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Fernando Alonso has played down his own chances of victory at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, with the Aston Martin man predicting a one-two finish for Red Bull in Barcelona. Alonso has emerged as the dominant Red Bull team’s closest threat in the early months of the 2023 season, finishing on the podium at all but one of the six races held so far. His best start to a season since his penultimate year at Ferrari in 2013 has raised expectations that his decade-long wait for a grand prix win could end soon. Alonso’s last F1 triumph came at his home race in Barcelona, but with Red Bull making a perfect start to the season – and Ferrari and Mercedes introducing potentially game-changing upgrades – he does not expect a win to come this weekend. He told the official F1 website: “It feels good. Obviously there is a special energy every time in Spain when I come here and I see all the fans. “I don’t think, realistically, we can fight for the victory. Let’s be clear. “Red Bull … [Read more...] about Fernando Alonso makes worrying Red Bull prediction for Spanish Grand Prix

There’s no rest for the wicked as F1 reaches the end of its first ‘triple-header’ in 2023 – here are the main talking points from the Spanish Grand Prix media day. This weekend marks the third planned race weekend in a row, in what would have been the first proper flurry of races had the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix actually gone ahead. As a result, the Spanish Grand Prix is merely the second race of what became a double-header, and an eagerly anticipated return to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the third sector has returned to the layout last used in 2006 – the onerous final chicane now removed. Let’s go through some of the key findings and storylines ahead of the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix. All eyes on team upgrades Upgrades aplenty this weekend in Spain, with Ferrari rolling out the upgrade package that was supposed to have been debuted at Imola. This will see them move away from the big bathtub-style sidepods they’ve had since the start of 2022, unsurprisingly heading … [Read more...] about The key storylines to emerge from the Spanish Grand Prix media day

This season has seen Red Bull dominate the front of the field and there is little to suggest things will be different when F1 heads to Barcelona, a place that usually rewards the best cars more than most. Its mix of long straights and varied corners suits a well-balanced package but this season a couple of changes could have an effect. Barcelona is usually used as a pre-season testing venue, but not this season. In the past, that testing session has allowed teams to tune up their machines to their limit, making it easier to get on the pace for the race weekend. This time, the teams will have a few more question marks than before. Another potential challenge is the removal of the final chicane, replaced by a sweeping right-hand bend to make up the final corner. This configuration was last used in 2006 – so the only driver on the grid who has experienced this layout in the past is Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. Barcelona is traditionally where we see the first big car … [Read more...] about F1 Form Guide: Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton says he and team mate George Russell urged Mercedes to consider rivals’ designs before they abandoned the unique ‘zero’ sidepod concept. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Mercedes have won just one race out of 28 since Formula 1 changed its technical regulations at the beginning of last season. At the previous round in Monaco the team finally replaced the W14’s distinctive sidepods with a new design closer to that used by Red Bull, who have won 23 times since the beginning of 2022. Hamilton said he and Russell had been eager to understand the reasons for the differences between their car and their rivals’ design. “The input that we’ve been having as a team, George and I, over the past year, it’s those constant conversations going like: ‘Why does that look like that and we look like this?’, ‘Have we tried that?'” “We now have the wider sidepods that are more in the direction of where the Red Bull is,” Hamilton told media including … [Read more...] about Hamilton and Russell asked Mercedes why W14 didn’t look like rivals’ cars · RaceFans

The Italian outfit is bidding to turn around a disappointing start to the campaign where it has especially struggled with the race pace of its new SF-23 car. But as it gets ready to introduce a raft of updates for this weekend's race at Barcelona, sources have revealed that one key area of change will be in its sidepod concept. The team has made good use of an inwash solution since the launch of the ground-effect cars in 2022, and continued to pursue it for this season despite most of the grid adopting the Red Bull downwash style. However, having seen Red Bull's clear advantage this season, the squad now appears ready to change its philosophy as part of a push to get answers to its problems. While the new sidepods may not appear to be a direct copy of the Red Bull version, it is understood that they will mark a notable change of direction from what Ferrari has run up until now. The change may suggest that the team has concluded that the tyre issues it is suffering in … [Read more...] about Ferrari poised for Red Bull-style F1 sidepod switch

Lance Stroll needs a change of luck after failing to score in half of the races so far this year, says his team mate. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Fernando Alonso has out-scored Stroll by 93 points to 27 over their six races together at Aston Martin so far this season. However the twice-champion says his team mate hasn’t had the rub of the green so far this year. “I think Lance has been very, very unlucky the last two events,” said Alonso. Stroll’s participation in the first race of the season was put in doubt when he injured his wrists in a pre-season cycling crash which forced him to miss testing. “I think we go back to Bahrain, driving with one hand he was very fast. Then Jeddah he had the exhaust problem when he was in front of the Ferraris in P5.” Stroll was narrowly eliminated in Q1 in Miami, while Alonso progressed, when the team tried to make it through the first round without using a second set of soft tyres. “In Miami we were risking too … [Read more...] about Stroll’s problem has been bad luck, not poor performance – Alonso · RaceFans

As reported by Motorsport.com earlier , Ferrari is abandoning its long-running in-wash style sidepod concept for a Red Bull-style downwash design. As our exclusive images show, the new Ferrari sidepods are a total revamp of what the SF-23 has run with so far. The new version does away with the bathtub central section that has been a hallmark of the Ferrari cars since the start of 2022. Instead, they feature a more horizontal upper surface that helps feed the airflow down into the diffuser area. This is based on the Red Bull concept, which the Milton Keynes-based squad has utilised to boost the performance of its RB19 and is an idea copied by many other teams. Ferrari's downwash ramp variant is similar to the likes of Alpine , Aston Martin and Mercedes , in that it features the water-slide gulley atop the bodywork in order to drive airflow down to the rear section of the floor and coke bottle region. This is no surprise though, as Ferrari has plenty of experience … [Read more...] about Ferrari’s new Red Bull-style F1 sidepods revealed in Spain

The new tyres are a reaction by Pirelli to increasing downforce levels and cornering loads, and represent a fast-tracking of a construction that was originally intended for 2024. Some teams have already tried the new spec in 'blind' 2024 testing, but Barcelona will be an opportunity for everyone to run the definitive versions, with each driver getting two extra sets of C1s to be deployed at any point in FP1 or FP2. They will be used for a full weekend for the first time at the British GP. "We already tested this new material that we were planning to introduce in 2024," Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola told Motorsport.com. "We are using the same compounds, no change in profiles. "We tested this material, with some fine-tuning, starting from last year. The idea was if we move to no blanket tyres in 2024, we need a construction with a higher resistance to fatigue, because we have to start at a lower pressure. And so we started to test this new material. "And we tested in many … [Read more...] about F1 teams set to trial new Pirelli tyre in Barcelona

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