety Car would allow Sainz to do the same and restart immediately behind him. “We did our strategy and I think for us it worked,” said Verstappen. “At that second stop, of course, I had the fresher tyres, I was closing in on Carlos, but I was not sure if I actually would fully close that gap to the end of the race.” Sainz had slightly quicker pace in the opening stages of the race and Verstappen was concerned it would be difficult to contain the Ferrari driver once the Safety Car was deployed. “The Safety Car came out and I was not very happy with that … [Read more...] about Verstappen expected Safety Car would play in Sainz’s favour

Charles Leclerc said his efforts to make progress in the Canadian Grand Prix were frustrated by a series of “DRS trains” and a slow pit stop. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free He started the race on the back row of the grid after collecting a series of penalties for power unit parts changes. He finished in fifth, having predicted fourth was the best he could expect heading into the race. Having spent many laps stuck behind other drivers, a slow tyre change cost him an opportunity to run in clear air. “Unfortunately with the pit stop this put us a bit in a bad situation because we had cleared the DRS train and we got another DRS train after the slow pit stop,” he explained. “I had to push on the tyres and that cost me a little bit at the end. But overall it was just a race where I had to be patient. “At the beginning I was stuck behind a DRS train. In the middle part of the race I was stuck behind Esteban [Ocon], who had much newer tyres and was very … [Read more...] about Leclerc frustrated by “DRS trains” and slow pit stop in climb from back row to fifth

The curse of sport is that unless you are number one, you are condemned to live under a cloud of failure. For no matter how many races you win, poles you take or points you score, there can only be one champion. The rest all fall short. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Red Bull know this only too well. After being deposed from F1’s Mount Olympus with the onset of the V6 turbo hybrids, their journey back to the top was as frustrating as it was humbling. But that decade of discontent reached its end over the past two seasons, and Red Bull head into a new year as undisputedly and unequivocally the best team in their sport. Emerging bruised, bloodied but victorious from their brutal year-long battle against Mercedes in 2021, Red Bull knew they were vulnerable going into Max Verstappen’s first year sporting the coveted number one on his car. But when Mercedes faltered, Ferrari faced up to Red Bull in their place. However, Ferrari’s implosion as the season … [Read more...] about Will Red Bull dominate again as their development handicap bites in 2023?

In the early phase of the season, the Mercedes would have the edge in races because its W14 car was much less harsh on its tyres than the Ferrari SF-23. However, as Ferrari has made gains in understanding why its 2023 challenger was so hard on its rubber early on, its race pace has improved dramatically. And with the two teams now locked in a fight for runners-up in the constructors' championship, the switch in car characteristic could prove critical as their fight plays out over the remaining six races of the campaign. At the recent Japanese Grand Prix, where tyre degradation was a critical factor in deciding the pace on Sunday, Ferrari showed how on top of things it was as Charles Leclerc finished ahead of the Mercedes lead car of Lewis Hamilton . This was a result that Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin believed proved that Ferrari was no longer behind with its management of tyre degradation. Shovlin reckoned that Mercedes' lack of … [Read more...] about Mercedes fears it has lost race-day F1 tyre edge over Ferrari