Thousand year blood war

Last year's runner-up to Red Bull has now slipped behind Aston Martin and Mercedes to fourth in the constructors' championship ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. Unlike rivals who chose to bring major upgrade packages anyway to the unrepresentative Monaco lap following the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna GP, Ferrari instead opted to hold off its bodywork upgrades scheduled for Imola until the coming Barcelona event. But by not delaying, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was a representative second in Monaco while the revised Alpine ran to third in the hands of Esteban Ocon . Meanwhile, the Mercedes drivers were content with the performance of upgrades as they ran to a 4-5 finish. Ferrari's top finisher in the principality was home hero Charles Leclerc , who recorded sixth as a legacy of a five-place grid penalty for blocking Lando Norris in qualifying. Speaking to select media, including Motorsport.com, Vasseur said it "would be a mistake to compare … [Read more...] about Ferrari “pushing like hell” to address F1 2023 form

As high as the stakes are in modern Formula 1, the battle for the sport’s future which raged at the dawn of the eighties was fought with particular ferocity. The political fall-out even led to some races being cancelled. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free But, as a trove of documents unearthed by @DieterRencken reveals, this fraught period in the sport’s history played a unique role in shaping modern F1. In early 1980 Formula 1 was a battleground. The lines were drawn between the mostly British teams, dubbed ‘garagistes’ by Enzo Ferrari on account of building cars using proprietary components from suppliers (Cosworth engines, Hewland gearboxes), and their opponents headed by FISA, then the sporting arm of the FIA. The FISA-aligned teams ‘grande’ teams included manufacturers Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo, who surveyed the ongoing skirmishes nervously, and periodically switched allegiances according to their agendas. The ‘garagistes’ battled under the … [Read more...] about WPDC: Ecclestone’s breakaway threat which set the template for modern F1 · RaceFans

While Aston Martin are delivering beyond all expectations so far in F1 2023, Fernando Alonso highlighted that this means the team is struggling to match the development rate of their rivals. Aston Martin are certainly a team with grand plans, title success being their ultimate goal, and it was this ambition which convinced Alonso to leave Alpine behind and strike a multi-year deal to join the Silverstone-based squad. Few would have expected last season’s P7 finishers to emerge as the second-strongest constructor of F1 2023, but that is what Aston Martin have done. Alonso has featured on the podium five times in the opening six rounds, his P2 in Monaco last time out the cream of the crop, with the Spaniard sitting P3 in the Drivers’ Championship , just 12 points behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez a position up the road. Aston Martin meanwhile hold P2 in the Constructors’ Championship, a single point clear of Mercedes. The development war is truly now ramping up though for F1 … [Read more...] about Fernando Alonso highlights negative impact of Aston Martin’s unexpected rise